Chapter 45
Li Ying'an's face was twisted by the slap. He did not look back for a long time, his eyes were dull, as if he was recalling why the old man slapped him in the face.
"When you and your mother escaped for the first time, the villagers targeted her. Now you're running away with your mother on your back again. Use your pig brain to think carefully. Can the villagers treat her well?"
The old man only used force in that slap. Every word he spoke was as calm as any other conversation, so calm that it was mixed with weakness. "Do you think you were sneaking around with her without being seen? Do you think the whole village is stupid and only you two are smart? They've been eyeing you for a long time! They just didn't tell you. You were lucky to escape this time. It's also a good thing you didn't leave with her, otherwise the three of you would have to return to this place. If you left, she wouldn't have survived."
I stood frozen in place, my gaze fixed on Li Ying'an, who remained in the same position, still silent. I didn't know what he thought of the old man's words, but if I were him, they would have been like a sharp blade piercing my fragile, bleeding heart, and I would have burst into tears right there.
But Li Ying'an was different. He didn't show any sign of collapse in front of the old man and me, even though he looked like glass that had fallen to the ground and was about to shatter into pieces, which was heartbreaking.
"She told me before..." Li Ying'an lowered his head and mumbled a few words. In the end, he didn't cry but laughed. "So... So she knew it all along. She might have known everything. I said that the escape was so smooth. Maybe she helped me divert the villagers' attention... If she could really teach me another good bamboo shoot, I probably wouldn't even be able to find this place now..."
He kept talking to himself, ignoring everyone. I was anxious and frightened standing by, fearing that after the old man had explained everything, he would catch Li Ying'an and take him back.
I grabbed Li Ying'an's hand again, pinched him, and forced his eyes to focus on me: This is not your fault at all, don't listen to his sweet words and confuse right and wrong!
Then, regardless of whether the old man could understand sign language or not, I raised my hand and responded with a verbal response: "Don't confuse right and wrong here! Li Ying'an is just the luckiest person in the village. Why should you let him bear the blame? Before he repents, you have no right to blame him for the teacher's death and make him feel guilty!"
In the final analysis, the ones who should really die are you, the whole village, who bully the good and promote the evil. It is clearly a problem of the people in this village. If there were no such village, nothing would have happened, no one would have died, no one would have gone crazy. Why do you want to pin such a serious crime on Li Ying'an? It is not fair at all!
And you, don't take advantage of your age to do whatever you want and push all the sins onto others. She is your wife, but you just stand by and watch without treating her as a human being.
So are you kind and do you have a conscience? Now you have no right to blame Li Ying'an!
Even though I knew I had no voice, I still shouted at the old man at the top of my lungs: Neutrals have no right to criticize anyone!
I don't want you to bully Li Ying'an.
Old man: “…”
I was so anxious that I was about to cry, and I pulled Li Ying'an's hand again, holding the thing in my palm tightly.
Li Ying'an turned around and tried to comfort me, but I cried even harder. I never understood why he was so kind, but in return he was the reason for you to bully him again and again. Is it disrespect?
Li Ying'an did not explain to the old man what I had said just now in a too harsh way. Afterwards, I realized that I was too impulsive. Since we were on someone else's territory, I had to speak more rationally.
After I made a fuss and cried like a loser, the old man's sarcasm died down and Li Ying'an's mood calmed down relatively.
The sound of my sniffling was surprisingly loud in this quiet environment, but no one was willing to speak.
The spring breeze blew through the maple forest, and the beautiful and pleasant sound lingered in the air for a long time. I took advantage of this commotion to sort out my damaged emotions and think about how to pack up and leave.
Suddenly, the unusual noises around me ceased, the gentle spring breeze abruptly fading. In the distance, a humming sound approached, and I pricked up my ears, discerning that the voice belonged to a woman.
In this kind of environment, I couldn't help but feel curious about the singing woman. After all, in such a place where women are abused, most women would choose to stay away from the spotlight.
The old man's face didn't show much emotion after hearing the voice. His expression was the same as when he was talking to us, except for a slight difference in his brows. It was rare for him to frown slightly as if he was annoyed.
The sound was getting closer and closer. Li Ying'an and I both looked in the direction of the sound, and in the next second, we saw the woman's true form.
This is a woman of similar age to Li Rui, but she does not look as young as Li Rui. Her hair is messy, her clothes are tattered, she looks crazy, and her behavior is weird.
No wonder she dared to sing a song, it turns out she was crazy.
She was holding a bundle of grass in her hand and walking towards us slowly, humming a tuneless tune and taking three steps back at a time.
During this time, she would always raise the hand holding the grass, look up to the sky, and stroke her empty wrist with the other hand like singing an opera. At this time, her face would be filled with a happy smile, but in a moment, she would panic again, and without caring about the grass in her hand that she treated like a treasure, she would throw it away and look around hurriedly. The fear on her face would become deeper as her movements changed drastically.
Suddenly, she turned her head and faced us. She must have set her eyes on someone, so she rushed towards us like crazy.
She grabbed the old man's arm, looked him up and down for a long time, her face changing from panic to grief, and then she grabbed him and sobbed, "Where is my child? Where did you take my child? My daughter is so cute, what did you do to her? Where is my son... Where is my son again? How can you give him back to me..."
She kept asking the old man where his children were. How could the old man, who didn't care about his nominal wife, be willing to pay attention to this crazy woman? As expected, he must have been very annoyed and pushed the weak crazy woman away.
It was obvious that he wanted to say something, but because of the presence of Li Ying'an and me, he shut his mouth in time.
But the woman refused to give in and kept pestering him, demanding her lost child. He was annoyed and began to curse in a low voice: "You lunatic, you keep yelling in the village all day long. Your old man has already married your two daughters to men from the next village. Go find your old man if you want the children. Why are you crying to me? I didn't sell them to you..."
"But you, who sold your own son yourself, still have the nerve to cry?"
"I sold my son..." The woman asked herself hesitantly, bewildered. Then she shook her head and cried, saying that she had never sold a child, let alone her own. "I didn't, I didn't, I didn't. Xiao Ya is my favorite child. I gave him all the stolen things. How could I sell him... You, you wicked old dog, how dare you lie to me? You tricked me into selling my own child!"
She cried and tried to hit the old man, but he pushed her two meters away and made her sit on the ground.
The old man didn't know whether he was tired or angry at her, he gasped and said disdainfully: "You have tricked your best friend into coming here, what else would you not dare to do? Besides, if you don't do it, then I won't do it either."
"After all is said and done, she is the one who should be blamed most for Xiao Song's death." The old man turned his head and told us his last words.
"Do you know how Xiao Song got here?" The old man spoke frankly after being disturbed by the woman's tirade, no longer worrying about who he was covering up for. "This lunatic was her college classmate. She stole someone's bracelet, saying she would return it, and then tricked Xiao Song into coming here. When she sold her son, she also gave the bracelet away. Because of this, she was caught by her husband and mother-in-law and was beaten to death. The whole village knew about it."
When I heard this, my mind didn't immediately sympathize with or despise anyone. Instead, a lot of information that I knew but hadn't yet come up with flooded in:
Old Man Song's missing little daughter, Sui Yusheng who was taken away from the orphanage, the gold bracelet on Sui Yusheng's hand, and the incompatible blood relationship with Old Man Song...
The answers to these questions all surfaced.
I suddenly thought of what happened just now. The old man said that he recognized Li Ying'an's teacher based on the mole behind the woman's ear.
Old Man Song said that his daughter had a mole afterwards.
"Her name is Xiao Song..." Li Ying'an murmured. He slowly turned his head to look at me, and I had been waiting for him. When our eyes met, he suddenly smiled, "So my teacher is Old Man Song's daughter. It turns out I met his daughter at such a young age... How should I face him..."
He stopped blaming himself and pulled out a photo from his phone case. It was the photo Old Man Song had given him of his little daughter before she went missing. He held it up and showed it to the old man in front of him, asking him to confirm whether the so-called Xiao Song was the missing Song Suichang. "Is that her?"
"That's her," the old man said. "I've seen most of the women kidnapped from the village. I also saw Xiao Song from a distance when she first came. She looked like this in the photo when she was young."
"You only know her name is Xiao Song?"
"Women who come to the village don't use their previous names. They are all called someone's daughter-in-law. Xiao Song never told me her name, but when I asked her that day, she said her last name was Song."
After saying that, the old man took the photo from Li Ying'an without his consent, and before Li Ying'an could stop him, he put the photo in front of the crazy woman.
When the woman saw the photo, it was as if she saw a ghost holding a machete coming to take her life. She held her head and trembled and fell to the ground.
All signs indicate that Xiao Song is Old Man Song's daughter.
It seemed as if everything had settled. Li Ying'an held the photo tightly in his hand and lowered his head dejectedly. He felt very powerless because he didn't know how to tell Old Man Song.
Old Man Song lost his daughter and wife in middle age. Now, at his age, he finally has hope and thought he would see his grandson, but he didn't know it was all fake. Even more cruel is that the daughter he thought about day and night has now cruelly left this world. She is free, but he is still in pain.
If I tell Old Man Song the truth about this matter, Li Ying'an might also be disliked by him, just like Li Rui's parents. Personally speaking, I don't want to see this kind of scene again. By then, not only Li Ying'an, but Sui Yusheng will probably also be hated by Old Man Song because of the bracelet incident.
After much thought, I decided to satisfy my own selfish desire. I asked Li Ying'an to pretend that he knew nothing and keep the matter secret. At worst, he could treat Old Man Song as a relative and visit and take care of him often.
In fact, after I expressed this, I felt uneasy. I didn't know what Li Ying'an thought of me, but I was already disappointed in myself. I didn't know when I became so selfish.
But I think this is the best way. In this way, Li Ying'an will not be harmed, and Old Man Song can also keep the illusion that his daughter is still alive somewhere in the world. Otherwise, to be honest, Old Man Song will definitely collapse.
The elderly can’t stand the hardship, I told myself.
I waited for Li Ying'an for a long time before I got a word of kindness from him.
So what's next? I looked at the old man standing there, unsure of what to think. He'd shared so many secrets with us. I couldn't guarantee that Li Ying'an and I would be able to leave.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
