Chapter 427: Chapter 404: Have 7 or 8 Kids (Part 3)
"Mm." Song Tingfan kissed her twice, then behaved himself.
...
Lin Qiao, who had been away for five years, was undoubtedly the hottest "topic" in the village upon her return.
Wherever there were women, this topic was unavoidable.
Lin Qiao heard it two or three times and paid no attention, but the people who came to the village with her couldn’t stand it, and four or five women got into a scuffle, eventually dragging the men into the fight as well.
If Zhou Tiedan hadn’t arrived in time, even more people would have joined the fight.
The outsiders hadn’t even officially moved into the village, so he couldn’t intervene, and could only send someone to call Song Tingfan.
At that moment, Lin Qiao and Song Tingfan were sitting in the courtyard cleaning fish mint, when someone breathlessly shouted, "Song Family, hurry to the village head’s place, the people you brought are fighting with the villagers."
Hearing this, the two frowned, though they hadn’t interacted much with these people, they didn’t seem like troublemakers.
Song Tingfan clapped his hands, "Mm."
Lin Qiao glanced at him, her exterior cold but inwardly anxious, "I’ll go with you."
"You’re not going."
"I’m going. You know how those women’s mouths can be."
Song Tingfan consented, but he glanced up at the sun, turned back into the house, and took an umbrella for her, "I’ll carry you."
It was just a few steps away, but he was worried she’d get tired.
Lin Qiao couldn’t deny feeling warmed, "It’s fine, let’s go quickly."
The village had expanded in recent years, but if you raised your voice a little, it could still be heard.
Even from a distance, they could hear a woman’s relentless voice, "Get out of this village; this is our village! You filthy beggars, any old stray cat or dog dares to come here."
Their pace quickened, and when they arrived at Zhou Tietao’s house, they saw the two groups standing on either side, one aggressive, the other with bowed heads, not daring to speak.
Seeing the two arrive, the people with their heads down full of apology and panic, one of them, an older man named Wang Zhigang, waved his hand, "This has nothing to do with General Song, it’s our fault, we’ll leave right away."
The others quickly and anxiously echoed him, afraid to cause more trouble for Song Tingfan.
Probably never having a good impression of the villagers from the start, Lin Qiao sided with them a bit, "You came with us, so this is our issue."
"What’s going on? Just be honest. Right or wrong, everyone’s got an internal scale."
Wang Zhigang’s group hesitated, hesitant to speak. Before Lin Qiao could say anything, a village woman shrilled, "Tingfan’s wife, are you saying we’re wrong? You’re from this village too, how could you take the side of outsiders?"
"Oh, it’s Ms. Zhang speaking, I thought someone was going to eat people alive."
Li Guifen stormed in angrily, backing Lin Qiao, "You can’t bully people like this. Wrong is wrong, what’s with the outsider and villager division? Besides, the Lin family and the Zhang family haven’t crossed paths in eight generations. Who knows, maybe there’s some old grudge."
"Daily losing face, are they just shameless now? Oh right, totally shameless."
She showed no kindness to the Li family. Back when it was rumored Lin Qiao ran off with Zhang Dong, the Zhang family knew it wasn’t true but spread false tales anyway. What’s more, they even went to her daughter’s shop, behaving like a bossy employer.
Fortunately, Tingfan scolded them once, and they didn’t dare act out again.
Zhang Yu was Zhang Dong’s aunt, "Li Guifen, you filthy hag, you’re the shameless one, utterly shameless. Your daughter ran off for years, who knows what she did."
"You don’t know what she did, I thought you might. Dig up your ancestors’ graves, all eighteen generations, including yours." Li Guifen sassed, completely imposing.
Lin Qiao couldn’t help but chuckle; her mother had always been verbally unbeatable.
Song Tingfan frowned deeply, clearly displeased with Zhang Yu.
Zhang Yu was left speechless, unable to respond for a long time. Li Guifen rolled her eyes at her, "What’s wrong now? Can’t catch your breath? That’s not my problem."
Zhou Tietao hated dealing with such matters, his head pounding, but given his position as village chief, he sternly said, "Enough of this."
"Explain what’s going on; it doesn’t matter if you’re from the village or outsiders. Once you’re here, we’re all part of the same village."
He looked at the villagers, "You start, what happened?"
"Who knows? I was washing clothes when they started hitting me. Look, my face is bruised! They’ve got to compensate!" Zhang Yu pointed at her face.
Wang Zhigang was so angry his neck bulged, "That’s not how it went. You were speaking ill of General Song and his wife. We told you to stop, but you didn’t listen, and it only got worse."
"Insult General Song and his wife? You keep it up, and I’ll drag you down with me, even if it kills me."
No one knew just how deeply Song Tingfan was respected in their hearts.
"It’s my mouth, I’ll say what I want." Zhang Yu showed no remorse.
Li Guifen, enraged beyond reason by her attitude, slapped her, "I’ll smack you, you filthy mouth, won’t behave unless you’re hit!"
