Chapter 61: One Melon after Another

　　Jiang Youtao wanted to eat some melon seeds again, but it was too cold that day and her hands would be too cold to eat them, so she had to give up with regret.

　　Liang Laidi's face changed drastically and she turned to look at her husband Lin Yongzhang.

　　Lin Yongzhang narrowed his eyes at her. Liang Lai Di yelled at Lin Manrou, "What nonsense are you talking about! You have your own problems, and you're blaming me for them?"

　　Lin Manrou touched her face, it was hot and painful. She sighed, and the corner of her mouth that was broken hurt a little. She took a breath of cold air.

　　She looked at Lin Yongzhang: "When I was young, you were always away from home for a long time throughout the year. You went to other places to make cabinets for others. You worked hard outside to make money, but do you know how carefree my mother was at home?"

　　Lin Yongzhang was a carpenter. In those days, every family had to have a cabinet when they got married. He was not at home for half a year out of the year. Lin Manrou's brother was a fool. He was not at home all day long. When he came home at night, he would eat and fall asleep on the kang. No one would know if he was taken away and sold in the middle of the night.

　　Lin Manrou is a girl. Liang Laidi says that she treats her son and daughter equally, but in her family, her son does not have to work.

　　"My mom sent me out to work, and my uncle and second uncle came to my house. Dad, you are so smart, you must know what they are here for, right?"

　　Lin Manrou's eyes fell on eldest brother Lin and second brother Lin who were standing outside the courtyard wall. They were both nearly fifty years old now, and judging from their facial features, they were somewhat similar to Lin Yongzhang.

　　The two had not expected that things that happened when they were young would be revealed, and both had looks of horror on their faces.

　　This expression says it all.

　　Lin Yongzhang sighed and pulled out the belt from his waist. "Brother, is what Rourou said true? When I was young, I went out to work and asked you two to look after the house for me. Is this how you looked after it? You even looked after my wife on the kang?"

　　Lin Yongzhang walked towards his eldest brother and the second brother. The two of them were so angry that they retreated again and again: "Third brother, third brother, don't be impulsive. This is not our fault. It was your wife who seduced us first."

　　Lin Yongzhang didn't care about that. No matter who seduced whom first, it was not okay for these two beasts to play with his wife while he was not at home. Liang Lai Di, that bitch, could be taught a lesson later, but his two brothers could not be let off.

　　"He seduced you and you did it? You are my brothers, brothers from the same mother, how could you do such a beastly thing? Ah! Haven't I helped you enough over the years? Is this how you repay me? By having sex with my wife?"

　　Lin Yongzhang whipped his first brother with his belt, which passed across his face and landed on his second brother's hand.

　　Both of them didn't dare to hide. The belt hit their bodies and it was very painful. Jiang Youtao gritted her teeth when she saw it.

　　Someone from Xiahegou, who was next to Jiang Youtao and the others, whispered, "When I was young, I said that Liang Lai Di's relationship with her two brother-in-law wasn't right. I told you about it, but you said I had bad eyesight."

　　"Now you know how right I was, right?"

　　"Yes, yes, you have the brightest eyes. Look, the third brother Lin is swinging his belt again."

　　Jiang Youtao also looked over quickly, and Lin Yongzhang swung the belt back at his second brother's face, and blood was gushing out.

　　The two of them gasped in pain and supported each other. Eldest brother Lin pleaded in a low voice: "Third brother, that's all in the past. We broke up with Liang Lai Di a long time ago. We haven't done anything like that for more than ten years."

　　Lin Yongzhang sneered, "Things of the past? They are in the past for you, but they are not in the past for me. You two are really my good brothers. I never dreamed that you two brothers would take care of my wife and even take care of my bed."

　　"I have something to say now. Are these three children born to Liang Laidi all mine?" Lin Yongzhang's eyes moved back and forth on the faces of his three children.

　　The three of them looked very much like him. Similarly, they looked very much like the children of eldest brother Lin and second brother Lin.

　　It is impossible to tell with the naked eye who are his children and who are not.

　　Eldest brother Lin endured the pain and said tremblingly: "It's yours, it has nothing to do with us. When Liang Lai Di and I were in trouble, you were already married and the third child was already born."

　　Lin Yongzhang nodded indifferently.

　　He wrapped the belt around his hand and looked at Lin Manrou: "Tell me again, who else is your mother having trouble with."

　　Lin Yongzhang just couldn't believe it. Liang Laidi only had two lovers. She had cheated on everyone, so how could she only cheat on these two?

　　Lin Yongzhang's gaze swept across the faces of the men in Xiahegou one by one, with a half-smile on his face.

　　Lin Family had three brothers. The eldest and the second were honest people, but the youngest had been a violent and aggressive person since he was young. No one in the village who was the same age or younger than him was not afraid of him.

　　Are they so bold as to dare to steal his woman?

　　The man in the ditch looked at Lin Yongzhang's two brothers. They were so awesome. They were even trying to take advantage of the fact that they were Lin Yongzhang's brothers. Aren't they afraid of being beaten to death?

　　Liang Lai Di crawled over from the ground, her pants were soaked, she didn't know if it was snow water or urine, she hugged Lin Yongzhang's legs and said, "No more, no more. Third brother, third brother, I was wrong, I won't dare to do it again, I won't dare to do it again."

　　"I didn't seduce them. It was your eldest brother who came to our house and saw me breastfeeding the third child. He raped me and I couldn't resist. After that, he came often. Then one day your second brother came to our house to look for him and saw him. He took advantage of the fact that you and your eldest brother were not around and raped me."

　　Liang Lai Di burst into tears.

　　The eldest and second eldest Lin quickly retorted, "Bullshit, bullshit. Third eldest, you should know what kind of people my eldest brother and I are. It was Liang Lai Di who seduced my eldest brother first, and after I found out, she dragged me into it. She also threatened me that if I dared to tell you about this, she would say that we forced her."

　　Liang Lai Di, eldest brother Lin, and second brother Lin each held their own opinion. Lin Yongzhang looked back and forth between the three people's faces, neither saying who he believed nor who he did not believe.

　　The crowd of onlookers let out a cry of surprise.

　　"What second brother Lin meant by that is that he and eldest brother Lin are working together to get Liang Lai Di?"

　　"It looks like that. I didn't realize that Liang Lai Di is such a powerful woman. You can't judge a person by his appearance."

　　Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei's eyes changed when they looked at Liang Laidi.

　　ThreePs, doing threePs in this era, what a talent.

　　One is Zhao Chunhua, the other is Liang Lai Di. They are probably the fugitive female protagonists of a certain style and a certain mother-in-law in the future? Too strong!

　　Finally, Liang Laidi couldn't bear it anymore and kept shouting that she wouldn't do it again and asked to spare her.

　　Lin Yongzhang kicked her away and whipped her with a whip, causing her to scream, "Don't dare? I think you dare. Come on, tell me what you were thinking. How did you think of stealing from my elder brother and my second brother?"

　　Lin Yongzhang was particularly puzzled. Judging from their appearance and behavior, his two brothers were more honest than the other, and they were the type that would not do anything. He also did not expect that they could have an affair with Liang Lai Di at the same time.

　　The angrier Lin Yongzhang got, the calmer his mind became and the more ruthless he attacked.

　　"I should have known you were a bitch a long time ago. When I went to your house to make a dowry cabinet for your second sister, you flirted with me and then got into my bed. I trusted you too much, so I gave you the opportunity to cheat on me, right? What? Stealing one of my brothers is not enough, you have to steal two of them to make up your mind, right?"

　　"You are quite capable, Liang Lai Di. Every one of the three brothers in our Lin family is your slave. If you like doing that kind of thing so much, why don't you become a bridesmaid? Build a small house at the entrance of the village, hang a red cloth outside, and be a bride every night. How nice it would be."

　　"Marry me, and harm my daughter. What a mother you are?"

　　Liang Lai Di was beaten by the furious Lin Yongzhang and screamed in pain. Eldest brother Lin and second brother Lin sat on the ground with weak legs, and a strong smell of urine emanated from both of them.

　　The people next to Jiang Youtao were talking in a low voice again: "Look at how cowardly eldest brother Lin and second brother Lin are, yet they dare to steal their brother's wife. Now their wives are not here, if they were, they would be in trouble."

　　"Can't you just live a good life? You want a woman but don't you have one at home? You have to go out and steal her."

　　"You don't understand this. As the old saying goes, a wife is not as good as a concubine, a concubine is not as good as a secret lover, and a secret lover is not as good as not being able to have sex. They were probably just dazzled by Liang Lai Di, and thought that since she was their own sister-in-law, no one would think too much if they were intimate with her."

　　"Look, Lin Yongzhang hasn't thought much about it for so many years, has he?"

　　"But Manrou is quite good. She knew Liang Lai Di was cheating on her since she was a child, but she didn't even tell her father. Her father loves her so much."

　　The people in Xiaohegou talked one after another, and told everything about Lin Manrou's family.

　　Jiang Youtao felt that Liang Laidi was really good at having fun. Just like Lin Yongzhang said, each of his two brothers had been slept with by Liang Laidi.

　　That's so awesome! This was the 1970s, a time when people who had affairs between men and women would be paraded through the streets with their shoes hung on their backs.

　　Over there, Lin Yongzhang was still beating Liang Lai Di, and no one dared to persuade him.

　　In rural areas these days, the relationships between men and women are complicated, but whether they are fooling around outside or having an affair, they cannot make it public. If they do make it public, they deserve to be beaten.

　　Lin Yongzhang has a bad temper, but he is capable and family-oriented. He has kept himself clean for so many years and has never flirted with other women except Liang Lai Di. He is a rare good man in the village. But Liang Lai Di is still not satisfied.

　　Lin Manrou didn't even frown. When the three siblings did something wrong, Liang Lai Di would let Lin Yongzhang beat them with a belt. How many times had they been beaten by Lin Yongzhang since they were young? Now they all have scars from the beatings.

　　Why is Lin Yongzhang's belt so soft? It was stained with their blood. Today, Liang Lai Di finally got to taste the belt.

　　Do you feel the pain? If possible, Lin Manrou really wants to yell like Liang Lai Di in the past: "Why are you crying? Your dad didn't use much force, you are so depressed!"

　　But she didn't dare, for she was afraid that the belt would hit her again.

　　At this time, two women pushed the crowd away and walked to the center. Seeing the woman who was lying on the snow and dared not move after being beaten with a belt, they went straight to eldest brother Lin and second brother Lin. The two women came and started beating them without saying anything.

　　When they were tired of beating, the two stood up and apologized to Lin Yongzhang: "Third brother, third brother, it was your eldest brother who made the mistake. They will never dare to do such a thing again. We don't ask you to forgive them, we just ask you to raise your hands and let them go."

　　Lin Yongzhang glanced at the dark sky that looked like it was going to snow heavily, and waved his hand: "You know my rules. Today the weather is bad, so I'll let them go first. When the weather is good, I'll go find them. You should know what to do by then."

　　The wife of eldest brother Lin and the wife of second brother Lin walked away with a nod and a bow.

　　Jiang Youtao was stunned watching from the side: "Who is Lin Manrou's father? Why is he so majestic?"

　　Gu Nianwei didn't say anything. Xu Manyu stared at Lin Yongzhang for a long time. "Sister Taotao, do you know that every winter, people come to our village to collect mountain products?"

　　Jiang Youtao vaguely heard Xu Dazui talk about this matter, saying that he was collecting mountain products privately, but the main part of the money he collected was grain.

　　Every year, villagers who were in urgent need of money would sell grain to them. Their prices were not too low, much higher than what the grain stations charged.

　　Jiang Youtao had never seen this person before. So the man who went to collect mountain products was Lin Manrou's father?

　　Jiang Youtao recalled the book and found that there were very few plots describing Lin Manrou's mother's family in the book, and most of the time it was just mentioned in one or two sentences.

　　But from those fragmentary words, we can roughly piece together Lin Manrou's family background. It seems that her family conditions are not very good. Liang Lai Di once went to her to ask for money, but because her mother was not good to her in her previous life, Lin Manrou drove her away.

　　She also slapped her in the face.

　　Then the question arises again. Since Lin Manrou's father is now trading food on the black market, he should have saved a lot of money. Why is he not living well now? Did something happen to Lin Yongzhang?

　　Looking closely at Lin Yongzhang's current behavior, Jiang Youtao felt that it was normal for Lin Yongzhang to get into trouble. Such a person was cruel enough and prone to getting into trouble.

　　She looked at Liang Lai Di who was lying on the snow and couldn't even scream. She said to Gu Nianwei and the others, "Let's go. Stop looking. It's going to snow again soon."

　　Old Mrs. Zhang didn't want to watch anymore: "Let's go."

　　On the way, Mrs. Zhang said to the three of them: "When you look for a man in the future, you must not look for someone who looks honest. Those honest men are the most dishonest. Those honest men work hard all day long and don't talk. You can never figure out what they are thinking."

　　"Don't marry a man who is aggressive and brave. It's not clear whether such a man has moral principles or not, but he is definitely cruel. Look at Lin Manrou's father. Whether he is beating his wife or his two brothers, his expression never changes. How cruel is his heart!"

　　Mrs. Zhang is old and has seen a lot, so her words have a certain truth to them: "We understand, Auntie."

　　Old Madam Zhang continued, "This woman marries a man just to have clothes and food. If she can get enough food and clothing by herself, then it's because he treats you well. She shouldn't marry someone like Gu Hanshen."

　　"The military is respectable and well paid. But if you are married and can accompany the army, it's good that the man can go home often. If not, the man will be in the army for years and months, and can only come home once a year. The woman has to take care of everything at home. Who can stand this for a long time?"

　　"No matter how capable a woman is, she can be weak sometimes, right? Since ancient times, it has been difficult to be a soldier's wife. If a man doesn't stay at home, the flies outside will come to stare at her. If she can resist them, it's fine. If she can't, she will be beaten and scolded like Lin Manrou, and no one will sympathize with her."

　　Jiang Youtao and the other two nodded in acceptance.

　　Jiang Youtao went to see Gu Nianwei, who rolled her eyes at her and said, "Why are you looking at me? I won't marry a soldier. If I were to marry, I'd marry someone who's always by my side. I wouldn't be happy if he was far away."

　　Old Madam Zhang patted Gu Nianwei's hand and said, "Yes, you should find someone who understands you."

　　Xu Manqiu is not a child anymore, and she listened very attentively.

　　The four of them quickened their pace and finally returned home before the snowstorm hit.

　　The first thing they did when they got home was to cook a bowl of ginger soup to prevent colds.

　　As night fell, the snow fell heavily again and the north wind was howling. Jiang Youtao and the others went to bed early.

　　At dawn the next morning, Jiang Youtao heard the message from the transmitter placed at Gu Hanshen's place:

　　"After interrogation, Lin Yongzhang confessed to the fact that he had killed someone and buried the body."

　　Jiang Youtao's remaining sleepiness was instantly frightened away.