"Fu Zhiqing, you must calm down! If you kill him, you'll go to jail too. It's not worth it!" the neighbor's wife urged.
While the neighbor's wife held Fu Wenwen, the other men quickly dragged the frightened Zhang Laosan to a corner, and someone hurried to notify the village chief.
Fu Wenwen, held by the neighbor's wife, still struggled. "Sister-in-law, let me go! Let me hack him to death! If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have lost my reputation. He caused Lin Feng to be misunderstood, he ruined me and Lin Feng!"
"And now, taking advantage of Lin Feng's absence, he sneaks into my house in the dead of night to steal grain. After being caught, he dares to slander me. If I don't kill him today, how can I live my life!" Fu Wenwen shouted hysterically. The others listening felt indignant.
"You, Zhang Laosan, you've harmed Fu Zhiqing and Lin Feng, you're always up to no good, stealing and cheating, and now you dare to bully Fu Zhiqing!" Hearing Fu Wenwen's words, several men, enraged, rushed to Zhang Laosan and kicked him a few times.
Zhang Laosan was kicked awake, cradling his head and shouting, "Help! Murder!"
"How dare you still shout here!" Zhang Laosan's words only made the men angrier, and they couldn't help but give him two more kicks.
"Stop, stop hitting him! What happened here?" When the village chief arrived, he saw the men fiercely kicking a man huddled in the corner and quickly intervened.
"Village Chief, you're here at the right time. Zhang Laosan sneaked into Fu Zhiqing's house last night to steal her grain! When we caught him, he slandered Fu Zhiqing, saying he had an affair with her!" one man immediately recounted the events to the village chief.
"Village Chief, Lin Feng didn't bully me. The person who tried to bully me was him. It was Lin Feng who arrived and beat him away! And now he dares to climb into my house to steal grain from Lin An and me!" Fu Wenwen, with tears in her eyes, saw the village chief arrive. Fu Wenwen, with determined eyes, wiped away her tears and walked up to the village chief to report the incident.
"What?" The village chief was surprised by Zhang Laosan's audacity. He stepped forward and hit Zhang Laosan twice with his pipe. "You, Zhang Laosan, pilfering and cheating is bad enough, but you dare to molest a female comrade! Do you want to go to jail?"
"Village Chief, Village Chief, please spare me! I really didn't mean to. It's just that my family has no grain, and I heard Fu Zhiqing had grain, so I came to borrow some! I was afraid Fu Zhiqing wouldn't lend it to me, so I climbed over the wall to steal some!" Zhang Laosan, seeing the village chief, quickly crawled to his feet and hugged his leg, begging for mercy.
"Then is what Fu Zhiqing said true?" The village chief kicked Zhang Laosan away and asked coldly.
"No, it wasn't me! Village Chief, you know me. I only have the guts to steal things. I'd never dare to molest anyone! I didn't do it, Fu Zhiqing misunderstood me!" Zhang Laosan knew that molestation was a serious crime and quickly denied it.
"You're talking nonsense! We all heard it just now. You said you and Fu Zhiqing were lovers, and you've had an affair for a long time!" The men who arrived earlier were unhappy. They had heard it clearly and would not wrong him.
"I... I just wanted you to let me go!" Zhang Laosan quickly said.
"I'm asking you, were you the one in the small woods that day!" Fu Wenwen bit her lip, walked forward, and glared at Zhang Laosan. "If you tell the truth, for the sake of the village's reputation, I can consider letting you go. If you dare to lie again, I'll immediately have someone call the police to arrest you! And send you to prison!"