“What’s all this commotion about?”
The brigade leader waited until his wife had finished hitting them before he shouted angrily.
“Jiang Pandi, our family matters are none of your concern. Mind your own business!”
Jiang Pandi was glared at and, intimidated by the brigade leader’s authority, she slunk away.
After that, the scene quieted down, and no one said anything more.
But everyone was subtly stealing glances at the expressions of Old Lady Lin’s family.
Old Lady Lin was still paralyzed, and with two burdens in the family, everyone had become thin and worn down.
The eldest Lin brother had completely lost his former refined demeanor. Now, he looked gaunt, his skin much darker, and his entire demeanor gloomy.
When he heard that Lin Zhen had given the job to Jiang Wenwu, he was naturally filled with hatred.
He had spent his whole life longing for a respectable job, but he had remained a temporary worker.
In contrast, Lin Zhen, who had once been bullied by them, had returned and immediately found a job—a proper truck driver position at the transport station.
And now, even though he was leaving the job, he would rather give it to someone with no blood relation than to any of them!
The eldest Lin brother clenched his fists tightly, but no one knew just how much hatred and jealousy burned inside him.
Yet, given his current situation, he couldn’t vent any of it.
The fourth Lin brother’s family was just as jealous.
They were also filled with regret.
Who would have thought that Lin Zhen would become so successful and so generous?
It was a formal job, and he had just given it to an outsider.
If they had built a better relationship with Lin Zhen earlier, wouldn’t that job have ended up in their hands?
It was all their mother’s fault—listening to those frauds who claimed that the third brother was a curse on her. She had led the whole family to mistreat the third brother’s family while favoring the child she had with some outsider. Otherwise, their family wouldn’t have ended up like this.
The only relatively calm ones were the second Lin brother’s family.
“Fourth Lin, why did you have to make things so difficult with Lin Zhen? If your relationship hadn’t been so bad, that job might have ended up with your family,” someone said.
The fourth Lin brother was already regretful, and hearing this made him even more downcast.
“It’s all because of my mother and eldest brother. What did we know as kids? We just followed what the adults did. Seeing how my mother and eldest brother bullied the third brother, we just followed along. Thinking about it now, we were so stupid!”
The people around them took pleasure in their misfortune. What was the use of saying all this now?
Not far away, the eldest Lin brother naturally heard the fourth brother’s words and fixed a dark, gloomy stare on him.
“What are you looking at? All the good things in the family were given to you. And yet, you were so useless—after working for years, you were still a temporary worker. Not to mention, you got caught having an affair and were driven out. You not only brought shame but also cost us so much!”
The fourth Lin brother was no longer afraid of the eldest brother. In fact, he resented him deeply.
The eldest Lin brother’s voice was low and threatening. “Is that any way to talk to your elder brother?!”
The fourth brother curled his lip, his disdain for his elder brother growing. “What elder brother? You and I aren’t even from the same father, yet you still call yourself my elder brother? Pah! You and your son are living in a house that belongs to our Lin family. If it weren’t for Mother still being around, we would’ve kicked you out long ago. You’re not even a Lin—what right do you have to live in our house? Who knows where you came from, you bastard!”
The eldest Lin brother felt as if he had been struck where it hurt most. His eyes turned bloodshot, and with a furious expression, he threw a punch at the fourth brother.
The two brothers started fighting right there in the fields.
Song Wei, who had been watering the wheat with Lin Zhen, heard the commotion, dropped the wooden bucket, and rushed toward the scene.
Lin Zhen grabbed her arm. “Slow down!”
Song Wei: “If we go any slower, they’ll be done fighting. We can’t miss this good show.”
With that, she tugged Lin Zhen along and broke into a run. Her pregnant belly seemed to pose no obstacle at all.
Lin Zhen watched with his heart in his throat.
Good heavens, having a wife who loves drama really tests one’s nerves.
Song Wei ran quickly, and by the time they arrived, the two were still fighting.
The eldest Lin brother and the fourth Lin brother were evenly matched in terms of physical strength, so the fight couldn’t be decided quickly.
One moment, the eldest brother was on top, punching the fourth brother; the next, the fourth brother had flipped him over and was pummeling him instead.
One had previously worked in the city, favored by Old Lady Lin and never having suffered or done manual labor.
The other had always been lazy at home, eating whenever he could.
Both were now bruised and battered, hurling insults and exposing each other’s secrets. The onlookers tried to mediate with their words and even stepped in to pull them apart, but they didn’t put much effort into it—the two easily shook off the mediators and continued fighting.
“Stop fighting, stop fighting! Whatever it is, we can talk it out. Brothers shouldn’t hold grudges like this!”
Though they were mediating, their eyes were gleaming with excitement.
‘Keep talking, say more! This is getting juicy!’
Song Wei, munching on sunflower seeds shelled by Lin Zhen, watched with sparkling eyes.
How delightful to see them turn on each other—ha ha ha…
The eldest Lin brother was more cunning. In the end, he picked up a rock and smashed it against the fourth brother’s head.
Blood was drawn.
This couldn’t be allowed to escalate into something fatal. The mediators immediately got serious and pulled them apart.
“Eldest Brother, you’re ruthless! You hit me with a rock!”
The fourth brother clutched his head, glaring hatefully at his eldest brother.
“Just wait—I’m going home to tell Dad to kick you out, you bastard! You don’t deserve to live in our house!”
With that, the fourth brother was dragged away by others.
“Enough talking—let’s get you to the doctor.”
The eldest brother stared grimly in the direction the fourth brother had left.
The others released him too, looking at the eldest brother with changed expressions.
This guy was vicious.
His expression was downright frightening—better to stay away from him.
Seeing that the show was over, Song Wei headed back with Lin Zhen.
The brigade leader was furious. “Can’t we go a single day without some kind of drama? Is that too much to ask?”
Song Wei: “The Lin family is in for more trouble.”
Lin Zhen: “Don’t get involved.”
Song Wei: “I know.”
“Where’s Xiong Zai (Little Bear)? Wasn’t he fetching water with us? Where did he run off to slack?”
Lin Zhen: “Yun Niu gave him a steamed bun. That guy went off to help Second Uncle Wang’s family with their work.”
Song Wei knew the family Lin Zhen referred to—Second Uncle Wang’s household consisted only of an elderly man and a little girl under ten. They earned limited work points, and life was hard for them.
Hearing this, she didn’t suggest calling Xiong Zai back.
By now, Xiong Zai stood nearly 1.7 meters tall on his hind legs and had astonishing strength.
Having grown accustomed to living among humans, he often preferred walking upright.
At that moment, he was carrying a large bucket of water filled to the brim, walking with a slight inward gait as he followed behind the little girl.
The people around watched in amazement.
“Yun Niu, is Xiong Zai helping your family? I saw him carrying the bucket toward the plot assigned to you and your grandpa.”
Yun Niu nodded, a smile tugging at her lips. “Xiong Zai is amazing.”
Among the children, Xiong Zai was now considered the most impressive—even more so than Hei Dan.
“Xiong Zai can do all that? He’s carrying quite a load. When can he come help our family too?”
Yun Niu grew anxious. “Xiong Zai… Xiong Zai can’t do that much!”
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