42: Chapter 42 Two Slaps Bring Peace and Quiet!

Shen Du grabbed that long black trench coat, draped it over his shoulders, and stepped over the dilapidated wooden threshold that let in drafts from all sides.

The cold morning wind whipped up the hem of his coat.

In the courtyard stood that old woman with high cheekbones.

Shen Du's grandmother in name only.

She was currently grabbing Wang Hanmei by the collar.

Cursing as she spoke, her withered hands were just about to claw at Wang Hanmei's face.

Facing this elder who shared a blood bond with him,

Shen Du felt no internal conflict whatsoever.

Without wasting words, his gaze ice-cold, he walked up to the two of them in a few strides.

In the split second before the old woman could react, he raised his arm.

"Snap!"

A crisp, explosive sound erupted in the morning courtyard!

Shen Du backhanded her across the face.

This unreserved slap sent the old woman stumbling on the spot.

Her head let out a "buzz."

She was completely stunned, and her hand, which had been clutching Wang Hanmei, let go as if electrocuted.

"What did you just say?"

Shen Du looked down at her, his eyes as if he were looking at a dead object.

He leaned down slightly, his cold voice crashing into the old woman's ears:

"Say it again? See if I don't kill you!"

In the memories of his grandparents over the past decade or so, Shen Du had been a weak, timid boy who would lower his head even when speaking to elders.

But at this moment, looking at the tall man before them, his eyes roiling with killing intent,

The old woman, clutching her face, felt a chill shoot from the soles of her feet straight to her crown.

Even her breathing trembled uncontrollably under this oppressive pressure.

The timid boy who was once easily manipulated had now grown fangs.

The air in the courtyard seemed to have frozen with that one slap.

It wasn't until the old woman let out a cry of pain while clutching her face,

That the old man standing to the side, who had been watching idly,

Shen Du's grandfather in name only, finally snapped out of his daze.

Seeing the grandson who had always been trampled underfoot dare to strike, he was so angry that he trembled all over.

He pointed at Shen Du's nose, took a step forward, and began to curse angrily:

"Shen Du, you animal!"

"This is your grandmother! How dare you lay a hand on your elder?!"

The old man turned his spear towards Wang Hanmei, who was being shielded behind him, and roared venomously:

"What kind of potion did this vicious woman feed you to turn you into such an unfilial ingrate!"

Facing this display of pulling the seniority card,

Shen Du didn't even glance at him.

He turned around, steadied the shaken Wang Hanmei, and straightened her collar that had been tugged into a mess.

That appearance of careful protection was like a completely different person from the one who had just violently attacked someone.

After confirming that his mother was not overly frightened,

Shen Du slowly turned around.

The moment he turned, the tenderness in his eyes vanished completely.

Replacing it was a trace of cold mockery.

The corners of his mouth lifted, and he strode forward.

He walked unhurriedly to the old man who was still hopping mad.

Without any warning, and without a single word of unnecessary argument,

"Snap—!"

Another crisp and decisive slap!

This second slap was even more ruthless and heavier than the last.

It sent the old man flying, his feet leaving the ground, before he crashed heavily into the muddy courtyard.

A trace of blood burst from the corner of his mouth.

Shen Du looked down at the old man collapsed on the ground.

He let out a cold laugh, tearing away the veneer of "elder" from the other party:

"And who are you?"

"When my family was destitute and couldn't even put food on the table, why didn't I see you come to help?"

The mockery in Shen Du's eyes grew thicker, his voice like shards of ice:

"Now that you see me driving back, see that I've made it, you come to control me?"

"Who do you think you are!"

The commotion in the early morning was too loud, and combined with that G-Wagon entering the village last night, which was already eye-catching,

A circle of neighbors watching the excitement had gathered outside the courtyard at some point.

Originally, there were a few villagers who, relying on their high seniority, wanted to step forward and advise a few words about "harmony brings prosperity."

But upon meeting Shen Du's cold gaze and seeing his methods of unhesitatingly slapping down the two elders,

They immediately felt a chill run up their spines.

Everyone swallowed the words on the tip of their tongues and collectively retreated three meters back.

The aura on Shen Du made people afraid to approach.

Moreover, how could the neighbors not know what kind of life the Shen Family mother and son had lived over the past decade or so?

Wang Hanmei, a single widow, had acted as both father and mother.

Relying on mending clothes and farming those few acres of poor land, she had forcibly raised her child and sent him to university in Shanghai.

Anyone could see the blood and tears in that.

And what about these two old people from the Wang family?

Over these years, they had ignored this mother and son.

Especially when Shen Du got into university and needed money the most, they cut off contact as if avoiding a plague god.

The villagers all had a scale in their hearts.

Last night, when that priceless luxury car parked at the gate of the courtyard, the whole village knew that Shen Du had made it.

Yet, early this morning, these two old people ran over to put on airs as elders, and even resorted to hitting people?

This behavior was too ugly.

Shen Du's sharp, insightful words just now had torn away this layer of hypocrisy.

Inside and outside the courtyard, there was dead silence; no one dared to stand up and refute a single word on behalf of the old couple.

Many villagers looked at the two people on the ground with disdain in their eyes.

The old man, who had been slapped into the mud, clutched his swollen cheek.

He stood up tremblingly with the help of the old woman.

Being slapped by a junior in front of the whole village made him feel humiliated.

Gritting his teeth and trembling all over, he played his final card: "You... you are simply unfilial! I am your grandfather!"

Originally, Shen Du intended to sweep these two out like trash.

But since this old thing insisted on bringing up blood relations, Shen Du simply stopped in his tracks.

He mercilessly tore away the last fig leaf of these two in public:

"If I am truly your grandson, then may I ask, where were you when my family was at our most difficult?!"

Shen Du's voice was not loud, but every word was heart-piercing:

"Do you know what kind of life my mother and I lived after my father died?"

He raised his hand and pointed to the three dilapidated, crumbling rooms behind him:

"Open your eyes and look around!"

"In the whole village, whose house is still this kind of dilapidated shack now?"

"Only my home is left in this wretched state!"

"If I were truly your grandson, even just for the sake of a beggar."

"You don't have to pay for a new house."

"But at the very least, you could have lent a hand to fix this leaking roof, right?!"

Shen Du pressed step by step, forcing the old man to retreat uncontrollably.

His gaze was sharp, nailing the other party's hypocrisy to the wall:

"Every year during the New Year, you run over like you're completing a task, taking away the good meat my mother bought with peace of mind."

"Yet you only leave behind a few boxes of cheap pastries that not even a stray dog would eat!"

"Now that you see me driving a multi-million car back, you run over to talk to me about blood relations?"

Shen Du glared at him, slamming the final sentence onto his face:

"Have you ever treated me as a grandson for even a single day?!"

Shen Du only stated these most superficial facts, which had already left the last shred of decency for these two "elders."

For people who have lived their whole lives in a closed-off mountain village, they value face the most.

Now, having their dirty foundation exposed in front of the whole village,

The old couple's faces instantly turned purple-red, so ashamed and angry that they wished they could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

The neighbors' undisguised pointing and whispering,

Were like invisible slaps across their old faces.

How could they have the face to stay any longer?

Not daring to utter a single harsh word, they supported each other, pushed through the crowd amidst looks of disdain, and fled in a sorry state.

Shen Du watched coldly as the two disappeared at the end of the village road.

He didn't care about these two ants.

The hostility around him dissipated completely.

He turned around and walked quickly to Wang Hanmei's side, his eyes full of anxiety.

He reached out, gently lifted his mother's arm, and carefully checked the places that had been tugged.

After repeatedly checking and confirming that only the collar of his mother's cotton-padded jacket was torn, and that her skin had not been scratched,

His hanging heart finally dropped back into his stomach, and he let out a sigh of relief.

"As long as you're okay..."

Shen Du tightly clasped his mother's calloused hand in return.

He lowered his head, looking at this mother who had toiled for most of her life, his deep eyes reflecting the faint light of the early morning.

In this dilapidated little courtyard, he made a promise in an unquestionable tone:

"Mom, it was my incompetence before that made you suffer."

"But from now on, no matter what happens... Du'er will protect you, and no one will ever touch a hair on your head again!"