Chapter 84: Chapter 84: After Raising a Child and Getting Rich in That Era, the Delicate Beauty Was Spoiled Rotten 4
“We are in a new era now—how can those blind marriages and dumb bridal arrangents from the past count? The authorities have made it clear, arranged marriages are forbidden. I’m just seeking my own happiness.” The scumbag father who abandoned his wife and child quickly ca up with an excuse, and with seeming legitimacy, he repeated it twice, “My actions are correct, in line with the tis. I am seeking my own happiness.”
His words were simply too shaless. Most of the villagers were honest and simple folks, so seeing soone like him left them speechless with anger.
The village chief was so enraged he was at a loss for words. After a pause, he burst out cursing, “Su Erzhu—you’re exploiting loopholes in the policy! When you married Li ihua, we were all there! We are not dead yet! Now, with a hook from another woman, you’ve abandoned your wife and children. Have you fed your conscience to the dogs?”
Su Erzhu stood with his neck stiffened, not saying a word, as he stood next to the widow, with an attitude of not caring about anyone else.
Seeing this, Li ihua burst into tears, no longer caring about her appearance, and pounced to tear at Su Erzhu and the widow.
“You two scoundrels! I’ll skin you alive today! You fed your conscience to the dogs, never having a single good day in this ho, with your mother tornting us. Every ti she ca, she’d call your two daughters a financial loss, either beating Pandi or insulting her, and you, a grown man, are nothing but a pathetic loser! If I knew back then I was marrying a scumbag like you, I would have preferred to jump into a river and commit suicide!” Li ihua might have been weak, but she wasn’t without temper, especially at tis like this. The man she once revered as her sky, running away with a widow at the entrance of the village, was utterly humiliating.
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The widow was caught off guard and nearly had her clothes torn off. After being hit and cursed, she fought back fiercely, “What are you but an ugly, weak dough ball? Just look at yourself! What man would like you?”
As the scene beca increasingly chaotic, the villagers hastily tried to step in and break up the fight.
At that mont, Su Zhiruan, who had been watching the drama unfold, slowly stepped forward, “No need to break it up, let them fight!”
“Pandi, Erzhu, you two run to the head of the village and call the police station, say soone’s committing murder here.”
She spoke with severity.
The villagers were so startled by her statent that they hardly had ti to register what happened, but then they saw the trio entangled in the fight slow their movents.
Su Zhiruan, holding a child by the hand, calmly added another line, “Go on, fight. Rember, for fighting and brawling, you’ll be locked up at least for three months. Three months is enough for you to have a proper fight.”
Upon hearing the ntion of detention, all three imdiately let go of each other.
The police station at the head of the village had only been established last year; the villagers were awed by it and dared not cause any disturbance. Once they heard what Su Zhiruan said, the trio stopped fighting imdiately.
Li ihua’s hair was disheveled, and she snorted coldly at the scumbag and the cheap woman. Seeing her own Pandi in the crowd, she seed to find her backbone and quickly stood behind Su Zhiruan.
“If it weren’t for the police station, I would teach you a lesson today!” Su Erzhu snarled, a scratch from a fingernail visible on his face amidst the lee.
“Since you’ve stopped, I’ll say a couple of things,” Su Zhiruan released the two children, allowing her brother and sister to stay by Li ihua’s side, while she stepped forward.
In the eyes of the villagers, the normally brash but actually timid Su Pandi seed different today, as if she had beco another person. Although she looked the sa, she now exuded an authority that seed to surpass even that of the village chief.
“What do you want to say?” Su Erzhu watched his daughter warily, feeling sowhat guilty. In an attempt to appear calm, he raised his voice significantly, “You’re just a girl who will eventually get married, nothing but a loss-making investnt. I raised you until now, what’s wrong with hitting you a couple of tis? You’re still alive and well, aren’t I? I haven’t even asked you for a dowry yet!”
“Debts should be repaid by those who owe them. The debt collectors who ca to our house today were acting on your orders, weren’t they?” Su Zhiruan well understood his motives. Thirty yuan might not be enough for a al in her forr world, but in this era, it represented half a year’s inco for a farr. In a ti where five cents could buy a large bun, three cents a pencil, and seven cents a notebook, thirty yuan could feed a family for a very long ti. As for the debt collectors, they wouldn’t have visited a house full of orphans and widows without her scoundrel father’s direction. “The one who incurred the debt should pay it back, otherwise… as far as I know, our country has a complete set of laws.”
“Furthermore, according to our national laws, parents and children confird to be related by blood have the obligation to support each other,” Su Zhiruan spoke calmly. Her tone, though light, commanded trust, and she continued, “I am sixteen this year, and both my brother and sister are eight. If the case goes to court, I’m sure the judge will make his own judgnt.”
No one knew better than Su Erzhu himself what abandoning his wife and children ant, and he panicked imdiately, then instinctively looked towards the widow.
The widow had money, he knew.
The widow’s husband had worked at a steel plant a few years ago and died on a business trip; the compensation was substantial, which was precisely why he had tried so hard to associate with the widow.
“You wretched little baggage! How articulate!” The widow looked at her with disgust, her tone sharpening with jealousy, especially after seeing Su Zhiruan’s beautiful face, “Is it just money you want? Causing such a scene, a pauper remains a pauper—fine, as for today, I’ll settle Su Erzhu’s debt! And give your family an additional five yuan.”
“Five yuan?!” The surrounding villagers were also stunned.
Su Erzhu was overjoyed. With this debt cleared, he would no longer have to live cautiously and could sever ties with Li ihua and the burdenso children.
He had been waiting for Su Zhiruan to grow up so he could sell her for a good dowry and live comfortably for a while with the money, but now it seed that pleasing the widow was more important.
He excitedly called out, “Wife!”
A blush appeared on the widow’s face, which disgusted those around her.
“But I have conditions!” Su Erzhu wasn’t a fool. With the widow paying the debt, he certainly wanted to use this opportunity to completely sever ties. He looked toward Su Zhiruan, then toward the village chief, “Fellow villagers, Li ihua and I never registered our marriage, as everyone here knows. Since they have now accepted five yuan, and both Li ihua and Su Pandi can work and earn work points, they can make money on their own. So let the village chief be our witness today! I’ll add another ten yuan, and from this point forward, Li ihua, Su Pandi, Su Pandi, and Su Erzhu will have no financial ties to , Su Erzhu!”
“This…” The village chief looked toward Su Zhiruan.
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