They're Such Troublemakers

This program was produced by Tomato Listening, Episode 49: They're Such Troublemakers!

Without another word, Dong Mimi picked up the broken stool at her feet and hurled it over.

Zhao Xianglan dodged aside, not to be outdone. She grabbed the shovel at hand and lunged forward to hit someone.

Dong Tiantian hurried over, seized the shovel in her hands, and restrained her.

Taking advantage of the moment, Dong Mimi kicked Zhao Xianglan in the back of the knee, sending her crashing to her knees.

There was a loud bang that hurt just to hear.

Dong Tiantian immediately took the opportunity to pin her arms behind her back, holding her tightly so she could not move.

A fierce glint flashed in Dong Mimi's eyes. Her lips pressed into a tight line as she casually picked up another broken stool and smashed it down.

Only then did Dong Tiantian regain a bit of reason. Afraid of seriously hurting her, she let go.

But Zhao Xianglan no longer had a chance to react. The stool struck her squarely in the face, wood chips flying as blood instantly streamed down.

The whole thing had taken less than a minute, leaving Lin Yuzhu and Wang Xiaomei dumbfounded.

These sisters were no ordinary kind of ruthless. No wonder rural families kept having children!

When you had lots of siblings, people had to think twice before bullying you!

Wang Xiaomei grabbed Lin Yuzhu's hand and said anxiously, "We have to keep a low profile from now on. This is terrifying!"

At that moment, Wang Yang and several male Educated Youths were panicking. Once they came to their senses, they rushed forward to break up the fight.

Several villagers had somehow entered the courtyard as well, and the place instantly descended into chaos.

Blood poured from Zhao Xianglan's split head, and her face turned deathly pale.

Auntie Chen from next door stopped watching the spectacle and said to the youngest, Song Zhigao, "What are you standing around for? Go get some wood ash from the stove and put it on her wound! If the bleeding keeps up, she'll bleed to death!"

Lin Yuzhu watched Song Zhigao run back into the house in a panic, then come rushing out with a bowl of wood ash. He ran blankly to Auntie Chen's side and stared at her stupidly.

Auntie Chen took a deep, furious breath, grabbed a handful of wood ash, and pressed it onto Zhao Xianglan's head wound.

The bleeding did not stop, so she applied several more handfuls before finally staunching it.

The sight had shocked Lin Yuzhu badly. She squeezed Wang Xiaomei's hand back and said firmly, "Look at how cleanly they fought. We need to learn from them. Better to beat up bad people than get beaten!"

Wang Xiaomei nodded heavily in wholehearted agreement.

Seeing that the bleeding had stopped, the Dong Sisters finally put away their panic and stood there with calm faces.

Someone had already quietly gone to fetch the village chief.

Zhao Xianglan lay on the ground, unable to rise. Auntie Chen supported her and asked what was wrong, but she merely shook her head weakly, unable to speak.

More and more people gathered in the courtyard. Some villagers who had arrived later shouted, "Someone got their head smashed open? Where?"

"Over there?"

"Oh my, look at all that blood!"

Just as the courtyard was about to fill up, the little old village chief finally arrived. Seeing the mess in the courtyard, he was struck speechless. Were city girls all this fierce now?

His wife had been right after all. The Educated Youth Dormitory had changed since Lin Yuzhu and Wang Xiaomei arrived.

Seeing the two of them hiding obediently in the corner, the village chief breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, neither had gotten involved. Otherwise, he would have had to return those four eggs.

Lin Yuzhu and Wang Xiaomei were baffled. What had that look from the village chief meant?

Did they really look that much like troublemakers?

Li Xiangwan had come over only after hearing the commotion in Qian Yuan grow louder and louder. She had no idea what had happened, and froze when she saw the scene.

Zhang Yanqiu strolled over slowly from behind the house. When she saw Zhao Xianglan collapsed on the ground, she hurried forward and said in surprise, "I only went to the bathroom. How did things end up like this?"

The village chief was speechless.

The village chief let out a long sigh and asked, "Wang Yang, tell me what happened."

With no other choice, Wang Yang gave a rough account of what had happened.

The village chief frowned so hard his old face wrinkled up, as though his teeth hurt. He scolded them reluctantly, "You girls smashed each other bloody over such a tiny matter?"

Dong Mimi protested, "Today she bought a broken table without asking anyone. Tomorrow, who knows what else she'll buy on her own. Our money didn't fall from the sky. We can't let her waste it however she likes."

Thinking it over, the village chief felt she had a point. He said to Zhao Xianglan, "Educated Youth Zhao, you were in the wrong too. When you bought things, why didn't you tell everyone first?"

Zhao Xianglan said weakly and aggrievedly, "I figured that since I was already going to the Scrap Station, I'd bring back more things for everyone to use. We rarely got the chance to go into town, and I just hadn't had time to tell everyone yet."

"They attacked me just because they disagreed with me," she said, then began to sob pitifully.

The village chief turned back to the Dong Sisters and complained, "How could you two bully someone like this?"

Dong Tiantian immediately said, "She was going to hit someone with a shovel. Were we supposed to stand there and let her beat us? If we had just stood there like fools, my sister might have been beaten to death with that shovel."

"Your sister clearly threw the first stool."

"But didn't you dodge it?"

"Then you could have dodged too!"

The village chief looked from one side to the other. Once they had finished arguing, the two saw that he was not speaking and stopped arguing as well.

Only then did the village chief say, "Enough. You should all help cover some of the cost of the things Educated Youth Zhao bought this time. She's an old Educated Youth and was looking out for you. Don't chill her heart."

"Educated Youth Zhao, what about your head? Do you need to get it checked?"

Zhao Xianglan said firmly, "Then have the sisters take me into town to see a doctor. They injured me, so they should pay the medical expenses."

"Village chief, how are we supposed to get to town?"

Zhao Xianglan quickly caught the key point. "The village Ox Cart definitely can't be lent to you. Figure out how to get there yourselves. You aren't children anymore. Do I have to manage that too?"

They had not given him eggs. Why should he spend a favor to borrow them a cart?

Zhao Xianglan's face turned even paler. She sucked in a breath and fainted.

Seeing her pass out, the village chief hurriedly told Auntie Chen to press her philtrum.

Only after she slowly came around did the village chief breathe a sigh of relief. Annoyed, he said, "Then discuss how you're going to get into town to see a doctor."

The Dong Sisters were troubled.

Dong Mimi stared at Zhang Yanqiu for a moment, then suddenly said, "Village chief, Sister Zhang cut her leg, and didn't she just stop the bleeding? It was fine after that, wasn't it?"

"Sister Zhao, the bleeding has already stopped. There's probably no need to make a special trip into town for treatment, right?"

Zhao Xianglan protested, weak but resentful, "She cut herself. I was injured because you smashed me. How can that be the same?"

Dong Mimi curled her lip and bluntly said, "If you insist on going to the hospital, then we'll walk there. You decide. My sister and I will accompany you all the way."

Zhao Xianglan was dizzy and disoriented. How could she possibly walk all the way into town? Obviously, she could not.

She looked at the village chief as though asking for help.

The village chief frowned, trying to sound as gentle as possible. "Well... do you want to go to the hospital or not?"

"If you do, the sisters can accompany you. If you don't, have them buy a chicken from the village and stew it for you to help you recover."

Zhao Xianglan thought that she had ended up like this and they still did not want to compensate her. Without saying a word, she lowered her head and kept crying.

"Why do you keep crying, girl?"

"If you have something to say, then say it. I don't know whether my head has been damaged. What if I'm left with headaches?"

Zhao Xianglan said this pitifully, rubbing her head as she spoke.

The village chief immediately said, "Then you two sisters should take her to the hospital and see what the town doctor says."

Zhao Xianglan was speechless. The Dong Sisters looked grave and nodded unwillingly.

Lin Yuzhu finally understood. The old village chief scolded one side a little, then scolded the other side a little, but he was not helping either side. He was merely trying to smooth things over. He was nothing like when he upheld justice for his own villagers. He might not have been thunderously decisive, but he certainly would not have been this wishy-washy.

The Dong Sisters each took one side and helped Zhao Xianglan up.

Zhao Xianglan felt dizzy, the world spinning before her eyes. Her head was muddled as she said, "Village chief, no. I can't walk. I won't go to the hospital for now."

"If you don't go to the hospital now and something turns up later, we won't be responsible."

Dong Tiantian said coldly.

The village chief was speechless. He could tell Zhao Xianglan did not actually want to go to the hospital. After thinking it over, he understood that she wanted money.

Why were city children's thoughts so roundabout? If she wanted compensation, she should just say so. Why insist on making someone else say it for her? "Just tell me what compensation you want."

The village chief was getting a little impatient. There was hard work to do tomorrow, and who would not rather rest when they had free time?

Zhao Xianglan's expression stiffened. She said aggrievedly, "I can't just take this beating for nothing, can I?"

The Dong Sisters' faces darkened, and both released the hands supporting her.

Zhao Xianglan nearly lost her balance and almost slumped back to the ground, but steadied herself in time.

The village chief found her rather pitiful and said to the Dong Sisters, "You two should compensate her five yuan and an old hen. Do you accept that result?"

Dong Mimi snorted. "We accept. Next time, Educated Youth Zhao should keep her mouth clean. Otherwise, she might earn another five yuan. We can afford that much."

The village chief nearly lost his composure. What did she mean by that?

Were they planning to beat up this city girl again in the future? Wasn't that too ruthless?

Wang Xiaomei tightened her grip on Lin Yuzhu's hand again. She felt that if they had not moved out back then, she might have been the first one to get her head smashed open.

Just thinking about it made her break out in a cold sweat.

Lin Yuzhu was left full of question marks by the tight grip, but she stared at the Dong Sisters in the courtyard as though she had gained some kind of inspiration.

And just like that, the matter was muddled through.

The Dong Sisters bought an old hen that could no longer lay eggs from a villager and tossed it alive onto the kitchen floor. Their meaning was clear: if Zhao Xianglan wanted to eat it, she could kill it herself. They had already paid the chicken.

Zhao Xianglan was so angered by their attitude that she nearly fainted again.

In the end, Zhang Yanqiu helped her kill the chicken and stew it into soup, taking the chance to get some chicken soup for herself as well.

The Dong Sisters stood nearby, watching with mocking expressions.

Though the chicken soup was rich and fragrant, it tasted bland and flavorless. It was as though they were drinking something handed to them as charity.

At that moment, Zhao Xianglan and Zhang Yanqiu hated the Dong Sisters to the core.

Auntie Chen had once learned a little from an old doctor. She had her son bring over some anti-inflammatory herbs and told Zhao Xianglan to boil them in water and drink it.