CH 1.1

Chapter 1.1 – Abducted

“Is her body clean?”

“I can deceive others but would I swindle you? I got this girl from outside the city’s high school. You can see she’s still wearing her school uniform. I didn’t even let our family Er’wa touch a finger of hers all the way back to the mountain. Second Aunt, it’s not that I want to say anything. It’s fine as long as she can give birth, why do you care if the girl is a virgin?”

“You don’t understand. My Xing’wa has been in the city for a few years and has high standards. He insisted that I buy one with a clean body.”

“Ai, educated people are really different, so picky.”

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Nightmare. Su Qin heard familiar voices and thought she was having a nightmare.

Her whole body was in pain and when she moved, her bones seemed to be cracking.

She was lying with her face pressed against the ground and the fetid smell of moss was under her nose. In dazed, she opened her eyes and found herself in a small woodshed that was almost completely enclosed with the only light source coming through the crack in the door.

Somebody was talking outside the door. Two voices that she would never forget.

These were the two women who abducted and bought her. The abductor’s name was Zhang Feng while the buyer was Li Yunzhen.

Even after she was rescued by the police from the mountain, married to Professor Li and started a new life, she could never forget the names or the voices of these two women.

The Xing’wa from Li Yunzhen’s mouth was Zhang Xing, the rural man who bought her to be his wife.

The pain on her body and the smell at the tip of her nose … was too real to be a dream.

Su Qin was startled.

Wasn’t she … burned to death? Didn’t she and her daughter, Baobao, burn to death at home? How could … return to the place where her nightmare began?

Is she… going to experience that nightmare again?

Her heart was pounding so fast that it almost popped out of her throat.

She tried her best to quell her heartbeat and calm herself down. Holding her breath, she listened to the conversation between the two women outside the door.

Li Yunzhen said, “Ah Feng, this is 6,000 yuan, count it.”

“No need, no need to count. We are family, so no need to be courteous to me.” Unbuttoning the cotton jacket, Zhang Feng stuffed the 6,000 yuan into the pocket lining of her jacket.

She took hold of Li Yunzhen’s hand and spoke solemnly once the money had been put away safely, “This girl is spirited and tried to escape several times on the road and even bit my ear. Since your requirements are high, I dare not hit her hard. Second Aunt, like I said, breaks her legs before your family Xing’wa returns then she can’t run away anymore. Isn’t your family Xing’wa only wants a clean body but never mentioned about being crippled, so what do you say?”

Li Yunzhen was still hesitating when Zhang Feng spoke again, “Look at Zhang Xihua’s family’s daughter-in-law. Once her legs were crippled, the thought of escaping was crushed too. She is now home looking after the children and doing farm work. Look how obedient she is now.”

Li Yunzhen’s son is the head of the family while she is a sheeple. She thought about it and felt that Zhang Feng had a point.

**********

The voices outside made Su Qin sure of a fact.

She had been reborn back to the age of 15. Back to the day when Li Yunzhen broke her leg.

On this day in her previous lifetime, Li Yunzhen listened to Zhang Feng’s opinion that these two women brought in a rod and struck her leg frantically. She had her right leg broken and passed out from the pain.

She had been pampered by her parents since she was a child and had never suffered any hardship, let alone getting beat up. How could she withstand being beaten like this at only 15 years of age? In the end, she submitted to fear and followed Zhang Xing to live a ‘steadfast’ life.

She was placid on the surface but was always looking for opportunities to escape.

Five years later, she secretly slipped tips to the outside world through Professor Li who came to teach under the education support program for underdeveloped areas in the mountain village and only then was she brought home by the police.

After being rescued from Dashan, she re-enrolled at a school with the help of Professor Li and worked as a fashion designer once she graduated from the university before marrying Professor Li.

Professor Li didn’t mind about her past. Even when the Li family pointed fingers of blame at her, Li Chuan never disdained her. They were a loving couple and their daughter, Baobao, was very cute too.

In her previous lifetime, she was set aflame by the man who bought her in Dashan. Burning to death with her was her 3-year-old daughter with Professor Li, Baobao.

The image of the fire was vivid in her mind and the pain of burning flesh was as if she had just experienced it. Her daughter, Baobao was crying in her arms and telling her, “Mommy, I’m in pain, very painful …”

She was in pain too. Her whole body hurt as her flesh burnt. With one limping leg, she was trapped halfway through her escape with her daughter in her arms.

The moment she closed her eyes, she saw Li Chuan rushing in.

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The man’s figure was as tall as ever and the moment she saw him, her heart felt reassured that she finally closed her eyes.

**********

Closing and opening her eyes again, Su Qin was back to the day she was 15 and got abducted to Dashan.

She hated the people here, loathed the village and even the air here sickened her. Her hatred for this village seeped into the marrow of her bones.

She was reborn again and seemed limited in what she could do. Lacking the strength to even truss a chicken, she could not kill Zhang Xing or avenge herself.

Since Heavens is giving her a second chance to return before the tragedy happened, she must simply cherish this opportunity.

Unable to escape with her limbs bound, she quickly calmed down and began to recall Li Yunzhen’s character.

She had lived with Zhang Xing and his mother for five years in her previous lifetime, hence was well acquainted with their personalities.

Losing her husband at an early age, Li Yunzhen submits blindly to her son with little assertive opinions about what she does, but she is of an overly-suspicious nature. She and Zhang Feng are relatives. As Zhang Feng is mean, she has never truly trusted this woman and often speaks ill of Zhang Feng behind her back.

Zhang Xing worked in the city for several years and had attended elementary school, hence he believed that only a clean woman is worthy of him. So, when Li Yunzhen buys a daughter-in-law, the first requirement is a clean body. Hence, she can completely take advantage of this to evoke conflict between Zhang Feng and Li Yunzhen to first escape the current hurdle of getting crippled.

The door to the woodshed was pushed open with a ‘pa’ sound and light poured in.

Su Qin cowered inward. Her small face was deathly pale while her body trembled like a chaff and her mental state seemed quite abnormal.

She looked at Zhang Feng with terror on her face and chattered away nervously, “Aunty, aunty, you let me go. I will sleep properly with Brother Shitou and won’t hit him in the middle of the night. Don’t beat me, Aunty, don’t beat me. I will surely sleep properly with Brother Shitou, sleep properly with him …”

Shitou is the given name of Zhang Feng’s son who everyone usually calls him “Er’wa” and as time passes, few people know his given name is Zhang Shitou.

These days, Zhang Feng never calls out her son’s given name in front of her. She was surprised how this girl knew that Shitou is Er’wa’s name.

The little girl was trembling badly with a face full of fear and looked terrified.

Li Yunzhen felt uneasy immediately. She doesn’t care if the girl is already unclean, instead she minded that this old lady actually deceived her.

She only gave 3,000 more taking into account her son’s demand but she did not expect the girl to have been touched first by Zhang Feng family’s son.

Li Yunzhen turned her head to look at Zhang Feng, “Feng’er, Second Aunt doesn’t say anything when you often take advantage of others, but how could you even cheat Second Aunt too? Have you any heart? Return me the 4,000 yuan and I won’t argue this matter with you.”

Zhang Feng glared at Su Qin then turned to face Li Yunzhen as she pulled her, “No, Second Aunt, this girl is talking nonsense, what sleep or not sleep. My family’s Er’wa absolutely did not touch her at all.”

“Don’t you take Second Aunt as a fool.” Li Yunzhen shook her hand off then looked at the deathly pale little girl hurdling in the corner and continued, “Others might not know, but how could I not know you? We are family, so I will not bicker with you, just return the 4,000 yuan to me!”

The more fearful Su Qin showed, the more determined Li Yunzhen was by Zhang Feng’s deception. She grabbed the rod and hit Zhang Feng, “Otherwise, I don’t want this girl!”

The two argued heatedly while Su Qin looked like an ignorant frightened little girl.

After all, she has a 35-year-old soul in her body and in her previous lifetime, she had experienced abduction, workplace struggles and all kinds of life situations, so she still has this bit of acting skill.

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Zhang Feng’s fury flared up once she got hit. Clutching the money she tucked in her chest tightly, she cursed Li Yunzhen ‘foolish woman’ all the way out of Li Yunzhen’s house.

Holding up the rod, Li Yunzhen stood in front of her house and cursed at the top of her voice that Zhang Feng was ‘heartless’ and ‘a white-eyed wolf[1]’ who would swindle even her own relatives.

After Zhang Feng left, Li Yunzhen returned home to drink a mouthful of water and still foul-mouthed her.

She then vented her anger on Su Qin by grabbing her hair and dragging her out of the woodshed like an animal before throwing her into the yard.

Fortunately, it was spring and the cold had yet to pass. Dressed in a woolen sweater and pants, these had kept her from being scraped and bruised again.

Dragged into the courtyard, she couldn’t open her eyes and felt somewhat stung by the sunlight.

With her feet and hands bound, she had no strength to fight back. Since Li Yunzhen worked on the farm all year round, she has brute strength even though she is thin. She was no match to her even if her hands and feet were not restrained. Even if she could defeat Li Yunzhen, she still couldn’t run out of this village.

The people in this village are used to buying wives/daughter-in-laws and whichever family’s ‘wife/daughter-in-law’ tries to run away, the whole village will gather to help out. They will then break the girl’s limbs and torture her with all kinds of cruel tactics, so that she can’t and dare not run away again.

Here, the air is clear and the sun shines brightly, but in Su Qin’s eyes, this is a purgatory on earth where the air pervades with sickening evilness.

A backward place with beautiful scenery that also produces unruly people.

Getting thrown to the ground, all her bones felt ached as if they were smashed to pieces.

In the yard, Li Yunzhen has grown some vegetables, green onions, spring celery and cilantro.

Su Qin felt uncomfortable when she caught the smell of spring celery but a way to save herself flashed through her mind and the spring celery became the means that would keep her alive.

Zhang Xing is a man who is afraid of contracting diseases while Li Yunzhen will not tolerate a sick daughter-in-law. So, she can use her allergy to cause the outbreak of hives.