Lu Jiaojiao came out of the kitchen with this cake, her face full of doubts: "No!"
Seeing the bamboo whip in her mother's hand, she understood immediately and said, "I sold more than ten copper coins just now, and because I was in a hurry when I came back, I put them in the box."
In other words, there are far fewer copper coins than Chu Yunli thought.
When Zhou Guishu saw the whip, his scalp felt numb, and he raised his voice: "Second uncle, come and comment. I never touched the box from the beginning to the end, but the second aunt said that I took it, and she still wanted to beat me...
"
Zhou Xingwang heard about it in the kitchen. The lack of money in the box had never happened since he entered the house. When he heard it at first, he thought it was quite strange.
He had never been short of money before, but the nephew came with less money. It was hard for people to believe Zhou Guishu's innocence. However, he thought that his wife was particularly resistant to the nephew's arrival, and he couldn't figure out for a while whether there was really a thief or whether the wife wanted to borrow money.
This drives people away.
"Xiaoqing, ask clearly before speaking. Don't wrongly accuse the child."
His tone focused on the word "child".
After being married for more than ten years, Lu Xiaoqing could guess all of Zhou Xingwang's thoughts, at least most of them. Chu Yunli immediately understood that this was because she thought she had deliberately wronged her child and wanted to drive him away.
Chu Yunli immediately laughed angrily: "If it wasn't him, how could it still be Jiaojiao? You know, I hate petty thieves the most. If this were my own child, I would have to break his legs."
As soon as she finished speaking, the whip flew out from her hand, making a roaring sound, and fell hard on Zhou Guishu.
Zhou Guishu has grown so big that it would be a lie to say that he has never been beaten before. But this is the first time he has been beaten so hard. He subconsciously stretched out his hand to block it, and a large red mark appeared on the back of his hand, and there were faint blood drops.
Emerge.
The pain was so unbearable that he couldn't help but scream. He covered the back of his injured hand with his left hand and took a few steps back, shrinking into a corner.
Chu Yunli asked coldly: "Did you take it?"
"No." Zhou Guishu gritted his teeth: "Second Aunt, even if you beat me to death, I won't admit to anything I haven't done."
Chu Yunli nodded and raised the whip again. This time, instead of hitting it once and then stopping, he whipped it many times a year.
Zhou Guishu was beaten until he rolled on the ground. Lu Jiaojiao was a little frightened when Lu's father was not around, and hid in the kitchen. This was also because she felt that stealing things would never be tolerated, so she never showed up from the beginning to the end.
Zhou Xingwang watched from the side and tried to stop her at first, but when his wife ignored her, he couldn't help but stepped forward to grab the whip.
When he came over, Chu Yunli acted as if he hadn't seen him, and even beat him.
This person always hides when he is in pain. Zhou Xingwang couldn't bear it, and after patting him twice, he hid aside: "Xiaoqing, don't go too far, and teach your children only in moderation."
Zhou Guishu screamed repeatedly, and after hearing this, he screamed even more fiercely: "Second uncle, you beat someone to death. She is trying to find a reason to beat me to death... I want to go home!"
Chu Yunli sneered and flicked the whip in her hand: "Since you want to go home, then you are not my child. It's up to you to steal or rob. I'm too lazy to teach you a lesson." She flicked her sore whip.
Wrist: "Go away!"
Zhou Guishu stood up shivering.
Zhou Xingwang saw this and couldn't help but blame him: "Xiaoqing, you are too cruel."
He was a little angry that his wife was treating the Zhou family like this. Immediately, he stepped forward to help his nephew up and said, "I'll take you back."
Zhou Guishu was beaten as soon as he arrived... He used to think that his second aunt was a cheerful person, but he didn't expect that she would be so cruel. She wanted to beat him to death. At this moment, he really gave up.
Chu Yunli snorted coldly: "I have been busy all morning and I haven't had breakfast yet. If it wasn't my own child, I wouldn't be too lazy to teach him!"
After saying that, he turned around and walked into the kitchen.
Zhou Guishu had injuries on his hands and legs, and he also received several blows on his back. It hurt whether he was standing or sitting. His eyes were red: "Second Uncle, I can't walk."
It's more than ten miles from here to Taohua Village. Zhou Xingwang pondered for a while: "You wait here, I'll find a bullock cart."
Zhou Guishu really felt that he could not move even one step. When he heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank you, uncle."
The uncle and nephew had nothing to say on the road. Zhou Guishu closed his eyes and rested, thinking about how to complain after returning home.
Zhou Xingwang had the same idea. This child came here in the morning, and less than an hour had passed, and he was already so injured. He had to think carefully about how to explain to his parents.
People in the village were very busy and had to go out to work before dawn. When the two arrived, only Da Ya was left washing dishes in the yard, while Xiao Wu stood poking at the ant nest with a stick.
The children of the Zhou family all like their second uncle Zhou Xingwang. Whenever he comes back, he will bring delicious food. Xiao Wu jumped up: "Second uncle, you are here!"
Da Ya was also very happy. When she saw Zhou Guishu limping in a blink of an eye, she was suddenly surprised: "What's going on? Didn't the elder brother say last night that he was going to the town to live a good life? How come he was injured like this?
"
These words made Zhou Guishu glare at him fiercely.
Only then did Da Ya realize that she had said the wrong thing and hurriedly covered her mouth.
Zhou Xingwang sighed: "Where is your grandma?"
"We are pulling weeds at the end of the village. My father and third uncle went to chop wood." Da Ya asked tentatively: "Brother is so seriously injured, should I call them back?"
week
. He squatted under the eaves resignedly: "Go ahead, just say I have something important to discuss."
Da Ya didn't know what to say. The old couple of the Zhou family came back very quickly. As soon as they saw the injured grandson, they felt very distressed. Zhou's mother immediately ran into the house to find some medicinal wine for bruises, and Zhou's father frowned.
Question: "Is this someone who was beaten?"
"Yes!" Zhou Xingwang sighed silently in his heart: "Xiaoqing was too impatient. Seeing that the box was missing money. Guishu refused to admit it, so he took action when he was angry."
"How little money?" Zhou's father frowned on his dark face: "Does it mean Guishu stole the money?"
"He didn't admit it." Zhou Xingwang grew up in this courtyard. Even if he despises his family's poverty, these are his relatives after all. The blood relationship cannot be erased, and in addition, he has rarely spent time with his family in these years. Standing here at this moment,
He felt that the Zhou family was relatively close, and he did not think that his nephew would steal things. He was more inclined to think that his wife did not want to adopt her nephew, so she deliberately used this matter to drive him away.
Zhou Guishu was in severe pain. When he raised his head and saw his mother coming in from the outside, his anger and grievances instantly found an outlet. He couldn't help crying: "Mother!"
Tears already fell down his face as he howled out.
Whoever gave birth to a child will love it. Yang has always been proud of her son. When she saw someone injured like this, she was surprised and shed tears: "How did it get like this? You were fine when you left in the morning. Who hit you?"
?”
She stepped forward to touch her son, but no matter where she touched, his son shivered. She felt extremely distressed and immediately began to roll up her sleeves: "Whoever beat you, I will go to him to settle the score."
Zhou Guishu lowered his head: "I said I didn't take any coins, but my second aunt didn't believe me!"
Yang was so angry that she looked at her father-in-law and mother-in-law with grief and anger: "She doesn't want to adopt an adopted child, she said so. What's wrong with the child? I have to vent my anger on the child. Is this something that an adult can do? No, I have to go.
Ask!"
Not only did she want to go, but Mother Zhou was also furious.
What was agreed upon yesterday, the daughter-in-law turned around and beat the child like this, so that the child did not dare to stay. It was clear that she was being obedient and did not take the words of her elder to heart.
"I am coming too."
As a result, the whole family had no intention of working. They made do with the ox cart that was sent, and the group headed to the town in a mighty manner.
Before Zhou Guishu left, he said he wanted to go to the latrine and ran there to delay for a while.
Only half an hour after leaving there, Chu Yunli cleaned the house inside and outside after breakfast. This is what Lu Xiaoqing has been doing for the past many years. Just as he was about to go to the shop to take a look, he heard someone outside.
There was a shout.
She never went to the shop because she had guessed that the Zhou family would come. She didn't want to argue with people on the street and make people laugh, so she lingered for so long.
When she heard that someone had arrived, she quickly stepped forward and opened the door. She spoke before everyone else: "If you have something to say, come in and don't let people laugh outside."
Just come in!
Yang rolled up her sleeves and bore the brunt of the attack. After entering the door, she opened her mouth and asked, "Brother and sister, I haven't laid a finger on Jiaojiao in these years. Why do you beat my son?"
Chu Yunli glanced at the shrunken Zhou Guishu: "I told you yesterday that the child is here, and he is from my Lu family. I have stricter discipline here and I'm more ruthless. He steals things as soon as he comes. Is it possible?
Did I make a mistake?"
"They all say that catching a thief takes away the stolen goods. You said he stole something and you can find it from him?" On the way here, the Zhou family had taken turns asking what happened. Zhou's mother said plausibly: "Xiaoqing, you don't want to raise a child.
To put it bluntly, how could you beat an innocent child to death? Look at the injuries on Guishu's body. If there are scars, it will be difficult to get a wife. You are an elder and have children yourself, how can you
To do such a heavy hand? Fortunately, I still value you so much and believe in you..."
Chu Yunli raised her hand to stop her: "I said I didn't want to raise a child, and I refused more than once. But you don't understand, so you insist on sending the child."
Ms. Yang took the opportunity to answer: "This is not the reason for you to teach your child. You have complaints in your heart and come towards me, and you are trying hard against the child. You can't figure it out."
"Attack on you?" Chu Yunli's face was full of sarcasm: "I just lost more than 20 copper coins. We are not outsiders. How can I ask you for debt? Besides, I really treat him as my own child.
That’s why I wanted to teach Tie Bu Gang a lesson. Originally, because of my temper, I had to beat the child until he admitted his mistake, but he said he wanted to leave and no longer be my child, so I stopped."
Everyone in the Zhou family: "..."
She hasn't done enough co-writing?
Mother Zhou laughed angrily: "Xingwang, your wife is so vicious, why don't you just ignore her?"
Zhou Xingwang was caught in a dilemma. He had been squatting in the corner with his head in his hands since he entered the yard. When he heard his mother's words, he looked at this and then that: "Mom, don't mention the adoption."
Chu Yunli emphasized: "I spank my child not to refuse adoption, but to teach him a lesson as my own child."
"Don't say such things. We all know your thoughts more than anything." Yang was furious: "If you beat someone like this, this matter is not over. Either I beat Jiaojiao too, or..."
Chu Yunli smiled half-heartedly: "What are your plans?"
"Compensate!" Ms. Yang took a peek at her mother-in-law's expression, and seeing that she didn't stop her, she immediately found the backbone: "You can't hit someone for no reason, and my son can't be injured for no reason. You can pay for it with money, and this matter will be over.
"
Chu Yunli raised his eyebrows: "Since we are talking about compensation, then we are not a family. A real family will not care about such trivial matters... Since we are not relatives, we should settle the accounts clearly." Zhou Guishu stole
He took my money, so he was beaten. He deserves it. Even if it comes to the mayor, I am justified." She turned her head and looked at Zhou Xingwang: "Go and invite the mayor to comment.
If it is my fault, I will admit it and pay any amount of compensation."
He actually wanted to make things worse.
The Zhou family looked at each other. Mother Zhou was furious: "Lu Xiaoqing, don't go too far. Why are you beating someone and ruining the reputation of my Zhou family? My Zhou family has been unlucky for eight lifetimes when they met you.
"
Chu Yunli said seriously: "Originally, our two families are living a good life. If you insist on forcing me to adopt an adopted child, just forget about adopting him, and you want to send me a child with unclean hands and feet for me to discipline... I am the one who is the loser.
It took me eight lifetimes to meet this big family of yours."
It's not a secret that the Zhou family came in large numbers. Father Lu heard about it in the teahouse.
Yesterday, he saw that his daughter was very resistant to the adoption, and something might happen again. Thinking of this, he couldn't sit still for a moment, and hurriedly took leave and rushed back.
As soon as he arrived at the door, he heard his daughter's words. He hurried in and said, "Xiaoqing, don't talk nonsense."
Chu Yunli did not refute, but looked at Zhou Xingwang: "Don't be stunned, go find it quickly!"
The faces of the Zhou family were all ugly. Father Lu saw it and felt a headache: "What are you looking for?"
Chu Yunli sneered: "Dad didn't know something. Zhou Guishu stole the money. Although it wasn't much, it was a bad thing. You also know why the Zhou family gave him away. We can't raise a child who likes to steal.
?Anyway, the child was still young and could be brought back, so I beat him up. As a result, the child went home and complained, and they all said it was my fault!"
Father Lu looked surprised: "Stealing something?"
Lu Jiaojiao hurriedly said: "I recalled carefully. I collected seventeen copper coins at that time. Later I also counted them and found that there were thirty-one copper coins missing in total. I have been staying in the shop and no one has touched it.
Xiazi, I haven’t walked away during this period.”
Father Lu naturally believed in his daughter and granddaughter. He pondered for a moment and said, "In-laws, this matter of throwing coins has never happened in the past many years."
"Stop talking about those useless things." Ms. Yang waved her hand and said, "Your family has never lost anything. Has it happened to our family? Guishu is the most serious kid in the village. Everyone knows that he will never lose anything."
I won't commit theft! My sister and I couldn't help but beat him up like this. If we don't pay compensation, I won't be able to handle this matter."
"I'm going to make compensation. I didn't say I wouldn't make compensation." Chu Yunli said seriously: "Ask the mayor to come over and comment. After explaining clearly, if it is really my fault, I will apologize to him and I will also compensate him."
But this kind of thing cannot be made big. When the mayor is invited, everyone will know about it. They say that family scandals should not be made public. Regardless of whether Zhou Guishu stole the coins or the couple did not want to adopt the child and deliberately slandered it,
It doesn't sound good if it gets spread out.
Father Zhou's dark face turned even darker: "Don't go!"
Zhou Xingwang secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want his family to get into trouble with the Lu family. He tentatively said, "Let's give up on the adoption. This kind of thing will never happen again in the future. That's it."
"Why?" Ms. Yang said reluctantly, "If you want me to ignore it, just call Jiaojiao out and I'll beat her up too!"
Chu Yunli urged: "Zhou Xingwang, go ask the mayor!" She looked at Yang again: "I want to beat my daughter, but I am daydreaming."
Zhou's mother was furious: "Zhou Xingwang, if you don't discipline your wife today, I won't have a son like you!"
Seeing that things were getting into trouble, Father Lu couldn't explain it to the woman. His eyes fell on Father Zhou: "My daughter will not lie, nor will she deliberately make things up to teach her children a lesson. It's better to find out about this matter."
, but there is no need to make too big a fuss. We are not outsiders, we can explain things clearly behind closed doors..."
Father Zhou was not angry: "Am I going to make a big fuss? From the beginning to the end, Xiaoqing was clamoring to invite the mayor. The adoption matter cannot be decided in a day or two. What we said at the beginning was to
I sent the child here to help, and I didn’t ask your family to pay for it, but in the end, I beat the child to death... My dear, how did you raise this little girl?"
He also looked at Zhou Xingwang: "Your wife has bullied our Zhou family. You don't even give a damn. You are nothing but a loser. Don't call me dad in the future."
Zhou Xingwang opened his mouth and wanted to explain something. Seeing that his parents were really angry, he turned his eyes to his wife and said, "Xiaoqing, apologize to my parents."
Chu Yunli sneered: "I found that I was terribly wrong. Is it because I have been too polite to your Zhou family over the years that you forget that Zhou Xingwang is a surrogate son-in-law? The family members of the son-in-law who come to visit you in the village also dare to go to your daughter-in-law's home to give advice.
?”
The Zhou family members instantly became mute, and most of the anger on their faces dissipated.
Compared to a son-in-law from another family, Zhou Xingwang seems more like he moved to his wife's house after getting married.
Over the years, Lu Xiaoqing was occasionally rude to the Zhou family and his wife, but most of the time he was respectful to his elders. Because of this, the Zhou family gradually forgot the fact that their son was a live-in son-in-law.
"One code equals another code." Zhou's mother quickly came to her senses.
Chu Yunli nodded: "You keep saying that I wronged the child and that I found excuses to teach him a lesson! It makes it seem like I am an ignorant elder... This matter must be investigated clearly." Her eyes fell on Zhou Xingwang:
"You sent this child back, right?"
Zhou Xingwang was a little uncomfortable when she reminded him that he was her son-in-law. He just said yes.
Chu Yunli nodded: "Then he left here and came back. Did he ever leave your sight?"
Zhou Xingwang thought for a while: "I just went to the hut."
Chu Yunli clasped his hands together: "This is easy to handle. Search him first. If he doesn't have any coins on him, he must be in the Zhou family's latrine."
This was also the reason why she didn't search her body immediately after discovering that the coin was missing. Because she knew that even if the coin and the person were placed in front of the Zhou family, they would think it was Lu Xiaoqing's slander.
It can only be found in Zhou's house in front of everyone. This is a sure thing.
Zhou Guishu's expression changed slightly.
When Yang saw her son's expression, what else didn't she understand?
Seeing her eldest grandson's expression of discomfort, Mother Zhou's heart skipped a beat. She went forward to search first and searched all over her body. After confirming that there was nothing there, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief: "There really isn't anything. If you don't believe me, come and search! As for the Zhou family
The hut...I'll go back and take a look later."
Whether there is or not, say no!
"Look, it's not okay. If you take away the copper, I'll jump into the Yellow River and I won't be able to wash it off." Chu Yunli opened the door. There were already many neighbors outside who heard the noise and rushed over. At this moment, they were standing in twos and threes.
Not far away, people were talking in low voices. She jumped to an uncle in the crowd and said, "Uncle, please do me a favor and ask a few people to search the Zhou family's hut to see if there are any copper coins."
Then she turned back and looked at everyone in the Zhou family: "There are three of us together, and two of them are not familiar with me. Do you believe it?"
Yang quietly tugged on her mother-in-law's sleeve: "We can't let them in. What if our family loses something?"
This would make Mother Zhou glare at her: "Idiot!"
Just a moment ago, she was sure that Lu Xiaoqing was making trouble unreasonably and deliberately slandering her grandson. Looking back now, Lu Xiaoqing was so confident from the moment they entered the house that she beat the child without admitting that she was wrong. She even dared to clamor for the mayor. At this moment,
It was still the same tone... She had already figured out that maybe the grandson was really short-sighted and secretly stole the coins.
At this point, the Zhou family cannot tolerate being unwilling.
Chu Yunli asked someone to make a trip herself.
Because there was a carriage, it took less than half an hour to go back and forth. The three of them held thirty-one copper coins in their hands and placed them in front of everyone.
The Zhou family's faces turned green and white.
Father Zhou was the first to react and slapped his eldest grandson hard on the face: "You shameful thing, go back with me."
Zhou Guishu was beaten and did not dare to say a word. He lowered his head and ran away.
Father Zhou, however, was still not relieved. He turned back and glared at Mr. Yang: "If you don't leave, why do you want to stay here? If you want to stay for lunch, it depends on whether they will welcome you or not..."
In the final analysis, he still blamed Lu Xiaoqing.