The little incident didn't dampen the old lady's joy at finding what she'd lost. "Chunhua, it's me, Grandma. Can you see me clearly?"
The loving smile brought tears to Yao Chunhua's eyes. She opened her mouth, but found that her throat hurt so much that she couldn't make a sound. In her anxiety, she reached out and grabbed her neck.
Grandma Yao then noticed that her fingers were bloody and her nails were cracked.
Tears streamed down her face. "Chunhua, my dear Chunhua, what's wrong? Don't scare me!"
Just then, Chou Chou took out a bowl with a little bit of water in it.
"Grandma, could you give her some water to soothe her throat? She must have been trapped inside for too long and is too scared to make a sound."
When Grandma Yao heard this, she realized it made sense and quickly took the bowl and fed the water to her granddaughter.
Actually, she was given medicine that damaged her throat before her burial.
It's pointless to confront someone if they're mute. While the old lady was being fed water, Chou Chou took the opportunity to heal her throat.
The villagers saw Grandma Yao feeding water from afar and felt that things might not be as they thought, so they slowly moved back with trepidation.
As soon as the old lady helped her granddaughter up, the people were startled again and took two steps back.
The old lady wiped away her tears, her eyes almost overflowing with joy.
"Chunhua is not dead, my Chunhua is not dead, her body is warm, she has stopped breathing."
The villagers were relieved and rushed forward to offer their concern.
Shishi kindly picked up the coffin lid and said, "Grandma, look, your granddaughter didn't die at all. This lid is covered in blood. She must have been so desperate trapped inside."
"Who could be so heartless as to bury someone alive? They're incredibly audacious; you wouldn't even dare to portray something like that on TV."
"You bad guy, you big bad guy, you need to be punished."
She was implying something, but the old lady failed to grasp it and instead began to blame herself.
"It's my fault, it's all my fault. Chunhua rolled down the hillside and was brought back, but she was already dead. I was so heartbroken at the time that I fainted when I realized she wasn't breathing. I didn't notice her body temperature."
"When I woke up, her grandson-in-law had already changed her clothes and was lying in a coffin. I couldn't accept it and fainted again. When I woke up again, Guozhi was holding Chunhua and crying his heart out. I couldn't very well take her from him..."
The more she talked, the more she felt something was wrong. She looked up at her grandson-in-law, who was being pinned to the ground by several children, with Yao Qiuping standing next to him, her face pale.
"Guozhi, it was Guozhi who changed Chunhua's clothes. He was holding Chunhua and crying before the burial. Why didn't he notice that Chunhua's body wasn't cold?"
At this moment, she was truly confused.
The granddaughter had been gone for two days. Logically, the body should have been completely cold and stiff by now. You could have noticed something wrong even if you just touched it lightly, let alone held it.
Yao Chunhua had been lying in bed for two days without eating anything. In addition, she had lost her baby when she rolled down the hillside. She was very weak because she hadn't eaten for the past two days.
Having just drunk a couple of sips of water, she regained some strength and opened her mouth, her voice hoarse.
"Grandma, it was Yang Guozhi. He pushed me down the hillside."
Boom~
The sudden news stunned the old lady; her mind was buzzing, and she wondered if she had misheard.
"What did you say? Say it again."
Two strings of tears rolled down Yao Chunhua's cheeks as she choked out, "It was Yang Guozhi. I saw him and Yao Qiuping embracing on the hillside. When I confronted him, he pushed me away."
The old lady was completely distraught; the confusion in her eyes gradually faded, replaced by anger.
"You beast, how dare he? You're carrying his child, two lives at stake! How dare he?"
"He knew you were still alive, but he was in a hurry to bury you. He really wanted you dead."
The old lady was both afraid and resentful.
We've let a wolf into the house! We've let a wolf into the house!
When the river flooded, it submerged the village's granary. The autumn harvest had just ended, and all the villagers' life-saving grain was stored there. All the young and strong men and women went to help salvage the grain.
Unfortunately, news of her son's death in the army reached her. Her daughter-in-law was momentarily disoriented and was swept away by the surging river, leaving only her granddaughter and herself to depend on each other for survival.
Yang Guozhi is from the neighboring Yangjia Village, which is located on higher ground and was not affected by the river. He was also present when his village organized people to come and help.
Later, he came to propose marriage. Seeing that he was good-looking and had a strong sense of collective honor, and that the family needed a man to support them, she agreed. Little did she know that he was so despicable in private.
The villagers looked at the two in disbelief, their eyes scanning them back and forth.
"So that's how it is, so that's how it is. Yao Qiuping kept speaking up for Yang Guozhi just now, so it turns out they were the ones having an affair."
"Oh my god, he cheated on his neighbor with food and then tried to frame them. If he was caught, he would kill them. Marrying a man like that would be terrifying."
"Aunt Yao is so pitiful. Her daughter was lost when she was young, and later her son and daughter-in-law left one after another. She only had one granddaughter left, but she ended up with the wrong people."
"It takes two to tango. Does that mean Yao Qiuping is without fault? Knowing that he has a wife, she still went after him. Bah, shameless."
"Nonsense, you're all talking nonsense! Qiu Ping didn't do that, Yao Chunhua. Qiu Ping always treats you like her own sister. Why are you trying to smear her?"
"She's an innocent young woman. Are you trying to kill her by ruining her reputation like this?"
“You’re not Chunhua, you definitely aren’t Chunhua. Are you some kind of wandering ghost who’s possessed Chunhua’s body? Chunhua is such a good girl, how could she possibly slander Qiuping? It must be like this.”
It was Yao Qiuping's mother who jumped out. She only had one child, and she was hoping that her mother would find her a good son-in-law.
Ideally, someone like Yang Guozhi would be able to marry into the Yao family and become half a son, so she wouldn't have to feel inferior to her sisters-in-law.
Yao Qiuping felt as if she had seen a savior and rushed over to hug her mother, crying bitterly.
“Mother, Chunhua definitely didn’t do it on purpose. She just woke up and must have been frightened. I don’t blame her, and please don’t scold her.”
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