Side Story: Changing Fate 1

"I'll beat you to death, you filthy old woman! You eat my food, wear my clothes, and all you do is give me a worthless bastard. Killing you is too lenient a punishment..."

A fist as hard as an iron hammer landed on Yuan Meiniang. Yuan Meiniang felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. The fist, which usually hurt wherever it landed, was now completely numb to her. Only the pain in her abdomen was unbearable.

She fainted immediately.

When she opened her eyes again, she heard voices from the next room.

"Mother-in-law, you've always said that my Meiniang didn't give your family a grandson. Now look what's happened, maybe it was a boy in her belly, but your son aborted it. What do you say we do about this?"

That's her mother's voice.

"This isn't the first time she's been pregnant. Didn't she know she was pregnant? My son hit her and she didn't even try to dodge or yell. Who can she blame?"

Upon hearing that she had miscarried, Yuan Meiniang lay quietly on the bed, staring at the dark, old beams of the room, neither sad nor happy.

A soft footstep entered the room and walked this way. A moment later, a slightly childish face appeared before Yuan Meiniang.

"Sister, you're awake?" Yuan Lanniang exclaimed in surprise when she saw Yuan Meiniang open her eyes.

She put the medicine on the table, came over to help Yuan Meiniang, and wanted to feed her the medicine.

Yuan Meiniang waved her hand. "Wait a minute, we'll drink later."

Thinking that the medicine was still hot, she decided to wait until it cooled down a bit and drink it all at once so that the bitterness wouldn't be so strong, Yuan Lanniang didn't insist any further.

Yuan Meiniang listened quietly to the bickering next door. Finally, they reached an agreement: the Sun family would give the Yuan family ten catties of coarse rice and half a catty of meat, and the Yuan family would not pursue the matter any further.

Having received the compensation, Yuan's mother came over in high spirits. She glanced at her eldest daughter and saw that she was awake. Her younger daughter had also fed her medicine. She then gave her a few words of advice, telling Yuan Meiniang to take good care of her mother-in-law and husband, take care of her health, and try to give the Sun family a son as soon as possible. Without looking back, she led her younger daughter back home.

Yuan Lanniang kept turning back to look at herself, her eyes filled with worry.

As soon as Yuan's mother left, Sun's mother came over and yelled at Yuan Meiniang, "Get up and get to work! You don't cook, and you expect me to serve you? Who hasn't been pregnant? You only miscarry after being hit a couple of times? Only a useless thing like you could do that."

"My mother told you to get up and do chores, didn't you hear me? Get up. Otherwise, I'll beat you to death." Yuan Meiniang's husband, Sun Baogen, walked in and yelled at Yuan Meiniang.

Yuan Meiniang closed her eyes, not wanting to pay attention, but then she heard a "waa...

She suddenly opened her eyes and saw that her mother was pinching a five-year-old girl hard, while a three-year-old girl next to her was also crying.

The cries of the two children broke Yuan Meiniang's heart.

"Stop pinching me, I'm getting up," she said.

Only then did Sun's mother let go, and she left, grumbling and cursing.

Yuan Meiniang closed her eyes, recalling the despair she felt before fainting, and the words a woman had spoken to her when she last visited her for her injuries. Suddenly, she found the strength to get off the bed, enduring the pain in her abdomen, and slowly made her way out.

Seeing this, her two daughters quickly came over and thoughtfully tried to help her.

What strength could a tiny person have? They're just a hindrance.

In the past, Yuan Meiniang would have definitely told them to move aside to avoid tripping. But today she remained silent, slowly moving her feet, dragging the two children along, step by step toward the door.

Seeing her descend the steps and reach the courtyard, but instead of heading to the kitchen, she walked towards the front gate, Grandma Sun, who was pleased with Yuan Meiniang's obedience, was shocked and shouted, "Where are you going? You jinx, where do you think you're going? Once you step over that threshold, you and your two good-for-nothings can forget about ever coming back to the Sun family."

Ignoring her, Yuan Meiniang laboriously crossed the threshold, walked to the Sun family's gate, collapsed to the ground, and closed her eyes in exhaustion.

In just those few steps, her face turned pale and her forehead was covered in cold sweat.

When Yuan Meiniang's eldest daughter Daya, saw her mother close her eyes and blood seeping from her skirt again, she burst into tears, shaking her mother violently. "Mother, Mother, what's wrong?"

The Sun family's house faces the street, with a bustling street right outside their gate.

Yuan Meiniang lay stiffly on the ground. She hadn't changed out of the dress she wore when she had her miscarriage, and now the blood was flowing again. The sight made passersby feel uneasy, and they all stopped and gathered around to discuss it.

"Who is this? What happened to her?"

"Oh dear, isn't this Yuan Meiniang- in-law of the Sun family? What happened to her?"

A neighbor who recognized her tried to go inside to call for Sun's mother, but before they could move, they saw her running out in a panic.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to kill yourself? I told you to rest in bed, why did you run out? Come on, go back, let me help you." Sun's mother reached out to help Yuan Meiniang.

Yuan Meiniang shoved her away, opened her eyes, and shouted with all her might, "I want a divorce! If I don't leave the Sun family, I'll be beaten to death!"

She turned to a woman who was looking at her with concern. "Auntie Wang, could you please go and find someone from the Women's Federation for me?"

She overheard a woman talking about the Women's Federation when she went to the clinic after her husband beat her severely and she was covered in bruises. The woman had said a lot to her. Auntie Wang happened to be picking up her medicine at the time and overheard everything.

Later, she even went with Auntie Wang to inquire about this place. But she couldn't make up her mind. Before she fainted today, she thought she was going to die, and at that moment she regretted being so cowardly.

She died, and she could easily imagine the tragic fate of her two daughters.

For her own sake and for her daughter's sake, she wanted to take this opportunity to divorce Sun Baogen.

Since she couldn't rely on her own family, she turned to the Women's Federation.

Auntie Wang and Sun's mother have always been at odds, having argued countless times and even fought once. She's not afraid of Sun's mother at all. She wholeheartedly supports Yuan Meiniang's divorce.

Hearing this, she nodded vigorously, replied "Okay," and quickly ran out of the crowd.

"Wang Er's wife, how dare you!" Sun's mother stood up angrily, trying to stop Auntie Wang.

But Auntie Wang wouldn't listen to her; she disappeared in no time.

Sun's mother had no choice but to squat down and try to help Yuan Meiniang back.

Yuan Meiniang broke free from Sun's mother's grasp once more, shouting, "I won't go back! If I go back, I'll be beaten to death! Help! Help!"

The neighbors knew that Sun Baogen had a history of beating his wife.

Widow Sun raised Sun Baogen and initially thought he was a good person. However, ever since Sun Baogen married Yuan Meiniang, Widow Sun has been constantly trying to sow discord between the young couple.

Sun Baogen was useless outside, but a bully at home. He would beat his wife at the drop of a hat, especially when he was drunk. Ever since Yuan Meiniang gave birth to two daughters in a row, he beat Yuan Meiniang even more severely under the instigation of the Widow Sun.

Unfortunately, Yuan Meiniang's family was unreliable. After having several daughters, she finally had a son, whom she cherished dearly. The elderly couple didn't treat their daughters like human beings at all and always tried to get money from them.

The neighbors who liked to play the peacemaker and try to mediate, seeing Yuan Meiniang lying there covered in blood, couldn't bring themselves to say anything to reconcile. They could only sigh, "Alas, what a tragedy."