Chapter 11

"Ow! Who hit me?"

Mother Lu had done farmwork all her life, and the strength in her arms was no joke. One swing of her stick caught the little thief in the leg. The woman sprawled onto the ground, dropping the sack in her arms and spilling grain everywhere.

"Wang Xiuhong, are you trying to kill me? You hit me that hard!" The woman on the ground bared her teeth in pain and rolled over to sit up. Dirt covered her face and clothes. She looked a wreck, but Lu Tinglan recognized her: she was Lu Lin's wife, whom she had just passed on the road.

It was noon, when everyone came home from work to cook. The commotion at the Lu home soon drew a crowd of villagers eager for a spectacle.

Liu Cuilan struck first. She wiped dirt from her face, slapped her thigh, and wailed, "Is there no justice? Lu Baoquan got my husband killed! He said he'd give us grain every month, but who knows how long it's been since I last saw any? We've been out of food for days."

"Lu Lin, you short-lived ghost! If you were still alive, you'd never let me suffer like this. Your poor wife and children don't have a soul to help us. If you can see us from heaven, take away every last one of these people who've wronged us!"

What a rotten thing to do!

It was an old story. For as long as Lu Tinglan could remember, this vicious aunt had never shown her a kind face, yet she took a hefty share of grain from their family every month.

Mother Lu had told her that during the famine, the men of the village had formed small hunting parties and gone into the mountains. The party Father Lu led had run into trouble, and wolves had killed Lu Lin on the mountain.

He had left behind a wife and a daughter barely a month old. Liu Cuilan had threatened to jump into the river. Seeing that mother and child might not survive, the village had decided to give them some grain each month. Father Lu had felt bad about what happened and offered another share himself. Only then had Liu Cuilan grudgingly raised her daughter into her teens.

But Liu Cuilan's children were grown now, and she was still demanding grain. Wasn't that going a little too far? Her performance made Mother Lu's chest ache with anger.

Liu Cuilan's whole song-and-dance routine was shameless, but it worked. She was, after all, a woman whose husband had died. Someone in the crowd couldn't help urging:

"Xiuhong, let it go. She hasn't had it easy!"

Lu Tinglan shook her head inwardly. One thing is one thing, another is another. Helping her out is one thing, but rummaging through someone's home while they're away and taking their things makes her a thief! If you're so fond of using guilt as a cudgel, let her visit your house next. Let's see how warmly you welcome her!

Well said!

Mother Lu applauded her daughter in her heart. She shook off the peacemaker's hand and shot daggers at Liu Cuilan. "We made it clear six months ago. Hua Niu is married, and Hu Wa is seventeen and out of school. He can support a household by now. Why should we keep feeding you? What, after raising Lu Lin's wife and daughter, we're supposed to raise that bastard you brought home too? Where's the sense in that?"

The mention of her precious boy made Liu Cuilan flush red with anger. She couldn't help arguing back. "I took Hu Wa in. What right do you have to call him a bastard? He's going to tend Lu Lin's grave and burn incense for him. His name is in the family register; everything was done properly. Say that again if you dare!"

Lu Tinglan already knew the story and had committed the fate of everyone in Lu Family Village to memory. That included Liu Cuilan, who was a piece of work.

Seriously? You play dumb, so everyone else has to play dumb with you?

You hid at your parents' home for more than half a year, then came back with a baby and said you'd found him by the roadside. You couldn't even make up a better story?

You neglected your daughter for another man's child. Did you really think that lazy, greedy son of yours, with a bellyful of rotten schemes, would bring you anything good? He'll go back to his real father, and you'll end up with neither child. You'll die in that ramshackle house, and no one will know until the stench gets out!

Holy hell. That's explosive!

Mother Lu's eyes nearly popped out. Liu Cuilan's parents lived far away, and she had kept everything tightly under wraps. Plenty of people in Lu Family Village had suspected something about the boy she claimed to have found, but few had tried to verify it. Who would have thought she really had passed him off as someone else's son? Poor Lu Lin couldn't rest even in death. He'd been given a green hat to wear.

Mother Lu folded her arms and gave a heavy snort. "Shout one more word at my door, and I'll air everything you've done over the years!"

Her certainty frightened Liu Cuilan. For a moment, she stammered, unable to think of a reply. Just then, Father Lu finally returned from the Educated Youth Compound.

The sight of him instantly revived Liu Cuilan. She demanded viciously, "Lu Baoquan, do the words you said at my husband's grave still count or not?"

"Ah..." One look at the mess told Father Lu what had happened. He let out a long sigh and waved a hand. "Xiuhong, let it go. Don't argue with her. Let's go inside."

Those words again!

Since Lu Lin's death, Mother Lu had lost count of how often she had heard them.

"Her husband died. Don't argue with her."

"Your husband owes me. It's only right that you repay me!"

"If Lu Lin's wife needs anything, look after her. She hasn't had it easy..."

Mother Lu quietly clenched her fists. Years of pent-up resentment surged up inside her. Liu Cuilan's eyes darted toward her, smug as could be. The look said, Even your husband won't do anything to me. Who are you trying to intimidate?

She waited to win this contest as easily as she always had. Lu Baoquan and the villagers stood on her side, and the dead Lu Lin was her strongest card.

Lu Tinglan stepped forward without a sound, shielding her mother from Father Lu's gaze and all the others directed at her.

So the living saint was beside me all along. Lu Lin's death had nothing to do with Dad! Never mind the old injury to his leg—this great philanthropist just had to keep doing charity for the whole world. You've felt good about yourself all these years, but look what you've put Mom through. Pah!

Lu Tinglan knew right from wrong. If Father Lu had done wrong, she would curse him in her heart too!

Father Lu hadn't expected his daughter to know even that. His face stiffened, and for an instant, his expression turned uneasy. How could such a slight change escape the woman who slept beside him?

No wonder. No wonder!

Understanding struck Mother Lu. She knew that wretched husband of hers. If he had truly caused a death, he would never have stopped at giving the widow and her child a little grain over the years. He probably would have brought them home and waited on them until the girl grew up.

Lu Lin's death had never been Lu Baoquan's fault at all!

Father Lu saw the emotions shift across Mother Lu's face and felt a chill. Sure enough, the next moment, his wife looked at him and spoke coldly. "Lu Baoquan."

Hearing his full name made Father Lu shudder. Disappointment filled Mother Lu's eyes. "If you don't cut ties with her today, we'll go to the civil affairs office and get divorced tomorrow!"

"Whoa, Xiuhong, there's no need for that!"

Everyone around them thought Mother Lu was joking in her anger. Only Father Lu, seeing the look in her eyes, knew his wife meant it.

Her parents were talking about divorce, but Lu Tinglan was less anxious than the onlookers.

Father Lu had done well enough most of the time, but this business with Liu Cuilan had truly broken Mother Lu's heart.

Dad, you'd better shape up. If they divorce, I'm going with Mom. If you don't make an effort, you'll lose both of us. No, all six of us—my brothers and sisters-in-law too. Then you'll be a lonely old man, with no one left to nag you!

Go on, keep digging your own grave. Your bright future is waiting tomorrow!

Father Lu's face darkened with every word. Mother Lu, meanwhile, felt warmth spread through her chest. She quietly took her daughter's small hand and felt Lu Tinglan clasp it firmly in return.

She had only threatened divorce in the heat of the moment to jolt her spineless husband into action. Even so, her daughter's wholehearted support made Mother Lu genuinely happy!

A rift in the Lu family—Liu Cuilan couldn't have dreamed up a better show.

She slapped her thigh, so delighted she nearly cried. Yes, that was it! What a pleasure!

She and Wang Xiuhong had both come to the village as young brides in the same year. But Wang Xiuhong's husband had done well, her children even better, and her family's life had only improved. Liu Cuilan's husband had died, her daughter had run off with someone, and she lived day to day on relief from the village.

They had started out the same, yet now she was falling further and further behind. How could Liu Cuilan swallow that bitterness? She longed to pour more oil on the fire.

"You want to cut ties with us? I'm telling you, Lu Baoquan, it won't be that simple. You owe our Lu Lin a life. Unless..."

Her eyes darted. "I might just allow Lu Tinglan to marry Hu Wa. Give her a two-hundred-yuan dowry and that university place to take with her, and I'll consider your debt to Lu Lin settled. I promise I won't trouble you again."

Mother Lu grabbed a stick of firewood and hurled it at her. Liu Cuilan could curse Lu Baoquan all she wanted, but how dare she drag her daughter into it? "You want my daughter to marry that bastard? Dream on!"

Lu Tinglan felt unfairly caught in the crossfire too. It's the university place you're after. Could you leave me out of it? Let me state this again: Lu Tinglan ≠ the university place. The equation holds. Stop bundling us together!

Liu Cuilan couldn't hear Lu Tinglan's complaints. She and everyone else turned to Father Lu. Would this perennial soft touch back down again, or would he finally lose his temper?

Driven this far, Father Lu could no longer summon his saintly forbearance. His face hardened as he swept his gaze across the crowd, then fixed it on Liu Cuilan. "Leave. I stopped owing your family anything long ago!"

Liu Cuilan refused to let up. "Lu Baoquan, you got a man killed! You'll spend your whole life paying for it. You'll work for me like an ox or a horse until you die!"

Father Lu let out a long breath and looked toward several old friends in the crowd.

"I thought I'd take this to my grave. I never expected the day would come when I'd say it aloud."

"Baoquan!" A man around Father Lu's age stepped out of the crowd. "You've been wronged all these years."

From the man's account, everyone learned the truth about Lu Lin's death for the first time.