Chapter 15: The Jinx

“Is Daohua not better yet?” Liu-shi asked, seemingly concerned.

“Not yet! Eldest Sister-in-law, you have no idea!”

As soon as Sun-shi brought it up, her voice involuntarily grew sharp and shrill. But before she could finish her sentence, she got a firm jab from her husband, Second Brother Xia Yougui, and awkwardly shut her mouth.

Then, Fifth Aunt Cheng-shi chimed in cheerfully, “Eldest Sister-in-law, you should also ask Yinhua about what really happened with Daohua’s fall. Once we find the culprit, we can at least ask them to cover the medical expenses!”

Liu-shi rolled her eyes. “If Yinhua knew, she would’ve told me right away! As if it’s your place to suddenly remember that!”

Though she said this aloud, Liu-shi actually felt very uncertain deep down.

The day Daohua got hurt happened to be the day when the village’s wealthiest landlord, Scholar Feng, was marrying off his daughter.

Xia Youcai had specially taken leave from his job at the restaurant and returned to the village with Liu-shi to help the Feng family with the wedding preparations.

Dalang was studying at Songxi Academy. The school was strict and didn’t allow students to take leave casually, so Liu-shi had only brought their two daughters, Jinhua and Yinhua, back to the village.

And somehow, just at that exact moment—it happened.

When Daohua fell and hit her head on the edge of the well, Yinhua and a village girl named Huiping were both there.

Daohua’s head started bleeding profusely. The two little girls were so frightened they were paralyzed with fear.

Yinhua ran straight home without saying a word and threw herself into Liu-shi’s arms, crying her eyes out.

Liu-shi asked her a couple of questions, but when she didn’t get a clear answer, she lost her patience and told Jinhua to go calm her sister down.

Jinhua then pulled out some old hair ties and silk flowers from her jewelry box to distract Yinhua, letting her pick a couple. In no time, Yinhua was comforted.

After that, Liu-shi completely brushed the matter from her mind and never gave it another thought.

Who could have guessed that Huiping, after overcoming her fear, would call the villagers over to help Daohua?

When the villagers saw Daohua lying there pale and bleeding, no one dared to touch her. In a panic, they ran to inform the Xia family.

The household erupted into chaos.

Especially Jiang-shi, the useless woman—she collapsed to the ground crying as soon as she heard.

Old Lady Zhou, however, held it together. She applied wood ash to the wound twice and even cut some of Daohua’s hair to burn into ash for a remedy, but still couldn’t stop the bleeding. Even she began to panic.

Some of the village elders muttered grimly that Daohua probably wouldn’t make it. She’d lost so much blood, and the bleeding wouldn’t stop—most likely, she couldn’t be saved.

They urged Jiang-shi and Xia Youtian to mentally prepare themselves and start arranging for the funeral.

Because of this, Scholar Feng naturally thought it was an ill omen.

No matter how the Xia family pleaded, he refused to let Jinhua serve as the bridal escort, and absolutely would not let Liu-shi—who had a full set of living parents and in-laws and was considered a “blessed woman”—serve as the ceremonial matron of honor.

Just thinking about this, Liu-shi couldn’t help but grow resentful toward Daohua.

That child must be a jinx.

Scholar Feng was notoriously difficult to get close to. They had finally found a way to build some rapport with him, and that damned girl had ruined it!

Why couldn’t she have just died quickly and spared everyone the trouble?

But thoughts like that had to remain buried deep in Liu-shi’s heart. She couldn’t dare say them aloud. If she did, not only would the entire fourth household resent her—even the old couple would be furious.

At that time, Daohua had looked on the verge of death—completely beyond saving. Yet Old Lady Zhou had furiously cursed out the elderly neighbors who suggested preparing for the worst.

Then she had Old Master Xia rush to borrow a carriage from the village chief and take Daohua to the town’s Puji Clinic.

Not only did Old Lady Zhou personally go along, but she even generously paid the medical fees herself.

Jiang-shi went too, but all she did was cry. When it came time to pay, she didn’t even utter a word.

That troublesome Daohua really did have some strange luck.

The renowned Doctor Wang—someone not just anyone could request—only held clinic hours at Puji three times a month. And yet, somehow, Daohua happened to catch him there that day!

Liu-shi took several deep breaths before she could suppress her growing resentment toward Daohua.

Thankfully, Xia Youtian had the decency not to glance at her even once. While speaking, he kept his eyes fixed on his elder brother the whole time and never looked in Liu-shi’s direction.

Even sharp-witted Old Lady Zhou had no time to pay attention to her—she was too busy fussing over Zhu-shi’s pregnant belly.

Liu-shi, redirecting her thoughts, started blaming Huiping.

Why did that nosy girl have to meddle?

Because of her, Yinhua came out looking heartless and cold!

Now Yinhua’s reputation was ruined. And since Jinhua was her older sister, she would be dragged down by it too.

That’s probably why the recent marriage proposals for Jinhua hadn’t gone smoothly.

Liu-shi strongly suspected that the wealthy families who’d once been interested in Jinhua had backed out due to Yinhua’s behavior during Daohua’s accident.

In the end, it was all that jinx Daohua’s fault!

The more Liu-shi thought about it, the more furious she became. Her teeth itched with hatred.

She forced herself to swallow the irritation and plastered on a fake smile, doing her best to keep up polite conversation with her mother-in-law and the troublesome sisters-in-law.

Especially Sun-shi and Wu-shi.

Their words sounded pleasant on the surface, but every sentence was laced with sarcasm—hinting that Liu-shi was enjoying the good life in town while refusing to return to the village to care for their elderly parents.

But honestly, Old Master Xia and Old Lady Zhou were still very healthy and active. What “care” did they really need?

They were just jealous that she got to live comfortably in town!

Liu-shi kept up her fake cheer, bantering back and forth with Sun-shi and Wu-shi. It was a subtle war of words, trading polite barbs.

Cheng-shi occasionally chimed in with a casual remark. Normally quiet, it turned out she was quite skilled at fanning the flames when it came to sowing discord.

Jiang-shi, however, hadn’t shown up again. Since sending Daohua off to the clinic, she hadn’t returned.

Thinking of Daohua’s unnaturally pale face, Liu-shi allowed herself a tiny flicker of hope—if that jinx really did die, at least it would bring her some relief!

The fourth household had no idea about Liu-shi’s resentment.

Right now, Jiang-shi was already in the kitchen, busy preparing dinner.

From the start, Xia Daohua hadn’t had a good impression of the main branch. At the moment, she was sitting with Lihua, Linghua, and Wulang, carefully reconstructing what had happened on the day of the accident.

“So at the time, only Yinhua and Huiping were there?” she asked.

“Probably. But Yinhua came back and said nothing! I’ll never forgive her for that!” Lihua said bitterly. “Even now, I still get chills thinking about it! If it weren’t for Huiping, our Daohua might’ve…”

She couldn’t finish the sentence, her eyes brimming with tears.

She tilted her head back and blinked furiously to keep the tears from falling.

“If Daohua hadn’t survived, I swear I would’ve thrown Yinhua into that well myself!”

Xia Daohua was silent for a moment. Then she reached out and gently covered Lihua’s hand. “Sister…”

(End of Chapter)