He drew on his pipe, emitting a heavy snort from his nostrils: "Look at you, always making a fuss. The village is never quiet for a moment."
The most hateful thing was that Tao Lengshuang had snatched the son-in-law he had his eye on.
When Mo Lingxi was injured and ended up in Shilipo Village, he saw that this person was no ordinary individual and intended to marry Jiajia to him. Who knew that the Tao family, leveraging their past kindness, had ruined his plans.
"Grandpa Village Chief, those people were bullying my mother, it's not my mother's fault," Xiao Feng explained obediently.
The village chief also disliked Xiao Feng and impatiently waved his hand: "What does a child like you know? Your mother has caused enough trouble in the village."
"If it weren't for Mo Lingxi, I would have dealt with your mother according to village rules long ago."
Tao Lengshuang stopped Xiao Feng with a look and sneered at him, her smile not reaching her eyes: "Fine."
"If you deal with me according to village rules, I will report you to the county yamen for using torture.
Village Chief, if you don't let my family live in peace, I won't let you live in peace either. It'll be a fight to the death!"
It truly lived up to the saying, like father, like daughter.
The village chief's expression changed. He hadn't expected Tao Lengshuang, whom he had always intimidated, to say such a thing: "Good, good, good!"
"You go ahead and report me. I'd like to see who the magistrate will arrest."
A chill crept into the corners of Tao Lengshuang's eyes. She scoffed, "Haven't we used a lot of torture in our village these past few years?"
"Our village is near Dongdu. If the Son of Heaven hears about it, what do you think the outcome will be? I'm afraid the entire village will be wiped out."
The village chief was well aware that torture was forbidden and even more so the consequences of the authorities finding out about it.
He glared fiercely at Tao Lengshuang, leaving behind a "we'll see" before storming off in anger.
Tao Lengshuang sighed inwardly, impatiently taking Xiao Feng's hand and continuing to walk. What was all this?
She didn't notice that in an alley, a man in green was watching her every move.
It seemed the village chief's plan wouldn't work. It was time to move to the next step.
Before the matter over there was resolved, Tao Lengshuang couldn't stand out or attract attention. She had to live like a louse, as before, otherwise, it would ruin everything.
He looked towards the Tao family's direction with a calculating gaze and turned away.
...
When Tao Lengshuang and her son arrived in the mountains, Tao Lengshuang began to teach Xiao Feng to identify the medicinal herbs they encountered.
"Xiao Feng, this plant with small pale yellow flowers and a dark green stem is Sanqi, a herb that dispels blood stasis, stops bleeding, promotes blood circulation, and relieves pain."
Xiao Feng cupped his face, looking at her with amazement: "Mother is so amazing, she knows so many, many things."
Tao Lengshuang placed a finger on her lips and shushed him, whispering conspiratorially: "This is our mother and son's secret. Xiao Feng can't tell anyone, not even Father."
Xiao Feng covered his mouth with both hands, nodding excitedly. He had a secret with his mother now.
Tao Lengshuang smiled and stroked his head, slowly digging out the Sanqi, preparing to transplant it home.
The mother and son, one teaching and one learning, slowly searched for various edible and useful things in the mountains.
As they were searching, suddenly three or four fierce men armed with clubs rushed out and attacked the mother and son without a word.
Tao Lengshuang recognized them as men from the Tao family and quickly shielded Xiao Feng in her arms, shouting, "What do you want?"
"What do we want? We want to beat you, you wicked creature!"
Saying that, Tao Laoda hit her fiercely with a club: "You dare to hit my child and still refuse to compensate? Today, I will teach you a good lesson."
"Brothers, beat her to death!"
The burly men were truly going for the kill, brutally beating Tao Lengshuang and constantly hurling insults at her.
"You little slut, how dare you not bring anything back to your maiden family? See how I teach you today."
"As my Tao family's daughter, you were born to give everything for my Tao family."
"If you dare to disobey, I'll break your legs."
Tao Lengshuang's eyes gradually turned to ice. She knew that if this continued, both she and Xiao Feng could be beaten to death by these men.
She patted Xiao Feng, picked up a sickle, and fiercely swung it at Tao Laoda's hand.
Instantly, blood spurted out, accompanied by Tao Laoda's screams.
"Ah! My hand, my hand... it hurts so much!"
"For hitting my mother!" Xiao Feng used his head to forcefully butt Tao Laoda's stomach and then punched him in his most vulnerable spot.
Father said that when facing a strong enemy, one should not be concerned with methods.
"Ah!"
Tao Laoda rolled on the ground in pain.
This scene greatly stimulated the others, who trembled as they looked at Tao Lengshuang and her son.
Tao Lengshuang shielded Xiao Feng with one hand, flicked the blood off the sickle, and then pointed the bloody sickle at Tao Lao Er and the others.
"Try moving even a single hair on our mother and son again, and see if I don't hack you to death today."
She ferociously shook the fat on her face and swung the sickle towards Tao Lao Er, who was closest.
Tao Lao Er's face changed drastically, and he retreated in terror: "Don't come here, get away from me! If you want to cut, go cut them!"
Hearing this, Tao Lengshuang changed the direction of the sickle and swung it at the person next to him: "Come on, let's see if I can't hack you today."
The chipped sickle still had bloodstains on it, reflecting a terrifying glint under the sunlight.
Tao Lao Er and the others, scared out of their wits, ran away, not even caring about Tao Laoda.
"You were the one hitting the hardest."
Tao Lengshuang swung the sickle at Tao Laoda again, extremely viciously: "Come once, I'll hack you once. Let's see how many lives you have for me to hack."
"Don't cut me, it was my parents' idea!"
Tao Laoda scrambled away on his hands and feet, crying profusely, as if pursued by a vengeful spirit.
Tao Lengshuang snorted heavily, wiped the blood off the sickle with weeds, and took Xiao Feng's hand to continue searching for various medicinal herbs, teaching him to recognize them at the same time.
Perhaps it was because they had driven away the malicious brothers, but the mother and son's luck seemed to improve.
They actually dug up a ginseng root that was over ten years old.
"Wow~~ Mother, look, look! This ginseng looks like me, small and tiny, just like I am."
Xiao Feng nodded earnestly, agreeing with his own point: "Mother, let's sell the ginseng for money and buy lots and lots of delicious food for Mother, okay?"
Tao Lengshuang carefully wrapped the ginseng in a lot of weeds and placed it in the basket: "Mother wants to lose weight and become beautiful, so she can't eat too much delicious food. What should we do?"
Seeing his mother's troubled expression, Xiao Feng patted his chest: "Xiao Feng will eat for Mother, and then tell Mother what it tastes like. It'll be as if Mother ate it."
Tao Lengshuang burst into laughter, dotingly rubbed his head, and then heard Mo Lingxi's voice.
"Xiao Feng."