CHAPTER 52: CHAPTER 051 YOU STILL DARE TO MAKE TROUBLE IN A CROWD

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The Xie Family is hosting a lavish wedding banquet, while over in Shanglin Village and Old Lin Village, Lin Aiguo’s house is also bustling with activity.

Zhang Hongqiang’s family had originally planned to attend his grandniece’s wedding. Just as he was about to leave, Zhang Zhiguo’s house erupted in commotion again.

This was because Lin Aiguo, that rascal, was still harboring a grudge after vandalizing Zhang Zhiguo’s house. He had brought his cousins who shared the same residence to make a scene again, demanding either a wife from the Zhang family or the betrothal money for his sister to settle the matter.

Left with no choice, he was wary of antagonizing the Xie Family in Qingfeng Village and did not dare to cause trouble on their turf, so he vented his pent-up resentments on Zhang Zhiguo’s household.

After all, his sister had ambiguously ’married’ into the Zhangs. There was no going back since the youngest daughter of the Zhang family had already registered her marriage with someone else the day before yesterday.

Now that the Zhang family claimed they had no money left after their only son ’took it all away,’ Lin Aiguo did not fully believe this. Whether the money was indeed embezzled by Zhang Dongliang and Lin Aimei, only Zhang Zhiguo’s household knew the truth. All he wanted now was for the Zhang family to pay the betrothal money!

"Zhang Gou’er, don’t give me that nonsense. All I know is that my sister has registered her marriage with your son, and if you don’t hand over the betrothal money, I’ll be eating and living at your Zhang house from now on!" Lin Aiguo, holding a stick in his hand, was backed by not only many of his uncles and male cousins, but also his close mahjong buddies.

Zhang Zhiguo’s courtyard was surrounded by the men of the Lin family, young and old. Outside the yard, villagers who heard the noise came to see what the commotion was all about.

Seeing this, he squinted his mung bean eyes and shouted loudly, "If the Zhang family doesn’t give me an explanation today, it’s possible that tomorrow you, or your daughter, will be whisked away and have a wedding certificate forcibly obtained just like this!"

"Hisss!" The onlooking villagers, hearing Lin Aiguo’s vague threats pointedly gesturing in all directions, gasped if they had daughters at home. Some of the young men exchanged knowing looks, thinking this approach might be a rather good one: act first, formalize later!

This caused the elder men and matrons among the onlookers to glare at Zhang Zhiguo’s family with disapproval.

If Zhang Dongliang had really started a bad trend in the village, it would be a serious problem!

Zhang Zhiguo was not foolish; scared by the villagers’ glares, he shrank back, and cursed Zhang Dongliang, that ’no-good kid,’ viciously in his mind.

Nearly twenty or thirty elders from the Lin family had come, while Zhang Zhiguo was the only man standing up for the Zhang family. The Zhangs, because of Zhang Shan Ni’s wedding, had Zhang Yunni and Zhang Baonni gathered at their maternal home, huddling with Lin Zhaodi in fear, trembling all over. The three women huddled behind Zhang Zhiguo, yet unfortunately, Zhang Zhiguo himself was also shaking like a leaf.

"I, my family really has no money left!" If Zhang Zhiguo had known that selling his youngest daughter would lead to this outcome, he would have preferred being beaten by the virago behind him rather than ending up in this current state!

Facing the sturdy men opposite him armed with sticks and hoes, Zhang Zhiguo, who was neither particularly strong nor tall, almost had his knees buckle in fear.

"Lin Aiguo, don’t go too far! You know exactly what happened the day before yesterday, and besides, our home was almost destroyed by your rampage, we still don’t have enough money to replace our basic necessities! You, you even dare to gather a crowd and cause trouble!"

Zhang Baonni, cowering behind her mother, saw that the courtyard was filled with their own villagers; she guessed someone might have already gone to inform the village chief, so she dared to scream back in retort.

The onlooking villagers did indeed do as Zhang Baonni expected; seeing so many people from other villages, several had indeed sent their children to notify the village chief’s family, fearing that the altercation might lead to fatalities.

In fact, everyone in Shanglin already knew that Zhang Zhiguo’s family had been played for a fool. They had just sold their younger daughter for a sum of money two days ago, and that very night, their only son stole it and ran off joyously with his new wife, leaving Lin Aiguo’s crumbling household behind.

At that time, Lin Aiguo, upon seeing the marriage certificate between Zhang Dongliang and Lin Aimei, which indicated her household registration had even moved into the Zhang Family, was so furious that he directly smashed Zhang Zhiguo’s house to smithereens. With the ruckus being so loud, how could the neighboring farmers not hear it?

Besides, Lin Aiguo was an infamous loudmouth. Once he started shouting, who wouldn’t know?

"Shut up! You married woman, don’t be an eyesore here, or do you want to take on Zhang Gou’er’s debts and be the elder’s wife?!"

"You, you rotten toad, don’t even think about it!" Zhang Baonni roared back in anger upon hearing this ugly freak daring to covet her. Yet she felt even more terrified, not only hiding behind her mother but also pulling her eldest sister in front to shield herself.

With such a selfish act, in an apocalyptic world, this would definitely be the behavior of a despicable person.

Zhang Yunni was scared too, but she was aware of her own situation. She was quite different from her oldest sister; among the three sisters, her appearance resembled Lin Zhaodi the most. Her looks did not meet ordinary people’s standards of beauty save for her slightly larger eyes. However, she couldn’t help but resent her second younger sister because of her actions.

Zhang Yunni was too thin, like a bamboo pole, and dark-skinned, unlike Zhang Baonni, who appeared thin but was actually well-rounded beneath her clothes. She rarely worked outside, giving her fairer skin than other women in the village, and her hands were especially soft. Her facial features resembled their deceased grandmother the most.

However, compared to Zhang Shanni, Zhang Baonni’s features fell short.

One could say that among the three Zhang sisters, the youngest, Zhang Shanni, was actually the most beautiful.

Moreover, since Zhang Yunni had already been married for three years and even had a child, she admitted to herself as the ugliest among the Zhang sisters. Even if there was a battle for marriage, it would certainly not involve her.

Of course, if Lin Zhaodi, her mother, knew of such thoughts, she would certainly claim that it was Zhang Shanni who was the ugliest. Not only was she thin as a monkey, but aside from her eyes, which mildly resembled Grandma Zhang’s, she could not compare to the second daughter who resembled the grandmother by sixty to seventy percent, and also looked like Lin Zhaodi’s own eldest daughter. In her heart, the ugliest in the family was Zhang Shanni.

"Zhang Gou’er, you better give an explanation quickly! If you dare to default, today I’ll bring people to tear down your Zhang family’s house!" The thought of his sister being deceived by Zhang Dongliang, the stinking brat, and his own wife being sold off by the Zhang Family, left Lin Aiguo feeling like he had lost on both ends, left with nothing. He lost his reason and was no longer afraid of consequences.

Just the thought of spending his life as a lonely, childless widower was enough to drive him mad.

He was already thirty-four years old. Over the years, he had been set up on so many blind dates, again and again, delayed each time. If it wasn’t for an accidental taste of widowhood from a few years ago, he wouldn’t have known that having a wife was so delightful.

But that charming widow, for reasons like disliking him, remarried early, and didn’t even dare to keep the child, causing him much regret.

Since then, he became even more desperate to have a wife, to experience the warm life with a wife and children by his side.

Especially when all the men gathered around bragging about the benefits of having wives and children, it made him itch with yearning! And yet, as he got older, not even the local widows were willing to marry him! The widow who ran away was a prime example.

It was not easy to negotiate a match and he himself screwed it up! Although Zhang Family’s Third Girl wasn’t much to look at, at least she was capable and clean—that was the bare minimum!

Now without his younger sister, he only realized that even if Zhang Shanni was a bit troublesome, it was still better than becoming a lonely old man!

But now, it was too late for regrets!

"I, my family really doesn’t have any money left! It’s not that I don’t want to give you any!" Zhang Zhiguo, terrified by the hoe Lin Aiguo raised, fell to the ground with weak legs, trembling and shouting in fear.

Such a family-ruining woman, truly! There is a saying, ’do not flaunt your wealth’, yet this woman even dared to let her son find out where the money was stashed! And yet, she only guarded against him alone! This was the source of Zhang Zhiguo’s bitterness.