Chapter 37: Doubt

Lin Aiqiu tore off the white cloth strip from her head and walked back, one foot deep and one foot shallow. She was covered in mud.

Just as she reached the entrance of Sujia Village, someone shouted from behind.

“Su Ma!”

Hearing the voice, Lin Aiqiu quickened her pace, taking two hurried steps without noticing a large puddle beneath her feet. With a “splash,” she fell forward, her body sinking into the mud, landing face-first and getting covered in dirt.

The person behind her was relentless—squatting down beside her.

Lin Aiqiu rolled her eyes.

The person said, “Sister-in-law Su, what are you running from? I called you a few times, but you didn’t respond.”

Lin Aiqiu silently turned her head away!

No, that’s not me! You have the wrong person!

If there were any evil people, they were certainly the ones who stirred up trouble.

The person was Su Qian from Sujia Village, known by the nickname “Su Dala” (Big Trumpet). The reason for this nickname was simple; she had a flamboyant personality, dressed in bell-bottom pants at over forty years old, and was the village’s “little foreigner.”

She enjoyed socializing with all kinds of people in the village, from village committee members to local ruffians, was well-informed about gossip, and loved stirring up trouble.

Originally, the two had kept their distance, but a conflict arose during the autumn harvest.

Their lands were adjacent, and Lin Aiqiu had a dispute with Su Dala regarding the uneven wheat harvest. Afterwards, Su Dala aired all of Lin Aiqiu’s past grievances, revealing everything from allegedly stealing grain and oil from the team to casually taking a few fruits from her neighbour. Su Dala thoroughly tarnished Lin Aiqiu’s reputation in the village.

Unable to hold back her anger, Lin Aiqiu directly confronted Su Dala.

The result of their argument was that Lin Aiqiu’s past transgressions were laid bare by Su Dala, thoroughly exposing her.

For the next few days, Lin Aiqiu felt as if someone was poking her spine and cursing her every time she walked down the road.

She couldn’t retaliate, but Lin Aiqiu could certainly avoid confrontation.

From that point on, she kept her distance from Su Dala. Who knew why this plague of a person suddenly came knocking today?

Before Lin Aiqiu could think too much, Su Dala helped her up and gently said, “Sister-in-law, look at you being so careless.”

Just as Lin Aiqiu was bracing herself for an argument, she froze, pinching her thigh hard.

It hurt! It was real!

Seeing Lin Aiqiu’s dazed expression, Su Dala wondered if she had knocked her silly. She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped Lin Aiqiu’s face.

As the sticky sensation faded from her skin, Su Dala took hold of Lin Aiqiu’s hand, speaking warmly, “Sister-in-law Su, I haven’t seen you in ages! Our Mei Mei has been doing well in the city. Why don’t you treat us villagers to a meal? It would be nice to have a lively gathering!”

Lin Aiqiu was still in shock and could barely respond, “What do you mean doing well?”

Su Dala pretended to pout and said, “Sister-in-law, that’s not fun at all! Little Zhao from the city mentioned he saw your Mei Mei sitting at the table of a wealthy family, and he specifically noted that she was at the main seat!”

“Are you sure?” Lin Aiqiu’s voice trembled slightly.

Su Dala nodded vigorously.

Looking at Su Dala’s eager expression, Lin Aiqiu felt dazed, her mind buzzing as if her feet had lifted off the ground.

She couldn’t waste time on idle chatter with Su Dala and staggered back home.

Su Nianmei had made it big?

How could that be possible!

Her other two children were still scraping by in the dirt, so how could that girl have succeeded?

Upon seeing her mother return, Su Sixia hurriedly slid down from the kang, shoved the comic book she was reading under the mattress, and stood up to greet her Mom. Noticing the grim look on Lin Aiqiu’s face, she said, “Mom, please sit down and rest.”

As soon as Lin Aiqiu entered the room, she saw some notebooks on the kang and a few pieces of scrap paper scattered on the floor.

The light was dim, and her little daughter had her hands tucked into her sleeves, exhaling white breaths. Yet she still remembered getting up from the kang and pouring a glass of water on her mother.

Lin Aiqiu felt a twinge of heartache. It was her own inability that had prevented her from asking for money, and now her child was suffering along with her.

The more she thought about it, the more resentment grew in her heart. They were both her children, yet how could Su Nianmei be so ungrateful? She had become successful while neglecting to help her own family. What a shameless girl!

Lin Aiqiu accepted the cup and held it close to her chest, feeling her body warm up a little. Looking at her daughter, who had eyes and a nose that seemed just right, she took a sip of water and said, “At least our Xia’er is sensible. That Su Nianmei is nothing but a wolf cub! She wouldn’t even give me a bit of money after all I’ve done for her!”

Sitting back on the kang, Su Sixia felt pleased and doodled on the paper, though she didn’t show it. She said, “Mom, don’t say that about my sister. She might have her reasons.”

Thinking about how Jin Chunfen had chased her earlier and made her lose face in the village, Lin Aiqiu’s anger flared up again. She scoffed, “What reasons could Su Nianmei possibly have? You didn’t see how she…” Lin Aiqiu recalled how Su Dala had flattered Su Nianmei, and her displeasure grew.

She continued, “Not only won’t she give, but she must be persuading her in-laws not to give either.”

“I lost all my face today. That wretched girl and her mother-in-law didn’t give me a single cent.”

“If I had known back then, I would never have let her into our home!”

Just as Su Huailin returned, carrying a cloth bag, he stood at the door, about to push it open, when his heart skipped a beat, and he leaned against the door to listen.

Su Sixia caught onto the crucial point and asked, “Mom, what are you talking about? Why did you say you didn’t want my sister to come in?”

Realizing what she had just said, Lin Aiqiu quickly shut her mouth. She couldn’t afford to lose Su Nianmei now, especially since that wretched girl had recently found success. She needed to hold onto this cash cow tightly.

Lin Aiqiu shook her head. Seeing his mother’s expression, Su Huailin looked somewhat dazed. His mother muttered, “It’s nothing. I just said I shouldn’t have given birth to Su Nianmei.”

Su Sixia nodded, saying, “Oh,” while her mind was lost in the plot of her little comic book.

Lin Aiqiu stepped out of the room to pour the leftover tea leaves from the cup. As she opened the door, she spotted her precious child squatting outside, hugging the bag.

Lin Aiqiu patted her beloved child’s back and asked, “Ah Huai, what’s wrong?”

Su Huailin sniffed, his voice muffled as he replied, “Nothing much. I just want my grandma.”

Lin Aiqiu looked at her son’s sad expression and pulled him up. She took out a chicken egg she hadn’t even dared to eat herself and placed it in Su Huailin’s palm. “It’s all in the past now. Your only task is to study well; don’t think about anything else. There’s no use in that.”

Sitting by the window, Su Sixia scoffed, pulling her comic book from under the mattress to continue reading.

Su Huailin nodded, entering the room to set his bag down. Lin Aiqiu then instructed him to go to the ancestral hall to deliver food to his father, Su Jianguo.

The Su family’s ancestral hall had stood for over a hundred years, with the remains of the late matriarch wrapped in a coffin at its center.

Su Huailin wandered around the yard but couldn’t find Su Jianguo, his mind filled with his mother’s words.

She could fool Su Sixia, but she couldn’t fool him.

Standing at the entrance of the ancestral hall, he held the still-warm egg in his hand, and thoughts of how his sister, Su Nianmei, had never even tasted an egg in this household made him feel even worse.

As a child, he hadn’t understood much. Now that he had received an education and was growing up, he felt more mature and increasingly aware of how wrong his past actions had been.

Suddenly, he felt something tugging at him from behind. He looked down.

A small hand, white and chubby, was grasping at the hem of his shirt.

Su Huailin was taken aback; he had never seen such a cute little child.

The child was dressed neatly, and his bright peach blossom eyes sparkled with life, appearing to be about five or six years old.

Su Huailin squatted down, and the child pointed at the egg in his hand.

He opened his palm and asked, “Do you want it?”

The child nodded, and Su Huailin handed over the egg.

At that moment, Su Nianmei was kneeling in the ancestral hall. After a while, Gu Xiaobao came running over, using his small hands to pull a cushion next to Su Nianmei. He sat down beside her, crossing his chubby little legs.

The little bun pulled out an egg from his pocket and smashed it on the ground, cracking the shell. He then took out a small blue cloth and spread it on the ground, using his tiny fingers to scoop out the eggshell.

After carefully peeling the egg, the child let out an “Ah!” and opened his mouth wide. Piece by piece, he fed the egg to Su Nianmei, not allowing her to use her own hands.

Su Huailin stood at the door, watching the scene unfold inside.

The girl knelt on the cushion, dressed in fashionable clothes, her hair neatly styled and looking tidy.

Su Huailin had felt that his sister was different from them from a young age.

Now he finally understood that Su Nianmei had matured from a young age, or rather, she had been forced into maturity.

He used to think that his sister seemed a bit silly as if she were missing a few screws in her head. While he and Su Sixia fought fiercely over who could have a few more sips of porridge, crying and yelling to win Lin Aiqiu’s favor, his sister would just sit quietly, licking the bottom of her bowl.

Looking back, it wasn’t that she didn’t seek attention; it was that she had sought it and found none.

Their mother wouldn’t even spare her a glance; if she got angry, all she would do was give her another beating.

How disappointed must she have been with her own child?

Reflecting on childhood memories, Su Huailin increasingly believed what his mother said—perhaps his sister really wasn’t their family’s child.

The thought made him frown.

A crisp voice called out, “Mom,” pulling Su Huailin from his reverie.

He raised his eyes just in time to see his aunt lift a stick, preparing to strike Su Nianmei on the back.

Su Huailin leaped forward.

His slender frame shielded the girl from the impending danger.

“Are you an idiot? How could you not know to dodge?” he exclaimed.