Su Mingyue let out a miserable scream. Her hand had never hurt this badly before.
At that moment, Xiao Ying had no time to worry about anything else. She hurriedly shoved Su Jinxia with all her strength. “Let go of your sister!”
Su Jinxia gave a cold laugh, then shoved her back with her other hand.
This time, the pot on the stove toppled over completely.
The hot water that spilled out immediately poured over Xiao Ying’s back, quickly soaking through her padded jacket.
“Ah! Ah!”
Xiao Ying cried out in agony, the pain making her collapse to the floor with a thud.
“Mom!” Su Mingyue cried as she crawled over.
Using all her strength, she lifted her mother up. Seeing that the skin on Xiao Ying’s neck had been scalded raw and blisters had already formed, while her own hand was red and swollen, with blood oozing from some places, she raised her head and glared at her sister.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I had a high fever and lay in the room for two days and two nights, yet not one of you cared about me. You didn’t even bring me a cup of water. Since you didn’t care whether I lived or died, why should I let you live comfortably?”
Su Jinxia looked at the mother and daughter with a cold smile. “How does it feel to be scalded? Is it comfortable? Should we try it again? I could boil another pot of water and pour it over your heads. Just imagining that scene is getting me a little excited!”
They looked at the madwoman before them, their bodies trembling involuntarily. They were truly frightened now.
Su Jinxia turned and left. She did not choose to return to her own room, because it was dark and damp, utterly unsuitable for anyone to live in.
She had slept there for more than ten years. Now she turned around and went straight into the largest room in the house. When she saw her sister’s room, she could not say it was particularly nice, but it had everything it should.
A small floral-patterned quilt matched with sheets of the same design, and even the pillow was pink. These were all things she had once longed for but could never obtain.
She lowered her head and looked at the clothes she was wearing. They were her father’s discarded railway work clothes, already covered in patches. From the time she was born until now, she had never worn a single new piece of clothing.
She either wore clothes picked up from her father or hand-me-downs from her mother. Her sister was different. Every year, she received a new outfit, and even during the poorest times, she would at least get a handkerchief.
When the two sisters had grown to roughly the same height, the old clothes Su Mingyue discarded became hers as well. They even had the nerve to claim that since the clothes had no patches, giving them to her counted as giving her new clothes.
Back then, she did not understand why her mother was so biased. Everyone around them lived poorly, and every household wore patched clothing. Clothes with as many patches as hers were rare even among them.
She reached out and opened the wardrobe. Su Mingyue’s clothes were neatly folded inside. From outerwear to socks, she had everything she needed. Su Jinxia directly took out the newest clothes and trousers and changed into them.
It was utterly laughable—the difference in treatment between the two sisters was so great.
If she had not once seen a photograph of Grandma, she would have suspected that she was not this family’s biological daughter.
Meanwhile, the mother and daughter remaining in the living room were not nearly as comfortable.
Xiao Ying looked at the blisters on her hand. Her entire hand was red and swollen, and even the slightest touch made her grimace in pain.
One of them had injured her left hand, while the other had injured her right.
Su Mingyue stared around the room, thinking of her sister’s vicious appearance just now. “Mom, what’s wrong with my sister? Why does she seem like a completely different person?”
“She just went crazy after being pushed too far. We didn’t take care of her.” Xiao Ying felt somewhat guilty. It was more than simply not wanting to care for Su Jinxia. She had actually wanted to kill her, mainly because that face was becoming more and more like the vengeful ghost of her mother-in-law.
Lately, she had often dreamed that her mother-in-law had returned to seek revenge.
How could she not be afraid? Since she could not drive Su Jinxia away, she could only let her die of illness. That way, no one would blame her for anything.
Yet the girl had an extraordinarily strong life force and had stubbornly survived. She had not died even after burning with a fever for two days and two nights. It was like something out of a ghost story.
“Mom, my hand hurts so much!” Su Mingyue said tearfully, looking at her hand, which was swollen like a pig’s trotter. “What should we do? It’s hurting more and more.”
Xiao Ying knew that if they delayed any longer, neither of their hands might be saved. “Let’s go to the clinic. We’ll have our hands treated first, then come back and deal with her!”
Su Mingyue immediately agreed. “We’ll come back and settle the score with her.”
Su Jinxia heard the sound of the door closing outside and knew they had gone to the clinic. She did not care. There was plenty of time in the future, and she had many opportunities to take revenge.
Then she thought of Song Jianping, the abusive man she had married in her previous life. At this time, he should just have begun courting his first wife. In this life, she would let her sister marry him instead.
In her previous life, she had been accepted into university. When she returned home with her admission notice to complete the paperwork, all she received were three slaps from her mother and vicious abuse.
“Don’t think that getting into university means you can break away from us. Don’t even dream about it!”
That night, however, her mother brought her a bowl of brown sugar water, apologized to her, and persuaded her to drink it.
At the time, she truly had not thought much of it. By the time she woke up, she was already lying in a cold cellar.
This place was short on supplies. Every household stored potatoes and cabbages in cellars during the winter so they would have vegetables to eat throughout the season.
Their family’s cellar had been left behind by their ancestors. It was large and spacious, but no light could penetrate it at all. She could not see her own fingers in front of her face. No matter how much she screamed, her voice could not escape.
There were hardly any neighbors nearby either. She screamed for three days and three nights, but no one came to save her.
Just when she thought she was about to die, a basket was lowered down. Inside was a hard, dry bun, some pickled vegetables, and a water flask.
Immediately afterward, her mother’s cold voice came from above.
“Don’t even think about it. You’re not getting out. Our home is in such a remote place that even if you screamed your throat raw, no one would come.
“Your university education will be taken in your place by your sister. Just stay here peacefully. I’ll bring you food and water from time to time. You really are lucky—I’ve already made you a burden on us, and now we still have to support you. Stay put and don’t cause trouble for me!
“As for relieving yourself, there’s a bucket in the corner. If you don’t want to stink yourself to death, use it. If you want to stink to death, then go ahead and relieve yourself wherever you like.”
“Mom, how can you treat me like this?” Su Jinxia screamed in despair.
The only response she received was the sound of the opening being sealed shut.
Su Jinxia thought that sooner or later, her father would realize she was missing and come looking for her. He would let her out.
But during that time, her father fell ill and died. She never saw him even once from beginning to end.
Whether her father knew she had been locked in the cellar or not, she could not say.
Day after day, year after year, she used bits of gravel to write tally marks on the wall and record the passage of time.
She had expected her sister to be discovered when she tried to impersonate her and attend university in her place, but that never happened. In the blink of an eye, three years passed.
The instant the opening was pushed aside, the glare was so painful that she could not open her eyes. A rope was lowered into the cellar.
Her mother’s voice came again.
“If you want to come up, tie the rope around your waist.”
Thinking that she could finally gain her freedom, Su Jinxia had already compromised after being imprisoned day after day.
She no longer needed to attend university. As long as she could be free, that was enough.
The moment she was pulled to the surface, she could only vaguely make out several figures.
Then she heard someone say, “Your daughter is far too thin.”
“But she’s beautiful!” Her mother’s delighted voice echoed beside her ears.
“My sister is a great beauty. Look—even after being locked up for so long, her skin is still so fair and tender. Maybe if you pinch her hard enough, you could even squeeze water out of her!” Her sister’s laughter rang out without end.
She seemed to understand. They were planning to marry her off.
“Mom, Little Sister, what are you trying to do?”
“Wretched girl, if you don’t want to be locked up again, then keep quiet and let us settle this matter! Once it’s settled, you can get out!”
Her mother’s icy words stabbed into her heart like sharp blades.
For the sake of freedom, for the chance to get out, she endured it and did not say a word. She did not know how much time had passed before she was dragged back into the house, still to the small room where she lived.
Soon, her mother brought hot water, washed her body, and changed her clothes. Throughout the entire process, Su Jinxia did not say another word.
By the time her eyes could vaguely make out people, she was already in Song Jianping’s home.
She had thought that she would be violated on her wedding night, but that did not happen. What greeted her instead were fists. It turned out that Song Jianping’s previous wife had been tormented until she drank pesticide and killed herself.
At this point in the memory, her hands clenched tightly.
Since she had been given the chance to return, the grudges from her previous life had to be avenged in this one.
……
Xiao Ying and Su Mingyue arrived at the clinic.
The two of them exaggerated everything as they told the doctor what had happened, leaving the people around them utterly stunned.
The burn on Xiao Ying’s neck was severe. As for the clothes she had been wearing, they were thick, so the water had apparently not soaked all the way through. The surface of her skin was merely red and had not blistered.
“Your eldest daughter is usually so gentle, and she speaks so softly. How could she possibly have scalded your hands?” the elderly woman sitting nearby could not help saying. “Even if you were scalded, it should have been an accident. You can’t ruin the child’s reputation!”
Xiao Ying glared at her. “I’m her mother. Would I slander my own daughter? Besides, if that wretched girl hadn’t forcibly held me down, only one of my hands would have been scalded!”
With her exaggerated expression and the hand she held out, the people around them could not tell whether to believe her or not.
Doctor Liu wrote out the prescription. “Go pay the fee. Don’t make such a racket here.”
Xiao Ying looked at the amount written on the bill, her heart aching terribly. When they returned, she would have to teach that wretched girl a proper lesson—she would press her hands into the water and scald them…