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Liu Jiaojiao screamed from the courtyard, followed by cries of "Ouch, ouch!" and "You're crazy!"

What are you doing?

Let go...it hurts...it hurts...

"Mother! Mother, come quickly!"

The sounds grew more and more miserable, yet softer and softer, clearly indicating that the person had been subdued.

Liu Daniu turned pale with fright and hurriedly ran outside, shouting, "Tao'er, tell your men to stop hitting them!"

Your grandma will be angry!

Your grandma dotes on your aunt the most. If she finds out your aunt has been wronged here, our entire eldest branch of the family will be in big trouble!

He was so anxious that he kept wringing his hands, pacing around in place for a couple of seconds, and then tried to rush out again: "I'd better go to work in the fields first, and then I'll plead with your grandma properly later. Maybe she can calm down..."

Tao'er reached out and stopped him.

"father."

Her voice wasn't loud, but it had an undeniable power: "You're injured and can't get out of bed."

You just need to rest well, recover from your injury, and take good care of my mother.

Don't worry about not having food.

"But what about your grandmother's side..."

"I'll handle it."

Tao said calmly.

Liu Daniu opened his mouth, but looking into his daughter's calm eyes, he inexplicably stopped in his tracks.

He suddenly felt that the daughter in front of him had become somewhat unfamiliar. She was no longer the timid little girl who used to hide behind him, but rather... as if she had become a completely different person.

Tao'er helped him sit down and then asked Qingge to boil a bowl of medicinal soup, which she watched him drink in one gulp.

She added spiritual spring water to the herbal medicine, which would help her father's injuries heal faster and also improve his health.

Just as he finished drinking the herbal soup, someone knocked on the courtyard gate again.

This time, the person knocking on the door wasn't as arrogant and domineering as Liu Jiaojiao. Instead, they knocked three times respectfully and then called out, "Big brother, Dad's back. He wants us to come to the main room for a talk."

It's Liu Sanniu.

What he feared most was his father, Liu Laogen, that taciturn but authoritative old man, whose "lectures" never brought anything good.

The last time he was summoned to the main room was because he had secretly saved up a few copper coins to buy medicine for Zhang, but Wang found out and complained to Liu Laogen. Without saying a word, Liu Laogen punished him by making him kneel for two hours and also beat him twenty times.

He instinctively tried to stand up, but his knees were already bent.

Tao'er helped him up.

"Father, you stay here and watch over my sister and the two children."

"I'll go."

Tao'er's voice was soft, but it left no room for argument.

"Are you going alone?"

Liu Daniu became anxious.

"No, no, your grandma is definitely there. You'll suffer if you go."

"Let Dad go. He can kneel down and it'll all be over. It's no big deal."

He spoke of it casually, as if kneeling and being scolded and beaten was commonplace.

Tao felt a prickling sensation in her heart upon hearing this.

"Don't worry, I won't suffer any losses."

Tao'er curved her lips into a faint smile.

She turned to Qingge: "I'm here to protect my mother and my two children."

Qingge responded respectfully, but her footsteps shifted slightly, as if she wanted to follow.

Tao'er shook her head, and Qingge stopped insisting, standing by Lin's bedside like a pine tree.

Tao'er left the house alone, walked through the narrow passageway, and headed towards the main room.

The Liu family's courtyard was not small, with two sections. The main house was where Liu Laogen and Wang Shi lived. The four families lived on the left side of the east wing, and Liu Laogen and his wife, along with Liu Jiaojiao, lived on the right side.

The Liu family lived on the left side of the west wing, and the Liu family lived on the right side.

There are two more inconspicuous little houses behind that are where Liu Daniu's family lives.

There are more than a dozen people living in this courtyard.

The main room was already full of people.

In the center, on the two armchairs, Liu Laogen sat on the left and Wang Shi originally sat on the right.

He's probably resting in bed and didn't come.

Liu Laogen was in his fifties, with dark skin and wrinkles that looked like they were carved by a knife. His eyes were not big but very bright, revealing a calculating look. At this moment, he had a sullen face.

He held a pipe in his hand, puffing away, his expression obscured by the swirling smoke.

Liu Sanniu and his wife Zhao were sitting on the lower left.

Liu Sanniu looked somewhat like Wang Shi, and his face suggested he was the kind of person who was shrewd and calculating.

Zhao was a shrewd woman; her eyes darted around.

She glanced at the doorway every now and then at her father-in-law's expression, a faint smile playing on her lips, as if she were waiting to see some good show.

The seat to Old Man Liu's right was originally occupied by his fourth son, Liu Tianbao, and his wife.

Liu Tianbao studies in the county town and is not as pretty as he is at home. He only comes home during holidays and breaks; otherwise, he is not at home.

His wife, Wei, sat there, looking superior.

She was the daughter of the owner of the tailor shop in town, and her family had some wealth.

She was dressed better than the other wives; not in ordinary coarse cotton clothes, but in a ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) made of high-quality cotton, and she even had a silver hairpin in her hair.

Liu Erniu sat at the very end, head down, saying nothing.

Liu's second wife, Xu, also had her head down, seemingly lost in thought.

Liu Jiaojiao was also there.

She stood next to Wang's chair, one hand covering her face, her eyes red from crying. When she saw Tao'er come in, she glared at her hatefully.

She was wearing a nearly new floral-patterned jacket and had a silk flower in her hair, which was considered quite an elegant outfit in the village.

Standing next to Liu Jiaojiao was a little boy, about seven or eight years old, chubby and fair-skinned, licking a piece of candy in his hand. He was Liu Sanniu's son, Liu Xiaopang.

The child was spoiled rotten by Wang, and everyone in the village called him a little tyrant.

When Tao'er entered the room, everyone looked at her.

Her gaze swept across the faces of these people, a cold smile playing on her lips.

This is the "family" she has to face: a cowardly father, a muddle-headed grandfather, a mean grandmother, a calculating third uncle and aunt, an arrogant and domineering aunt, and her spoiled cousins.

Tao'er knew that almost everyone in the first wife's family, from Wang Shi to Liu Jiaojiao and Liu Sanniu, was a participant in the suffering.

Liu Laogen, the seemingly fair head of the family, is actually the most hateful one.

He knew everything, yet he chose to remain silent and indulge.

He was fully aware of everything Wang had done and how the eldest son's family had been bullied for so many years.

But he never said a word of justice; he just pretended to be blind.

He thought his eldest son was honest and easy to bully, his eldest daughter-in-law had no family to back her up, and his eldest son's children were honest and hardworking.

He tacitly approved of all of Wang's actions, and even personally intervened to "discipline" the members of the eldest branch of the family at times, in order to maintain his authority as the head of the family.

This kind of person is more despicable than the obviously evil person.

"Kneel down!"

Liu Laogen slammed the pipe handle on the table. The sound wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable air of authority.

Since Liu Daniu wasn't there, it was Chong Tao'er who said "kneel down".

If her father, Liu Daniu, had come along, he would probably have already knelt down with a thud by now.

But Tao'er is not Liu Daniu.

She stood in the center of the main room, no more than three steps from the threshold, her back ramrod straight, her chin slightly raised, coldly staring at Liu Laogen at the head of the table.