The elders of the Xiao Clan hadn’t yet recovered when the clanspeople of the Xiao Clan, having heard the news, rushed over, clamoring to settle accounts with Xiao Changyi for bringing such disgrace upon their clan, making it impossible for them to hold their heads high in Jiuping Village.
These people didn’t stop to consider that most of them had gone yesterday to mock the marriage of An Jing and Xiao Changyi. In the end, they saw no farce and instead harbored a bellyful of rage.
Today, when they learned that Changyi had married into another family, their anger grew even more intense, wishing that Changyi would drop dead right then and there.
Although Xiao Zheng was still furious, he had calmed down somewhat and asked loudly and harshly, "The man has already married into another family. We can’t constrain him with our clan’s rules anymore. How do you propose we settle the score with him?"
Everyone fell silent at once.
But soon, a clansman, discontented, shouted, "Are we supposed to just watch as he brings shame to our family? How will we be able to lift our heads up in the village in the future? How will the other families look upon us? What will the people from other villages think of us?"
"What else can we do, kill him? He’s a veteran from the battlefield. Aside from whether you can actually kill him or not, the fact that murder requires a life to be paid—we can’t make such a muddle-headed move," Xiao Zheng said.
"Clan Leader, after all is said and done, you’re asking us to swallow our anger!" a clansman accused bitterly.
Xiao Zheng replied weakly, "I don’t want to swallow my anger either, but there’s nothing we can do about it."
Yet the clansmen kept complaining incessantly.
Finally, the eldest elder couldn’t stand it anymore and spoke up, "Enough already. Xiao Zheng has always devoted himself wholeheartedly to our clan; everyone has seen his efforts. In this case, indeed, we can only swallow our anger. Don’t blame Xiao Zheng." He paused, "If there’s someone to blame, blame Mrs. Chen for giving birth to such a wretch!"
Upon hearing this, the clanspeople felt that it made sense, and immediately turned their accusations toward Xiao Chen’s, criticizing her for not strangling the wretch, Changyi, at birth so that none of today’s troubles would have arisen.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Chen, oblivious to the clanspeople’s current dissatisfaction with her, had fainted from anger upon hearing about Changyi’s marriage into An Jing’s family.
When she awoke, it was deep in the night.
Mrs. Chen, crying and howling, wanted to go and settle the score with Changyi, but Xiao Gousheng stopped her.
"Mom, you’ve already disowned him, you don’t recognize him as your son, on what grounds are you going to settle the score? His mother? Are you not afraid he’ll bring about your death?" Xiao Gousheng said without any good temper.
"But..." Mrs. Chen was extremely agitated, grinding her teeth in such fury that her old face twisted out of shape as she continued to wail, "Just like that, let him ruin my reputation? We worked so hard to marry your sister into the town and gained some respect. And now, all of that has been swept away clean by that wretch!"
Gousheng was also infuriated by Changyi’s decision to marry into another family but felt utterly helpless.
"Mother, the clan can’t deal with that wretch anymore. You won’t be able to either; just let it be. If worse comes to worst, we’ll just keep our heads down," Gousheng said irritably. In truth, he didn’t want to keep his head down at all; he only said this to soothe his mother.
"The clan can’t deal with it...?" Mrs. Chen was shocked; she had planned to go crying to the Clan Leader, asking him and the clansmen to join her in confronting that wretch, Changyi.
"Not only does the clan have no way to deal with it, but everyone is now blaming you for the disgrace that wretch has brought upon our Xiao Clan. They believe if you hadn’t given birth to such a wretch, none of this would have happened."
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Chen’s eyes rolled back, and she fainted once again from her overwhelming rage.