Li Chunhua lowered her head, inching step by step toward Jiang Liuli. Her face was already streaked with tears, and her voice trembled as she spoke:
"Da Ni… I'm sorry… It's our Li family who wronged you…"
Her hands, clutching the hem of her clothes, were twisted like tangled hemp, her knuckles turning white. Though her words were an apology, they carried an indescribable sense of guilt.
Jiang Liuli looked at Li Chunhua's tear-streaked face, her eyes devoid of any emotion.
These tears were shed for Jiang Dani, and had nothing to do with her.
"No need to apologize," her voice was as calm as deep still water. "You just need to tell the truth—not for my sake, but so your Li family can survive."
Jiang Dani had long died in the river during that sacrificial ritual. No amount of repentance or apology could bring back that young life.
In Jiang Liuli's eyes, such tears were cheaper than weeds by the roadside.
Li Chunhua shuddered at her words, her fingers tightening abruptly on her clothes, the tips turning white from the pressure.
She bit her pale lips and finally, in a hoarse voice, began to spill the sordid details of that night.
"What Da Ni said is true, that night…"
Li Chunhua sobbed, her voice breaking intermittently: "After Da Ni left, my father was so angry he dragged me to confront Liu Lizheng."
"When the village chief saw the truth was exposed, his face turned pale. He quickly pulled out a hundred-tael silver note from his robe and shoved it at my father, saying as long as we kept quiet, the silver was ours."
"He even threatened viciously that if we dared reveal this, we shouldn't blame him for being ruthless. At worst, it would be mutual destruction—no one would come out unscathed."
She wiped her tears, her shoulders trembling even more violently:
"Our family is the poorest in the village. We've never even seen ten taels of silver, let alone a hundred."
"My father stared at that silver note for a long time, but in the end, he gritted his teeth and took it… He said it was for my younger brother's sake, and told me never to mention this matter again."
As she spoke, Li Chunhua looked toward Jiang Liuli…
"But I truly didn't know… I didn't know the village chief was so wicked, that he would switch the marriage certificate to your doorstep… Da Ni, believe me, if I had known it would harm you, I would never have let my father take that silver…"
Li Chunhua cried so hard she could barely breathe, her once-clear eyes now red and swollen. Her gaze toward Jiang Liuli was full of pleading, as if this could cleanse her of any involvement.
"Li Chunhua," Jiang Liuli's voice suddenly turned cold, like icicles in the depths of winter,
"but on the day of the sacrifice, you clearly knew it was me being pushed into the river, yet you didn't say a single word from start to finish, did you?"
These words were like a poisoned dagger, precisely piercing through Li Chunhua's facade of "innocence."
Li Chunhua's face drained of all color. Her body swayed violently, staggering back half a step, nearly collapsing to the ground.
She opened her mouth, her voice as faint as a mosquito's hum: "I… I was terrified… My father said… said if we just pretended not to know, we could protect the whole family…"
"What your father said was never important."
Jiang Liuli took a step forward, her gaze sharp as a blade, piercing directly into Li Chunhua's evasive eyes.
"What matters is that you watched as I was tied to the sacrificial altar, watched as I was pushed into the river, and didn't dare to say a word."
She paused, a cold curve forming at the corner of her lips:
"You're only stepping forward now not out of guilt, but because I survived and exposed the truth! You're afraid Liu Lizheng will silence you, so you're forced to jump out to save yourself! Am I right?!"
Li Chunhua stood speechless, her lips trembling as tears streamed down her face like broken beads. Yet no one believed her belated remorse anymore.
The crowd's gazes had long shifted from initial sympathy to contempt and scorn.
"My heavens! Has the Li family sold their conscience for silver? This is outright murder!"
"Li Dadan usually seems so quiet, who'd have thought he'd be so black-hearted! Pushing his daughter's friend into the fire pit for a hundred taels of silver?"
"And Li Chunhua – Da Ni treated her like a real sister, yet she watched silently as someone else went to die in her place! Is her heart made of stone?"
The torrent of abuse hailed down on Li Chunhua like ice pellets. Standing at the center of the crowd, her face was drenched in tears that blurred her vision and choked her throat – she wanted to defend herself but couldn't utter a complete sentence.
The surrounding stares pierced her like needles, filled with anger, disdain, and undisguised contempt.
She wished she could find a crack in the ground to hide in, but her feet felt leaden, rooted to the spot.
When Li Dadan entered, he happened to hear the villagers' discussions. Seeing Li Chunhua's state, he understood everything immediately.
"Li Chunhua, you damned girl! Have you gone mad?!"
Like an old ox whose tail had been stepped on, Li Dadan charged through the crowd, his dark face purpling with rage. His hand swept through the air as he slapped Li Chunhua across the face.
The blow made Li Chunhua's vision go dark, blood immediately seeping from the corner of her mouth.
"Who told you to blabber nonsense here?!" he sprayed saliva, his eyes bulging as if about to burst. "Do you want to get our whole family killed with you?"
"Father! Do you really naively believe Liu Lizheng and Zhang Witch will let our Li family off? Da Ni was right! Our very existence is like a sword hanging over their heads. Do you truly think they'll spare our Li family?"
Li Dadan's raised rough hand froze mid-air, the joints still retaining the stinging sensation from slapping his daughter.
The villagers' angry gazes pinned him in place like countless sharp knives, rendering him immobile.
"Li Dadan!" Wei Laogen roared. "Is what your daughter said true or not?"
Li Dadan's Adam's apple bobbed up and down, sweat beading on his forehead like beans.
His coarse fingers unconsciously rubbed his clothes, his eyes shifting between Liu Lizheng and his daughter.
"Li Dadan, think carefully before you speak," Liu Lizheng threatened ominously, a vicious light flashing in his eyes. "Don't catch your daughter's madness! If you speak nonsense, the consequences will be beyond your bearing!"
Li Dadan trembled all over, his dark face full of hesitation.
"Father!" Li Chunhua suddenly fell to her knees with a thud, her forehead hitting the muddy ground heavily. "I beg you! How many girls has Liu Lizheng killed over the years? Do you really think they'll let us go?"
Li Dadan looked down at his daughter's reddened forehead, then at Liu Lizheng's ferocious face, before finally speaking as if having made some resolution.
"To hell with you, Liu Dequan!" Li Dadan suddenly pulled out a crumpled silver note from his chest and raised it high. "Fellow villagers, look carefully! This is the blood money Liu Lizheng gave me!"