Wang Lihua’s face was haggard and pale. Already thin, her cheeks now appeared sunken on both sides.
Su Erbao thought she must be dreaming. She never imagined she would ever see her mother again.
Seeing her seriously ill mother being pressured by Old Mrs. Su and Liu Xianghua, she could no longer hold back. She sat up, wanting to drive them away.
As she pushed herself up, she realized her body felt lighter than ever before.
Lifting the cotton pants she was wearing to look at her legs, she saw that her originally atrophied and deformed right leg was now intact, though much smaller.
Unable to believe it, she pinched her leg. Feeling the pain, she realized with a start that this was no dream.
Recalling the short dramas and novels she had read, she wondered—was this… a rebirth?
But now was not the time to dwell on it. Whether this was a rebirth or a dream, the most important thing she had to do was drive Old Mrs. Su and Liu Xianghua away.
Because she clearly remembered—it was on this very day that her mother lent out the three hundred yuan in compensation.
She absolutely must not lend it!
Su Erbao climbed down from the small bed she shared with her sister, not even bothering to put on shoes. Like an angry little lion, she charged headlong at Liu Xianghua.
None of the three people opposite noticed her move. The impact sent Liu Xianghua tumbling off the stool, landing hard on the floor with a thud.
Liu Xianghua let out a pained “Aiyo!” Before she could even see who had hit her, Su Erbao threw herself on top of her, scratching and hitting wildly.
Su Erbao had gone to the city to work at a young age. With no relatives and being so young, she was inevitably bullied while working as a factory girl.
But in that environment, she had honed her fighting skills.
She clawed and bit at Liu Xianghua, deliberately targeting sensitive and painful spots, leaving the caught-off-guard Liu Xianghua momentarily unable to break free.
Seeing this, Old Mrs. Su quickly reached out to pull Su Erbao away. Su Erbao, who already hated her, turned and scratched her hand.
Old Mrs. Su winced in pain and was about to raise her hand to strike when she saw Wang Lihua struggling to get up from the bed.
Remembering her purpose for coming today, her eyes shifted cunningly. Instead of pulling Su Erbao away, she began slapping her own thigh.
“Heaven strike you dead! How dare a child so young lay hands on her elders!”
“Second daughter-in-law, you must teach this little brat a lesson today!”
“You must give us an explanation!”
Wang Lihua didn’t answer. Lips pressed tightly together, she reached out and picked up her frantic daughter.
She understood why her daughter had suddenly lashed out—it was all for her sake. How could she possibly punish such a good, such a caring daughter?
“Mother, sister-in-law, Erbao is young and doesn’t understand. With her father just gone, she can’t accept it yet. Please go back for now. I’ll think about the loan.”
Wang Lihua didn’t want to argue with them any longer. A mother knows her child best, and she could already sense something was wrong with her daughter.
Because Su Erbao was trembling all over, her teeth chattering audibly, unable even to cry.
Liu Xianghua, her hair disheveled like a bird’s nest, scrambled up from the floor and slapped Wang Lihua across the face.
“If the little brat is too young to understand, then I’ll hit you instead!”
Wang Lihua’s face was knocked to the side, a bright red handprint instantly appearing on her pale cheek.
Su Erbao was about to break free from Wang Lihua and rush over to tear into them again when a voice came from the doorway: “How dare you hit my mom! I’ll fight you to the death!”
Hearing that familiar voice, her tears surged forth once more.
It was her sister!
Her sister was back!
Su Dabao was thirteen this year and stood at one and a half meters tall, not much shorter than Liu Xianghua, who was one meter fifty-five.
She had gone out earlier to gather firewood and had just returned, the firewood knife still in her hand.
The moment she saw Liu Xianghua actually daring to lay hands on Wang Lihua, she couldn’t hold back any longer. Raising the firewood knife in her hand, she charged forward and swung it straight at Liu Xianghua.
Liu Xianghua was utterly terrified and scrambled to dodge to the side, only to trip over Old Mrs. Su’s leg. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law tumbled to the ground together.
But they didn’t dare say a word, only scrambled and crawled their way out.
Everyone in the family knew Su Dabao was a madwoman. Today, they had only come because they saw her go up the mountain to gather firewood, seizing the opportunity.
They never expected that wretched girl would return so soon, and just in time to witness the slap Wang Lihua had received.
Liu Xianghua wanted to explain that Su Erbao had struck first, but Su Dabao gave her no chance. Each swing of the knife was fiercer than the last, forcing her to flee outside. At the doorway, she even tripped over the threshold, nearly falling flat on her face.
By the time Su Dabao had chased Old Mrs. Su and Liu Xianghua away and returned, Wang Lihua had placed Su Erbao on her own bed and was staring intently at her.
Not long ago, she had been a soft, gentle five-year-old girl. Now, though she still looked five on the outside, her eyes seemed unusually aged and gloomy, carrying an indescribable fierceness.
“You’re not my Erbao. Who are you?”
Wang Lihua spoke sharply, watching Su Erbao closely, not daring to miss any expression on that small face.
Hearing these words, Su Erbao’s tears welled up again. “Mom, I am Erbao. It’s just that I’m not the Erbao of now…”
Su Erbao held nothing back. By now, she was completely certain that she had truly been reborn, reborn into a time when nothing had yet happened.
Moreover, with her rebirth, she also gained her Pin-Xi-Xi in her mind.
Crying, she recounted everything that had happened in her previous life. When she spoke of Wang Lihua being dragged to death, she nearly broke down, unable to continue.
When she spoke of Su Dabao being beaten to death by an abusive husband, she wept uncontrollably several times.
Finally, she spoke of herself suffering from a terminal illness, encountering Su Dagui outside the hospital, and being beaten to death by Su Dagui and the eldest branch of the family…
The mother and her two daughters wept bitterly together, but Su Erbao felt more relief than anything.
She was grateful for her rebirth, allowing her to change the fates of her mother and sister and to take revenge on the Su family.
The three of them cried for a long while before gradually calming down. Wang Lihua’s eyes were red and swollen as she wiped her face fiercely, gritting her teeth and saying, “A family of heartless, ungrateful beasts! I won’t let this go!”
Though the idea of rebirth was unheard of, Wang Lihua chose to believe her youngest daughter.
Su Dabao nodded heavily, glancing at the firewood knife she had left by the door. “When they’re asleep tonight, I’ll go and hack them all to pieces!”
Su Erbao, her head aching from crying, pulled a box of cold medicine from her cotton-padded jacket pocket and placed it on the bed.
She had just tried it and discovered she could control Pin-Xi-Xi with her mind, so she immediately bought this box of medicine.
As soon as the medicine appeared, it startled both Wang Lihua and Su Dabao.
“Where did this come from!” Wang Lihua’s eyes, nearly swollen into slits, widened slightly as she exclaimed in surprise.
Su Erbao shook his head, speaking earnestly, “I don’t know. I was just thinking about getting medicine for Mom, and it appeared in my pocket.”