“Alright, we will wait two days, two days,” Mother Lin replied with a relieved smile. As long as her daughter was safe, nothing else mattered. She truly feared having to send off the young before the old. If the daughter she had cherished with all her heart were to leave like this, how could she go on living?
After Lin Jianshe left the room, he took out the family’s inherited medical texts and began reading them. Back then, their family had once been reported for possessing reactionary books and had nearly met with disaster. Fortunately, his younger sister had hidden those books in time.
In a remote location.
“Company Commander Zhao, you have a telegram.”
A tall man with a buzz cut, his green military uniform smeared with mud, accepted it and said, “Thank you.”
He opened the telegram, and when he saw its contents, his steps staggered.
He moved quickly toward the office, knocked on the battalion commander’s door, and entered at the response.
“Commander, I need to take leave. Something happened at home.”
“Go and return quickly.”
Zhao Tianlei practically ran. He went back to his quarters, grabbed his money and ration coupons, then immediately took the army vehicle to catch a train.
What exactly had happened?
He and Lin Siya had been betrothed since childhood. Back then, Grandfather Lin had saved his father’s life. At the time, Lin Siya’s mother had been pregnant, and over drinks, the elders had decided on this childhood engagement.
Before the New Year, his father had written, saying that he was no longer young and that the marriage should be settled. From the time of the engagement to the wedding, it had taken only ten days. On the third day of the New Year, Zhao Tianlei had returned to the army.
Not even two months had passed. How could something have gone wrong?
He did not know his wife well. After all, they had spent less than ten days together. Still, during his time at home, she had done the cooking every day and taken care of the household.
She looked good, her figure was good, her temperament was gentle. Beyond that, he knew very little.
Zhaojia Village, the Zhao household.
Father Zhao sat in silence, smoking coarse leaf tobacco. His brows were drawn so tightly together they could crush a fly.
“Zhao Meiyun, tell me exactly what happened,” Father Zhao demanded loudly, taking a hard puff and staring at his timid daughter.
Zhao Meiyun glanced at her father. Thinking of how her mother was still lying in bed groaning, her resentment toward Lin Siya deepened. If she wanted to die, could she not have gone somewhere far away? Why did their family have to marry such an unlucky daughter in law?
Having a sister in law like Lin Siya was truly eight lifetimes of bad luck.
“Speak,” Father Zhao barked.
His presence was overwhelming. After his son had finished middle school, he had joined the army, leaving only this daughter at home. She had been doted on. Yet now she had done something like this, driving her sister in law to drink poison and seek death.
Zhao Meiyun shuddered. It was the first time she had ever been shouted at like this by her father. It was all Lin Siya’s fault. If not for Lin Siya, her father would never have yelled at her. Lin Siya was nothing but a jinx.
“Dad…”
“Speak,” Father Zhao said again, the veins on his forehead throbbing, his face dark with fury. He needed to know exactly what had happened.
Such a serious incident had ruined the Zhao family’s reputation. Did she even realize that after this, how would she ever get married?
Old Lin had once suggested that the daughter in law follow his son to the army. Father Zhao had refused. If the daughter in law left, what would the two elders do at home? He had interrupted the suggestion and even promised that he would take good care of her.
Yet not long after, this had happened.
The Lin family would never let this go. Their relationship with the Lin family was likely severed. His position as accountant would soon be taken from him, and the Zhao family’s name was utterly disgraced.
Under her father’s glare, Zhao Meiyun spilled everything she knew in one breath.
Father Zhao was so furious that he slammed the tobacco pipe against the ground several times.
Zhao Meiyun retreated a few steps, terrified by the redness in her father’s eyes, afraid that he might strike her.
Her hatred toward Lin Siya only grew.
She muttered resentfully, “I only said a few things. Who knew she would be so unable to think it through? I did not tell her to drink poison and kill herself.”
As soon as Father Zhao heard this, he shot to his feet and slapped her hard across the face.
“Family wrecker.” Back then, matchmakers had come to propose, but his wife had said their daughter was still young and wanted to keep her another year. Who could have imagined that keeping her would turn into such a disaster?
If Xiao Ya truly died, who would dare marry their daughter into the Zhao family in the future? Was the Zhao family supposed to die out?
With that thought, Father Zhao slapped Zhao Meiyun again as she struggled up from the ground, making her scream in pain.
The commotion even alarmed Mother Zhao, who was lying in bed.
“Zhao Youde, for the sake of an outsider, you not only hit me but now you are hitting our daughter. Do you even have a heart?” she shouted.
Father Zhao acted as if he had not heard her.
“Zhao Meiyun, if anything happens to Lin Siya, you will pay with your life,” he said coldly, then flung his sleeve and walked out of the house.
Zhao Meiyun collapsed onto the ground, her face filled with terror and disbelief, stammering fearfully, “I did not mean it. I really did not mean it.”
Only now did she truly feel afraid.
“Xiao Yun, Xiao Yun, are you alright?” Mother Zhao dragged her aching body outside and saw her daughter slumped on the ground. Normally, her daughter was extremely particular about cleanliness.
“Mom, what do we do, what do we do? Dad said I have to pay with my life. I do not want to, I do not want to. Lin Siya chose to die herself. I did not kill her. Why should I pay with my life? I do not want to, I do not want to.”
Mother Zhao pulled her daughter into her arms and patted her back in comfort. “It was Lin Siya who chose death herself. It has nothing to do with us. Nothing to do with us.”
The neighbors were all listening intently.
By the next day, rumors spread that Zhao Meiyun and Mother Zhao had joined forces to kill Lin Siya.
Even the educated youths had heard the gossip. Some watched eagerly for drama, while others were genuinely worried.
Because everyone had to work, there was little time to dig deeper.
Ouyang Siya opened her eyes to see a crude ceiling overhead. Her thoughts instantly gathered. She remembered leaping into the bottomless abyss. Before jumping, she had quietly poisoned her dear cousin and fiancé. Whatever they valued most, she destroyed it. They wanted to cultivate to the Nascent Soul stage, but in this lifetime, they would never have the chance. Anyone who dared harm her would receive their retribution tenfold, a hundredfold.
As for heavenly law, she had already reached that point and no longer cared. There was cause before effect. If they had not forced her, she would not have poisoned them. She had merely learned from them.
She had fallen into the abyss. Could she still be alive?
The chance was far too slim. Even if she survived, she should only exist as a soul, unable to feel a heartbeat.
She wanted to speak, but her throat hurt so badly that even swallowing was painful. What was going on?
Suddenly, her head began to ache, violently so.
She clutched her head and cried out soundlessly, the pain twisting her entire body.
Mother Lin, who had not gone to work that day, was busy in the courtyard. Suddenly, she heard a sound coming from her daughter’s room. Startled, she dropped her hoe and hurried toward the room where the noise had come from.