Chapter 66 Getting Beaten
Meanwhile, at the Liang family’s old house, the house was in chaos tonight.
Old Lady Liang looked at the wounded Liang Lao Da and Liang Wenyong and cried out in pain, "Who the hell is this bastard who beat my son and grandson into this state? Is there any law?"
When she saw Zhu Shi coming back unharmed, she yelled, "Zhu Shi, are you a dead person? Someone beat your husband and son, don't you know how to help?"
"Mom, it's not that I don't want to help. There are five or six burly men on the other side. How can a woman like me beat them? Moreover, they covered my head with a sack right from the start. It's already a special favor that they didn't beat me."
Zhu was also very sad. She felt distressed that her husband and son were beaten like this.
"Who beat him? Didn't you report it to the police?"
"Grandma, they covered our heads with sacks first, so we had no idea who they were. But they warned us not to set up stalls in the county town again, otherwise they would break my and my dad's legs next time."
Liang Wenyong was beaten black and blue. Zhaodi found a bottle of medicine for sprains and bruises and applied it to the wounds on his face and body.
Boss Liang was not in much better condition, with bruises all over his body, and Zhu was also applying medicine on him.
"Damn it, this is too bullying. Not only did they beat us up, they even threatened not to let us go into the city to set up a stall. Could it be that that bitch Qianhuan regretted giving us the recipe and couldn't bear to see our stall doing so well, so she hired someone to beat you up?" Old Lady Liang guessed.
"Grandma, it can't be Qianhuan and the others. Their business has not been affected by us at all. They sell better than us even without lowering the price. There is no need for them to find someone to beat us up. I suspect it was done by the other two vendors. Ever since we lowered the price of chestnuts to 3 cents per pound, business has been especially good these days. We have snatched away the customers from the other two vendors."
Liang Wenyong still has some brains. It must be said that he got the truth.
The other two vendors were resentful of the Liang family who had suddenly appeared and kept lowering prices to steal their business. The two vendors who usually disliked each other actually worked together this time and pooled money to hire a group of thugs to teach Liang family a lesson.
"Since you suspect it's them, can we go to the county government and sue them?"
"Grandma, we can't sue them without evidence. Those thugs had cloths covering their faces. They immediately covered our heads with sacks. We don't even know what they look like, so how can we sue them?"
"Did you get beaten for nothing? They also warned us not to set up stalls. Are we really not going to do that?" Old Mrs. Liang was very unconvinced.
"Mom, luckily they didn't kill us today, so Wenyong and I managed to survive. Let's not close this business." Boss Liang was a soft-tempered person, he was really scared of being beaten.
"Old lady, the boss is right. Tomorrow, the three of you should not set up the stall, and you don't have to go in the future. We will not do this sugar-roasted chestnut business anymore, otherwise what will we do if someone is really ruthless next time?"
Old Man Liang considered it seriously and decided not to confront those evil people. The lives of ordinary people like them who have no power and influence are worthless. Even if they are beaten to death, the government may not be able to find the murderer for you, and sometimes they just close the case casually.
"Dad, what should we do with the more than 1,000 kilograms of chestnuts we have left that we haven't sold? We can't eat them all at once, and they will rot if left at home for a while. We spent a tael of silver to buy them, and it would be a waste if they rot." Zhu was a little unwilling.
"Is the money more important or your man and your son's legs? We are in the open while they are in the dark. If they are ruthless and kill people next time, it will be too late to regret it." Old man Liang showed the power of the head of the family and taught Zhu a lesson.
Upon hearing this, Zhu lowered her head and remained silent. In fact, she knew very well in her heart that if she went to the county town to set up a stall again, if the other party attacked her again, she might really be in danger of her life.
"Wenzhi, you have to study hard. Ordinary people like us who have no power and influence can only swallow our anger when we are bullied. Only if you pass the imperial examination, no one in our family will suffer such injustice again." Old man Liang turned around and began to educate his second grandson earnestly.
"Yes, grandpa, I understand. I will study hard." Wen Zhi nodded in agreement.
"Grandpa, since we can't do our stall business anymore, why don't we sell the more than 1,000 kilograms of chestnuts left at home to vendors at a low price. This way we can reduce some of the losses." Zhaodi suggested.
"Well, Zhaodi, your idea is very good. I will ask the chestnut vendor tomorrow and let us get rid of these chestnuts as soon as possible if they can be sold." Old Mrs. Liang nodded in agreement.
The next day, Old Man Liang found a chestnut merchant, but the merchant maliciously lowered the price and was only willing to offer one penny for three pounds.
The people in the Liang family's old house were unwilling but had no choice. In order to reduce losses, they had to accept the exploitation of the vendors and sold all of their more than a thousand kilograms of chestnuts to the vendors at the price of one penny per three kilograms.
It was not until Qianhuan came back from her stall the next night that she heard from the villagers about the beating.
She thought that their repeated price cuts would disrupt market prices, which would likely lead to lower profits, lower chestnut quality, and worse business, but she never expected that they would be beaten and threatened.
She knew that it was immoral to gloat over other people's misfortunes, but why could she not help but laugh when she heard the news?
She even thought in her heart: Why don't those people just beat up Zhu as well? Why bother to consider that she is a woman? She would feel really good if she beat Zhu up too.
Humph, you coveted my things, now you are getting your retribution.
When Liang Lao Er heard that Liang Lao Da and Liang Wenyong were beaten, he still asked worriedly, "Qian Hua, were they beaten badly?"
"Dad, it's not serious. They are just minor injuries. They will heal after a while. Those people just taught them a lesson, but didn't really kill them."
"That's good. Dad will be relieved now."
"Dad, they treated us like that. They didn't consider us as their family at all. Don't worry about them anymore. Whether they live or die has nothing to do with our family."
Qianhuan really doesn't want Liang Laoer to be so emotional. Those people are too selfish and not worthy of her father's affection for them.
"Qianhuan, it was wrong for them to steal our prescription, but they also wanted to earn money to let Wenzhi study. Your grandfather's greatest wish is to hope that a descendant of the Liang family will become an official. Although Dad is sad about his behavior, he can understand him."
Liang Laoer is too soft-hearted, especially towards his own blood relatives. He felt heartbroken when the relationship was severed, but he didn't expect that he would speak well of them now.
Liang Lao Er sighed and continued, "Dad and your uncle grew up together. Your uncle is not a bad person, but he is too soft-hearted. Ever since he married Zhu, he has followed her arrangements in everything. This has led to a gap between us brothers, and our friendship has become less and less."
Seeing that Liang Laoer kept making excuses and justifications for the bad things they had done, Qianhuan knew that her father's soft-heartedness had come back again, and she couldn't help but give her father a lesson.
"Dad, no matter what the reason is, their behavior of stealing our sugar-roasted chestnut recipe is extremely shameful. When we broke off the relationship, grandma didn't care about family affection at all and insisted on taking away the 20 taels of silver that our family was preparing to build a tiled house."
"Dad, true family love is mutual and two-way, not one-sided asking and giving. If they always ask from you but never give in return, we should choose to stay away from them. You can't tolerate them hurting us again and again just because they are your blood relatives. No matter who you get along with, you must maintain your bottom line. If you turn a blind eye to their unreasonable troubles, bullying, and oppression, your kindness may become a reason for them to continue to hurt us."
People with a personality like Liang Laoer can easily be kidnapped by their family members through family ties and morals.
"Well, Daddy knows. Qianhuan, don't worry. Daddy won't worry about their affairs anymore, and he won't be so soft-hearted anymore."
The heartfelt words from his daughter made Liang Laoer sober up instantly. His daughter was right, he couldn't be too shameless, otherwise he would be bullied and oppressed again and again.