Father Lin finally reached the ox cart and reached out to feel his daughter’s pulse. When he sensed a faint but steady beat, hot tears streamed down his face in large drops.
The young man had thought that Lin Siya was truly gone. Mother Lin, who had been fighting with Mother Zhao and had even dragged her off the ox cart, froze when she heard Father Lin’s sobs. Panic overtook her completely.
“My poor daughter, my Xiao Ya, my Xiao Ya. I should never have agreed back then, never have agreed. What kind of person is Wang Cuihua? How could I have married you into the Zhao family? Now it has cost you your life. Xiao Ya, Xiao Ya…”
Her mournful cries echoed through the air not far from Zhaojia Village.
Father Zhao did not know what to say. It was their Zhao family who had driven someone to this point.
“Where is Zhao Meiyun? Where is Zhao Meiyun? Let her pay for my sister’s life!” The young man’s eyes were filled with murderous intent. He bit down hard on his lower lip until blood seeped out.
Hearing this, Mother Zhao immediately retorted without even bothering to fix her hair, which Mother Lin had clawed into a mess. “It was Lin Siya herself who could not think it through. She drank the poison on her own. It has nothing to do with my Xiao Yun. Nothing at all.”
As soon as Mother Lin heard this, she rushed forward and slapped Mother Zhao hard, knocking her to the ground.
Father Zhao was filled with shame and self reproach. If it had not been for the engagement arranged back then, the Zhao family would never have been able to marry Xiao Ya into their household.
“Old man, are you dead? Did you not see her hit me?” Mother Zhao screamed.
Seeing Mother Zhao like this, Father Zhao’s anger exploded. He raised his hand and slapped her across the face.
A man’s strength was far greater than a woman’s. That slap sent Mother Zhao spitting blood on the spot.
Mother Zhao had never imagined that Father Zhao would strike her. Enraged, she lunged at him, clawing and biting.
Father Zhao was already consumed with anger. He felt deep guilt toward Lin Siya and had no idea how to explain things to his son. Seeing Mother Zhao behaving like this, he kicked her hard, sending her collapsing to the ground, unable to get back up.
The Lin family of three seemed not to notice this at all. Father Lin told his son to carry his daughter home immediately.
The young man was Lin Siya’s elder brother, Lin Jianshe. Upon hearing his father’s words, he immediately lifted his sister onto his back and hurried home.
“Xiuhong, let’s go home,” Father Lin said urgently. He wanted to return as quickly as possible to prepare medicine for his daughter. There might still be a chance to save her. As for settling accounts, that could wait until his daughter woke up.
Mother Lin answered softly and followed at once.
The family of three carried what looked like a lifeless body back to Linjia Village.
“Old Lin, Old Lin.” Now that Lin Siya was part of the Zhao family, how could they take her back to the Lin family? Father Zhao hurried after them.
Mother Zhao watched the family’s retreating figures with eyes full of hatred.
Liu the Lame, who had been pretending to be invisible the entire time, called out, “Heading back,” and drove the ox cart back toward Zhaojia Village without even sparing Mother Zhao a glance, as if he did not see that she was unable to get up.
“Old man, it is all my fault, all my fault. Back then, I saw that Zhao Tianlei was a soldier with a monthly allowance. Their family had only one son, so I thought that once our daughter married into the Zhao family, everything would belong to the young couple. I never imagined they would be so ruthless and force our daughter to drink poison,” Mother Lin, Zhang Xiuhong, said as her eyes reddened again. Her poor daughter was so young. How could she believe that her child was truly gone?
She had damaged her body while giving birth to her son and thought she would only ever have one child. Unexpectedly, two years later, she became pregnant again. She had always believed her daughter was a gift from heaven. From the moment her daughter was born, she had cherished her deeply.
She had wanted to find her a good family to marry into. When arranging the engagement with the Zhao family, she had seen that they were a small household with no sisters in law. No matter how biased the parents in law might be, they had only one son. She never expected that this decision would cause her daughter to die so young.
The more she thought about it, the more she blamed herself, and her tears would not stop falling.
“Xiuhong, do not cry. Our daughter still has breath. Let us hurry back. I will prepare medicine and make her vomit. Perhaps our daughter’s life is strong, and she can still survive,” Father Lin comforted her, urging her on as his steps quickened.
If something had happened to their daughter and she had been sent back to Linjia Village immediately, her chances of survival might have been greater. But the Zhao family had been afraid of letting the Lin family know, gambling with their daughter’s life.
“Father, Mother, if Little Sister survives, let her either divorce or live separately,” Lin Jianshe said quickly, already planning a way out for his sister.
In this era, divorce was almost unheard of in the countryside.
“Alright,” Father Lin and Mother Lin replied in unison.
They would never allow their gentle daughter to continue living in the Zhao household with that shrew Wang Cuihua and the little shrew Zhao Meiyun.
And Zhao Meiyun, just wait. Once your reputation is ruined, let us see which family would dare marry you.
Their beloved daughter had been forced to drink poison by them.
It was obvious how much grievance she must have suffered to be driven to such desperation.
Although Mother Lin had never gone to school, she loved her daughter deeply. Her daughter had done well in her studies and had even made it to high school.
If there were a chance in the future, she would send her daughter to a Worker Peasant Soldier University. Then she could find a good job in the city. But this year, when Zhao Tianlei returned, the two families had rushed to arrange the wedding.
It had to be because of those two hundred yuan that Wang Cuihua had treated her daughter so cruelly.
Back then, they had never expected Zhao Tianlei to put up two hundred yuan as the betrothal gift.
Thinking of this, Mother Lin hated Wang Cuihua so much that her teeth ached from clenching them.
Once they arrived at the Lin home, Lin Jianshe laid his sister in the room she had lived in before marriage. Father Lin hurried to prepare medicine, while Mother Lin went to the kitchen to fetch a basin and cloths.
Meanwhile, the people working in the fields of Zhaojia Village and Linjia Village began gossiping again.
“I heard the Zhao family’s daughter in law was forced by Wang Cuihua to drink poison.”
“It was Wang Cuihua and her daughter Zhao Meiyun who forced her.”
“You would never have guessed that Zhao Meiyun, that little girl, could be so vicious.”
“The Lin family will surely not let the Zhao family off.”
“You do not know how much Lin Aiguo and Zhang Xiuhong cherished their daughter. Except during the busy farming seasons, they rarely let Lin Siya work in the fields. Most of the time, she stayed home doing housework. I even heard that Lin Siya is pretty and does well in school.”
At the Lin household, Father Lin prepared some medicine to induce vomiting and had Mother Lin feed it to their daughter, with Lin Jianshe helping from the side. Lin Siya still showed little reaction.
Father Lin was overwhelmed with self blame. Why had he never mastered acupuncture with silver needles? If he had, his daughter could have been saved much more easily.
The family worked together seamlessly.
After being given who knew how much medicine, Lin Siya finally vomited up some of the poison. At last, smiles appeared on the faces of the three family members.
“Old man, does this mean Xiao Ya will be alright?” Mother Lin asked anxiously.
“Cook some millet porridge. Xiao Ya needs to recuperate properly,” Father Lin said after checking his daughter’s pulse. It was beating faster and stronger than before. He finally let out a long breath of relief.
“I will kill a chicken to nourish our daughter,” Mother Lin said, already turning to go.
“Wait two days. Wait two days,” Father Lin stopped her gently.