Chapter 5
Settling the Score
Zhang Defa was still too late. When the ox cart entered West Mountain Village, he saw that everyone in the village was looking at him strangely. There were even people pointing at him from behind. Zhang Defa knew that Li Yu and her brother had already arrived.
Zhang Defa endured his anger and drove the ox cart towards the Li residence at the foot of the village. When he reached the entrance of the Li residence, he heard the conversation inside and sighed that he was a step too late.
Zhang Defa got out of the ox cart and tied it to a small tree by the side of the road. He got up, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and walked towards the collapsed wall with a smile.
Li Qing looked up and saw Zhang Defa. He clenched his fists. “What are you doing at my house? You’re not welcome here.”
Li Yu and Chen Yaohui also looked at him coldly.
Zhang Defa smiled dryly and said, “Brother Yaohui is here too!”
Chen Yaohui replied indifferently, “I’m here to take a look at these two poor children and see how the person her father risked his life to save harmed them.”
Zhang Defa did not expect Chen Yaohui to fall out with him so mercilessly. However, Chen Yaohui made him speechless. He could only pick on the weak. He turned to look at Li Yu. “Xiaoyu, do the words you asked Guixiang to bring me still count?”
When Li Yu saw that Zhang Defa didn’t mention that she had beaten up Zhang Guixiang, she felt a little strange. When she looked up and saw Zhang Defa’s gloomy eyes, she thought to herself, It looks like he wants to keep it for later. Alright! Bring it on!
Li Yu looked at Zhang Defa and said coldly, “Fine, but shouldn’t you return what you took from my house?”
Zhang Defa looked at the upright and calm Li Yu and suddenly realized that the person standing in front of him didn’t seem to be the Li Yu he knew. He wondered if this was really the Li Yu who was obsessed with Guisheng.
Zhang De looked at Li Yu with a smile and sneered, “Xiaoyu, you must have remembered wrongly! What do you have at home? Xiaoyu, ask for anything else. I’ll try my best to satisfy you.”
Li Yu looked at Zhang Defa and sneered. “What request do you have? Can you pay for my father’s life?”
“You.” Zhang Defa looked at Li Yu, too angry to smile.
Seeing that he couldn’t smile anymore, Li Yu sneered. “You took the fur my father saved back then, the rice stored in my barn, and my farming equipment and furniture. You’re trying to renege on your debt!”
Li Yu saw Zhang Defa’s eyes darting around and knew that he wouldn’t admit it easily. She looked at him coldly, planning to see how he would quibble.
Zhang Defa looked at the villagers who had rushed over to watch the commotion after hearing the news. He hesitated to answer, but Chen Yaohui took over the conversation. “Zhang Defa, if you can’t remember, I can remind you that there are four fox fur coats and five deer hides. Also… Li Mei and we counted them back then. Do you think you can still deny it?”
Zhang Defa was stunned when he heard that. He looked at Chen Yaohui angrily. ” Chen Yaohui, what does this have to do with you? What can you gain by helping her like this?”
Chen Yaohui sneered. “Do you think everyone is like you, mercenary and ungrateful?”
Zhang Defa flew into a rage out of humiliation. He turned around and looked at Li Yu with a livid expression. “Li Yu, you siblings lived in my house for so many years. Did you intend to eat and live for free?!”
Li Yu took a few steps forward and stood in front of Zhang Defa. She spat, “Pfft! Aren’t you afraid that the wind will blow your tongue? What expenses did your family have? Ever since my father left, the two of us have lived in your house like cows and horses. We’ve never made a new set of clothes or eaten a full meal.
Ever since we went to the county city with your family, we’ve been living worse than servants. Every day, we have to weave hemp threads endlessly. Ah Qing goes up the mountain to cut firewood at dawn every day, and your family doesn’t even care about the leftovers. Your Chen Zhaodi and Zhang Guixiang always vent their anger on the us whenever things don’t go their way. We go hungry and get beaten up. These are common occurrences.”
Li Yu pulled up her sleeve to reveal the old and new scars from being pinched and beaten up. She looked at the surrounding villagers and said, “Grandpa, Granny, Uncle, Auntie, take a look. These were all caused by Chen Zhaodi. There are even more on Ah Qing.”
Li Yu pulled Li Qing over and pulled up his clothes, revealing the crisscrossed whip wounds on his back. The new and old wounds overlapped.
Everyone gasped and whispered to each other, “This is too much. Li Shan died in vain and left the two children to suffer in the world!”
“That’s why you have to follow your own flesh and blood even when you’re begging for food. It’s Li Shan’s fault for being too stupid. He lost his life for someone else and left two orphans behind. He didn’t even entrust the children to his biological sister and foolishly left them to fend for themselves with an outsider.”