Swept Out the Door

"I'm being unreasonable? You'd rather sell the boat to an outsider than give it to your nephew, and you have the nerve to call me unreasonable?"

Zhou Huaimin was also fed up with his sister's antics.

"You were the ones who wanted good materials, weren't you? And you were the ones who said it was fine if it cost a little more, weren't you? Now that the boat's finished, you complain it's too expensive. Who does that?"

"How was I supposed to know you'd charge 200 yuan? You're his uncle. What's wrong with giving your nephew a little discount?"

Zhou Huaimin was so furious at her shameless words that he nearly spat blood.

"You call that a little discount? Even at 150 yuan, you'd still be twenty short. I wouldn't even cover the cost of making the boat."

"That's because we only have 130 yuan right now. Once Yaowu goes out to sea and earns some money, he'll naturally pay you the other twenty."

Zhou Caihong didn't think there was anything wrong with that.

But Zhou Huaimin was so angry he laughed. "Pay me the other twenty? When your Yaowu got married, you still owed me thirty for the furniture, didn't you? It's been so long. Have you paid me that thirty yuan?"

"You actually still remember that? I haven't even had the nerve to bring it up, but that cabinet you made broke after less than two years. How can you have the nerve to ask for that thirty yuan?"

Those words were an insult to Zhou Huaimin's craftsmanship.

It was bad enough that she wouldn't pay, but then she turned around and said his workmanship was poor. Zhou Huaimin's blood pressure shot up, and in his anger, he grabbed the broom beside him and swung it at Zhou Caihong.

But before the broom could come down, a lean, muscular man beside her caught it.

"Brother, talk all you want, but hitting her isn't right."

Zhou Huaimin angrily threw down the broom and took Wei Donglai by the arm.

"Donglai, come on, go to the backyard with me. You can drag the boat away."

"Let's see who dares."

As he spoke, the muscular man stepped in front of Zhou Huaimin.

"Get out of my way."

"Big brother, don't waste your energy. With me here today, that boat isn't going anywhere."

Zhou Huaimin angrily stepped forward to shove the man, only for him to push Zhou Huaimin back with one hand. He stumbled backward, and if Wei Donglai hadn't caught him, he probably would have fallen to the ground.

He couldn't beat them, and he couldn't curse them into leaving. Zhou Huaimin's face turned red with anger.

"Uncle Zhou, we can just get it out ourselves."

With that, Wei Donglai headed straight for the backyard. Seeing this, the man came straight over and reached out to grab him.

Wei Donglai caught his arm with a backhanded move and twisted it. The man felt a tremendous force travel through his arm, and his whole body sank to its knees beyond his control.

"Oh, uncle, I'm just going to move a boat. I don't dare accept such a grand salute."

"You little bastard, how dare you lay a hand on him? I'll beat you to death!"

Seeing her man's arm pinned, the fat woman Zhou Caihong shouted angrily and charged at Wei Donglai with her claws bared.

"Let go of my dad!"

Seeing his mother join the fight, the mung-bean-eyed Yaowu hurried toward Wei Donglai too.

Wei Donglai didn't panic in the slightest. He spotted the broom Zhou Huaimin had discarded by his feet, hooked it up with a flick of his foot, and caught it in his free left hand.

He grinned at Zhou Huaimin. "Uncle, watch me help you sweep the ground."

With that, he swung his left hand, and the broom met the charging Zhou Caihong.

Rural brooms didn't come in as many varieties as they would in later years. They were made either of sorghum stalks or thin bamboo twigs.

Unfortunately for her, the one Wei Donglai held was a thin bamboo-twig broom used for sweeping the courtyard.

With that one sweep, bloody welts appeared from Zhou Caihong's face down to her arms.

"You son of a-"

Zhou Caihong burst into furious curses, but Wei Donglai gave her another sweep, instantly shutting her up.

Yaowu tried to sneak up on him from behind, but Wei Donglai swept the broom sideways with a backhanded swing, adding several bloody welts to his body too.

Between him and his mother, one had horizontal welts and the other vertical ones. They made quite a complete set.

"You little bastard, let go of me!"

The man whose arm was twisted behind him was obviously not about to behave either.

Wei Donglai kicked him straight in the backside, sending his face into intimate contact with the ground.

The man climbed to his feet and spat out two mouthfuls of dust. Glowering at Wei Donglai, he said, "Fuck you, I'll kill you."

He thought Wei Donglai had only succeeded by catching him off guard.

If it came down to strength, how could he possibly lose to a kid who didn't look as sturdy as he was?

Hearing him curse, Wei Donglai's face turned cold. He raised the broom and swept it at him.

Again?

Seeing Wei Donglai try to hit him with the broom, the muscular man reached out to grab it.

He wanted to use the same move he'd used against Zhou Huaimin on Wei Donglai.

Seeing that he'd caught the broom, the man sneered. But just as he was feeling pleased with himself, a tremendous pulling force suddenly came through it.

He had just tried to tighten his grip when he felt the broom slip from his hand in an instant, followed by a burning pain in his palm.

He opened his hand and saw bloody welts scraped into it by the twigs.

The man's expression turned furious. He was just about to open his mouth to curse when he saw the broom sweep at his face again.

He didn't even have time to raise his arms before it hit him in the face with a full-powered ultimate.

This time the whole family matched, every one of them swept by the broom.

The three of them were furious beyond measure, but whenever any of them opened their mouths, Wei Donglai greeted them unceremoniously with the broom.

They couldn't open their mouths to curse, and they couldn't win a fight. At last, the three of them understood how Zhou Huaimin had felt.

Before long, Wei Donglai had driven them out of the courtyard with his broom.

Seeing Wei Donglai watching her with the broom in hand, Zhou Caihong didn't dare open her mouth at him again. She could only stamp her feet and shout from outside the courtyard.

"Zhou Huaimin, are you even human? My whole family is being bullied like this, and you won't do anything about it?"

Seeing what a sorry state the family was in, Zhou Huaimin now felt as pleased as he had been angry earlier.

When he heard Zhou Caihong's words, he remained unmoved.

"These old arms and legs of mine can't do anything about it. Besides, he's helping me sweep the ground. Why do you insist on getting in his way?"

Zhou Caihong's face turned livid with anger, and she threatened Zhou Huaimin. "Zhou Huaimin, I'm cutting ties with you. From now on, you're no big brother of mine."

Hearing that, Zhou Huaimin was so delighted he almost went to set off firecrackers.

"Zhou Caihong, thank you. I've been fucking sick of acknowledging you as my sister for a long time. You'd better remember what you said. From now on, there's nothing between us, and we won't have anything more to do with each other."

"Bastard, I knew you were no good. Don't come begging my family for help if you ever need anything."

"Don't worry. I'd fucking die before I begged you."

Seeing that Zhou Caihong was about to curse again, Wei Donglai waved the broom. "What? Haven't had enough of the broom yet?"

The three of them backed away in fright, terrified that Wei Donglai would come sweep them again.

Seeing that they couldn't get their way today, the three could only leave, cursing as they went.

"You little bastard, just you wait..."

The man tried to turn back and leave him with a threat, but Wei Donglai pretended to chase him for a couple of steps, scaring him into turning and running.

Unexpectedly, he stumbled on a stone up ahead and fell flat on his face again. When he got up this time, he didn't dare make any more threats and slunk away after the mother and son.

Only when they were almost out of sight did Wei Donglai return to the courtyard.