Chapter 52: War God Xiao Tao

Chang Meijuan gave a rough account of what had happened at Yue Feng's house, and as soon as Xiao Tao and Li Wentong finished listening, they immediately lost their tempers.

"Damn it! Dad, you go back with Mom first. Don't let my uncle and aunt get the short end of the stick! I'm going to the Korean Pine Forest to find my brother Feng!"

"Those damn Zhus, they're actually bullying us now!"

Xiao Tao was very clear-headed in matters like this. He handed the eagle and the satchel to his father, turned around, and sprinted toward the Korean Pine Forest.

An hour later, Yue Feng, Xiao Tao, and the Zhang brothers all rushed back, panting heavily.

By this time, the Yue family courtyard was in total chaos.

A bloody cut had appeared on Mother Meng Yulan's face, and her younger sister, Jingjing, had cried until her voice was hoarse.

Yue Lei's sleeve had been torn open, and Old Man Zhu hadn't fared much better; he had a bump the size of an egg on his forehead from being struck by a cane.

"Mom!!" As soon as Yue Feng arrived home, he didn't even bother to tie the eagle to the perch before rushing to check on his mother's injuries.

"Xiao Feng, I'm fine!" Meng Yulan said, holding her youngest daughter, Jingjing, and wiping the child's tears.

Before Yue Feng could even ask what happened, he saw the three Zhu brothers, plus Zhu Dahai and Zhu Erhai—five able-bodied men—approaching the Yue house aggressively, brandishing sticks, shoulder poles, and other weapons.

At this moment, arguing about who was right or wrong was no longer important!

With a cold face, Yue Feng shouted, "Xiao Tao, grab your gear! Mom, take Jingjing inside!"

At the command to grab gear, Xiao Tao felt a surge of blood rush to his head. He snatched up a willow branch as thick as a child's arm from beside the granary and charged at the three Zhu brothers who had entered the Yue family gates.

"You bastards! You dare come to my brother's house to cause trouble? I'll kill you lot of bastards!"

Yes, you read that right. Xiao Tao was a wild fighter; he didn't care about tactics, rules, or logic. He simply grabbed a stick and charged into the crowd, swinging wildly.

Seeing that Xiao Tao had already made a move, Li Wentong, fearing his son would get hurt, grabbed a pickaxe handle and charged in as well.

Next came Yue Feng, followed by the three brothers—Zhang Xiaowen and Zhang Xiaowu—charging in side-by-side.

It was five against five. In terms of numbers, they were evenly matched.

However, on Yue Feng's side, there was Xiao Tao—a wild man whose eyes lit up at the sight of a fight. From the moment the fighting started, he firmly controlled the momentum of the battle.

What was originally an even fight quickly turned into a one-sided rout. Among the five members of the Zhu family, two were knocked down by Xiao Tao in the first encounter. By the time Yue Feng and the Zhang brothers charged in, the remaining three were quickly beaten to the ground.

Just then, the village Party Secretary, Wang Jianguo, rushed back in a hurry.

"Everyone, stop fighting!!!"

A Secretary is a Secretary; after his shout, everyone—both the attackers and the ones being attacked—stopped immediately.

Yue Feng pulled his red-eyed Xiao Tao aside and then dropped his stick on the ground.

"What's going on? Can't you people live peaceful lives? Do you want to go sit in a cell for a few days??" Wang Jianguo scanned the scene and spoke with great authority.

In these times, you couldn't be a village secretary without sufficient prestige. Even the most established families in the village wouldn't dare cross the secretary; if you truly offended him, he had plenty of ways to deal with you.

"The Yue family stole my goose!! The old man and I went to demand it back, and they even laid hands on us!" Old Lady Ma accused them, striking first.

"Bullshit! I bought that goose at the market. Xiao Tao's mom and Meifeng can both testify!" Meng Yulan argued her case.

Soon, Wang Jianguo had a general understanding of the sequence of events.

"Xiao Feng's mom, you say you bought this goose. Do you know which village the seller was from?"

Meng Yulan frowned slightly and shook her head. She felt the seller looked familiar, but she couldn't quite place the name.

"It was Wang Mazi from Fang'an Village!!" Chang Meijuan spoke up.

Hearing the name Wang Mazi, Zhu Erhai, who was currently dazed from being hit on the head, felt a sudden jolt in his heart.

When his second uncle had called him to fight, he only said that his grandfather and grandmother were being bullied at the Yue house, but he hadn't said why. Now that the Secretary had asked, Zhu Erhai immediately felt that something was wrong.

"Who knows where Wang Mazi is? Take my bicycle and go call him here!" Wang Jianguo commanded.

"Wang Mazi should still be at the market. I'll go!" Li Wentong said.

Wang Jianguo nodded. "Alright, Old Li, you go. Everyone else, wait here! Is anyone injured? If there are injuries, go to Old Wang's place to get them bandaged up first!"

Since neither side had used lethal weapons, the injuries were nothing more than a few hits to the head or body—at most, a bump on the head. In this era, that didn't even count as an injury.

After waiting about twenty minutes, Li Wentong arrived on his bicycle with Wang Mazi.

"Old Wang, Yue Feng's mother says she bought this big goose from you this morning?" Wang Jianguo asked casually, handing him a cigarette.

"That's right. I sold it to her for four yuan and fifty cents! Money exchanged for goods, a clean transaction!" Wang Mazi said straightforwardly without any hesitation.

"Old Lady Ma from our village says this goose is the one her family lost the day before yesterday! How do you explain that? Where did you get this goose?"

"The goose was lost by Old Lady Ma? I don't know! I traded this goose for a large eagle with Zhu Erhai. Wang Xiaonian from your village was the one who led him to my house! Zhu Erhai, didn't you say the goose was yours?"

Wang Mazi, seeing Zhu Erhai—the one who had used the goose to trade for the eagle—standing there, questioned him with an unfriendly expression.

Although Wang Mazi was cunning, he had a bottom line. He had always looked down on stealing, but if a perfectly good white goose he had traded his hard-earned eagle for turned out to be stolen property, the nature of the matter changed completely.

Thieves were deeply despised in Northeast China. If someone went to prison for murder or arson, they might even be recognized or respected by other inmates. But a thief was the lowest status in prison, second only to rapists—the kind of person who slept next to the urinal every day.

Zhu Erhai felt several gazes shooting toward him with intense killing intent. If looks could kill, he would have had at least seven or eight holes in his body after that single encounter.

After hearing Wang Mazi's words, Wang Jianguo understood what had happened, but he did not make a judgment immediately. He turned to look at Zhu Erhai. "Erhai, is what Wang Mazi said true?"

Zhu Erhai's heart was trembling with anxiety; he knew he wouldn't escape a beating once he got home.

"It's... it's true. I took a goose from my grandfather's house to trade for Wang Mazi's eagle. I forgot to tell my grandfather!" Knowing there was no use in denying it, Zhu Erhai bit the bullet and confessed.

In the next second, the crowd erupted into a clamor. So, his grandson had stolen a goose to trade for an eagle, and Old Lady Ma, who had lost the goose, had the audacity to blame the Yue family for stealing it. This was simply shameless.

Just as Wang Jianguo had clarified the whole story and was thinking about how to wrap things up, Yue Feng, who had been silent, stepped forward.