Sister-in-law Hu didn't mind the embarrassment at all. She picked up Mother Xu's congee and brought it straight to her mouth.
Then, under everyone's astonished gaze, half the bowl was gone in a few gulps. If Mother Xu hadn't snatched it back quickly, she would have finished the whole thing.
"There's nothing wrong with it—where are the sand grains? This congee is really fragrant." Sister-in-law Hu gave a thumbs up.
After speaking, she licked her lips in a circle, sweeping every last bit of residue into her mouth, not wasting a single grain.
Xu Lin curved her lips slightly. Of course it was fragrant—the rice oil had even risen to the surface.
The neighbors understood everything now. This was just another excuse the Xu family had cooked up to keep Xu Lin from eating.
Tsk, tsk. A pack of black-hearted, rotten-livered goods. Treating their eldest daughter like this—they'd regret it sooner or later.
For a moment, everyone was saying all sorts of things, almost unanimously pointing fingers at them and urging them to treat the child better.
Old Mrs. Xu was so furious her face turned red and her neck bulged. She waved her hands, shooing people away.
"Scram, scram, scram! A bunch of blind fools! Don't dirty my doorstep! Scram, scram, get lost now!"
Old Mrs. Xu was a vicious old shrew, and an especially unreasonable one at that. The moment she charged out, the neighbors were quickly driven off.
Old Mrs. Xu slammed the door shut and glared at Xu Lin with fury. Xu Lin responded with a cold smile—a smile that made Old Mrs. Xu's heart stir with unease.
This damned girl seemed… different somehow. But before Old Mrs. Xu could fly into a rage, Mother Xu took a suspicious sip of the congee.
Immediately, she spat it out violently, gagging and retching.
Mother Xu felt like she hadn't drunk a mouthful of congee—she'd swallowed a mouthful of sand.
Staring at the sand on the ground, the Xu family was stunned.
"You little bitch, you—"
Old Mrs. Xu pointed at the sand and started cursing, but before she could get a proper string of abuse out, a heavy slap landed across her face.
Xu Lin charged forward, raised both hands, and swung left and right, delivering a fierce barrage of slaps across Old Mrs. Xu's wrinkled face.
You dead old hag, I've wanted to slap you for ages. I'll let you stir up trouble. I'll let you curse me. I'll let you be so heartless and ungrateful…
Xu Lin unleashed her fury. Before the Xu family could even react, she'd beaten Old Mrs. Xu's face into a swollen pig's head.
Her peripheral vision caught Father Xu lunging at her. Without a second word, she spun around and sent a kick flying—landing it squarely on his manhood.
The pain made Father Xu's eyeballs bulge, his face flushing a deep liver-purple. His body slowly curled inward, folding into a tight ball as agonizing howls tore from his throat.
Anyone listening would have thought they were slaughtering a pig at the Xu house.
The neighbors who had left lingered at the door, unwilling to go, whispering gossip and cursing the Xu family for being utter bastards.
Xu Lin's ears were sharp, and she caught their chatter outside. She immediately changed her strategy.
She slammed a fist into Old Mrs. Xu's vocal cords, robbing her of her voice. Then she straddled the old woman and continued pounding away.
Old Mrs. Xu stretched out her hands, begging for help. By then, Mother Xu had snapped out of her daze. Forgetting the sand in her mouth, she rushed over to save her mother-in-law.
But she was thinking too optimistically—she'd only come over to offer herself up as a punching bag.
This time, Xu Lin didn't go for Mother Xu's face. Instead, she shoved her down and beat her body, hitting everywhere except the spots that wouldn't hurt.
The key was that she used a clever touch—after the beating, there wasn't a single mark left.
"You little bitch! How dare you hit me!" Mother Xu was shocked, unable to believe this soft pushover had the nerve to fight back.
"Heh. You old bitch—you're exactly who I'm hitting." Xu Lin slammed a fist into Mother Xu's vocal cords, silencing her.
Now Mother Xu couldn't curse, and she couldn't even call for help.
Her precious son and daughter were so stunned by Xu Lin's savagery that they just sat at the table like idiots, watching the show without the slightest intention of stepping in.
It was Father Xu who recovered a bit, enduring the pain to shout: "You two—hurry up and help your mother!"
"Oh, oh!" Xu Kun snapped out of it. He swung his fists and charged forward with curses, ready to beat Xu Lin.
"Shameless little money-loser! Are you trying to rebel? Watch me beat you to death!"
A boy raised by Old Mrs. Xu—opening his mouth it was "damned girl" and "little bitch," closing it was "money-loser." He hadn't learned a single good thing.
In her past life, Xu Lin had wanted to beat him countless times, but she'd never dared because he was the Xu family's only boy.
Now? She didn't care if he was the Xu family's only boy or not. He wasn't worth anything anyway—if she beat him to death, he'd have it coming.
Xu Lin threw several heavy punches, beating Mother Xu until she had no strength left to resist. Then she turned to deal with Xu Kun and Xu Nuan.
The first punch silenced Xu Kun. The second punch silenced Xu Nuan. Then she punched Xu Kun and kicked Xu Nuan.
The sound of hitting a sandbag echoed through the room—every blow landing solidly on flesh, enough to get anyone's blood pumping.
Old Mrs. Xu was crying so hard tears streamed down her face, reaching out to protect her precious grandson.
Mother Xu struggled to crawl forward, trying to take the beating for her good son.
Father Xu, ignoring his own pain, rushed over to save his precious boy.
Xu Nuan: …So nobody sees me, huh? Like I'm not getting beaten at all.
Seeing yet another person offering themselves up for a beating, Xu Lin immediately abandoned her two smaller targets and went straight for Father Xu.
One punch to his diaphragm, robbing him of his strength.
A second punch to his vocal cords—if he couldn't speak, then he wouldn't speak.
A third punch to his kidneys, ensuring he'd spend the rest of his life with frequent, urgent, and never-quite-finished urination.
A fourth punch, a fifth punch…
Xu Lin threw thirty-two punches in one breath, each one landing solidly, leaving Father Xu and Mother Xu rolling their eyes back.
Blowing on her little fists, Xu Lin felt a good deal of the pent-up anger in her chest had been vented.
Glancing at the sky, she saw it was getting late. To be this exhausted on the very first day of her rebirth—
Hmph, a whole family of wicked people, not a shred of consideration for her.
Walking over to Xu Nuan, Xu Lin loomed over her, staring down at the girl who was trembling like a startled fawn, and asked haughtily:
"I'm taking your room from now on. You sleep there," Xu Lin pointed to the corner of the main hall. "Any objections?"
Xu Nuan: …Objections!
"Keep them to yourself. Utter a single word of complaint," Xu Lin shook her little fist, "and I'll beat you!"
Xu Nuan quickly shook her head. No objections. She had none at all.
Hmph. Xu Lin swept a proud gaze around the room—not a single person in the main hall dared meet her eyes. Only then did she walk into Xu Nuan's room with satisfaction.
Once inside, she locked the door and threw herself onto the bed, finally letting out a breath as exhaustion flooded her entire body.
With a flick of her mind, she vanished from the bed entirely, entering the Spatial Dimension. She made her way to the bathroom of the courtyard house and immediately ran a tub of hot water.
After a moment's thought, Xu Lin fetched half a bucket of Spirit Spring Water and poured it into the bath before stripping off her clothes and climbing in.
Soaking in the water, looking at her withered, stick-thin body covered in dense, mottled bruises of purple and green, Xu Lin felt she had gone too easy on them.
This pack of wolves—from the youngest to the oldest—not a single decent one among them. Every day it was beatings or scoldings, tormenting her in every way they could devise.
Xu Lin just couldn't understand it. They say even a dog, kept long enough, inspires affection. Why were these people's hearts so hard?
Wiping her face, Xu Lin began to plan how she would live her life from now on.
Today was February 1, 1975—her sixteenth birthday. It would be more than two years before the resumption of the college entrance examination was announced.
Right now, she only had a primary school diploma. She needed to find a way to obtain middle and high school credentials so she could take the exam in the future.
She remembered that on the day after her birthday in her previous life, the Educated Youth Office had come to their door, saying their family had too many children and met the requirements for the rustication program—it would be best if they sent one person to the countryside.