Qinghe Village.
The wind was biting cold, and the villagers finished their work early and went inside. They closed the doors and warmed themselves by the fire inside, finally feeling a little warmth.
Winter came early this year, and the family's food reserves were insufficient. In order for the mother and son to survive the winter, Pei Yueniang had no choice but to swallow her pride and go to the neighboring village to borrow some food from her brother and sister-in-law.
Despite her best efforts to plead, she couldn't borrow even a penny and was even kicked out of the house by her parents. Pei Yueniang had no choice but to brave the heavy snow and walk back to the village.
Her health was deteriorating, and she would be out of breath after walking just a few steps. She didn't know how much longer she could stay with Qingyan.
Pei Yueniang coughed twice more, tightened her thin clothes, and quickened her pace.
Just as she was about to reach her doorstep, Pei Yueniang suddenly froze.
Not far away in the snow, a thin little girl knelt quietly, as if she were wrapped in snow. She hugged herself and shivered, her lips slightly purple. She looked extremely pitiful.
Pei Yueniang recognized the little girl; she was the adopted daughter that the Song family next door had brought back from the back mountain.
This little girl is so beautiful, she's like a porcelain doll, and she's so lovable.
But it's also pitiful. The heartless couple in the Song family took the child back but didn't raise her. They let her grow up eating food from various families and would often mistreat the little girl, leaving her with all the dirty and tiring work.
The Song couple would beat her half to death at the slightest provocation, and the villagers' attempts to dissuade them were to no avail.
What's even more outrageous is that they're making the child kneel outside in this freezing weather; they're practically trying to kill her.
Pei Yueniang couldn't bear to watch any longer. She took a few steps forward, took off her own coat and wrapped it around Song Zhiyu, then placed her warm, rough hands on Song Zhiyu's forehead.
In her drowsy state, Song Zhiyu felt a faint warmth, struggled to open her eyes, and smiled at Pei Yueniang, "Auntie, why did you come to keep me company?"
Five-year-old Song Zhiyu thought sadly, "How could Aunt Pei, such a good person, have died?"
"Silly child, what nonsense are you talking about? Auntie will take you home first." Hearing this, Pei Yueniang felt extremely distressed. Ignoring the heavy snow falling from the sky, she picked up the child and tried to leave.
At this moment, Song's mother, who had been hiding inside the house, immediately became unhappy and started shouting, attracting the attention of the nearby villagers. "Who told you to take this brat away?"
"Do you have any conscience? The child is about to die." Pei Yueniang never expected that Song's mother could be so heartless as to watch her child die.
Song's mother stared at Song Zhiyu in Pei Yueniang's arms with a venomous look, "This wretched girl is tough, she won't die. She's not your child, why do you care so much?"
"Shut up! It's a human life, after all." The village chief, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, couldn't stand it anymore. He glared at Song's mother, startling her.
She was seething with anger, her lips trembling as she tried to retort, but a clear, childlike voice abruptly stopped her.
“The village chief is right. According to the laws of the dynasty, premeditated murder is punishable by death.”
Pei Qingyan walked slowly to Pei Yueniang's side. Despite his young age, he already possessed an extremely powerful aura, which intimidated Song's mother, who watched helplessly as they carried Song Zhiyu back into the house.
Unlike the biting cold wind outside, the fire in the stove inside was burning brightly, making the house very warm.
Song Zhiyu felt extremely comfortable, and her body, which had been stiff from the snow, began to feel better.
She stepped out of Pei Yueniang's arms, straightened up, and bowed deeply to Pei Yueniang, saying, "Thank you, Auntie, for saving me."
Although Song Zhiyu was young, she knew that if Pei Yueniang hadn't helped her tonight, she might have died in the snow without anyone knowing.
"You silly girl, don't thank me. You're always the one helping me out, so I have to thank you." Pei Yueniang reached out and ruffled Song Zhiyu's hair, a faint smile on her pale face.
It's such a pity that this girl ended up with the Song couple.
Song Zhiyu waved her hand, as if she wanted to say something more, when a cup of steaming water was placed in front of her.
She looked up and saw a slender young man smiling at her, pushing the cup towards her. "Drink some hot water to warm yourself up, otherwise your little body won't be able to handle it."
From then on, that smile became five-year-old Song Zhiyu's warmest memory.
*
The next day, Song's mother came to the door, throwing a tantrum and demanding that Song Zhiyu be taken back.
With Pei Qingyan absent and Pei Yueniang in poor health, she was no match for Song's mother and was so angry that her cheeks turned red.
Not wanting to cause trouble for Aunt Pei, who had kindly helped her, Song Zhiyu had no choice but to go home with her mother.
The cold wind blew all night, and Song Zhiyu's forehead was burning hot, but her mother had no intention of treating her. Instead, she left all the housework to her and went to chat with the women in the village under the big banyan tree.
Despite her illness, Song Zhiyu finished her work and even mixed the senna leaves she had picked on the mountain a couple of days earlier into the mixed vegetable soup.
She holds grudges very long; she'll see how she punishes them this time.
Sure enough, in the middle of the night, the Song couple ran to the outhouse one after another, and in the process they got into a fight, making quite a mess of things.
Huddled in the woodshed, Song Zhiyu touched her increasingly feverish forehead, her eyes crinkling with a smile, and ate the ephedra she was holding in her hand.
She wanted to live; she wanted to know about her origins.
*
As the days went by, Song Zhiyu's illness still did not improve, and Song's mother began to have other ideas.
After discussing it with Song's father, she felt the idea was more and more feasible, and her gaze towards Song Zhiyu was rather malicious.
Song Zhiyu immediately became wary and gripped the clothes in her hands tightly.
Three days later, Song's father brought in a middle-aged woman dressed in bright colors with a mole on the corner of her mouth.
"Is this the little girl you're talking about? She's quite pretty. You can give her ten taels of silver." The woman looked Song Zhiyu up and down and nodded in satisfaction.
Upon hearing that it was ten taels of silver, the couple's eyes lit up, and they readily agreed, "You can take him away now. The young master of the Lin family should be buried soon, so don't delay the auspicious time."
Song Zhiyu understood everything she heard. It turned out that these two had sold her off, or rather, sold her to someone else for a ghost marriage.
Meeting the matchmaker's eyeing gaze, which was like inspecting merchandise, Song Zhiyu turned and ran away when she wasn't looking.
"You brat, stop right there! If I catch you, I'll beat you to death!" Several men chased after them; they couldn't just watch their prey escape.
Song Zhiyu was young and sick, so he couldn't outrun them at all. Before he even reached the village entrance, his father grabbed him and slapped him hard across the face.
"You can take him away now. We don't care whether he lives or dies, just give us the money."
Since it's a ghost marriage anyway, it doesn't matter if they're dead or alive.
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