Chapter 127: Chapter 124: Settling the Score

“I saw her with my own two eyes, doing business in the Eucalyptus Forest. She’s doing something the government doesn’t allow. You tell me, is that money legitimate?” Zhang Jun roared, his neck stiff with defiance.

Lin Guoliang threw a punch into his stomach. Zhang Jun swung back, but Lin Guoliang kicked him to the ground. He strode forward, pinned Zhang Jun down, and his fists fell like rain, beating him until he was powerless to fight back.

Zhang Jun’s wife slapped her thighs and shrieked, “He’s killing him! Stop! He’s killing him!” She turned to Zhang Jun’s brothers and uncles. “Are you just going to stand there and watch?”

The men of the Zhang family shouted and moved forward, but Lin Guozhu and the other men gripped their carrying poles, eyeing them menacingly. “Come on! All talk and no action!”

The men from the Yang family also stepped forward. “Zhang Jun has gone too far. Only one person from the Lin family is fighting. If you all jump in, so will we!”

Seeing the situation was getting out of hand, Old Man Zhang hurried forward to plead with Lin Guoliang. “Brother Lin, I’m begging you, please stop. If you seriously injure him, you’ll end up in jail.”

Lin Changyou saw this and decided it had gone on long enough. “Guoliang, you’ve taught him a lesson. Let it be.”

Lin Guoliang stood up and let him go, pointing down at Zhang Jun. “If you ever dare bully my sister again, I’ll risk my life to finish you.”

Zhang Jun struggled to his feet, shrugging off his wife and Old Man Zhang who tried to support him, and glared venomously at Lin Guoliang and his group.

Yang Liying stepped forward, her face a mask of scorn as she looked at him. “You all think you can pick on Lin Lan just because she has no one to help her? I personally saw your Huihui selling chickens and eggs in the Eucalyptus Forest every day, and you even helped deliver them. Why don’t you arrest your own wife and turn yourselves in?”

The Wang Zhixue brothers had arrived as well. “I saw it in the Eucalyptus Forest with my own eyes, too. So, Captain Zhang, when your family sells things, the money is legitimate, but when my aunt does it, it’s not? That’s a classic case of ’rules for thee, but not for me’!”

“Yeah! We’re just trading things we make at home for a little cash. How is that not legitimate?”

After hearing this, the crowd began to murmur amongst themselves.

In the past two months, more and more commune members had been going to the Eucalyptus Forest to sell vegetables, eggs, and livestock. Zhang Jun’s words today had angered the crowd.

Humiliated and enraged, Zhang Jun sputtered a weak defense, “I-I didn’t say trading homemade goods for money was illegitimate. What she sells is different from what we sell. Those cakes and pastries… can people like us really make those?”

Lin Changyou looked at him with contempt. “My Little Lan uses surplus beans that we mountain folk can’t finish. Our neighbors trade them to her, and she makes pastries to trade for oil and salt. Just because you don’t have the skills, does that mean no one else does?”

Lin Lan scoffed, “So Captain Zhang is saying that when he trades his own goods for money, it’s legitimate, but when we do it, it’s suddenly illegitimate!”

Yang Liying sneered, “I think you’re just too inept to make them yourself and are jealous that someone else is earning money!”

Old Man Zhang listened for a while and looked at the Lin family. He realized that if they didn’t formally apologize to Lin Lan today, this issue wouldn’t be resolved easily.

“Zhang Jun, what you said was wrong. Hurry up and apologize to Lin Lan.”

Zhang Jun pointed to the bruises on his face and body. “They beat me. I’ll apologize to her after they pay my medical fees.”

The Lin brothers looked at him with contempt and raised their massive fists.

Old Man Zhang gave his son a helpless look, then turned to Lin Changyou and cupped his hands in a gesture of apology. “Brother Lin, my Zhang Jun was in the wrong. I apologize to Lin Lan on his behalf.” He then repeated the gesture toward Lin Lan.

Lin Changyou pulled Lin Lan behind him. “Brother Zhang, she is my only daughter, and we might have spoiled her in the past. But ever since her husband passed away, the riffraff in the team started coming to our door to cause trouble, and she’s had to wise up and mature.

Now she’s just trying to make a living in the Eucalyptus Forest. She’s never gotten in anyone’s way, has she? We don’t ask for everyone’s help to look after her. We only ask that, considering she’s a young woman raising a child alone, people don’t bully her.”

As he spoke, he turned to the other commune members on the threshing ground. “We’re all parents here. Who can guarantee their own children a life without any hardships? When they face difficulties, you’d hope someone would be there to lend them a hand, wouldn’t you? And even if you don’t help, you certainly shouldn’t kick them when they’re already down!”

The crowd nodded again and again. “That’s right! Brother Lin is right!”

Old Man Zhang’s face flushed as he nodded. “Brother Lin is right. My Zhang Jun lacks good sense. I will be sure to teach him a lesson.”

“Dad! Big Brother! Second Brother!” Lin Lan looked at Lin Changyou and her two brothers, whose eyes were rimmed with red, and her own tears began to fall uncontrollably.

Lin Changyou looked lovingly from Lin Lan to a teary-eyed Lin Yuezhen. “No more crying. You’re grown women now. Little Douzi will laugh at you if he sees this.”

Lin Lan laughed through her tears. “If he dares laugh at me, I’ll spank his bottom.”

“Little Douzi is much more obedient than you are.” Lin Changyou patted her arm reproachfully, then turned to Lin Guoliang and his men. “For Old Man Zhang’s sake, let him go.”

Lin Guoliang looked at Zhang Jun. “I’ll let it go this time, out of respect for your father. But if you ever bully my sister again, I’ll come back to settle the final score.”

Zhang Jun hung his head in silence, his fists clenched tight.

Accountant Jin glanced back at him, then quickly handed the documents to Lin Lan, smiling to smooth things over. “Little Lin, if money’s tight, just take this for now. You can pay it back when things are easier.”

Lin Lan shook her head. “Accountant Jin, I already knew what I owed and came prepared to pay it back.” She took out six yuan and thirty cents from her pocket and handed it to him. “Could you please return my IOU?”

“No trouble at all, it’s my duty.” Accountant Jin smiled, had Lin Lan add her thumbprint to the records, and then handed her the IOU and the slip for collecting her grain.

Lin Guoliang took the slip from Lin Lan. He and his brother, along with a few other men, went to the storage room entrance, weighed out the grain, and loaded it into the large baskets brought by Wang Zhixue and his brother.

Wang Zhixue sighed. “My little cousin’s two hundred jin of grain ration is in here too. This is all Auntie gets for a whole year of work.”

Lin Guodong sighed as well. “Your aunt is counted as having little labor power, and you don’t have much of a private plot over here. It’s a good thing she can earn some money with her stall. Otherwise, this grain ration wouldn’t be enough for even thin congee.”

“Exactly. It might be inconvenient back in the mountains, but as long as you’re willing to work hard and clear some more land, you won’t have to worry about going hungry.”

“Let’s go!” Lin Guoliang hoisted the baskets onto his shoulder pole.

Lin Lan thanked Zhang Rongqing and the other villagers who helped, then headed back with Lin Changyou, Yang Liying, and the rest of their group.

Yang Liying watched the sturdy men walking ahead and asked with a laugh, “Uncle, what a coincidence for you all to show up today. How did that happen?”

“My youngest and a few other boys from the team enlisted, so we hitched a ride on the tractor the Armed Forces Department sent to pick them up. We figured we’d bring the beans to you at the same time,” Lin Changyou said with a laugh.

Only then did Lin Lan understand why so many people had come. “Dad, Guoqiang is already at the Armed Forces Department?”

Lin Changyou beamed at her. “Yes! He’s already there. We can all go see him this afternoon.”

Lin Lan smiled and nodded. “Okay. Let’s go home first. I’ll cook a meal for everyone, and then we’ll go.”

When the group arrived back at Lin Lan’s house, they saw a brand-new Eight Immortals table at the courtyard entrance. Jute sacks were piled by the door, along with two bamboo baskets filled with fermented tofu made by Wu Shufen and her two daughters-in-law.

There was freshly pressed rapeseed oil, chestnuts, fresh red and green Sichuan peppercorns… and even a sack of cotton.

An uncle was standing guard over the goods.

The group carried everything into the courtyard. Lin Changyou took out the fresh Sichuan peppercorns and gave a bag to Yang Liying. “A bag for your family. You can make some peppercorn oil with it.”

Yang Liying took it, and she and her husband looked at Lin Changyou’s group with gratitude. “Uncle, our tofu stall wouldn’t be running so smoothly without your help.”

“Nonsense, don’t say that,” Lin Changyou said cheerfully. “We mountain folk may not have much, but we have an abundance of beans and other mountain products. By buying from us, you help everyone earn a little extra for their families.”

After exchanging some pleasantries, the men settled in the main hall to chat about farming, while Lin Lan and Lin Yuezhen started preparing the meal. Yang Liying pitched in by trimming vegetables.

Wang Zhixue went to the backyard bamboo grove, where he helped catch two capons. After killing them, he helped clean and dress the birds.

One chicken was split in two: half was stewed with mushrooms, and the other half was made into a cold chicken dish. The second chicken was chopped into small pieces and cooked with sweet potatoes and regular potatoes. They also prepared stir-fried giblets with pickles, a cold autumn eggplant salad, tiger-skin peppers, dry-fried green beans, and tender squash simply boiled in water.

Zhao Dehai also went out to buy a few bottles of liquor and brought the three children home.

Lin Guoliang held Little Douzi and prompted him to call all the men “Uncle.” The little fellow, as if his mouth were coated in honey, sweetly called out to each one of them.

Everyone praised the food endlessly as they ate, all agreeing that the capon was especially delicious. After tasting it, Lin Lan had to agree that the meat was more tender and fragrant.

After the lively meal, Zhao Dehai paid Lin Changyou for the beans. Then, Wang Zhixue also gave him some money, asking him to help buy soybeans for Yang Liqun.

Lin Changyou readily agreed. He looked at Wang Zhixue with a smile and said, “You’re a fine young man. Are you seeing anyone?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep