The two of them followed Old Ma and watched as he indeed headed toward Lin Dashun’s house.
He knocked on the door with a furtive rhythm, and soon a woman emerged.
“Why are you so late? Any later and that fool would be back.”
“What’s there to fear? That fool is easy to trick. He trusts whatever we say. I’ve missed you so much—let’s hurry inside.”
As the two pulled and tugged their way into the house, Granny Wang immediately spat in disgust.
“Shameless, both of them! Niu Niu is Xu Yinhua’s own daughter, but I’ve never seen her treat the child well. She’s not even as good as that fool.”
Everyone knew there was a ninety percent chance the daughter Xu Yinhua gave birth to wasn’t Lin Dashun’s, but Xu Yinhua, as the birth mother, paid no attention to her own child.
The child had essentially been raised by Lin Dashun until now.
“After Niu Niu was born, Xu Yinhua refused to breastfeed her. Lin Dashun had to knock on doors in the middle of the night, kneeling and begging, repeating over and over that the child was hungry. When everyone followed him home to see, they realized she wasn’t feeding the baby at all. No matter how much everyone urged her, she insisted she had no milk. The truth was, she didn’t want to feed the child—she wanted to starve Niu Niu to death!”
Song Wei was puzzled. “Why would she do that?”
If she didn’t like the child, why didn’t she get rid of it when she was pregnant?
“Selfishness, plain and simple. Plus, she doesn’t like that Niu Niu is a girl. I’ve run into her hitting Niu Niu several times, calling her a ‘money-losing little bitch’ and worse. This is her own child! If it weren’t for Dashun, Niu Niu would probably be dead.”
Song Wei, now pregnant herself, frowned deeply at these words.
“So, Granny Wang, what should we do now?”
Granny Wang snorted. “We’ve finally caught them red-handed. Naturally, we need to show everyone just how shameless they are!”
With that, she pulled Song Wei along. “Let’s hurry and gather people. Those two inside won’t be finished anytime soon.”
Even if Old Ma Third wasn’t much, he surely wouldn’t be done in just ten minutes.
Granny Wang’s legs were remarkably nimble as she ran. First, she found her close friends and explained the situation. The group immediately buzzed with excitement.
“Let’s go, let’s go! We need to find Dashun. We must drive that woman Xu Yinhua out. She can’t keep ruining that poor boy’s life!”
Lin Dashun’s mother had been on good terms with them—a sensible old woman. But with a simple-minded son and a life of hardship, she was worn down by life and died early.
Dashun was a child they had all watched grow up. Helping him break free from that shameless, blood-sucking woman Xu Yinhua was the least they could do.
So, a group of elderly women headed toward the fields, making sure to take care of Song Wei, the pregnant woman, along the way.
Song Wei, with her small baby bump, walked even faster than them.
This was nothing to her!
The elderly women asked around to find where Dashun was working and went straight there.
The radar of those who loved gossip immediately went off. They dropped their work and followed the elderly women.
“Dashun, Dashun, come with us quickly! Today, you must divorce that unfaithful Xu Yinhua!”
Unfaithful.
Hearing these words, those who hadn’t yet caught on to the situation immediately perked up.
Lin Dashun looked bewildered and grinned foolishly at the elderly women.
“What are you grinning about? Come with us, quick! Your wife is cheating on you.”
Lin Dashun didn’t understand what “cheating” meant, but at the mention of the word “wife,” he instinctively shrank back, a flicker of fear in his eyes.
“Hurry up and carry Niu Niu. We’re going to catch them in the act! You don’t need that wife of yours anymore—she’s not worth keeping!”
Lin Dashun hugged Niu Niu tightly and shook his head. “No, no, don’t want wife. Want Niu Niu.”
“Exactly, you don’t need that wife anymore.”
With that, the group stormed off in a frenzy to catch the adulterers.
Those who had caught wind of the news followed along, ignoring the team leader’s attempts to stop them.
When they reached Lin Dashun’s house, the elderly women directed their sons.
“Kick the door open!”
With a loud crash, the door was forced open. The people inside, hearing the commotion, scrambled to put their clothes on.
But before they could fully dress, someone barged in.
“Oh my, these two shameless people are naked!”
The older women, unbothered by modesty, marched right in to see for themselves.
The younger married women didn’t dare enter.
Song Wei craned her neck to see but was immediately met with a hand covering her eyes.
“Don’t look at everything.”
Heh… it was her husband’s voice.
Amidst panicked screams, the two half-dressed individuals were dragged out.
“Shameless! Bullying Dashun because he’s simple-minded, are you?!”
The scene infuriated the Lin clansmen even more.
No matter how simple-minded Lin Dashun was, he was still one of their own, with relatives in the production brigade.
Moreover, there was a local belief that those with intellectual disabilities were the village guardians and should be treated well.
Lin Dashun, though his intelligence was that of a three- or four-year-old, was always polite.
Whenever there was a feast in the brigade, he never crowded the tables. Instead, he sat at the entrance and only ate what others offered him, never snatching anything.
So, whenever a family held a banquet, they would always fill a bowl of food for him. He would politely say thank you.
Previously, Xu Yinhua’s affairs were only suspected, but no one had ever been caught. Now, they had caught her red-handed.
“Old Ma, Old Ma, have you no conscience? Bullying Dashun like this! Have you never seen a woman before or what?!”
Old Ma hastily defended himself, claiming he had only come to change clothes.
The crowd scoffed at his excuse. “Changing clothes in someone else’s house? Were you and Xu Yinhua changing clothes together?”
Old Ma was too ashamed to show his face.
“What should we do about this? Xu Yinhua absolutely cannot stay in Dashun’s house anymore. The work points Dashun earns are probably squandered by this woman. Look how thin he is—a grown man with no flesh on his face! It wasn’t like this when his parents were alive. Dashun works hard, and his work points should be enough to support himself and Niu Niu.”
A woman from another brigade bullying one of their own—they had long been disgusted by Xu Yinhua’s pretentious behavior.
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