Bei Qinghuan dazedly put down the mirror. Suddenly, as if remembering something, she lifted her clothes to look at her lower right abdomen.
Thank goodness, thank goodness. The skin there was smooth, fair, and flawless.
That was terrifying!
In the dream just now, the wound on her body had hurt so, so much.
Bei Qinghuan plopped back down on the bed, repeatedly replaying the scenes from her dream. She felt that the dream had been unbelievably clear.
So clear that she was beginning to think those events were from her past life.
Mei Suqin’s inner voice had said she raised two children… donated a kidney… Zhenghong went abroad…
Didn’t that just overlap perfectly!
Damn it!
She actually had children!
Who would want to have children for a family that was so petty and only knew how to scheme!
For what reason did her past self marry into the Qin family without them giving any betrothal gifts?
She must have been kicked in the head by a donkey.
Bei Qinghuan thought it over and over but couldn’t figure it out.
But the next morning, the answer seemed to present itself.
Early in the morning, Yan Guifang rushed into her room and called out to her, “Get up, quick, your grandfather is here! I told you breaking off the engagement wouldn’t be that easy. Mei Suqin went to find your grandfather last night. The old man is sitting outside, saying he won’t let me go to work today until this is cleared up. Get up, quick.”
Bei Qinghuan had no choice but to get up.
In the living room sat an old man in his eighties, Bei Shi’an.
He was thin and gaunt with a beard, which made him look exceptionally stern.
Bei Qinghuan glanced at him, and a feeling that was both familiar and strange washed over her.
It was familiar because she had known since childhood that this was her grandfather.
It was strange because she rarely saw him. The last time she had seen him was when she went to bid him farewell before being sent to the countryside.
The old man seemed to have stopped changing; he looked no different from five years ago.
Bei Qinghuan took a breath, walked over, and greeted him properly, “Grandfather, you’re here.”
Bei Shi’an lifted his drooping eyelids to look at his young granddaughter. His taut face did not relax; instead, he stamped the cane in his hand. “Kneel!”
It was always like this.
He would make people kneel at the drop of a hat to satisfy his authority as an elder.
Bei Qinghuan secretly rolled her eyes and didn’t move.
Bei Shi’an’s voice grew louder. “Do you want me to bring out your father’s memorial tablet and open the door for the entire building to see?”
Yan Guifang gently tugged on Bei Qinghuan’s sleeve. “Just pretend, just go along with it!”
Bei Qinghuan took a deep breath and slowly knelt before the old man.
Bei Shi’an began to roar, “Who gave you the nerve to go to the Qin family and break off the engagement? Who gave you the audacity to ask for betrothal gifts? The Bei family cannot afford to lose face like this!”
Bei Qinghuan kept her back straight and remained silent.
Yan Guifang spoke in a low voice, “Dad, the Qin family looks down on Qinghuan so much, and that Qin Zhenghua doesn’t care about her either…”
“This is not your place to speak!” Bei Shi’an didn’t even look at Yan Guifang, continuing his tirade. “You’re just a replacement wife. If you hadn’t given birth to her, our family wouldn’t have been torn apart! And you still have the nerve to speak!”
Yan Guifang fell silent, holding her tongue.
Bei Qinghuan closed her eyes and continued to endure.
Bei Shi’an let out a very satisfied “hmph,” pulled the Marriage Certificate from his old-fashioned coarse cloth jacket, and threw it in front of Bei Qinghuan.
“You are not allowed to break it off! I’ve brought the Marriage Certificate back. No woman from my Bei family has ever broken off an engagement. Let me tell you, if you dare to, I’ll break your legs!”
Bei Qinghuan still said nothing.
However, this silence made Bei Shi’an’s anger less intense than it was at the start.
He panted for a while with the breath of an eighty-year-old man, then began to soften his tone.
“Qinghuan, you are the youngest child in the family. Once you’re married, Grandfather can rest easy and close my eyes in peace. Marry him properly. When you get married, Grandfather will give you a big red envelope, alright?”
Bei Qinghuan spoke. “How much money?”
Bei Shi’an was taken aback. “Huh?”
Bei Qinghuan raised her voice. “I said, how much money is in your big red envelope? Is it enough to buy my entire life?”
“You!” The old man’s cane came swinging at her. “How dare you talk back!”
Bei Qinghuan easily grabbed the cane, and with a sharp twist, snatched it from the old man’s hand and tossed it aside.
She suddenly stood up and went to open the front door.
“Don’t threaten me. I’m not afraid of people watching. I don’t care if you bring out my dad’s memorial tablet. In short, I’m not marrying him. If someone has to, you marry him! When my mom and I were struggling to get by, you acted like we didn’t exist. Now that you’re forcing me to marry, you’re claiming I’m part of the Bei family? Let me tell you, I’m no longer the sixteen-year-old Bei Qinghuan who begged you not to let me be sent to the countryside. I’m twenty now. I don’t need your Bei family to support me!”
The old man had never imagined that after five years, the damn girl would have such audacity.
When she was sent to the countryside, she had been crying the whole time!
This was rebellion!
Bei Shi’an pointed a trembling finger. “You, you, you you you…”
Bei Qinghuan cut off his frantic sputtering.
“Don’t get worked up; it’s not worth it. It’s not easy to live to be eighty-two. If you die in our house, I don’t have the money to give you a grand funeral. You should go. Go back the same way you came. Just like before, pretend the Bei family doesn’t have me!”
This thoroughly infuriated the old man. After sputtering “you you you” for a while, he began to clutch his chest, looking as if he couldn’t breathe.
Yan Guifang was terrified and grabbed Bei Qinghuan’s sleeve. “Qinghuan, stop talking, please stop! Grandfather has a heart condition. Don’t make him faint from anger!”
Bei Qinghuan turned, went back to her room, and came out with her box of Acupuncture Needles. She deliberately selected two long needles, each a full twelve centimeters, and brought them before the old man.
“Grandfather, you’d better think twice before fainting. My long needles will ensure you don’t die. But at your age, once you faint, you’ll lose control of your bowels. It won’t be dignified.”
The needles were very thin and very long, glinting sharply in the morning sun.
It was a chilling sight.
The old man stared at the two needles that made his old eyes grow even dimmer. He forced himself to stay upright and did not faint.
But his breathing was as loud as a bellows. “You defiant beast! I never, never thought you’d be so unfilial. If I had known, if I had known, I would have strangled you at birth!”
Bei Qinghuan replied with composure.
“If you had known? If I had known you were this kind of grandfather, I wouldn’t have been reincarnated into your family! Grandfather, I’ve grown up. I won’t let you all bully me anymore. Back when my dad died, you ganged up with my uncles to bully my mom. It’s already good enough that I haven’t confronted you about it. And you still want to pull rank on me? Go back. I’ll handle the matter with the Qin family myself.”
She was furious inside, but if something happened to the old man in her home, it would be hard to explain.
Bei Qinghuan went to pick up the cane and placed it beside the old man. “Take it. Don’t even think about hitting me. I won’t let you hit me again.”
The old man snatched it, panting “huff, huff.” He was breathing so heavily that Yan Guifang, standing beside him, was clutching her daughter’s clothes tightly.
However, the old man did not faint.
After panting for a full five minutes, he propped himself up with the cane and stamped it. “Bei Qinghuan, you beast! Have you forgotten what your father told you when he was dying? How dare you treat me like this!”