Cai Hua immediately softened her fierce expression, her eyes lighting up as she looked at Li Wenkuo. "You can get my husband out?"
Li Wenkuo couldn't, but he knew who could. Thinking this, he glanced sideways at Cai Damei.
He couldn't help but recall that man's warning.
Regret churned incessantly in Li Wenkuo's heart. Back then, he should have persuaded Guihua to agree to let Li Nan marry Cripple Xie's daughter.
Li Nan had always been strong-willed. When he reached marriageable age, Auntie Guihua introduced him to many matches, but he was never satisfied, making Auntie Guihua cry to Li Wenkuo more than once out of frustration.
Li Wenkuo spoke with Li Nan and learned he already had someone in mind.
Hearing this, Li Wenkuo was delighted—good news! He asked which family the girl was from.
Li Nan told him the girl's name and her family's address.
The girl was named Xie Lanhua, a villager from the neighboring village next to Lijia Village. She and her father, Cripple Xie, were quite famous in several nearby villages.
Xie Lanhua was famous for being capable, a young woman who shouldered the burden of supporting her family.
Cripple Xie was notorious for his leg, which wasn't broken by accident but because he lost money gambling and couldn't pay his debts, leading to it being broken.
With such a gambling-addicted father, no matter how capable Xie Lanhua was, no one was willing to marry her.
Cripple Xie had long declared that anyone wanting to marry his daughter must pay a bride price of fifty taels of silver.
In the countryside, one tael of silver could support a family for a year. Fifty taels was enough for a lifetime.
Upon learning Li Nan was involved with Xie Lanhua, both Li Wenkuo and Auntie Guihua disapproved.
To make Li Nan back down, Auntie Guihua refused to provide a single coin for the bride price.
Li Nan was stubborn too. To marry the girl he loved, he went out to work, wanting to earn the money himself to marry Xie Lanhua.
Before he could save enough money, Xie Lanhua was tied up by Cripple Xie, placed in a bridal sedan, and carried into Landlord Huang's house.
Forced to perform the wedding ceremony, she became a "bride of auspiciousness" for Huang Jiabao.
Li Wenkuo and Auntie Guihua thought that once Li Nan knew Xie Lanhua had married, he would accept reality and settle down.
Instead, Li Nan went to work at Landlord Huang's estate, wanting to look after the woman in his heart.
Later, Huang Jiabao died from illness. The Huang family blamed Xie Lanhua and wanted her to be buried alive with him.
Li Nan couldn't bear to see his beloved sacrificed. He spoke up to stop them and offered an alternative suggestion.
Bao Min had explained all this to Cai Damei, fearing she might soften and let Li Nan off.
In Cai Damei's heart, her hatred for Li Nan was no less than that for Li Wu, perhaps even greater.
Thinking of Li Nan locked in prison, Li Wenkuo steeled himself and approached Cai Damei. "Damei,"
"Don't speak." Remembering what Ye Yunniang had said, Cai Damei's face darkened. She didn't want to exchange another word with Li Wenkuo.
The words Li Wenkuo was about to say circled in his mouth and finally came out as, "I wronged your father, I wronged you and your mother-in-law."
Li Wenkuo's sincere apology was not accepted by Cai Damei. The harm was already done. Thinking a simple apology could end the matter was impossible.
A pipe dream!
Li Wenkuo finally opened his mouth to plead for his son.
"Damei, could you possibly—"
"No." Cai Damei refused outright. She would not forgive, nor was she willing to forgive Li Nan.
If not for Bao Min, she might truly have died in that mountain cave.
"I haven't even finished speaking."
"You don't need to. I know what you're going to say." Cai Damei looked directly at Li Wenkuo. "I will not plead for mercy for Li Wu and Li Nan, who wanted to kill me."
"Impossible! Nan wouldn't even dare kill a chicken. He couldn't possibly kill a person!" Li Wenkuo didn't believe Cai Damei's words.
"If you don't believe me, why are you begging me?" Cai Damei's words made Li Wenkuo's old face flush red. After hesitating for a long moment, he spoke.
"Damei, please help Nan. He's just a child, he didn't consider the consequences. He just didn't want the woman he loves to die."
"So he just stood by while my mother-in-law and I were almost killed? Look." Cai Damei pointed to the wound on her forehead. "All of this happened because of your son."
Cai Damei didn't want to talk more with Li Wenkuo and urged Tong Mo to hurry up.
Tong Mo remembered Bao Min's instructions: "Do whatever your aunt tells you to do. Don't dawdle."
Tong Mo didn't dare argue and quickened his pace. As he led, the men he brought also sped up their work.
"Village Chief, you're not saying she can save my husband, are you?" Cai Hua, who had been watching Li Wenkuo's actions from the side, questioned him.
Li Wenkuo nodded.
"Impossible! How could Cai Damei have that kind of ability?" Cai Hua didn't believe it.
Back in their maiden families, she and Cai Damei were neighbors and knew each other's family situations well.
After marriage, they were neighbors again, so they knew each other's circumstances even better.
Cai Hua completely refused to believe that Cai Damei, a woman inferior to her in every way, could possess such great influence.
Cai Damei paid no mind to Cai Hua's disdain.
The grave was now dug open.
She brought her grandson, Li Pan, to kowtow to Li Jun and Li Min, explaining the situation.
A gentle breeze blew past, like a hand caressing their cheeks.
"Min, is that you?" Cai Damei felt the breeze and her heart swelled with joy.
Slap!
Cai Damei turned around. Tong Mo had one foot planted on Cai Hua's back. No matter how hard Cai Hua struggled, she couldn't move.
"Lit—"
Under Cai Damei's piercing gaze, Tong Mo swallowed the rest of "tle Aunt" and instead said, "She was trying to sneak up on you."
"Cai Damei, tell them to let my husband go!" Cai Hua shouted.
"Shut up." Cai Damei's response was to slap her twice across the face and have her held down. She couldn't let this delay the bone collection.
Under the watchful eyes of the Lijia Village villagers, the bones were collected, the coffin lid was replaced, and it was carried away.
The remaining large pit was filled back in by the men Tong Mo assigned. Then, he led his men to escort Cai Damei and Ye Yunniang away.
The Lijia Village villagers didn't dare interfere and could only watch from the side.
Just as the carriage was about to leave Lijia Village, a person rushed out and threw themselves to their knees in front of it, kowtowing incessantly.
Thump, thump, thump...
The carriage stopped.
"What do you want?"
"Li Nan did everything for me. He didn't mean to harm you. If you must arrest someone, arrest me. Please, spare him." The young woman—the one Li Nan loved, Xie Lanhua—finished speaking and began another series of frantic kowtows.
"Get up," Cai Damei said. Xie Lanhua didn't listen, continuing to kowtow.
"Get up." Cai Damei's tone sharpened.
Xie Lanhua suddenly felt a force controlling her, preventing her from kneeling.
Involuntarily, Xie Lanhua stood up.
"Don't overdo it." While others were unaware, Ye Yunniang noticed Tong Mo's hand movement and spoke up.
"Don't worry, I know my limits." Ye Yunniang didn't believe Tong Mo's words at all. She had deeply experienced just how unruly this person could be.
Sure enough, the next second, a scream came from Xie Lanhua. Looking back, Xie Lanhua was now suspended in mid-air.
"Ah—"
"Mother, save me!"
"Run! Li Min's spirit has appeared!"
"It's a ghost!"
"Don't push me, I'm going to fall!"
"Help!"
...
The villagers were terrified, scattering in all directions.
Ye Yunniang looked at Tong Mo speechlessly.
Tong Mo shrugged at Ye Yunniang. "Their courage is just too small." It had absolutely nothing to do with him.
Ye Yunniang recognized with one glance that the kowtowing Xie Lanhua was the young woman who had taken a beating for her that day.
Ye Yunniang lowered her voice and explained the situation to Cai Damei.
Hearing this, Cai Damei's gaze towards Xie Lanhua warmed by a couple of degrees.
"I want to thank you for sparing my daughter-in-law from a beating." Cai Damei distinguished clearly between gratitude and grievance, offering her sincere thanks.
"Li—" Xie Lanhua wanted to speak up to plead for Li Nan.
"Your kindness, my Li family will remember. But the harm Li Nan caused me, I will not forget either."
