Chapter 2: Thrashing the Scumbag Dad and Grandmother

In the next second, Jiang Dazhu tried to raise his wooden club to strike Jiang Cha again. He was stumbling drunk, his movements sluggish and unsteady.

Seizing the moment, Jiang Cha raised the stick in her hand and swung it hard against Jiang Dazhu's thigh.

Working at the veterinary hospital, Jiang Cha spent every day outsmarting large dogs. She had built up solid muscle and was more than a match for a useless drunkard like Jiang Dazhu.

"Agh—"

Jiang Dazhu was knocked to the ground, howling in pain as he clutched his right leg, unable to stand.

Jiang Cha showed no mercy, putting all her strength into the blow.

"Cha'er! Why did you come back? Run, quickly!"

Zheng Xiaozhen's face was covered in blood, bruised purple all over, and the corners of her eyes were bloodshot. It was the height of summer, and not a single patch of her exposed skin was unharmed.

Seeing her like this, a raging fire erupted in Jiang Cha's heart. According to the memories of the body's original host, Jiang Dazhu indulged in eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling. Whenever he drank too much, he resorted to violence.

Zheng Xiaozhen had been abducted and brought here when she was young. She had lived a living hell for over a decade.

Not being allowed to eat at the dining table and only having leftovers was standard treatment. She had to work in the fields in the freezing depths of winter even while pregnant. And after giving birth to Jiang Cha, because the baby was a girl, she was brutally beaten by Jiang Dazhu's mother.

The old woman had declared that if the next child wasn't a son, she would keep giving birth until she had one.

As fate would have it, Zheng Xiaozhen's second child was also a daughter, and she was beaten half to death for it.

Under the cover of a dark night, the old hag, Mother Jiang, secretly abandoned the infant Jiang Cha. Although the baby was later found and returned, the one returned was actually the true wealthy heiress of North City.

Because of this mix-up, Jiang Cha had enjoyed over a decade of a comfortable life. Now that her identity as a fake heiress was exposed and she was sent back, it was undoubtedly like being cast back into hell.

Seeing her still in a daze, Zheng Xiaozhen pushed her outward with desperate strength.

"Go, quickly! Don't ever come back!"

Zheng Xiaozhen's eyes filled with tears. In Jiang Cha's memory, this was the bravest her mother had ever been.

Usually, when the mother and daughters were beaten, she wouldn't dare say a word in protest. Her sudden burst of courage today was because Jiang Dazhu had accepted a betrothal gift from the village chief's family, planning to marry Jiang Cha off to a life of misery.

"What's all this noise in the middle of the night? Dazhu, aren't you done beating them yet? The neighbors will come looking for trouble soon!"

A wooden door creaked open slightly, and an old woman with sleepy eyes walked out, leaning on a cane.

Hunchbacked, with deep wrinkles framing her mouth, her eyes could not hide her shrewdness and cruelty. Her lips drooped in deep dissatisfaction.

Jiang Cha sneered. "Old hag, open your eyes and look closely. Who is beating whom?"

Keeping Zheng Xiaozhen behind her, Jiang Cha pointed her wooden stick at the wailing man on the ground.

"Mom, help me up! This bitch beat me!"

Gui Huilan's squinted, slit-like eyes snapped wide open. She rushed forward in a panic to help the man up.

"Jiang Cha, how dare you! You actually dared to hit your father! This is pure filial impiety! I should have strangled you to death back then!"

Gui Huilan was furious. She slammed her cane on the ground three times, spun around, glared sharply at Jiang Cha, and raised her cane to strike her.

Jiang Cha dodged nimbly, kicked out, and sent the old woman sprawling onto the floor.

*[These people are truly despicable! Not only do they want our snake gallbladders, but they also beat women! If this happened in our snake clan, the male snake would have been torn to pieces long ago!]* Mother Snake said angrily from the corner.

*[Sister, do you want us to help you? Our fangs are itching!]*

"Be careful, don't let these scumbags step on you!" Jiang Cha whispered.

Zheng Xiaozhen froze for a moment, then cried out in alarm at the sudden swarm of small snakes slithering out of the corner.

"Mom, don't be afraid. They're my friends."

Jiang Cha turned to Gui Huilan and Jiang Dazhu, a wicked smile playing at the corners of her lips.

"Close the door, release the snakes! Bite them!"

As soon as Jiang Cha spoke, the little snakes lunged forward, sinking their fangs into exposed skin.

"Don't worry, these snakes aren't venomous. At most, you'll get a bacterial infection for a few days."

Gui Huilan was old and dim-sighted. She couldn't see where the snakes on the ground were, and could only feel herself being bitten several times.

As for Jiang Dazhu, he was so drunk he couldn't tell beast from human. His movements were sluggish, making it impossible to dodge the snakes' onslaught.

"Mom! I brought the Party Secretary and the Director!"

A child's anxious, tender voice echoed from downstairs, followed by the patter of running feet.

The wooden stairs were dilapidated, and due to the damp climate and year-round rain, they creaked loudly with every step.

Jiang Cha quickly called off the snakes.

"Hurry, go hide somewhere!"

The little snakes scattered, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

A moment later, two men and a woman appeared at the top of the stairs. The woman wore a dark blue, coarse cotton coat embroidered with intricate patterns at the collar.

The two men were old and young. According to the original host's memory, the older man was the Party Secretary sent by the higher-ups, and the handsome young man beside him was the Secretary's son, an animal behaviorist.

"What's going on here? Jiang Dazhu, are you beating your wife again?"

Song Yingjie's face was stern and righteous. He looked at Jiang Dazhu, who was playing dead on the floor, with clear distaste.

Gui Huilan sat on the floor, her cane tossed aside, hands on her hips as she wailed unreasonably.

"Where is the justice?! Secretary, you have to stand up for me and Dazhu! This little bastard set snakes on us! Look at how badly her father and I have been bitten! Call the police and lock her up! Impiety-driven dog, she really is an ungrateful wretch since we didn't raise her from childhood!"

Gui Huilan wailed, determined to have Jiang Cha arrested.

Song Yingjie frowned, watching the old woman throw a tantrum.

Zheng Xiaozhen rushed forward to defend her daughter. "No, Secretary! Jiang Dazhu was beating me, and Cha'er only stepped in because she couldn't bear to watch. I swear, Cha'er didn't beat anyone!"

Suffering from chronic malnutrition and years of hard labor, Zheng Xiaozhen was frail and weak. Having just been beaten, her breath was faint, and she began to cough after speaking just a few words.

"Mom! How are you? It's all my fault. If only I had agreed to marry the village chief's youngest son as Father wanted. It's my rebelliousness that caused Father and Grandmother to beat you like this."

Jiang Cha stepped forward to support Zheng Xiaozhen. Her concern was genuine, but she knew she had to pin the blame firmly on Jiang Dazhu. Otherwise, once the Secretary left, they would be beaten again.

Qi Yu, the director of the Women's Federation, saw Zheng Xiaozhen's blood-soaked face and the bruises covering her body. One look was enough to know that the younger daughter of the Jiang family was telling the truth.

"What marriage? Jiang Cha is only sixteen! Didn't I emphasize repeatedly at the village meeting a few days ago that these feudal customs are no longer allowed? Jiang Dazhu, what is wrong with you?"

Qi Yu's brow furrowed. In the past, when information was scarce, it was common for minors to marry in the village.

But now, minors were protected by the law, and the most important task for cadres like them was to educate the villagers on these matters.