Making A Fortune Through Hunting To Support My Wife - Chapter 20

“Xu Qian Shi, come out! Is this how you teach your juniors? Shooting people’s legs with bows and arrows! My poor Ergou, oh…”

Before the person arrived, the voice did.

Old Lady Lin’s shrill voice sounded like a crowing rooster, piercing enough to make one’s eardrums ache.

Lin, the mother of Wang Ergou, led a group of people toward the house in a menacing aggressive swarm.

The Xu family’s gate wasn’t closed; it was wide open as if welcoming guests. However, these weren’t proper guests, they were villains.

“Where did this foul mouthed hag come from, barking at people’s doors first thing in the morning?”

Xu Jing had already climbed down from the roof. She stood in the courtyard with her arms crossed, looking smiley, though the words coming out of her mouth were anything but polite.

Old Lady Lin, walking at the center of the crowd, was the first to stride into the Xu family yard. She slapped her thighs and began wailing.

“You, Xu Jing! It wasn’t enough to wound my son, you even disrespect your elders! There is no justice! Oh, Heavens, why hasn’t a bolt of lightning struck this wretched girl dead!”

Lin’s words sparked a flurry of hushed discussions among the gathered villagers.

“Hiss, look at Wang Ergou limping. So his leg really was shot? Did Xu Jing actually dare to shoot someone?”

“I believe Ergou is injured. Given his usual behavior, it’s normal for him to get beaten up, but shooting him with an arrow is a bit much.”

“Exactly. If the doctor can’t fix it, he’ll be crippled for life. Using a bow on a person is crossing the line.”

“We can’t just take Ergou’s word for it. Those guys are always stealing chickens and dogs in the village. If you ask me, Jing’er did a good job! It keeps those hooligans from causing trouble.”

“Are you an elder? How hilarious,” Xu Jing said, not bothering to argue with Lin. She decided to strike first. “If I were the one bullying young women, I wouldn’t have the face to show up at someone’s door looking for trouble. After all, getting beaten is getting off easy.”

Her gaze fell on Wang Ergou in the crowd, her smile thin and cold: “Isn’t that right, Wang Ergou?”

“You’re lying! You’re the one who used an arrow to hurt people!” Wang Ergou refused to admit it and instead bit back. “Wu-wu-wu, my leg… my leg is ruined because of you! Pay up! You must pay five taels of silver!”

“Everyone, look! My injury is right here for all to see. Xu Jing still wants to deny it! In the future, if any of you upset her, she’ll probably shoot you too!”

“Xiangzi and the others can testify! They were also wounded by Xu Jing. How cruel!”

As he spoke, Wang Ergou signaled to the two limping men behind him. The other two also began to wail, claiming Xu Jing had shot them and demanding compensation.

“Bullshit! Wang Ergou, don’t think you can turn black into white just because you have more people! Don’t think we brothers will let you get away with it!”

The crowd parted as the three Lu brothers, accompanied by Mother Lu, entered the Xu family courtyard.

Earlier, when Xu Jing saw the “bad guests” approaching, she had informed Lu Minghe and Lu Ying.

Lu Minghe’s face had darkened instantly, he clearly knew about yesterday’s events. He immediately went home to get his two brothers and brought Lu Ying back with them.

Publicly, it wasn’t good for Lu Ying or Song Yu to get involved in this mess. Song Yu was slightly better off as Xu Jing’s “wife,” but Lu Ying was an unmarried young girl, and her reputation was more sensitive.

This kind of sordid affair, even back on Earth in the previous life, usually ended with the woman suffering the most.

Xu Jing had also told Song Yu to go back inside, she could handle this herself. As for Grandma Xu, Xu Jing didn’t even want to notify her. Because the roof was being repaired and the house was dusty, Grandma had gone to Shuisheng’s house early to stitch shoe soles with her old friend, Shuisheng’s grandmother.

The three Lu brothers looked ferocious. Especially the eldest, Lu Minghai, who was a 1.9 meter giant, standing there like a small mountain, his shoulders twice as wide as the scrawny Wang Ergou.

Seeing the aggressive Lu brothers, Wang Ergou instantly lost his nerve and instinctively hid behind his mother.

Wang Ergou was afraid of the Lu brothers, but Old Lady Lin was not. She stepped forward, hands on her hips, chin tilted high as she glared at them sideways.

“What?! In broad daylight, do you lot want to hit my Ergou?!”

“Wang Daman, Wang Xiaoman! Someone wants to hit your younger brother, get out here and protect him!”

At Lin’s shrill shout, the two Wang brothers standing behind her stepped forward with menacing looks to protect their mother and brother. The Wang brothers were also large, not as big as the eldest Lu brother, but still 1.8 meter tall burly men. No wonder they could protect Wang Ergou, a local thug, as he ran rampant in the village.

The atmosphere turned stagnant and tense. Both sides had capable fighters, neither was easy to deal with.

Xu Jing’s light chuckle sounded particularly abrupt in the silence.

“I see how it is. The villains sue first, taking what they want and extorting others. That’s your game.”

“I’ll say this right now: Wang Ergou, don’t expect to squeeze a single penny out of me!”

“Yesterday, I was picking mushrooms with my wife. I only stepped away for a moment, and you dogs dared to block her path, dared to have designs on her and now you dare to come to my door? If I, Xu Jing, don’t beat you until you’re looking for your teeth on the floor today, I won’t carry the surname Xu!”

“Even if we take this to the Village Chief or the County Magistrate, I, Xu Jing, am the one in the right!”

As she spoke, Xu Jing grabbed an arm-thick wooden club from the nearby firewood stack and charged at Wang Ergou with a cold face.

Her words caused an uproar among the villagers, like a drop of water falling into a pan of boiling oil.

“I knew it! Even though Xu Jing is a bit moody, why would she shoot Wang Ergou for no reason? So it’s because Ergou and his cronies had bad intentions toward his wife! If Xu Jing didn’t beat them to protect his wife, he wouldn’t be a man.”

“Aye, I was picking mushrooms in the mountains yesterday and did see Jing’er and his wife, along with Lu Ying. The three of them were chatting and laughing, they picked so many mushrooms. They probably ran into Ergou’s group then.”

“Hiss, no wonder the Lu brothers came to help. If Lu Ying was there too…”

“Wang Ergou’s group is getting bolder! Even targeting the village girls. No, their family must provide an explanation. If they do it again… we must call the Village Chief…”

Families with young daughters in the village grew dark faced as they followed that line of thought.

“Our Dayue Village has always had a clean reputation. How did we end up with scum like Wang Ergou!”

While the villagers were busy talking and fuming with indignation, Xu Jing had already started swinging her wooden club.

Naturally, the Wang brothers couldn’t just watch Xu Jing beat Ergou, so they stepped up to help.

Xu Jing was strong, her footwork was agile, and she was armed. Moreover, she had truly seen blood in the post-apocalyptic world. Although the Wang brothers were large and had some brawling experience, they had no technique compared to Xu Jing and were constantly being pummeled.

They say you shouldn’t hit the face, but Xu Jing specifically aimed there. After two rounds, the two Wang brothers and Ergou, who was hiding behind his mother, were all beaten black and blue.

Old Lady Lin, seeing her sons being beaten, wailed piteously and shoved the old man next to her: “My sons! My Ergou! Old man! Go help them!”

Old Man Wang looked at Xu Jing swinging the club with such vigor and didn’t dare move. He was afraid that if one blow landed, his old bones would shatter.

The Lu family didn’t stay idle either. Mother Lu went to block Old Lady Lin, while the three Lu brothers assisted Xu Jing, occasionally landing blows on the other troublemakers.

The scene descended into chaos.

Dayue Village had a hardy culture, it wasn’t uncommon for villagers to strip to the waist and brawl over land or water rights. As long as no blood was shed and no one died, it was considered internal village business.

Spectating villagers leaned over the Xu family walls, pointing and whispering. Those who couldn’t stand the sight anymore quickly ran to fetch the Village Chief.

Fifteen minutes later, the Village Chief arrived in a hurry with several villagers, along with Xu’s second uncle and Grandma Xu.

However, the fighting had stopped by then. The courtyard was filled only with groans of pain and the murmurs of the crowd.

The able bodied men from the Wang family were lying on the ground, howling in pain. Old Lady Lin’s hair was a mess, looking like a bird’s nest, as she sat on the dirt, hugging her sons and crying.

The young couple, Xu Jing and Song Yu, were whispering by the door. The three Lu brothers stood guard over Mother Lu, staring at the troublemakers with vigilant eyes.

Seeing the Village Chief, Old Lady Lin’s tears flowed even faster: “Chief! Chief! You must seek justice for our Wang family! That Xu Jing…”

Before her insults could fly, the Village Chief interrupted her impatiently, his face very dark.

“Wang Lin Shi! Stop pushing everything onto others. Everyone in the village knows what kind of person your Ergou is. Always looking for trouble!”

The Village Chief had clearly learned the truth of the matter on his way over. However, since the Wangs, like the Xus, were a major clan in the village with many relatives, a Wang clan elder had followed him. He couldn’t let things get too ugly.

He scolded Old Lady Lin and said no more, turning instead to look at Xu Jing and the others.

Scolded by the Chief, Old Lady Lin didn’t dare talk back. Seeing the Wang clan elder behind the Chief, she cried out, “Third Great Uncle, you can’t just watch the younger generation of our clan be bullied by outsiders!”

The Wang clan elder was also annoyed. The Er-ou family loved causing trouble for the clan, but since they were still Wangs, he couldn’t embarrass his own family in front of the other villagers.

“Village Chief, Brother Xu, Sister-in-law Xu… Ergou and the others are young and impulsive, and it was indeed them who started the trouble. But this beating was quite severe…”

“Brother Wang, you can’t say it like that,” Second Uncle Xu replied. “Young people are tough. I see that the Wang boys are still loud and full of energy, it’s just some superficial injuries. Brother Wang, you really should discipline your kin more strictly…”

The Wang elder, the Village Chief, Second Uncle Xu, and Grandma Xu began to deliberate, needing to set a formal resolution for the matter.