Chapter 611 - 318: I’ll Marry Her

Chapter 611: Chapter 318: I’ll Marry Her

Everyone turned to look. They all saw Liu’er standing under the delicate, drooping willows. The branches were still green, but the person beneath them had withered. The most beautiful girl in Qingnan Village now resembled the twilight of a spring day, already sinking into darkness. But after the night passed, people would welcome the bright spring light of a new morning. Would she ever have another spring?

Qingmu was also stunned. ’How did the Liu’er who clutched my sleeve, crying that she wanted to marry me, turn into this?’ he wondered. ’Shouldn’t she be dressed in fine clothes, with smooth, delicate skin from a life of leisure, sitting at home doing embroidery?’

Liu’er slowly shuffled forward. Little Shitou quickly grabbed her arm to support her, and Gou Dan steadied her from the other side as they helped her toward Liu’er’s mother.

Seeing her daughter swaying unsteadily, Liu’er’s mother felt a sharp pain in her heart. She screamed at Little Shitou, "Who told you to bring her here? You’re so young, yet so cruel! Are you trying to make her die faster?"

Shi Tou’s mother also hurried forward and scolded him, "Shi Tou, how can you be so thoughtless? Sister Liu’er is in this state, what were you thinking, bringing her here?"

Zhao San was even more furious. He raised his hand to strike his son, but Li Changliang grabbed his arm. Li Changliang said grimly, "It’s good that she came. Let her see what kind of people her own parents and brother and sister-in-law are."

Little Shitou lowered his head, filled with regret.

He hadn’t originally intended to bring Liu’er. He had only planned to go to the Sun Family to give Sun Jinshan a message. The idea was to have Liu’er explain the situation to Sun Jinshan so he could get Liu’er’s mother to go home. But Sun Jinshan wasn’t there. Liu’er, worried her mother would cause trouble and desperate for someone to take her out, had asked him to help her over so she could persuade her mother to leave herself. He thought it was a decent idea, so he got Gou Dan to help. The two of them took turns carrying Liu’er, who was so thin she was barely more than skin and bones, and only set her down when they arrived.

Unexpectedly, a chaotic argument had broken out here. Liu’er overheard every word from her sister-in-law, Mrs. Wang, and her heart turned to dead ashes.

Liu’er pressed her lips together. She stared at her mother, then at her brother and sister-in-law, and said slowly, "Mother, it was me... I was the one who asked the Tang family to send me back. How can you blame Huai Zi, Changliang, and the others? If they hadn’t carried me back, I would have... died while crawling halfway here. Please don’t fight. I won’t be a burden on the family for much longer. And Sister-in-law, don’t you worry. Little Qing Mountain is a big place. I don’t need to be buried in the ancestral plot. Anywhere will do."

Hearing this, Liu’er’s mother felt as if her heart had been ripped from her chest and began to wail, clutching her daughter. Sun Tiezhu’s eyes turned red, and he shot a vicious glare at his daughter-in-law.

The onlookers were all wiping away tears. The simple-hearted villagers, moved by her tragic state, now looked reproachfully at her family. They felt it was truly awful to treat a daughter who had been sent home this way, completely forgetting that just moments before, they too had disapproved of her being brought back.

Li Gengtian saw that Liu’er was in a terrible state. Besides, it wasn’t right to have this argument blocking the Zhang family’s gate. He stepped forward to urge Sun Tiezhu to take his family home quickly. He also offered to help them get a doctor for Liu’er, telling them not to linger. If they kept arguing, the Sun Family would only lose more face.

But before he could speak, he heard Liu Yunlan cry out in alarm, "Juhua, what’s wrong? Mother, Mother, something’s wrong with Juhua!"

Hearing this, the people from the Zhang and Zheng families swarmed toward the courtyard gate. Zhang Huai rushed to the front, with Qingmu right behind him. Huai Zi caught Juhua, whose tears were streaming down her face, in his arms and cried out nervously, "Juhua, where are you hurting? Don’t cry, don’t cry, just tell me, where does it hurt?"

He, following close behind, shouted frantically, "Get her inside! What are you doing blocking the way asking questions?"

Yang Family also rushed over. When she reached the gate and saw Huai Zi had already carried Juhua into the courtyard, she stopped. She turned back, her eyes blazing with fury, and faced Liu’er’s mother, who was still clutching Liu’er and crying. "Liu’er’s mother, you dared to curse my Juhua today! If anything happens to her, you can forget about your daughter-in-law ever giving you a grandson! Changliang was right, your whole family aren’t people, you’re all beasts! Your own daughter is in this state, yet you still have the mind to come here and quarrel, even despising her for being sent back. People who won’t even protect their own daughter—if you’re not beasts, what are you?"

With that, she stomped into the courtyard.

Zheng Changhe hadn’t heard about Juhua being cursed. Hearing this now, he flew into a rage. He wanted to curse the old hag but was more worried about Juhua, so he just threw out one last line before rushing inside after them: "Sun Jinshan and his father are both worthless cowards, can’t even protect their own girl. Ptui! If it were me, I’d just jump in the river and drown myself—it’s a disgrace to go on living."

Sun Tiezhu’s face instantly turned the color of pig’s liver. He clenched his fists, his whole body trembling.

Zhang Dashuan shot a look as sharp as a knife at Liu’er’s mother, then followed them inside after a long moment, his face dark.

Others who were close to Juhua, like Meizi, also rushed to follow them in to check on her. But at the gate, she hesitated. She looked back at Liu’er, worried about her too, and froze on the spot, not knowing whether to go in or stay out—she was worried about both her friends!