Chapter 230 The Power of the Superior
From the low, dilapidated mud-brick house, the mournful cries of a woman could be heard continuously, interspersed with a few vulgar curses. The surrounding neighbors were used to it, and no one came to comfort her.
Seeing her mother lying on the bed covered in injuries, Xu Dani, who had come to bring her food, opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it again, a flash of impatience crossing her face.
Ma Dahua happened to see this and immediately reached out and pinched her eldest daughter's thigh hard: "You unfilial good-for-nothing, how dare you give your old mother such a hard time! I've wasted my life raising you!"
Xu Dani's face turned pale with pain, and she pleaded urgently, "No, Mother, I didn't, please let go..."
Seeing her pained expression, a glint of pleasure flashed in Ma Dahua's eyes. She pinched her harder for a while before mercifully letting go.
"You crawled out of my womb, so even if you get married, you still have to be filial to me, or God will send down a bolt of lightning to strike you dead!"
Xu Dani shrank back and lowered her head, rubbing her pinched thigh as she mumbled:
“Mother, I’m not the only one who came out of your belly. You are Xu Jinnian’s biological mother. He is now a scholar who has passed the imperial examination. He lives in a big house and has a bunch of servants. As long as you nod your head, Erni and I will definitely send you there to enjoy a life of luxury.”
Seeing her eldest daughter bring up the old matter again, Ma Dahua's expression turned fierce, and she slapped her across the face: "I already said I'm not going, you good-for-nothing, are you deaf!"
Xu Dani's mouth bled from the beating, and she felt a burning pain on her cheek. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and stood up, yelling at Ma Dahua:
"If you don't go, just stay home and wait to die. I'm not going to take care of you anymore!"
After saying that, Xu Dani turned and ran outside.
In their early years, Xu Laosan and Ma Dahua exploited their four daughters relentlessly. Not only did they use all their dowries to pay for Xu Huaining's education, but they also frequently came to their daughters' homes to ask for money.
If any of the daughters refused to give it, the two women would accuse them of being unfilial, claiming they would sever ties with them and forbid them from returning to their parents' home during holidays.
The four Xu sisters' in-laws were so terrified that their parents-in-law had to control all the family's assets and scrutinize every penny spent.
As a result, the four sisters had no status in their husbands' families and lived an extremely difficult life.
Xu Dahua, in particular, didn't have the courage to break with her family. These past few days, when she went back to her parents' home to deliver food to Ma Dahua, she had to endure her mother-in-law's disdainful looks, and her husband would scold her when he came home at night.
Unfortunately, Ma Dahua doesn't care about her daughter. She tries to get close to Xu Dani, who is already married, and wants to go to her husband's family to live with her in her old age. How can that be allowed?
If Xu Dani really takes Ma Dahua back to her husband's family home, her husband and in-laws will definitely kick her out, leaving her with no hope for the rest of her life.
Compared to Xu Dani, Xu Erni and her friends were much more decisive and had long since stopped having contact with their maternal families.
Even after Ma Dahua was beaten so badly by Xu Laosi and his wife, they didn't come back to see her once they heard the news.
Xu Dani dreamed of finding a good place for Ma Dahua, and she actually came up with an idea: to send Ma Dahua to the city to live with her biological son, Xu Jinnian.
On the day of the ancestral worship ceremony, Ma Dahua was frightened by Xu Jinnian and his son. She knew very well that Xu Jinnian would not take care of her in her old age and might even torture her severely.
Therefore, Ma Dahua hesitated to agree to Xu Dani's suggestion, fearing that going there would be a dead end.
At this moment, seeing her eldest daughter suddenly erupt and declare that she would no longer care for her, Ma Dahua felt a strong sense of panic and couldn't help but shout:
"Come back here! You come back here right now!"
Seeing that Xu Dani ignored her and didn't turn back, Ma Dahua panicked completely and shouted at her back again, "Go, go, come back here!"
Xu Dani, who had already run to the door of the main room, paused, hesitated for a moment, and finally turned back...
It was late afternoon when Xu Dani returned home with light steps.
That afternoon, she went to her three younger sisters' homes without stopping, and told them that she would carry Ma Dahua to the city to find Xu Jinnian first thing the next morning.
She had already found out the location; the surrounding area was inhabited by wealthy families from the city.
Xu Dani felt that Xu Jinnian, being a scholar, must have a lot of face to save. She believed that if the four sisters were to throw caution to the wind and make a scene, they could force him, the adopted brother, to take care of Ma Dahua in her old age and see her off in death.
Returning home in a good mood, Xu Dani looked at the quiet courtyard and realized that something was wrong. She unconsciously wiped the smile off her face and hunched her back a little.
In the dim light, a burly middle-aged man walked out of the main room; he was Xu Dani's husband, Hu Aniu.
Without saying a word, Hu Aniu rushed up and slapped Xu Dani across the face: "You good-for-nothing jinx, get out of here!"
Hu Aniu's mother, Granny Hu, took a sip of her drink and put her hands on her hips to encourage her son:
"Beat her, beat her hard! Doesn't she care about her mother? Let her go back to her parents' home and take care of her mother. Let her go with her mother from now on. Our Hu family can't afford such a jinx as a daughter-in-law!"
Immediately afterward, Xu Dani, who was stunned by the beating, was kicked several more times. She fell to the ground in the cold weather and begged Hu Aniu for mercy: "Stop hitting me, husband, stop hitting me! I was wrong, I won't do it again, please don't send me away..."
Hu Aniu vented his anger, looking at Xu Dani who was crying and begging for mercy, his face darkened and he wished he could devour her:
"You ruined my job as a dockworker, you jinx! I must have had the worst luck in eight lifetimes to marry a woman like you!"
The Hu family had little land but heavy burdens. To make a living, Hu Aniu found a job carrying bags at the dock, a job he held for more than ten years.
Carrying loads is tiring, but the money earned is much better than farming. The new house and the two acres of fertile land we have now are all thanks to this.
As Hu Aniu grew older, he planned to buy two more acres of fertile land, so he quit his job as a porter and stayed home to farm.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he arrived at the dock to carry bags, the foreman found him and said that his wife had offended someone he shouldn't have, so he couldn't do the bag-carrying work anymore.
Hu Aniu racked his brains but couldn't figure out who Xu Dani could have offended, and his inquiries with the manager yielded no results.
When he got home, he casually asked Xu Dani where she had been and learned that she had gone back to her parents' home. Hu Aniu finally remembered what Xu Dani had told him the night before and immediately knew who she had offended.
Seeing the woman weeping on the ground, Hu Aniu became even angrier and pointed at her nose, coldly saying:
"If you dare take your mother to the city to cause trouble for Scholar Xu, you can forget about coming back home. You'll grow old and die with your mother at her parents' house. Your father and children will never care whether you live or die!"
Xu Jinnian's identity was no secret in the Hu family. When Hu Aniu first learned that his adopted brother-in-law had passed the imperial examination, he did consider trying to climb up to him.
Fortunately, reason dispelled his dangerous idea and persuaded Xu Dani to live a peaceful life and not to try to rekindle the sibling relationship that had long been severed.
Hu Aniu never expected that even after he reminded her so much, Xu Dani wouldn't listen and would actually cause him such a huge mess, losing his job as a porter.
Having worked as a porter for so many years, Hu Aniu considered himself to have some experience and knew all too well that for those in power, crushing an ordinary person was as easy as crushing an ant, requiring no cost whatsoever.
For Hu Aniu and the entire Hu family, Xu Jinnian was the one in power. With just a casual remark, he could plunge the Hu family into a quagmire from which they could not even get out.
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