“Sister-in-law Li, you’ve been holding onto my hand and not letting me go home to see my mother. Could it be that you said she had another episode just to scare me?” Song Yueying asked innocently.
Of course she knew Sister-in-law Li wasn’t simply trying to scare her. She said this only to lower the other woman’s guard and strike when it mattered.
“I… ah!” Sister-in-law Li had just been about to say she wasn’t scaring her when a sharp, stabbing pain shot through her wrist, causing her to scream. She immediately flung Song Yueying away.
The frail body was thrown several steps back. It was only because a tree by the ridge blocked her that Song Yueying didn’t fall straight into the paddy field.
Her face turned pale, and she lowered her head, tightly clutching the tree trunk with both hands.
Her body was trembling all over, clearly frightened badly.
The fields were currently planted with rice seedlings, and there wasn’t much work to do. Those working there were mostly middle-aged women and young married women. Seeing Song Yueying nearly fall into the field, not a single person spoke up for her.
Instead, they all lowered their heads and pretended to be seriously pulling weeds in the rice paddies.
The young man driving the ox cart couldn’t stand it anymore and wanted to go help Song Yueying to a safer place. But after taking a step forward, he felt it wasn’t appropriate and stopped.
Turning to Sister-in-law Li, he angrily questioned her, “Sister-in-law Li, how could you push Comrade Song like that? What if she fell into the rice field and damaged the seedlings?”
“In another month the rice will be ready for harvest. If it gets damaged now, it’s really ruined, it can’t be eaten, what a waste!”
Heh.
The corner of Song Yueying’s mouth twitched slightly. She had originally thought the young man driving the cart was speaking up for her, but it turned out… he wasn’t worried about her at all, only about the rice seedlings she might damage.
It really was a matter of survival, people weren’t even as important as a few stalks of rice.
At this moment, Sister-in-law Li’s wrist was in excruciating pain. It felt like the bones inside were about to shatter. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and her twisted expression alternated between green and white.
Hearing the young man’s accusation, she flew into a rage despite the pain and shouted, “Chen Yuan! What nonsense are you spouting? I didn’t push her!”
“It was her! It was Song Yueying who grabbed my wrist and nearly crushed the bones in it!”
“I only flung her away because it hurt, how does that become me pushing her?”
“Are you blind?”
The young man driving the ox cart was named Chen Yuan, the youngest son of the Chen brigade leader.
“Sister-in-law Li, what you’re saying doesn’t make sense,” Chen Yuan said, turning back and pointing at Song Yueying. “It was clearly you who said Auntie Song had another episode.”
“Comrade Song wanted to go home to check on Auntie Song, but you grabbed her arm and wouldn’t let her leave. Now you’re saying it’s Comrade Song who crushed your wrist bones?”
“Isn’t that just the thief crying ‘stop thief’, turning the tables on her?”
In the village, everyone usually gave Sister-in-law Li some face, but Chen Yuan didn’t need to.
He had been unruly since childhood and never gave anyone face. Moreover, his father was the brigade leader, while Sister-in-law Li’s husband was only a team leader, his father was one level above hers.
Both families had the surname Chen and were somewhat distantly related.
But Sister-in-law Li was ambitious and unwilling to accept that her husband was only a team leader. She always tried to outshine the brigade leader’s wife, which made the relationship between the two families very tense.
“You say I’m the one crying ‘stop thief’ and turning the tables?” Sister-in-law Li trembled all over in rage. “Chen Yuan, are your eyes just for show?”
“Or have you been bewitched by that vixen Song Yueying so you can’t see the truth anymore?”
“Don’t forget, Song Yueying is a widow. Your parents would never agree to you being involved with her!”
The hidden thoughts he had carefully buried were suddenly exposed by Sister-in-law Li in front of so many people, and even in front of the girl he liked. Chen Yuan’s face instantly flushed red with embarrassment.
But he also knew Sister-in-law Li was unreasonable; if he tried to explain further, she would only become more aggressive.
Chen Yuan didn’t want to explain any further, nor did he feel like arguing with Sister-in-law Li.
He walked up to Song Yueying, who was still holding onto the tree trunk, and said with a flushed face, “Comrade Song, don’t listen to Sister-in-law Li’s nonsense. You’re not a vixen, and you didn’t bewitch my mind either.”
It was the first time Song Yueying had encountered someone so honest and straightforward, and she could only respond wordlessly with a nod. As for what Sister-in-law Li said about Chen Yuan liking her, she didn’t believe it at all.
After all, as Sister-in-law Li had said, she was a widow, and even a martyr’s widow at that.
Seeing that Song Yueying didn’t take Sister-in-law Li’s words to heart, Chen Yuan felt an indescribable bitterness in his chest. After a pause, he asked, “Can you stand on your own and let go of the tree trunk?”
Song Yueying nodded again, then slowly released her grip, carefully steadying herself as she stood upright.
“Thank you, Comrade Chen,” she said.
“You’re welcome,” Chen Yuan shook his head. Then he reminded her, “Comrade Song, you should hurry back and check on Auntie Song. Don’t let anything happen.”
“You’re right. If anything happens to my mother, I don’t know what I’ll do,” Song Yueying said anxiously, turning around and running toward the village.
Watching her leave, Chen Yuan didn’t even glance at Sister-in-law Li. He drove the ox cart away.
Sister-in-law Li glared fiercely in the direction where Song Yueying disappeared and spat viciously.
“Little slut, vixen.”
Muttering curses, she finally stormed off.
Based on the original owner’s memory, Song Yueying quickly found a small courtyard. Just as she reached the gate, she heard noisy commotion coming from inside.
“Tie it tighter! Make sure the rope is tight so she can’t break free and start making trouble again!”
“She’s already unconscious. She probably won’t wake up to cause trouble again.”
“She’s just unconscious, not dead. She’ll wake up sooner or later. Just wait, when she wakes up and doesn’t see Song Yueying, she’ll definitely start making a scene again.”
“I’m telling you, this Song Yueying is really something. Early in the morning she already ran off somewhere to slack off. Doesn’t she know how much her crazy mother depends on her?”
“People always see her protecting her crazy mother and think she’s filial. Now that her mother has an episode, she’s nowhere to be seen.”
The crowd chattered away, getting more and more excited, until it turned into outright condemnation of Song Yueying.
At that moment, a young woman’s weak, gentle voice spoke up: “Please don’t say that about my cousin. My cousin definitely didn’t mean to leave my aunt behind and go out.”
“She must have been delayed by something, that’s why she didn’t come back all night.”
“Everyone, aunties and sisters-in-law, I beg you, please let my aunt go. She’s only having an episode; she didn’t deliberately make a scene or disturb you all.”
Hearing this, the crowd started discussing it again.
“What? Song Yueying didn’t come back all night? Then where did she go?”
“Where else could she go? Probably ran off with some wild man again.”
“She wouldn’t do something like that again, would she? Her mother is still here!”
“Why wouldn’t she? It’s not like she hasn’t done it before. Think about it, more than a year ago, didn’t she abandon her crazy mother and run off with a wild man?”
“I heard she went off to get married, and only came back after her husband died?”
“I also heard she got married and returned only after her husband died. Could it be…”
That “could it be…” left plenty of room for imagination, and everyone’s thoughts immediately ran wild.