Zhang Cong reached out and was about to pounce on Qiao Mei when Qiao Mei nimbly turned around, stretched out her leg, and took advantage of Zhang Cong’s posture to give him a push.
Zhang Cong fell on his face and got covered in dust. His legs even hit the sharp stones on the ground. This set of clothes was new! He had intended to rush off to see Sun Yan after getting the money, but now, he had gotten himself injured without managing to get the money.
“Ah! Ouch… What the hell!” Zhang Cong wanted to stand up and hit Qiao Mei but he fell back into a sitting position. Only then did he realize that his right leg was injured and he had twisted his ankle. His injury looked quite serious.
Qiao Mei shrugged and pretended to be concerned with a look of panic. “Oh no! What happened to you!”
Zhang Cong’s shouting at the door had attracted the attention of the surrounding neighbors who came over to take a look. The people of this era did not have any communication equipment. Their usual pastime was to see who had something going on in their family and then discussed it with one another. Even if it was something that happened in the mountain area, it would spread throughout the village the next day and the story would usually sound more ridiculous than what actually happened.
Therefore, everyone went around to see what was going on when something happened. When they heard that this was about Qiao Mei’s family, Qiao Zhuang’s family naturally came to add insult to injury.
“Who is this…”
“I don’t know, I’ve never seen him before!”
“What’s wrong with him?”
The people around them discussed the situation animatedly. Seeing that everyone was here, Zhang Cong did not want to be outdone and thought that this would be the best time to embarrass Qiao Mei. He lay on the ground and stopped moving, then he cried loudly, “Qiao Mei, why are you so vicious? You actually pushed me down.”
Auntie Dong arrived late, but seeing this unfamiliar man admonishing Qiao Mei, she pointed at him and asked, “You said Qiao Mei pushed you? Look at Qiao Mei’s small build, how can she have the strength to push you!”
“That’s right, that’s right…”
“Qiao Mei is so thin, how can she have the strength to push down a man…”
“You don’t even blush when you lie!”
The people around them did not think that Qiao Mei could push the man down. If he was talking about the original Qiao Mei, he might still be able to convince people. However, the current Qiao Mei was petite and looked weak. The fact that she was also pregnant made her seem even more frail. People thought it was obvious that this man was lying.
Only a few people knew that Qiao Mei was actually very strong. People like Zhao Liang, Auntie Dong, Auntie Wang, and the others who were close to her knew the amount of strength Qiao Mei had when she worked. The rest of the people felt that Qiao Mei was thin and weak and had become even weaker after she got pregnant.
“You!” Zhang Cong covered his leg and pointed at Qiao Mei, not knowing what to say.
“Uncle Zhao, you have to help me. I’m just a girl, how strong can I be? He’s just extorting me!” Qiao Mei looked at Zhao Liang, who was rushing over.
Zhao Liang naturally knew how strong Qiao Mei was, but she was from his village after all, so he could only go against his conscience and said, “Well… that’s true. You’re a girl, so you really don’t have much strength… What does everyone think? Don’t you agree!”
“That’s right, that’s right!”
“Yes!” Everyone laughed.
Between a stranger from elsewhere and Qiao Mei, their neighbor who helped them earn money, it was obvious who everyone would side with.
“You! All of you!” Zhang Cong pointed at the people around him and was speechless from anger. He had never seen such shameless people. Were they all blind!
Zhang Cong was indeed quite seriously injured. He would probably need to rest his ankle for a period of time, otherwise it might not heal properly. Anyone could tell from the huge beads of sweat on Zhang Cong’s forehead that it must be very painful. In addition, the small slope outside Li Gui’s house was not steep at all.
But so what? Putting aside the question of whether Qiao Mei was the one who did it or not, everyone believed that the amiable Qiao Mei would not hit someone for no reason. This person must have done something first.
“He wanted to push me! He’s my mother’s stepson and came to ask my mother for money! He took all my mother’s money! Then he found it was not enough so he came and asked me for more!”
Qiao Mei pointed at Zhang Cong when she spoke and then she quickly pretended to cover her face and sobbed bitterly. “That’s all my hard-earned money! That’s the money I need to raise my children!”
Qiao Mei slapped her leg as she sobbed. When the people around her heard this, they looked at Zhang Cong fiercely.