A sharp female voice came from outside the courtyard wall, followed by a loud knocking on the courtyard gate.
Fang Qiao was startled. She exchanged a glance with Cheng Baidong, who was holding and comforting the child, and hurriedly ran to open the door.
The person who came to deliver the message was Aunt Cheng, who lived across the street.
She ran all the way here, her anxious face covered in sweat.
Seeing Fang Qiao open the door, she grabbed Fang Qiao's arm and said, "Xiao Qiao, come with me quickly, or Tian Tian will be taken away by her grandma."
As she spoke, she peeked into the yard, not forgetting to say to Cheng Baidong, who was still holding the child inside, "Baidong, I'm taking your wife and leaving first. You leave the child at home and hurry up and catch up with us. In this kind of situation, things could easily turn into a fight. Women alone aren't enough; we need male laborers to hold things together, understand?"
Aunt Cheng was a strong farm worker, and before Fang Qiao knew it, she had dragged him out.
Without even settling the child, she shouted over the wall to Cheng Baidong in the yard, "Baodong, Tiantian's matter is urgent. I'm going with Auntie first. Leave the child with Grandma for a while. Come quickly!"
"knew."
In no time, Fang Qiao had been pulled out of the alley, and Cheng Baidong's response was left far behind.
As Fang Qiao ran alongside Aunt Cheng, she asked, "Auntie, what happened to Tian Tian? Tell me about it first."
“I don’t know the specifics. I was picking flowers in the field south of the cowshed when I heard someone shouting that a child was being snatched. I quickly put down my things and rushed over there. When I got there, Tian Tian had already been carried onto the donkey cart by that old hag from the Su family. Fortunately, the cowshed was not far from the brigade headquarters, and everyone was kind-hearted. As soon as they saw someone trying to snatch a child, they quickly surrounded the donkey cart to prevent her from leaving. That’s how I had a chance to come and tell you.”
Sweetie grew up at her uncle's house, and everyone in the village knows why.
When Cheng Baidong's sister married into the city, everyone in the village envied her. After she died in childbirth, everyone in the village felt deeply saddened.
She had seen plenty of heartless and cold-blooded people. She had also seen many men in the countryside who remarried immediately after their wives died.
But Su Chen, who had an affair with a widow and caused his wife to die in childbirth, not only showed no remorse afterward but also immediately remarried. In order to please his new wife, he allowed her to mistreat the child that his first wife had risked her life to give birth to. This was the first time she had ever seen a man like him!
Even tigers don't eat their cubs!
Is he even considered a thing?
The baby was only two months old, a critical time when she needed nutrition, but there was no formula or malted milk powder. She was only fed rice water twice a day to keep her alive. If Cheng Baidong hadn't been called back by Fang Qiao's letter in time, Tian Tian would have starved to death by her own father long ago and wouldn't have survived to this point.
When Cheng Baidong brought Tiantian back to the village, everyone in the village saw her. Her thin, bony body had a huge head on top, like a big-headed doll. Her little face was sallow, and she looked like she wouldn't survive.
She was starving for two months and had hardly ever drunk milk since she was a baby. The formula that I finally managed to get someone to buy for her was too much for her stomach to digest, and she had diarrhea as soon as she drank it.
The sheep raised in the village, even the milk produced by the ewes, are not edible.
In the end, having no other choice, Fang Qiao, who had just married into the family, took the child and went from village to village looking for new mothers who had just given birth and had plenty of breast milk, begging them to take pity on her and feed the child.
And so, little by little, they raised Tian Tian back from the brink of death.
Back then, they disliked Tian Tian as a burden, and the mother and son abandoned her to her uncle to raise. Now that the child is five or six years old and can work for the family, they're trying to take her away again!
Pooh!
Shameless!
Filled with righteous indignation, Aunt Cheng walked even faster.
Fang Qiao roughly understood what had happened.
It's likely that Su Chen regretted signing the severance agreement, since a teenager in the countryside is already a working adult and could do a lot of chores if brought home. So, after discussing it with his mother, he came up with this wicked plan.
In her past life, after Cheng Yajun kicked her out of Chengzhuang Village, Tian Tian was taken back by Su Chen to be his nanny. She had to do everything – washing clothes, cooking, and taking care of the children. In the end, Su Chen worked her so hard that she fell ill, but he didn't even take her to the hospital, and she died from the burns.
Thinking of this, Fang Qiao quickened her pace and walked even faster, while Aunt Cheng, who was so tired that she could barely lift her feet, couldn't keep up with her.
Fang Qiao said, "Aunt Cheng, I can run fast, I'll go first."
Aunt Cheng naturally had no reason not to agree; she couldn't wait for Fang Qiao to get there as soon as possible.
"Okay, okay, go ahead! I'll rest for a bit, I'll be there shortly!"
The child abduction incident caused quite a stir, and almost the entire village went to see what was going on.
Fang Qiao could see from afar that there were people gathered in three or four circles in front of the cowshed.
She walked up to them, pushed through the crowd, and squeezed her way in.
"Make way."
"Excuse me, let me through."
Just then, someone suddenly shouted, "Fang Qiao is here!"
People immediately turned to look at her, and spontaneously made way for Fang Qiao to pass.
As soon as Fang Qiao appeared, Tian Tian, who was being protected in Wang Qiuju's arms, immediately rushed towards her. Her face was covered in tears, and she complained to her with a wronged expression: "Auntie! This person is scary. She's going to take me away! I'm so scared."
Fang Qiao gently stroked her hair, half-squatted down, and pulled her into her arms, softly comforting her, "Sweetie, don't be afraid, Auntie's here, everything's alright. Later, your uncle will come after he's settled your younger siblings! With your uncle and auntie here, no one can take you away!"
Sweetie hugged Fang Qiao's waist, nodding weakly, "Mmm, Sweetie's not afraid anymore."
At this moment, Wang Qiuju walked to Fang Qiao's side, pointed to the people inside and said, "It's that old woman who claims to be Tian Tian's grandma. She wanted to take Tian Tian away, but Tian Tian refused, and she even hit Tian Tian."
Wang Qiuju married into the family late and never met Su Chen's mother.
Upon hearing this, Fang Qiao looked towards the center of the crowd, where a somewhat dilapidated donkey cart was gathered.
On the donkey cart sat an old woman with gray hair. Although she was called an old woman, she was not actually very old, only in her early fifties. However, she looked old because of her difficult life.
Perhaps due to the recent scuffle, her hair was disheveled, a large piece of her coat was torn at the shoulder, and half of the sleeve was hanging down.
Fang Qiao also recognized the person driving the carriage ahead.
When she married Cheng Baidong, her sister-in-law was already in her late pregnancy and had difficulty walking, so she didn't go back to her parents' home to attend the wedding. They visited her in the city afterwards.
Fang Qiao had seen this driver at Su Chen's house before. He was one of the guests and even ate at the same table with them.
There were so many people around, and Fang Qiao, being a new bride, had met so many people those two days that she couldn't remember who was who at all. So he was probably Su Che's cousin, or a close relative like her brother-in-law.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
