The old woman recalled the past and wept uncontrollably, but the man remained unmoved, watching her indifferently like a bystander, his gaze as calm as still water.
As the old woman cried, she noticed the indifference of the person opposite her and gradually fell silent.
"When did you find out it was me?" he asked.
The old woman wiped away her tears. "About a year ago, I saw your orphan certificate. The address was the same as the orphanage in my hometown, and your age matched, so I checked it out... I originally planned to let you and her child inherit the property, so it would be yours too. But her womb was useless; she gave birth to a daughter who died. Sure enough, the Hu family has committed many sins, and they deserve to have no descendants! But now it's all good. She has no child, and that old hag doesn't have many days left to live. Everything in the Hu family will fall into our hands!"
The old woman grabbed the man's hand, her eyes gleaming, and she trembled with excitement.
Upon hearing this, the man curled his lips in a mocking smile, his gaze slowly shifting to the villagers who had unknowingly witnessed the entire farce.
The old woman followed his gaze and belatedly realized that she had exposed her family's shame in front of so many people, her face contorting several times.
Just then, a shrill cry of "Dad—" broke the eerie atmosphere. The woman had woken up at some point and was struggling to get out of bed. Her face was pale like a ghost, her eyes were wide open like a pair of copper bells, and she was pointing at the edge of the table.
Everyone turned to look and saw that the old man, who had been helped to sit down by the villagers, hadn't moved for a long time. He was leaning slumped against the table, a trickle of saliva running from the corner of his mouth, completely still. A gentle touch would send him sprawling to the ground like a lump of mud.
He had already quietly breathed his last!
"Someone's dead!"
A terrified scream rang out on the spot, and the cramped delivery room instantly turned into a pot of boiling oil. The timid villagers screamed and scattered in panic, while the bolder ones felt it was very unlucky that two people had died in one night, so they stopped staying to watch the excitement and hurriedly left, leaving only the village chief and a few other elderly villagers.
The deceased old man's daughter stumbled out of bed, crawled to the table, and hugged her father's legs, weeping bitterly. Her husband, seeing this, instinctively stepped forward, carefully whispering, "The floor is cold, be careful—"
She forcefully shook him off, her eyes red, staring at him with disgust and anger, and screamed, "You bastard! You're the one who killed my father! You have no right to touch me! Get away!"
Caught off guard, he stumbled a few steps after being pushed and fell to the ground with a thud. Ignoring the pain, he just stared at her blankly, seemingly in disbelief.
Seeing this, the old woman rushed forward, glaring fiercely at the woman, then tenderly helped her own son to the side to watch, showing no intention of intervening.
They had only meant well by offering the family lodging, but things had turned out this way. Village Chief Gu and the others looked at each other and sighed helplessly.
It's not appropriate to leave a dead body like this so carelessly. After much persuasion, they managed to pull the woman away and settle her properly. Then, together, they carried the old man's body to the main hall and temporarily placed him in the coffin that the village chief's father had prepared for him. They would wait until the heavy snow stopped and vehicles could pass before discussing the next steps.
Unexpectedly, on that very night, a bloody disaster struck this once peaceful and tranquil village.
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