Zhou Yufen was equally shocked, her trembling finger pointing at Song Jinhe. “You… you’re insane? Xiao Ran is your…”
Song Jinhe didn’t need to hear the rest to know what she would say.
Even if Zhou Yufen wasn’t tired of saying it, she was tired of hearing it.
She turned around and went back into the room, locking the door, planning to ask Lu Guoheng for the pendant back when he returned.
For her now, only the pendant and her peace of mind mattered.
In the living room, Zhou Yufen watched Song Jinhe enter the room without looking back and was utterly dumbfounded.
It took her several seconds to snap out of it amidst her grandson’s ear-splitting cries.
“How did I end up with such a heartless daughter-in-law!”
“This is no way to live!”
“Divorce! When Guoheng returns, I’ll make him divorce you!”
Zhou Yufen slapped her thigh and shouted, going on and on.
Song Jinhe paid no attention to her words. After all, even if Zhou Yufen didn’t pressure Lu Guoheng to divorce her, she would initiate it herself.
Sitting by the bed, she took out the Honghua Oil and began massaging the bruises on her arm.
As she rubbed, she glanced at the calendar on the wall.
April 20, 1983.
Staring at the date, Song Jinhe suddenly stopped what she was doing as a thought struck her.
If she remembered correctly, in two days her little niece would suddenly develop a persistent high fever requiring hospitalization.
Her Da Shan Village was adjacent to her maiden home in Songjia Village, both not far from the county town, but the road from Songjia Village to the county was particularly rough.
That night, her brother and sister-in-law had rushed to the Lu Family with a horse cart, anxiously asking Lu Guoheng to lend them his bicycle so they could take the main road and quickly get their niece Dahua to the hospital.
But after they finished, Liu Qingying also asked Lu Guoheng to bike her and her daughter into the city, using Ya Ya’s slight cold as an excuse.
Lu Guoheng hesitated. That was the first time Song Jinhe had begged him.
She pleaded with him to lend the bicycle to her brother and sister-in-law, to save her little niece.
But after seeing Liu Qingying cry, Lu Guoheng still chose to help Liu Qingying first.
“Jin He, Qingying has no one to rely on in the village. I have to help her first. This is what I promised Lin Zi.”
“Others in the village have bicycles. You… could borrow from them.”
With those words, Lu Guoheng rode off with Liu Qingying and her daughter without looking back.
Even though Liu Qingying’s daughter only had a low-grade fever, he rushed them to the hospital.
But when it came to her little niece’s high fever, Lu Guoheng showed no concern, instead worrying about a minor cold.
At that time, Song Jinhe watched his retreating figure, with no time even to hate him, and immediately turned to borrow a bicycle from someone else in the village.
After securing a bicycle, her brother and sister-in-law hurried to the hospital with the child.
Uneasy, Song Jinhe borrowed another bicycle and followed.
When she saw Dahua being admitted to the ward, she thought everything would be fine.
But when Dahua woke up, she spoke with a stutter.
Her sister-in-law tearfully asked the doctor what was wrong. The doctor said the child had been brought in a bit too late and might develop a stutter.
The doctor added that if they had arrived just a few minutes earlier, things would have been different.
Song Jinhe’s legs gave way, and she collapsed to the floor, weeping in guilt.
Afterward, even though her brother and sister-in-law told her she had done her best and shouldn’t blame herself, she continued to live in remorse.
Even after Dahua’s stutter was cured, she still didn’t dare return to her maiden home because of this incident and the lost pendant.
In her previous life at the Lu Family, every day felt like a year, and she never imagined these two incidents would happen so close together.
Song Jinhe wiped her eyes, blurred by tears she hadn’t realized were falling, blaming herself for not being more attentive.
But fortunately, she still had a chance to make things right.
This time, she would absolutely not let anything happen to Dahua.
By tomorrow at the latest, after resolving the matter of the pendant, she needed to make a trip back to her parents’ home.
In the afternoon, Lu Guoheng rode his bicycle through the gate, his expression grim.
“I just reached the village entrance when I heard people say you’d been arguing at home. I rushed back immediately.”
“Tell me, what exactly happened while I was away?”
After parking his bicycle, Lu Guoheng suppressed his anger and looked toward Song Jinhe, who was sitting under the eaves enjoying the cool air.
Song Jinhe glanced at him but before she could speak, Zhou Yufen hurried out from inside the house, wailing loudly as she began making accusations.
“Guoheng, my son, you’re finally back! If you’d been any later, your mother and Xiao Ran would have been driven to death by your wife!”
Seeing how upset she was, Lu Guoheng quickly reached out to support her:
“Mom, don’t get worked up. Take your time and explain.”
But Zhou Yufen had no intention of taking her time—she wished she had an extra mouth to list all the complaints.
“You have no idea how tyrannical this wife of yours is! Just because you accompanied Qingying to the hospital, she took her anger out on Xiao Ran. You should see what she’s done to him!”
As Zhang Yufen spoke, she shouted loudly.
“Xiao Ran, come out quickly! Your father’s back to stand up for you.”
“Coming!”
Lu Xiaoran came running out and pitifully hugged Lu Guoheng’s leg.
“Dad, you’re finally back! If you hadn’t come, she would have beaten me to death.”
Zhang Yufen loudly prompted him: “Quick, show your father the injuries on your body.”
As she said this, she shot a venomous glare at Song Jinhe.
Song Jinhe fanned herself calmly with a palm-leaf fan, not showing the slightest trace of fear on her face.
She remained firmly seated in her chair, not even shifting her position.
Lu Guoheng glanced at her. Deep down, he didn’t actually believe Song Jinhe would hit their son.
He knew how much Song Jinhe usually doted on Xiao Ran.
If Xiao Ran wanted Peach Crisp or snacks, she would grit her teeth and rush to the county to buy them.
When Xiao Ran was sick and couldn’t sleep well, she would sit by his bed keeping watch all night.
How could someone who cared for their child so much possibly bear to lay a hand on them?
Lu Guoheng was thinking this until Lu Xiaoran showed him the large patches of bruises on his back, shaking his arm while crying and complaining.
“Dad, my body hurts so much. She did all this. You have to teach her a lesson properly.”
Lu Guoheng stood frozen in place, his eyes widening in shock.
Song Jinhe—she had actually laid hands on Xiao Ran!
Shifting his gaze from his son’s back to Song Jinhe, Lu Guoheng’s eyes filled with rage.
He strode quickly over to Song Jinhe and demanded loudly:
“Song Jinhe, have you lost your mind? That’s your own son! How could you hit him so hard!”
“All I did was accompany Qingying to the hospital—was it really necessary to take your anger out on the child?”
Lu Guoheng was genuinely furious. Originally, he had planned to come home early today to say a few kind words and coax Song Jinhe.
Now it seemed completely unnecessary.
To force him to cut ties with Qingying, Song Jinhe would apparently resort to any tactic.
Song Jinhe felt sickened by his accusations. She wasn’t about to indulge him and fired back directly:
“Lu Guoheng, don’t flatter yourself. Even if you and Liu Qingying were hugging right in front of me, I wouldn’t take my anger out on the child.”
“I hit him because he deserved it!”
“He stole my pendant to give to Ya Ya and hit me first. Even if I beat him so badly he couldn’t get out of bed, I’d be justified.”
Song Jinhe’s every word was reasonable and forceful.
“You!”
Lu Guoheng was so refuted he didn’t even know how to retort, his anger boiling inside him.
For a moment, he couldn’t decide whether to be angry at Song Jinhe for slandering his relationship with Qingying, or to be angry that his son had done such an outrageous thing.
Clenching his jaw, Lu Guoheng finally turned to look at his son:
“Is what your mother just said true? Did you throw the first punch and steal her pendant?”