Chapter 5
“Don’t you dare to touch my wife!”
Tom parked a sleek Cadillac in front of our house and strode in confidently.
The villagers, seeing the car, all gathered around our house to gawk at the rare sight.
I broke free from the thugs and threw myself into Tom’s arms, tears streaming down my
face.
He tenderly wiped my tears, then looked down and noticed my belly.
“Sarah, you’re pregnant again?”
I nodded: “I found out the day you left. It’s been just over six months now. How did your exams go?”
When Tom announced he’d been accepted to university, the villagers erupted in excitement.
“A college student! Our village has never had a college student before!”
“I always knew Tom was special. Now he’s really made something of himself.”
My sister was still indignant on my behalf: “If you got into college, why didn’t you come back for Sarah sooner? While you were gone, she was nearly bullied to death!”
My sister recounted everything that had happened to Tom.
Tom hurriedly apologized to me: “I’m so sorry, Sarah. I wanted to come back quickly, but there was an urgent family matter I had to handle…”
Mark sneered at this point.
“What was there to handle? You probably got yourself a sugar mama in the city. So what if you’re a college student? Book smarts are useless! Education means nothing. Even if you got into college, you still have to bow your head to me in this town! I’ll be frank – I’ve set my sights on Sarah. Either you take Mary off my hands, or you leave town yourself. What right does an outsider have to marry a woman from our village? Sarah can only bear sons for me!”
My sister suddenly wailed.
“Mark, you monster! It’s clearly your seed that’s defective. You blame everyone else when you’re the one who can’t father sons!”
Mark had refused to believe he was the problem in his past life. This time, he and my sister had gone to see a doctor, and it was still his issue.
But fearing humiliation in the village, he hadn’t even collected the medical report. He kept
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it secret and pushed all the blame onto my sister.
Now that my sister had hit his sore spot, he raised his hand to strike her in anger.
Tom blocked the blow with one arm.
His time back in the city must have nourished him well; he looked much stronger now.
My younger brother pulled out a paper and shouted: “This is the result of the medical check Mark and my older sister had at the hospital recently. My second sister asked me to fetch it from the city. Mr. Harris, you’re well–educated, can you read it out to everyone?”
Mr. Harris was a retired teacher who taught at the local elementary school. Everyone trusted him.
He took the paper and read carefully: “Patient: Mark Johnson. Condition: Genetic defect, Y chromosome abnormality, damaged hereditary cells…‘
The villagers muttered in confusion: “What does that mean? We don’t understand!”
Mr. Harris explained: “It means the man has a problem… he can’t father sons.”
The villagers finally understood.
“Oh, so Mark’s the one who can’t perform!”
Mark’s face turned pale with rage. He pointed at my family and sneered coldly.
“Fine, you want to set me up? Do you know who my uncle is? He’s the head chauffeur for the military base! Even the base commander has to show him respect. Just you wait, I’ll have him throw your whole family in jail. I’ll make sure none of your brothers can go to school or find wives!”
My mother fell to her knees in fear.
“Mark, we know we were wrong. Please don’t ruin the boys‘ futures!”
Mark finally smiled in satisfaction.
Tom personally helped my mother up.
“Mother–in–law, you don’t need to be afraid. We live in a country of laws now. No one is above the law.”
4
As soon as he finished speaking, the villagers outside started clamoring again. “There’s a convoy of military vehicles at the village entrance! Seven or eight of them!”
Mark laughed loudly: “It must be my uncle coming to back me up. You think you’re hot stuff with your Cadillac? My uncle drives military vehicles!”
