“Mom, I will leave here with my head held high,” Little Flower said.
She knew very well that her biological father, Xie Daguang, would not let her leave.
Even if Song Yinhua persuades Xie Daguang to take her away, Xie Daguang will change his mind and chase after Song Yinhua to her city.
She didn't want to cause trouble for Song Yinhua.
“If I wanted to leave, I would have left long ago. My dad can’t keep me from leaving,” Xiaohua said. “But my grandparents are dead, and my dad has a bad reputation. I’m all he has left.”
Song Yinhua had heard Song Baogen talk about Xie Daguang's family in private.
When Huo Jinfeng married Xie's father, he already had a wife and children and was more than ten years older than her.
Years ago, Xie Daguang's wife reported that Old Lady Huo, along with her sons and Huo Jinfeng, conspired to kill Huo Jianguo's father and abuse his mentally ill mother. All those involved were arrested.
Xie's family used to be relatively wealthy in the village. They had bullied the mentally ill mother for more than ten or twenty years, and even physically assaulted her right under Old Lady Huo's nose.
In order to please her son-in-law, Old Mrs. Huo would sometimes deliberately create opportunities for him to succeed. When Huo Jinfeng found out, she vented all her anger on her crazy mother.
After the truth came out, Xie's father was so frightened that he hanged himself.
In the same month that Xie's father died, Huo's husband, who was also Huo's wife, also died.
Old Mrs. Huo was arrested and interrogated. She was frightened and, after being released, she kept talking in a strange and mysterious way, saying that Old Mr. Huo's first wife, who had drowned herself, had come looking for her.
She would sometimes call on shamans to exorcise evil spirits, and other times she would call on Taoist priests to perform rituals.
They also frequently scream and shout in the middle of the night, causing sudden frights.
She died in the same year that Xie's father and Old Man Huo died.
As she died, she kept calling out that her ex-wife, whom she had driven to suicide by drowning in the river when they were young, had come to take her life.
The scene terrified Xie Jinfeng.
Xie Jinfeng only became the official wife after she forced the original wife to die in despair.
Back then, in order to avoid being gossiped about behind her back for driving her first wife to death like her mother had, she took the initiative to persuade Xie's father not to divorce and not to allow his first wife to commit suicide, proposing that the three of them share a bed.
The wife couldn't stand it anymore. Every time she mentioned divorce, Xie's father would beat her, leaving her covered in bruises, and even threaten her with the children.
In the end, the first wife had no choice but to compromise, and died of illness a few years later. Only then did Huo Jinfeng officially become Xie's wife and hold a wedding with Xie's father. For the first few years, she would tell everyone that the first wife had died of illness and how good and respectful she was to her first wife.
She told so many lies that she started to believe them herself.
After witnessing the incoherent state of Old Mrs. Huo as she died, Huo Jinfeng was so frightened that she started saying that her husband's first wife was with her. In the second year after Old Mrs. Huo's death, she accidentally fell into the river and drowned.
The villagers all said it was retribution.
Xie Daguang was left all alone from then on; his wife divorced him after reporting him.
He tried various folk remedies and wanted to find another wife and have another child, but no one was willing to be with him.
The daughter that Qiao Guilan sent over became his only hope for survival.
-
Song Yinhua left her contact number and address with Xiao Xiaohua. After she left, Xiao Xiaohua memorized the phone number and address and then burned the piece of paper with the phone number and address written on it.
Song Caixing stood outside the gate of her old home and saw Song Yinhua riding her electric bike back. She guessed that Song Yinhua had gone to see Xiaoxiaohua, and she happily went to greet her.
"Big sister, you just went to see Little Flower? Are you taking her with you tomorrow morning?"
"I went to say goodbye to Xiaoxiaohua and give her the gift I brought." Song Yinhua did not mention the content of her conversation with Xiaoxiaohua.
Song Caixing was somewhat displeased. "What future can Xiaoxiaohua have if she follows Xie Daguang? Big sister, you raised Xiaoxiaohua yourself. In her heart, you are her own mother. Can you bear to see Xiaoxiaohua being dragged down by Xie Daguang?"
"Little Flower is very opinionated, and I trust her."
"She's not my biological child after all," Song Caixing said in a fit of anger, making a sarcastic remark.
Song Yinhua asked Song Caixing, "You are Xiaoxiaohua's biological mother, so how do you treat Xiaoxiaohua?"
Song Caixing felt guilty. "Don't listen to Xiaohua's nonsense. When I took her away back then, Guo Rui was drunk and that's why he made a misunderstanding. It's not like what Xiaohua said."
Song Yinhua sensed something was wrong from Song Caixing's words.
What did Guo Rui do to Xiao Xiaohua?
"Little Flower didn't complain to you?" Song Caixing realized she had let something slip and quickly explained, "No, it's just that Little Flower was disobedient. Guo Rui said a few words to Little Flower, and the child got angry and ran away from home. Nothing, nothing else. Guo Rui is dead, why bring him up!"
The more Song Caixing explained, the clearer Song Yinhua realized that things weren't so simple.
Little Flower never uttered a single word to her.
Song Yinhua knew Song Caixing well, and she asked Song Caixing, "You've sided with Guo Rui?"
“When a child is disobedient, I, as her mother, give her a few words of advice,” Song Caixing explained. “Xiao Xiaohua really dislikes Guo Rui and his parents. I can’t divorce my husband for her sake, so I had to send her back to my mother’s place. It was my mother who suggested sending Xiao Xiaohua to her biological father, Xie Daguang.”
"How can you be such a mother?" Song Yinhua saw through Song Caixing's concealment but didn't expose her, leaving her some face.
"What can I do?" Song Caixing retorted, feeling wronged. "If I divorce for Xiaohua, my life will be even harder raising two children alone! I'm not as capable as you, nor as lucky as my second brother, who has Mom's favoritism. What can I do?"
Song Caixing started crying as she spoke.
She's been timid since she was little, always hiding behind others.
When she was little, she could hide behind her older sister and brother, but now that she's grown up, no one can protect her anymore, so she can only rely on her husband.
"I didn't even fancy Guo Rui back then. It was my third sister who introduced me to him. She said that since I had given birth, no decent man would want me. If I didn't marry Guo Rui, I would become an old maid who would be despised like you... Waaah..."
Song Yinhua softened a little, "Don't cry, let's go back inside."
-
The next day, at the crack of dawn, Song Yinhua and Huo Jianguo took their two still-sleepy children into Song Baogen's van to go to the town's train station.
No sooner had they left than Li Wenxiu asked Qiao Guilan to give her the money for the funeral.
“Yinhua took them all, and she wouldn’t let me give them to you.” Qiao Guilan is old now and has to live at the mercy of her daughter-in-law. “Don’t tell Yinhua that I told you about this, and don’t tell Caixing either, they’ll be angry if they find out.”
"What does your sister need that money for? Give me the list and the money quickly. In the future, when they have something to do, Baogen and I will have to give gifts."
"It's really not with me." Qiao Guilan rummaged through the wardrobe and pulled out a package, opening it layer by layer. Finally, she took out a handkerchief, opened it layer by layer again, revealing more than two hundred yuan inside.
“Here’s two hundred yuan. Give each of my two grandsons one hundred as a red envelope.” Qiao Guilan said, then added, “Don’t tell Yinhua and Caixing about this. They’ll be angry.”
"Did the eldest sister really take the money for the wedding gift?" Li Wenxiu asked.
Qiao Guilan said firmly, "Yinhua said that since I help you take care of the children, you don't pay me. She was afraid that I would be wronged, so she asked me to leave the money for the funeral with her and she would keep it for me."
At that moment, Song Baogen's van was driving towards the town. When it passed the entrance of Hanjiacun Village, it almost collided with a bicycle that suddenly darted out.
Song Baogen quickly slammed on the brakes, waking the two sleeping little ones.
The little one in Song Yinhua's arms opened his eyes. When he saw Song Yinhua, he happily stretched out his chubby little arms to hug Song Yinhua's neck, calling out "Mama, Mama".
After the little one in Huo Jianguo's arms woke up, he also snuggled into Song Yinhua's arms, wanting his mother to hold him.
Outside the van, a sleazy-looking young man was swearing at the van.
Although the people inside the car couldn't hear him, Song Baogen could tell from the other person's lip movements that he was swearing.
He honked his horn, signaling the bicycle that had suddenly appeared to hurry past.
A young man was riding a 28-inch bicycle, with a young woman with dyed yellow hair sitting on the front shoulder, and there were ambiguous marks on her neck.
They stared at Song Baogen's van, chewing gum and spitting at it, deliberately blocking the middle of the road and slowly riding towards the other side.
Song Yinhua glanced over casually and recognized the blond-haired punk girl on the back of the gangster Che Dagang as Han Zhiyuan's daughter.
In his previous life, Han Zhiyuan's two sons and one daughter married men who were all very well-off, especially his youngest daughter who married someone from the government sector, which was a very prestigious position back then.
Han Zhiyuan's daughter has become like this in this lifetime.
"Big sister, do you know her?" Song Baogen looked at the bicycle blocking the road and slowly riding towards the other side. "Han Zhiyuan's daughter. I heard she often skips school and hangs out with delinquents. Some delinquent girls from the next town even brought a lot of people to her house to beat her up."
The bicycle finally reached the other side at a snail's pace. Song Baogen lightly pressed the accelerator and continued driving forward.
He then described Han Zhiyuan's family situation.
Han Zhiyuan was sentenced to life imprisonment for bribing people to murder Tang Dafei.
Wang Naiyun is old and lives a difficult life raising several children on her own. She can't even afford the school fees for her children and has to rely on the village's minimum living allowance to survive.
Han Zhiyuan and his first wife, Chen Wanping, had two sons and one daughter.
Wang Naiyun often secretly went to Song Wu's house to talk badly about Song Wu and his wife and to teach their grandson badly.
Once, when Sister-in-law Song discovered their plan, the couple discussed it and secretly moved to another place with their child.
Nobody knows where they went.
After Han Zhiyuan became wealthy, Wang Naiyun wanted to find her grandson. Han Zhiyuan agreed verbally, but he was already out of control and had lost his way due to the extravagance and debauchery that came with his newfound wealth.
After Han Zhiyuan's incident, his second son, who was not yet an adult, dropped out of school and went to work with other villagers, but later went missing.
They were never seen alive, nor were their bodies ever found.
Some villagers are saying that they were tricked into going to an illegal brick kiln.
The only youngest daughter spends her days hanging out with delinquent youths, has dyed her hair yellow, dresses provocatively, frequents entertainment venues, and sells her body for a handbag.
Han Zhiyuan had a daughter named Han Xiaosi with his second wife, Wang Yunyun, but no one cared about her.
After Wang Yunyun's attempt to interfere in Song Erniu's marriage failed, she hooked up with a boss in his fifties in the county town. After getting pregnant, she successfully married the boss's son, completely ignoring Han Xiaosi and instead treating Song Hanwen's second daughter as her own.
Han Xiaosi went to see Wang Yunyun many times, but was always turned away. Now he lives with Wang Naiyun.
Living with Wang Naiyun was Han Zhiyuan's son from his third marriage.
The fate of these children was predictable: they would all have to go out to work and make a living when they reached a certain age, or get married early.
Song Baogen couldn't help but sigh, "Back then, Han Zhiyuan was so successful. He opened a real estate company in the provincial capital and said he could earn tens of millions a year. Who had ever seen so much money? But in just a few years, he went bankrupt and was sentenced to life imprisonment for bribing someone to kill Dafei."
The car was parked outside the town's train station.
When Song Yinhua got out of the car, Huo Jianguo reached out to shield her from hitting her head.
Looking at Huo Jianguo, who was so considerate, Song Baogen thought that this brother-in-law was usually a man of few words, always keeping his distance from strangers, but he was really considerate to his sister.
Who would have thought that my older sister would have the life she has now?
Life is full of twists and turns and surprises.
Song Baogen watched his elder sister and her family of four board the train and waved goodbye to them.
A month later, Song Yinhua received a call from Song Baogen informing her that her uncle had passed away.
Song Xuewen is also going through a divorce.
Just a few days after she left, it was exposed that Song Erniu, her sister-in-law, and her brother's wife had been drinking and sleeping with clients in order to secure orders.
Someone called to report that someone was engaging in illegal activities in a hotel room. The police broke down the door and caught Song Erniu and Song Xuewen's wife in the act of having sex with a client.
This even made it onto television.
The faces of Song Erniu and Song Xuewen's wife haven't been blurred out yet.
Song Hanwen's wife escaped unscathed; she happened to be attending her second daughter's parent-teacher conference and was thus unable to attend.
However, Song Erniu and Song Xuewen's wife implicated Ding Xiaofen.
She had participated before.
Song Xuewen felt ashamed and divorced his wife.
The Song couple fought so badly over this that they ended up with their heads bleeding. When Song Dazhuang went to fetch a doctor, he was so angry that he didn't watch where he was going and was hit by a truck passing by on the road. He was thrown more than ten meters away and died on the spot.
Song Yinhua did not return to attend her uncle's funeral, but entrusted Song Baogen to send a wreath to him.
-
The following year, on the sixth day of the first lunar month.
Song Caixing remarried.
Song Yinhua returned to attend her wedding.
Qiao Guilan gave Song Caixing 10,000 yuan in cash as a dowry and repeatedly told her not to tell anyone.
Don't tell her second sister-in-law.
Don't let Song Yinhua know.
The more Qiao Guilan instructed her, the more annoyed Song Caixing became, but she still accepted the 10,000 yuan.
The wedding was a lively and joyous occasion.
When Song Caixing held her wedding, she was already more than three months pregnant, and six months later she gave birth to a healthy baby girl in the hospital.
Originally, it was agreed that Qiao Guilan would take her grandson and granddaughters to stay at Song Yinhua's house for a short period of time during the summer vacation. However, because Song Caixing needed someone to take care of her during her postpartum period, Qiao Guilan had to stay and take care of the fourth daughter.
After taking care of the young lady during her postpartum period, she also had to help the fourth young lady take care of her child.
When Song Caixing's daughter turned one year old, Song Yinhua returned to attend the birthday banquet. Qiao Guilan insisted on going back with Song Yinhua to enjoy the good life.
She didn't want to help Song Caixing take care of her youngest daughter.
Song Yinhua then booked train and plane tickets, and Qiao Guilan led her two grandsons and one grandson-in-law on a long journey to the city where Song Yinhua lived.
Xiao Xiaohua originally wanted to go too, but Xie Daguang absolutely refused, fearing that his daughter might not come back.
When Qiao Guilan arrived at Song Yinhua's home, she found that the family had hired a nanny and an aunt.
As soon as she arrived, she demanded that the nanny and housekeeper be dismissed.
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