You are unlucky and I am tough

Cheng Lizheng was followed by a group of villagers who had come to join in the fun. The onlookers made way for him, and Cheng Lizheng walked in and pounded his cane on the ground. "What are you making a fuss about? The crops have just been planted, and instead of being busy tending to them, you're making a fuss every day over trivial matters. Are you going to starve if the crops don't grow well?"

Cheng Shuang was originally preparing to fight back and let Li Shi taste the anti-wolf skills she learned in her previous life. When she saw the village head coming, she immediately pretended to be weak and scared and covered her face with fake tears, "Grandpa Village Head, help me, Aunt Cheng came to my house and wanted to beat me up."

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Li quickly threw away the stick in her hand and shouted, "When did I hit you? It was you who hit my son."

Cheng Shuang hid behind Cheng Lizheng, looking extremely frightened.

"That's enough." Cheng Lizheng protected Cheng Shuang behind him and said to Li, "Tie Niu is ignorant, so are you also ignorant? Can't you talk things over nicely? You are a vicious scoundrel who bullies the younger generation like a scoundrel. Do you still have any manners as an elder?"

When Li saw that Li Zheng was helping Cheng Shuang, her eyebrows flew up in anger and she pointed at her, "I bullied her, it was obviously this little bitch..."

Cheng Lizheng banged his cane a few times and shouted, "I just saw you were about to hit her, but you said you didn't. We are from the same village and the same clan. What grudge do you have that you have to come here to beat her up?"

Cheng Lizheng was still quite prestigious in the village. Seeing him really lose his temper, everyone quieted down. Li also turned away with a look of dissatisfaction on her face.

Cheng Shuang glanced gratefully at the hunched figure standing in front of him. Seeing him swaying a little while holding his forehead, she went over to support him and gently patted his back, "Grandpa Lizheng, calm down."

Cheng Lizheng had a headache today, and his vision was black from anger. After a moment of calm, he waved behind him, "Xiaoguo, come over here and tell me what happened on the mountain today."

After hearing what Cheng Shuang said, Wei Nanxing ran to find the village head to help, and told him what had happened. Cheng Lizheng hurried over and called two children who had gone up the mountain with Cheng Tieniu today. Both of them were the most honest and obedient children in the village.

Cheng Xiaoguo, whose name was called, stood up, glanced at Cheng Shuang, and said, "Today, a group of us went up the mountain to pick mushrooms. Halfway through, Brother Tieniu said the mulberries on the mountain should be ripe and asked us to go pick them together. We followed him, and when we got there, Sister Cheng Shuang and the others were already there. After we picked all the mulberries on the trees, Brother Tieniu told Sister Cheng Pan that all the mulberries were his and asked her to give him all she had picked. Sister Cheng Pan refused and tried to snatch them away, so Sister Cheng Shuang hit Brother Tieniu with a cane."

After saying that, Cheng Xiaoguo's mother, Chen, pulled him back and said, "My Xiaoguo never lies. He tells whatever he sees."

The other child nodded, "That's it."

Cheng Lizheng looked at Li and said, "Did you hear that, Jinshan Wife? It was Tieniu who grabbed the things first. Do you have anything else to say?"

Mrs. Li pulled her son and grumbled unconvincedly, "She can't hit anyone. My Tie Niu is only twelve years old. How can she, a married woman, bully a twelve-year-old? She didn't dare to say a word in the Cheng family before, but now she's shaking like that after finding a man to marry. Now she doesn't care what will happen in the future."

"So, Auntie came to my house and beat me up to discipline me? Your son didn't get anything from us, but Auntie came to our house and wanted to take away the little food we had left. If I didn't give it to her, she would say I got married and started to get angry. Do we have to let others bully us just because we separated from our family?"

Her voice was soft and weak, but her words were so powerful that Li Shi could not refute her. She turned to Cheng Lizheng with tears in her eyes and said, "Grandpa Lizheng, you know that my husband and I have no elders to rely on at home. We can only support this family alone now.

But I didn't expect that I was just protecting my family from being robbed, and someone would come to my house to settle the score. How are we going to survive in the village if this continues?

Cheng Shuang is pretty, well-behaved and capable. Cheng Lizheng has always liked this child. Now that she is crying and complaining like this, it is so heartbreaking.

The old man immediately frowned and said, "Jinshan daughter-in-law, are you looking for trouble because they don't have any elders in the family? I, the head of the village, am still alive and will never allow such a thing to happen."

Li's face turned red and white. She really came because she thought that there was no elder in this family who was difficult to control.

But no one expected that Cheng Shuang, who was usually timid and cowardly, would suddenly become so eloquent and good at selling out. Now the villagers who were watching the fun began to point fingers at her.

The head of the village has a high prestige in the village and is on Cheng Shuang's side. All the people with the surname Cheng in Chengjia Village are from the same clan. How could she dare to offend the head of the village? That would be equivalent to offending most of the people in the village, so today she could only admit defeat.

Li, realizing the situation, pulled her son over and held him down, bowing to the village chief Cheng. "I didn't understand this matter clearly. The child is ignorant and has caused trouble for the village chief. I will take him back and discipline him properly."

After saying that, he pulled Cheng Tieniu, who looked extremely aggrieved, away.

Cheng Shuang didn't expect Li to give in so quickly. She wiped away the tears from her eyes and said to everyone, "Thank you, village head, and thank you, uncles, aunts, and mothers. Shuang'er is very grateful."

Cheng Lizheng said, "Don't be too sad. When Qinglang comes back, tell him to stop hunting and repair the wall first and install a door. If there's something like this again, don't open the door if there's no man at home."

Cheng Shuang nodded obediently. She had been too absorbed in her miserable acting just now, so now she could only continue to pretend to be sad.

"Don't cry, you poor thing."

Cheng Lizheng sighed, "I'll have my son bring you a few pounds of corn later. Qinglang is a capable person. Once he earns money from hunting and buys some land, life will be better in the future."

Seeing how poor the family was and the children so young that they couldn't do much work, Mrs. Chen felt sorry for them and said, "Don't worry too much about hurting your eyes. We had a good harvest last autumn, and I'll have Xiaoguo bring over a few pounds of corn later."

"I have some extra at home, so I'll bring you a few pounds."

"My family can also get two kilograms. With the help of fellow villagers, we can always get through the difficult times."

Cheng Shuang was dumbfounded when she heard the villagers offering to send them food. She just acted pitifully to gain sympathy to deal with the unreasonable Li, but how did she win the sympathy of the whole village?

Hu Chunhua, who was standing on tiptoe at the back of the crowd, saw that every villager said they wanted to send them food. She spat in the direction of the crowd with disdain, turned around and walked home cursing. When she got home, she sat in the yard and scolded Cheng Shuang for asking the villagers for food, which was shameful.

The second son of the family, Li Cheng, had a headache and was resting in bed. The noise made his head hurt even more and he yelled for a doctor.

Cao opened the door angrily and said to Hu Chunhua, "Sister-in-law, can you be quiet? The child's father is having a headache right now."

"I'm sitting at the door of my house and talking. If you think it's too noisy, you can leave." Hu Chunhua, who was eating melon seeds, directly retorted.

Cao was furious, but she knew she couldn't win an argument with this shrew. She held out her hand and said, "The child's father said he has a severe headache and needs a doctor. Sister-in-law, please take out Cheng Shuang's betrothal money. The food they have been eating for the past few years was also grown by our second branch. We should get half of this money."

Hu Chunhua snorted coldly, rummaged in her bosom for a long time, and took out a string of copper coins and threw them out. It was estimated that there were less than two hundred coins.

Cao was furious when she saw it, "Why is there only this much?"

"All I can give you is a lot." Hu Chunhua put her hands on her fat waist, "My son Jun'er needs money for his studies, and those ten taels of silver are all reserved for his tuition. As uncle and aunt, shouldn't you contribute a little? Otherwise, if my son Jun'er becomes a high-ranking official in the future, will you have the nerve to enjoy the good life with him?"

Cao gritted her teeth and held the copper coins in her hand. She was unwilling but had no choice. After all, her two sons from the second house were not good at studying. Whether they could live a good life in the future depended entirely on Cheng Caijun passing the imperial examination and becoming a high-ranking official. She endured it for the sake of a better life in the future.

Hu Chunhua continued to eat melon seeds and spat a few times at Cao's departing figure. "What nonsense! We'll move out once my Jun'er graduates from high school. You still want to enjoy the good life by relying on my Jun'er? You're dreaming."