As Shen Li’s hand reached toward him, a wave of revulsion swept over Xiao Erlang. He wanted to pull away, to hide, to flee—but his body remained a useless weight. He could do nothing but endure the sensation of her fingers moving across his ribcage.
Finally, unable to bear it any longer, he glared at her, the corners of his eyes reddening with suppressed emotion.
Shen Li didn’t notice his gaze. Finishing her quick exam, she let out a sigh of relief. “Good. None of the ribs are actually broken.”
Erlang froze. She was worried I was hurt? Because of Huai-ren’s kicks?
A bitter, self-mocking smile flickered in his mind. How could that be? He remembered the woman she had been every day until now. His body was still littered with bruises from her last “episode” only yesterday. Why would she suddenly care if he was injured?
Behind the low wall, Auntie Li waved her hand urgently. “Girl! The cart is here! I’ll have your Uncle Li come in and help you carry Erlang out!”
Madam Cao, standing off to the side, let out a sharp, cold laugh. “I dare anyone to set a single foot inside my yard!”
Auntie Li hesitated, her hand freezing in mid-air. What is she playing at? Madam Cao was actually going to forbid people from helping the girl move an invalid?
Erlang might be paralyzed, but he was a man in his late teens; he was all bone and heavy frame. Shen Li looked frail and thin, and Sanlang was just a toddler. How on earth was she supposed to move him alone?
But with Madam Cao’s threat hanging in the air, no one dared to move. Her biological brother was the Village Head, after all. No one wanted to get on her bad side.
Shen Li arched an eyebrow with cold indifference. She stood up and carried the new bedding out to the cart first.
“Uncle Li, thank you for coming,” Shen Li said, greeting the man before spreading the soft mattress over the wooden boards of the cart.
“Child, can you really move Erlang by yourself?” Uncle Li asked, his voice thick with indignation. “That Cao woman is heartless. You’ve already separated the household, yet she still insists on making things difficult!”
“She’s right, girl!” the neighbors added, chiming in from the wall. “Listen, just drag him to the gate. Once he’s outside the yard, she can’t say a word! We’ll pick him up from there!”
“Thank you all, but I have a way,” Shen Li replied. The warmth of their collective kindness flickered briefly in her chest.
She walked back into the yard and looked at Sanlang. She took a deep breath and held out a hand. “Come with me.”
Terrified, Sanlang scrambled around Erlang’s body, huddling against his brother’s side and watching her with wide, suspicious eyes.
Realizing she wasn’t going to get the toddler onto the cart first, Shen Li moved to Plan B. She reached down and eased Erlang up, sliding one arm behind his back and carefully tucking his limp arms across his chest. Then, she hooked her other arm firmly under his knees.
Erlang’s head spun. A jolt of pure shock went through him as he realized he was being lifted. This woman… is carrying me?
Madam Cao had been standing by, waiting to enjoy the sight of Shen Li dragging Erlang through the dirt like a dead dog. She hadn’t expected the girl to have such freakish strength. Shen Li didn’t drag him; she swept him up into a bridal carry and walked out.
Sanlang stared at her, mouth agape. He had never seen anyone so strong. Whenever he tried to help his brother turn over in bed, it took every ounce of his tiny strength, leaving him gasping for air for an hour afterward. And yet, this “bad woman” had picked his brother up as if he weighed nothing.
“Follow me,” Shen Li said, looking down at Sanlang. Her voice was flat, her expression unreadable.
During her training in the Organization, she had consistently ranked first in the hundred-kilogram weighted rucking trials. Erlang, starved and abused by both the Cao family and the “original” Shen Li, was little more than a bag of bones. He probably weighed barely fifty kilograms.
And so, the procession began: Shen Li carrying Erlang, with Sanlang scurrying behind, clutching his brother’s hem.
Outside the gate, the crowd erupted in hushed exclamations. Erlang’s wife is incredibly strong! To see a woman lift a grown man with such ease was unheard of. You couldn’t find another woman like that in this village—no, not in the entire town!
Shen Li placed Erlang onto the cart, moving with deliberate slowness to avoid jarring his injuries. She took one of the quilts, rolled it into a soft bolster, and tucked it behind his back for support.
Once he was settled, she asked instinctively, “Is that okay? Are you uncomfortable?”
She looked up, meeting Erlang’s complex, unreadable gaze, and suddenly remembered he couldn’t speak. An awkward silence followed. Shen Li cleared her throat. “Sorry. I forgot you…”
She trailed off, decided against explaining further, and turned to scoop up Sanlang, placing him right next to his brother.
From the moment she had picked Erlang up, Sanlang’s eyes had never left her. He had watched her every move, terrified she would hurt him. But when he saw the soft, thick mattress she had prepared, his fear began to ebb into confusion. Since his brother had fallen ill, no one had treated him with such gentleness. Xiao Huai-ren and his mother beat him daily… and then they had bought him a “bad wife.”
Sanlang’s gaze lingered on Shen Li as she smoothed out the bedding. Why is the bad woman suddenly… not bad today?
The old physician, who was still lingering, was just as shocked as the villagers. “Thank you for testifying for me earlier,” Shen Li said, turning to him.
After a few brief words and a promise to meet at Anji Pharmacy to collect the rest of her silver, the old man bid them farewell and headed back to town. With everyone settled, the cart began its slow journey toward the old house.
“Girl, aren’t you getting on?” Uncle Li asked.
Shen Li shook her head. “I’ll walk. It’ll give them more room to stretch out.”
In truth, she just didn’t want to face the brothers’ terrified stares. Ugh, what a mess, she thought, cursing her predecessor for the thousandth time.
Uncle and Auntie Li sat at the front, guiding the ox. The village road was rugged and uneven. As the cart swayed and jolted, Shen Li noticed Erlang’s face gradually turning a sickly shade of pale.