The peach trees on the back mountain, watered with the spirit spring, are laden with large, beautiful peaches; you can smell their fragrance just by bringing your nose close.

Pick one at random, take a bite, and you'll find it juicy and sweet.

The mulberry trees, watered with the spirit spring, were laden with mulberries that were a deep, almost purple red, and even the silkworms on the mulberry leaves were large and plump.

Song Yinhua dug up a lot of purslane, and also picked some peaches and mulberries, filling a basket to the brim before heading down the mountain.

The sun is almost setting now.

"Waaah..."

When Song Yinhua returned to the village, she passed by a ditch and faintly heard what sounded like someone sobbing.

She followed the sound and saw a woman standing in the ditch, sobbing as she climbed up the damp soil along the edge of the ditch with her bare hands, like a child.

She climbed two steps and slipped back down, continuing to grab the edge of the ditch with her hands in an attempt to climb back up.

The ditch is very deep, more than a meter high, and shaped like the number eight. It is used to irrigate farmland.

"Don't grab me anymore, this ditch is too deep. I'll find a stick to pull you up." Song Yinhua said, putting down the basket on her back and going to find a stick nearby.

When the woman saw someone coming, she grinned happily. But when the person left, she became anxious and stamped her feet in the mud, waving her two thin arms, which were as thin as bamboo poles, while making incoherent noises.

She looked at the empty riverbed, the people who had just appeared gone, and cried in frustration.

"Waaaaah... Ahhh..."

A moment later, Song Yinhua took a long stick and stretched it down, saying, "Grab it quickly, I'll pull you up."

When the woman saw that Song Yinhua had returned, she happily gripped one end of the wooden stick tightly.

Song Yinhua grabbed the manure scoop attached to the other end of the wooden stick and pulled the person up.

"Where's my latrine ladle? Who stole my latrine ladle?" a farmer in his fifties shouted anxiously. "I just went to pee, who stole my latrine ladle?"

"Here they are!" Song Yinhua shouted. "Someone has fallen into the ditch. I'm using a ladle to pull them out."

The farmer hurried over to retrieve his manure scoop, saying, "Why do you care what she does? She's a madwoman. Her son will come looking for her soon."

Song Yinhua then noticed the bump on the crazy woman's forehead and realized that she was the woman who had been pelted with stones by children when she came down the mountain a couple of days ago.

“Uncle, you were pouring manure over there, did you know she fell into the ditch?” Song Yinhua asked. “Why didn’t you pull her up? Look, her clothes, face, and even under her fingernails are covered in mud. Luckily, there’s not much water in the ditch.”

"She fell into the ditch by herself, what does it have to do with me!" The farmer gripped the wooden handle of his manure scoop, glared at the crazy woman, and stormed off.

The madwoman shrank back and grabbed Song Yinhua's arm in fear when the old farmer glared at her, making two "ah ah" sounds.

Song Yinhua discovered that she couldn't speak.

She led the madwoman to a nearby irrigation ditch, helped her wash the mud off her face, and discovered that the madwoman was very pretty, looking like a young girl rather than a woman who had given birth.

In the village, a woman who is both mentally ill, beautiful and young-looking, must suffer so much.

The madwoman gave Song Yinhua a silly smile, her face full of childish innocence.

Song Yinhua helped her wash her hands, cleaning the dirt from under her fingernails one by one, and took a big peach from her basket for her. "It's getting dark, hurry home."

The crazy woman hugged the peach and grinned foolishly.

Song Yinhua waved her hand, telling her to go back quickly and stop wandering around outside.

It's getting dark, and it's not safe for a beautiful but mentally unstable woman like her to wander around.

The crazy woman, who was happily hugging the peach, obediently left.

She skipped happily for a few steps, then turned to look at Song Yinhua, only to find that Song Yinhua had turned and walked in another direction.

Watching Song Yinhua's retreating figure, the madwoman looked dejected.

She returned to the village carrying the peaches in her arms. When a villager asked her what was in her arms, she was so frightened that she quickly hugged the peaches tighter.

An old man from the west of the village took out candy from his pocket to coax her, grabbed her and tried to drag her away. A younger man passing by saw this and said sarcastically, "Uncle Wang, haven't you been scared by Huo Jianguo yet? I just saw Huo Jianguo coming this way."

The old man was so frightened that he quickly let go, and the crazy woman hugged the fruit in her arms and ran away.

She saw her son coming this way from afar, and happily ran up to him, calling out "Ah ah!"

"Mom! Where did you go? Have you forgotten that I told you you have to be home before dark?" The tall, aloof man asked sternly, his eyes full of worry.

"Ah!" The crazy woman carefully took out the big peach from her arms and presented it to her son, her face full of expectation like a child waiting for praise from his parents.

The man's features resembled those of the madwoman.

Anyone who didn't know better would think they were siblings.

"Ahhh!" The madwoman pushed the peach towards her son again, "Ah...ah...!"

...

-

When Song Yinhua returned home, she had just pushed open the courtyard gate when she heard Tang Suxiang cursing.

Qiao Guilan kept apologizing with a forced smile.

Standing to the side, Song Caixing also tried to keep a low profile, afraid that her aunt's anger would affect her.

Hearing the sound of the courtyard gate being pushed open, she immediately ran over.

"Big sister, Aunt is scolding Mom."

"Mom was weeding my aunt's rice paddy in the afternoon and didn't get back until dark. She didn't even have time to wash her feet before my aunt came to our door, saying that Mom had mistaken her rice for weeds and demanding that we pay her."

As Song Yinhua entered the house, she saw Qiao Guilan pleading with a fawning smile: "I'm sorry, sister-in-law, it's getting dark and I can't see very well. I didn't mean to. I'll compensate you for all the rice I pulled up."

"That's more like it. You pulled up so many of my perfectly good rice plants. Since we're relatives, you don't need to pay much compensation. Just fifty yuan will do!"

Song Yinhua walked over and said, "Aunt, you might as well just rob us!"

"Yinhua?" Tang Suxiang found Song Yinhua increasingly displeasing. She had argued with her during the day and was now picking a fight with her again. "Your mother pulled up all the rice in my field. You have to be reasonable, Yinhua!"

Song Yinhua asked Qiao Guilan, "Mom, why did you go to Aunt's field and pull up her rice? Aunt is right, we're all relatives. If you do this, how will we face each other in the future?"

"I didn't do anything wrong." Qiao Guilan looked wronged. "Your aunt asked my mother to help her weed her field. It was dark and we couldn't see clearly, so my mother wanted to go back and do it tomorrow. But your aunt kept telling me to work a little longer, saying that it wasn't my fault if I pulled the wrong weeds..."

"Don't talk nonsense!" Tang Suxiang immediately retorted, "I never said that. You insisted on working for my family, don't try to take advantage of me to get paid!"

Qiao Guilan was filled with grievances, but dared not defend herself any further, for fear of offending her sister-in-law.

She turned around and sided with her sister-in-law, criticizing Song Yinhua, "Yinhua, your aunt is your elder. How dare you speak to her like that? I pulled up the rice in your aunt's field, so it's only right that I pay compensation. It was my fault, and it's none of your business!"

Song Yinhua was speechless. She was obsequious to outsiders but only bullied her own family.

These kinds of things have happened frequently since I was a child. Whenever relatives, neighbors, or acquaintances around me needed help, they would ask my own mother for assistance. If she did a good job, it was expected; if she didn't, they would cause trouble.

She spoke up for her own mother, but her mother, Qiao Guilan, would side with outsiders and criticize her for being ignorant. After the troublemakers left, her mother would run to her and complain.

In her previous life, Song Yinhua had been angered quite a bit.

"Fine, I don't care anymore, do whatever you want." Song Yinhua didn't want to care anymore in this life. She carried her basket and went to the side to process the wild fruits and vegetables in it.

"Wait!" Tang Suxiang reached into the basket, took a bite of a peach, and exclaimed, "These peaches are good, really sweet."

Qiao Guilan quickly took the basket off Song Yinhua's back, "Sister-in-law, if you like to eat, this is all for you."