Chapter 77

**Chapter 77**

Huo Jingxuan's uncle (father's cousin) took one look at the scene and immediately asked, "What the hell is going on? Why is the village chief arresting people?"

"You raised quite a son," the village chief snorted coldly, turning away with a dismissive flick of his sleeve.

This kind of incident was a disgrace to the village chief.

When Huo Jingxuan's uncle's wife learned what her son and daughter-in-law had done, she rushed over and started beating her daughter-in-law, cursing her as a troublemaker and demanding that she take all the punishment.

Seeing his wife being beaten, Huo Jingcheng struggled violently, and the villagers couldn't hold him back. In the chaos, Huo Jingxuan’s aunt was pushed to the ground by her own son and couldn’t get up for a moment—she probably hurt her tailbone.

Qi Mo watched in stunned silence.

What the hell was that?!

Truly, a bunch of lunatics. That poor kid—how did he end up stuck in such a family?

Not a single person in the whole household even remembered the child.

Shut the door, shut the door! Qi Mo wasn’t about to get involved in this mess.

Huo Jingxuan’s father, who knew his cousin well, had already taken the child away.

Huo Jingxuan wished he could vanish into thin air.

With no escape hole in sight, he just bolted—he couldn’t bear the embarrassment.

When the chaos finally died down and Qi Mo heard no more noise outside, he cracked the door open carefully.

Sure enough, there was no one out there anymore.

"Momo, is Liangzhou back yet? After dinner, go to the ancestral hall [the clan meeting place]. The village chief wants to inspect the quarry [for stone mining]. Send Liangzhou instead—it’s not safe for you to bring the baby, and things in town are still unclear," Chen Xia called out to the good-looking guy peeking out from behind the door.

Qi Mo looked at Chen Xia. "Sister Chen, come here, come here. I’ve got something for you."

Chen Xia looked at the young man sneaking around like a thief—even so, he was ridiculously good-looking, making it hard not to like him.

"Alright," Chen Xia walked over.

Watching her approach, Qi Mo said, "Sister Chen, wait a second. I’ll go grab it."

He shut the door and quickly fetched a two-jin jar of canned yellow peaches.

Earlier, Chen Xia and her son Huo Jingjun had helped him out—he had to give them something in return.

Soon enough, he opened the door again and handed Chen Xia a black grocery bag.

Chen Xia pulled it open. "What’s this, so mysterious?"

Inside was a large jar.

"Momo, I can’t take this much!" Chen Xia exclaimed.

Qi Mo replied, "Sister Chen, you’re always helping me out. Besides, it’s not for you—it’s for Xiao Jun. That boy is skin and bones. Let him eat it. Once you open it, finish it quick. It’s sweet so it'll keep a few days, but what a waste if it goes bad."

Hearing Qi Mo’s words, Chen Xia thought of her son.

The kid’s at that growing age, and he’s always been on the skinny side. Though they had food now, protein was scarce, and Chen Xia couldn’t let him eat his fill.

Now the whole family is only eating half their fill.

Fruits, vegetables, and meat have all run out.

They steam a few slices of cured meat every few days as a treat—otherwise, it’d be gone for good.

In the evening, Qi Mo had no mood to cook. Chubby baby crawled after kitty Snowball, chasing her all over the place...

This was Daddy’s task for kitty—Snowball had to keep big brother active.

Qi Mo had been at it for days, trying to get Chubby baby to slim down.

Of course, it didn’t work.

Chubby baby didn’t lose an ounce—he actually gained weight.

Qi Mo never stopped to think, just kept feeding the kid whenever he whined. No wonder he wasn’t losing any weight.

He was at that chubby phase anyway.

Seeing no results, Qi Mo thought Chubby baby was getting fatter because he wasn’t moving enough. So kitty Snowball got a job: make big brother move.

A bowl of chicken soup, a bowl of rice, a plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and a plate of shrimp balls.

Chubby baby toddled over, babbling away.

Qi Mo must’ve forgotten—rice and eggs. Chubby baby stuffed himself fast.

All that effort wasted.

Before the meal was finished, Huo Liangzhou returned.

He finished the leftovers.

Huo Liangzhou checked on his little master: "How was your afternoon? Everything okay?"

At that, Qi Mo almost cried—he was so upset.

He’d tried to help someone, only to almost get swindled.

If not for his kid’s smarts, he’d have been conned for sure.

Without Huo Liangzhou, the tough little master wouldn’t let himself feel wronged or cry.

But with Huo Liangzhou back, the little master just got more worked up.

Huo Liangzhou hugged the upset little master, soothing him for a while before saying he had to step out for a bit.

Huo Liangzhou entered the ancestral hall.

Huo Liangya spotted him: "You're back."

"Yeah. Where’s that little punk Huo Jingcheng?"

Huo Liangya pointed to a resting room: "Tied up in there. He’s getting shamed at the village meeting tonight. Don’t go overboard—we’re all neighbors."

"You worried about him?" Huo Liangzhou scoffed.

"Hell no. I’m worried you’ll kill him. That kid’s hopeless—he’ll regret this someday. His brain’s gone to the dogs—just a horny idiot. No fixing him."

"For a woman with no moral底线, you even laid hands on your own mother," Huo Liangya said in anger.

Huo Liangzhou walked into the break room and saw someone tied to the chair.

Huo Jingcheng was only a few years younger than Huo Liangzhou.

When Huo Liangzhou entered, the imposing figure blocked all the light from the doorway.

Huo Jingcheng sensed something terrible was about to happen and immediately cried out in fear, "Uncle Liangzhou, it's all my fault, every bit of it! Please don't take it out on my wife. It's me—I was too weak to resist temptation. She has nothing to do with it."

Huo Liangzhou approached Huo Jingcheng and slapped him across the face. "I don’t hit women, but you can’t even control your own wife. What happened to you? The star student you used to be—where’s your ambition? Your pride? Have you thrown it all away to be ground into the dirt?"

"Aren’t you ashamed? Have you abandoned all principles? Remember when there was that typhoon and heavy rain, and your parents weren’t home? You had a high fever—wasn’t it me who carried you to the hospital? Didn’t the doctor say if we’d been any later, you’d have turned into an idiot? And this is how you repay me—by bullying my wife?" Huo Liangzhou scolded, seething with disappointment.

Huo Jingcheng lowered his head, not daring to utter a word in response.

Glancing at the trembling woman, Huo Liangzhou lifted Huo Jingcheng’s chin. "There’s nothing wrong with loving someone, but when you lose all sense of right and wrong, that’s where you’ve gone wrong. You’d better straighten yourself out. If there’s a next time, I’ll cut your balls off."

Huo Liangzhou turned and left.

Watching him go, Huo Jingcheng felt bitterness in his heart. *I just love my wife. What’s wrong with that? Don’t you love yours too?*

That evening, another village meeting was held.

Qi Mo followed behind Huo Liangzhou. With his husband present, pushing the baby stroller was naturally his job—Qi Mo had mastered the fine art of slacking off in no time.

The clan hall was noisy until the village chief and the Elder Clan Leader arrived, after which it quieted down.

Then, Huo Jingcheng and Zhang Tiantian were publicly punished with lashes.

Zhang Tiantian shrieked and howled, but the villagers weren’t her husband—they wouldn’t coddle her like her husband did.

Huo Jingcheng, desperate, begged to take the lashes in her place.

Unfortunately, the village chief flatly refused.

The villagers muttered under their breaths, thinking Huo Jingcheng had gone mad—he seemed like a completely different person.

After the matter was settled, the village chief brought up the issue of constructing the wall. Those who hadn’t decided in the morning whether to contribute labor or provisions had now made up their minds.

Huo Liangzhou ultimately agreed to help quarry stones.

However, his time was limited, and he informed the Elder Clan Leader that he could only work for about two hours each day.

This left the village chief taken aback.

But when Huo Liangzhou explained that his strength was such that two hours of his labor would be worth a whole night’s haul for the villagers, the village chief and the Elder Clan Leader agreed—if that was the case, then there was no problem.

After all, some villagers might work all night and still accomplish less than what others could do in an hour.

That night, Qi Mo took the baby and followed Huo Liangzhou to the quarry. The place was empty, devoid of people, with parched earth and dead brush.

"The path is passable," Huo Liangzhou remarked.

"Let me check the stability first. Momo, stay back with the baby," Huo Liangzhou said, picking up an abandoned crowbar and hammer from the quarry.

After climbing to the top of the quarry, Huo Liangzhou drove the steel rod into a crevice in the rock. With two hammer strikes, a massive boulder came crashing down with a thunderous rumble...

"Wow, Momo, your husband's strength is incredible! Can your petite frame handle it?" Chen Xia teased from the side.

Qi Mo's cheeks instantly flushed red. "He doesn't use that much strength on me—he's always very careful."

"Hahaha, Qi Mo, you're too adorable. No wonder Liangzhou likes you so much," Huo Xiaoyu laughed, watching the blushing Qi Mo.

Qi Mo thought to himself: Is it too late to find a hole to crawl into right now?

No time like the present—the village head promptly assigned the able-bodied men to start working.

Some moved the nearby rocks away, while others went back to fetch handcarts. Qi Mo also returned home, contributing their family's tricycle.

Meanwhile, Huo Jiayun was in town.

His grandfather's body had already been cremated.

Huo Jiayun's great-aunt insisted on keeping the entire family there. Huo Jingzhong was dead—who was responsible for this?

They had to find out and seek revenge. She only had this one younger brother; his death couldn't go unavenged.

Huo Jianian spoke up, "We suspect it was Qi Mo's family's kitten. Our family has no grudges with anyone else. Back then, we stole a piglet from Qi Mo's home."

"But that kitten is so small. How could it chase all the way to town and scratch Grandpa?" Huo Jiayun questioned skeptically.

Huo Jianian retorted, "What's so strange about that? During the Mutant Wolf attack, someone saw a giant cat kill a wolf—because the wolves had surrounded Qi Mo's house.

"That kitten of Qi Mo's is probably a mutant. It's under Qi Mo's control. Our grandfather was killed by Qi Mo," Huo Jianian declared angrily.

His grandfather had many flaws, but he had always doted on him.

Near the poplar grove in town, the second-floor balcony window shattered with a crash. A scream came from inside the house, but it quickly faded...

House after house, windows broke, and terrified shrieks sent chills down everyone's spines.

Someone ran outside to check. In the light of a hurricane lantern, a massive, terrifying mutant creature was spotted. "Monster! Monster! Help! Run for your lives!"

When Huo Liangzhou got home, Qi Mo was eating ice cream with Chubby Baby and Snowball.

Snowball the kitten licked the ice cream, then glanced at her brother. She'd told him to lose weight—was this how he was supposed to do it?

Her brother would only get fatter the more he ate!

Dad was a pushover. The moment her brother begged, Dad couldn't resist.

"Eating ice cream again? Your stomach will hurt later," Huo Liangzhou chided lightly before biting the ice cream scoop right out of Chubby Baby's hand.

Qi Mo looked at the man, then at the cone in his own hand. Where's my ice cream? This impossible man...

He grabbed the man's collar, lunged at him, and tried to wrestle the ice cream from his mouth.

After some noisy wrestling, Qi Mo finally remembered their plan to visit town. "Enough playing around. Let's go check out the town. It seems a lot of people have gone missing. If it's a Mutant Beast, letting it grow stronger will make it harder to deal with."

Chubby Baby was placed into the space, while the lazy Momo was called out to watch her brother.

Snowball the kitten led Dad and Papa to town.