Su Granny also heard it and came out from the main hall to ask, "What's going on? It's Lunar New Year, why do I hear people arguing?"
It was not customary to argue on New Year's Eve. Even if there were some conflicts, people would suppress their anger and generally wouldn't cause a scene.
Who wouldn't want to have a peaceful New Year?
"Mother, why don't we go out and see if we can mediate?" Liang Xiu said.
"Let's go out and see. We all live in the same brigade."
Chen Zi'an and Su Manxiu were guests. When they wanted to go out, Su Granny stopped them.
"You two stay warm at home and don't go out. Xiu'er is pregnant and can't withstand it."
Chen Zi'an thought about it and agreed. Manxiu was older, and this was her first child. It wouldn't be good if something happened to her in such a situation.
"Mother, I'll stay home to look after Xiu'er and the children."
The women of the Su family went out first. The Su brothers, not wanting to worry, followed them out.
When Su Granny and the others went out, they were surprised to find that something major had indeed happened in the brigade on Lunar New Year's Day.
Accountant Li's appearance was indeed quite disheveled. He was being dragged by his ear by Su Taohua, who was pulling him towards the brigade office.
Behind them followed Su Xiaomei, who was holding onto Kang Yiye, who was equally disheveled.
Kang Yiye struggled, but because her hands were tied, she couldn't break free even though Su Xiaomei was young.
In fact, to describe Kang Yiye and Li Accountant as merely disheveled would be an understatement.
Their clothes were just loosely draped to cover themselves, and it was obvious what had happened from their state.
"What's going on?" Su Granny asked in disbelief.
It was broad daylight, and they couldn't have been doing such things during the day, could they?
"Taohua caught Accountant Li and Kang Yiye on the kang. They were naked and doing it in broad daylight."
An informed person immediately replied.
"Shameless! How could they do such a thing in broad daylight?"
"Tsk tsk tsk, Kang Yiye, she's from the city, how can she be so shameless?"
"I don't know what she was thinking. She's a good girl, but she refused the suitors introduced to her and insisted on coveting another man's wife."
"Stolen meat tastes better!"
With that, everyone burst into laughter.
Accountant Li considered himself superior and someone who cared about his reputation. Now that he was being squeezed by so many commune members, his face turned completely red with shame.
Having lost all face, instead of reflecting, he felt that Su Taohua was being unreasonable and couldn't help but vent his anger.
"You shrew, you are vulgar and unreasonable! How dare you drag me around the village!"
As he cursed, he swung his hand to hit Su Taohua.
Although Su Taohua was fierce, she was still a woman.
Su Taohua had been at a disadvantage in their previous fights and hadn't recovered yet.
Instinctively, she dodged to the side, and the hand holding Accountant Li couldn't help but loosen its grip.
Seeing Accountant Li about to strike Su Taohua, Kang Yiye felt the time was right and immediately struggled.
But Su Xiaomei had already tied her hands, and she couldn't break free.
"Brother Li, hurry and find a way to save me!" Kang Yiye cried out in a whimper.
"Shut up, you shameless slut!" Hearing Kang Yiye's voice, Su Taohua became even more enraged and immediately cursed loudly.
As soon as she finished speaking, she was slapped by Accountant Li.
"You slut, how dare you curse people!"
Everyone watched in shock. Was this man really hitting his wife for a slut?
As a live-in son-in-law, where did he get the courage?
Someone close to Su Taohua was about to step forward to help, but they saw Xiao Liang rush over and twist Accountant Li's arm.
"How dare you hit my mother for this woman?" Xiao Liang's voice was sinister, and his hatred was unconcealed.
"What are you doing? I'm your father!"
Caught off guard by his own son, Accountant Li wanted to resist, but he found that his son had grown up and was very strong.
He mustered up his courage and put on a paternal air to scold him.
Xiao Liang cursed in anger, "I don't have a father, I don't have a father as shameless as you!"
The young man's face was filled with shame and indignation. He hadn't expected his father to be like this.
He wanted to strike out, but his arm was twisted behind his back by Xiao Liang, and any force would cause excruciating pain.
"It's all your fault, you bitch, for teaching the child to not even recognize his own father!" Accountant Li, unable to break free, glared at Su Taohua angrily.
Su Taohua looked at her son, her eyes feeling sore. Seeing her child witness such a dirty scene, as a mother, she felt unbearable.
However, children had to grow up, and these dirty things had to be witnessed firsthand eventually.
"You shameless thing, you did such dirty things yourself, and you dare to talk about my child?"
"You still know you're his father? If you're his father, you gave all the meat in the house to this shameless woman, Kang Yiye."
"If you know you're a father, you took the last bit of white flour from the house to honor her?"
"When you were lying on this woman's belly, didn't you think about whether the children were growing up and needed face? If you can't control what's in your pants, you still have the nerve?"
"You still want the child to think of you as a father? Is there a father like you? If I were you, I would have already hit my head against the big willow tree at the village entrance!"
Su Taohua held back her tears as she cursed.
She didn't want the other people in the brigade to see her vulnerability; she had been strong her whole life. Even if life was unbearable, she couldn't be weak.
Hearing Su Taohua's words, the commune members looked at Accountant Li with even greater displeasure.
Although they all knew that Kang Yiye was promiscuous and had affairs with several men in the village, and they knew she had been close to Li Changming recently.
They hadn't expected her to even entice Li Changming to give everything in the house to her.
Other men in the brigade who had affairs with Kang Yiye generally only gave her small gifts. They hadn't expected Accountant Li to be so generous, giving away meat and white flour.
At the end of the year, the family could only get so much. How could he bear to snatch food from his own children's mouths?
No wonder Taohua made such a scene on New Year's Eve; life was truly unbearable.
"I just felt sorry for Kang Zhiqing being far from home, so I took care of her a bit more..."
Before Accountant Li could finish speaking, Su Taohua slapped him.
"Do you still have any shame? You took care of her, and even on the kang? In broad daylight, with their lewd cries, should I imitate them for you?"
She was so angry that her expression was distorted.
How could this shameless man say such a thing?
"Mother, all our white flour and meat are almost gone," Su Xiaogang ran over from behind, crying.
It was he who couldn't stand it anymore and ran to find Kang Yiye to ask for their things.
The commune members looked at the small amount of white flour and meat in Su Xiaogang's hands, their hearts filled with mixed emotions.
Suddenly, someone started rushing forward and slapping Accountant Li and Kang Yiye!
Su Changjiu had already arrived, but seeing the commune members attacking Kang Yiye and Accountant Li, he sidestepped to a corner and watched quietly.
These two scoundrels had reached the point of shamelessness. These days, they were practically flaunting their affair openly. It served them right to be beaten.
Taohua was also suffering, encountering such a useless man. It was good for her to vent her anger.
Su Taohua stood aside, stunned. What was going on? Why had they started fighting?
But seeing these two scoundrels being beaten, why did she feel so relieved?
When the people of the brigade attacked, they held nothing back; their blows were fierce.
This could be seen from how Li Zhuzi was almost beaten to death before.
"Mother, should we intervene?" Su Laosan asked.
"No, they deserve it!" Su Granny also had a strong sense of justice.
"Intervene? I even want to go and help beat them!" Liang Xiu glared at her husband.
Wang Xianghua and Qi Liangying had already rushed over to help.
Accountant Li was relatively unharmed, but hitting Kang Yiye was fine.
Liang Xiu had the same thought. Recalling that Kang Yiye had once tried to seduce Su Laosan, Liang Xiu didn't hold back at all.
"What are you doing? How can you hit people? Hitting people is against the law!"
"Hitting people? Are you even human? You are a vile creature that should be thrown into the river. Do you lack men? You're always seducing other people's husbands!"
The woman who cursed was also a middle-aged woman. Kang Yiye had not only seduced Accountant Li but also her husband. She didn't have the courage to hit her own husband, but hitting this slut was no pressure.
It wasn't until after more than ten minutes of beating that no one in the brigade stepped forward to stop them. Even the usually good-natured Su Grandpa just watched without intervening, standing with Su Granny on the side.
Accountant Li, being a man, was relatively better off, only receiving blows. No one dared to take advantage of an old man like him.
Kang Yiye was a woman, and while being beaten, she was also subjected to handsy touching.
However, the situation was so chaotic that it was unclear who was hitting her and who was taking the opportunity to grope her.
The clothes Kang Yiye had loosely draped over herself were quickly pulled off by many lecherous hands.
Her bare flesh immediately got goosebumps in the cold wind.
But Kang Yiye couldn't care about the whistling cold wind. Exposed almost naked in front of everyone, she was so ashamed that she almost died.
She had initially thought that since Su Taohua was older, she was just a paper tiger, especially since Accountant Li had her completely under his thumb and gave her all the food and drink.
Who knew that Su Taohua would make such a big scene on New Year's Eve?
She was truly mistaken. Su Taohua was a ruthless person, and she had no consideration for the future, so she had no intention of forgiving her and Accountant Li.
Thinking of this, Kang Yiye rolled her eyes and fainted. Accountant Li was in a similar state, but he was still conscious.
Seeing Kang Yiye faint, he wished he could faint too, to avoid such humiliation.
Su Changjiu, worried that someone might die if the beating continued, ambled over with his wobbly gait.
"What's going on? I heard such a commotion from afar."
"Oh, Captain, you're finally here."
A commune member quickly stepped forward and explained the whole story in a rush.
"Affair? Accountant Li is a cadre of the brigade, he shouldn't be so unruly, should he?" Su Changjiu said, pretending not to believe it.
"Pah! Shameless thing. Captain, you can't favor Li Accountant just because he's a brigade cadre." Someone immediately shouted.
"That's right, Captain, can so many of us still wrong them?"
"Look, these two scoundrels couldn't wait any longer in broad daylight. When Taohua caught them doing it, they weren't even wearing clothes."
"Poor Xiaogang, on New Year's Day, all the food in the house was given to Kang Yiye, his mistress, by his beast-like father."
Su Changjiu was waiting for these words.
Su Taohua was also a member of the Su family. He was afraid that if he spoke up directly, some people would say he was helping his own.
Now that the commune members of the brigade all said he shouldn't help Accountant Li, that was good.
"Is this true? Li Changming, how could you disappoint me so much? You are a cadre, you should lead by example, how can you do such a beastly thing?" Su Changjiu said, feigning a look of heartbroken grief.
"Have you forgotten what happened when we went to demand an accounting from Old Wang's family in Xiangyang Brigade? Oh, you weren't there then, how could I have forgotten this?"
Su Changjiu said, patting his head as if he had just realized.
After being reminded, the commune members instantly remembered that Accountant Li had not gone to help the brigade members at that time.
Perhaps he was already involved with Kang Yiye then, and that's why he was afraid to go?
The commune members clearly forgot that Kang Yiye was not in the brigade at that time.
Even if someone remembered, it didn't matter; they would just tell themselves that the two of them had been together even earlier.
"This shameless thing, no wonder he didn't go with us to seek justice for Manxiu!"
With that sentence, the commune members' emotions were ignited once again.
The two people lying on the ground, who had fallen silent, were kicked several more times.
"Alright, alright, commune members, these two are about to be beaten to death." Su Changjiu quickly intervened.
Hitting them was not a problem, but killing them would be another matter.
"Even if they are beaten to death, it would be considered eliminating harm for the people!"
Although they said that, everyone still stopped.
Su Taohua and her two children stood aside, their faces ashen as they watched the chaotic scene, not saying a word.
Su Granny watched this scene, her heart aching, and kept muttering, "What a sin, what a sin. Taohua is such a good girl, how could she have met such a shameless person?"
Su Changjiu calmed down the emotions of the commune members of the brigade, and then made a decision.
Red Heart Brigade could not tolerate such people who had affairs, and they must be severely punished.
Because it was Lunar New Year, the commune was on holiday. Su Changjiu and a few elders from the brigade discussed it and locked these two in the dilapidated ancestral hall.
They would be sent to the commune after the New Year.
Before locking them up, Su Changjiu didn't forget to have Doctor Li give them simple treatment, so they wouldn't die in the ancestral hall.
After they were locked up, Su Changjiu also arranged for several militiamen to guard them in shifts.
It was supposed to be a day for family reunion and celebrating the New Year, but they were assigned to guard two shameless sluts. The militiamen's feelings could be imagined, and they would inevitably vent their anger on the two.
Since the doctor said that these two could not be beaten anymore, or they would die, the militiamen directly resorted to pinching their soft flesh.
After one night, the two people who were twisted and pinched had no intact flesh left, all bruised and swollen.
Of course, this was a later story, and not to be discussed for now.
As for Su Taohua, seeing Accountant Li and Kang Yiye locked up, she finally sat on the ground and burst into tears.
She cried heartbrokenly, and the soft-hearted women in the village also cried along with her.
Liang Xiu wiped away her tears, stepped forward to help her up, and said, "Sister Taohua, don't cry anymore. The children are waiting for you."
Su Taohua was reminded by Liang Xiu and finally remembered that she had children. As a mother, no matter when, she couldn't abandon her children.
She wiped away her tears, but the tears still flowed down her cheeks without stopping.
"Taohua, come to my house for New Year's!" Su Granny stepped forward and held Su Taohua's hand, comforting her in a low voice.
Su Taohua's state reminded her of Su Manxiu, and she couldn't help but feel pity.
In this world, it was unfair to women!
Su Xiaomei quickly ran over to support Su Taohua. This was the first time she had seen her mother so vulnerable.
"Auntie, I won't go. I'll take the children home for New Year's!" Su Taohua said firmly. "Xiaogang, let's go home and make dumplings for New Year's!"
However, although Su Taohua's back was straight, her steps were a little unsteady.
"Let's go, let's go home for New Year's!" Su Granny shouted to the others who were still watching.
Seeing Su Taohua leave, everyone dispersed, chatting and discussing.
When Su Granny and the others returned home, they were quite emotional.
Su Taohua was such a good girl, and in her youth, she was also known as the "Iron Girl" of the brigade. How could she have been matched with such a beast-like thing?
Su Manxiu felt very upset knowing that something had happened to Su Taohua.
She had thought that she was the only one to be pitied in this world, but who knew that Sister Taohua was also equally pitiful.
"Mother, why don't I go and see Sister Taohua?" Su Manxiu said.
"You don't have to go. She's not feeling well. Your third sister-in-law will bring some dumplings over later to see her."
If Manxiu went, Taohua might feel even worse. However, Liang Xiu and Su Taohua had always had a good relationship, so it would be better for her to go and comfort her.
Su Manxiu nodded, "Mother, I brought a lot of things today. I'll take some out to give to Sister Taohua later. It's Lunar New Year, she's really had a hard time."
As they were talking, Li Zhuzi arrived, carrying a basin and a bag.
He entered the door shouting and speaking auspicious words.
"Zhuzi, you're here, why are you bringing so many things?" Su Granny said quickly.
"It's Lunar New Year, I can't come empty-handed, can I? This is for you and Uncle." Li Zhuzi smiled and handed the things to Su Granny.
"What?"
"When I picked it, there wasn't much good meat left, so I picked a set of pig intestines. Although it's not as good as meat, there's a lot of it. I've cooked it, and I'm troubling you to reheat it, so it can be an extra dish."
"You child, you're too polite." Su Granny said with a mock scolding, "Since you've cooked it, keep it at your place for a treat, why bring it to my house?"
"Auntie, I'm trading pig intestines for meat. Little Sweet said that your family made winter fruit meat, and that's my favorite. Auntie, I'll go to the main hall to see Uncle first."
Su Granny took the basin of pig intestines to the kitchen and asked her daughter-in-law to cut them. They were quickly stir-fried with chili and scallions, and the rich aroma of stir-fried intestines soon filled the air.
Su Xiaotian was overjoyed. She had wanted to eat stir-fried intestines for a long time but never had the chance. Now she could finally eat them.
Su Granny looked at Su Xiaotian, the little glutton, and was amused. Even the gloom she had felt earlier dissipated a bit.
"Look at this little glutton, she's almost drooling."
"Grandma cooks delicious food!" Su Xiaotian quickly flattered her.