Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Oh my god… Someone’s been killed! Someone’s been killed!” When the people in the yard saw the village head keel over, they ran off screaming, holding their heads in their hands.
Sheng An’s face turned white from fear. “What am I going to do? What am I going to do? I killed someone. I killed someone.” She held her head in fear and crouched into a small bundle on the floor.
Xiaohong and Goudan were also wailing away in terror.
Sheng Ning smiled reassuringly at Sheng An. “He’s fine. He’s just unconscious.”
Sheng An lowered her hands. “He’s really fine?” she asked hopefully.
“Yes. The amount of strength you used wasn’t enough to kill someone.” As she spoke, she used her fingers to check his pulse and then nodded with certainty. “An’an, that blow was beautifully executed.”
Goudan stopped crying the instant he heard that the village head wasn’t dead. With tears and mucus still running down his face, he exclaimed, “An’an is awesome!”
When Sheng An heard what they said, she finally calmed down. She took a long, deep breath, but when she remembered what Sheng Ning did, she turned around and scolded her. “Are you stupid?” she asked. “The village head is huge, and you tried to charge at him with a wooden bench? Didn’t you think about how that could get our family into trouble?”
“I’m sorry. I was wrong,” Sheng Ning apologized with a smile. She knew that even though An’an’s words were harsh, deep down she was soft-hearted. In that crucial moment, An’ an was clearly frightened, but she had nevertheless come to her aid.
Sheng An was intending to launch into a tirade, but when Sheng Ning apologized so good-naturedly, she suddenly felt unsettled. “Why… Why are you behaving so weirdly? Did something happen to your head?”
Now that the village head was unconscious, Sheng An quickly rushed up to Qi Mei, who was lying on the floor, to check and see if she was able to get up.
“How are you feeling? Does it hurt?”
Qi Mei’s eyes glazed over, and she said with much difficulty, “My… my whole body hurts.”
“Don’t move. I’ll check to see if any of your bones are fractured.” She skillfully checked the few vital areas on Qi Mei’s body and heaved a sigh of relief when she was sure that none of her bones were injured.
By that point, the whole village had found out about the village head’s situation. A big group of people swarmed in with hoes and iron sticks in their hands.
Sheng Third and Shen Luhua were among them.
At the realization that her daughter was the murderer that everyone was talking about, Shen Luhua almost fainted.
None of the others dared to come closer, and simply watched the yard from a distance.
Sheng Third was a retired comrade from the army and could tell what was wrong with one glance. Without another word, he stepped forward and pressed hard on the village head’s nose. The man woke up immediately.
The village head’s first thought upon regaining consciousness was to avenge himself. “Who hit me just now?” he asked.
“You’re still putting on airs?” Sheng Third said sternly. “Look at how badly you beat you wife up! You’ll have to go to the police station.”
“No, I won’t go! I won’t…” At the mention of the police station, the village head’s legs turned to jelly.
The mindset of the villagers in this era was still very old-fashioned, unlike in the future, when they would treat the police station like it was their own home. In any case, no one wanted to go to the police station, much less considering what just happened.
In the end, the village head didn’t go to the police station. Everyone was too busy worrying about Qi Mei’s injuries, and they promptly sent her to the hospital.
Sheng Ning and Sheng An brought Xiaohong back to their home, and Goudan followed along like a lost puppy.
By the time they reached home, the sky had turned dark. Nights in the village were so dark that you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. Sheng Ning lit a candle and warmed up the leftovers from lunch.
Just as they were about to eat, Goudan’s mother angrily marched in and dragged him home by the ear.
Sheng Ning looked at Xiaohong and asked, “What’s going to happen to her? Does she have any grandparents?” She surmised that the reason the village head had managed to obtain his position was because he had many brothers, thus increasing his influence within the village.
As for his mother, she had a bad reputation in her younger days.
“Xiaohong’s grandmother has never liked her because she’s a girl.”
As Sheng An spoke, Xiaohong gazed at Sheng Ning with a timid expression in her eyes.