Looking radiant and well-cared-for, Xiao Canlan leaned out of the car and criticized, “What kind of nonsense is that? This isn’t Comrade Xiao An’s fault, it’s your father’s. If I had known your father was already married, I never would have gotten together with him.”
“So Mom, the reason you and Dad spent a few years living apart was because of this? But Dad didn’t know she’d wait for him forever. You’re both getting on in years, why make yourself miserable picking a fight with Dad over this?”
Xiao Canlan pinned Chen Yuanhang with a hook-like glare. “Your values are completely warped. You’ve crammed all those books straight down a dog’s throat. Let me ask you this: has your father written a single letter or mailed a single fen to his parents all these years? Why didn’t he ever write a single line to Comrade Xiao An? His heart is as black as coal.”
Chen Yuanhang lowered his head in silence.
“Grandma, you used bad words. You said nobody in our family is allowed to use bad words,” little Chen Rui piped up in his childish voice. “Grandpa, let’s hurry up and leave. I don’t like this place, the air smells stinky.”
Xiao Canlan took a deep breath, trying hard not to let her frustration bleed over to Chen Rui. “The people who live here have a different lifestyle than we do. They usually raise their own chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs to trade for money, and the meat we eat probably comes from right around here. So Rui-rui, we can’t enjoy the fruits of their labor and then turn around and look down on them as dirty, understand?”
Chen Rui answered in his tiny voice, “I understand, Grandma.”
Chen Yuanhang reluctantly chimed in, “Dad, stop standing there, let’s go. Can’t you tell Mom is taking shots at you?”
Floating up above, Xiao An never expected to hear such words from Xiao Canlan’s mouth. From beginning to end, she had never blamed Xiao Canlan; the only person she resented was that scumbag Chen Xueqiang.
Now, she just felt that Xiao Canlan marrying Chen Xueqiang was like a fresh flower stuck in a pile of cow dung.
Xiao An sat right on the roof of the sedan Chen Xueqiang was driving, marveling to herself: So this is what it feels like to ride in a car. It’s pretty fast, except you keep getting blown off by the wind.
Blown off, she’d hop right back on, only to be blown off again. She was kept quite busy, yet felt no fatigue at all.
I suppose I must be a wandering spirit now, Xiao An thought. Being a ghost feels almost like going back to my youth—completely unburdened.
Perched on top of the car, Xiao An alternated between wonder and a bitter resentment toward the Chen family.
Her eyes turned icy as she watched Chen Xueqiang and his family march aggressively toward her courtyard, utterly powerless to stop them.
The moment Chen Xueqiang stepped into the courtyard, a young man bolted out of the house and landed a vicious punch straight across his face.
Chen Yuanhang instinctively stepped forward, only for the young man’s second and third heavy blows to smash into his own face.
Clutching his face and staggering backward, Chen Xueqiang cried out, “Who are you? What gives you the right to hit people?”
Chen Xuelan rushed forward to wrap her arms tightly around the young man, screaming, “Zhenyi, he’s your uncle! Stop it, stop it right now!”
Startled by the commotion inside, Zhu Liansheng hurried out from the house. Looking bewildered at the scene in the yard, he too rushed over to grab his son, Zhu Zhenyi. “Listen to your mother, stop! We’re all family.”
With tears and snot streaming down his face, Zhu Zhenyi roared, fighting to lunge forward again. “He is no uncle of mine! I’m going to beat him to death! Why did he have to come back? Why couldn’t he just die out there? As long as he stayed away, my aunt wouldn’t have been worried to death by him!”
Chen Xueqiang opened his mouth, his face ashen, but no words came out.
Floating right beside Zhu Zhenyi, Xiao An’s spirit reached out to embrace him, her chilly heart warming just a fraction.
She hadn’t spoiled this child in vain.
Chen Yuanhang shot him a murderous glare, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. “If you weren’t my aunt’s son, I’d beat you to death.”
Xiao Canlan roared in anger, “Chen Yuanhang, shut your mouth right now!”
Terrified, little Chen Rui buried his face in Xiao Canlan’s chest. “Grandma, Grandpa and Dad got hit. Why are you still yelling at Dad?”
Xiao Canlan murmured softly, “Your grandpa and dad did wrong, so taking a beating is what they deserve.”
Chen Xuelan looked at her oldest brother with a trace of displeasure; this was all the unmitigated disaster her brother had brewed up. She finally spoke out, “Cut the bickering, everyone. The most important thing right now is handling Sister-in-law’s funeral. What are we supposed to write on her gravestone?”
Chen Yuanhang stepped in. “Just write ‘Tomb of Xiao An.’ You can’t very well write ‘Wife of my father,’ because my father’s wife is my mother, and nothing’s ever going to change that.”
Xiao Canlan stated flatly, “You can keep that gravestone title; I am my own person.”
Chen Xueqiang looked helplessly at Xiao Canlan. “Old Xiao, why are you making a fuss too? My heart belongs only to you, I love you. The only reason I didn’t tell you about this sooner was because I was afraid you wouldn’t agree to marry me, which is why I kept it hidden for so long…”
“I’ll smash your skull in, you old scumbag!”
If his parents weren’t physically restraining him, Zhu Zhenyi would have already launched himself at Chen Xueqiang. His eyes were bloodshot, looking like a demon crawled straight out of hell, ready to tear Chen Xueqiang limb from limb.
“You old monster, go ahead and remarry if you want, but why did you selfishly ruin my aunt’s entire life? You deserve to drop dead!”
Crack.
Chen Xuelan landed a sharp slap across Zhu Zhenyi’s face. “Enough! I know you and your sister were raised by your aunt, and you two had a deep bond with her, but the old man you’re cursing out is your uncle. You share blood!”
Zhu Zhenyi glared daggers at Chen Xuelan. “Mom, if you dare say one more word defending this scumbag, I won’t mind cutting ties with you right here and now.”
Chen Xuelan opened her mouth to argue, but Zhu Liansheng pulled her back, keeping her silent.
Chen Xueqiang said flatly, “I can’t give her the title of wife; my only wife is Canlan. But Xiao An took care of our parents through thick and thin, so… let’s just write ‘Daughter of our parents.'”
“Bullshit! If you don’t know how to talk, keep your trap shut!” A fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl strode in from outside. “My aunt spent her entire life taking care of you folks, shouldering every single responsibility that rightfully belonged to you. Your whole Chen family lived off her blood, and now that she’s dead, you still want to shackle her down? Write ‘Mother of Zhu Zhenzhen’!”
Xiao An felt as though she had no tears left in her eyes, yet as a wandering spirit, she felt as if she were weeping a river.
She had slaved away her entire life, but perhaps it wasn’t an absolute joke after all—Zhenyi and Zhenzhen were truly good kids.
Chen Xuelan wailed, “Zhenzhen, your mother is right here!”
Tears streaming down her face, Zhu Zhenzhen choked out, “Mom, after you pass away, they can write ‘Wife of my father’ or ‘Mother of my brother’ for you. Mom, people in the village always favor boys. Even though outsiders might think you and Brother meant the same to you, I know deep down you always favored him more.
“I’m saying this, but I don’t hold a grudge against you. Truth is, you were decent to me. But Auntie truly loved me like a precious pearl—even my name was given to me by her. Adopt me into Auntie’s lineage, and write ‘Mother of Zhu Zhenzhen’ on the stone.”
Weeping, Chen Xuelan looked pleadingly at Zhu Liansheng. “Old Zhu, say something!”
Zhu Liansheng sighed heavily. “Xuelan, Sister-in-law was always good to us. Let’s just do as Zhenzhen says.”
Zhu Zhenyi echoed, “That’s right. Comrade Xiao An is no longer our aunt by marriage; she has nothing to do with that dead scumbag anymore. She is the mother of me and Zhenzhen, so write ‘Mother of Zhu Zhenyi and Zhu Zhenzhen’.”
Xiao An felt a single tear drop onto the back of her hand, burning her skin with intense heat.
Her vision began to blur, her soul starting to dissipate. Right before she vanished completely, she caught sight of Chen Xuelan collapsing in sheer agony, staring blankly at Zhu Zhenyi.
…
“Xiao An, Xiao An, wake up…”
Coming to, Xiao An found a crowd gathered around her, a sea of familiar faces etched with deep anxiety.
Auntie Hu yelled at the top of her lungs, “Quick, go grab that water from my plot and bring it over for Xiao An to have a sip!”
Auntie Hu’s barefoot son came running over with a chipped coarse porcelain bowl. “Ma, here’s the water!”
Supported by Auntie Hu, Xiao An drank the water, while someone lifted the straw hat from their head to fan her cool air.
Auntie Hu said with a heart-wrenching ache in her voice, “Xiao An, you silly girl, in this blistering heat, not a single person from the Chen family comes out to work the fields, leaving you to do it all by yourself. Nearly all the work points for that household are earned by you. Listen to Auntie: you’ve already spent over two years in mourning for Chen Xueqiang, that’s more than enough… You’re still young, find a good family to marry into and stop playing the beast of burden for the Chens. The Chens aren’t worth it.”
Someone tugged at Auntie Hu’s sleeve. “Xiao An just woke up, don’t say things she won’t want to hear.”
Truth be told, that person was looking out for Auntie Hu too. After all, someone had once said similar things to Xiao An in the past, and the usually gentle-natured Xiao An had flipped out like a completely different person, chewing that person out until their face and neck turned red.
Feeling Xiao An’s skin-and-bones back through her clothes, Auntie Hu pressed on, “Even if Xiao An yells at me, I’m saying it anyway. Chen Xueqiang is a man without any blessings, which is why he could never spend his life with Xiao An. But the Chen family is no good; they’re a nest of blood-sucking leeches. Look at how skin-and-bones Xiao An is, and then look at how plump and fair Chen Xuelan is. This… this is just bullying Xiao An because she has no family backing her up.”
“Xiao An, hurry on home. Before I came over, I passed by your place and heard your mother-in-law talking about boiling a couple of eggs for Xuelan. Hurry back and eat them yourself. You’re run down to the bone, how can you go on without eating?” another older woman chimed in.
“Thank you, Aunties and Grandmas, for caring. I’ll rest for a bit, just a bit.”
Seeing that Xiao An still wore her customary meek expression, the crowd walked away feeling a mix of frustration and pity.
Surely, the pitiable must have their hateful flaws.
Little did they know, Xiao An was simply trying to process the fact that she had been reborn. She needed a moment to digest it all.
A storm raged inside Xiao An’s heart. Though hatred for the Chen family remained, it was far outweighed by the burning hope of this second chance at life—this time, she would live for herself.
She got up, hoisted her hoe onto her shoulder, and headed back to the Chen house.
The courtyard gate was wide open. Chen Xuelan walked out of the main hall holding a pair of boiled eggs, freezing in her tracks the moment she locked eyes with Xiao An.
From inside the main hall came the voice of Chen Xuelan’s mother, Li Xiuhua: “Eat them inside, don’t go wandering out where people can see. In case your sister-in-law suddenly comes back, you’ll have to share with her…”
Hearing that, Xiao An curled the corners of her mouth and called out loudly, “Auntie, you’re a bit late with that warning.”
Stepping right up, Xiao An snatched the eggs straight out of Chen Xuelan’s hands.
Li Xiuhua bolted out of the main hall at the sound, instantly reaching out to grab the eggs back from Xiao An.
Trying to force a smile, she said, “Xiao An, you’re the sister-in-law, snatching food from your younger sister doesn’t look good. Tell me what you want to eat for lunch, and you can go whip it up in the kitchen yourself.”
With a sharp pivot, Xiao An tucked the eggs into her pocket, the hoe resting on her shoulder nearly clipping Li Xiuhua right across the face and sending the older woman scrambling backward in terror.
Go whip it up in the kitchen yourself!
How laughable. That was just their way of rushing her into the kitchen to cook for the whole family, while all the good food was locked away in Li Xiuhua’s bedroom cabinet. The kitchen certainly wouldn’t have anything worth eating.
With her hoe still on her shoulder, Xiao An strode straight into the kitchen and began smashing the place to pieces.
Li Xiuhua tried to step in and stop her, but fear of the hoe kept her at bay. She slapped her own thigh and wailed, “An-an, what on earth are you doing? There are only a few bowls and a single pot in this whole house, and you’re smashing them all to bits! What are we supposed to use later?”
Seeing that Xiao An had already started tearing up the cooking stove, Li Xiuhua spun around and screamed at Chen Xuelan, “Are you blind standing there? Why aren’t you going over to pull your sister-in-law away?”
Paralyzed by the sheer ferocity of Xiao An’s transformation, Chen Xuelan didn’t dare step forward, thinking to herself: Could Xiao An already know about her intercepting the letters from Kyoto?
Just as she was frantically trying to cook up a lie to fool Xiao An, a figure in olive-green military uniform strode into their courtyard.
Seizing the opportunity, Chen Xuelan cried out, “Sister-in-law! Are you acting like this because you found out someone is coming from Kyoto to pick you up, so you’ve dropped all your old gentleness and obedience?
“Even if you’re in a rush to remarry, you can’t go destroying the house like a lunatic!
“No matter what, you’ve lived in this house for over two years. If the grandson from the Pei family sees you looking like an absolute shrew right now, he’s never going to want you.”
Without missing a beat in her destruction, Xiao An deliberately played along to rile Chen Xuelan up: “Whether the Pei family grandson fancies me doesn’t matter. The moment I get to Kyoto, I’ll just cry to Elder Pei and tell him I want to marry his grandson. Even if he has to drag him by the collar, Elder Pei will toss his grandson right into my bed!”
Her voice, carrying over the sound of smashing pots and pans, drifted straight out of the kitchen. Having just stepped through the courtyard gate, Pei Zhiheng froze in his tracks. A cold look flashed in his eyes, and he turned right back around, heading back the way he came.