The clothes Su Lina wore did not fit her properly; whenever she raised her arm, a stretch of fair, delicate forearm was exposed.
What drew the most attention was not the girl’s pale arm, but the crisscrossing, seemingly ferocious wounds covering it.
This was not the first time Shen Fujuan had seen Su Lina being beaten.
The first time they discovered Su Lina was in Heihe Village, Shen Fujuan had already noticed the wounds on her body.
Seeing the adopted daughter she had once cherished like a precious pearl reduced to such a state, it would be a lie to say Shen Fujuan felt no stirring in her heart.
But she could not bring herself to pity her.
In her previous life, it was precisely because Shen Fujuan’s heart was too soft that she gave Su Lina the opportunity to harm them.
Su Lina carried the lives of her eldest son’s family on her conscience, along with the lifelong regret of her youngest son never being able to join the military.
How could Shen Fujuan not hate her?
Therefore, when Su Lina looked toward the fields as if pleading for help, Shen Fujuan merely shifted her gaze away, numb and cold.
No matter how remorseful and distressed Su Lina appeared, it was all a facade.
She was too good at acting.
“Come on, go home with me!” The man chasing Su Lina mercilessly lashed her with a whip before grabbing her arm and dragging her back.
Su Lina was in despair.
She turned and clung to Huang Wenqiang’s calf as if grasping at a lifeline.
“Secretary Huang, I beg you, please don’t let them take me back. They’re going to beat me to death! I can’t survive in this family anymore!”
Everyone working in the fields looked up at the scene unfolding on the road.
Huang Wenqiang remained silent, and no one dared to step forward to help Su Lina.
“Younger Uncle, let’s talk this out properly. Why are you hitting the child?” Huang Wenqiang glanced at Su Lina before feigning disapproval and glaring at the man chasing her.
“Your family’s Zhaodi was sent back from the capital. What if the leaders there suddenly remember her one day and decide to visit? How will you explain things to them?”
“Secretary Huang, you know our family’s situation. We already have too many mouths to feed, and we can barely keep ourselves from starving. Suddenly, they send back this burden—what are we supposed to do?
My second brother has been gone for over ten years. My second sister-in-law left with the child, moving far away from home. Who knows if she’s found someone else out there? They didn’t give us a single cent or a grain of rice, yet they expect us to raise the child. Is that fair?”
The village was already poor, with every household lacking food and clothing.
Although the Zhang family had many laborers, they also had many mouths to feed. The little grain they earned was barely enough to sustain themselves!
“Then why are you hitting the child? If you beat her to death, you’ll have to pay with your own life. Isn’t that a loss for nothing?”
“They want to marry me off to an old bachelor. I refused, so they beat me!”
Su Lina thought Huang Wenqiang was someone she could reason with, so she raised her voice in protest.
When she was studying in the city, all her classmates came from scholarly families, refined and cultured.
But after returning to Heihe Village, not only was she beaten every day, but she was also being forced to marry an old bachelor she had never even met!
Su Lina could never endure such a life. The moment she heard the news, her only thought was to run away.
Unfortunately, she was underfed and weak, so she hadn’t gotten far before Huang Wenqiang and her uncle caught her together.
Huang Wenqiang frowned. “What era is this now? The country has already begun advocating for freedom in marriage. Your family is going against the tide of the times, trying to—”
Before she could finish speaking, Su Lina’s uncle pulled a banknote from his pocket and, without another word, stuffed it directly into Huang Wenqiang’s hand.
“What’s with all the city folks’ fussiness? Who gets married without introductions from people around them? Secretary Huang, stop making a fuss here!”
Huang Wenqiang glanced at the banknote in his hand and immediately laughed.
He said nothing more, silently watching as Su Lina’s uncle dragged her away from him.
“Mom! Dad! Aren’t you going to do anything? Do you really want to see me marry an old bachelor?!”
Su Lina gritted her molars and turned her gaze toward the Su family, who were still bent over working in the field.
Compared to the onlookers bustling around, the Su family seemed utterly out of place.
Hearing this, Huang Wenqiang frowned and looked at Su Jiaxuan’s family.
Was this Zhang family girl actually calling Su Jiaxuan and Shen Fujuan her parents?!
The uncle raised his whip again and struck Su Lina hard.
The whip landed on her flesh with a dull thud, making one’s heart tremble.
Su Lina opened her mouth and wailed uncontrollably, “I really know I was wrong, Mom and Dad, please save me! I don’t want to marry that old bachelor!”
Huang Wenqiang quickly waved at Shen Fujuan, “You two, come over here!”
“You worthless girl! You’ve been freeloading at home for so long, and now you’re calling these Stinking Ninths your parents! How can you face your deceased parents?!”
Shen Fujuan had no choice but to walk out with Su Jiaxuan.
“Was that Zhang family girl calling you two just now?”
Su Lina turned around, crawled forward on her knees, and kowtowed to Shen Fujuan, her head thumping loudly against the ground.
“Mom, I beg you, let me come home. They don’t feed me, and they always beat me. Just because that old bachelor is willing to pay the bride price, they want to marry me off!”
Su Lina’s small face was already dirty, and from kowtowing, her forehead was now covered in dusty yellow soil.
Su Jiaxuan’s expression remained calm as he glanced down at Su Lina.
Like Shen Fujuan, he recalled how Su Lina had stood behind the crowd yesterday, accusing them of hiding public grain.
Su Lina was someone who would abandon everything for her own gain—she had no bottom line.
If they dared to let Su Lina return home with them, the next time there was an opportunity to benefit from reporting others, she would undoubtedly push the Su family forward without hesitation.
Shen Fujuan nodded to Huang Wenqiang, “Her mother used to work as a maid in our house when she came to the city.”
“Later, her mother fell ill and passed away. Her last words were for us to take good care of her daughter.”
Hearing Shen Fujuan’s explanation, the uncle frowned and looked over.
Zhaodi’s foster parents, who had been sent down for making mistakes, were actually in their Heihe Village too!
But judging by their tattered clothes, after being raided and criticized, they probably didn’t have anything valuable left.
Su Lina’s eyes lit up as she looked at Shen Fujuan, as if seeing a savior.
She was finally saved!
But Shen Fujuan’s gaze grew even darker. “But back in the city, she herself said she had nothing to do with us—that her family had been poor farmers for three generations, with a good class background.”
“Besides, her household registration has always been in Heihe Village. It was never transferred to our family.”
“Who she marries is your family matter. My husband and I can’t interfere, much less control it.”
After Shen Fujuan finished speaking in a calm tone, she pulled Su Jiaxuan back two steps.
They avoided Su Lina as if she were the plague, afraid she would cling to them.