Several rabid dogs came on aggressively and were about to catch up.
Lu Amian knew that two legs couldn't outrun four legs, and she was so anxious that a layer of cold sweat seeped out of her back.
She looked around and climbed up the tree without a second thought.
I had just climbed over the tree trunk when I almost got bitten on the back.
Lu Amian could only keep climbing up, and a few pears fell out of the basket along the way.
Sizzle—
A tree branch snagged on my clothes, tearing the sleeve.
"Luckily, I was wearing my old clothes when I came out to work... otherwise I would have suffered a huge loss this time." Ah Mian sighed.
She hid among the leaves, and after catching her breath, she broke off a branch and began to smash it into small pieces while hitting the dogs lingering under the tree.
"Those are clearly wild trees and fruits growing in the mountains, how did they become yours?!"
Two old men arrived just then. One of them squinted and looked at the person in the tree. He thought she must be the new bride of the Meng family. Not only did she currently have no connections or support in the village, but she was also rumored to be mistreated by the Meng family and had no backing.
"You little rascal, it's already dark and you're still sneaking into this woods. I wonder which wild man you're going to meet in secret!"
"Exactly. We've been guarding these pears for days. They're not ours, they're yours!"
Lu Amian stood on the tree with her hands on her hips. "You want pears, right?!" She took a pear from her basket and threw it directly at the old man.
"You—ouch! Ouch! There's no law, no justice!"
"The Meng family has produced a shrew!"
"Meng San'er is not good at managing his wife! He's not good at managing his wife!" The old man who was hit had a pair of cloudy, triangular eyes, but his yellow teeth were showing in a grin. "Fine, you can stay in the tree for the rest of your life! I'll go tell your husband, let them see you like this, and they'll divorce you on the spot!"
Relying on his age and seniority, he immediately ordered his companions and dog to guard the tree while he returned to the village to fetch help.
When Lu Amian heard him say that, her heart suddenly pounded.
It wasn't that she was afraid the Meng family would divorce her, but rather that she hadn't yet raised "Five Coins" and the other chicks to adulthood, which would be a real waste.
Exhausted and unlucky that day, Lu Amian sat on a tree trunk, feeling very sad, munching on a pear while wondering what to do.
"I'll give you these pears."
"Who cares! You little brat are far too arrogant, you must be taught a lesson."
Before long, villagers had come to see what was going on—the farmers, having finished their evening meal, were quite relaxed and immediately came upon hearing that something interesting had happened in the village.
"Hey, you little brat, why are you trying to snatch the old man's pears?"
"She has no manners at all, always getting into trouble under the tree, so unruly..."
Seeing everyone talking about her, Lu Amian felt even more helpless and started climbing higher again.
The old tree happened to be an extremely tall camphor tree. At first, everyone was chattering, but now that they saw that she had climbed to a terrifying height, their throats began to tighten.
As she was climbing, the wound on Ah Mian's right shoulder was aggravated, causing her to sway and almost fall off the tree.
"Hey!" A startled exclamation erupted from the crowd.
"If you ask me, this is going too far! A few pears, and Old Master Zhao even had several dogs with him. How could this woman snatch the pears from their hands?" A clear and bright female voice suddenly rang out from the crowd.
Ah Mian looked down and saw it was her second sister-in-law.
Second Sister-in-law secretly pinched Meng Jing, who turned pale with fright. Her feigned crying voice became exceptionally real. "Ah Mian! Third Sister-in-law! I shouldn't have been so greedy and asked for pears. I'll never be naughty again—come down now!"
"this……"
It turns out that Meng's third sister-in-law climbed the tree to pick pears for her younger sister-in-law.
Amian blinked and realized that she had already climbed very high.
As the saying goes, climbing a tree is easy, but getting down is hard.
Just as she was thinking about how to get down, a commotion broke out down below.
"I tried to reason with her gently, but look, this is what she just did—throw a pear at me, sigh..."
Amian was furious and shouted, "I was the one picking the fruit! You're trying to steal it from me!"
"You dare talk back?" The old man shouted even louder when he saw her swaying from distraction, "If you get down, I'll make sure you suffer even more! Even if the Meng family doesn't divorce you, they'll beat you to death..."
“Say it again.” Meng Chijian pushed through the crowd.
The old man turned around, looking embarrassed. "Meng San'er, look at your wife. She's about to climb all over you."
A burst of laughter erupted from the crowd.
These farmers are usually very honest and timid when they are bullied or mistreated outside, and they don't even dare to wipe their faces when spit gets on them. But when they are at home, they value their reputation to the extreme. If someone points out that their status at home is lower than that of their wives and children, they will often harbor resentment to the core.
The old man has lived for sixty years, and this move can be considered his trump card.
Even if A-Mian didn't die from the fall, her life after returning home wouldn't be easy. The Meng family would definitely be in chaos and unrest from then on.
As he thought about it, a subtle smile crept across his lips.
However, Meng Chijian's expression remained unchanged, and he did not respond to his words. "Zhao Shi, I heard from people that you were a refugee from the north. When you set out, you had a family of five, but in the end, you were the only one who survived. You were separated from your wife and children, and now you want to make other families suffer the same fate?"
These words struck like a thunderbolt, leaving everyone present seeing stars.
“My wife picked a few pears, what business is it of yours to point fingers? When did it become your place to meddle in my family affairs?” Meng Chijian stood in front of him.
Perhaps he had rushed over; he was still holding a wood-chopping axe in his hand. "I've been away from home for a few days, and you think the Meng family has no one left?"
Zhao Shi took several steps back, trembling like a leaf.
It wasn't that Meng Chijian's eyes were particularly terrifying, but rather that too many old stories had been brought to light.
That chilling, desperate, and deathly atmosphere returned to his life.
Thirty-five years ago, a severe drought struck northern China, leaving many villages with no harvest.
The Zhao family was not farsighted, and their food reserves were meager. After they ran out of food, the family had no choice but to join the ranks of refugees.
Hunger relentlessly pursued him, his elderly mother, his wife, and his two children.
In fact, he no longer remembers many of the things that happened along the way.
Only on the night he strangled the children did he exchange their bodies for those of other refugees—a last, numb way of dealing with desperation.
The moonlight that shone on him that night was also so cold.
When he was about to cook the meat, he saw his own eyes reflected in the dried-up, shallow lakebed, like those of a beast or a ghost.
Just like before my eyes.
In an attempt to escape hell, people are willing to throw their blood relatives into it, only to find that every day they survive, they have never truly left hell.
Zhao Shi suddenly burst into laughter and coughed. Yes, yes, he had never actually had any deep-seated hatred for A Mian.
But from the first glance, he felt an intense aversion to her.
Her smile is blinding.
Her running was dazzling.
She was so carefree it was almost blinding.
Her being alive is blinding.
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