Chapter 78: The Person Even the County Magistrate Dares Not Offend

At this moment, the gates of the Li family residence were tightly shut, as if they feared someone outside might burst in.
“Li, get out here!” Wen Xiuyi shouted angrily at the entrance.
There was no response from within. Wen Xiuyi called out again, but the gates remained firmly closed.
He glanced around, picked up a stone from the ground, and hurled it inside.
The onlookers exchanged glances—these father and daughter truly shared the same temperament.
The stone was thrown, the doors were called, yet nothing opened.
Now Wen Xiuyi was fired up. He waved his hand: “Smash it!” No sooner had he spoken than he was the first to rush forward, pounding the Li family gates—pushing, kicking—Wen Xiuzhu and Wen Xiuqing followed close behind. The three brothers nearly tore the doors off their hinges.
“Stop, stop!” Finally, there was a response from within.
The brothers stepped back, waiting for the Li family to open the door.
When Li San opened the door, his face was fierce, but upon seeing the Wen family crowd bristling with anger, he faltered.
“What do you want?” Though he was nervous, Li San still tried to appear menacing.
Wen Xiuyi rolled up his sleeves. “What do I want? You know exactly what I want! Hand over Li Erhu—if I don’t toss him into the river today, I’ll change my surname!”
His son was only so small, still small enough to be cradled in one hand, yet Li Erhu, a boy more than ten years old, dared bully such a tiny child.
Wen Xiuyi shuddered at the thought—what if there had been no one on the far side of the river today? What would have happened to his son? Would the water have swept him away? Wen Fa had leapt in without a second thought—one child four years old, another ten—how could a child save a child?
If anything had happened, the Wen family would have been ruined.
Li San never expected Wen Xiuyi, a scholar, to threaten to throw his son into the river.
Would Li San agree? Obviously not.
“What do you want, then? Are you trying to kill my son?” Li San glared furiously.
Wen Xiuyi sneered. “He dared to push my son into the river—why shouldn’t I toss him in return? Li San, I tell you, if you don’t hand over Li Erhu today, I’ll burn your house to the ground.”
The barefooted fear nothing—Wen Xiuyi’s reputation was already in tatters; what did it matter now?

The three children were Wen Xiuyi’s bottom line—no one could touch them.
When Wen Xiuyi uttered such a threat, even the Wen family members were startled.
“Brother, that’s too much,” Wen Xiuzhu tugged at Wen Xiuyi’s sleeve. If he really set fire to the place, he’d be arrested and executed.
Even old Wen and Madam Luo frowned, thinking that if their eldest truly tried to burn the house, they’d have to stop him.
They wanted justice, but not at the cost of their own destruction.
They didn’t realize Wen Xiuyi was only bluffing—being a progressive worker of the new era, he would never break the law.
Sometimes, harsh words could have a deterrent effect.
Li San hadn’t expected Wen Xiuyi to be so forceful. He pointed at Wen Xiuyi, unable to utter a word for a long moment.
The village chief arrived just in time to hear the threat of burning the Li family house, his face blanching as he hurried forward.
“Xiuyi, there’s no need for that, I’m here. I promise to see your son’s justice done,” the chief said quickly.
Wen Xiuyi glanced at the chief, refraining from further threats, though his face was still grim.
The chief was at a loss, glaring fiercely at Li San. “What are you waiting for? Everyone saw your Erhu push Wen’s boy into the river. If you don’t apologize to the Wen family, what are you planning? Do you want Erhu beaten to death?”
Li San knew he was in the wrong but didn’t want the Wen family to lord it over him.
“They say Erhu pushed him, so it must be Erhu? My boy says he never touched him,” Li San declared.
The Wen family was furious.
“Let Li Erhu come out and say it in front of us,” Madam Luo said, pulling Wen Xiuyi back as she stepped forward.
Li San’s eyes darted, thinking how to muddle through.
The chief saw through him at once, snapping, “Call Erhu out and let him speak directly. You can’t hide forever!”
Li San hesitated.
“What, afraid? Didn’t you say Erhu never pushed Wen’s son? Have him come out and say it to our faces,” Wen Xiuyi shouted—if that brat dared show himself, he’d see if he could beat him to death.

With the chief pressuring him, Li San had no choice but to call Li Erhu out.
Erhu’s mother accompanied him, and Li Erhu’s face was battered and bruised, clearly having been thrashed by Wen Fa. Seeing the Wen family, he instinctively tried to flee.
Li San grabbed him and asked bluntly, “Son, did you push Wen’s boy?”
Li Erhu trembled, but managed to cry out, “No, I didn’t push him—it was, it was he who fell in himself.”
Li San instantly grew confident. “Hear that? Erhu says he didn’t push him. Clearly your child fell in himself—trying to blame my son? Dream on.”
Wen Ying’s face flushed with anger. She pointed at Li Erhu, cursing, “Nonsense! If you hadn’t snatched Wen’s and Jin Xiuyi’s eggs, forced them to the riverbank, then tried to push Jin Xiuyi, would Wen’s boy have fallen in trying to block you? Li Erhu, everyone saw it—you can’t deny it!”
“That’s right, Li Erhu, we all saw it!” Wen Ying’s friends in the crowd chimed in indignantly.
Faced with so many accusing witnesses—and terrified by Wen Fa and the Wen family’s threats—Li Erhu broke down in tears.
“I didn’t push him! I just told that city kid to give me his egg—it was that mute who blocked him, not my fault—it wasn’t me who pushed him, he fell in himself!”
At these words, Doctor Jin, who had been silent, finally spoke. “So you admit you pushed someone? Do you know who you pushed?”
Though angry, Doctor Jin’s voice was calm and measured.
Li Erhu did not recognize the old man, nor had he ever seen him. Used to being brash, he retorted, “I don’t know him—how am I supposed to know who he is?”
“Doctor Jin, you’re here too?” The chief hurried to greet him.
As chief, he often dealt with officials; though Doctor Jin never boasted, everyone knew he had served as imperial physician and treated the emperor, and had a son who held high office in the capital.
But Doctor Jin disliked ostentation, rarely mentioning such things, so people treated him as an ordinary country doctor.
Yet the chief knew—even the county magistrate dared not provoke him.