Chapter 721

Su Xinghui sighed and said, "Sigh, first arrogant and then obsequious; the way I treated him was already polite enough."

Rao Songnian nodded and said, "Now that you put it that way, I understand. A petty person."

Su Xinghui said, "Alright, let's not talk about this petty person anymore."

The group walked to the edge of a vast expanse of farmland. It was now mid-June, the very period for sowing rice. In this large area of fields, farmers were busy in every single plot; some were driving oxen to plow, some were sowing seeds, some were transplanting seedlings, and some were digging ditches to release water.

As they walked along the field ridges watching the farmers work, the students of the several professors would occasionally collect some soil samples to carry with them.

Walking beside one field, Su Xinghui saw an acquaintance. This acquaintance was the old man who had been tending his vegetable patch outside his door when they first arrived at Xiaohu Village. He was wearing a straw hat, barefoot, and holding a somewhat strange tool to sow seeds.

Su Xinghui called out "Grandpa," and the old man looked up. He recognized Su Xinghui, and to Su Xinghui's surprise, he stopped his sowing work and walked toward them.

Su Xinghui was pleasantly surprised. Last time, when this old man heard he was the town mayor, he hadn't even paid him any mind and had gone straight inside to shut the door. This time, it seemed the old man wanted to have some interaction with them.

The rice field was full of mud, and ordinary people couldn't walk steadily in it at all, but the old man walked extremely steadily. He quickly reached the edge of the ridge and called out, "Mayor Su."

Su Xinghui reached out his hand and said, "Grandpa, let me pull you up."

The old man waved his hand and said, "No need, my hands are dirty."

He braced his hands on the ridge and stepped up onto it, saying to Su Xinghui, "Mayor, let's go, let's sit under the shade of those trees over there; the sun is quite hot."

The group walked to a tree nearby and found some stones and bricks to sit on. The old man said to Su Xinghui, "Mayor, I was a bit rude last time; please don't take it to heart."

Su Xinghui laughed and said, "What are you saying? How could I take it to heart?"

The old man said, "But there was a reason I acted like that last time."

The old man explained the reason why he had acted that way last time. It turned out that the old man was also surnamed Peng, named Peng Yuwen. Counting by seniority, he was a cousin of Peng Taiping and a paternal uncle of the Five Tigers of the Peng family. However, his family had never received any favors from the Five Tigers of the Peng family; on the contrary, they were frequently bullied by them.

Peng Yuwen had two sons, and his younger daughter-in-law was very beautiful. As a result, she caught the eye of the second Peng brother, Peng Dayong. Peng Dayong had money and would buy little things for Peng Yuwen's younger daughter-in-law every few days. Later, the two of them got involved. Once, they were at Peng Yuwen's house, taking advantage of the fact that his whole family had gone out to work, and they committed their evil deeds in broad daylight.

It just so happened that Peng Yuwen's younger son came home to drink water and stumbled upon this ugly scene. He wanted to hit Peng Dayong at the time, but Peng Dayong was strong and had practiced martial arts for a few days; he was used to fighting. Instead, he beat up Peng Yuwen's younger son and then walked away shirtless.

Peng Dayong's illicit affair was exposed, but he felt no shame; instead, he took pride in it. Later, he would parade around town with Peng Yuwen's younger daughter-in-law, and sometimes even bring her home. His own wife didn't dare to manage him and instead had to cook for the two of them.

Peng Yuwen's family only had two sons, and in terms of fighting, they couldn't beat the Five Tigers of the Peng family. When they went to the police station to report the case, Yang Xinhua said it was a matter of mutual consent and not rape, so he couldn't manage it. When they went to the town government, the town government just sent someone to perfunctorily mediate, which couldn't solve the problem at all. When they sought the clan leader of the Peng family, the clan leader didn't dare to manage the Five Tigers of the Peng family either. Besides, the Five Tigers of the Peng family had money and had long since fed these people full.

Peng Yuwen's family had nowhere to seek justice. Peng Yuwen's old wife was so angry that she fell ill and never recovered, eventually passing away. Peng Yuwen himself was also so angry that he fell into a serious illness and almost died of rage.

Later, when Peng Dayong got tired of playing with Peng Yuwen's younger daughter-in-law, he kicked her away. Peng Yuwen's two sons simply took their wives and children and went out to work, not returning for several years. Only Peng Yuwen, a lonely old man, was left at home.