I Became a Vicious Supporting Role in the '70s
Chapter 42: Put the Knife at Ease

Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Put the Knife at Ease

Shen Meng held her trembling nine-year-old son, Lu Mingyang, in her arms, wondering how much strength such a young child could possibly muster.

Wu Xianglan, lying on the ground in pain and rolling, looked fiercely at the mother and son huddled together, pulling Yong Qiang and Yong Li to stand behind her.

"Shen Meng, look at how your son bit my arm. This is not over. After all, he’s an outsider’s wild child, eating and living off the Lu family, and now he dares to bully the legitimate Lu family members. I must tell the father-in-law and mother-in-law about this, to kick these wild ones out. You’ll receive a lesson too. We haven’t even split the family property yet, but you only think about outsiders. Just you wait!" she yelled at Shen Meng like a madwoman.

Lu Mingliang and Lu Mingfang, both frightened children, glanced at Shen Meng, terrified she might abandon them if their grandparents took charge.

Shen Meng turned around, glaring and shouted back, "Get out of here fast, or I’ll make you regret it!"

She then let go of Lu Mingyang and pulled him over to Xie Jinghao. At this moment, Xie Jinghao was the most critical, being seven months pregnant and needing careful attention.

"Jinghao, Jinghao, are you alright? Support yourself on me, let’s go to the bed and rest for a bit. I have medicine in my room, I was worried about your pregnancy stability before, so I got you a stabilizing prescription from the county. Let’s hurry, Mingyang, get your aunt a cup of warm water."

The little fellow, still streaming tears, knew this was not a time to cry or be sad, hurried to fetch water as instructed, while Xiao Gang, seeing his mother in distress, cried loudly in fear.

The screaming and disturbance in Shen Meng’s yard alerted neighbors from all sides, some even stood on their own walls craning their necks to see, but the moon was not bright enough tonight to reveal much.

After entering the house, Shen Meng rummaged the kang cabinet for the stabilizing medicine and also found a ginseng slice for her to suck on.

"Jinghao, I’m a bit scared. Could there be something wrong with the baby?"

"Don’t spout nonsense. With the medicine, everything will be fine. Just lie down and relax. I’m here for everything, don’t be nervous. If you get nervous, the baby in your stomach will feel it too, and Xiao Gang will also be scared. I’ll go have a look outside, if you’re still worried, we’ll go to the county hospital tomorrow morning for a doctor’s check."

Xie Jinghao stroked her belly trying to maintain a calm state of mind, took several deep breaths until her tight stomach eased somewhat.

She reached out and gathered Xiao Gang and Xiao Kai. The two frightened children huddled together and quietly watched her bulging stomach.

"Ming Fang, Ming Fang, Mingyang, keep a good eye on your aunt. Mom is going to check things out, call me if anything happens!"

"Mom, I’ll go with you," Lu Mingyang said, attempting to follow, but Shen Meng grabbed his hand.

"I’m going by myself, don’t worry, your second aunt is no match for me."

Saying this, Shen Meng walked outside, then firmly shut the door of the eastern side house.

The disturbance had grown considerably loud, prompting the village chief Lu Debang to come after being called, shining his flashlight, everyone then saw the blood on Wu Xianglan’s arm.

"Village chief, you’ve got to stand up for me! I went over to my elder sister-in-law’s house to hang out, and Mingyang actually drove me away. I only said a few things to him and he pounced on me and bit me. He’s like a wolf cub that can’t be tamed. If you ask me, he should be sent away. He eats our food and drinks our water, and in the end, he bites me. Everyone, what’s in this for us? Oh, it hurts so much. Also, Ming Liang and Ming Fang, these two kids, came up and started hitting Yong Qiang and Yong Li. Just look at what the children have been beaten into. My elder sister-in-law doesn’t even care."

Lu Debang let out a hiss as well, feeling that the child’s biting was too severe, such great hatred and resentment to bite his own aunt like this.

"What did you say to him that made him bite you like this?"

"Exactly, there must be something you said. Mingyang is a sensible child and greets everyone he sees. If you hadn’t said something nasty, he definitely wouldn’t have done this."

"But you can’t just say that. Those kids had a tough time when they were at home before, and they’ve been here for many years. Generally, grown-ups shouldn’t hold grudges; it’s mostly likely in their nature. We didn’t see it before, but now they’re a bit older, their temperaments are showing."

"Right, I heard these three kids are from three different families. Their dads died early, and their moms either ran away or died too. Regarding this, isn’t it quite ominous? Maybe they’re born with difficult fates, destined to oppress their parents. Look, Zhenping hasn’t been back for many years, we don’t even know how he’s doing?"

....

Hearing the people’s discussions, Wu Xianglan stiffened her neck,

"Who’s to say it isn’t strange? It used to be that my elder sister-in-law looked down on these kids the most. She was respectful and had a good relationship with her in-laws. Ever since the incident with the cow, she changed completely, it’s probably these few littl..."

"Shut your filthy mouth, Wu Xianglan! If you say one more word about my kids, I’ll make my move against you today." Shen Meng was standing at her own front door, holding a kitchen knife in her hand.

The people outside who had just been discussing were immediately too scared to speak, and Wu Xianglan shivered with fear, while Yong Qiang and Yong Li cried loudly, hiding behind her.

People from the Lu Family rushed over at this moment, Liu Sanjin, panting, had even buttoned her clothes wrong.

"Oh what a sin, elder daughter-in-law, what are you trying to do? In front of the village chief, how dare you carry a knife? You’re causing chaos! Militia, the militia will arrest you soon."

"Elder sister-in-law, put down the knife quickly, we’re all family here, why fight?"

Zhou Jiaojiao’s eyes were wide open, the muscles on her face twitching slightly, she stretched out both hands, it wasn’t clear whether she wanted Shen Meng to act or not.

Lu Debang’s expression was also very ugly. As the village chief, Shen Meng’s actions left him without any dignity, though he was dissatisfied inside, he still took no action. He was still thinking about what Zhang Hongfa had said to him earlier.

"Arrest me? The militia should arrest not me but her, Wu Xianglan. She took advantage of my absence to bring two kids to eat my food, beat my kids, and even scared Jinghao so much that she got frightened into having a miscarriage. She’s still lying in my kang now. Wu Xianglan walked out without even offering to call a doctor for Jinghao or to get my mother to look at her, but she’s busy spreading rumors at the door. Is this how an in-law should behave?"

"What? Jinghao had a miscarriage? Oh dear, my precious grandson, this is Jiasheng’s second child, and he’s still working outside. You have to make sure nothing goes wrong. Why didn’t you say so sooner?"

Liu Sanjin said this in a rush as she hurried towards Shen Meng’s house, simultaneously pointing at Shen Meng as if she was the instigator of all the chaos.

Shen Meng looked at her like she was looking at a lunatic, thinking that this old lady must have a lot of water in her brain.