In the room, Meng Yingying was standing before Third Wu. With her back turned, Song Nianchu couldn't see her expression, but even from her silhouette, one could sense the overwhelming sense of vindication.
"Rein in your emotions," Song Nianchu said, stepping forward quickly and whispering into Meng Yingying's ear.
Only then did Meng Yingying seem to awaken from a dream, withdrawing all the hatred and triumph from her eyes.
She was just too happy. She had imagined killing him countless times but had always been too cowardly to go through with it, ultimately harming not only herself but also causing her parents and younger brother to suffer.
Now that her great vengeance was finally realized, how could she not be overjoyed?
Song Nianchu glanced at Third Wu on the bed. His chest showed no movement, his face ashen. It seemed he had been dead for some time.
"How did he die?" Song Nianchu asked.
Judging by yesterday's situation, Third Wu shouldn't have died so quickly.
"He killed himself," Meng Yingying replied, her tone calm.
"Suicide?" A flicker of surprise passed through Song Nianchu's eyes.
"You find it strange too, don't you? That someone like him would actually commit suicide." A trace of mockery appeared at the corner of Meng Yingying's mouth.
"What exactly happened last night?" Song Nianchu pressed.
"Last night, after the Wu family members returned, Wu's mother told them about Third Wu's condition and wanted them to pool money to send him to the county hospital for treatment." Meng Yingying's smile grew more sarcastic.
"But guess what? The moment they heard about spending money, they all pounded the table in refusal."
"They said Third Wu never worked, contributed the least to the household every month, yet never ate any less of the family's food. Now he'd caught some filthy disease outside and came back expecting them to pay for it. Of course, they were a thousand, ten thousand times unwilling. They even started clamoring to divide the family property."
"Elder Wu even told Wu's mother that Third Wu looked like he wasn't going to make it anyway. If they emptied the family coffers for him, they'd all be left with nothing but the northwest wind to drink later."
"He even threatened Wu's mother, saying if she couldn't see reason, they wouldn't support her in her old age. Wu's mother fell silent then."
Song Nianchu found this unexpected, yet it made a twisted sense.
When you're struggling to survive yourself, how can you spare the energy to care for others, even your own flesh and blood?
"I opened the door on purpose so Third Wu could hear every word clearly. I told him his family had abandoned him. No one would save him. No one was even willing to get near him."
"He would suffer like this until he drew his last breath. I thought he would cling to life, no matter how miserably. But in the middle of the night, he quietly got up and hanged himself with a rope from his parents' doorframe."
After hearing the whole story, Song Nianchu felt a slight relief. As long as Meng Yingying hadn't done it herself, there was nothing to worry about.
"You should have seen it this morning. When his parents opened their door and saw him hanging there, they fainted dead away on the spot."
"I always thought this family was so formidable. Turns out they're just a bunch of cowards."
"They even took his body down and laid it back on the bed, trying to make it look like he died from illness, just so the villagers wouldn't call them heartless." The more Meng Yingying thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed.
It also made her wonder how she could have been so pathetic in her past life, not daring to fight back against people like this.
She should have killed them all in her past life, every last one!
"When their own interests are threatened, brothers stop being brothers, fathers stop being fathers," Song Nianchu said quietly, her gaze resting on Third Wu's corpse.
He probably never imagined, while committing his evils, that he would one day come to such an end.
"Oh, when Third Wu is buried, remember to burn all his clothes and belongings," Song Nianchu reminded.
"Mm," Meng Yingying nodded.
"..."
Third Wu's death was not honorable, and coupled with the Wu family's own guilty conscience, they went to the back hill that very night, dug a pit, and tossed him in wrapped in a straw mat.
Believing without a doubt that he had a filthy disease, they didn't need Meng Yingying to say a word. They gathered all his clothes, bedding, and anything he had used and set fire to it.
Standing before the flames, Meng Yingying felt that only at this moment was she truly reborn.
That demon had finally gone to hell!
But that same night, another fierce quarrel erupted in the Wu household, so loud and violent it even woke the neighbors next door.
Getting up to check, people saw Wu's mother run out of the house, her head covered in blood, screaming.
"Murder! Murder!"
"..."
Her shrill cry almost tore through the sky over the entire Qinghe Fishing Village.
In no time, everyone got dressed and rushed to their house.
Wu's mother and the other Wu family members huddled trembling in a corner of the yard. Meng Yingying stood holding a kitchen knife, her expression cold as she watched them.
"What's going on with your family now?" Wu Zhenggui, who had finally managed to fall asleep, scrambled out of bed upon hearing there was trouble at Third Wu's place.
"I want to leave, but they won't let me," Meng Yingying said calmly, looking at the Wu family.
She understood now: even the toughest bullies are afraid of someone who isn't afraid to die.
"Leave? Where are you going?" Wu Zhenggui frowned deeply.
Meng Yingying was an educated youth. Without a transfer order, she couldn't just leave Qinghe Fishing Village.
"I'm going back to the educated youth dormitory," Meng Yingying stated.
Hearing this, Wu Zhenggui relaxed slightly. As long as she wasn't leaving the village, it was fine. He was about to speak when Wu's mother cut in first.
"You're a daughter-in-law of the Wu family. You should stay with us. What are you doing running off to the educated youth dormitory?"
Meng Yingying worked hard, ate little, and now even worked at Song Nianchu's kitchen workshop, earning full work points every day. Their family only had her bringing in that kind of income. How could they let her go?
"Shall I repeat how I became your daughter-in-law? It was your son, Third Wu, who raped me. It was your whole family that forced me!" Meng Yingying was no longer afraid of anyone's judgmental looks.
She was the victim. The ones who should face censure were the Wu family. The ones who should hang their heads in shame were them.
"Don't you dare spout nonsense—" Wu's mother tried to retort, but Meng Yingying raised the kitchen knife in her hand.
"I'm telling you, I'm not afraid of death at all now. If you still think you can control me, intimidate me, then I'll take you all down with me!" Meng Yingying's tone was level, but that very calmness made it all the more terrifying.
Because it wasn't a momentary impulse. It was a rational, clear-headed determination to fight you to the death.
"Enough, both of you, quiet down!" Wu Zhenggui's head was throbbing from their noise. He turned impatiently to Wu's mother.
"Don't think I don't know what your family did to Comrade Meng before. Now that Third Wu is dead, since Comrade Meng herself wants to return to the educated youth dormitory, don't stand in her way."
"Why should we?! Our family even gave her five yuan as a bride price back then!" Wu's mother retorted, her neck stiff with defiance.
