Lesson Learned: A Beating Every Single Time

"You little wolf cub, you've grown up and your wings are getting stiff now, huh?" Old Mrs. Zhou tried to pull her hand back, but failed. Raising her other hand, she swung a blow at Jin Yan'an.

Jin Yan'an let go of her hand and gave her a forceful shove. Old Mrs. Zhou stumbled back two steps and fell flat on her buttocks, howling in pain.

"Murder! A little beast is trying to commit murder!" Old Mrs. Zhou wailed for a long time, but no one spoke up. The villagers just looked at her as if she were a monkey performing in a street show.

"Old Mrs. Zhou, are you still going to make a scene?" Zhou De'en's chest heaved violently, enraged by the old woman's shamelessness.

"Father, don't get angry. It's not worth getting upset over a shrew like this," Zhou Guangyao hurriedly stepped forward to soothe his father's breath.

"Aunt Zhou, things should be done in moderation. Continuing to make a scene like this is utterly pointless."

"You refuse to tell us who arrested Zhou Shiren, so you'll just have to go home and figure it out yourselves."

Zhou Guangyao gave the Zhou family a graceful way out, intending to handle the matter privately. After all, those people from the old family estate were thorns in everyone's side—totally unreasonable. If so many of them lost face here, they certainly wouldn't lower their pride.

"No way! If I don't get the silver, I'm not leaving!" Old Mrs. Zhou's stubborn streak flared up, and she was dead set on getting money.

They had been making a scene from noon until now, and with the sky growing dark, Village Chief Zhou was having trouble standing steadily.

The two sides remained at a stalemate.

Just then, someone shouted, "Hurry up and lend a hand! The eldest Jin son and his wife are dragging a wild boar back!"

As soon as the shout rang out, quite a few men rushed over to help.

Meng Yun had leveled up today and was in a fantastic mood, so she had returned a bit earlier than usual. First, she didn't want her family to worry, and second, since they had a wild boar, it would take time to process it. Therefore, the couple came back more than an hour earlier than expected.

The moment Meng Yun saw many villagers gathered around their doorway, she didn't even need to think twice to know that the troublemakers from the old estate had come again.

She decided to let the villagers help drag the boar back. Meng Yun had originally planned to share this pig with the entire village anyway. Yesterday, her father-in-law and mother-in-law had mentioned plans to move away, but Meng Yun thought Zhou Village was a nice place with mountains, clear water, and abundant produce. Why should they move? If the people from the old estate came knocking again, she would simply beat them into submission until they never dared to show their faces again.

As for her mother-in-law's concern that the old family had originally vouched for them when they first settled here, Meng Yun felt they no longer needed that guarantee. She wanted to let the whole village benefit directly from her family. In the future, she would lead the entire village to make money and live a good life, making the entire village vouch for *them* instead.

Thus, the moment she hunted the wild boar, she prepared one to bring out openly, while leaving the other in her spatial dimension for a more opportune time.

"Mother, get up quickly. The ground is cold," Meng Yun said, lifting her mother-in-law and signaling Jin Yan'an to help his father.

Meng Yun walked up to Xing Lanhua and Gou Yingzi, pointing at the bolts of cloth in their hands. "I bought these with my own silver."

Meng Yun's tone was calm, yet her soft and gentle words carried an overwhelming aura of authority.

"If it's in our hands, it's ours," Xing Lanhua retorted defiantly.

"Oh, so whatever ends up in your hands belongs to you? Is that what the laws of Da Jin dictate? Since when did home invasions and gang robberies become so righteous?" Meng Yun chuckled.

"The county magistrate's treasury is filled with countless gold and silver; why don't you go take some from there?" Meng Yun countered.

The villagers burst into loud laughter upon hearing this.

"Nonsense! Who would dare go to the yamen?" Xing Lanhua had no idea Meng Yun was setting a trap; no matter how she answered, it would be wrong.

"You don't have the guts to rob the yamen, but you dare come to my house and rob us? What is this? Do you think my family has no one left to defend it?" As she spoke, Meng Yun picked up a wooden stick from the side of the wall and struck Xing Lanhua fiercely across the arm. With a sharp gasp of pain, the three bolts of cloth dropped to the ground.

"Aah! Murder!" Xing Lanhua shrieked like a slaughtered pig, her voice so piercing it nearly deafened the bystanders.

"If you don't feel the blow on your own flesh, you'll never know what pain is," Meng Yun said, turning her gaze toward Gou Yingzi.

Meeting Meng Yun's bloodthirsty glare, Gou Yingzi instinctively relaxed her grip and tossed the cloth onto the ground.

"Shichang! Beat this bitch to death for me!" Unable to bear the agonizing pain, Xing Lanhua demanded that her husband teach Meng Yun a lesson.

"You wretched girl, daring to strike your elders! You're courting death!" Zhou Shichang picked up a stick from the ground as well.

"Don't hit my wife!" Seeing someone trying to attack Meng Yun, Jin Yan'chuan rushed forward in a panic.

"Little idiot, still trying to protect your wife? I seriously doubt you even know how to consummate a marriage. If you don't know how, your uncle can try it out for you." The Zhou brothers were cut from the same cloth; they were such beasts that they even harbored incestuous desires toward their younger relatives. Were they even human?

Upon hearing Zhou Shichang utter such unprincipled and degenerate words, the villagers inwardly cursed him for being utterly despicable. Meng Yun was of a younger generation—how could he shameless enough to say such a thing?

"You're not allowed to talk about my wife like that!" Jin Yan'chuan strode forward, preparing to brawl with Zhou Shichang.

"Little beast, marrying such a flower-like beauty is sheer waste on you." Zhou Shichang swung viciously at Jin Yan'chuan.

Meng Yun would never allow Zhou Shichang to lay a finger on Jin Yan'chuan. Leaping forward, she struck Zhou Shichang's arm with a loud crack, followed by a flurry of ruthless beatings—thrashing him like a stray dog with loud cracks, hitting him wherever she pleased from head to toe. The relentless beating sent Zhou Shichang rolling frantically on the ground, wailing and begging for mercy.

"Stop hitting me! Stop hitting me!"

After delivering a thoroughly satisfying thrashing, Meng Yun turned her attention to Zhou Shishun. "You're no good either." With that, she unleashed another torrent of indiscriminate blows.

The villagers watched with immense satisfaction as the two brothers took a beating.

While the brothers howled on the ground, Meng Yun walked right up to Old Mrs. Zhou.

"Old hag, let's have a chat." The corners of Meng Yun's lips curled upward. "I'm very curious: who gave you the audacity to come make a scene at the Jin household?"

"This is rebellion! Absolute rebellion! You stinking whore, daring to strike your elder!" Old Mrs. Zhou pointed a trembling finger at Meng Yun and cursed.

*Crack.* Meng Yun delivered a swift blow with her stick, and Old Mrs. Zhou felt as though the index finger of her right hand had snapped in two.

"Don't try to pull rank and play the elder in front of me. Whose elder are you? Did you give birth to me, or did you raise me? A parasite acting like some big shot here! An old hag like you belongs deep in a frying pan of boiling oil, sliced into ribbons and chopped into paste," Meng Yun whispered softly into the old woman's ear.

"You're a demon," the old woman said, terrified out of her wits by Meng Yun.

"That's right, I am a demon—a demon specifically here to clean up your family. Dare to act cheap again, and I'll beat you every single time you show up. I don't care who you think you are," Meng Yun said with a beaming smile.

"That beating was so satisfying!"

"Who would've thought the Jin family's daughter-in-law was such a formidable character?"

"She can even hunt wild boars; she definitely has some real skills."

"Takes a wicked force to deal with wicked people!"

Terrified beyond measure, the old woman trembled as she hobbled out of the courtyard, followed dejectedly by her two sons and three daughters-in-law. Knee-deep in disgrace, they all scurried away.

Meng Yun stood at the courtyard gate and called out to their retreating figures, "When friends arrive, we have fine wine; when jackals arrive, we greet them with hunting rifles. Old Mrs. Zhou, next time you come visiting, make sure you think through the consequences first. My stick has no eyes—it doesn't treat just anybody like family!"

Not a single member of the Zhou family dared to talk back.

"Everyone disperse now," the old village chief waved his hand.

Some villagers turned to head home, while others wanted to stay and see how things developed. A few were still harboring thoughts about the wild boar the Jin family had hunted down—wondering if they might sell some pork to the villagers at a cheap price.

"Village Chief Grandpa, thank you so much for today. Coincidentally, my husband and I hunted a wild boar today. We'd like to invite the whole village over for a hearty pork stew, and I hope you all won't refuse." Meng Yun remained quite respectful toward the old village chief.