Chapter 193 Regret
That night, dark clouds obscured the moon, and a cold wind blew.
After being beaten and starved all day, Liu Huazhi huddled in the corner of the woodshed, her face flushed an unnatural red, muttering to herself incessantly.
At this moment, two figures tiptoed to the door of the woodshed, one of them blowing on a tinderbox and carefully shining it into the woodshed.
Seeing Liu Huazhi in a semi-conscious state, Feng Lianhua's voice was hesitant: "Husband, do you really have to do this?"
Xu Laosi's eyes revealed a ruthless intent, and his tone was cold: "Her life will only be a burden to Huaining. Do you want to watch Huaining stop at the level of a child scholar and have to pack up and come back to farm?"
Concerned about her son's future, Feng Lianhua's initial reluctance was immediately forgotten.
She looked down at the hemp rope in her hand, then at the delirious Liu Huazhi, gritted her teeth, and stepped inside, her voice trembling as she spoke:
"You only have yourself to blame. You schemed against Huaining to marry into the family, you shamelessly flirted with other men, and you even harbored a criminal, which landed you in jail. It wasn't my family that ruined you like this..."
Annoyed by Feng Lianhua's nagging, Xu Laosi kicked her in the waist: "What are you doing spouting this nonsense? Get your hands moving!"
Feng Lianhua shut her mouth in fright, walked to Liu Huazhi, squatted down, loosened her grip on the hemp rope, and reached out with trembling hands toward Liu Huazhi's neck.
Just as she was about to touch him, she hesitated and looked at Xu Laosi for help: "Husband, I... I can't get any strength in my hands."
"You useless piece of trash!"
Xu Laosi glared and cursed angrily, then strode forward and shoved Feng Lianhua aside. Without the slightest hesitation, he grabbed Liu Huazhi by the neck.
Upon seeing this, Feng Lianhua instinctively looked away, her whole body trembling and her feet seemingly rooted to the spot, unable to move.
Liu Huazhi, who had fallen into a coma due to high fever, felt a suffocating tightness in her chest, forcing her to open her eyes.
In her dazed state, she caught a glimpse of Xu Laosi's demonic face, and a jolt ran through her as she finally realized what was happening. She began to struggle violently, groaning, "Ugh—"
No, don't kill me! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!
Xu Laosi remained unmoved, increasing the pressure in his hands, his voice like a vengeful ghost: "Go in peace with the bastard in your belly. I will burn more paper money for you so that you can live a good life down there."
The willow branches struggled painfully, their eyes filled with a desperate longing for life.
Perhaps driven by an overwhelming will to survive, she unleashed a strength she never usually possessed, managing to pry open Xu Laosi's clamp-like hand and breathe in fresh air.
"Cough cough—"
Liu Huazhi coughed violently, tears streaming down her face, and begged Xu Laosi for mercy: "No, no, I don't want to die, please, please let me go, let me go..."
At this moment, she didn't want anything. She didn't want Xu Huaining's favor, she didn't want to be an official's wife, and she didn't want to be superior to Sheng An. She just wanted to live!
Xu Laosi's face changed drastically. Fearing that Liu Huazhi's loud cries for help would attract the surrounding villagers, he stepped forward again and grabbed her neck tightly. He cursed at Feng Lianhua, who was standing there dumbfounded, "You stinking woman, why aren't you coming over to help!"
Feng Lianhua snapped out of her daze, quickly took two steps, grabbed Liu Huazhi's hands, and prevented her from struggling: "You're no good to anyone by living, so stop struggling!"
Liu Huazhi's brain, severely deprived of oxygen, couldn't hear Feng Lianhua's words. She involuntarily stretched her neck and opened her mouth to inhale air, but the feeling of suffocation in her chest grew stronger and stronger.
In the moment before my breath stopped, memories of my past and present lives flashed through my mind like a fleeting glimpse.
Two lifetimes of striving, two lifetimes of resentment, two lifetimes of yearning for a better life, two lifetimes of fantasies of trampling Sheng'an underfoot, all ultimately turned into a tear of regret in the corner of his eye with death.
If there is an afterlife, if there is an afterlife, she will cherish everything she has, abandon all her delusions and resentments, find an honest husband, have two children, and live a simple and peaceful life.
But will she have an afterlife?
The next morning, a shrill scream came from Xu Laosi's courtyard.
The surrounding villagers were startled and quickly dropped what they were doing to run to Xu Laosi's house.
Seeing Feng Lianhua sitting at the door of the woodshed, looking inside with a face full of fear, the villagers instinctively felt that something terrible had happened and quickened their pace to rush in and look at the woodshed.
Upon seeing this, the two villagers who were running in front immediately retreated, their faces turning deathly pale: "Someone's dead! Liu has hanged herself—"
The news of Liu Huazhi's suicide reached Xu Cuilian's ears that afternoon.
She dared not tell the pregnant Zhang Zhaodi, fearing it would frighten her into something terrible, so she hurriedly went to Shengyuan to tell Sheng An.
Upon hearing this news, Sheng An's heart sank.
Xu Huaining's family couldn't even wait a day.
"Yesterday morning she was sent back to Xujiaba, and today she hanged herself with her unborn child. The person who came to inform her said she had many bruises on her body. She couldn't bear the gossip and didn't want to burden her husband, so she did it..."
Xu Cuilian's body trembled violently, and a deep fear appeared on her pale face: "An'an, did Liu... did Liu really commit suicide?"
She had never met Liu Huazhi, only heard about her from Zhang Zhaodi. She knew that Liu Huazhi used to bully Sheng An and that her behavior was despicable.
Therefore, she had no liking for Liu Huazhi.
There was no more goodwill towards her. A living person died along with their unborn child, and before their death, they were tortured and died a miserable death with their eyes wide open. No one would feel good hearing about it.
In particular, Xu Cuilian suspected the true cause of Liu Huazhi's death and had a very bad guess in her heart, a guess that she found hard to accept.
“Aunt, you have long since severed ties with those people in Xujiaba. No matter how Liu died, it has nothing to do with you.”
Sheng An held Xu Cuilian's cold hand and gently comforted her: "Heaven is watching what people do. Let's stay away from bad people, lest they get struck by lightning and it affects us."
Upon hearing this, Xu Cuilian became even more agitated: "You also suspect that they were the ones who did it?"
Even though she cut off all ties with the people in Xujiaba, she could never accept that her own siblings could be so ruthless as to kill a pregnant woman.
"Auntie, this has nothing to do with us. Just pretend you didn't hear it and focus on running your sausage workshop well so you can save up lots of lucky money for your grandchildren who will be born next January."
Sheng An knew that Xu Cuilian was frightened, so he comforted her by mentioning Zhang Zhaodi's unborn child.
Sure enough, Xu Cuilian's attention was diverted when her unborn grandchildren were mentioned:
"Yes, yes, you're right. I need to make more sausages to sell and earn more money. I can't let my grandchildren think I'm a stingy grandma!"
Sheng An secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
She didn't believe Liu Huazhi committed suicide either. If the Liu family were willing to investigate the cause of Liu Huazhi's death and report it to the authorities, they might be able to find out how Liu Huazhi died.
With this in mind, Sheng An had an idea.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com