Chapter 186 She Wants to Be Reborn Again!
The door to the cell was not closed properly; it was ajar.
Two young soldiers were guarding the door, talking to each other.
"They're fighting so fiercely, shouldn't we go in and try to stop them?"
"Staff Officer Gu didn't say we didn't need it, so let's wait and see."
"What if someone dies..."
"Oh dear, what kind of death could result from two women fighting?"
Zhao Wenchang stepped forward and asked in a deep voice, "What happened?"
Upon seeing Battalion Commander Zhao, the young soldier felt as if he had seen a savior. He immediately stood at attention and saluted, then reported with a troubled expression: "Reporting, Battalion Commander! It was...it was Wang Jianjun's mother, Qian Xiaoxia, who rushed in, insisting on settling scores with Jiang Wanxia. Staff Officer Gu is inside, and he told us...telling us not to get involved."
Gu Feiyan was inside too?
Zhao Wenchang said no more and pushed open the door.
The sight inside made Jiang Wanqiu gasp.
The cramped space was in complete chaos.
A bench lay overturned on the ground, with torn pieces of cloth and a few strands of hair scattered around it.
Qian Xiaoxia, her eyes bloodshot, straddled Jiang Wanxia, her hands gripping her neck tightly, cursing incessantly: "I'll strangle you to death, you bitch! You've ruined my son like this, I'll take your life!"
Jiang Wanxia's hair was a mess, like a bird's nest, and there were several bright red scratches on her face that were deep enough to see the bone. There was also blood at the corner of her mouth.
She was pinned down by Qian Xiaoxia, struggling desperately, scratching wildly at Qian Xiaoxia's body with her hands, and making hoarse noises.
Gu Feiyan stood there coldly to the side, watching everything with an expressionless face.
"Gu Feiyan?" Jiang Wanqiu's voice carried a hint of surprise and doubt. "What are you doing here?"
Gu Feiyan's body stiffened abruptly, clearly not expecting Jiang Wanqiu to appear here.
He glanced at Jiang Wanqiu with a complicated expression, his lips moved, but he didn't say anything.
Jiang Wanxia, who was pinned down, swung her fist wildly and slammed it into Qian Xiaoxia's face, causing Qian Xiaoxia to loosen her grip.
Jiang Wanxia got a brief respite, then hurriedly turned around and screamed at Gu Feiyan, "Gu Feiyan! Are you fucking dead?! Hurry up and help! I'm telling you, if you keep watching, you can expect to be collecting your sister's corpse!"
Gu Feiyan's face instantly darkened, and the atmosphere around her became frighteningly oppressive.
Although extremely unwilling, Gu Feiyan still took two steps forward, making a move to pull Qian Xiaoxia away.
"Wait a minute!"
Jiang Wanqiu darted forward and grabbed Gu Feiyan's arm.
What did she mean by 'younger sister'?
Jiang Wanqiu asked.
From the first time she saw Gu Feiyan and Jiang Wanxia entangled, she felt that something was wrong with this man.
Now it seems the problem lies with this "younger sister".
Gu Feiyan's eyes darted away. He glanced at the disheveled Jiang Wanxia on the ground, then at the burning gaze of Jiang Wanqiu. His Adam's apple bobbed, and he struggled violently.
Finally, as if he had made up his mind, he said in a hoarse voice, "Wanqiu, let's... have a word in private."
"Is there anything I can't hear?"
A cold voice interrupted.
Zhao Wenchang walked to Jiang Wanqiu's side, stretched out his long arm, and naturally pulled his wife into his arms.
Gu Feiyan glanced at Zhao Wenchang and gave a wry smile: "Alright, you can come with me."
After leading the two to an open space outside the detention room, Gu Feiyan explained the whole story in detail: "You've seen my sister Nannan's urticaria, and it just won't get better."
“It was Jiang Wanxia. She came to me and said that she had a family secret recipe that could cure Nannan’s illness.”
“The ointment was indeed effective. After Nannan used it, the rash on her body disappeared quickly. However,” Gu Feiyan said, her teeth itching with hatred, “Jiang Wanxia said that the ointment was poisonous and had to be taken with her pills in order to fight poison with poison. Without the pills, Nannan would die of intestinal perforation within a month.”
“From then on, she used oral pills to threaten me and make me do things for her. She would only give me the pills after I had done the work.”
Jiang Wanqiu frowned as she listened and pressed for details, "What kind of ointment is it? What medicinal ingredients are used?"
Gu Feiyan recalled carefully and described: "The ointment was dark green when it was made, and it had a strong herbal smell, like mugwort and mint... and another indescribable smell."
A flicker of realization crossed Jiang Wanqiu's eyes, followed by overwhelming rage.
"That prescription isn't Jiang Wanxia's at all!"
Gu Feiyan looked at her in shock upon hearing this: "What do you mean?"
Jiang Wanqiu said almost with certainty, "I also had a similar case of urticaria when I was a child. I was so itchy that I couldn't sleep. My grandmother used this prescription to treat me. A few days ago, I saw Nannan and it reminded me of my own childhood. I felt sorry for that child, so I took some time to write down the prescription from memory and put it on the table. I was going to find an opportunity to give it to you."
"But the next day, the paper with the prescription written on it was gone. At the time, I just thought I had carelessly put it away and forgotten about it, but now that I think about it..." she sneered, "it was clearly stolen by that sly Jiang Wanxia!"
Jiang Wanqiu explained, "That prescription only uses common herbs that clear heat and detoxify, so it has absolutely no side effects, and there are no ridiculous oral pills to detoxify it!"
"Gu Feiyan, you've been fooled by her from beginning to end!"
Gu Feiyan could hardly believe what she was hearing.
In other words, for the sake of a non-existent "antidote," he violated his principles, aided and abetted evil, and was completely fooled by Jiang Wanxia like a fool!
An indescribable sense of shame and rage instantly swept over his entire body.
Finally, Gu Feiyan laughed in anger and said to Jiang Wanqiu, "So that's how it is, then I understand."
In the detention cell, Jiang Wanxia watched helplessly as Gu Feiyan and Jiang Wanqiu left, never to return.
A sense of foreboding gradually welled up from the bottom of her heart.
Her powerful backer... seems to have disappeared.
In that moment of distraction—
"You bitch! Die!"
Qian Xiaoxia roared and used all her strength to flip herself up. She grabbed the overturned stool next to her and smashed it down hard on Jiang Wanxia's head!
"Bang!"
A dull, loud bang.
Jiang Wanxia didn't even have time to let out a scream before everything went black and she completely lost consciousness.
...
I don't know how much time passed.
Jiang Wanxia was woken up by a bucket of cold water.
She jolted awake, opened her eyes, and found herself still lying on the cold cement floor of the cell, with an unfamiliar young soldier looking down at her.
"Jiang Wanxia, get up, the military court is in session."
Everything in the courtroom felt like a fleeting glimpse to Jiang Wanxia.
She had a splitting headache, her whole body ached, and her mind was buzzing.
She only vaguely heard charges such as "intentional assault" and "disrupting military marriage," and then came the final verdict.
"...Comrade Jiang Wanxia is sentenced to go to the Tibetan border for labor reform and participate in the construction of the railway project connecting the inland areas to Tibet. The sentence is to be carried out immediately."
What?
Mining in the mountains of Tibet? Building railways?
That place is covered in ice and snow all year round. I heard that nine out of ten people who go there never come back!
This isn't a labor camp; this is going to kill her!
"No! I won't go!" Jiang Wanxia finally snapped out of her daze. She screamed frantically and struggled like a madwoman. "I don't want to go! People will die there! I won't go!"
However, her protests and struggles seemed so pale and powerless in the face of the cold verdict.
Two tall soldiers stepped forward, grabbed her arms on either side, and dragged her out without saying a word.
"Let me go! Let me go! Jiang Wanqiu! Zhao Wenchang! You're the ones who killed me! I'll haunt you even as a ghost!"
A few days before being sent to a labor camp, Jiang Wanxia was kept in solitary confinement.
To everyone's surprise, she stopped crying and cursing, and instead exuded an eerie calm.
On the third day, she began to shout to the soldiers outside through the iron gate, saying that she wanted to worship the Buddha.
The young soldier guarding him burst out laughing: "Jiang Wanxia, have you lost your mind? What era are we living in? Still clinging to feudal superstitions?"
Another soldier chimed in, "That's right! Instead of wasting time on that, you should reflect on your mistakes, work hard when you get there, try to reform yourself as soon as possible, and start anew!"
From behind the iron gate, Jiang Wanxia's voice drifted out softly: "You know nothing!"
"I'm telling you, it's because I sincerely prayed to Buddha in my past life that Buddha smiled upon me and allowed me to marry a city man in this life. In my past life, it was me who married Zhao Wenchang!" Her voice suddenly rose, filled with resentment and bitterness. "It's all that bitch Jiang Wanqiu's fault! She stole my man and my good life!"
The two young soldiers looked at each other, both thinking that the woman was probably crazy.
"I have to pray again! When I'm reborn, the first thing I'll do when I open my eyes is snatch Zhao Wenchang away! Let's see how she tries to compete with me then!"
Jiang Wanxia was screaming madly inside, wanting to worship the Buddha! The soldiers outside just shook their heads, too lazy to pay her any more attention.
Why bother arguing with a crazy woman who's about to go build a railway in some godforsaken border region?
Before they knew it, the day arrived for her to be escorted away.
The old squad leader, accompanied by two young soldiers, went to the solitary confinement room with documents to retrieve the person.
With a click, the heavy iron lock was opened.
The old squad leader pushed open the door, about to shout, "Jiang Wanxia, come out!", but the words caught in his throat.
The scene inside the door left the three grown men stunned.
On the walls of the dark and damp solitary confinement cell, a Buddha image painted with red bricks had appeared out of nowhere.
The Bodhisattva was painted crookedly, with rough lines and blurred features. In the dim light, his mouth, which was grinning in a way that was not quite a smile, looked particularly ferocious and eerie.
Jiang Wanxia, with her hair disheveled, was kneeling before the Bodhisattva statue, her forehead pressed tightly against the cold cement floor, chanting incantations as she prayed with great enthusiasm.
"My God..." The young soldier was so frightened that he took a step back, goosebumps rising on his arms.
"You good-for-nothing!" the old sergeant cursed under his breath, then mustered his courage and strode forward, grabbing Jiang Wanxia from the ground. "Let's go! On our way!"
Jiang Wanxia, who was being pulled up, did not resist. Instead, she turned around and gave them a smug smile.
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