Perhaps she knew that what she had done could no longer be concealed, or perhaps these things had been piled up in her heart for too long. After being exposed by Gu Zhisang, the old lady's hands that were holding on to the door frame were shaking, and a twisted smile of resentment and satisfaction appeared on her face.
"You feel sorry for your mother, but this is all retribution for what her father and mother did!"
With a trembling voice, she told the truth about the baby swap that everyone was most concerned about.
The old lady’s ancestral surname was Xia.
A few decades ago, he was a wealthy businessman and a wealthy family.
"Our ancestors were salt merchants. They contributed money and effort during the war, so we can be considered Aixia merchants. Although we declined a little later, we still have accumulated wealth and fame in the local area."
Old Madam Xia spoke slowly, with a hint of reminiscence in her slightly cloudy eyes:
“When it came to my generation, some of my relatives had fled abroad during the war, and they wrote a lot about the development of the outside world in their daily correspondence, which made me yearn for it.
So when I was 14, I went abroad to live with my relatives. I met my husband while studying abroad. We fell in love at first sight and promised to spend our lives together. "
"My husband's mother was one of the Xia people who fled abroad during the war. She married a local foreigner and gave birth to him."
According to Old Mrs. Xia, her husband is half foreign.
So his facial features were deeper than those of traditional Xia people, he was tall and handsome, and he was very good to her. He was simply a perfect lover.
The time she spent in love abroad was the most unforgettable and beautiful memory in her life.
Later, her father became critically ill and urgently summoned her back home.
In addition, her family firmly disagreed with her living abroad. On one side was her father who had raised her for more than ten years, and on the other side was her beloved lover. The young girl fell into pain and entanglement.
It happened to be the early 1960s, and there was a widespread trend of exclusion of Xia overseas Chinese in the country where her lover lived. She and her lover, who had Xia characteristics, were also excluded in school.
After much consideration, her husband bid farewell to his mother and returned to Xia with her.
The young girl was excited and happy. On the way back home, she kept imagining the wonderful life after marriage.
But she never expected that reality was different from what she imagined.
After returning to Xia Country, the two were arranged to continue their studies at a local university. It was at this school that they met their grandparents, who were also students at the school at the time.
When she said this, deep hatred appeared in Old Lady Xia's eyes again.
She rolled her eyes behind her reading glasses, fixed them on the body of 'helpless in the world', and said with gritted teeth:
"If I had known that those two beasts were so shameless, I should have spit on their faces when I first saw them!"
In her narrative, four young people of similar age and similar interests became good friends.
When they got married, although they did not dare to publicize it and they still followed the traditional Xia wedding ceremony on the surface, they actually knew in their hearts that each other was the bridesmaid and best man.
After marriage, she and her husband lived happily for a period of time, but it was very short, only about two years.
She works as a clerk in a street unit, and her husband works as a writer and reporter for a local newspaper.
Because of the nature of his job, my husband often sees some of the darkness, injustice, backwardness and ignorance hidden in society.
These are very different from the education he received and the things he was exposed to when he was growing up abroad.
In particular, some people rose up at that time and formed the Red Soldiers.
Many intellectuals who have studied abroad have been reported for having inappropriate collections of books at home or for having extravagant and petty-bourgeois behavior.
Also, because there were many people who were trying to take advantage of the situation and were actually people who hated the rich or were simply bad-hearted and fanned the flames, some intellectuals who had done no wrong, had received higher education, had knowledge and ideals, were pulled off the altar overnight.
Books and paintings in the house were destroyed, furniture and antiques were smashed, a critical note written in red ink was hung around his neck, and he was pushed in front of the people on the street to be criticized and abused.
My husband, a newspaper reporter, could not accept the miserable plight of these people and felt very angry.
But at that time, their family was also the focus of attention and they dared not show it in front of outsiders. They only complained occasionally when they had dinner with their "helpless" grandparents and their husband would drink some wine.
Who would have thought that such a good friend whom they had known for so many years would actually betray them.
My grandfather, who was "helpless in this world", had a military background, so he had a good future. He worked in a local government agency, but he offended some people because of his youthful vigor.
The other party wanted to bring him down and the parents behind him, so they made a fuss about his behavior.
At this time, the "helpless" grandfather made a decision in order to clear himself and get the family out of the dispute:
He reported Mrs. Xia's husband.
He wrote down all the other party's casual complaints and dissatisfaction at the dinner table in the letter of accusation, and expressed his determination to cut off ties with such people with bad ideas.
This action instantly pushed the young couple into a mountain of knives and a cauldron of oil.
With the accusation letter from the "helpless" grandfather, the Red Soldiers broke into the young couple's home and searched out a large number of foreign books, as well as some dissatisfactions and poems written by the husband, a newspaper reporter.
With these books, and the fact that Old Lady Xia's husband was of foreign mixed-race origin and had a special identity, he was directly judged as a bad element.
The old lady's family background is also quite sensitive. She is a big businessman and has studied abroad, which is also quite dangerous.
But she still had a chance to escape.
As long as she reports her husband like her "helpless" grandfather.
At that time, the old lady's parents, relatives, and neighbors who watched her grow up when she was a child all came to persuade her, saying that everyone did this and that children and parents even reported each other.
Even her husband smiled bitterly and said:
"Just report me, this way you can still protect yourself. How can a woman like you endure all that torture? I don't hate you, I only hate myself for not being able to judge people and making the wrong friends!"
In the end, Mrs. Xia did not decide to report the case. She wanted to share the hardships with her husband.
But what came with it was that her identity was also judged to be of bad character.
When the couple were in their twenties, they were both sent to the countryside to be reformed and live in a cowshed.
When they were in the countryside, Mrs. Xia and her husband lived a very hard life.
The people in the village will not delve into what crime you were charged with to come here, nor will they know whether you have been wronged. They only know that those who are sent to the cowshed for reform are bad people and should be despised.
Here, Old Mrs. Xia and her husband eat the worst food and do the heaviest farm work.
Every week they were dragged to the village's empty wheat field to undergo ideological transformation, sometimes with the use of force.
Countless rotten eggs, rotten vegetable leaves, and even stones hit him.
At the beginning, Old Mrs. Xia felt humiliated, but after a long time and many times, she and her husband became numb.
The young lady, who had lived a life of luxury in the past, had her hands and face become rough and her knee joints suffered various injuries after only one year of reform in the cowshed.
They need to constantly reflect on their mistakes, and must not talk back if they are beaten, scolded or bullied, let alone fight back.
Here they are the people with the lowest status and the least dignity. Even the little hooligans who are despised and scorned in the village can come to where they live and smash things when they are in a bad mood.
There was even one time when Old Mrs. Xia was almost bullied.
If her husband hadn't tried his best to protect her, she might have met with an accident.
Even so, this incident still became a permanent shadow in her heart.
Because of this, her husband got into a fight with some bad guys and his ankle was broken. After a hasty treatment, he became lame for life and it hurt when he walked.
What Old Lady Xia could not accept the most and felt most horrified about was:
After years of reform and labor, she even had some thoughts in her mind - if she had reported her husband back then, would she not have to suffer so much now?
When she realized she had these thoughts, she felt devastated and even felt too ashamed to face her husband.
At the same time, she was deeply tormented by the guilt she felt towards her husband.
In Mrs. Xia's opinion, if she had not brought her husband back to Xia Country, he would still be living freely abroad...
Under all the pressure, resentment and pain, Mrs. Xia's mood changed greatly.
She is no longer the gentle girl who only pursues romance. She becomes depressed and collapses every day.
Of all the hardships she had experienced, what she hated the most was not the villagers who beat, scolded and criticized her, the Red Soldiers, or the villain who almost bullied her, but her grandparents who were "helpless in this world."
In Mrs. Xia's opinion, all the tragedies that happened to her and her husband were caused by the report of their "helpless" grandfather.
The ones who should have accepted all this pain and been sent to the cowshed to be criticized/struggled against were the "helpless" grandparents in this world, not them.
Old Mrs. Xia and her husband stayed in the countryside for nearly seven years.
By the mid-to-early 1970s, more and more intellectuals who had been sent down to the countryside were rehabilitated and returned to their hometowns to have their names cleared.
熬完了青春的夏老太太夫妻俩，终于在七四年的时候得到了确切消息，他们能够平反回城了。
这个消息对于夫妻俩来说，的确是天大的好事，也是他们这么多年来的心愿和期许。
可是对于夏老太太的丈夫来说已经太晚了。
他经过这么多年的劳作和批判，早已亏损太多、垮了身体。
脚踝跛了，手指头断了，半边耳朵有一半儿被锋利的玻璃片打砸时削掉了……
就连浑身大大小小的关节处一到冬天或是下雨天就疼痛难忍。
当时夏老太太的丈夫疾病缠身、非常虚弱，都已经做好了死在乡下的准备。
得知自己能够平凡回城时，他非常唏嘘。
某天晚上，病弱的男人拉着妻子已经粗糙不堪的手，抚摸着妻子的脸庞：
‘小夏，我是……撑不到那个时候了，咱们干脆就在乡下把离婚证给撤了，你一身轻松回城去。’
‘你才30多岁还年轻，家里又有钱，好好修养一番，还能再碰到个好男人安稳过日子，我不想拖累你了。’
夏老太太哭得撕心裂肺，怎么都不愿意。
但生命和健康无法被人愿所改变。
她每天都能感受到丈夫的生机在流逝。
看着丈夫逐渐花白的鬓角，和消瘦的面庞，夏老太太做出了一个决定：
她不离婚。
她想要个属于自己和丈夫的孩子，就这么过一辈子。
一年之后正式返程的手续办好了。
可是踏上回城路途的人，就只剩下了怀孕五个多月的夏老太太，以及她怀里抱着的骨灰盒。
这可把前来接风的家里人吓坏了。
同时也让家里的哥嫂不太高兴。
因为在夏老太太回城之前，哥嫂就给她发过很多电报，再三强调让她和丈夫离婚，说回城之后再给她介绍个二婚的、人品不错的同事，以后两家还能互相照看。
原本哥哥嫂子还以为夏老太太肯定会照做，都已经在家附近张罗起了合适的人选，预定好等夏老太太回去之后，就约个时间让双方见见面。
谁承想妹子是回来了，但是却挺个大肚子，还抱着个骨灰盒，想瞒都瞒不住，这么大的月份打也打不了。
这下原本嫂子说好的人家也来了火气，以为是夏家故意遛他们。
因为夏老太太的经历，和她已经死去的丈夫，街坊邻居中有长舌之人开始说小话；
说夏老太太的丈夫人都死了，这个孩子还不知道是谁的呢。
闲话越传越烈，传到了哥哥嫂子的耳朵里，让他们更加不高兴，觉得妹子给家里丢了脸。
夏老太太离家这么多年，家里的产业早就传给了哥哥，两个老人也只能在生活上稍微接济补贴她一点。
尽管如此，在夏老太太临近生产的时候，嫂子还是给她找了市里很不错的医院接生。
就是在这家医院中下，老太太再一次见到了阔别将近10年的仇人。
‘世间无奈’的外婆怀了二胎，也要生了，就在同一家医院。
和他们家不一样，‘世间无奈’的外公顺利度过了那一次风波，又在家人的帮助下扶摇直上，现在过得越来越好，有钱有势。
两人的大儿子已经六岁了，马上要上小学。
看到夏老太太，‘世间无奈’的外婆也把她认出来了。
原本对方预产期还有几天，要在医院里待产。
认出故人后她一时间又紧张又觉得羞愧，竟然也提前发作，早产了。
两个孕妇前后脚被推进了产房，孩子的出生时间也仅仅相隔半个多小时。
七十年代中旬的医院还并不流行设妇产科，就算有设备也不够齐全。
尽管夏老太太和‘世间无奈’的外婆所在的医院，是当地最大的医院，但这里的妇产科也只是一片大平层。
内设仅20张床位，每间病房中有两到三张床，配置的工具也仅仅是木桶、热水壶、瓷缸洗脸盆等等简单设备。
夏老太太生完孩子，医院的护士用温水处理了孩子身上的血污，再用一个红色的襁褓把孩子包裹住，放在了她的身边。
她身上的伤口依然很疼，大脑也晕眩，但她怎么也闭不上眼。
她满脑子都是不久之前见到的‘世间无奈’的外婆。
同样是30多岁，对方还是一个孩子的妈，可两人站在一起对比起来，自己简直老了不止10岁。
听说曾经检举丈夫的混蛋——‘世间无奈’的外公，现在已经是某科的科长，一个月工资不低，还有各种补贴和票据。
可自己和丈夫呢？受尽了折磨和冷眼。
一个满身伤病，一个已经去世。
对方享受的这一切，都是他们用下三滥的手段偷来的、是踩着丈夫的尸骨喝着自己的血夺去的。
这幸福平静的生活，原本该是他们一家人的！
夏老太太恨啊。
她越恨疼痛越明显，同时也越睡不着。
不知过了多久，病房外熙熙攘攘。
她把眼睛闭上假装昏睡，然后听到‘世间无奈’的外婆被送到了自己旁边的病**。
等到房间里只剩下她们两个产妇和新生儿，夏老太太重新睁开了眼睛，满眼恨意冷冰冰地盯着旁边床位上面色苍白、双眼紧闭的女人。
凭什么受害者一无所有、被毁了一切。
而加害者却丰衣足食生活、幸福美满？！
她不甘心。
也不愿意让这家人好过。
夏老太太知道，这是她唯一的机会，她必须尽快做决定。
很快‘世间无奈’的外公就会知道妻子早产，来到病房看望自己的妻子和新生的女儿。
而从这间病房出去后，她也再也没有机会去接近、报复这家人。
她一个寡妇，怎么能撼动机关单位的科长？
于是夏老太太强撑着疼痛的身体，不顾被撕裂的伤口，一步一步走到了旁边的病床。
看着**的女人和孩子恬静的睡颜，她慢慢拿起了枕头，想要把这母女俩都捂死。
可临下手时，她听到身后**女儿的呓语声，一下子又冷静下来了。
她心里清楚，如果自己杀死了这对母女、给丈夫报了仇，可是自己的女儿也就变成了杀人犯的后代，在这个年代会被唾沫星子淹了，从小会过怎样悲惨的日子可想而知。
哥哥嫂子也不可能像对待亲生孩子那样好好待她。
看着两张**、两个熟睡的女婴，她的心中生出了一个大胆的念头。
没过多久，护士再次进入病房，看到就是两对‘熟睡’中的母女。
新生儿出生的时候，皮肤都是红彤彤的，外貌也大差不差。
因此产科用来区分孩子最明显的手段，就是襁褓颜色的不同。
确定颜色正确，护士又去查看了一下孩子的体温，一切看似正常她心中也没多想。
护士哪能想到，其中一场**躺着的‘熟睡’的女人心跳如擂鼓，久久不能平静。
夏老太太把两个孩子换了。
她在农村什么活儿没干过，养鸡养鸭、给猪接生，早就练出了一双巧手。
那襁褓她只需要拆开时仔细看看，就能知道如何包裹、以及包裹的顺序。
而她所做的这一切，确实无人发现。
再之后，‘世间无奈’的外公外婆主动找上了她，向她表达了当年的歉意，说他们那时也是没有办法。
这些年他们一直生活在愧疚中，还说夏老太太和丈夫的平反书一起草，他们就第一时间签名同意了。
虽然为时已晚，但他们还是想要弥补自己的愧疚，想要补偿夏老太太。
面对这对夫妻的愧疚，夏老太太只是非常平静地说：
过去的事就让它过去吧，自己已经不恨他们了。
她抱着怀里的孩子，看着那对夫妻离去的背影，脸上勾起了快意的笑容。
她确实不恨了。
因为她的女儿会得到最好的一切，父母和兄长的爱，富裕充实的家境和一片坦途的人生，会被宠成一个小公主。
女儿会拿回自己应有的人生。
说完这一切，夏老太太直勾勾的盯着神情呆滞的‘世间无奈’，阴沉问道：
“现在你来评评理，到底是你们家无辜，还是我家无辜？”
‘世间无奈’喉头发涩，半晌哑声道：
“可是、可是这些都是老一辈的恩怨，和年轻一代没有关系！这些情绪不应该在发泄在我们的身上啊！”
夏老太太冷冷笑了：“是啊，大家总说孩子是无辜的，可是有谁想过一个没有父亲、母亲被瞧不起，家里又没有什么钱财的孩子，过得会是什么样的日子呢？
我的女儿就不无辜吗？！”
“如果不是你的外公外婆做出了那些事情，我根本不需要换孩子，因为我的女儿从一出生就会过上好日子。是你的外公外婆该去被劳改，是你的妈妈本就该过苦日子！”
她说着，又痴痴笑了两声：“我只是让一切都回归到了正轨。”
“我没有做错事，是他们错了。”
“他们活该。”
看着神情癫狂的老妇人，顾之桑轻叹了一口气。
She knew that the old lady had gone mad many years ago, on the night her husband died in the countryside.
The audience in the live broadcast room were speechless for a long time, not knowing how to express their current feelings.
A highly praised comment was finally pushed to the top, representing the voices of countless viewers:
[Another messy debt that cannot be settled...]
Many people think that Mrs. Xia is indeed suffering and they can understand her desire for revenge, but the mother and son are indeed innocent.
If she wants to take revenge, she should take revenge on the person who reported her husband, instead of torturing the younger generation.
'There is no helplessness in this world' Looking at the old lady's face full of hatred, I just felt very tired and aggrieved.
He looked at his haggard mother lying on the bed and said with a nasal voice:
"Grandma, I have called you grandma for more than 20 years, and my mom has called you 'Mom' for almost 50 years. We have never failed to be filial to you, even though you have a strange temper and even though you don't like my dad..."
"You have been mother and daughter for fifty years, and you don't have any emotion or softness in your heart?"
Old Mrs. Xia's body suddenly stiffened, and she couldn't speak for a long time.
The audience in the live broadcast room then realized that she had never glanced at the bed from beginning to end.
Maybe it's guilt, maybe it's remorse.
Gu Zhisang sneered, his meaning unclear: "She is touched and soft-hearted, but she can't beat the fact that your mother and your grandfather are growing more and more alike, and you are a generation apart and look alike to your grandmother."
"Looking at you and your son, the hatred in her heart cannot be reduced at all. She may really want to treat your mother as her daughter, but she can't do it when she looks at that face."
From the complicated and entangled relationship between Mrs. Xia and her children, it is enough to see that her feelings towards her "helpless" mother are extremely complicated.
Gu Zhisang lowered his eyes slightly and said, "But one thing is certain, the luck-transfer spell on you was indeed cast by her on purpose, but the demon on your mother's body... or should I say a demon? A devil? In short, it has horns on its head and looks like a beast. It doesn't look very smart and weird. This thing has been entangled with and tormented your mother for so many years, but it was not cast by her on her own initiative to torture and hurt your mother."
She paused for a moment and thought of a more accurate statement:
"It should be said that the old lady never intended to hurt your mother subjectively, but the pain your mother suffered was indeed caused by her."
"The person who is actually being haunted by the devil should be your grandmother." Gu Zhisang:
"Mrs. Xia, I'm right, right?"
The author has something to say:
It has nothing to do with the times, please don't talk about these qwq. It is mainly the choices made by the two families that have caused a series of consequences.