Chapter 144: Ruined is Ruined

Chapter 144: Chapter 144: Ruined is Ruined

That day, Ji Liantang had told him to go back to that same hill, saying he needed to talk to him.

He did as he was told.

He waited for what felt like ages before the village school finally let out.

A while later, after almost everyone had left, Ji Liantang finally sauntered over, tailed by several other students he usually hung out with.

The group of them surrounded him.

Ji Liantang kicked him to the ground and ordered him to be a horse for everyone to ride.

When he refused, Ji Liantang raised a hand and slapped him across the face.

Some of them held down his arms and legs, another counted the slaps, and others clapped and cheered.

Back then, he didn’t know the words for bullying or humiliation. He just didn’t understand why his own uncle would join others in tormenting him.

They beat him until he cried, beat him until he was afraid.

Ji Liantang and his classmates got their wish and rode their "horse."

They took turns riding on his back, shouting "Giddy-up! Giddy-up!" They made him crawl all over the hillside and forced him to recite the poem from that other day.

For every line he recited, they would spit in his face. If he refused, they would hit him.

It wasn’t until the sky began to darken that the group finally scattered and went home.

He and Ji Liantang were the last to leave. Ji Liantang threatened him, ordering him not to tattle when he got back, or else he’d have Granny Kang beat him to death.

He was so full of misery, crying as he walked. How could he possibly agree?

Ji Liantang grew angry and gave him a hard shove.

They were walking along a long, narrow ridge. Below was a ditch. It wasn’t very steep, but the bottom was filled with piles of jagged rocks.

He tumbled down, and his leg slammed into one of the rock piles. The pile collapsed, and the rocks crashed down onto his leg. He didn’t even have time to scream before the sheer pain made him pass out.

Ji Liantang thought he was faking it. He paid him no mind and went straight home.

It wasn’t until the sky was pitch-black that Yang, having scoured the village calling for her son, realized he was missing.

Only then did Ji Liantang realize the terrible thing he had done.

At that moment, besides him, only Yang and Granny Kang were there to hear his confession.

After he finished his trembling account, Yang’s face went deathly pale, and she was about to run out and call for help.

But Granny Kang stopped her. Taking an oil lamp, the two women went out into the dark and carried Ji Mingfang back.

Seeing the dreadful state of her son, Yang nearly fainted from crying.

Granny Kang, however, threatened her. She forbade her from telling the truth, insisting they tell everyone the boy had been playing around and fell into the ditch on his own.

Otherwise, she would have her son divorce Yang. After all, Yang had damaged her body while giving birth to Ji Mingfang and would have a hard time conceiving again.

A woman who couldn’t bear children—could she even be called a woman? This was a "truth" that most women, including Granny Kang and Yang herself, firmly believed.

Yang was afraid of her mother-in-law, but she was even more terrified of being divorced. She had no choice but to obey.

Especially after his injured leg was declared incurable, she didn’t dare bring it up again.

To save money, Granny Kang had insisted on waiting until the next morning to find a traveling doctor.

Yang cried day and night. Even little Ji Xuelan, young as she was, knew enough to beg her grandmother to send her younger brother to the town’s doctor.

His second aunt-in-law, Mrs. Wei, also spoke up, thinking that a better doctor might still be able to save his leg.

But Granny Kang cursed them all out and dismissed their pleas.

During that time, the men of the family were all away on corvée labor, digging river canals. By the time they returned, what was done was done.

Ji Mingfang had lost the use of a leg, which was as good as being crippled for life.

At least, to the Ji Family, he was now completely useless.

Especially since it was his own "careless playing" that caused it...

When Ji Qingshan heard the supposed reason, he couldn’t hide his disappointment.

Not long before, he had run into the village school’s teacher, who had sung his praises, saying his eldest grandson was clever and perceptive—excellent material for a scholar.

Just before he left for the canal work, he had even told Granny Kang that come autumn, he would send Ming Fang to school along with his fourth son, Ji Liantang.

’Let them study for two years and see,’ he’d said. ’One of the two is bound to succeed. The one who doesn’t can always come back to farming. It won’t be too late.’

He never imagined such an accident would happen.

’It can only be blamed on Ming Fang’s own poor fortune...’

It was only at that moment that Ji Mingfang finally understood why, even after so much time had passed since the poetry incident, Ji Liantang still held a grudge—not only gathering people to teach him a lesson but also pushing him into the ditch.

It was because Granny Kang had told Ji Liantang—with her own embellishments—that their grandfather planned to send him to school. This bred hostility and a sense of crisis in Ji Liantang, who assumed that if Ming Fang went to study, he himself would have to return home to farm in a few years.

Ji Liantang had been spoiled rotten since childhood, a tyrant to his own family. How could he allow something of his to be snatched away? He would never hand over the opportunity to study.

But what good did understanding do? It was too late.

His grandfather withdrew all his attention and concern. He became completely invisible in the family.

He was laughed at when he went out and mocked by his own family at home.

Everyone said he brought it on himself.

’No, it wasn’t! Ji Liantang pushed me! The real culprit is Ji Liantang!’

But Yang would clamp her hand over his mouth, her tears and pleas forcing him to let the secret rot in his gut.

The most ridiculous part was that the shock of nearly having his chance at an education stolen spurred Ji Liantang to apply himself. His grades improved day by day.

From the village school to the town academy, and then to becoming a respected child student whom everyone praised and fawned over!

His brilliant future only served to highlight how Ji Mingfang’s own life was nothing but darkness.

In his presence, Ji Liantang initially showed a sliver of guilt. But later, he shamelessly forgot all about it.

Everyone who knew about it seemed to have forgotten. Only his heart bled, night after night.

He had thought this secret would rot away with his body, never imagining a day would come when he could speak it aloud.

He had waited too long for this day—to reveal the truth, to tell everyone, and to get the justice he was owed.

He thought he would scream, sob uncontrollably, vent his hatred, and even curse Ji Liantang.

But he did none of that.

The moment the words left his mouth, his heart was filled only with a calm, a calm as still as death.

Because he knew this was all the justice he would ever get.

’Could he really expect Ji Qingshan and Granny Kang to break Ji Liantang’s leg, too?’

’It’s not just impossible—even if they did, what would it change?’

’My life is already ruined. Simply ruined.’

The room was exceptionally quiet, so quiet that you could hear every person holding their breath.

For a long time, no one spoke.

Until suddenly, a heart-wrenching sob erupted from the center of the main hall.

Ji Liansong squatted on the ground, clutching his head. A grown man, covering his face and wailing in agony.

He already knew what had happened, but hearing his son recount it again was still a blade to the heart.

"Ming Fang... My Ming Fang! My perfectly fine son! He loved to study since he was little, he was smarter than anyone, and you all ruined him! I’m a brute, a fool! I don’t deserve to be a father!"

He violently raised his hands and began slapping himself across the face, again and again.

Ji Mingfang and Ji Xuelan rushed forward, grabbing him from either side. The father, son, and daughter clung to each other, a weeping mess.

The members of the third branch were dumbfounded. Even someone as shrewish as Mrs. Zhu could never have imagined that Granny Kang, a grandmother, would treat her own grandson this way.

Granny Kang huddled to one side, her face grim, saying nothing.

The color of Ji Qingshan’s face shifted from ashen to purple, then to red. He felt his vision go black, and the world began to spin.

Thankfully, Ji Lianhuai was close by and quickly stepped forward to support him.

Ji Qingshan recovered, waving his hand for him to let go.

He walked toward the west room on unsteady feet. He raised his hand, paused for a moment, and then knocked on the tightly shut wooden door.

"Fourth Son. Come out."