"Ah, someone come quick, someone's fallen into the water!"
"Wang Jinshun fell into the river."
The person in the river bobbed up and down, his head surfacing now and then to cry for help.
"Help, hurry and save me."
The shrill screams echoed over the river, as the two brothers of the Yue Family returned to the scene.
"Brother, this bastard has fallen into the water." Yue Jiannan couldn't believe his eyes.
Yue Jiandong didn't speak, but that phrase echoed in his mind again.
Justice is clear, and retribution is certain.
More and more people gathered at the riverbank, all pointing and discussing the situation in the river.
Daye Village was next to the river, and many people could swim, with Wang Jinshun being the odd one out.
Normally, there would certainly have been warm-hearted people diving in to save him, but upon recognizing who had fallen in, no one was willing to go into the water.
It was a joke, more than a decade ago Yue Dashan saved Wang Jinshun, but ended up implicated to death. His remaining children and wife almost didn't survive.
Plus, everything he had done just now had been witnessed by everybody, so even fewer people were willing to help.
Such an ingrate, what if he bit back after being saved?
Wang Jinshun swallowed several mouthfuls of water, choking until tears and snot flowed, and his right leg was burning with pain.
Yet, his mind had never been clearer.
The best swimmers in the village were the three brothers of the Yue Family, all because when they were little and too hungry, they had no choice but to dive into the river to catch fish and shrimp.
Even a weakling like Yue Jiannan was good in the water.
Using all his strength, Wang Jinshun waved toward the shore, his voice squeezing out between his teeth.
"I know I was wrong, gulp, I'll apologize to Brother Dashan."
"It was him who saved me, cough cough cough, back in the cold winter, it was him who dived into the water to pull me out."
"As long as you... gulp gulp... pull me up, I'll kowtow and apologize to Widow Lin."
Wang Jinshun screamed until his voice was hoarse, and Jiannan, being less experienced, began to soften.
"Brother, should we...?"
Yue Jiandong patted his head.
"Youngest, when you were two or three years old and had a high fever, our family was too poor to afford medicine. Mom lost face begging at Wang Jinshun's house, but his wife said mom brought bad luck and deliberately doused her with cold water, driving her away."
"Wang Jinshun said you were a spawn of the Yue Family, alive or dead, what's that got to do with him? Even if you died, it was heaven's will."
Yue Jiandong still remembered how his mother returned shivering with cold, her clothes frozen into solid lumps.
This was the first time Yue Jiannan had heard of this past grievance, and he clenched his teeth in anger, "This disgusting creature, we're not saving him, just like he said, alive or dead, what's that got to do with us?"
Wang Jinshun didn't die.
The village head, who had hurried over, directed the capable swimmers on the shore to pull Wang Jinshun out of the water.
Although he didn't like Wang Jinshun, as the village head, he couldn't just stand by and watch him drown.
The rescue didn't go smoothly though.
Wang Jinshun struggled too violently, almost dragging his would-be rescuers down with him.
Fortunately, there were several people and all of them strong young men.
They had no choice but to knock Wang Jinshun out before dragging him to the shore.
Once on shore, everyone realized Wang Jinshun's right leg was broken, probably from hitting a rock or something when he rolled down the bank, now it hung limp and twisted.
No one knew who exclaimed first.
"Yesterday, Wang Jinshun seemed to swear that if he lied, he would break his leg."
"Not just that, after Yue Dashan died trying to save him years ago, now in broad daylight he managed to fall into the river all by himself."
The more the crowd thought about it, the more mysterious it seemed.
Even the village head felt a chill, and couldn't help shivering.
"Alright, stop talking, let's get him to the clinic first."
The onlookers fell silent, but the rumors in the village could not be suppressed.
He had just made a pledge yesterday, and today his leg was broken.
Can this really be explained as mere coincidence?