23: The ruthless Zhang Laogen
On the national highway deep in the night, a dilapidated tractor chugged along, spewing black smoke.
Sitting in the trailer were the young and old of the Zhang family, along with the recently ransomed Zhang Erwan.
The night wind was quite chilly, but the hearts of the elderly Zhang couple were even colder.
Chilled to the core.
Zhang Erwan curled up in a corner, his face swollen like a steamed bun. One of his eyes was a bruised mess, reduced to a mere slit through which he could peer at people.
His floral shirt, which he had originally bought to imitate Hong Kong stars, was now torn like a ragged mop and covered in footprints.
“That god-damned Lin Chuan!”
Mother Zhang sat in the tractor trailer, slapping her thighs as she began to howl. Her voice was even more grating than the noise of the tractor.
“Our family's money! Two thousand two hundred yuan!”
“That was meant for a new television, and now it's all gone!”
“Oh, heavens! How are we supposed to live now!”
Mother Zhang's weeping was truly heartfelt.
The Zhang family was considered a large clan in the village with a fair amount of land, but an expenditure of over two thousand yuan all at once was no small amount for them.
Old Man Zhang, who was driving the tractor, puffed on his tobacco pipe, his face so gloomy it looked like it could drip water.
He was pained by the money, but even more so, he felt humiliated.
His own son had actually been outsmarted by that brat from the old Lin family.
It was truly stifling!
“Stop howling! Aren't you embarrassed enough?”
Old Man Zhang turned back and cursed, throwing his cigarette butt fiercely onto the road, sending up a shower of sparks.
They returned to the Zhang family's brick-walled courtyard.
The whole family sat in the main hall.
Zhang Yaoyao was cracking melon seeds, spitting the shells all over the floor.
Although she had been beaten, her injuries had mostly healed. It was mainly because Long Wu didn't like hitting women, so he hadn't been too ruthless.
Otherwise, a single kick could have killed her.
Looking at her older brother's miserable state now, she felt no particular emotion. Her mind was entirely occupied by the news circulating in the village about the Lin family's sudden wealth.
“Brother, you're just too useless,”
Zhang Yaoyao rolled her eyes. “Actually letting yourself be slaughtered like a sucker.”
“Shut your mouth!”
Zhang Erwan clutched his cheek, hissing in pain, but his eyes looked like they wanted to devour someone.
“Isn't this all because of you?!”
“If it weren't for that idiot ex-boyfriend of yours, would I be suffering like this?”
“That kid Lin Chuan brought two people with him, got me drunk, and then ran off himself!”
“He didn't pay the bill!”
“I didn't even get to eat much of that abalone and lobster.”
“This money must be settled on his head!”
“Yaoyao, let me tell you, this grandson is wicked to the core. You must break it off with that bastard Lin Chuan!”
“Our Zhang family has no use for such a sinister piece of work!”
Zhang Yaoyao spat out a seed shell and sneered:
“It's been over for a while!”
“Just yesterday, he acted like he'd gone crazy...”
She paused, not mentioning the fact that she had been humiliated and beaten; that was part of her dark history.
“Anyway, I dumped him! I've been tired of looking at him for a long time!”
“No, I need to head out for a bit.”
Old Man Zhang had just arrived home, and before his seat was even warm, he headed out again to scout for information.
About half an hour passed.
Clack!
Old Man Zhang, returning after gathering news, gave a cold snort and sat down on the edge of the heated brick bed.
“Motherfucker!”
“That old Lin family has actually struck it rich!”
“I heard Lin the Third brought back a whole truckload of high-end goods from the capital!”
“Just that washing machine thing—a fully automatic one—costs several thousand!”
“And that big refrigerator, a double-door one!”
“They say there's also some big Sony color TV imported from Japan! They're coming to install it tomorrow!”
“That truckload of stuff must be worth at least twenty or thirty thousand!”
“Twenty or thirty thousand?!!”
Mother Zhang let out a shriek, nearly jumping off the bed. The green light in her eyes was brighter than a weasel's.
“Where did his family get that kind of money?”
“Could that useless Lin Laoshi actually have that much money?”
“They say Lin Chuan earned it doing business in the capital.”
Old Man Zhang tapped his tobacco pipe, his eyes full of calculation.
“That kid was hiding it deep!”
Upon hearing this, Zhang Erwan's face twisted with jealousy.
“Twenty or thirty thousand! Twenty or thirty thousand!”
“Damn it! He has all that money, yet he tricked me out of two thousand yuan for a meal!”
“And he caused me to get a brutal beating!”
“I can't swallow this!”
“He must compensate me!”
“Not only must he pay for the meal, but he also needs to pay for my medical expenses! Mental distress! ”
“And he has to pay back our family's two thousand two hundred yuan!”
Mother Zhang, seeing an opportunity, immediately grew excited.
“Right! He must compensate us!”
“Since he's so rich, that money is just a drop in the bucket for him!”
“Besides, Yaoyao was with him for so long. Is her youth not worth money?”
“Is her reputation not worth money?”
“Now he just breaks it off? How will our daughter get married in the future?”
“He has to pay for... what was it... youth compensation fees!”
Zhang Yaoyao was also someone who only had eyes for money.
Thinking about Lin Chuan with his suits and color TVs, she felt a pang of regret.
If she had known the kid was this rich, she shouldn't have turned against him that day.
But now that they had already fallen out, she had to make a huge profit out of it!
“Exactly!”
Zhang Yaoyao threw down her seeds and stood with hands on her hips, saying:
“I accompanied him for over a month!”
“My youth is priceless!”
“Now that Lin Chuan has made it, he just kicks me aside?”
“In his dreams!”
“He must give me an explanation!”
“If he doesn't give the money, I'll sue him! I'll sue him for hooliganism! I'll sue him for being a heartless Chen Shimei!”
“Sue for what! That's a lot of effort for no reward!”
Old Man Zhang slammed the table, a flash of ruthlessness appearing on his wrinkled old face.
In the countryside, laws didn't matter; the biggest fist was the hard truth.
Clan power was the local emperor.
“Tomorrow just happens to be the day they're installing that crappy TV.”
“The whole village will surely go to watch the fun.”
“We'll go then!”
“Erwan, go call your Eldest Uncle, Third Uncle, and all our cousins from the main family!”
“Say the Lin family is bullying us because they think the Zhang family has no men left!”
“Tell them about the beating you took, and add some color to the story!”
“Our Zhang family is a major surname in Red Mangrove Village! We have dozens of able-bodied men!”
“Tomorrow, we'll all go together to block their door!”
Zhang Erwan thought about it and hesitated slightly:
“Dad, there's a big guy by Lin Chuan's side called Long Wu. He seems quite capable of fighting...”
“Capable of fighting?”
Old Man Zhang spat on the ground.
“No matter how well he fights, can he take on dozens of people?”
“Besides, reason is on our side!”
“You being beaten like this is ironclad proof!”
“Yaoyao being dumped also makes her a victim!”
“We are going to seek justice!”
“If he doesn't compensate us, we'll smash his refrigerators and TVs!”
“Or we'll haul them back to settle the debt!”
“Right!” Mother Zhang said through gritted teeth. “I heard fully automatic washing machines are great. Let's haul it back for our house!”
“Then I want the refrigerator!” Zhang Erwan also grew excited.
“I want the color TV!” Zhang Yaoyao's eyes shone. “A Sony! I heard they're incredibly expensive! I'll watch Hong Kong and Taiwan dramas at home from now on!”
The family chattered back and forth.
The more they talked, the more excited they became, and the more they felt this plan would succeed.
It was as if the Lin family's belongings already belonged to them.
“Good! It's settled!”
Old Man Zhang stood up, his hunched back straightening a bit.
“Early tomorrow morning, we'll assemble!”
“Let that old Lin family know who the real masters are in Red Mangrove Village!”
“What they ate of ours, they'll vomit back out!”
“What they took of ours, they'll send back to us!”