Wang Hao knew there was no way they would let Wang Keke go back.
His visit here was just to remind Wang Keke that she still had a father, a biological father.
He just wanted to plant a thorn in Liu Renzhi's heart.
A thorn that could never be pulled out.
So he shouted from the doorway:
"Keke, you are Grandpa's granddaughter. Even if you're not coming back for the funeral, you should at least kowtow to him.
"That's what a good child does."
Li Suhua completely ignored him and turned up the TV volume for Wang Keke.
After Wang Hao left, she fed all the fruit baskets he had placed at the door to the chickens.
They were worth money, but there was no reason to waste them.
Wang Hao had barely taken a few steps when Liu Xiulan called again:
"Bring Lin Wanyi back, this is a perfect opportunity.
"As the daughter-in-law, she has to come back to kowtow to her father-in-law. That's proper etiquette, that's filial piety.
"When she gets here, we're absolutely not letting her leave."
Wang Hao didn't think twice before telling Liu Xiulan:
"She was driven away by your scolding. If you want her back, you call her yourself.
"I don't have that kind of ability."
Liu Xiulan cursed Wang Hao over the phone:
"How can you be so useless? Your old bastard of a father could find a mistress, but you can't handle Lin Wanyi?
"Fine, I'll call her myself."
Liu Xiulan sat beside Wang Jianguo's corpse and called Lin Wanyi.
She used someone else's phone, but Lin Wanyi still didn't answer.
She then sent a text message:
【Lin Wanyi, your father-in-law has passed away. Shouldn't you, as his daughter-in-law, come to mourn?】
Looking at the message on her phone, Lin Wanyi suddenly shed tears of joy.
Wang Jianguo was dead. He was truly dead.
Serves him right.
She thought back to the past eight years, when Wang Jianguo was always silently smoking.
He didn't talk much, but every time he opened his mouth, it was to teach Wang Hao how to beat Lin Wanyi.
He always said:
"Women are meant to be beaten. If you don't beat them into submission, they won't listen to you."
"Only through beating will they not run away.
"And she's from out of town. No one will know even if you beat her.
"Beat her however you want. Women, huh!"
At first, he just encouraged Wang Hao, but later, he started doing it himself.
She also remembered the drugs Wang Jianguo had brought.
Those drugs that made her sleep deeply at night.
Because of those drugs, she conceived a second child.
A child she didn't want.
A child the Wang family wanted to use to bind her.
A child that was ultimately kicked away by Wang Jianguo himself.
Damn him!
Lin Wanyi gritted her teeth just thinking about it.
She had only one thought:
Wang Jianguo deserved to die long ago.
Asking her to go back for his funeral? A fantasy.
When her own father died, they did everything to stop her from returning.
Because of them, she didn't even get to see her father one last time.
Now that Wang Jianguo is dead, she's supposed to go mourn?
Now they want to talk about etiquette and filial piety?
Ridiculous.
Wu Qin sent her a message:
"Wanyi, did you know? Wang Jianguo is dead.
"I got the news and immediately thought to tell you. Let me tell you, he died a terrible death.
"For days, no one was at home. Liu Xiulan didn't care for him at all. He literally starved to death.
"My mom smelled the stench and went to check. That's how he was found. His body was covered in maggots, and rats were gnawing on him.
"Ugh, smelly and miserable."
Lin Wanyi imagined the scene.
It was disgusting.
But it was also what Wang Jianguo deserved.
It was his comeuppance.
Seeing her reddened eyes, Liu Renzhi asked her:
"Who sent you that message?"
Lin Wanyi handed him her phone:
"Renzhi, Wang Jianguo... he's dead."
Liu Renzhi immediately understood why Lin Wanyi was crying.
He stroked her hair:
"Karma. This is the karma they deserved."
Wangjia Village.
Liu Xiulan kicked Wang Jianguo's body disdainfully:
"Hah, you dead old bastard. You shameless old thing.
"So you're really dead now, huh? Why isn't that widow of yours coming back to see you?
"Why isn't she here to see you off on your final journey?
"Hahaha, hahaha..."
She stood in the yard, laughing hysterically. She laughed until she couldn't stand up straight, until tears streamed down her face.
She thought back over the decades.
When she first married Wang Jianguo, she was beaten every few days.
The slightest mistake was met with Wang Jianguo's fists and kicks.
When she resisted a little, Wang Jianguo and his mother would beat her even harder and more viciously.
Her mother-in-law would say, "Isn't this how all women get by? Every woman in the world is the same. Born to be men's slaves, born to be beaten."
She told Liu Xiulan, "Blame your mother for not making you a son. You can't blame me."
Liu Xiulan had believed it. She truly thought all women were the same.
But later, when Wang Jianguo became more brutal and his beatings got heavier, she couldn't take it anymore and went home to tell Liu Dabing.
Liu Dabing immediately grabbed a hoe and nearly broke Wang Jianguo's back.
From that day on, Wang Jianguo never dared to touch Liu Xiulan again.
Liu Xiulan truly became the head of the household.
This was also why Liu Xiulan had been giving money to Liu Dabing all these years.
She never forgot Liu Dabing's swing of that hoe.
She was always grateful to Liu Dabing.
Now, staring at Wang Jianguo's corpse, she was thinking about Liu Dabing again.
If only he hadn't been locked up.
Then who would dare bully her?
Who would dare defy her?
This was all still Lin Wanyi's fault. All of it.
Wang Hao drove through the night to get home.
He arrived at Wangjia Village around noon the next day.
Wang Kai and Wang Meijuan had already returned.
Of course, they had come alone.
Li Jun and Li Borui hadn't come.
Chen Qingxiu and Chen Hao hadn't come either.
Liu Xiulan was throwing a tantrum:
"What do you all mean by this? Every single one of you, what's the meaning of this?
"Why didn't Li Jun come? Is he not still Meijuan's husband? They haven't divorced, so why didn't he come?
"And what about Li Borui? He's my grandson! He absolutely had to be here."
After scolding Wang Meijuan, she turned on Wang Kai:
"You're even more ridiculous. Chen Qingxiu is your wife, the eldest daughter-in-law! And Chen Hao is our own grandson! What reason do they have not to come?
"Wang Kai, I know you two fight all the time, but can't you at least give me some face at a time like this?
"At least put on a show for the villagers! Are you all not even willing to pretend anymore?"
Wang Meijuan muttered:
"Well, if they won't come, what am I supposed to do? Tie them up and drag them here?
"Besides, you and Dad never liked my son anyway. You only ever liked Chen Hao.
"If you're mad, take it out on them. What's it got to do with me?"
Wang Kai immediately retorted:
"Why bother with all this pretense? The man is dead. I think it's already a lot that I came back."
He then turned to look at Wang Hao, who had just parked, looking travel-worn.
"Well, isn't he here alone too? Lin Wanyi and Keke didn't come either, did they?"
Liu Xiulan opened Wang Hao's car door, full of hope, only to find him alone.
She was disappointed:
"Didn't I tell you to bring Lin Wanyi back? Why are you the only one?"
Wang Hao pushed past her to see Wang Jianguo.
He was planning to light a stick of incense, but when he saw what Wang Jianguo looked like, he felt nauseous and wanted to throw up.
Wang Kai urged:
"Since everyone who's coming is here, let's just hurry up and get him buried.
"In this heat, if we wait another day, he'll be completely rotten."
Liu Xiulan looked at her three lonely children.
Her heart was filled with desolation.
How had it come to this?
They all had families. Why couldn't any of them bring their spouses and children back?
She didn’t understand, she couldn’t fathom it.
It was all Chen Qingxiu’s fault, all Lin Wanyi’s fault.
Yes, entirely their fault.
While Liu Xiulan was still mulling it over, Wang Kai had already grown impatient, urging them to proceed with the burial.
As they passed Zhang Cuilan’s doorway, Zhang Cuilan deliberately cracked sunflower seeds and asked Liu Xiulan:
“Oh, Xiulan, your family’s not right, you know.
“How is it that not a single daughter-in-law or grandson has shown up?
“Does no one want to come back to send Jianguo off?
“What a tragedy, dying so alone like this.
“Just think—when your time comes, it’ll surely be the same—not a single grandson around.”
