Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty

Chapter 29: Chapter 28 Black Lightning Chapter 29: Chapter 28 Black Lightning Due to Er Lazi’s injury and weakening momentum, Chen Afu, fighting for her life, clearly had the upper hand.

The crowd that had gathered to watch the commotion started encouraging them to stop fighting, but no one dared intervene. One reason being, Chen Afu’s actions were ravenous, her small iron shovel never stopped swinging, creating fear in anyone who might accidentally get hit. Another, Er Lazi was highly disliked, and no one genuinely wanted to help him – some even wished he would take a few more hits.

Chen Afu was still slightly weak, and after a bit of time, started to feel exhausted and her strength began to dwindle. Er Lazi’s momentum, however, was picking up. He managed to strike her several times with his stick, with one particularly ruthless blow aimed at her head. Instinctively, she raised her left hand to block the strike, resulting in the stick smashing onto her hand. Feeling an intense pain in her fingers, she fell on her butt.

Just as she lowered her left hand and swung the small iron shovel in her right hand with all her might, she suddenly saw a flash of black. It seemed like a little black bird had flown out from her left hand and charged, head-on, towards Er Lazi who was reaching out to grab her. Just when Er Lazi yelled out in pain, dropping his stick and hold his affected left cheek, the little bird vanished instantly into the sky, much like a bolt of black lightning.

Initially, Chen Afu thought the black lightning was merely an illusion, but seeing Er Lazi bellowing in agony and blood continuously oozing from his fingers implied that he sustained a severe facial injury, which made her believe that the black bird was indeed real – and awfully formidable.

As both Chen Afu and Er Lazi had halted their actions, a few men hurried over to drag Er Lazi aside while two women helped Chen Afu up.

By now, the crowd of spectators was growing. Junior Officer Gao, Chen Ming, and Chen Alu rushed over, and Chen Dabao, in tears, came running as well.

Chen Ming, supported by others, was so angry he struggled to utter words. After catching his breath, he finally said, “Afu, life has been so hard on you. Just as you were recovering from the illness, you were bullied again. It’s my fault, I’ve failed to protect my own daughter.” His voice choked up as tears welled in his eyes.

Chen Afu dropped the iron shovel from her hand, ran to her father’s side and comforted him, “Dad, don’t worry. I’m okay. I’ve injured Er Lazi. From now on, we won’t be bullied anymore. If anyone dares to bully us, we will fight back.”

Chen Dabao ran up and hugged Chen Afu’s waist, sobbing, “Mommy, Mommy, Dabao is scared… Dabao is scared…”
Chen Alu also rushed over to hug Chen Afu and cry, and Chen Afu consoled both of her sons.

Chen Ye and Chen Agu also ran over, fuming, they started kicking and beating Er Lazi, cursing, “I’ll kill you, you mangy dog! How dare you lay your hands on our Afu…”
Er Lazi’s face was in so much pain he felt like dying. He sat on the ground, letting them kick and hit him, not resisting at all.

People on the sideline urged them, “Stop it, stop hitting him. Didn’t you see Er Lazi’s face was pecked by some bird, creating a hole that was bleeding quite a lot? We wouldn’t want anyone to lose their life here.”

Many people had seen that bird and started guessing that it was probably pecking on the ground when it was startled by the fighting Chen Afu and Er Lazi, and in anger, it pecked Er Lazi. As the bird flew away too quickly, no one could see what kind of bird it was. It looked somewhat like a swallow, but how could a swallow be so fierce?

While treating Er Lazi’s wounds, Dr. Yu listened to the spectators vividly detailing the incident to Junior Officer Gao. These people inherently disliked Er Lazi, who indeed was the one to instigate the conflict. Although Chen Afu was markedly fierce, which made some people uncomfortable, no one wanted to offend someone so desperate. Consequently, the story being told was decidedly factual, even partially biased towards Chen Afu.

After listening, Junior Officer Gao went to ask Dr. Yu, who was treating Er Lazi’s wounds. Dr. Yu was still puzzled over what kind of bird could leave such a deep hole on Er Lazi’s left cheek. He responded, without even lifting his head, “Er Lazi won’t die. However, he has lacerations on his head and shoulder, a long gash on his right arm, and multiple bruises on his back and arms. Especially the hole on his left cheek, it’s very deep, and he lost a lot of blood. His face is going to be disfigured, for sure.”

When the bystanders heard this, they all looked a bit guilty as they glanced at Chen Afu, who was calmly comforting Dabao and Alu. Except for the bloody hole on his left cheek, which was caused by the bird, all of Er Lazi’s other injuries were inflicted by her. This woman was extremely vicious.

Upon hearing the run of events, Junior Officer Gao started weighing things in his mind. From the start, it was Er Lazi’s wrongdoing. Plus, Chen Afu has dementia and there was not a single person defending Er Lazi. Thus, he could easily lessen the significance of this incident. Since Er Lazi instigated it and provoked Chen Afu, whose illness had just improved, into attacking him, he deserved it! He was lucky not to have been beaten to death.

Since Er Lazi was heavily injured and bled significantly – even though the wound on his face was caused by the bird, the injuries on his head and body were all inflicted by Chen Afu – Junior Officer Gao suggested that Chen Ming’s family compensate 100 cents for the medicinal soup, thus ending the matter.

Seeing that his daughter was not at a disadvantage, and aside from the palm of her left hand and two fingers being punctured by the stick, she wasn’t hurt anywhere else. Er Lazi, on the other hand, was beaten up badly, and even had a hole picked in his left cheek by that bird. Chen Ming felt that compensating 100 cents was acceptable and agreed.

Er Lazi was unwilling, and wanted to argue that 100 cents was far from enough, and it should be at least 1,000 cents. But the pain from his facial injury was unbearable, and he couldn’t speak a word. In his frustration, a man in his thirties dressed in a silk tunic spoke up.

This man was Hu Laowu. He had recently arrived and scoffed at the villagers’ opinions. In his mindset, he, Hu Laowu, was the most arrogant, forceful, and unreasonable person in the village, how could a foolish girl surpass him?

Regardless of his connection with Chen Ye, he proclaimed loudly, “Junior Officer Gao, you’re being too partial. Chen Afu injured Er Lazi this severely. Is 100 cents compensation enough? It should at least be 2,000 cents!”

Upon hearing Hu Laowu’s words, Er Lazi jeered in delight, lying on the ground and started moaning loudly.

When Chen Ye heard Hu Laowu speak, he was incredibly upset. Why was his cousin siding with outsiders at this crucial moment? He roared, “Laowu, what a statement. Clearly, Er Lazi was the one who started bullying people, Afu only retaliated because she was pushed too far.”

Hu Laowu chuckled and said, “Third brother-in-law, I’m siding with justice, not family. Er Lazi has lost a lot of blood, and his face is damaged; compensating 2,000 cents is not excessive.”

Junior Officer Gao argued, “Er Lazi’s disfigurement is due to the bird’s peck, not because Afu hit him. You can’t blame this on Afu.”

Hu Laowu countered, “Putting aside Er Lazi’s face, his head and shoulder were undeniably lacerated by Chen Afu, aren’t they? With his injuries being so severe, 100 cents compensation is definitely not enough. 1,000 cents would be a more reasonable amount. Junior Officer Gao, you cannot bully someone just because they have no family.”

Junior Officer Gao was extremely annoyed but there was nothing he could do about Hu Laowu.

Chen Ming was furious, “Is there no justice left? Er Lazi started by bullying Afu and yet my family has to compensate 1,000 cents. Hu Laowu, what you’re saying is absolutely outrageous.”

Chen Afu couldn’t remain calm anymore either, if she really had to compensate 1,000 cents, then all her efforts would be in vain.

………

Thank you, Jian and Rose, Cosmic Singularity, Hera @ Qianlin’s wallet, and thank you for the recommended ticket red envelope from Keppra. I appreciate it!