Zhou Shuhua's heart was in her throat, and Lei Yuhua clenched her fists nervously.
"So the two of us dug the pit open again,"
Zhou Qiqi's voice was also somewhat unsettled. Recalling what had happened last night, she also found it somewhat unbelievable.
In the darkness, it seemed as if the souls of Zhou Shuisheng and Qi Lin had truly returned, or perhaps it was the "original body" that had followed her home, reminding her and guiding her to discover the truth.
"In the pit, there was a broken old earthenware pot. Inside the pot, there were several tattered bundles. Inside the bundles was the red wedding dress that my mother sewed for me before she died. Underneath, there were two letters."
Her gaze swept across Li Guixiang's pale face like a knife:
"One letter, the one I just read aloud, is the letter my parents left for me and entrusted to the production brigade. The other one..."
She took a deep breath, carefully took out a small bag wrapped in coarse cloth from her cloth bag, opened it, and revealed a piece of paper that was also yellowed and stained with blood.
This letter is a bit longer; it was written by Zhou Shuisheng and tells the story of the jade pendant.
The letter contained a private conversation between father and daughter. Zhou Qiqi did not read it aloud to everyone, but showed it to them to verify its authenticity. Then she folded the letter and wrapped it up again.
There was another bundle, which Zhou Qiqi gently unfurled.
It was a red wedding dress, made of simple bright red homespun cloth, embroidered with a large red double happiness symbol.
There were also several clumps of blood on the wedding dress, which had long since dried and turned black, a shocking sight.
A gentle breeze blew by, causing the blood-stained wedding dress to flutter softly. The golden "柒" character on the sleeve gently brushed away the tear at the corner of Zhou Qiqi's eye.
This scene felt as if Zhou Qiqi's mother were truly alive.
When Xu Laonian saw this scene, he was terrified. He broke out in a cold sweat and kept backing away, muttering incoherently.
"There's a ghost! A ghost bride..."
When Aunt Zhang and the other villagers saw this scene, they were not afraid, but rather deeply moved. She wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes and rolled her eyes.
"What ghost? I think you're just feeling guilty!"
As everyone knows, Shuisheng and Linmeizi died of a sudden illness. The disease was very dangerous; it could torment a person to the point of being unrecognizable in just one or two days, making them unable to eat or drink, causing them to be in so much pain that they couldn't get out of bed, and leaving them completely disoriented.
Even under such circumstances, these two people still did everything they could for their daughter, Qiqi.
Zhou Qiqi raised her eyes and looked at Li Guixiang and Xu Laonian, who were being held down by the villagers, her gaze icy:
"Most of the belongings my parents left behind ended up in your pockets, used to build your new houses. This last bit of something, stained with blood and their last wishes, you considered unlucky and never dared to touch. But greed is something you can't change. Three hundred yuan was finally too much for you, and you dug up this last bit of something and sold it."
She paused, her voice laced with sarcasm:
"It is thanks to your greed that this jade pendant has seen the light of day, and the truth that has been delayed for more than twenty years has finally come to light."
The courtyard was deathly silent, with only the rustling of the wind through the old locust tree branches.
Sunlight shone on Zhou Qiqi's calm face and on the jade pendant in Zhou Shuhua's hand, as if a faint light was flowing through it.
Zhou Shuhua was already in tears, staring intently at the jade pendant and the bloodstained letter, as if she wanted to carve them into her very bones.
She gripped the jade pendant tightly, her knuckles turning white from the pressure.
She pointed directly at Li Guixiang and Xu Laonian, whose faces were ashen, her voice hoarse yet sharp as a knife:
"I understand! I understand everything!"
She was grinding her teeth.
“Jianbang and his wife are so sick they’re barely clinging to life, they must have asked you to call the village chief! The village chief is the person they trust the most! But you two heartless wolves, seeing all the family’s possessions, got greedy and started plotting evil!”
She took a step closer, her bloodshot eyes fixed on Li Guixiang's pale face:
"You just wait! Wait until my brother and sister-in-law take their last breath! Then! You grab that numb hand and press that damned bloody handprint! When the village chief and the others arrive, you take that tattered piece of paper and say with red lips and white teeth that Jianbang entrusted the child to you! Is that it?!"
Village Chief Xu slapped his thigh suddenly, and cloudy tears welled up in his eyes:
"Yes! Yes! That day, Li Guixiang came and said that Shuisheng was dying and had been entrusted to her family! We rushed over, but... he had already been cold for half a day! How could we have believed her lying mouth! What a tragedy!"
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