Wealthy beyond measure, yet you call me a sister-supporting-brother demon?

Zhou Changshui was stunned by the beating. He knew his father had a lot of pent-up anger, but why was he taking it out on him?

Zhou Changlin had needles stuck in his body. Zhong Langzhong looked at him. Yuan Sheng came to the yard, took a stone, went to the side of Old Zhou's chicken coop, and threw the stone at the fattest chicken inside.

Damn! He didn't kill him.

Yuansheng threw a few more stones, and the hens flew around in all directions. Yuansheng originally wanted to hit the fattest one, but a medium-sized fat chicken ran into him and was killed.

Yuan Sheng jumped into the chicken coop and took the chicken out, just as Yuan Pan'er and Zhou Yuchuan returned after their private conversation.

"Sister, clean this chicken and stew it with Sanqi (a traditional Chinese medicine). Doctor Zhong said that my brother-in-law lost blood and needs to be properly nourished."

At this moment, Old Man Zhou, Zhou Changshui, Ma Xiangqin and others heard the commotion and came out of the house.

Ma Xiangqin was the first to shout, "Yuansheng, you can be a scoundrel at home all the time, but our Zhou family home is not a place for you to act like a scoundrel. Why did you hit our chickens?"

Yuan Sheng sneered, "My brother-in-law injured his back and bled. The doctor said he should eat something good to replenish his blood. What's wrong with me catching a chicken? You haven't separated your family yet. This chicken is for my sister and brother-in-law! I'm not only going to catch one today, I'm going to catch one tomorrow. I'll catch one chicken for my brother-in-law every day!"

Zhou Changshui threatened, "Yuan Laizi, what the hell are you doing? Trying to rebel in my house? Believe me or not, I'll beat you up!"

"Heh, you still want to hit me? Did you threaten to hit my sister with this hand today?! Do you think the Yuan family has no one left?!" Yuan Sheng rushed forward, raised his fist, and punched Zhou Changshui hard in the face, instantly turning Zhou Changshui's eyes black.

Caught off guard, Zhou Changshui was about to retaliate when Yuan Sheng's fists rained down on him. Zhou Changshui clutched his head as Yuan Sheng's knee struck him in the stomach, sending a piercing pain through him. Zhou Changshui crouched on the ground.

At this moment, Old Man Zhou and the others realized what was happening and shouted for them to stop while they rushed up to beat Yuan Sheng.

Zhou Qingchun, being strong and robust, stepped in to break up the fight, keeping Old Man Zhou out of the fray, while Ma Xiangqin was also entangled by Yuan Pan'er.

Yuan Sheng kicked Zhou Changshui to the ground, then stomped hard on his right leg, grinding it forcefully. "Was it this leg that kicked Yuzhu? How dare you hit my niece! I'll cripple you!"

"Ouch! I won't do it again, Yuansheng, let go of me right now!" Zhou Changshui was stunned by the beating; it hurt so badly! He never expected Yuansheng to be such a good fighter!

Zhou Changshui begged for a long time before Yuan Sheng finally let go of his foot.

Old Man Zhou roared, "Yuansheng, you've gone too far! This is my Zhou family! Who gave you the right to rebel against us!"

“Father-in-law, Zhou Changshui tried to hit my sister and kick my niece. If I, as his younger brother, don’t stand up for her, does your Zhou family really think my Yuan family is extinct? I’m in the right to hit Zhou Changshui no matter where you go. If you don’t agree, let the villagers judge! Tell us why Zhou Changshui slapped my sister.”

We've come full circle. The reason Old Man Zhou was willing to pay those five taels of silver was that he didn't want to make a big fuss, get talked about behind his back, or affect his youngest son.

Old Zhou sighed, "Yuansheng, didn't Changshui not hit your sister? You have such a bad temper."

"Father-in-law, you'd better keep a close eye on your second son. My brother-in-law isn't even dead yet, and he's already hitting my older sister? What will become of him in the future?"

When Zhang Shufen heard that Zhou Changlin had broken his back by a falling tree, she rushed over with ten eggs and saw Yuansheng beating Zhou Changshui to avenge his sister.

Zhang Shufen felt so relieved watching this!

Yuansheng, a true man! A promise is a promise!

Last time she rode in the oxcart and heard him say he wanted to stand up for his sister, she thought he was just joking again, but she didn't expect him to actually stand up for her!

She was happy for Pan'er, but then she thought of Zhou Changlin's injury and couldn't help but sigh. Her friend was really unfortunate!

The days when I was treated like a slave in the Zhou family were already hard enough, but now life is even harder!

Knowing that Yuan Pan'er was busy, Zhang Shufen put down the eggs, exchanged a few pleasantries, told her friend to come to her if she needed any help, and then left.

As she passed by Yuansheng, Zhang Shufen gave him a thumbs up and said, "Yuanbao, your sister will be counting on you from now on."

"Don't worry, Sister Shufen!"

Zhang Shufen felt a little relieved and went home to cook.

……

Old Man Zhou helped Zhou Changshui into Zhou Changlin's house. "Doctor Zhong, please take a look."

Zhong Langzhong carefully examined Zhou Changshui.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch! Be gentle, be gentle!" Zhou Changshui cried out in pain.

Dr. Zhong was conscientious and responsible, and checked again. "Dr. Zhong, it hurts, it hurts, please be gentler."

"It's nothing serious, just superficial wounds. It'll be fine in a couple of days."

Hearing Zhong Langzhong's words, Old Man Zhou finally felt relieved. Zhou Changshui thought to himself, "If I had known it was nothing serious, I wouldn't have bothered with the checkup. It made me suffer so much pain."

Old Man Zhou helped Zhou Changshui back to his room. "You really are something. How can a younger brother hit his sister-in-law? Changlin is still here, and you wanted to lay a hand on him? You deserved to be beaten by Yuansheng today!"

Zhou Changshui grinned and said in a low voice, "Who am I doing this for? It's all for our family. I never expected that Yuan Sheng, that scoundrel, to be so good at fighting, damn it!"

"But Dad, what are we going to do now? Yuansheng is coming again tomorrow, and he's going to kill a chicken for my brother to eat? He said he'd kill one a day! We only get to kill one chicken to eat during festivals, and now they're wasting it like this! Judging from the doctor's expression, he's coming again tomorrow to give my brother acupuncture, and they're going to charge us for it?"

Old Zhou was also troubled. Yuan Sheng was a notorious scoundrel, known for miles around. He didn't care about his reputation, but he couldn't afford to lose his family. He absolutely couldn't let these things affect Chang Sen's future career.

Zhou Changshui's eyes darted around, and he lowered his voice, saying, "Dad, why don't we split up the family? Yuansheng is making trouble now because he thinks we're all from the same family. If we split up, will Yuansheng still come and kill our chickens every day?"

Ma Xiangqin chimed in, "It's good that the family is splitting up. My eldest brother won't be able to work anymore; he'll just be a freeloader. Yu Feng and Yu Zhu are still young; they'll just be freeloaders. My sister-in-law will be the only able-bodied person, and she might even have to take care of my eldest brother, so she won't have time to work in the fields. So, in this way, my eldest brother's whole family will just be freeloaders."

Old Zhou nodded. "That's the only way." He would take the lion's share of the family property, plus the shares for his second and youngest sons. There wouldn't be much left for the eldest son.

"Dad, we should divide the property as soon as possible, otherwise my eldest brother's medical expenses will be charged to the public treasury again tomorrow, and then we'll have to fight over it again when we divide the property."

Ma Xiangqin glared at Zhou Changshui, "What do you mean by 'public hospital'? The thirteen taels and five mace of silver for my brother's medical treatment today should be paid to my brother and the others! Why should it be paid to the public hospital and split among us?" Doctor Zhang spent five mace of silver on emergency hemostasis treatment, while Doctor Zhong spent thirteen taels of silver.

"Yes, it should be attributed to the eldest son. I wonder if the eldest son's family is willing to separate. Sigh!" Old Zhou sighed. "After Yuansheng and that doctor leave later, I'll go and have a good talk with Changlin. Changlin has been sensible since he was a child, and he'll probably agree to separate the family."