"I won't..."
"Then I don't care. You stole food and firewood from my house. At the very least, it's a neighborhood conflict. At the most, it's robbery."
Zhao Zheng said in a loud voice: "Besides, the villagers saw it. There are witnesses. If I must hold you accountable, beating with a stick is a light punishment. If it's more serious, I'm afraid you will end up in jail."
"I'm not trying to scare you. If you don't believe me, just ask the village elders!"
"The reason I invited three respected village elders here today is that I don't want to make the conflict bigger. Family disgrace should not be made public."
Xu Youde didn't expect Zhao Zheng to speak in a set way, and it made sense. "Zhao Zheng is right. Family disgrace should not be made public. We should solve the affairs of our small mountain village ourselves, and we must not let the township intervene."
The other villagers also nodded. "Old Zhao is right. He didn't blackmail your family. Chunmei, you must not make mistakes!"
"Your mother-in-law is ignorant, don't be stupid. This year is already difficult, and Lao Zhao injured his foot. This is a life-threatening matter for their family."
The Li family's mother-in-law had long since given up, and Zheng Chunmei was also wailing in her heart, "Old Ma, if you don't come, I will be bullied to death."
"I, I really don't know how to press…"
Zhao Zhengdao: "In fact, the rice you snatched from my house was the last bit of pension food left for my son who died in the war. It doesn't matter even if you give it to mother and others."
"We are fellow villagers and have helped each other for many years. I, Zhao Laosan, have also received a lot of kindness from my fellow villagers."
"Even if I give you firewood, it's nothing. You orphans and widows have no firewood. This winter is very difficult. It's just a little trouble for me to go to Jinji Mountain."
"It doesn't matter if you can do it or not, this attitude is what I want." Zhao Zheng, now on the moral high ground, commanded everyone's approval. He placed a soft knife on Zheng Chunmei's family's necks, causing them unbearable pain.
"If you can't do it, let Sister-in-law Li do it for me. I don't ask for much. I'll let it go when my foot is better." Mother-in-law Li was practically resentful of Zhao Zheng. She was dreaming of asking her to massage his stinky feet.
"Oh, I'm dizzy, so dizzy! My old bones are full of illnesses, and I have to take herbal remedies. I don't know when I'll die. If you're not afraid of me dying in your house, I can go."
Zhao Zheng smiled faintly. "It's okay. If you die, I'll make you a coffin!"
Everyone around him chuckled.
This Zhao Laosan, what a jerk!
Zheng Chunmei also smiled bitterly. How could she not understand the thoughts of her lazy, cunning, and greedy mother-in-law?
Sighing, "Okay, I'll go massage Uncle Zhao's feet!"
"Mom, you can't go!" Li Erdan waited patiently for Zhao Zheng, nearly annoyed.
Zheng Chunmei ignored him and looked at Zhao Zheng, "Uncle Zhao, are you satisfied?"
"Okay, then don't break your promise, or I'll go to the township and sue you even if I limp!" Zhao Zheng nodded and thanked the three village elders again.
This made the three old men very satisfied.
Just as Zhao Zheng was about to leave, Zhang Xiao'e said weakly, "Father-in-law, don't you want to bring back the firewood and rice?"
"Forget it, just consider me your uncle and send them away," Zhao Zheng said proudly.
In the crowd, Liu Lao Si secretly cursed Zhao Zheng for being pretentious and scoundrel, even trying to steal his last half piece of bread.
He didn't even want to give up the rice when he met the widow of the Li family.
This Zhao Lao San was still as stubborn as before, trying to save face and suffering.
While praising Zhao Zheng's benevolence, Xu Youde mocked him in his heart, "The imperial court only had so much relief grain, and they sent out so much corn. Now the relief silver has been swindled away again. I'm afraid Zhao Laosan's family will go hungry."
Just as he was thinking about it, Zhao Zheng said, "However, Chunmei, you have to return the three pounds of corn you stole from my house. That was borrowed by Zhaodi from her husband's family. I can't give it to you!"
Zheng Chunmei was dumbfounded when he said this, "How can there be three pounds of corn? It's clearly one pound!"
Yang Zhaodi was also stunned when she saw her father-in-law's serious look. She only borrowed one pound, so where did the three pounds come from?
But soon, she understood, and secretly laughed at the widow of the Li family for stealing a chicken but losing a handful of rice.
"Chunmei, I've been so easy to talk to, but you still want to cheat me. Do you think that I can be bullied at will because my son is gone?"
Zhao Zheng clenched his fists and said with red eyes: "I'm telling you, my son is gone, I have no ties. The worst that can happen is that I die, but if I die, I will drag others down with me. You'd better not make me angry!"
In the countryside, old bachelors without backing are the easiest to bully and the hardest to mess with.
When Zhao Zheng said this, a tall and strong man in the crowd changed his expression and then took a few steps back.
How could Zheng Chunmei not know that Zhao was blackmailing her.
But she couldn't produce any evidence, so now she just let him say whatever he said?
Mother-in-law Li was furious. "Zhao Laosan, you're such a piece of shit..."
Zhao Zheng gritted his teeth and said, "Three village elders, you saw it too. For the sake of my fellow villagers and the three village elders, I've backed down again and again. They've gone too far, so I have no choice but to file a complaint with the township authorities."
He then said to Yang Zhaodi and the bewildered Zhang Xiaoe, "Come with me to the township to seek justice."
"Sister-in-law..."
"Don't say anything. Follow your father-in-law." Yang Zhaodi took Xiaoe's hand and followed Zhao Zheng.
Seeing this, the villagers' faces changed.
Xu Youde was furious. "Chunmei, your mother-in-law is ignorant, and so are you. Zhao Zheng didn't lie to you. If you rob someone, you will really go to jail."
"Mingzhou was hit by a disaster. The court was afraid of problems, so they specially dispatched 8,000 troops to sit in the four directions. Once anyone is found stealing food or something like that, they will be severely punished. No one will be able to protect your family then."
"Zhao Zheng is very kind. You are taking advantage of me and still acting ungrateful. In that case, I don't care. When the soldiers come, not only will I not protect your family, I will also provide evidence!"
The Li family's mother-in-law was really scared this time and begged for mercy again and again: "Uncle Xu, we won't dare to do it again, but we really didn't..."
"We'll give it to you!" Zheng Chunmei said, her eyes red. "Uncle Zhao, please wait a moment. I'll go get you some rice."
She gently nudged her son with her foot and said, "Take all the firewood stacked by the stove and give it back to Uncle Zhao."
Immediately, she entered the room and took out the one pound of corn she had taken from Zhao's house. Then she added two more pounds from the rice jar hidden underground.
The jar was empty, with less than one pound left. How would their family of five survive?
It was all her mother-in-law's fault. She listened to her child and started a trouble-making incident. Now, she didn't get any benefits, but she had to pay so much. No matter how reluctant she was, it was useless.
Then, she took out the thick rice porridge from the pot and said, "This is three pounds of corn. This rice porridge was made with your rice. I'm going to return it to you!"