Chapter 52

Chapter 52: Beating Someone Up
“You dog bastard with a mother but no one to raise you!” a woman shrieked. “You dare bite my son? I’ll beat you to death!”

A fat woman grabbed a half-grown boy by the collar and slapped him again and again.

The boy was pinned to the ground, face red and swollen, blood smeared at the corner of his mouth. He tried to twist free, to strike back, but the gap in strength was too wide. All he could do was grit his teeth and endure, eyes burning with a stubborn refusal to beg.

Nearby, several children hovered with glittering eyes, thrilled by the spectacle. The fattest boy—Tang Bao Yu—clutched his wrist and glared at the beaten child with spite.

Li Tao Hua heard the commotion as she passed and turned her head.

When she saw who was swinging her hands, disgust rose in her throat.

Li Er Niu.

The village’s infamous shrew.

Li Er Niu’s man worked in the city and only came home once or twice a month. Most of the time she lived in the village with her son, loud and unreasonable, forever ready to take revenge over the smallest slight.

Li Tao Hua had never gotten along with her. In the past, Song Yi’s presence had kept people cautious around Li Tao Hua. Now Li Tao Hua’s current man—Tang Da Fu—was too soft to be intimidating, and Li Er Niu had grown bolder. She was the one who spread the most gossip, the one who loved to throw “fox spirit” into the air like rotten fruit.

Li Tao Hua usually didn’t meddle in other people’s messes. She would’ve walked on.

But Li Er Niu saw her and paused—guilt flickering across her face for half a heartbeat—before she cast a mocking glance at the boy on the ground.

Li Tao Hua’s brows knit. She looked down, almost lazily.

Then she saw the boy’s face.

Her breath caught.

Fury shot straight to her skull, hot and blinding. She lunged forward, turning three steps into one, moving like a firecracker that had just been struck.

“Damn it, Li Er Niu!” she shouted. “If you have a problem, come at me. What kind of thing is it to bully a child?”

Li Er Niu stood up with a huff, puffing out her chest and planting her hands on her hips. “Who doesn’t know what kind of trash you are, Li Tao Hua? Stop pretending you’re something special. This bastard isn’t even your child. I’m teaching him a lesson for you—you should thank me!”

“What kind of person I am is none of your business,” Li Tao Hua said, voice sharp as a knife. “But if you dare lay a hand on my people, I’ll teach you a lesson today.”

She dove in, slammed Li Er Niu down, and straddled her before the other woman could even catch her balance. Then she clawed at Li Er Niu’s face with vicious precision, nails flashing.

“Bitch!” Li Tao Hua spat. “You can hit a little child? I won’t let you off—”

Li Er Niu screamed, flailing. “Ahhh! Tang Bao Yu! Hurry—help your mother deal with this bitch!”

Tang Bao Yu—a chubby boy with a newly injured hand—still had one good arm. He barreled forward, reaching to grab Li Tao Hua.

A dark blur sprang up.

Teeth sank into Tang Bao Yu’s neck.

“Ah—Mom! Mom, save me!” Tang Bao Yu shrieked, voice cracking. “Tang Yi Xiao, you lunatic—let go of me! Let go!”

Li Er Niu’s face went white with panic. “You dog bastard, let go of my son!”

Li Tao Hua didn’t so much as glance back. She yanked Li Er Niu’s hair with one hand and slapped her face with the other. “Focus,” she snapped. “I’m your opponent.”

The other children scattered the second the adults started fighting, sprinting off to summon their families.

Villagers came running from every direction, crowding around the tangle of bodies. People shouted to pull them apart. Nobody wanted to be the first to step in.

The village head happened to be nearby. He arrived quickly, beard bristling with rage. “Nonsense! Pure nonsense! Hui Yin’s mother—let go of Bao Yu’s mother right now!”

“No,” Li Tao Hua panted, not even looking up. “Why should I let go? If I don’t beat her until her own mother can’t recognize her, I’ll change my surname!”

“Why aren’t you pulling them apart?” the village head snapped at the men nearby.

One step forward and Li Tao Hua’s head whipped up, eyes blazing. “If any bastard dares touch me, I’ll accuse him of rape.”

The men recoiled as if burned.

“Village Head,” someone muttered, half awed, half amused, “Hui Yin’s mother really would do it.”

The village head’s face turned purple. He jabbed a finger at a cluster of women. “You women—what are you afraid of? Hurry up and pull them apart!”

Li Tao Hua bared her teeth. “Come closer and I’ll scratch each one of you. My claws don’t recognize anyone.”

The women glanced at one another… then melted into the back of the crowd to watch instead. One was Li Er Niu, the other was Li Tao Hua. Most of them hated both. A fight between them was entertainment.

“Where’s her daughter?” someone shouted. “Hurry and bring her daughter over!”

From far away, Qin Hui Yin could already hear the village head’s bellowing.

“Please make way!”

The crowd split when she arrived.

“Mom?” Qin Hui Yin called, breathless. “What happened?”

She’d been in the middle of stir-frying the third dish when someone shouted outside the fence that her mother was in trouble. She’d dropped the spatula and sprinted, even tripping once on the way.

Only to arrive and find—her mother wasn’t losing.

If she’d known that, she wouldn’t have run so hard. Now the stitching on her shoe had split, the sole flapping slightly when she stepped.

“Li Tao Hua,” the village head said, seeing her pause, “your daughter is here. Are you still not letting go?”

Li Tao Hua finally released Li Er Niu, panting. She shoved her messy hair back and pointed at Tang Yi Xiao’s face. “Village Head, look at him. That bitch did it. Doesn’t she deserve to be beaten?”

The village head had noticed something was wrong with Tang Yi Xiao earlier, but the chaos hadn’t given him space to ask. Now his gaze hardened. “Talk it out properly. Can fighting solve anything?”

“Fighting doesn’t solve problems,” Li Tao Hua said, voice low with fury. “But it vents anger.”

She climbed off Li Er Niu and kicked her hard in the side for good measure. “Look at how huge she is. When she pinned Tang Yi Xiao down to beat him, did she ever consider he’s a child? A sickly child. If she beat him to death, who would take responsibility?”

Li Er Niu sucked in a sharp breath, trying to sit up. “Pah… that’s because… hiss… that dog bastard hurt my son…”

“Say one more word,” Li Tao Hua warned, hand raised, “and I’ll slap you to death.”

Li Er Niu flinched so hard she toppled backward again and couldn’t scramble up. She sat on the ground and began slapping her thighs, wailing at the crowd. “There’s no justice! Everyone come and look! My man isn’t home and they bully me like this!”

Qin Hui Yin stepped closer and supported Tang Yi Xiao, fingers light on his shoulder. His skin felt too hot. His eyes were glassy with pain.

“Village Head,” she said, voice steady but edged, “my brother’s been beaten like this. Shouldn’t we get an explanation?”

The village head’s mouth tightened.

Qin Hui Yin didn’t give him time to deflect. Her eyes reddened with practiced grievance. “My mother loves looking good. If she hadn’t been enraged, she would never have ruined her image by fighting in the street. And my brother—he’s honest. He never causes trouble outside. The whole village knows his health is poor.”

She swallowed, as if forcing the words down. “Our family spent a lot of silver nursing him back. Now he’s been beaten like this… he may not recover for half a year.”

Her gaze lifted, direct. “Village Head, you’ve always handled things fairly. I’m sure you can give us justice. But if it’s hard for you because we’re neighbors…” She paused, letting the threat sit in the air. “Then we can report it to the authorities directly.”