Chapter 33: Chapter 33 Household Matters
Ma Cuicui, young as she was, became terrified at the mention of “imprisonment” and plopped down on the ground.
“I won’t go to jail, I don’t want to go to jail. Mom, it’s all because you always beat Yue Xiaofang. Last night, you even tried to pour hot oil into her mouth, and as for you, brother, you kicked her so hard last time that she couldn’t get up for ages. I… I never hit her that hard.”
The onlookers were all shocked. Were the members of the Ma Family even human? To abuse a daughter-in-law , no wonder Yue Xiaofang wore long sleeves and pants regardless of whether it was hot or cold.
Ma Jinbao was also startled into silence, his lips quivering, unable to make a sound.
But Li Zhaozhuang, possessing a bit of cunning, retorted with her neck stiff, “Village chief, fighting and going to jail are matters for outsiders, but I’ve never heard of anyone being jailed for hitting their own family.”
“Besides, there are plenty of people in the village who beat their wives. If you’re going to arrest, you’d have to arrest half the village. What’s that saying? Right, ‘the law does not punish the many.’ You can’t scare me with that.”
Ma Shulin snorted, “Scare you? I’m just stating the facts. They’re not from my Jinshan Village. Why would I go out of my way to scare you because of them?”
And that made sense to everyone. The village chief had no ties to the Yue Family, and as expected, he would naturally side with his own villagers.
It was just that the Ma Family had gone too far. If hot oil had actually been poured into someone’s mouth, it would have scalded their insides. If someone had died, jail was inevitable. The village chief was right.
Li Zhaozhuang argued back, “Yes, I beat her, but she’s alive and well right now. The police surely can’t arrest me and put me in jail for that.”
She then repeated her earlier reasoning, “Even a fair official would find it hard to settle household affairs. How I beat my daughter-in-law is my own business, and I won’t beat her to death.”
But what the village chief Ma was waiting for was precisely these words, “So you say this is a domestic affair, and outsiders should not intervene?”
Instinctively feeling something was amiss, but with her daughter and son desperately looking to her for guidance, Li Zhaozhuang decided to stay tough.
“Right, it’s a domestic affair. Who gets jailed over a domestic affair?”
Ma Shulin laughed, “Since you also say it’s a domestic issue, we’ll stay out of it then.”
Feeling triumphant, Li Zhaozhuang grinned, only to see Ma Shulin turn to Yue Jiandong.
“You all sort it out yourselves.”
Before Ma Jinbao could react, Yue Jiandong had already rushed up to him.
A fierce punch landed on his face, the agonizing pain nearly shattering his nasal bone made Ma Jinbao’s tears and snot flow together.
And that was just the beginning. Yue Jianxi kicked him to the ground, and the ordinarily placid man viciously stomped on his stomach.
Ma Jinbao felt a sweetness in his throat, nearly vomiting blood.
Even Yue Jiannan, who wasn’t adept at fighting, joined in with a flurry of punches that made Ma Jinbao’s jaw rattle ominously.
“Ah, murder! Somebody help, quick!”
Li Zhaozhuang’s shrill screams startled the villagers, who were used to intervening in fights, and they instinctively rushed to separate the brawlers.
But Ma Shulin stopped them.
“Didn’t you hear what Li Zhaozhuang said? This is a family matter; outsiders should not get involved.”
The bystanders immediately understood Ma Shulin’s point and halted, watching the drama unfold from the side.
Li Zhaozhuang, who doted on this son the most, rushed forward wanting to throw herself on top of Ma Jinbao, only to have her hair yanked back by Lin Chunju.
Lin Chunju sneered, “Dear mother-in-law, let’s consider this part of our domestic affairs, shall we?”
Li Zhaozhuang covered her face, as another tooth started to wobble from the impact.
Yue Qingqing clenched her small fists tightly within her mother’s embrace, silently cheering on her grandmother.
A duet of wails from Li Zhaozhuang and Ma Jinbao echoed under the skies of Jinshan Village, yet the listeners were unmoved.
She was a precious maiden who had married into your family from another village, and this is how you treat her?
Pah, serves you right!
Ma Cuicui trembled uncontrollably to the side, not daring to step in. In the confusion, she didn’t even know who had kicked her twice, but her ribs throbbed painfully.
Ma Shulin said indifferently, “Your own people are human beings, and others are not? Since you say that not killing them counts as a domestic affair, then settle it amongst yourselves. I can’t interfere either.”
After a while, Li Zhaozhuang and Ma Jinbao had been beaten until they were barely breathing, their bodies curled up on the ground like shrimps.
Yue Jiandong stopped his beating and looked at his sister.
“Xiaofang, every debt has its debtor. Whatever humiliation they put you through, now it’s time they tasted the same.”
Yue Xiaofang stared blankly at the two of them; the memory of being tormented replayed vividly in her mind.
They were like demons, instilling fear in her, making her afraid to resist.
As Yue Xiaofang approached step by step, the two trembled all over; Ma Jinbao, wiping the blood from his face, begged in a low voice.
“Xiaofang, we’ve shared a marriage for years; I know I was wrong. Please, just let me and Mom go.”