Chapter 9: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 9: Mountain Gully Village 9

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

He Dazhu walked toward Li Xiulan's home with a face full of gloom; tonight he had quarreled with Liao Chunhua again, and that woman actually dared to call Wang Zhanggen at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, adding oil and vinegar to speak ill of him and Li Xiulan, stirring things up until almost the whole village knew this ugly affair — it simply angered him to death.

Now He Dazhu only wanted to hurry and give Li Xiulan an apology; all of this was his fault, he had failed to discipline his own wife, which led to such an incident.

He Dazhu arrived outside the main gate of Li Xiulan's courtyard; at this moment, he heard what sounded like movement inside the courtyard!

"You actually dare to hack at me with a knife? Watch me deal with you ruthlessly!"

Yang Dafu pinned Li Xiulan's neck with one hand, while the other hand roughly clawed at the clothes on Li Xiulan's body.

And Li Xiulan was struggling desperately, hurriedly pleading:

"No, please, I can't do something that would let Changgen down..."

When He Dazhu saw this scene, he was immediately stunned dumb.

He never would have thought that Yang Dafu, as the village's Women's Federation Director, would actually do such a morally depraved thing.

For a moment, He Dazhu really wanted to rush forward and stop Yang Dafu's evil deed.

But his feet suddenly seemed filled with lead, unable to move an inch.

He hesitated.

Yang Dafu is the village's Women's Federation Director, not someone a tiny ordinary commoner like him can afford to provoke.

She not only has connections with the Village Committee Secretary, but also with those big officials in the Town.

If he stumbled upon Yang Dafu's affair, would he not invite endless retaliation from Yang Dafu in the future?

He Dazhu's face carried struggle, carried cowardice.

Although he really wanted to go save Li Xiulan, in the end he still quietly retreated to a corner beside the courtyard gate.

He just listened like this to Li Xiulan's helpless cries, desperate pleas for help, and Yang Dafu's wanton tearing sounds, and beast-like cold laughter coming from inside.

He Dazhu truly could not bear to listen any longer, turned around wanting to flee.

But right at this moment!

A figure appeared on the dim rural path ahead!

That person moved with practiced ease, striding quickly this way!

"Wife, I'm back!"

He Dazhu was immediately shocked — how did Wang Zhanggen suddenly return?

He Dazhu couldn't leave, so he could only hurriedly curl up in the corner to hide, to avoid being seen by Wang Zhanggen and causing unnecessary misunderstanding.

After Wang Zhanggen received Liao Chunhua's call at noon today, he immediately requested leave and took a train rushing back; he rode the train for several hours, transferred buses several times, until now, past ten o'clock at night, he finally returned to the home he had been longing for day and night.

But what Wang Zhanggen never expected was that the moment he got home, he would actually see Yang Dafu like a starved-crazy beast pounced on his wife gnawing away, while his wife was like a frail prey, struggling desperately, resisting in despair.

"Yang Dafu, you're courting death!"

Wang Zhanggen was immediately furious beyond control.

He snatched up the kitchen knife Li Xiulan had dropped on the ground and immediately charged forward to hack at Yang Dafu!

Yang Dafu looked back, saw Wang Zhanggen appear before his eyes, and his face immediately changed drastically.

"Changgen, how did you come back?"

Yang Dafu's trembling voice asked this one question.

Wang Zhanggen did not answer him; the kitchen knife in his hand carried boundless anger as he hacked down at Yang Dafu's face!

Yang Dafu was immediately terrified out of his wits, instinctively raising his arm to block!

The result: Wang Zhanggen's kitchen knife chopped down, immediately making Yang Dafu's right arm spurt fresh blood like a burst pipe!

"Changgen, listen to my explanation!"

Yang Dafu retreated repeatedly, covering his arm wound; now his lips trembled, his face pale, even that thing of his scared into shrinking several times smaller in an instant.

Facing Wang Zhanggen's towering rage, at that moment Yang Dafu finally knew what fear was.

However, Wang Zhanggen did not want to hear his explanation.

Originally, after hearing about his wife and He Dazhu having an affair, Wang Zhanggen had been holding a stifled anger in his heart; now, just returning home, he saw Yang Dafu bullying his wife like this — how could he endure it?

So he immediately raised the kitchen knife again and chopped down at Yang Dafu!

Yang Dafu hurriedly dodged, but could not dodge.

In the blink of an eye he was hacked three times by Wang Zhanggen — one slash on the face, one on the chest, one on the shoulder.

"Husband, stop chopping, if you keep chopping someone will die!"

Li Xiulan, whose clothes had already been torn more than half, now hurriedly stepped forward and tightly embraced Wang Zhanggen, stopping his irrational behavior.

She didn't want her husband to ruin his own life because of this matter.

If Wang Zhanggen's life was ruined, then her life would basically be ruined along with it.

Looking at Yang Dafu already fallen in a pool of blood groaning in pain, Wang Zhanggen only then sobered up halfway.

He threw down the kitchen knife in his hand, and embraced Li Xiulan in one hold:

"Wife, I've made you suffer!"

At that moment, all misunderstandings between the two melted away in silence.

Wang Zhanggen didn't need Li Xiulan to explain anything; he believed she would not betray the marriage vows between them.

Li Xiulan also didn't say much, because she knew her husband would unconditionally trust her character.

He Dazhu, who had been hiding outside all along, couldn't help but feel a mix of five flavors, his heart full of regret.

He thought, if the man who rushed in to save Li Xiulan tonight had been him, would the man holding Li Xiulan now be him, and not Wang Zhanggen.

It's just a pity there are no ifs in any of this.

The cowardice in his character destined him to be unable to do something like this.

In the end, He Dazhu could only leave silently.

Wang Zhanggen returned, and the village gossip quieted down somewhat because of it.

But the matter was far from over.

On the contrary, it stirred up a hornet's nest.

Yang Dafu was slashed several times and is still lying in the County People's Hospital.

The next day, people from the Town Police Station came to the door, wanting Wang Zhanggen to go accept investigation.

Li Xiulan was terrified by this, very afraid her husband would get into trouble, but she couldn't help at all.

She was poor, she had no connections, everything could only be left to fate.

"Whatever they tell you to say, you just say it honestly — Yang Dafu tried to rape me first, we're in the right, they shouldn't make things difficult for us."

Li Xiulan comforted Wang Zhanggen.

Wang Zhanggen smiled: "You don't need to worry about me, stay home and take good care of the pregnancy, I'll be back soon."

Actually he had no confidence in his heart either, but in front of his wife, he had to pretend everything was under control.

Because he didn't want his wife to worry too much.

"Wang Zhanggen, I can understand your feelings at the time, but you can't go hacking at people with a kitchen knife, and so many cuts at that — you nearly killed someone!"

The Town Police Station Chief Guo Fuqiang frowned, wearing a condescending expression, rebuking Wang Zhanggen.

"Police Comrade, Yang Dafu raped my wife!"

Wang Zhanggen was furious; whenever he thought of the scene last night of Yang Dafu pinning his wife down and tearing at her, he wanted to hack Yang Dafu a few more times.

"Do you understand the law? Even if Yang Dafu raped your wife, you can't hack at people with a knife, and moreover it's only attempted rape right now — do you know this counts as causing injury with a deadly weapon? Based on your statement, you'll not only have to pay Yang Dafu's medical expenses and mental damages, if you can't get Yang Dafu's forgiveness, you'll probably have to sit in prison too!"

Hearing Guo Fuqiang's words, Wang Zhanggen's head went *buzz* at once, his face full of disbelief.

He had no education, he didn't understand the law.

He didn't understand — clearly Yang Dafu did the bad thing first, he was only protecting his wife, so why was he the one who needed to be punished in the end?