area51novel Chapter 295 Beaten
Chapter 295 Beaten
It was almost time for lunch. Maya's sister-in-law Wang Xiulan carried a basket with two eggs and half a pound of brown sugar in it and hurried to her sister-in-law's house. When she pushed the door open, the room was quiet. Only Maya was curled up on the kang, her face pale and her forehead covered with cold sweat.
"Ah!" Wang Xiulan rushed to the kang in two steps and touched Ma Ya's forehead, which was terribly hot. "Why is it so hot?"
Maya opened her eyes weakly, her lips cracked: "Sister-in-law...Sister-in-law..."
Wang Xiulan looked around. The teacup on the kang was empty, and the medicine bag was still on the table. She stamped her feet in anger: "Where is Jia Geng? Didn't he ask Dad for leave to take care of you?"
Maya's eyes dodged: "The head of the family... go, go to work..."
"Bullshit!" Wang Xiulan pulled back the quilt. Maya was still wearing the dirty clothes she wore when she worked in the fields. "Just wait!"
She quickly lit a fire and boiled water, took out eggs from the basket, beat them, and added brown sugar to make a bowl of egg drop soup. After Maya finished drinking it, she took out the antipyretic medicine and forced it down her throat.
"Lie down and don't move!" Wang Xiulan tied on an apron and started sweeping the floor and wiping the table. The more she cleaned, the more frightened she became - the rice jar was empty, the water jar was almost empty, and the stove was so cold that it could freeze.
Wang Xiulan left Maya's house and quickly reached the edge of the field. She stood on the ridge with her hands on her hips and yelled at her husband: "Li Tieniu! You still have the heart to hoe the fields? Your sister is almost dead!"
Li Tieniu's hoe fell to the ground with a clang. The three brothers ran to Wang Xiulan and surrounded her. After hearing what Wang Xiulan said, their faces became uglier than each other.
"Look for it!" Li Tieniu squeezed out a word from between his teeth.
Under the old locust tree at the east end of the village, Banggeng was squatting with a few second-rate guys playing mahjong, with a few dimes of change in front of them. He was lucky today, and was humming a little tune happily: "I am a casual person in Wolonggang..."
"Jia Geng!" A thunderous roar frightened him so much that he dropped his cards.
When he looked up, he saw the three brothers of the Li family blocking his way like three iron towers, and Li Tieniu was holding a whip in his hand.
"Big, big brother..." Banggeng stood up with a forced smile, "I'll go back and take care of Maya..."
"Take care of me?" Li Tieshuan grabbed him by the collar. "My sister was delirious with fever, and you were gambling here?!"
Seeing that the situation was not good, Liu Erniu and his friends ran away. Banggeng tried to escape, but was tripped by Li Tiezhu and fell heavily on the muddy ground.
"Brothers! Let's talk it over!" Bang Geng used his hands and feet to move backwards, "I really just got here!"
Li Tieniu said nothing and whipped him on the leg: "I whip you for your father!"
"Ah!" Bang Geng screamed, and a bloody swelling immediately appeared on his leg.
Li Tieshuan kicked him and said, "This kick is for Liu Xu!"
The most ruthless one was Li Tiezhu, who directly swung up the cattle-driving stick and said: "This stick is for my sister!"
Banggeng ran away crying for his parents. Finally, the scorekeeper Lao Zhao heard the noise and pulled the three brothers apart.
Maya was sweating after taking the medicine and heard the noise outside in a daze.
The three elder brothers of the Li family were carrying the bruised and swollen Bang Geng into the Li family yard. Captain Li was standing in the yard with a gloomy face.
"Dad!" Banggeng knelt down as soon as he entered the door, "I was wrong! I didn't know Maya's illness was so serious..."
Captain Li looked at the bruises on his son-in-law's face, then glanced at the dark faces of his three sons. He suddenly picked up his pipe and hit the back of the stick: "You bastard! If anything happens to my daughter..."
"Boss! Use force!" Maya's mother hugged Liu Xu and watched Banggeng being scolded by her husband. "We have to let him know that my daughter is under the care of others!"
Banggeng tried his best to dodge and hugged Captain Li's thigh: "Dad! I swear to be good to Maya in the future! Please forgive me this time!"
Captain Li thought about his daughter, then looked at the crying catkin in the cradle, and finally sighed: "Go fetch water! Fill the jar!"
At night, Banggeng lay on the kang, groaning in pain, and Maya applied a hot towel to his wound.
"Hiss - be gentle!" He slapped Maya's hand away, "You spendthrift woman! If you hadn't been so nosy..."
Maya bit her lips and dared not say a word, tears falling on the kang mat. Outside the window, Li Tieniu and his two brothers squatted at the foot of the wall smoking, listening to the noise in the house, their fists clenched and creaking.
"Brother," Li Tieshuan asked with red eyes, "are you just going to let it go?"
Li Tiezhu stared at the dark field outside the village and said, "How can I just let it go?"
The chickens in Wugoutun had just crowed for the first time and the sky in the east was just beginning to turn pale when Banggeng was awakened by a hurried knock on the door.
"Jia Geng! Get up and go to work!" Tie Niu's rough voice came from outside the door, accompanied by the sound of banging on the wooden door.
Banggeng pulled the quilt over his head and pretended not to hear. This was the twelfth day in a row that the three Li brothers had woken him up. It felt like all the bones in his body had been torn apart and reassembled, and every muscle was screaming with pain.
"If you don't open the door, I'll kick it!" Tiezhu's voice joined in, his tone filled with impatience.
Maya had already gotten up and stood by the kang, gently nudging Banggeng: "Boss, hurry up and get up, the eldest and second brothers have bad tempers..."
Bang Geng suddenly pulled back the quilt and glared at Maya: "Can't you f*cking say a word for me? I'm your man!"
Maya had a bitter face and didn't dare to say anything. Ever since she pleaded for Banggeng last time and was scolded by her father in front of the whole family, she never dared to say anything more.
The noise outside the door was getting louder and louder. Banggeng knew he couldn't hide anymore, so he had to slowly get up and put on his clothes while cursing in his heart. Didn't he marry Maya so that he could rely on the big tree of the Li family and do less work? Why was he even more tired now than when he first came to join the team?
"What are you waiting for?" Tieshuan kicked the unlocked door open, and three sturdy figures blocked the door. Tieniu was holding a thumb-thick willow branch in his hand, swinging it in the air with a snapping sound.
Bang Geng smiled and said: "Third brother, I'm getting dressed right now, I'll be done soon..."
"Stop talking nonsense!" Tie Niu grabbed Bang Geng's collar and dragged him out of the door like a chicken. "You were lazy and didn't hoe half a furrow yesterday. Make up for it today!"
Banggeng shuddered when he heard that he had to make up for the previous day's work. He was sandwiched between the three brothers and stumbled towards the field. When passing by the village entrance, several early-rising villagers pointed at them with expressions of watching the fun.
"What are you looking at!" Banggeng yelled in anger.
Tiezhu slapped him on the back of his head: "How dare you yell like that? Everyone in the village knows what kind of person you are, Jia Geng!"
When they arrived at the edge of the field, it was just dawn. Tieniu put the hoe into Banggeng's hand and pointed to the furrow at the edge: "Start from here. You can't eat until you finish the work today."