Li Dazhuang and Grandma Shen both knew Chuntao's temperament. Even if they were beaten to death, they wouldn't believe she would do such a shameful and morally corrupt thing.
But facing the unreasonable and overbearing Liu Cuilan, they were completely helpless.
Wang Lanhua was over two months pregnant again, and this family could not afford to fall apart.
Li Dazhuang and Grandma Shen were worried, so they left Li Xiaolian at a neighbor's house and went along with them.
By the time they hurried to Wangjiazhai, it was already late afternoon. Seeing that Liu Cuilan had brought Chuntao's maiden family over, the villagers thought to themselves that there would be a good show to watch.
A few idlers and women slowly followed behind them, inching toward the courtyard of Chuntao's house.
As soon as they entered the yard, Liu Cuilan shouted at the top of her lungs, "Li Chuntao, get out here!
Our Wang family didn't marry you so you could sneak around with other men, and certainly not so you could beat your mother-in-law!"
Grandma Shen was long accustomed to Liu Cuilan's shrewishness, but seeing so many people gathering to watch the spectacle, she felt her face burn with embarrassment.
She quickly urged in a low voice, "Lanhua's mother, let's go inside and talk properly. Making such a scene will only make us a laughingstock."
"A laughingstock?" Liu Cuilan retorted in a shrill voice. "If Li Chuntao isn't afraid of people laughing at her, why should I be?"
Wang Lanhua hurriedly grabbed Liu Cuilan and pulled her toward the main room. "Mother, if there's an issue, let's talk it out nicely. Stop yelling!"
Neither Chuntao nor Wang Xiaohong was in the room. Only Wang Jieshi was slouching on the bed in the inner room.
Seeing Grandma Shen and the others arrive, he knew right away that Liu Cuilan had brought them here.
"Jieshi, our mother asked us to come back and talk some sense into Chuntao. Where is she?" Wang Lanhua asked.
"In the fields!" Wang Jieshi replied grumpily. "There was nothing wrong in the first place, but she makes a fuss every day. Sooner or later, she's going to tear this family apart with her yelling!"
Hearing Wang Jieshi's words, Grandma Shen figured things out. Liu Cuilan was making things up out of thin air and deliberately looking for trouble.
"Jieshi, if Chuntao really did something to wrong you, just tell me. I won't let her off easy!" Grandma Shen took over the conversation.
"Nothing happened!" Wang Jieshi said in a muffled voice.
Over these past few days, he had thought things through from various angles and had somewhat come to terms with the situation.
His mother was completely bewitched by Wang Haichao and couldn't care less about him.
Wang Xiaohong would eventually marry and leave. In this house, the only person he could rely on was Chuntao.
He thought that once the matter of borrowing seed was successful and Chuntao got pregnant, she surely wouldn't abandon him and leave, right?
"Wang Jieshi, you useless coward!"
Liu Cuilan trembled with anger. "I walked over twenty miles to bring them here to judge the situation, and you have the nerve to say nothing happened!
Sooner or later, she'll run off with some wild man, and then you'll be crying!"
Hearing Wang Jieshi's words, Grandma Shen also gained confidence. She straightened her back and said, "Lanhua's mother, I raised Chuntao from a young age, so I know exactly what kind of person she is.
This girl is shy. She doesn't even dare speak loudly, and when she walks, she wouldn't even step on an ant. I don't believe she would do anything so shameful!"
Li Dazhuang chimed in, "I know what kind of person my sister is! She is absolutely not that kind of person!"
Liu Cuilan stomped her feet in anger. "So what you mean is that I'm wronging her?
Go ask around the village! Who doesn't know that Li Chuntao is hooking up with a wild man?
Just last night, someone got stabbed over her, and he's still lying in the commune clinic right now!
Since you don't believe it, forget it. I can't be bothered to waste my breath. Both of you can leave! Let Lanhua stay!"
"Lanhua's mother, rest assured!" Grandma Shen patted her chest and guaranteed, "I promise you, Chuntao absolutely has no wandering eye.
In this life, she is a member of your Wang family while alive, and a ghost of your Wang family when dead. If she dares to mess around, I'll be the first one to punish her!"
"Jieshi was gone for four years and my sister never left. Now that Jieshi is back, she definitely won't have any improper thoughts!" Li Dazhuang added.
Chuntao had no idea that Liu Cuilan had gone to Lijia Village, much less that her grandmother, brother, and sister-in-law had all followed her here.
She and Wang Xiaohong returned from the fields. As soon as they entered the room and saw the group, they were stunned.
"Grandma, sister-in-law, brother..." She greeted them one by one, completely ignoring Liu Cuilan.
Liu Cuilan glared at Grandma Shen and shrieked, "This is the good granddaughter you raised!
Sneaking around with men and beating her mother-in-law! I don't want such a menace anymore! Take her away!"
"I suffered in your house for four years. I accepted the hardship and exhaustion, but you bully people every day. I was forced into this by you!"
Chuntao couldn't hold back anymore. She raised her head and stared at Liu Cuilan, her tone much harsher than usual.
"Look! Just look!" Liu Cuilan sneered. "She's gained some nerve from sneaking around with men. Now she dares to talk back!"
"What nonsense are you spouting again!" Wang Xiaohong rushed into the room holding a sickle.
Pointing it at Liu Cuilan, she shouted, "Get out right now! Otherwise, the sickle in my hand doesn't have eyes!"
Terrified, Wang Lanhua quickly grabbed her. "Xiaohong, what are you doing!"
"This family is turned upside down by her every single day. We can't live like this anymore!" Wang Xiaohong struggled, still trying to charge forward.
Frightened, Liu Cuilan backed away repeatedly, calling out to Wang Lanhua as she retreated, "Lanhua, come with me to the front yard!"
Seeing the attitudes of Wang Jieshi and Wang Xiaohong, Wang Lanhua couldn't help but feel half-doubtful about the rumors of Chuntao having an affair.
She didn't say anything more and followed Liu Cuilan to the front yard, leaving Grandma Shen and Li Dazhuang in Chuntao's room.
That night, Grandma Shen and Chuntao slept in the same room. Holding her hand, Grandma Shen chattered on for half the night.
"Tao, you are a good child. Grandma believes you aren't that kind of person.
I also know your life is hard, but which family doesn't have its own troubles? No matter how hard it is, life must go on.
You can't dwell on things too much; you have to look forward. Only then will life have some hope..."
Her grandmother believed her, but she had indeed done that shameless thing, betraying her grandmother's trust.
Chuntao felt a bitter and sour ache in her heart, along with a deep sense of guilt.
Her grandmother said that looking forward brings hope to life, but her life was a darkness she could see all the way to the end. Where was the hope?
She could only endure day by day, waiting until her oil was exhausted and her lamp went out, and then it would finally be over.
Liu Cuilan's deliberate fault-finding and the villagers' gossip weighed her down so heavily she could hardly breathe.
More than once, she had thought about taking the same path as Chouni—ending her life to end all her troubles. But she didn't have Chouni's courage.
She cursed herself for being too weak and overthinking things. Bound by the ropes of family affection, she wanted to leave but just couldn't take that step.
Her heart was full of bitterness that she couldn't express to her grandmother, so she could only let her tears flow silently, soaking her pillowcase.
In this era, there were many families who engaged in exchange marriages, and most couples just made do with their lives.
How many women were beaten black and blue by their husbands, only to grit their teeth and endure it?
In Wangjiazhai, there was a daughter who had been married off in an exchange and was beaten to death by her husband. Her maiden family, in order to preserve their own livelihood, didn't utter a single word of protest.
Nobody's life was easy. Chuntao could only comfort herself this way over and over again.
Her grandmother nagged her until the middle of the night. Over and over, the message was just one thing: to live a steady, grounded life in the Wang family and stop letting her imagination run wild.
Her grandmother was already in her seventies, and Chuntao couldn't bear to cause her any more worry. Fighting back her bitter sorrow, she nodded. "Don't worry, Grandma. Since I've crossed the threshold of the Wang family, I'll belong to them for the rest of my life."
They didn't even have a marriage certificate, let alone a real marriage. To the Wangs, she was nothing more than a beast of burden.
Inside, however, Chuntao's heart ached as if it were being sliced apart by a knife.
Meanwhile, Zhou Zhijun had been away for work for about ten days. He missed Chuntao so much that it drove him frantic.
He had a dream—a beautiful, deeply intoxicating dream. But when he woke up, an agonizing, hollow ache washed over his entire body, leaving him utterly miserable.
Zhou Zhijun's hands tightened around the undershirt and coarse cloth he was holding, his knuckles cracking from the sheer force of his grip.
"Tao'er, I'm heading back to see you tomorrow."
