Upon hearing this, I became furious. Erda had been my close friend since childhood. Marrying a wife like that was the plight of a peasant. It was one thing for them to argue and bicker at home, considering it was their private matter. But to nearly strangle Erda? That was unacceptable.
Without further thought, I hurried to Erda's home. Even before arriving, I could hear the commotion outside his house.
I pushed through the crowd. In our village, such incidents were not uncommon. From the commotion and the exchange of words, I could grasp the situation quite well.
Our village was established in the Ming Yongle era, according to the words of our great-grandfather. Some of our ancestors were even generals, although it had not been long, so basically all Lin families were related one way or another.
After dinner yesterday, White Pearl had choked Erda so badly that he was still unable to speak till now. Erda's parents were unhappy about this. They had married him off to secure the family line. But to have their son beaten up like this was intolerable.
Erda's parents, of course, took Erda's side. Surprisingly, both of them had been beaten down by White Pearl. This trio was no match for a single woman.
The neighbors had become angry this morning upon finding out what had happened. They were all Lin families, and among these families, there had been kinship for generations. When one Lin was hurt, all Lins were angry. They had closed in on White Pearl, not letting her leave her house. However, when news of this reached White Pearl's family in the neighboring village, with White Pearl's influential family status, they rushed to deal with the ruckus.
In rural areas, there is no room for love. Even personal appearance does not matter. As long as someone has a bit of wealth, nothing is a problem.
White Pearl's family came to her aid, hoping to take her home. But our village was tough and said that if Erda and White Pearl were family, they were prepared to do the same to other families, to intercept them.
This confrontation had sparked, and the two groups were on the verge of fighting. More and more people from White Pearl's village were coming to our village. At this moment, the villagers wanted Lin Sanshui, but he had gone to the hospital. Without the village chief, how could the situation be managed?
So when I arrived, I wasn't pushed into the crowd but was instead let out into a clear path, and villagers grabbed me and said to the people from White Pearl's village, "This is Lin Xiaofan, our village's only college student, and the prospective son-in-law of the village chief. Come on, choose someone who can talk from your village, and let's have a proper conversation first. If we have to fight, let's see who's afraid of whom."
The person who grabbed me was Lin Erda's uncle, Lin Lvzi. Don't laugh; people in the past usually had these names. This person, Lin Lvzi, could be said to have grown into his name. Because it was not only his appearance but also his temper that resembled a donkey. In his forties and still without a wife, he even yearned for Wu Miaoke's figure.
He did this to me, and I felt a bit annoyed. Come on, if you're going to say I'm a college student, fine, but why are you saying I'm the village chief's prospective son-in-law? Is the village chief that high a rank? But then I realized that Erda was still unconscious and his parents were black and blue from being beaten. As his best friend, I had to step up, and Lin Sanshui had given me some instructions before I came back. I had to be more responsible for the village's affairs.
Moreover, I've seen my share of ruffians and gangsters in the city, handling these villagers' conflicts would be a piece of cake. The villagers were primitive and simple, and a small issue could escalate into a big one. But one thing was undeniable - people fear those in authority. However difficult the common people were, when they saw the police, they would back down - this kind of fear had been passed down for thousands of years.
I took out my old Nokia phone with a blue screen that had no reception there. This was extraordinary; anyone who had a phone here was a big deal.
I stared at the family of Bai Zhenzhu, gave a fierce look at the villagers, and pretended to be furious, saying, "Is this how you handle things? You just retaliate when someone hits you? This is a society under the rule of law. Don't you know you should call the police?"
After that, I took out my phone and pretended to dial 110.
Sure enough, there were people in Bai Zhenzhu's family who knew the seriousness of the matter. Once the matter went public, it would be hard to explain. When they saw me take out my phone, a decently dressed person came over and grabbed my arm, saying, "Young man, young man, let's talk it out. Let's calm down."
"What's there to talk about? A well-educated girl like her, how could she beat someone like this?!" I scolded.
"Yes, yes, we were wrong. But this matter, there might be some misunderstanding," the person said.
As soon as I arrived and said a few words, the villagers managed to suppress Bai Zhenzhu's family. The contradiction among the rural folks was originally just about their arrogance. This time, those uncles and aunties were very happy. Lin Duzi held his donkey face and shouted, "Misunderstanding? Beating a child and my brother and sister-in-law like this, how can you talk about misunderstanding?!"
With that, they completely suppressed the air of Bai Zhenzhu's family. After all, their daughter started the fight.
But before we started arguing, I hadn't had a chance to speak authoritatively yet, Bai Zhenzhu swayed her enormous figure and ran towards me. I thought she wanted to hit me. Her size was quite large, and I couldn't resist her weight. Instinctively, I tried to hide behind Lin Duzi.
To my surprise, Bai Zhenzhu ran toward me lightning-fast, like a patriot missile. She didn't hit me, but she knelt down with a thump in front of me, slapping her face as if it didn't cost anything.
In an instant, she turned her already large face into a pig's head, and you couldn't even see her eyes. She cried with snot and tears, but I'm a soft-hearted person, and my impression of Bai Zhenzhu wasn't particularly bad. I held her and said, "Sister-in-law, the matter is already out. It's useless to blame yourself, isn't it?"
"Xiaofan, listen to me. Others may not know, but don't you know what kind of person I am? I've been with Lin Erdan for so long. We argue a lot. He's lazy, who does the work in the fields? I scold him all the time. There's often physical fights, but when has your sister-in-law ever been willing to hit him? Not to mention my parents. They're in poor health, and I take care of them and run the household. Have you ever heard me complain? Would I hit them and your brother into this state?" Bai Zhenzhu cried, and her words were heart-wrenching.
I thought, what she said didn't sound like a lie. Although this woman, with her appearance and reputation, was on par with Lin Xiaoyao in the village.
With a moment of confusion, I looked at the villagers. Could it be that they really wronged her?
"Xiaofan, don't be fooled by her. This fat woman is good at acting. Last night, when you beat Erdan, didn't I see it? When you beat your in-laws, I saw it with my own eyes. I just didn't expect you to be so cruel and ruthless!" This was spoken by an aunt I knew, Lin Erdan's neighbor.
"Auntie, are you sure you saw it?" I asked.
Sometimes unusual things really were strange. Could it be that after I left for a few years of university, everyone in the village became actors? Bai Zhenzhu didn't show any sign of lying, but neither did this aunt.
And after she spoke, several of Erdan's neighbors also expressed their agreement, all of whom claimed to have seen Bai Zhenzhu hit someone. It's just that at the time, no one thought the situation would escalate like this.
There were even people who said they heard Erdan shouting for help.
What was going on? I asked Bai Zhenzhu, "Sister-in-law, I don't doubt you, but when so many people saw it... are they all mistaken about you?"
Bai Zhenzhu was a reasonable woman, not someone who lost control when faced with such a situation. She turned and went to bow to the Lin family members who had testified earlier, repeatedly knocking her forehead, saying, "Uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters, I know we've never had any grievances or disputes before. You won't wrong me. I swear by heaven, if I really intended to hit my in-laws and nearly kill my husband, let heaven strike me with five thunderbolts."
The simple and superstitious rural folk regarded this kind of solemn vow very seriously. They wouldn't make it lightly, unlike many people now who easily talk about the whole family dying. With Bai Zhenzhu's statement, even the Lin family members were subdued.
Bai Zhenzhu's approach at the time was reasonable both emotionally and logically. Would such a person really hit a family of three? It didn't seem like it!