After carrying Song Caixing out of the small wooden house, Wang Erchui casually tossed her into a corner behind the house and left in a hurry.
He had made an appointment to roll the dice, and his hands were itching to do it.
They played until the wee hours of the morning, and he even drank some wine and boasted with the people he played dice with before leaving drunk.
While passing through an alley, someone put a sack over my head and beat me up.
Song Caixing stood guard in the main room, her ears perked up, listening to the sounds outside.
"Meow..."
A cat's meow was heard, and she tiptoed to open the door to the main room. Song Yinhua and her brother Song Baogen came in from outside.
The three siblings groped their way back to their room in the dark.
Song Caixing asked in a low voice, "Big sister, second brother, has Wang Erchui been found?"
“Found him! My older sister and I gave him a good beating. He was so scared he wet himself. Before I could even question him, he confessed everything. He said Han Zhiyuan conspired with the butcher's wife to knock you out and trick my older sister into going to the cabin at the foot of the mountain!” Song Baogen’s temper was very much like his father’s; he was easily agitated. His voice suddenly rose, “This Han Zhiyuan dared to bully my family! I’ll deal with him tomorrow…”
"Shh! Don't wake Mom and Dad." Song Yinhua put her index finger to her lips, reminding her younger brother who was getting more and more excited as he spoke.
Song Baogen quickly covered his mouth.
The three siblings each returned to their own rooms.
Song Caixing and Song Yinhua shared a room. After lying down, Song Caixing asked in a low voice, terrified, "Big sister, will Wang Erchui retaliate against us?"
She was knocked unconscious by Wang Erchui today and is traumatized by it.
"Don't worry, Caixing, he's a coward. When Baogen and I beat him up, he didn't dare fight back. He was a grown man and he was so scared that he kept crying," Song Yinhua comforted Song Caixing.
The two sisters chatted for a while about what happened that afternoon, and neither could explain why Han Zhiyuan was caught sleeping in the small wooden house with Li Er's wife, who sold pork.
Song Yinhua remembered the night Xie Daguang and Wang Erchui sneaked into her house. She heard Han Zhiyuan threaten Xie Daguang, saying that he would tell everyone that Xie Daguang was having an affair with Li Er's wife, who sold pork.
She recalled her past life and vaguely remembered that after her fourth sister, Song Caixing, died in childbirth, rumors spread that Xie Daguang had an affair with a woman who sold pork.
Han Zhiyuan told her about this as gossip.
In this lifetime, Xie Daguang's mistress was caught sleeping with Han Zhiyuan.
Song Yinhua couldn't understand it at all. She clearly remembered being knocked unconscious when she was untying Cai Xing's ropes. Wang Erchui had also said that it was Han Zhiyuan who knocked her unconscious. After he carried Cai Xing away, there were only the two of them in the small wooden house.
Why did she appear in the back mountain?
Along with Han Zhiyuan, Xie Daguang's lover was also caught.
-
The next morning, when the five members of the Song family were having breakfast around the table, Song Erzhuang glared at Han Zhiyuan and slammed his fist on the table, giving him a thorough dressing-down. He also gave Qiao Guilan a good scolding.
He felt a lingering fear when he thought about what happened yesterday afternoon.
Thank goodness it wasn't my daughter who got into trouble. If the whole village saw my daughter with a married man with children, how could I ever face them again?
Song Erzhuang grew angrier the more he thought about it, and slammed his fist on the table, splashing the porridge out of his bowl.
Song Yinhua felt as if she had returned to her past life. When she accepted Han Zhiyuan's marriage proposal, her father slammed his fist on the table and glared at her, disagreeing with her marrying Han Zhiyuan and suffering.
She was a naive young girl in her early twenties at the time, and she couldn't see through Han Zhiyuan's tricks. To repay Han Zhiyuan for saving her, she insisted on marrying him.
Another major reason she married him was out of sympathy for his plight.
Han Zhiyuan often told her that his wife had run off with his best friend after taking all the family's money. He also said how good he was to his wife, how good his parents were to her, and how they entrusted her with managing all the family's money. They trusted her so much, yet she did such a thing.
At that time, she pitied him because his wife had cheated on him, because he had been betrayed by his best friend, and because he had been injured while saving her and still had to take care of his paralyzed father and three children.
He was already so pitiful and working so hard, yet he still worried about whether she was hungry, and despite his injuries and limping, he cooked noodles for her.
All he said to her was concern and heartache.
He portrayed him as a good husband, a good father, and a good son. She was moved and sympathetic towards him at the time, and wanted to help him.
She was deeply moved before marriage, but suffered greatly afterward.
Song Yinhua no longer wanted to recall the unpleasant things that happened after she married Han Zhiyuan in her previous life.
"Yinhua, Caixing, you two better stay away from Han Zhiyuan from now on, you hear me?" Song Erzhuang's rough voice sounded like he was arguing when he spoke loudly. "With his family's situation, anyone who marries into that family will suffer!"
After finishing breakfast, Song Erzhuang hurriedly went to work.
Song Baogen left right after him.
Qiao Guilan prepared a sumptuous lunchbox for her son and escorted him to the edge of the yard. She watched the direction her son had left for a long time before coming back in.
Song Caixing whispered to Song Yinhua, "Big sister, Mom only cares about Second Brother. Last time I saw Mom hide the pork you bought to make lunchboxes for Second Brother."
“Baogen’s job is dirty and tiring, so it’s only right that Mom wants Baogen to eat well.”
"Your second brother's job used to be yours, and Mom never let you eat well. Every time she made you a lunchbox, it was just cabbage stalks and rice. Mom would tear off the cabbage leaves for your second brother and third sister," Song Caixing said in a low voice, unconvinced. "Mom said the cabbage stalks are nutritious, but the leaves aren't. Mom is just biased..."
"What are you two sisters whispering about?" Qiao Guilan asked as she entered, noticing Song Caixing's mouth moving.
After Song Yinhua left, Qiao Guilan asked Song Caixing, "What were you whispering about with your older sister just now?"
"N-nothing." Song Caixing stood up timidly and quickly ran away.
Song Yinhua brought twenty eggs from the house. Qiao Guilan, who was eating breakfast, came over with her bowl and hurriedly asked, "Yinhua, what are you doing with so many eggs?"
“Yesterday, Cai Xing and I almost got into trouble. It was Aunt Song who sent her youngest son, Gou Dan, to the next village to find our father. We should thank her. I’ll take twenty eggs and some vegetables from the field to send over.”
“Your brother and your father work so hard, these eggs are for them to nourish their bodies.” Qiao Guilan looked at the eggs with heartache.
"Our family has a dozen or so old hens that lay at least seven or eight eggs a day, enough for Dad and Baogen to eat."
Qiao Guilan put down her chopsticks before finishing her breakfast. "Go and clean up the dishes on the table. Mom will go to the vegetable garden to pick some vegetables and fresh tomatoes. I'll take them to your Aunt Song's house later."
Song Yinhua then went to attend to her own business.
Qiao Guilan picked some green vegetables and tomatoes from the field. After glancing at Song Yinhua, who was drying wild vegetables in the yard, she secretly put all the eggs back.
After thinking for a moment, she took the eggs back and hid them in a corner, then delivered the vegetables to her neighbor's house.
Aunt Song's family was also having breakfast. As soon as Qiao Guilan entered, she thanked them and said with an embarrassed look, "I originally wanted to bring some eggs, but my eldest daughter insisted on not letting me bring them. These vegetables and tomatoes are all grown in our own field. I didn't let my eldest daughter see them, so I secretly brought some over for your family to try."
Qiao Guilan only wanted to prove how kind-hearted she was and how grateful she was to her neighbors, without realizing there was anything wrong with what she said.
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