Chapter 28: The Peasant Girl’s Splendid Manor
Chapter 28: Going Too Far
Seeing the doctor finish examining the pulse, Mo Yan quickly stepped forward: "Doctor, how is Grandpa Li?"
Li Yan also anxiously watched the doctor, afraid of hearing bad news.
The doctor looked solemn and gestured for Mo Yan to step outside to talk. Mo Yan understood and convinced Li Yan, who wanted to follow, to stay behind and take care of her grandfather. She then went with the doctor to the front hall.
"Miss, what relation are you to the patient? If possible, it's better to call someone who can make decisions for him!"
Mo Yan's heart sank at the words. It seemed that Grandpa Li was really in bad shape!
"Doctor, the girl here is his relative. There's only one granddaughter left under his knee, and his daughter, who's married off, isn't here. If you have anything to say, you can tell the girl, and she'll convey it."
The doctor nodded and pondered for a moment before saying, "The patient's anger has affected his heart. It seems he recently experienced a significant blow, coupled with old age, causing his condition to worsen! As the saying goes, 'a troubled heart requires heart medicine.' If we can properly comfort the patient and carefully treat him for a period of time, there's still a chance of recovery. But if the patient can't find peace, even the gods might struggle to save him!"
Mo Yan listened in silence. Hid son and daughter-in-law had been harmed before, and now Grandpa Li was suffering another illness due to anger. Perhaps it was related to his daughter. Considering what bystanders had said, could it be that Grandpa Li's daughter, disregarding family ties, drove them out, leading to Grandpa Li's condition?
After thinking for a while, Mo Yan felt it was best to first clarify the situation with Li Yan and then find a way to untie the old man's emotional knots.
Taking the prescription from the doctor, Mo Yan went to the adjacent pharmacy to pick up the medicine. While the medicine boy brewed the medicine, she called Li Yan outside and relayed the doctor's words. She then saw deep hatred filling the young girl's still tender face.
Sighing inwardly, Mo Yan embraced the frail shoulders of the girl, hoping to provide some comfort. She didn't want Li Yan, at such a young age, to harbor hatred, as it wouldn't be conducive to her future growth.
Mo Yan silently comforted her, causing Li Yan's tears to flow uncontrollably. She collapsed into Mo Yan's comforting embrace, her sobbing cries piercing Mo Yan's heart: "Sister Yan, I hate them so much! I really hate them! If they weren't so heartless, my aunt wouldn't have disappeared, and Grandpa wouldn't be so sick. I hate them!"
Li Yan cried bitterly, and in the gentle soothing of Mo Yan's voice, she slowly recounted everything they had experienced after arriving in the capital.
Li Yan would never forget that afternoon! At that time, Grandpa brought her to her aunt's house—Zhang's house. Instead of her aunt, a woman in her twenties, heavily pregnant, opened the door.
Thinking they were poor relatives begging for food, the woman directly spoke up, "Where did these beggars come from? It's almost dinner time, and there's no leftover food for you!"
Being mistaken for beggars for no reason would anger anyone.
Suppressing his displeasure, Li Zhong forced a smile and said, "Are you from the Zhang family? Is Zhang Ming here? I'm his father-in-law. Could you please call him out?"
The woman's face changed drastically upon hearing this. "You, get out of here! There's no son-in-law of yours here!"
Li Zhong could see that this woman was fierce. He was about to inquire further when a familiar voice came from inside.
"Wife, who's outside?"
The woman turned around, about to say "beggars," when the door was pushed open forcefully.
"Zhang Ming, she's your wife, and I'm your father-in-law! Where's my daughter?"
Li Zhong stared at Zhang Ming, whose face had turned pale, with anger burning inside him.
What followed was chaos at the Zhang household, attracting many neighbors to come and watch. Under Li Zhong's forceful questioning, the Zhang family had no choice but to reveal everything.
It turned out that six months ago, under the pretext of "no income," they had abandoned Li Zhong's daughter, Li Xiu, withholding her dowry and leaving her with nothing, forcing her to leave. Li Xiu disappeared without a trace ever since.
In fact, Li Xiu was not infertile. According to a neighbor who was close to her, Li Xiu had three children successively. However, her mother-in-law, Hu Shi, was not easy to deal with. She couldn't stand the affection between her son and daughter-in-law and thus burdened Li Xiu with all the chores inside and outside the house. Later, when Li Xiu became pregnant, Hu Shi still didn't let her rest. The first two children hadn't even reached three months when they were exhausted. The third child managed to survive for eight months, but somehow, Hu Shi pushed her, causing premature birth, and the baby died shortly after birth. Li Xiu was also injured, unable to have children again.
Hu Shi, who had never liked her, became even more intolerable after that. She told Li Xiu about it, instigated her son Zhang Ming to divorce his wife.
Li Xiu, who was gentle by nature, could endure her mother-in-law's various difficulties, but she couldn't accept her husband's heartless betrayal. After a big quarrel with Zhang Ming, she was beaten down by Hu Shi and Zhang Ming and couldn't get out of bed. Before she could recover, Zhang Ming handed her a divorce letter and drove her out of the house.
After learning all this, filled with remorse, Li Zhong viciously beat Zhang Ming, the unfaithful man, before leaving the Zhang family's doorstep. But he hadn't gone far before spitting out several mouthfuls of blood and collapsing in the Zhang family's yard.
Worried about having someone die at home and getting into trouble, the Zhang family hastily sent Li Zhong and Li Yan to the street in the dead of night.
There was no one on the street. Li Yan was just a half-grown child. She could only watch her unconscious grandfather, tears streaming down her face helplessly. Fortunately, not long after, Li Zhong woke up, but his body was far weaker than before.
With no relatives or money in the capital, Li Yan thought of Mo Yan's family. But the capital was so big, finding a few people was like finding a needle in a haystack. She could only support her sick grandfather and come to the West Market, knocking on doors one by one. It took half a month to find them.
When they were hungry, they begged shamelessly. When they were tired, they huddled in corners of other people's houses. Li Zhong's illness worsened as time went on, and he almost slept all the time. He rarely woke up. Li Yan, feeling helpless, could only kneel at the door of the medical hall begging the doctor to see him, but without
money, which doctor would come?
Li Yan couldn't bear to watch her only relative die, so she thought of selling herself, which led to the scene at the bridge.
"Sister Yan, sob... I hate them. I wish their whole family would die!"
Mo Yan gently patted the girl's back, her lips moving but unable to speak a word of comfort. Thinking from her own perspective, if someone hurt her family like this, she would never forgive them, no matter what! The Zhang family had indeed gone too far!
