Chapter 70: Apprehension

After saying this, Yang Xingwu picked up a wooden stick and started swinging. After just a few strikes, the stick snapped into two pieces.

Yang Xingwu bent down to pick up the broken stick, swinging it fiercely with both hands, beating Liu Zhijun so hard that he wailed to the heavens and begged the earth. Suddenly, with a loud *thud*, the jagged end of the stick struck Liu Zhijun squarely on the head, and fresh blood immediately gushed out.

Liu Zhijun let out two miserable screams, and within a moment, he lost consciousness entirely.

"Xiaowu, stop! Stop, quickly stop!"

Seeing Liu Zhijun scurrying around covering his head, only to have his skull cracked open by a single stick from his own grandson with blood streaming down, Yang Kaishan found his voice weakening significantly. Yet, looking at his grandson, he saw the beating was still going on with unabated fervor.

Yang Kaishan shouted several times in a row, but Yang Xingwu acted as if he heard nothing!

Yang Kaishan hurried over to his grandson's side. Before he could even get close, he saw that Yang Xingwu's eyes were bloodshot and he looked like a maddened bull. He shouted in panic:

"Pull him away! Pull him apart quickly, don't let a life be taken!"

Hearing this, several villagers standing nearby swarmed forward, pinning Yang Xingwu down with a flurry of hands and feet, snatching the wooden stick from his grasp and kicking it far away!

Pinned to the ground, Yang Xingwu struggled frantically!

When Wang Zhaodi saw her son's condition, she lunged forward and cradled Yang Xingwu's head in her arms.

"Oh, my poor son!"

Hearing his mother's voice, Yang Xingwu's struggling movements immediately subsided.

Seeing his younger son in this state, Yang Chunsheng grew even more furious and wielded his weapon with even greater zeal.

If murder weren't illegal, he would have long since wanted to slaughter these people one by one, giving each a single slash.

Liu Dagang and Shen Chunwei, empty-handed, were besieged by three adult men wielding implements, while also occasionally being jabbed by a half-grown lad with a wooden rake. The two of them were completely defenseless and could do nothing but take the beating!

Seeing his son's skull cracked open, Liu Dagang was consumed with anxiety. Catching sight of his son's blood-soaked forehead, he threw caution to the wind, abandoning all concern for his own beating, and rushed to Liu Zhijun's side to prop him up.

"Xiaojun, Xiaojun, how are you? Don't scare me like this!"

Seeing his nephew in such a state, Shen Chunwei grew even more infuriated.

"Lawless hicks! A bunch of lawless hicks! Just wait, all of you will end up in a jail cell!"

Yang Xinglong, seeing that this man still had a stiff mouth and dared to threaten them—just a half-grown boy at an age when he knew neither fear nor restraint—immediately picked up the wooden rake. Wielding it with a sweeping force that could conquer an army, he brought it down squarely on Shen Chunwei's head, snapping several of the iron nails right off the wooden rake.

"Aaargh!"

With a miserable howl, Shen Chunwei instantly passed out cold!

Liu Zhijun, held tightly in someone's arms, finally recovered his senses after a long while.

"Dad... my head is spinning so much!"

Yang Jianguo, standing outside the courtyard with members of the village committee and keeping a constant watch on the situation at Yang Chunsheng's house, quickly led his men running into the courtyard upon seeing this scene.

"Stop, everyone stop! Stop hitting them!"

Hearing this, Yang Chunsheng and the others obediently ceased their actions.

Yang Jianguo entered the courtyard and asked with a preachy, theatrical air:

"What's going on here? Why are you fighting? Yang Chunsheng, you tell me!"

"I don't know!"

"Yang Donglai, you tell me!"

"I don't know either. When I got back, I saw these three beating my nephew, and I couldn't just stand by and watch, could I?"

Hearing these words, Liu Dagang felt as though he wanted to vomit blood with frustration. But right now, he was the fish on the chopping block while the others held the knife, so he forced himself to swallow his fury and suppress his internal rage.

Only then did he speak up:

"Are you the village party secretary or the village head? Both my son and my brother-in-law have fainted. Could you please help send us to the township health clinic to get checked out?"

"Hello there, comrade. I am the party secretary and concurrently the village head of Yangjiazhuang. What on earth did you people do to end up in this state? Tell me about it. If it's Yang Chunsheng's fault, I'll make him apologize to you!"

"No need, it's just a misunderstanding. The young man here got a bit emotional. Now that the misunderstanding has been cleared up, we should be heading back anyway. Please, Village Head, send the three of us to the township health clinic!"

Hearing this, Yang Jianguo couldn't help feeling a shred of admiration. To be beaten to such a miserable pulp and still be able to lie straight-faced without blinking—what a total badass!

Since the aggrieved party wasn't going to press charges, he couldn't be bothered to pry into the matter either.

In this era, getting into a fight was as common as eating a meal; it was entirely normal. As long as nobody died, it was no big deal!

Yang Jianguo waved over a motorized three-wheeler and had them load up the three men, taking them off to the township health clinic.

After Liu Dagang and the others left, the villagers finally started chattering among themselves.

"Would you look at that? City folks are sure spineless!"

"Spineless? My foot! Didn't you see the eyes of that guy who did the talking? They were bloodshot as hell. Who knows what kind of malicious scheme he's brewing inside?"

"Right. They always say a barking dog doesn't bite, but a wise man doesn't fight when the odds are against him. He probably wants to run away first and come back to stir up trouble later!"

"That's true. If you ask me, they were beaten too lightly! It would've been so much better to just slaughter them and throw them into the Yellow River! Our village would've even picked up a free three-wheeler for nothing!"

Wang Zhaodi still had her arms wrapped around Yang Xingwu's head. Hearing his mother's anxious calls, he instantly snapped back to full awareness!

After venting his anger in the fight, he suddenly felt a profound sense of physical lightness!

Seeing himself being pinned down by so many people, he quickly spoke up:

"Uncle Wanli, Uncle Neng, Uncle Chunre, let go! I'm fine now!"

"You're really okay? You were so terrifying just now—you must have had a psychotic episode!"

"Sorry for making you all worry!"

"Psh, what's there to worry about? As long as you're fine!"

Hearing this, the men released their grip, though their eyes remained glued to Yang Xingwu's every move, terrified that he might relapse.

Yang Xingwu didn't say much in response. Feeling the genuine concern of the villagers, his heart swelled with nothing but gratitude.

Even though there were a few rotten apples in their village, the vast majority of people were truly decent folk—just like the ones standing right here in the courtyard, who rushed over to help the moment his little sister let out a single cry.

Hugging together for mutual protection—that was the inherent survival wisdom of these common folk!

Yang Chunsheng led his younger brother and son in expressing their heartfelt thanks to the villagers who had crowded into the courtyard.

Seeing this, Yang Xingwu quickly got to his feet and bowed in gratitude to the surrounding neighbors.

"Second Grandpa, Fourth Grandpa, Auntie Guihua, Uncle Wanli, thank you all for troubling yourselves over this. If there's ever anything you need me for in the future, just say the word!"

"Xiaowu, you're making too big a deal of it. We're all neighbors here; how could we let outsiders bully one of our own?"

"Exactly! Everyone knows how well Xiaowu studies—that wall of award certificates in the main room is proof enough. These thousand-times-damned bastards silently stole his technical secondary school admission behind his back! If our Xiaowu hadn't amounted to something, he'd never have known about this in his lifetime!"

"Goddamned bastards! Those people are utterly devoid of human conscience!"

"Xiaowu, we're all neighbors, so let me say something that might sound unpleasant—don't you go getting angry!"

As soon as Yang Jianguo said this, everyone in the courtyard craned their necks to listen.

Hearing this, Yang Xingwu straightened his expression.

"Uncle Jianguo, go ahead."

"Those three fellows don't look like small fry, and they're from the county seat. Why don't you head out of town for a while to lie low and avoid the storm, and come back after some time has passed?"

Hearing this, the villagers also came to their senses.

They chimed in one after another:

"That's right! Xiaowu, going away to dodge the trouble for a few days would be for the best!"

"True! Xiaowu, it's the farm slack season right now. Hide out for a spell before coming back—it'll be much safer!"

Hearing this, Wang Zhaodi grabbed Yang Xingwu by the hand and began pulling him toward the inner room.

"Your Uncle Jianguo is right. I'll go pack your things right now, and you'll leave immediately. Chunsheng, Donglai, Xiaowen, Xiaolong—all of you pack up and leave. Go stay at Xiaowen's maternal grandfather's place for a while until this storm blows over, then come back!"

Liu Cuihua took her younger daughter-in-law into the kitchen to cook, preparing food for the men to take along on their journey!