Chapter 60: Beat Him Up

Huangyun Village. When Shengli and Shengyi returned home, as expected, their stepmother immediately lashed out at them, scolding them harshly. Their biological father, on the other hand, picked up a stick.

They had stayed out all night, so the two brothers didn’t even need to put on an act—they were beaten bloody on the spot.

It was a miserable sight.

Even the neighbors couldn’t bear to watch and tried to “advise” their father to discipline his children with some restraint, saying it wasn’t right to abuse them like this.

Children without mothers were truly like weeds. Ever since their mother passed away—and especially after that man remarried—the two boys had never lived a good day.

“It’s none of your damn business! A father beating his own sons is only natural! If you have so much time on your hands, worry about your own kids instead!” Shengli’s father snapped back.

Naturally, this provoked further outrage.

Just then, Huang Suqin’s “reinforcements” arrived.

Shengli and Shengyi’s grandfather stormed into Huangyun Village with a group of people.

Seeing his grandsons beaten to such a state, he didn’t say a word—he just started beating that bastard up.

Not only did the villagers not intervene, but some even clapped and cheered. To end up in such a situation, that guy was truly a piece of work.

Soon, the village chief of Huangyun Village stepped in. This was simply disgraceful. They basically understood the situation, and if word got out, their side would clearly be in the wrong.

Shengli’s grandfather furiously argued with the village chief, demanding justice.

“Brother, calm down. We all know that bastard well enough. Things have already come to this, so let’s discuss a proper solution,” the village chief said.

“My stance is simple—since he can’t provide for my grandsons, I’ll take them with me and sever all ties. I hope everyone here can be witnesses to this,” Shengli’s grandfather stated.

The people of Huangyun Village were touched.

Everyone knew that many struggled to feed their own families, let alone take in two extra children. For a man to continue caring for his deceased daughter’s children like this—it was something not many could do.

“I don’t agree. Unless he gives me 200 yuan. These two little brats can still do work at home. If they leave, my family will lose…”

The crowd fell into stunned silence.

Even the village chief of Huangyun Village was dumbfounded.

No one expected this man to be this shameless.

If you want to be shameless, fine—but could you at least not disgrace our whole village?

“Beat him up!” Even the village chief couldn’t stand it anymore.

Some people had been itching for this. The moment they heard the chief’s order, they rolled up their sleeves and started swinging.

They had seen scumbags before, but never one this low.

How was this any different from selling his children?

100 yuan per kid?

Their village might be poor, but they still had their dignity!

And so, Shengli’s father was beaten black and blue, completely unable to fight back. As for his new wife, she was so terrified by the public outrage that she hid away, shivering, not daring to step forward.

In the end, with the intervention of the village chief and some elders, Shengli and Shengyi formally severed ties with their biological father and left with their grandfather.

That bastard not only didn’t get any money but also got beaten twice and thoroughly alienated from the rest of the village.

Seeing her nephews in such a state, Huang Suqin was heartbroken. She immediately took them back to the courtyard in the city to recover.

—

That afternoon, Zhou Yimin had nothing to do and wandered around the village.

In this era, staying at home was quite boring—no TV, no mobile phones, no computers. If there were people to chat with, he’d chat. If not, he’d just sit and daydream.

Then, he remembered he had a radio voucher.

He planned to buy a radio another day to entertain his grandparents.

It was easy to imagine that once a radio appeared in Zhoujia Village, a bunch of elderly folks would gather around to listen. After all, almost no one in the village had ever heard a radio before.

At this time, radios were considered high-tech products.

Televisions did exist, but forget the countryside—even in the city, barely anyone owned one.

Since Zhou Yimin had transmigrated here, he hadn’t seen a single television from this era.

It wouldn’t be until the 1970s that televisions, while still rare, would lose their aura of mystery. In the 1980s, they would finally enter ordinary households.

Unknowingly, he arrived at the river embankment, where he saw a bustling scene.

This was the vibrant atmosphere of the times—

Working together, eating together!

People were truly poor back then, but they had faith.

“Uncle Sixteen!”

“Yimin!”

As soon as people saw Zhou Yimin, they greeted him warmly.

The village elder walked over.

“Yimin, how much do the corn seeds cost? I need to scrape together some money.” The village’s collective funds might not be enough since they had already spent too much. If necessary, they would have to raise funds from the villagers.

“80 yuan will do.”

Honestly, Zhou Yimin wasn’t sure how much the seed store charged. He had bought them from his system shop at this price and wasn’t planning to make a profit.

The elder paused for a few seconds, then said gratefully, “Yimin, thank you!”

He knew the market price of corn seeds. Even without discussing the variety, 80 yuan wouldn’t be enough for so many seeds.

High-quality corn seeds were naturally much more expensive than regular corn kernels.

Moreover, in this era, buying large quantities of corn seeds wasn’t easy.

He suspected that Zhou Yimin had pulled some strings to get them.

This made them even more grateful.

“Chief, if you say that, you’re not treating me as one of the villagers,” Zhou Yimin joked.

The elder sighed. “Alright, alright, I won’t say more.”

A thousand words of gratitude were not as good as a solid act of kindness.

The elder knew what to do.

His gaze turned to the newly cultivated land by the riverbed, and he sighed, “This is good soil… such a pity.”

No one knew how long they could farm it. Once the upstream river flow resumed, they would have to abandon it. Just thinking about it made everyone’s heart ache.

“What’s there to pity? When the drought ends, we can dig the soil up and take it back.

First, it won’t go to waste. Second, it helps dredge the river. Third, deepening the riverbed allows it to store more water, preventing both droughts and floods. It’s a win-win-win!” Zhou Yimin analyzed.

The village elder was stunned again.

How did this kid’s brain work? Every time he made a suggestion, it was a golden idea.

Yes! If they dug up the soil later, they could use it for farming instead of letting it sink back into the riverbed.

Even if the commune officials came to inspect, they couldn’t object—they were simply dredging the river!

Future flood prevention efforts would benefit, too—who could say that was wrong?

Zhou Yimin added, “The only issue is that it’ll take a lot of labor.”

The village elder waved it off. “That’s not a problem! This is a brilliant idea! We’re just clearing silt!”

He was overjoyed.

As for the workload? Right now, labor was the one thing they had in abundance.

If they couldn’t finish in one month, then they’d take three. After the farming season, they had plenty of idle time.

Just then, a commotion erupted nearby. It seemed like someone had dug up something, and a group of people had gathered to watch.

Seeing this, Zhou Yimin and the elder walked over.

“Make way! Make way! Yimin’s here!”

The village elder: “…”

Damn it, you only see Yimin? Can’t you see me too?