Flip the table and divide the family property! Take his wife and daughter into the mountains and eat

Kaoshantun, Zhao Shanhe's home.

Inside the house, a large tobacco pipe was emitting white smoke, and the earthen kang (heated brick bed) was burning hot.

Erga sat shirtless on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), his feet soaking in warm water that was reddened by blood and mud. The cut on his forehead was simply bandaged with white gauze, and the bruises on his back were shocking under the dim kerosene lamp.

Da Niu squatted on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), roughly wiping the blood and mud off his body with a hot towel.

Da Zhuang stood by the door like an iron tower, arms crossed.

Zhao Shanhe sat at the other end of the kang table, a cigarette between his fingers, his eyelids slightly lowered, and didn't interrupt Ergazi once from beginning to end.

It wasn't until Ergazi recounted the whole story of how he crashed into the Liu family's main hall with his foot on the gas pedal and burned down the Liu family's property with two barrels of gasoline that the air in the room almost froze solid.

Da Zhuang's lips twitched violently twice.

Da Niu's eyes widened, the towel he was holding dangling in mid-air, and he didn't come to his senses for a long time.

No one expected that Erga, who was usually glib and seemed unruly in the village, would become so reckless tonight when pushed to the limit! Crashing into houses, pouring oil, setting fires... what he did was clearly a desperate act aimed at confiscating property and wiping out the entire family!

Erga Zi lowered his head, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down, his voice muffled as if squeezed out from underground:

"Brother Shanhe".

"I crashed into the house and set it on fire."

"I stole the car too."

"What if something really happens—"

"Alright."

Zhao Shanhe interrupted him directly.

"I'm asking you."

Was anyone inside when the fire was lit?

"No!"

Erga quickly shook his head, his voice suddenly becoming anxious, "After I crashed the car in there, I searched inside and out. Liu Changgui wasn't there, nor were Cui'er and her mother. I even searched the kitchen and wood passageway thoroughly. Only after confirming that there wasn't a single living person did I..."

"That's fine then."

Zhao Shanhe, with a cigarette between his fingers, exhaled a thick, bluish-white smoke, his tone unusually calm.

Erga Zi suddenly raised his head.

"As long as no one dies, the rest is easy to handle."

"It's nothing more than a few dilapidated houses, a yard of timber, and some miscellaneous belongings. We'll compensate for whatever we lose, however much it's worth, as long as we can afford to pay for it now."

As Zhao Shanhe finished speaking, he glanced at Ergazi.

"Besides, you've already told me what kind of person that old bastard Liu Changgui is."

"For a few dollars, he beat his own daughter to death, and even wanted to tie her up like an animal and hand her over to you. It's not unfair that such a beast suffered this."

Erga's nostrils twitched suddenly, and he was about to open his mouth: "Brother Shanhe, but what if there really is someone—"

"If someone is looking for me, let them come find me."

Zhao Shanhe cut him off directly.

"If the police ask, I'll go and answer."

"Liu Changgui wants money, I'll go pay it."

"Are there really people outside who think this isn't over yet and insist on continuing to make trouble—"

Zhao Shanhe twitched the corner of his mouth.

"I'm in there too."

"It's not your place to go out and show off with that broken head and those rotten feet."

He raised his hand and pointed at Ergaizi's two feet, which were soaking in blood.

"Just focus on recovering from your injury."

"Leave the rest to me."

Erga lowered his head, his nose inexplicably feeling a little sore, and he only replied in a muffled voice, "I know, Brother Shanhe."

Just as the room quieted down, a piercing and violent roar suddenly came from afar in the deathly silent night sky outside the window!

"Rat-a-tat-tat—!"

"Boom! Boom boom—!"

The sound of several motorcycles and hand tractors revving their engines grew louder as they rolled along the dirt road at the entrance of Kaoshantun village, instantly shattering the tranquility of the entire village!

"Woof woof woof!!"

The guard dogs at the village entrance were the first to start barking, and then it seemed to trigger a chain reaction, with one house after another, until the entire Kaoshantun village was filled with the frantic barking of dogs.

One by one, lights were turned on along the originally dark dirt road.

One by one, the windows were pushed open.

The sound of movement echoed from one courtyard gate to another.

Many elderly and young men who had just gone to bed came out of their houses wearing cotton-padded coats. Some were carrying flashlights, while others picked up shovels and wooden sticks from the wall, frowning as they looked at the approaching headlights of cars at the village entrance.

Who is it?

"What are you doing in the middle of the night?!"

"Damn it, those guys in the car are carrying iron pipes and machetes, they look like they're up to no good!"

"Damn it! These stray dogs from other villages dare to run wild in our Kaoshan Village? Everyone, grab your weapons!!"

In an instant, the entire village was in an uproar!

The sounds of barking dogs, cursing, and clashing metal filled the air.

The men, wearing thick coats, some carrying double-barreled shotguns, some carrying snowplows, and others wielding large axes for chopping wood, their eyes gleaming with ferocity, surged from the courtyards of each household onto the main road and rushed straight towards the village entrance!

When Ma San's sidecar motorcycle and hand tractor roared to the large stone roller at the village entrance, the dirt road ahead was already crowded with fifty or sixty strong men from Kaoshantun. The beams of their flashlights shone on the front of the vehicles, blocking the way so that not even a fly could fly through!

"Squeak—!!"

The motorcycle with the sidecar at the front braked suddenly.

The two motorcycles and the hand tractor behind them also became a mess. The dozen or so men who were originally waving steel pipes and shouting at the top of their lungs suddenly quieted down when they saw the dark mass of people in front of them.

Everyone looked at each other, and the iron rods in their hands drooped down without them even realizing it.

The second brother, driving the motorcycle, gripped the brake levers tightly with both hands. Cold sweat streamed down his forehead, and his face was pale. He turned his head and said in a trembling voice, "Third...Third brother, what do we do?!"

Sitting in the sidecar, Ma San looked at the dozens of mountain men opposite him, each holding a homemade gun, axe, and spear. The scar at the corner of his eye twitched violently twice.

Having lived in this world for so many years, he could tell at a glance that these peasants from Kaoshantun were truly desperate thugs who would risk their lives by firing a gun! If they dared to use force tonight, these dozen or so men wouldn't even be able to leave the village; they would all perish here!

If we can't use force, we have to use gentleness to gain the upper hand!

Ma San took a deep breath of the chilling air, grabbed his restless subordinate beside him, and stepped out of the sidecar.

He quietly slung the weapon behind his back, clasped his hands in a fist salute to the dark mass of people in front of him, and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Fellow villagers of Kaoshantun! Don't rush to use your weapons!"

"I, Ma San, came here tonight with no other intention than to cause trouble for your Kaoshantun village, and I didn't mean to come to your territory in the middle of the night and make enemies!"

"Every wrong has its perpetrator, and every debt its debtor!"

"I'm looking for someone from your village today—Erga Zi!"

As Ma San spoke, he raised his hand and pointed behind him.

"The man behind him is Liu Changgui, a carpenter from Xiakanzi Village. His daughter, Liu Cuier, has already agreed to marry me, and soon she will be my wife, Ma San's wife. Liu Changgui will naturally be my future father-in-law!"

"This afternoon, that Ergai from your village went to the Liu family for a blind date, but the marriage didn't go through. It's not a big deal, really; marriage is a matter of mutual consent, and no one can force anyone to marry another!"

"But that night, Ergaizi, after drinking, drove a large Jiefang truck straight into the Liu family's house!"

"The gate to the courtyard was smashed!"

"The house was knocked down!"

"Finally, they took two buckets of gasoline and burned the Liu family's three rooms, a yard full of timber, and all the belongings they had accumulated over half a lifetime to the ground!"

Ma San's voice grew louder and louder as he spoke, and finally he raised his hand and patted his chest heavily.

"I, Ma San, have been around for so many years, I wouldn't dare call myself a saint, but there has to be some reason in this matter, right?"

"My future father-in-law's house was burned down and his home was smashed. If I, as his son-in-law, don't even dare to ask a question, how can I have the face to marry his daughter?!"

"So I brought my brothers here tonight for one thing only!"

Ma San took a deep breath, his voice booming through the crowd like thunder:

"We need to get justice from Ergaizi and demand an explanation!!"