Beaten Beyond Recognition
The villagers were fully armed, holding sickles, hoes, and kitchen knives, men and women, young and old alike, all joining the fray with fierce determination and unity.
Zhang Zhuzi and his thug companions immediately cowered when faced with over a hundred people; Zhang Zhuzi was so scared he almost wet himself.
Director Zhang, looking at the angry villagers, felt extremely uneasy and whispered to Zhang Zhuzi, "Zhuzi, you’re the village chief, you need to show the authority of a chief and make them leave."
Zhang Zhuzi swallowed nervously, "Second Uncle, can this really work?"
Director Zhang urged anxiously, "You’re an official, don’t be afraid!"
Encouraged, Zhang Zhuzi gained some confidence and shouted loudly, "What do you all want? Go home! I’m the village chief, do you want to rebel against me?"
Sister Zhu rolled up her sleeves, swung a frying pan in a wide arc, knocking over a burly man, and yelled, "Damn you! My son finally got a chance to study, and you little scoundrels want to cause trouble! You want to smash the school? I’ll take you down first!"
After speaking, Sister Zhu shouted back to the villagers, "Folks, these bastards want to smash the school and stop our kids from studying. They are our mortal enemies!"
The villagers had long wanted to deal with Zhang Zhuzi. They surged forward and surrounded Zhang Zhuzi and his gang of thugs.
Su Li and Zhang Mu did not stop them, only shouting from outside, "Folks, be careful when you hit them, don’t cause any fatalities."
The villagers responded in unison, tossing down whatever deadly weapons they had and rolling up their sleeves to fight!
Zhang Zhuzi, Director Zhang, and those unlucky thugs were surrounded in the middle, beaten with fists and kicks, utterly powerless to fight back.
Zhang Zhuzi took the worst beating. At first, he kept yelling that he was the village chief, but soon realized the more he shouted, the worse he got beaten, until he was so battered he was unrecognizable.
"Serves you right for causing trouble and trying to smash the school, you dog!" the villagers cursed as they beat him.
Su Li cleared his throat twice and gave the stunned village chief a meaningful look.
The village chief immediately understood, whispered a few words to the two teachers, who then went into the school and closed the door to prevent the students from seeing the fight.
When the villagers were fighting, Zhang Mu was hardly involved. He couldn’t even squeeze in to kick Zhang Zhuzi a few times. Over a hundred people queued up to beat Zhang Zhuzi, and Zhang Mu could only laugh and cry — this wasn’t even his turn!
So Zhang Mu and his servants came over, joining Su Li, Wu Caiwei, and the others to watch the spectacle, commenting as they watched:
"Ouch, that punch was really fierce, I even felt pain watching it!"
"Wow, those black eyes, they’ve turned into pandas!"
"Ooh, that kick was beautiful! Look at Zhang Zhuzi’s dog-eat-shit expression, hahaha!"
In the middle of the crowd, Zhang Zhuzi was howling at the top of his lungs, beaten so badly that his former arrogance as village chief was gone, replaced by cries for mercy.
While the villagers were fighting, a few government officers arrived, followed by a sedan chair.
The officers arrived at the school and looked at the spectacular brawl with bewildered faces. Finally, one of them reacted and shouted loudly, "The Prefect has arrived! Stop fighting and come greet the Prefect!"
When the officer shouted, the villagers stopped fighting and quickly dispersed to welcome the official.
Director Zhang, who was beaten and collapsed on the ground, immediately jumped up like he’d seen a savior when he heard the Prefect had arrived. He glared venomously at the villagers and said, "You bunch of troublemakers, now that the Prefect is here, let’s see how you’ll be dealt with!"
Zhang Zhuzi also got up, crawling to the Prefect’s sedan chair to complain, "Prefect, please do justice for me. I am your appointed village chief, but these troublemakers openly beat me, which is clearly disrespect to you!"