Chapter 150: Chapter 150

As Village Chief Zhang Aiguo's gong and drum sounds echoed, it didn't take long for the small Yang family courtyard to gather not just one but several groups of villagers. When the Yang family members emerged, they were met with the sight of Yang Jianguo, covered in wounds with grass and leaves still visibly clinging to his clothes. His appearance clearly showed he had just come down from the mountains...

Eldest Aunt Yang was instantly terrified. After all, something had happened in those back mountains before. Not to mention distant events, just three years ago, the village idiot Er Lengzi had been brutally killed by wild boars.

"Husband! Husband, are you alright?" She hurriedly grabbed her man's sleeve, carefully examining him from head to toe, fearing something might have happened to him. Eldest Aunt Yang inspected him so thoroughly that she completely failed to notice the increasingly strange looks from the surrounding crowd.

Even Yang Jianguo himself...

When she was suddenly slapped to the ground, Eldest Aunt Yang was momentarily stunned. "Enough! What are you standing around for? Hurry up and carry Mother inside!" Her husband's sharp, angry voice rang out.

Though Eldest Aunt Yang was usually quite fierce, when Yang the Eldest truly got serious, she wouldn't dare utter another word. Meeting her husband's clearly murderous gaze, she instinctively nodded. Was it her imagination, or did her husband seem particularly strange today...

Unfortunately, before Eldest Aunt Yang could act, Yang the Second, who had just returned from the fields, rushed forward—especially when he saw his own mother lying on a stretcher, covered in blood and clearly unconscious.

"Mother! What happened to you?" Carefully carrying his mother to the inner room, he ordered his wife to quickly fetch the doctor. Only after settling her down did Yang the Second come to his senses, his bloodshot eyes fixed unblinkingly on his elder brother Yang Jianguo standing nearby: "Elder Brother, what exactly happened? Didn't Mother leave with you this morning?"

Hearing this, Yang the Eldest's face instantly paled, his normally square-jawed face darkening with stormy emotions. After a long pause, he finally gritted his teeth and said: "Mother and I had bad luck—we ran into a wild boar!"

As his words fell, the surrounding villagers erupted in uproar. Everyone in the village knew Zhang the Second was famously gossipy, a troublemaker who stirred up drama everywhere—but even he wouldn't make up such vicious lies to slander someone without reason. After all, what grudge did these two have?

Besides, they'd all just seen Yang the Eldest running panic-stricken down the mountain, while Old Lady Yang—when they'd arrived with tools in hand—had barely been breathing. If she hadn't jumped into some previously dug trap, she probably would have... Tsk, they'd thought Yang the Eldest was just heartless for abandoning his elderly mother who couldn't move well—but now it seemed...

Heavens! What a truly cruel man! Many villagers subtly shuffled backward.

"Zhang Mazi, some words shouldn't be spoken carelessly!" Under Yang the Eldest's murderous gaze, Zhang the Second stood fearless, puffing out his small chest—his modest frame displaying remarkable courage.

"Pfft, Yang the Eldest, who are you trying to scare? You think I grew up being intimidated?" Tsk, what right did some outsider have to act tough? His cousin was the village chief—what did he have to fear? Not only that, he deliberately spat in Yang the Eldest's direction: "What's wrong, Yang the Eldest? You coward—dare to do it but not admit it? Then again, even birds know to feed their parents, but you pushed your own mother into the fire..."

Shaking his head with a tsk, Zhang the Second's disdain couldn't have been clearer, making Yang the Eldest's veins bulge with rage—yet he didn't dare utter a single word in response.

Nearby, secretly observing An Ning couldn't help but give this man a mental thumbs-up. Not in vain had she deliberately provoked her unlucky cousin in front of him earlier, adding this witness to the drama. Look at that combat effectiveness—what a valuable audience! Didn't you see Third Sister beside her already clapping her hands in applause?

Compared to the two sisters secretly enjoying the show, the atmosphere in the main room had turned quite grim. Looking at his tall, sturdy eldest son, Old Man Yang felt repulsed for the first time. Everyone knew Old Lady Yang had always favored this eldest son, giving him all the best things since childhood. Even during the worst famine years, she'd rather starve herself than let the eldest go hungry. You could say the eldest was treasured while the second and third sons were treated like weeds.

Yet even with such a doting mother, the eldest could still... Though it was broad daylight, Old Man Yang suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

But even more furious than Old Man Yang was the second son nearby. With a loud thud, Yang Jiandang punched the eldest to the ground, his fists striking with brutal force: "Eldest Brother, how could you be so heartless? That was our mother—our birth mother!"

Knowing he was in the wrong, Yang the Eldest could only endure the beating no matter how much hatred burned in his heart. But seeing the second son's increasingly heavy punches—as if venting some long-suppressed rage—Yang the Eldest narrowed his eyes: Just wait until Mother wakes up...

Unfortunately for him, fate had other plans. Despite the old doctor's constant head-shaking, they borrowed an ox-cart to rush to the county hospital—but though she regained consciousness, Old Lady Yang was left half-crippled. Not only could she no longer speak, but she'd likely never walk again. The diagnosis was extreme shock-induced paralysis from the waist down...

Some at the hospital suggested conservative treatment might still offer hope, but what farming family had that kind of money? Yang the Second wanted to object, but everyone knew this filial son was sincere in his devotion—and equally broke. After much argument, Old Lady Yang, like An Ning before her, was brought home from the hospital before the bed could even grow warm...

Through the system screen, watching the family's varied expressions—especially Old Lady Yang's near-bursting fury on the sickbed—An Ning couldn't help but click her tongue. Yet the Yang family's drama was far from over.

In the dead of winter, the two sisters curled up on the heated kang, happily munching freshly baked sweet potato strips while listening to the ongoing commotion next door. With Old Lady Yang paralyzed, someone naturally had to tend to her daily needs—but whether from the trauma of her son's betrayal or other reasons, her temper grew increasingly foul.

Especially toward the eldest son and his wife who came to care for her—being unfilial themselves, they soon only went through the motions. Even Yang the Second, after days of having hot soup and even filth thrown in his face by his mother, began reaching his limit. The most obvious sign was that he no longer returned to his room muttering about his mother as before...

The sisters specifically counted—he started arriving later each day. Then one day, as Yang the Second wearily emerged from the main house, he heard his youngest son proudly boasting before all the village children: "Fat Dog, you have no idea—my dad's the most filial! Every day he personally handles my grandma's piss and shit, totally different from that evil-hearted uncle of mine!"

Yang the Second: "......"