Chapter 296: Brothers of five looking for trouble
In a blinding flash, Xiao Qiudong felt a searing pain when Xiao Luo’s kick smashed into his face, striking below his forehead. It immediately swelled up alarmingly, making his nose and mouth a mess of red as he bled profusely. A tooth visibly flew out of his bloodied mouth, and in the next instant, Xiao Qiudong was lying on the ground, moaning in agony. The pain was unbearable, and he didn’t stop whimpering for a while.
Gasp!
Everyone gathered at the Seekong altar inhaled sharply, stunned at the ferocity of Xiao Luo’s aggression. Several of the children who witnessed the gory scene fell into a silent shock.
Xiao Luo turned to glance at the crowd with a face as cold as ice, then trudged away to leave the Seekong altar. Nothing would have happened had he been able to keep his calm. But he was enraged by Xiao Qiudong’s sneak attack, who ultimately had to pay the price in blood to quell Xiao Luo’s anger.
Just as Xiao Luo was leaving, nine men approached the shrine, five were middle-aged men, and the other four were unfriendly-looking young men. They were stunned when they saw Xiao Qiudong lying on the floor in pain and moaning. Then, spotting Xiao Luo, all nine of them glared furiously at him.
“Xiao Luo, so now that you’re all grown up, you have found the b*lls to beat your seniors? I heard from Chaolai that you roughed him up and even a.s.saulted my wife! If you cannot explain yourself tonight, I will break one of your legs in front of the altar to teach you a lesson on behalf of Seekong!”
The middle-aged man who shouted at Xiao Luo sported a crew cut and had a pair of intimidating eyes that looked fearsome even when he was not angry.
This middle-aged man with a crew cut was known as Xiao Chaofa, the eldest of Xiao Chaolai’s brothers. The four younger-looking men were their sons.
Hearing the commotion outside, everyone from the Seekong shrine came out to check what was going on.
“Uncle Chaofa, we swear to G.o.d that Xiao Luo did not beat up An Yuan!”
“We were all present that day, and Xiao Luo did not go after Chaolai, but only beat him after Chaolai said that he was going to bury Deng Feng alive.”
“That’s right. And we all can vouch that Xiao Luo did not touch your wife at all.”
The people who were at the Seekong shrine that night were all speaking out for Xiao Luo.
“Chaolai, did Xiao Luo beat up my wife?” Xiao Chaofa turned around and asked Xiao Chaolai.
Xiao Chaolai patted his chest convincingly and replied, “I was there, and he did a.s.sault her! How could anyone of you not see that he gave a big tight slap to An Yuan’s face!”
“Chaofa, you must stand up for me. I was only nagging at him over a small, irrelevant matter, and that jerk suddenly slapped me. My face swelled up immediately, and it has only just started going down.” An Yuan had just made her way there from home. She had a dark mark on her skin and pretended to be traumatized. She was even tearing up to make her case more compelling.
When Xiao Chaofa heard it, he instantly flew into a blind rage, and pointing his finger at Xiao Luo he roared, “You little jerk! you must have gotten bored of living, how dare you to slap my wife!” He then glared at the crowd and threatened, “n.o.body is allowed to interfere later on, or I’ll beat to death anyone who tries to help him. Since he dared to slap my wife, I’ll teach him how to respect the seniors!”
Everyone quaked in their shoes, intimidated by his imposing manner. He was the person who had once strung up the brother of his nephew’s wife and brutally beat him up using a whip. It was an extreme act of cruelty as his nephew’s brother-in-law was almost beaten to death. Xiao Chaolai was jailed for three years because of the incident and had since been blacklisted. As such, no one dared to get in his way for any reason.
Xiao Dizhang coughed dryly and stood up to try to resolve the situation. “Chaofa, we should settle things peacefully; we’re all family, so let’s not harm the harmony within the family,” he pleaded.
Even though he was the secretary of the shrine, he spoke gently to Xiao Chaolai, who, on the other hand, acted like a barbarian.
“Settle things peacefully? Secretary, if your wife was slapped by someone, can you just talk things out peacefully with the offender?” Xiao Chaolai asked coldly.
Xiao Dizhang blinked nervously and replied, “Chaofa, everyone here is well aware of Xiao Luo’s personality, so you can’t be relying on An Yuan’s and Chaolai’s baseless accusations that Xiao Luo slapped An Yuan, right?” He tried his best to diffuse the situation and added, “I wasn’t there on that day, but many people were present, and they all witnessed the entire incident. They all said that Xiao Luo clearly did not slap your wife, so why not just calm down.”
“You’re saying that my wife is purposely framing this little jerk?” Xiao Chaofa pointed at Xiao Luo.
“You should know best about An Yuan’s personality and behaviors, it’s not beyond her to make such an accusation against Xiao Luo,” Xiao Dizhang said.
“Bulls.h.i.+t!”
An Yuan screamed and threw a fit. “What do I get for accusing him of a.s.saulting me? It’s the truth, that little jerk slapped me, and if Chaolai did not come to my rescue, he would have continued to beat me up.”
“Xiao Luo, you son of a b*tch, do you think you’re some big shot now? How dare you to beat my mom. You better make up your mind which hand you used to hit her as I’m going to f*cking chop it off right now!”
A youngster dressed in a punky attire and with studs in his ears was shouting at Xiao Luo angrily, waving a knife in his hand. He was Xiao Dihong, the son of Xiao Chaolai and An Yuan.
“That’s right, that’s right, chop him up! This jerk is very arrogant these days, and he’s not even giving the five of you any consideration at all!”
Xiao Qiudong, painfully picking himself up from the ground, was adding fuel to the fire as he hoped to stoke the flames of anger that would eventually lead to Xiao Chaofa and his brothers getting rid of Xiao Luo.
“Clansmen swearing and a.s.saulting each other; if Seekong could see this from heaven, he’d be totally disappointed!” Xiao Quanren bemoaned, shaking his head with a sigh.
“Old man, there’s nothing you can do here, go home and get some early rest.” Xiao Chaofa was still courteous towards Xiao Quanren.
Xiao Quanren retorted, “As the eldest of the village, do you think that I could rest in peace knowing that so many of you are ganging up on Xiao Luo?”
“Hey…you old geezer, we are just trying to be polite calling you old man okay. So, don’t think you are actually a ‘somebody’ around here,” Xiao Dihong hissed, showing no respect to an elder.
Thwack!
Xiao Chaofa slapped the boy and gave him a scathing rebuke. “Who said you can talk to the old man like this? If you ever dare to scold the old man again, I’ll slap the h.e.l.l out of you!”
Xiao Dihong feared his father, and he quickly retreated, holding his hand over his throbbing face.
An Yuan felt sorry for her son and nudging Xiao Chaofa, she said, “Why did you slap our son? Xiao Luo is the one that beat up your brother and wife; you should go whack him right now. How does it help to slap our son?”
What a shameless and evil woman!
A hatred towards An Yuan formed in everyone’s heart, and they were convinced that she was the one responsible for Xiao Chaofa being imprisoned.
Xiao Chaofa turned to Xiao Luo and bellowed, “You little jerk, better come over right now, and kneel on the floor. I want you to bow to your aunt and uncle Chaolai three times, then slap yourself twice, and I will let this pa.s.s. If not, I’ll break one of your legs!”
“Haha, haha…”
Xiao Luo shrugged and laughed mockingly, and his eyes were filled with disdain.
He kept his hands in his pockets and walked down the temple steps slowly. As he pa.s.sed An Yuan, he asked her, “Did I truly slap you?”
As she looked into Xiao Luo’s eyes, An Yuan suddenly felt intimidated. But realizing that her husband and his brothers were with her, she regained her confidence and c.o.c.kily responded to Xiao Luo. Putting on a cynical face and biting on a pumpkin seed, she said, “Aiyoh…now you’re giving in? Are you afraid of admitting now? Where’s the arrogant att.i.tude you had back then? I thought you were pretty capable and even stole yourself a rich lady’s heart, weren’t you so proud of that?”
Her voice was annoyingly shrill, and those who could make out what she was saying clenched their jaws and fists, cursing this vile woman in their hearts.
…