Qingyuan County, Qingshui Village
A little girl ran out of a dilapidated mud house and rushed to Old Madam Su, who was hoeing the ground in the yard. Her face was filled with panic.
“Grandma! Grandma! Something terrible happened! The ugly freak looks like she’s about to die!”
She had only asked her younger brother to put a cauliflower snake into the ugly girl’s bedding. Who would have thought the ugly girl would be frightened unconscious? She hadn’t woken up for a long time and now lay on the bed, neither alive nor dead.
Knowing he had caused trouble, her brother had already run off somewhere with the snake. Their mother and aunt had gone out to help deliver a baby and still hadn’t returned, so she could only seek help from her grandmother.
“What happened? Let me take a look.”
Old Madam Su immediately threw down her hoe and hurried into the mud house.
There lay Su Wanwan on the bed, motionless.
Trembling, Old Madam Su reached out to feel for Su Wanwan’s breathing. After confirming she was still alive, she let out a long sigh of relief.
Then anger quickly replaced it.
This ugly freak had scared her half to death, yet she herself was sleeping peacefully.
Thinking of this, Old Madam Su yanked off the blanket, grabbed a broom from beside the door, and swung it at the person on the bed.
Su Wanwan lay weakly on the bed and slowly opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was a fierce old woman charging toward her with a broom in hand, while a little girl stood nearby watching gleefully.
Seeing Su Wanwan awake only made Old Madam Su angrier.
“You lazy good-for-nothing! All you do is stay inside the house and never go out. You hardly speak a word all day, like a mute. What use are you?”
Before Su Wanwan could process the situation, the broom was already descending toward her.
Although she had never encountered anything like this before, she knew better than to stay put and wait to be beaten.
She rolled over and sat up, narrowly avoiding the strike.
Old Madam Su hadn’t expected someone sick in bed to have the strength to dodge. She hurriedly tried to pull back.
Unfortunately, she had put a lot of force into the swing, and inertia carried her forward.
As she stumbled, she tripped over Su Wanwan’s cloth shoe lying beside the bed.
“Ouch!”
The old woman fell face-first onto the bed.
The mattress was only a thin layer of cotton padding, so the fall itself wouldn’t have hurt much.
However, there happened to be a biscuit tin hidden under Su Wanwan’s blanket.
When Old Madam Su had lifted the blanket earlier, the tin had been propped upright.
By pure coincidence, her waist landed directly on it.
This time she was genuinely hurt.
Grimacing in pain, she pointed at Su Wanwan but couldn’t even speak for a moment.
Nearby, Su Cuifen, who had been expecting to enjoy the sight of Su Wanwan getting beaten, was stunned by the sudden reversal.
She had expected tears and crying.
Instead, her grandmother was the one groaning in pain.
Panicking, she hurried over to help.
“Grandma, are you alright?”
Then she glared angrily at Su Wanwan.
“Ugly freak! Look at what you did!”
Su Wanwan: “???”
The girl looked no older than eight or nine.
How could she say something so unreasonable?
Was she supposed to stand there and get beaten?
By now Old Madam Su had recovered enough to climb up while holding her aching waist. She finally found the strength to curse again.
“You worthless money-losing brat! Disaster star! All you do is eat for free! I only wanted to hit you a few times and you’re already unhappy? Useless thing! You should’ve died with your short-lived father!”
Villagers returning from work passed by the courtyard wall and heard the commotion.
Everyone knew Old Madam Su was taking advantage of Wanwan’s mother being away to bully the child again.
They all shook their heads and sighed.
A middle-aged woman in a headscarf couldn’t help speaking up.
“That poor Wanwan. Her father is dead, her health is bad, and her grandmother is still so vicious. The child is sick and she’s still getting beaten.”
“Exactly. Old Madam Su has no humanity at all. She married such a capable daughter-in-law into the family, yet she’s always finding fault and bullying the mother and daughter. She doesn’t know how lucky she is.”
“That’s right. If my family had a daughter-in-law that good, I’d be smiling in my dreams. I really don’t know what she’s thinking.”
At that moment, Old Madam Su’s eldest son, Su Wangcai, returned from work.
Seeing a crowd gathered outside the courtyard gossiping, his face darkened.
“What are you all looking at? Don’t you have dinner to make?”
The villagers saw his unpleasant expression and awkwardly dispersed, still glancing back and whispering among themselves.
Even without hearing them, Su Wangcai knew they were probably talking about the Su family again.
Old Madam Su was furious at having failed to hit Su Wanwan and getting injured instead. She reached for the broom again.
Noticing her intention, Su Wanwan moved first and snatched the broom away.
Old Madam Su froze.
Since when had this granddaughter become so quick-witted?
“You! You! Give me the broom!”
Su Wanwan’s eyes turned icy, her expression cold.
As if she would.
“Why? So you can hit me again? What exactly did I do wrong to deserve being beaten for no reason?”
Then Su Wanwan suddenly froze.
Her voice—
Why had it become so soft and childish?
Without drawing attention to herself, she looked down at her body.
To her shock, she had become a child!
Old Madam Su was momentarily speechless by her words and frowned deeply.
Today’s Su Wanwan was far too strange.
Normally, even when healthy, she never resisted a beating.
Now she was sick, yet not only had she dodged, she had fought back.
And those eyes…
The look she had given just now sent a chill down Old Madam Su’s spine.
That was not the gaze of a seven-year-old child.
The coldness in her eyes felt capable of freezing someone to death.
But when Old Madam Su looked again, the strange look was gone.
Su Wanwan had returned to her usual dull, vacant appearance.
Only then did Old Madam Su relax.
That was more like it.
At that moment, Su Wangcai walked into the room.
He didn’t even spare Su Wanwan a glance and only complained to his mother.
“Mom, why isn’t dinner ready yet? I’m starving.”
Old Madam Su rolled her eyes.
“All you know how to do is eat. None of you give me any peace.”
Still, it was getting late.
Her son had returned, and Wanwan’s mother would probably be home soon as well.
If that woman saw her bullying Wanwan, there would definitely be trouble.
Fortunately, her waist wasn’t seriously injured—just bruised.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have let this little ugly freak off so easily.
Forget it.
She would teach her a lesson another day.
Having made up her mind, Old Madam Su left the room while grumbling and holding her waist.
Su Cuifen was unwilling to let it go, but there was nothing she could do. After shooting Su Wanwan a glare, she followed behind.
Su Wangcai had no idea what had happened. He simply assumed Su Wanwan had been beaten again.
Before leaving, he threatened her:
“You’re not allowed to tell your mother about this. If you do, I’ll sell you!”
Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked away.
After all, it had always been this way.
Su Wanwan was timid and weak.
He was certain she wouldn’t dare complain.