Xia Youyou watched as everyone's faces relaxed, and she continued to cry even more miserably. "You are so cruel! I'm already like this, and you still won't let me go? Do you really want me to die so that you can feel at ease?" She covered her chest and curled up on the ground. No, she couldn't get too excited. After adjusting her composure, she continued, "Didn't you say I'm not your biological child? Why are you still caring about my life or death?"
This statement caused an uproar among the villagers.
"What? Not a biological child?"
"Oh, no wonder. No wonder he bullied a kid like that since he was little."
"Yes, yes. I often see her washing clothes by the river when she's so small, carrying a basin that's heavier than herself."
"Also, this kid is always covered in wounds. It must be those two heartless people who beat him up."
…
Zhang Yun felt something was wrong when he heard this and quickly tried to make amends: "What nonsense are you talking about? You are my biological child. How come you don't recognize me after only being out for half a year? We didn't throw you out. You were the one who said you wanted to beg for food."
A woman who had long disliked her shouted in the crowd, "You two, you threw someone into this dilapidated temple in the middle of the night. Did you think no one saw you? I'm telling you, I caught you two that night. In the dead of night, you sneaked around carrying Daya and threw her into this dilapidated temple. If I hadn't gotten there in time, she would have died that night." The speaker was Yang Fen, the eldest sister-in-law of the team leader Wang Chengjia. She knew a little about medicine and had saved Daya's life by giving her a piece of ginseng to hold in her mouth that night. Liu Daya herself didn't even know about this.
Xia Youyou glanced at the woman and felt a liking for her because of her kind face. She curled her lips slightly and nodded to her with a grateful smile. "Thank you, thank you for saving me and speaking up for me."
The woman waved her hand and gave Zhang Yun a provocative look. "Why, don't you just refuse to accept it? What kind of morals are you and your wife doing in the brigade? Don't you think people know it? You've been abusing children since they were young. When I saw Daya being ordered out to pick grass for pigs when she was only three years old, I was suspicious. Even if she was just a little girl, you couldn't order her around like that. After all, she's your own flesh and blood. What if she was so small? What if she got taken away by a stray dog? What if she fell into the water? That's not how you should be parents! Then when Zhuzi was born, you guys got even worse. Now I've figured it out. It turns out she's not your biological child."
"What are you talking about? It's not like that at all! This girl is possessed by a ghost. She was about to die, but suddenly she's better. Look at what she's wearing now. It was tattered yesterday, but today she's dressed up so nicely." Zhang Yun retorted harshly, using a loud voice to cover up his guilt and trying his best to change the subject. "Also, I left her here because she has tuberculosis. I was afraid she would infect us, so I let her recuperate here on her own."
Liu Laiwang also began to defend himself anxiously, regretting that he shouldn't have listened to this restless woman and bothered Liu Daya. "It was a misunderstanding, it was all a misunderstanding. We really only put her here to recuperate because we were afraid she might catch tuberculosis."
Xia Youyou glanced at everyone's faces. Perhaps because she had lived in the same brigade for so many years, she knew the couple's moral character. They all looked at the couple with disdain. She understood the situation and knew how to deal with this sudden situation. She pretended to be weaker and began to sob softly.
"Thank you, Auntie, for speaking up for me. My mother came here to look for me this morning, and I also know that I am not her biological child. Why don't you just let me fend for myself here? Why are you looking for me again? Do you want my clothes? I finally have something to cover my body. Can you really bear to see me die?"
Everyone began to accuse the couple even more angrily. After all, it was a human life. Could they treat it like this if it wasn't their own child?
Xia Youyou watched the couple drowned in the chorus of accusations and lowered her head, making herself look even more pitiful. Her eyebrows arched slightly, a strange smile playing on her lips. You see, people truly sympathize with the weak. She'd simply exploited their sympathy to free herself from her demonic parents. She didn't have the energy to fully confront them, so she could only exploit her weakness to get others to help her. At least she'd read plenty of green tea e-books at the base. She'd also been watching plenty of TV shows, movies, and novels popular centuries ago when she was bored.
She struggled to stand up and began to untie her bathrobe. "Mom and Dad, don't you just want the clothes I'm wearing? I'll just freeze to death here tonight as a way to repay you for raising me." She began to pretend to take off her clothes, but she didn't really take them off because she was wearing self-heating clothes underneath, which were not made in this era and could not be exposed to others.
Sure enough, the woman who had spoken for her rushed over, hugged her, and helped her tie the belt of her bathrobe again. "Silly child, how can they be so grateful for your upbringing? You've been helping the family since you were so young, and you've been their maid for over ten years for free. You've already paid them back. Listen to your aunt, since you're not their child, stay away from them from now on. Don't let them bully you anymore. They're so inhumane!"
Xia Youyou's nose felt sore. After traveling through time last night, she finally burst into tears of grievance. Since 2220, she was just an 18-year-old girl about to graduate from college, protected by her parents in an underground base. She had just become an adult and had never even set foot outside the base. In this strange time and strange place, she met someone who was full of kindness towards her. She couldn't bear to take advantage of her kindness anymore, so she said to her sincerely, "Thank you so much, Auntie. I'm fine now."
Yang Fen wiped away the tears that were about to burst out of her eyes, sighing. "Such a beautiful child, yet you've tortured her into this state? You're truly heartless." Turning to Zhang Yun, she said, "When you brought her back to us, she was so fair and tender, like a doll. Look at how she's become in these past few years. You're not even human. You still say she's a ghost, but I think you're the one! Your crimes are so heinous that you'll go to hell!"
Liu Laiwang had long been drowned out by the accusations of the crowd and could no longer bear to stay. He pulled Zhang Yun and started to walk out. "No, I really didn't bully her. Well, I haven't had dinner yet. I've worked all day and I'm hungry. Let's go home and eat. You all should go home too." He had originally thought that this girl had found some treasure outside. After all, he didn't believe in ghosts and gods. What kind of ghost possessed her? Look at her clothes. She no longer looked sick. Someone must have helped her outside.
The villagers watched him hurriedly leave and followed him, shouting, "Didn't you bring us here? Didn't you say Daya was replaced? And possessed by a ghost?"
"No, no, I just brought you here to check on the child. We didn't abuse her." Liu Laiwang pulled Zhang Yun out the door and glanced back at 'Liu Daya'. His body shook violently! As if frightened, he shook Zhang Yun off and ran out, muttering, "It really is a ghost!"
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