Watching the tall, olive-green figure stride away, Chen Xuelan cast a sneering look toward the kitchen. Xiao An, thinking you can go to Kyoto? In your dreams.
Her gaze snapped back to the retreating green uniform, her eyes filled with a helpless infatuation. To keep her little scheme from looking too obvious, she hadn’t dared look the man straight in the face, but even a glance from the corner of her eye had completely unmoored her heart.
She clenched her fists, venom flashing in her eyes as she glared back at the kitchen.
Damn that Xiao An! Why is she so lucky? Why did she have to have a grandfather with such deep foresight?
Years ago, when the village had taken in a group of people sent down for labor reform, the locals had scrambled to keep their distance. Some even had malicious streaks and went out of their way to bully the newcomers. Only Xiao An’s grandfather had helped them however he could, making their lives in the village just a little more endurable.
Who could have guessed that one day these purged individuals would be fully rehabilitated, turning out to be figures of immense power? Even though Xiao An’s grandfather had long since passed away, those people still remembered her, sending letters and parcels from time to time—even though Xiao An had been entirely kept in the dark.
Chen Xuelan burned with bitter jealousy. If I were Xiao An, and used that debt of gratitude to force my way into marrying that man just now, the Pei family would definitely agree.
Inside the kitchen, seeing that she had pretty much smashed everything to pieces, Xiao An finally stopped. Only then did Li Xiuhua dare to step inside.
She wailed, “Ruined! Everything’s ruined! Xiao An, what kind of sudden madness has gotten into you?!”
Not a single thing in the kitchen remained intact; even the mud stove had been half-chopped away. Heartbroken beyond measure, Li Xiuhua lunged straight at Xiao An.
“I’ll beat you to death, you destructive wretch! What on earth are you doing…”
Just as Li Xiuhua lunged forward, Xiao An nimbly leaped back, purposely dragging one foot behind to slow her pace.
Li Xiuhua’s upper body sliced through empty air, and her foot caught on the debris, sending her hurtling straight toward the ground. Her hand slammed right down onto a pile of broken porcelain, the sharp pain making her double over like a boiled shrimp before she snapped back up.
Clutching her bleeding right hand, Li Xiuhua gritted her teeth and spat viciously, “Xiao An, as long as you’re in this house, I am your mother-in-law! How dare you hit your mother-in-law? I’ll have the village chief drag you down to the river and drown you in a pig cage!”
“Drown me in a pig cage? Hahaha,” Xiao An burst out laughing. “You think this is still the old society, using pig cages to scare people? See if the village chief doesn’t spit all over your face first.”
“You… Are you just going to pretend you didn’t just hit your mother-in-law?! I don’t know what kind of ancestor raised a piece of trash like you…”
“Slap!”
Stepping forward quickly, Xiao An raised her hand and struck Li Xiuhua across the face.
Her eyes burning red, she snarled, “You have no right to mention my grandfather! The biggest regret of my life is that I didn’t listen to him, that I insisted on marrying Chen Xueqiang and letting a nest of leeches like you bully me!”
“You dare hit my mom…” Chen Xuelan screamed, lunging forward from the doorway.
Though Chen Xuelan was shorter than Xiao An, Xiao An had worked herself to the bone ever since marrying into the Chen family—eating the least and doing the most—leaving her as slender and frail as a dried reed stalk. She had no physical strength to match the plump Chen Xuelan.
Within seconds, Xiao An was pinned to the ground by Chen Xuelan and Li Xiuhua.
At the entrance of the village, Li Xiaogang, the security guard sitting in the jeep, saw Pei Zhiheng returning alone. He hopped out of the vehicle and asked curiously, “Deputy Commander, where is Comrade Xiao?”
Pei Zhiheng’s face was as dark and taut as charcoal. “Go pick up Comrade Xiao An. When you get back, tell my grandfather I’m heading straight back to the military base.”
Li Xiaogang scratched the back of his head, muttering to himself. Wasn’t the Deputy Commander still on leave? Why does he suddenly have to go back now?
Relying on his memory from two years ago, Li Xiaogang arrived at Chen Xueqiang’s courtyard. The moment he reached the gate, he heard shrill screams and cursing coming from the kitchen. Throwing politeness to the wind, he sprinted straight to the kitchen entrance.
There, he saw Chen Xuelan straddling Xiao An, winding up to slap her across the face, while Li Xiuhua squatted near Xiao An’s head, yanking hard on her hair.
“What do you think you’re doing!”
Furious, Li Xiaogang strode in with a few long strides. He grabbed Chen Xuelan by the collar, hauled her off Xiao An, and shoved her aside. “Is this how you people treat Elder Xiao’s granddaughter?”
Chen Xuelan landed squarely on a pile of broken porcelain fragments, letting out a muffled groan of pain as she failed to get back up.
Frightened by the sudden intrusion, Li Xiuhua immediately let go of Xiao An, scrambled to her feet, and stammered timidly, “We… we were just… playing with An-an…”
Looking little more than a teenager himself, Li Xiaogang puffed out his cheeks in anger. “I might be young, but I’m not blind.”
As he spoke, Li Xiaogang reached down to help Xiao An up. Looking up with a confused expression, Xiao An asked, “You are…?”
Li Xiaogang switched to a shy, polite smile. “Does Comrade Xiao not remember me? I’m Chief Pei’s guard. After Elder Xiao passed away, the old chief and I came to visit you.
“The old chief wrote you letters, but you never replied. He was worried about you, so he sent Deputy Commander Pei and me to come pick you up.”
A look of crazed obsession flashed in Chen Xuelan’s eyes once more. “The… Deputy Commander? Where is he?”
Ignoring Chen Xuelan entirely, and remembering the thunderous expression on the Deputy Commander’s face when he left, Li Xiaogang explained to Xiao An, “Deputy Commander Pei suddenly received an emergency mission and had to head straight back to the base. But it’s all the same—I can escort Comrade Xiao back to Kyoto myself.”
In her past life, Xiao An hadn’t learned until she was over forty that the people in Kyoto who cared about her had been constantly writing letters and sending her parcels. The Chen family had always lied to her, claiming those packages came from Chen Xueqiang’s comrades as a way to fulfill his filial duties.
Even after learning the truth, she hadn’t kicked up a fuss, figuring they were all one family and it didn’t matter who ate or used what.
In her previous life, those important figures in Kyoto had repeatedly urged her to move there so they could take care of her. But because she held onto the belief that her grandfather had lived an upright life, she refused to sponge off his legacy for her own comfort at forty years old. Furthermore, she was so hopelessly in love with Chen Xueqiang and viewed herself so deeply as a Chen daughter-in-law that she couldn’t bear to leave his aging parents behind.
But this life?
Heh. In your dreams.
Feigning utter shock and confusion, Xiao An asked, “Letters? What letters? I’ve never received a single letter from Kyoto. I had no idea you guys were coming to pick me up today, either.”
Seeing Xiao An’s reaction, and recalling how she had just been bullied, it all clicked into place for Li Xiaogang.
He glared fiercely at Li Xiuhua. “You people—hand over every single letter the old chief sent to Comrade Xiao right now.”
Darting her eyes away, Li Xiuhua shrank back and muttered defensively, “Letters? What letters? We never got any letters.”
“No, no… they did get them,” Xiao An said, her face suddenly clearing with an expression of sudden realization. “Chen Xuelan just mentioned a moment ago that someone from Kyoto was coming to pick me up. I was wondering how she knew; now that I think about it, you must have intercepted and read my letters beforehand.
“You… were you afraid that once I left, nobody would stay behind to do the farm work for your Chen family, so you deliberately suppressed my mail? How… how could you be so vicious?
“Ever since I married Xueqiang, even though we never shared a bed, I never once thought of remarrying. I worked from dawn till dusk like an animal to earn work points for you, treating you all like my own parents and sister.
“And yet… you cut off all my connections to the outside world! What kind of malicious hearts do you have?
“I want to see my letters. Give me every single one of them back!”
Tears of grievance streamed down Xiao An’s face like a sudden downpour, her voice choking up several times. She cut a truly pitiful, heart-wrenching figure.
Terrified, Li Xiuhua glanced sidelong at Chen Xuelan. They couldn’t let Xiao An get her hands on those letters—those weren’t just letters; they contained food coupons and money vouchers!
After all, Chen Xuelan was only a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl, and now panic had completely overtaken her. Stuttering as she tried to maintain a facade of calm, she blurted out, “The… the letters were all burned by me!”
“You just said there weren’t any letters, and now you’re saying they were burned. I don’t believe a word of it.” With an expression of grief and righteous anger, Xiao An turned to Li Xiaogang. “Comrade Li, please help me keep an eye on these two and don’t let them move a muscle. I’m going to find the village chief and have him deliver some justice for me.”