“Xia Mingyu! Xia Mingyu! Where do you think you’re going, you bitch? Is my breakfast ready?”
“Can’t you see I’ve shit myself? Hurry up and clean me up! It stinks to high heaven, and I still have to eat!”
“You damn mute, can’t even talk, you could at least be a little more diligent! And you gave birth to two sons who don’t even look like mine. If my son wasn’t so kind-hearted, he would have divorced you long ago!”
“He’s a military officer, he can have any wife he wants!”
Seeing Xia Mingyu walking out with her child and ignoring her, Li Zhaodi couldn’t help but shriek even louder.
She was paralyzed from the waist down, completely dependent on her daughter-in-law for eating, drinking, and relieving herself, but her caustic nature remained unchanged.
She would beat and curse at Xia Mingyu daily, and often deliberately wet the bed for her to clean up. It was disgusting.
As the scolding intensified, Xia Mingyu, her eyes red, merely turned to glare at her.
“Why is Grandma always scolding people! It’s so annoying!” Yuanyuan grumbled, dissatisfied. At only four years old, he already knew to protect his mother.
He was a bit thin, but his features were handsome. His face still had its baby fat, his large eyes were dark and bright, and his lashes were long and thick, making him look clever.
Xia Mingyu’s expression was grief-stricken. She could no longer be bothered with her scolding mother-in-law. She pulled her younger son along and hurried outside.
A neighbor was cooling off at her doorway. Hearing that old shrew start her tirade again, she couldn’t help but sigh.
“Mingyu, why is it only Yuanyuan? Where’s Tuantuan?”
“And Qiao Hongye? Didn’t he come back? Let him take care of his high-maintenance old mother for a change. Day in and day out, she works you like an ox!” the neighbor said, speaking up for Xia Mingyu.
“Ah…”
Xia Mingyu tried to speak, but it was as if something was blocking her throat. She couldn’t get the words out.
She frantically gestured with her hands, trying to tell the neighbor what had happened.
But the neighbor didn’t understand and just looked at Xia Mingyu in confusion.
“What are you trying to say?”
Xia Mingyu bit her lip, tears streaming down her face.
I can’t say it! Why can’t I still say it!
Thirteen years! She couldn’t be a coward any longer!
“Brother, he…”
Seeing his mother unable to speak, Yuanyuan was about to speak up when Xia Mingyu scooped him into her arms.
There was no time!
If she didn’t follow now, it would be too late!
Xia Mingyu left the bewildered neighbor behind and ran, holding Yuanyuan, in pursuit.
At the Gongshe.
“Regimental Commander, have you received the child? Do you like him?”
“If you find him too talkative, there’s the second one. He doesn’t talk much.”
“You saved my life, so my life is yours. Never mind one child, as long as I can be of help to you, it’s that little brat’s good fortune!” Qiao Hongye said fawningly.
He clutched the telephone receiver, his tone obsequious to the extreme.
The very picture of a sycophant!
Xia Mingyu couldn’t hear what the person on the other end of the line was saying.
She was secretly eavesdropping from outside, and all she could hear were Qiao Hongye’s shameless words.
Xia Mingyu trembled with rage, her nails digging so deep into her palms that they drew blood.
“Mama, save Brother…”
Yuanyuan had also heard Qiao Hongye’s words. His eyes filled with tears as he looked up pleadingly at Xia Mingyu.
Xia Mingyu lovingly stroked his small, round head.
She would definitely save him. Her son, whom she had worked so hard to raise, she couldn’t lose a single one!
But she didn’t understand. Weren’t Tuantuan and Yuanyuan her and Qiao Hongye’s biological sons?
It was one thing for Qiao Hongye to be cruel to her; she had long known he was no good man. But how could he be so heartless to his own flesh and blood!
Just because his superior couldn’t have children, he was going to give their son away to be raised by someone else!
What did Qiao Hongye think their child was!
In the five years of their marriage, she had toiled at home, raised their children, and served his paralyzed, abusive mother, yet he had never sent a single cent back!
She had struggled to hold on for five years, believing she had never wronged Qiao Hongye in any way!
He worked in the army and hadn’t returned even once in five years. He had left right after their wedding night, and now that he was finally back, it was to give her son away!
Qiao Hongye had gone too far!!!
Even a cornered rabbit will bite!
An intense hatred flared in Xia Mingyu’s eyes.
She couldn’t endure it any longer!
“Ah… hide…”
Xia Mingyu managed to force out a few muffled sounds. She gave her younger son a little push, hiding him in a corner behind the counter and covering him with a straw basket to make it look like a pile of sundries.
Yuanyuan understood his mother; he knew what she meant without her having to speak.
“Okay.”
“Be careful, Mama.”
Yuanyuan nodded obediently. He squatted down, hugging his knees, and let Xia Mingyu cover him with the basket, peering out only through the gaps in the straw.
He was so small, yet so sensible.
The sight made Xia Mingyu’s eyes sting, and she almost cried again.
But now was not the time for tears.
Xia Mingyu fiercely wiped her tears away and turned to rush toward Qiao Hongye.
Qiao Hongye hadn’t hung up the phone yet, but his expression was growing uglier. It seemed this child-delivery operation was not going smoothly.
Taking advantage of his distraction, Xia Mingyu launched a sneak attack, kicking him squarely in the lower back!
“Give me back my son!”
Xia Mingyu moved her lips, expecting to be unable to speak again. But unexpectedly, the moment she saw Qiao Hongye’s face, new and old hatreds surged up together!
Xia Mingyu felt a heat rush to her head, and her throat felt it too, burning until her blood boiled!
Qiao Hongye had forcefully pushed her, and Xia Mingyu, who hadn’t spoken in thirteen years, shouted!
The barrier stuck in her throat had been broken through by Xia Mingyu!!!
After shouting, Xia Mingyu touched her throat in pleasant surprise.
She could speak?
This time, she would definitely make Qiao Hongye hand Tuantuan over!
She was going to settle the score with Qiao Hongye. She refused to endure it any longer!
Xia Mingyu charged forward again in a fury!
“Hiss!”
Qiao Hongye clutched his back and cried out in pain.
But Xia Mingyu was, after all, a woman. She was thin and small, not strong enough, and her reflexes weren’t fast enough.
Qiao Hongye had managed to climb his way up to Battalion Commander in the army; he had at least some basic reflexes.
Before Xia Mingyu could attack him again, Qiao Hongye quickly spun around, dodged her other kick, then seized her by the wrist and viciously shoved her to the ground!
“What are you doing? You bitch! Are you insane!”
Qiao Hongye hadn’t expected the usually submissive Xia Mingyu to actually hit someone. He roared in anger and raised his hand, intending to slap her.
It seemed Xia Mingyu knew that her son had been given away.
So what if she knew?
He was determined to give this child away!
If the Regimental Commander didn’t like the older one, he could send the younger one over as well!
They were just two little bastards anyway. He wouldn’t feel a thing even if they died, let alone being given away.
A vicious glint flashed in Qiao Hongye’s eyes.
When Qiao Hongye shoved her, Xia Mingyu’s tailbone slammed hard onto the ground. The pain made the lower half of her body go numb, and for a moment, she couldn’t get up at all.
Xia Mingyu thought she was about to take the slap and couldn’t help but cover her face.
Fortunately, this was the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and there were quite a few people around.
With the sudden commotion, although the crowd didn’t yet know what was happening, some kind-hearted men and women subconsciously came over to break up the fight.
“What are you doing hitting someone! This is the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, no troublemaking allowed!”
“That’s right, you’re a grown man, have you no shame hitting a woman! Can’t you talk things out properly!”
The crowd swarmed to stand between them.
A kind woman helped Xia Mingyu to her feet.
She knew she couldn’t possibly beat Qiao Hongye on her own. She could only rely on everyone here to help her get justice.
A glint flashed in Xia Mingyu’s eyes. She gritted her teeth, pointed directly at Qiao Hongye, and shouted.
“He’s a human trafficker! He sold my son to Jing Shi!”
“Please, I’m begging you, help me catch him! I want to report this to the Public Security Bureau!”
Her words were like dropping a stone into a pot of boiling water. The crowd instantly erupted!
“What! He looks so respectable, but he’s a human trafficker!”
“Human traffickers deserve to die! Everyone, come and help!”
Initially, some people had thought it was a domestic dispute and were just watching from the sidelines. But upon hearing the words “human trafficker,” everyone, without a second thought, rolled up their sleeves and rushed forward.
No matter the era, human traffickers deserved to die. This was a consensus shared by all!
Qiao Hongye was stunned by Xia Mingyu’s words. When did she learn to lie!
“Who’s a human trafficker! I’m the damn father of the child! Xia Mingyu, don’t you spout nonsense…”
“Wait, you can talk? Aren’t you a mute??”
Qiao Hongye cursed at Xia Mingyu while dodging. After a couple of curses, he suddenly realized that Xia Mingyu had actually spoken.
It wasn’t a hallucination!
It seemed Xia Mingyu had said from the very beginning to give her son back, but he had subconsciously ignored it!
Qiao Hongye was even more shocked than before.
Xia Mingyu had come to their production team from another place with her father when she was ten.
He had married Xia Mingyu for many reasons, the most important being that her father had connections that could get him into the army through the back door.
At the time, he didn’t meet the requirements and couldn’t enlist on his own.
Moreover, her father was sick and about to die.
Once her father died, she would have no one to rely on, while he could use her father’s connections to climb up!
So he deliberately set a trap, forcing Xia Mingyu’s father to marry her to him!
Another reason that made him even happier was that Xia Mingyu couldn’t speak.
Therefore, marrying her to take care of his paralyzed mother was the best choice. Even if she was wronged, she couldn’t speak or write, unable to voice her grievances.
That included giving the children away.
The value of Xia Mingyu’s dead father had been completely squeezed dry. If he wanted a promotion, he had to find another way.
No one else knew anyway. When people from the team asked later, he could just say that Xia Mingyu was a careless mother and lost the child.
But now, she could actually speak???
Had this bitch been playing mind games with him all along?!
Xia Mingyu seized upon his slip-up and quickly retorted.
“See! He didn’t even know I could talk!”
“I don’t know him! He took my son and sold him to someone else! He’s a human trafficker!”
Xia Mingyu’s voice was loud and clear, her eyes filled with hatred as she stared at Qiao Hongye.
At the age of ten, due to a family tragedy, Xia Mingyu had been traumatized and hadn’t spoken since. But this time, for the sake of her son, she had broken through her psychological barrier and didn’t falter!
The moment she spoke, her words were articulate and her reasoning clear.
The people present immediately took her side.
“She’s right! Catch the human trafficker! We can’t let this bastard get away!”