A deafening crash of thunder roared like a wild beast, rattling the windowpanes with a fierce hum before a torrential downpour slammed into the earth, pitting the ground with countless heavy drops.
Just a day ago, the old woman had still possessed a spirited spark. Now, she looked like a withered piece of dried bark, wrapped entirely in an aura of death.
Looking down from above at the dying Xiao An as she lay flat on the bed, Chen Xuelan made no effort to conceal the utter disdain in her eyes.
“Sister-in-law, acting like this now really doesn’t make any sense. Didn’t you always use to mutter that your husband might not be dead and would come home one day? Now that he is back, not only are you unhappy, but you’re crying and beating him, making a whole crowd of people miserable along with you. It’s really just…”
Xiao An stared numbly at the wooden roof beams, her heart frozen solid. “I waited for him in widowhood for nearly sixty years, and he comes back with a house full of children and grandchildren. I’m wronged—am I not even allowed to cry a couple of times? Did you expect me to fire off firecrackers to welcome them with joy?”
Thinking back to how she had struck out at him, Xiao An felt only a profound, crushing sorrow.
She had felt aggrieved, unwilling to accept it. Clenching her fists, she had rushed over to Chen Xueqiang, wanting to ask him why he hadn’t come home in nearly sixty years. If it was because he had married someone else and didn’t know how to break the news to her—even if he had just written a single letter to make it clear—she wouldn’t have clung to him. She would have let go and pursued her own life.
Yet before she could even get close to Chen Xueqiang, he had hastily retreated, and his children and grandchildren had immediately stepped forward to put a barrier between her and him.
In their eyes, she was somehow unclean, as if they were terrified she might latch onto their father and grandfather.
“Sister-in-law, I know you feel wronged,” Chen Xuelan said, her tone softening slightly. “Ever since you married into this family, you took care of the elderly parents, saw me off to my wedding, and helped me raise my children. You’ve been the great pillar of this household. But you and my brother never consummated the marriage; you were never truly husband and wife. Now that my brother has come back with my real sister-in-law, along with their sons and grandsons, they are the real family. My brother genuinely didn’t know that you had stayed unmarried your whole life, so he feels guilty about it. Look, he asked me to bring you ten thousand yuan as compensation from him.”
With that, Chen Xuelan pulled a stack of cash from her bag and laid it beside Xiao An.
A single tear slipped down Xiao An’s wrinkled cheek.
She forced out the words, her voice weak: “In your hearts, you all knew your brother was still alive, didn’t you?”
Chen Xuelan averted her gaze. “Sister-in-law, what are you talking about? I only found out today that my brother… was still alive.”
Before she could continue spinning her web of lies, Xiao An used her remaining strength to cut her off.
“Someone told me long ago that they saw your brother and your mother up in the back mountain of the village. I didn’t believe it then, but thinking about it now, I was just a fool. How can you people be so cold-blooded and vicious? You sat back and comfortably enjoyed everything I sacrificed for your family. You’re like a bunch of leeches, sucking my blood while lacking a single shred of conscience. You’ll get what’s coming to you! Cough… cough…“
The deeper her grief and anger grew, the more violent Xiao An’s coughing fit became. In the end, a mouthful of blood spilled out with the coughs.
The last lingering shred of conscience in Chen Xuelan’s heart left her too ashamed to stand there a moment longer.
“Sister-in-law, things have already reached this point; there’s no use saying anything else. What you need to do now is take care of your health and use this ten thousand yuan to treat yourself well.”
Xiao An didn’t move a muscle as she listened to the sound of Chen Xuelan slamming the door behind her.
Grief, grievance, resentment, and bitter self-mockery churned and tore at her heart.
Ten thousand yuan. Just ten thousand yuan—that was all her foolish waiting and agonizing labor were worth. In the eyes of the Chen family, those things could be bought off so cheaply!
Stepping out through the courtyard gate, Chen Xuelan spoke to Zhu Liansheng, the man waiting for her outside. “Sister-in-law probably only has a day or two left. Keep a close eye on things and don’t let anyone else wander in and make off with that ten thousand yuan. After she passes away, we’ll give her a grand funeral using that money. My brother definitely won’t want what’s left over, so it’ll all belong to us.”
Zhu Liansheng pressed his lips together. “This… doesn’t feel right.”
Xuelan stopped dead in her tracks and stared at him with a dark, chilling look in her eyes. “What kind of tone is that? What do you mean it doesn’t feel right? Who could have known my brother was still alive? If anyone’s to blame, blame sister-in-law for being entirely too sentimental. If you don’t watch that money closely and someone else swipes it, it’ll just end up benefiting a stranger.”
Zhu Liansheng hesitated. “…Fine. Have it your way.”
Only then did Chen Xuelan let out a disgruntled huff and resume walking.
“By the way,” Zhu Liansheng muttered, “earlier in the courtyard, I heard sister-in-law shouting that… well, that you all actually did know your brother was still alive. Is that true?”
Chen Xuelan nearly tripped over her own feet, catching her balance with a hard lurch. “There’s no such thing! Zhu Liansheng, we’re family, so stop spouting nonsense and looking for trouble.”
Zhu Liansheng fell silent. Looks like it’s true, after all.
Early the next morning, Chen Xuelan made Zhu Liansheng go deliver Xiao An’s breakfast; her own guilt made her too cowardly to face the woman. Besides, she figured Xiao An’s condition yesterday was so poor that today she probably wouldn’t even be able to get out of bed.
“I’m a man, it wouldn’t look right for me to go into sister-in-law’s room alone,” Zhu Liansheng said. “Let’s go together.”
Accompanied by Zhu Liansheng, Chen Xuelan stepped inside, only to find Xiao An lying completely stiff and rigid.
With a sharp clatter, the lunchbox dropped from Chen Xuelan’s hand. Her voice trembled, “You… go check on her. Is sister-in-law… is she actually…?”
She didn’t dare finish the sentence.
Zhu Liansheng stepped forward, his movements sluggish as he reached out to place a finger beneath Xiao An’s nose. He drew his hand back, his face turning ashen. “She’s gone.”
Chen Xuelan stood frozen for a moment before lunging forward to dig the untouched ten thousand yuan out of Xiao An’s pocket. “Let’s go find my brother. He needs to handle this.”
Xiao An’s soul floated up near the ceiling, looking down at her own withered, stiff corpse. It took her a long time to accept the fact that she had literally been bullied and angered to death.
When Chen Xuelan had first entered the room, Xiao An had wanted to give her a fright, but she soon realized that apart from floating helplessly and watching everything unfold, there was nothing she could do.
She followed right behind Chen Xuelan as the woman ran out toward the village entrance, howling at the top of her lungs, “Brother! Sister-in-law is dead!”
Hearing the wailing, the surrounding villagers stood stunned for a moment before shaking their heads in unison: Xiao An had been hounded to her grave by Chen Xueqiang.
Chen Xuelan rushed over to the village’s only hotel just as Chen Xueqiang and his entourage were about to board a sedan car.
Hearing her cries, Chen Xueqiang stopped. Before Chen Xuelan could even explain her purpose, he wore a conflicted expression and blurted out:
“Go back and tell Xiao An that I, Chen Xueqiang, failed her in this lifetime. We’re both too old now, so let’s skip getting a formal divorce certificate—back then things were backward anyway, and our marriage license probably isn’t even in any digital system, so… she is a free woman. I won’t go back to upset her anymore. Your sister-in-law, my nephews, and I are heading out first…”
“My sister-in-law is dead!” Chen Xuelan cut him off, her voice shrill. “You have to stay behind and help handle the funeral arrangements.”
Chen Xueqiang felt a persistent, heavy ringing in his ears.
His son, Chen Yuanhang, frowned with clear displeasure. “Auntie, yesterday my dad gave her ten thousand yuan, and she didn’t even spend it. Just use that money to hire some people to give her a decent send-off. Asking my dad to stay and handle her funeral—did you even stop to think about how my mother and the rest of us would feel? If the money isn’t enough, we can chip in a bit more.”