No, she couldn't just accept it. For her daughter's sake, and for her own, she had to make one last struggle.
"Liu Jianjun," she said, her voice hoarse but unusually calm, "Let's go inside and talk."
After saying that, ignoring his astonished look, she picked up the child, turned around, and walked into the dark and oppressive little house.
Liu Jianjun frowned, exchanged a glance with his mother, and followed her inside. Old Mrs. Li, naturally unwilling to miss this opportunity to completely crush Liu Fen, also wiped away her tears and followed, ready to add fuel to the fire at any moment.
The door was closed, blocking the probing gaze from the outside.
The atmosphere inside the room was so heavy it was almost suffocating.
Liu Fen gently placed the sleeping child on the kang (a heated brick bed), then turned around to face her husband.
"Is what Mom said true?" Liu Jianjun spoke first, his tone unequivocally questioning. "You really colluded with outsiders to bully my mother?"
Liu Fen did not answer his question. Instead, she silently unbuttoned the buttons on her trousers in front of him and then slowly rolled up the trouser legs.
When the calf covered with crisscrossing, purplish-blue scars was exposed to the dim light, Liu Jianjun's pupils contracted sharply.
The wounds, new ones layered on top of old ones, red, purple, and black, were viciously entrenched on what should have been smooth skin. In some places, the skin had even broken and scabbed over, making it a shocking sight.
"This..." Liu Jianjun's voice caught in his throat.
“Just because Nannan cried at night and disturbed her sleep.” Liu Fen’s voice was completely flat, as if she were talking about someone else. “She took the feather duster used for sweeping the kang (a heated brick bed) and dragged me out of the house to the yard to beat me. She said that I gave birth to a worthless child, which caused her to lose face and lose that fifty yuan.”
She paused, raised her eyes, looked directly into her husband's shocked eyes, and continued, "She's right, I gave birth to the child. But, Liu Jianjun, ask yourself honestly, what have I done to wrong this family?"
“I’ve been married to you for five years. For the first three years, I couldn’t have a child. Your mother pointed her finger at me and called me a ‘barren hen,’ and I endured it. You said, ‘My mother is getting old, so please be more considerate of her.’”
"Later, I got pregnant. I went through a life-threatening ordeal, almost dying from severe bleeding, and gave birth to our daughter. During my postpartum period, she wouldn't give me a single drop of hot soup. She even snatched the eggs that Dr. Su brought and ate them herself. I was so hungry that I had no breast milk, and our daughter went hungry with me, but I endured it all. You said, 'My mom has been through this before. She knows a lot and is doing it all for your own good.'"
"Now, she's going to sell your own daughter, just for fifty yuan to build a house for your brother and get him a wife! Liu Jianjun, that's your daughter! Your own flesh and blood! How dare she! How could she be so heartless!"
As she finished speaking, Liu Fen's voice finally trembled slightly, not out of weakness, but out of anger and sorrow at being driven to the brink of despair.
Seeing the situation was turning against her, Granny Li immediately rushed forward, grabbing Liu Jianjun's leg and wailing, "I didn't! Jianjun, don't listen to her nonsense! When did I hit her? She bumped into something by accident. She's conspiring with outsiders to force this old woman to her death! I raised you with so much care, do you know how hard it was for me... What's the point of me living? I might as well be dead..." (This chapter has been read. Please click to continue reading the next chapter!)
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