She quickly walked a few more steps and turned around the corner of the wall.
The courtyard gate was wide open, and the inside looked as though a tornado had swept through it.
The fence had been trampled down, the water jar had been knocked over, and the dried vegetables that had been laid out to dry were scattered all over the ground.
The chicken coop door was hanging crookedly to one side, and several chickens had disappeared without a trace.
Inside the cattle shed on the left, a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old boy was desperately gripping the reins of the family’s ox, struggling with a broad-faced, stocky old woman.
“This is our family’s ox! What gives you the right to take it?”
This was the original owner’s second older brother, Su Changle.
His clothes were worn and shabby, but he had a handsome face. At this moment, however, his eyes were red with anxiety.
The old woman was Granny Wang, a notorious gossip in the village who was also known for being extremely difficult to deal with.
She kicked Su Changle in the stomach.
“You little brat, let go! That dead girl from your family damaged my family’s ancestral treasure. I’m taking this ox today to settle the debt!”
Fragments of the original owner’s memories flashed through Su Qingli’s mind.
It seemed that this really had happened.
A few days ago, the original owner had passed by Granny Wang’s house and casually—no, deliberately—smashed one of her jars of pickled vegetables.
But it was just a broken jar.
How dare she demand their family’s ox as compensation?
Wasn’t she taking advantage of the situation?
Seeing that Su Changle could handle himself surprisingly well, Su Qingli didn’t go over to help him.
Instead, she shifted her gaze toward the middle of the courtyard.
Her entire body froze as though she had been nailed to the ground.
Jiang Susu was kneeling on the cold, muddy ground.
The old woman who, in the original owner’s memories, had always kept her back straight and had a powerful voice whenever she scolded someone…
Was now kneeling in front of a group of fierce-looking men, repeatedly banging her forehead against the ground.
“Gentlemen, please, have mercy… Give us a few more days. I promise we’ll pay the money back…”
The man in the lead had a hard expression. He kicked a broken basket aside.
“Enough nonsense! Your daughter ran away with some wild man. If we don’t come to you, who are we supposed to find?”
He pulled a piece of paper from his clothes and unfolded it.
It was densely covered with writing.
“Look carefully. This is your daughter’s fingerprint. Sixty taels, including principal and interest! We want it today. Not a single penny less!”
Jiang Susu’s hair was disheveled and stuck to her sweat-covered face.
She opened her mouth, wanting to say something.
But suddenly, the door of the east room was slammed open.
An elderly midwife with graying hair rushed out with a panicked expression.
“She’s hemorrhaging! She’s hemorrhaging!”
Jiang Susu’s entire body trembled.
She staggered to her feet, her expression dazed.
What had she just heard?
Hemorrhaging?
The midwife, Liu, tightly grabbed Jiang Susu’s arm, her voice filled with panic and guilt.
“The baby’s position is wrong! Only one hand has come out. I’m afraid both mother and child may die!”
“Sister-in-law Jiang, I’m truly sorry. You need to prepare for the funeral. Sigh…”
As soon as those words fell, the entire courtyard fell deathly silent.
Su Changle was stunned as well.
He was still young. He had only heard the village women say that giving birth was as easy as a hen laying an egg. As long as you worked hard enough, the baby would come out.
But why was the midwife saying that his sister-in-law might…
die?
The debt collectors exchanged glances.
The fierceness on their faces softened slightly, and their voices became gentler.
“Madam, we know your family’s situation is difficult. But we’re really not trying to make things hard for you. If we can’t collect this money today, we won’t be able to explain ourselves to the shopkeeper either.”
Jiang Susu stared blankly at everything before her.
She felt as though all the strength had been drained from her body.
Her daughter was missing.
Her family was buried under debt.
And now her eldest daughter-in-law might die along with the child.
She couldn’t understand how a perfectly good family had ended up like this.
Seeing this, Su Qingli took two deep breaths.
How could a young girl who wasn’t even fully grown yet have caused such a huge mess?
As the saying went, you reap what you sow.
The original owner had planted these seeds.
Since Su Qingli had taken over this body, she had to accept the consequences as well.
With that thought, Su Qingli’s expression turned cold.
She slowly stepped through the courtyard gate.
“Mother, I’m back.”
Everyone turned toward her, each wearing a different expression.
“Li’er? You… you’re back?”
When Jiang Susu saw Su Qingli, she was initially overjoyed.
Then tears rolled down her cheeks.
“You wretched girl! Was ruining your sister-in-law’s life not enough? Why did you come back?”
Her voice was filled with anger, but there was even more worry beneath it.
The burly men exchanged glances, their expressions becoming strange.
“You’re Su Qingli? Weren’t you supposed to have eloped with your lover?”
Su Qingli didn’t bother explaining.
“Brothers, I acknowledge the money I owe. But the agreed repayment deadline hasn’t arrived yet. What’s the meaning of coming here and making trouble now?”
“Easy for you to say. What if you run away three days from now?”
“Without a travel permit, where could I run?”
Su Qingli replied coldly,
“Besides, my family is all here. Even if I could run away, my family would still be here. So what are you worried about?”
The burly men exchanged glances and sneered.
“Fine. Since you’re back, we’ll come again in three days.”
After seeing the debt collectors finally leave, Su Changle could no longer hold himself back.
He angrily rushed over and shoved Su Qingli to the ground.
“Su Qingli! You disaster! Why did you push my sister-in-law? You’re going to get her killed!”
Su Qingli froze for a moment.
Then she remembered.
Yesterday morning, the original owner had been about to leave to deliver money to the scumbag when her sister-in-law, Cheng Sujin, stopped her and told her not to go.
The original owner, completely blinded by her obsession, naturally refused to listen.
Impatiently, she pushed Cheng Sujin aside and ran off.
Cheng Sujin wasn’t knocked down.
She even chased after the original owner for several steps.
But then she accidentally tripped over a rock and fell to the ground.
Her labor immediately began.
However, an entire day and night had already passed, and the baby still hadn’t been born.
Su Changqing stood beneath the corridor.
His eyes were so red they looked as though blood might drip from them.
He looked as though his soul had been torn away.
When he heard Su Qingli’s voice, he turned around and looked at her with a miserable smile.
“Su Qingli, my child is gone, and my wife is going to leave me too.”
Su Qingli felt as though something blunt had struck her hard in the chest.
He was clearly the original owner’s older brother, yet seeing him in such despair caused her heart to ache so badly that she could barely breathe.
But she had no time to explain.
She quickly got up from the ground.
“Big Brother, move aside. Let me examine Sister-in-law first. Maybe there’s still a chance to save her!”
Su Changqing stood frozen in place.
He stared at her blankly.
He neither moved aside nor believed her.
“Leave, Su Qingli. The Su family has no place for you anymore. If Mother wants to keep you, then I’ll leave.”
Su Qingli had no time to argue with him.
Taking advantage of his distraction, she slipped into the delivery room and shut the door.
Su Changqing froze for a moment before rushing to the door.
“Su Qingli! Come out! Don’t touch your sister-in-law!”
Su Changle also followed and pounded on the door.
“Su Qingli, what are you trying to do?!”
Jiang Susu’s legs went weak.
She had to lean against the wall to steady herself.
“Li’er… that’s your own sister-in-law in there…”
The delivery room was completely silent.
No one knew what Su Qingli was doing inside.
Seeing this, Midwife Liu let out a long sigh.
“She’s already dying, and now she has to be put through all this trouble. What a sin…”
Those words were undoubtedly another stab straight into Su Changqing’s heart.
Remembering the ways Su Qingli had tormented people in the past, he could no longer stand there.
He raised his foot, preparing to kick the door open.
But at that very moment, the door opened from the inside.
Su Qingli’s calm face appeared.
“She can still be saved. Don’t all crowd around here. Hurry and boil some water. Prepare clean towels and scissors. Also get the mother some food and water. If you have ginseng, even better. Hurry!”
After saying that, she closed the door again.
It all happened so quickly that everyone was unable to react.
What had Su Qingli just said?
She could still be saved?
Su Changqing’s eyes suddenly lit up.
He immediately turned around and ran outside.
“Big Brother, where are you going?”
Su Changqing didn’t answer or stop.
He ran desperately toward the village.
He didn’t actually believe that Su Qingli could save anyone.
But one thing she had said reminded him of something.
Ginseng!
That was something precious that could save a person’s life.
And he knew where there was some in the village.
Jiang Susu knew where her eldest son was going.
She wiped away her tears and also hurried into the kitchen to get things ready.
Su Changle stood alone in a daze.
He couldn’t understand why Su Qingli had suddenly seemed like a completely different person.
Granny Wang sneered contemptuously.
She had originally intended to take advantage of the chaos to lead the ox away, but the animal seemed to have grown roots.
No matter how hard she pulled, it wouldn’t move an inch.
With no other choice, she sheepishly approached the midwife and asked,
“Granny Liu, can the woman inside really be saved?”
“How could she be? Even a god wouldn’t be able to save her in this condition!”
Midwife Liu stamped her feet anxiously.
“This Su family is really something! The girl doesn’t know any better, but why didn’t the adults stop her? How could they let her behave so recklessly?”
Granny Wang looked disgusted.
“You’re from another village, so you don’t know. That girl from the Su family is stubborn as an ox whenever she loses her temper. Nobody can talk any sense into her!”
“Let’s leave first. Otherwise, when she dies, we’ll end up covered in bad luck!”
Midwife Liu sighed and left with Granny Wang.
It wasn’t actually because she thought the situation was unlucky.
Rather, as a woman herself, she simply couldn’t bear to watch such a tragedy happen with her own eyes.
She was the best midwife in the surrounding villages.
Of the women she had helped deliver babies for, eight or nine out of ten had given birth safely.
But the Su family’s daughter-in-law had the wrong fetal position and was suffering from severe bleeding.
Her death was practically certain.
Yet that young girl had claimed that she could still save her.
How could that possibly be?