Chapter 41 My fate is in my own hands
Wang curled up in the quilt. Da Ni brought her meals. After she finished eating, she continued to lie down with her head down.
Old man Chen sat under the eaves, his eyes fixed on the newly-covered layer of earth in the yard, and no one knew what he was thinking.
Chen Lai Fu was frightened last night. It is said that after he ran back, he kept muttering that there were ghosts in the mountains. He didn't go back to his room to sleep until dawn, and he hasn't woken up yet.
Chen Dani was the only one in the family who was relatively normal. After all, in her opinion, all this was a plot that had already been set up in the book. Besides, she didn't have a good impression of Chunniang in the first place, and now that she was dead, she just sighed a few times and nothing more.
"No, it's already been washed."
Seeing Liang Jinyu putting the washed dishes back into the pot, Chen Dani hurriedly spoke out to stop her.
Liang Jinyu came to her senses and started packing again.
"She chose her own path, so she can't blame anyone else for what's happening now," Chen Dani said nonchalantly.
Liang Jinyu thought of what she heard from Dani last night, and couldn't help but look at her with mixed feelings.
Chen Dani was puzzled: "Why are you looking at me? Did I say something wrong?"
"How did Wang know?" Liang Jinyu asked.
Chen Dani looked away guiltily and snorted, "There is no such thing as an impenetrable wall in the world. It's all under people's noses, how could they not notice it?"
Liang Jinyu looked at her quietly without saying anything.
Chen Dani felt an inexplicable pressure and immediately became angry and said, "I was the one who told the old woman, so what? I didn't ask her to beat Chunniang to death!"
It turned out that when Old Man Chen and Chun Niang were fooling around in the kitchen that day, it was Chen Dani who was standing outside the window.
Maybe Old Man Chen got tired of it and tasted the excitement of being at home with Chun Niang; or maybe Chun Niang was in urgent need of money and deliberately seduced Old Man Chen. In any case, the two of them left the house one after the other while everyone was asleep.
As luck would have it, Chen Dani was not asleep at that time, and she followed out curiously after hearing the noise.
She saw Old Man Chen and Chun Niang going towards the haystack. Although she felt ashamed, she didn't intend to say it out loud.
But when she returned to her room, Wang woke up.
"She insisted that I deliberately prevented her from sleeping. She also beat me and kept pulling my arm, which hurt so much. When I got angry, I said that Lao Deng was in the haystack with Chun Niang..." Chen Dani pouted and added, "Although I said those words, how could this happen if they didn't do it? In the final analysis, they have to blame themselves!"
Liang Jinyu smiled bitterly, shook her head, stopped asking questions, and continued to work.
This made Chen Dani feel uneasy. She looked at Liang Jinyu and asked carefully, "Are you angry? But I didn't mean it. If I knew Chunniang would die, I would never tell her."
[Chun Niang is not mentioned in the original novel. Even if I don't mention Chun Niang, she will die in all likelihood.]
"Do you think a person's fate is predetermined?" Liang Jinyu suddenly asked.
It is really inappropriate to ask a child such a question, but neither of them realized this, or they subconsciously avoided it.
Chen Dani thought for a moment and said seriously: "If you ask others, I would say that everything is destined, but if you ask me, of course my fate is determined by me!"
"Why?" Liang Jinyu asked.
"Others are others, I am me, I am different from them."
[Of course, I am different from you. I am a book traveler. My fate has changed the moment I came here.]
Thinking of her special identity, Chen Dani couldn't help feeling a little proud, and the look she gave Liang Jinyu was filled with a bit of arrogance.
[All of you are following the plot as described in the book, but I am different. I am not a character in the book. Sigh, you are quite pitiful when you think about it.]
As Chen Dani thought about this, she felt much brighter and the slight guilt she had towards Chunniang disappeared.
Liang Jinyu looked at Chen Dani deeply, and an indescribable emotion arose in her heart.
"I'm back." Chen Dani looked out the window.
Seeing that there was no one in the yard, Liang Dingfang looked towards the kitchen out of habit and then walked over.
"What did you do last night?" Chen Dani blinked and asked curiously.
Liang Jinyu didn't answer her, took off her apron and said, "I'll go out and take a look."
The brother and sister returned to the woodshed one after another.
Liang Jinyu closed the door, turned around and asked, "What's going on?"
Liang Dingfang nodded: "I have found a new place to bury the bodies. As for the brother and sister, I also sent them back home. But I think Wang Erniu is not in a good mood."
Wang Erniu is a very patient and smart boy, so it's normal for him to feel resentment after Chunniang died so tragically.
"That's all we can do for now. When we leave, if the siblings are willing, we can take them with us."
Although life would be hard following her, as long as Liang Jinyu had something to eat, the Wang brothers and sisters would never suffer.
"If someone dies, they die. Why do you have to make things difficult for the living?"
Liang Jinyu was helpless, but when she thought that this was Chunniang's last wish, she had no choice but to accept it.
...
Liang Jinyu originally planned to secretly go to Wang's house in the morning to take another look, but unexpectedly, Wang the butcher from the neighboring village came.
"What's going on? Didn't I ask you to heat the water in advance? I'm here, why haven't you prepared anything?" Butcher Wang looked very dissatisfied.
After such a big incident last night, who would still remember to kill pigs?
When Old Man Chen thought of the scene of a white knife going in and a red knife coming out, his stomach churned and his face looked grim.
"Something has happened at home, so we won't kill the New Year pig for now." Old man Chen waved his hands, just wanting to get rid of Butcher Wang as soon as possible.
Butcher Wang was not a pushover, and his face darkened immediately: "What do you mean? You were the ones who asked me to come here, and now you want to send me away without saying anything. Doesn't it take a lot of time to come here and back? Besides, just because I wanted to come to your house, I turned down other people's visits. Who should compensate for this loss?"
"What's going on? It's never going to end, is it?" Old man Chen also got angry.
Butcher Wang was not afraid of him. He took a step forward and the cloth bag on his shoulder made a jingling sound. Inside the bag were knives for killing pigs.
"Your family is dishonest, and now you want to bully a stranger like me? I am not called Wang Yidao for nothing. Today, regardless of whether the pig is killed or not, you have to give me the money anyway!"
Old man Chen's face was livid. In the past he would have reached for the horsewhip, but today he simply was unable to do so.
"Old woman, give him ten cents!" Old man Chen shouted unwillingly.
Liang Jinyu was cleaning the main room. She glanced inside and saw Wang taking out an earthenware jar from under the bed.
After sending Butcher Wang away, Wang spat at his back: "You didn't do anything and still have the nerve to ask for money. You black-hearted dog, you will get your comeuppance sooner or later!"
Liang Jinyu passed by and said coldly: "If we talk about retribution, who can compare with you? After all, the butcher only killed a pig, but you killed a person."
Wang was immediately furious: "What nonsense are you talking about? If you dare to talk nonsense again, I will tear your mouth off!"
Old Man Chen also threatened: "If you dare to tell anyone about what happened last night, I will be the first one to not forgive you! Don't forget that you are also an accomplice. If something really happens, no one can escape!"
"I understand." Liang Jinyu said perfunctorily and walked out.
"You know shit. I think the one who deserves to die the most is this bitch. Nothing good has happened to our family since she got married!" Wang stared at Liang Jinyu's back with resentment, her teeth itching with hatred.
In the afternoon, Chen Lai Fu finally got up and sat under the eaves in a trance for the whole afternoon. His eyes were always following Liang Jinyu, and no one knew what he was thinking.