“Father, Mother, I beg of you, please save Wuya! She is Fei Zhou’s only daughter!”
He Tingyue’s forehead slammed heavily against the muddy ground of the courtyard, but her actions failed to earn even a glance from Lin Laogen or Yue Hongmei.
Yue Hongmei glared at He Tingyue’s skeletal back with a face full of impatience, spat a thick glob of phlegm, and said, “She’s nothing but a born-idiot money-loser. Keeping her alive is a waste of grain; we might as well just find some wasteland and bury her to be done with it!”
He Tingyue’s spine stiffened as she listened to her mother-in-law’s caustic words.
The complexion of Lin Wuya, whom she held in her arms, could no longer be described as merely sickly.
If He Tingyue were to look down right now, she would realize that the daughter she was so desperately trying to save had long since stopped breathing.
Chu Yu hid inside the house, watching He Tingyue’s pathetic state with a look of pure satisfaction playing on her lips.
“Auntie, what are you looking at?”
Chu Yu looked at Lin Yaozu’s bloated, fleshy face, a flash of disgust crossing her brow. However, thinking of He Tingyue’s despair, she couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Yaozu, come here. I have something to tell you.”
As she spoke, she smiled and beckoned Lin Yaozu over, whispering something into his ear.
After hearing her words, Lin Yaozu couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows. “She’s just a money-loser. Is she really worth me leading Grandpa away?”
“Who told you to lead your Grandpa away? Didn’t I say I wanted your Grandpa to take you to town!”
Lin Yaozu finally understood Chu Yu’s meaning, and his small eyes filled with malice.
“Hehe, this sounds fun—”
As he spoke, he charged out like a firecracker.
He Tingyue sensed something flash past her. She tried her best to open her eyes, but she had been starving for several days and had long since run out of strength.
Gradually, her back slumped lower and lower, and her vision began to darken.
But it was at that moment that she heard the voice of her second brother-in-law’s son, Yaozu—a voice so innocent it was almost cruel.
“Grandpa, take me to the town’s market in a bit. I want to eat pork and scallion dumplings from the state-owned restaurant!”
He spoke with such entitlement, yet Lin Laogen wasn’t angry at all. Instead, he cheerfully leaned over and pulled the boy into his arms.
“If my precious grandson wants to eat them, then we’ll buy them!”
“That’s right! Anyway, Third Uncle’s pension is in your hands; we have plenty of money!”
Although Lin Yaozu didn’t know why Chu Yu wanted him to say this, the thought of those succulent pork and scallion dumplings made him swallow hard in anticipation…
That was the last thing He Tingyue heard before she lost consciousness.
By the time she woke up, the courtyard was empty, and the Lin Wuya in her arms had long since…
“Wuya! Wuya! Mother’s heart and soul, don’t scare Mother!”
He Tingyue felt as if something had pierced her chest, the pain so sharp that her tears became uncontrollable.
It was then that Chu Yu walked up to He Tingyue, looking down at her from above.
“He Tingyue, do you know? Your family’s current situation is all your fault!”
“I… my fault?”
Under years of Yue Hongmei’s torment, He Tingyue had become like a tireless beast of burden, long ago losing her capacity for independent thought.
Hearing Chu Yu’s words, she instinctively shrank back.
Chu Yu looked at her, and seeing how she remained strikingly beautiful even in such a haggard state, she could not suppress the resentment in her heart.
Malice flashed in her eyes as she whispered, “It’s because of you. You snatched Lin Fei Zhou away, and that’s why he died. Now it’s your daughter, Lin Wuya, and soon it will be your turn…”
As she spoke, she pointed at the pagoda tree in the courtyard.
“Guess why, out of all the children in the Lin family, only your daughter was born a fool?”
He Tingyue’s despairing eyes forgot even to blink as she stared straight at the pagoda tree.
She remembered that tree. Her father-in-law had planted it in the courtyard the day after Wuya was born.
But what did that tree have to do with her Wuya?
Wasn’t Wuya’s idiocy caused by the complications during her difficult labor?
He Tingyue felt her numb chest thumping violently, as if something were about to surge out and give her the answer.
Chu Yu stared at her cruelly and smiled. “Buried beneath that pagoda tree is your daughter’s Bazi. Guess why the Lin family only had girls in this generation, yet Yaozu was born shortly after Lin Wuya?”
Chu Yu knew He Tingyue was intelligent and would surely connect the dots.
As if fearing He Tingyue wasn’t desperate enough, Chu Yu leaned in close to her ear and whispered the truth about the hemorrhage she suffered after the difficult labor.
“You didn’t know, did you? I personally added the saffron to the soups meant to help your milk come in.”
When she uttered the last word, she expected He Tingyue to collapse or go mad. To her surprise, the woman merely gave her a dull look. Then, using every ounce of strength she possessed, she hoisted the long-dead Lin Wuya onto her back and walked out.
Chu Yu watched her until her figure vanished, then instinctively clutched her own chest. For some reason, an uneasy feeling had taken root in her heart.
It was at this moment that Lin Laogen and Yue Hongmei returned from outside with a jubilant Lin Yaozu.
Seeing that the eyesore of a pair was gone from the courtyard, Yue Hongmei let out a cold snort.
Lin Yaozu looked around and couldn’t help but ask, “Where are that sickly idiot and her mother?”
“Shortly after you left, Wuya stopped breathing. Sister-in-law must have gone to find a place to bury her,” Chu Yu replied.
Before Yue Hongmei, Chu Yu reverted to her gentle and considerate persona, causing Yue Hongmei’s heart to ache for her.
“What ‘Sister-in-law’? You are my daughter. That dog-leftover—”
“Daniu’s mother, I think you’ve gone senile!”
Lin Laogen still had some sense of propriety. Moreover, now that the Chu family had regained their status, wasn’t it obvious whether it was more beneficial for Chu Yu to return to the Chus or stay with the Lins?
Yue Hongmei clearly thought of this as well. Though unwilling, she could only endure it for the sake of her daughter’s future.
Chu Yu knew exactly what they were thinking and sneered inwardly, cursing Lin Laogen for his heartlessness.
On the surface, however, she maintained her act, her eyes reddening as she promised that in her heart, only Lin Laogen and Yue Hongmei were her true parents, causing Yue Hongmei to feel another pang of sympathy.
But if one looked closely, they would see that within those puffy eyes—so like Yue Hongmei’s—there was no trace of sadness.
They were filled with calculating ambition.
Meanwhile, He Tingyue had carried Lin Wuya up the mountain to the long-abandoned Chenghuangmiao.
This was the place where she and Lin Fei Zhou had first met.
Thinking of that man, a trace of warmth unconsciously flickered in He Tingyue’s eyes. But in the next second, that warmth turned to ice. She hardened her heart and tore the image of Lin Fei Zhou from her mind.
After personally burying the cold body of Lin Wuya behind the Chenghuangmiao, He Tingyue sat there, counting her bloody fingers as she waited for darkness to fall.
Not until there was no sound left but the chirping of insects did she strip off her tattered padded coat and tear it into long strips. She scraped lamp oil from beneath the candle stands of the Chenghuangmiao and wrapped the strips into a torch.
Gripping the torch, she began to walk down the mountain step by step, soon vanishing into the night.