Chapter 3

“Oh my poor daughter…”

Zhao Fang hugged her daughter’s thin body tightly. Her eyes turned red instantly as she gently patted her on the back, her voice hoarse with worry:

“Tell me, baby, what did they do to you?”

Su Yuwei was the youngest in the family. After Zhao Fang had her son Su Yunxiang, her health suffered, and it took years before she could conceive again. Her little daughter was precious — raised like a pearl in her palm.

Now, seeing her cry so heartbreakingly, Zhao Fang felt like someone was digging her heart out.

She shot a vicious glare at Liu Chunhua and her daughter on the floor, eyes blazing with the urge to go another eight rounds with them.

That bastard boy from the Pang family…

When they married Yuwei off, not only had they not asked for a bride price, they’d even sent her off with a decent dowry — all because the Pang family had promised they’d treat her well.

Now, not even two years had passed, and their girl was being treated like this? Zhao Fang was furious.

Su Yuwei could feel her mother’s body trembling with rage. Afraid she’d truly work herself into a stroke, she sniffled and quickly gave her mom a meaningful look through her tears.

“…?”

Zhao Fang paused for a second — and then saw her daughter suddenly burst into loud sobs again. Su Yuwei pulled a few folded letters from her chest, sobbing:

“Mom, that bastard Pang Chuan… he’s cheating on me with some other woman! She’s even pregnant! And now he wants to divorce me!”

“Waaaah! I don’t want to live anymore…”

She buried her face in Zhao Fang’s chest, her body trembling like she was on the verge of collapse.

Zhao Fang’s rage skyrocketed.

But before she could explode, a rough male voice called out from behind:

“What the hell’s going on here?”

Zhao Fang turned around — it was the village chief, Liu Shuangxi, an elderly man who used to be the brigade leader and was still respected around the village.

Zhao Fang slapped her thigh and burst into tears. Hugging her daughter, she plopped down onto the ground and wailed at the top of her lungs:

“Chief, you’ve got to give us justice!”

And this time, it wasn’t for show — she was truly heartbroken. Thinking of all her daughter had suffered in that wretched Pang household made it hard to even breathe.

“…!”

Su Yuwei hadn’t expected her mother to suddenly drag her to the ground. She landed hard on the packed dirt floor, nearly cracking her tailbone. Her face contorted in pain — for a moment, her crying turned real.

“Ughhh…”

Zhao Fang, her heart aching, grabbed her daughter’s arm and began ranting through gritted teeth:

“Just look at what they’ve done to my good daughter! If we don’t get to the bottom of this, I swear I’ll die together with that damn Pang family!”

“Don’t say such crazy things!” the old village chief barked, frowning. Then he turned to look at Liu Chunhua and Pang Wenli, who had both struggled into sitting positions, their faces bruised and miserable.

“Get up — all of you! Stop sitting around like this and explain what’s going on!”

…

Pang Wenli was in terrible shape — her face and head were scratched up, and she sat on the kang (heatable brick bed) crying in pain. Liu Chunhua looked even worse, clutching her chest, her face swollen, acting like she was going to drop dead at any moment.

Su Yuwei, her hair a mess, stayed curled up next to her mom, still quietly sobbing.

With no one else stepping up, all eyes turned to Zhao Fang. She didn’t know the whole story yet, but she was holding the letters Pang Chuan had mailed home.

As she flipped through them, one stood out — a divorce agreement.

Her blood pressure shot up. She yanked one letter out and began reading it out loud to the gathered villagers:

“Dearest Yuwei,
I know this isn’t fair to you, but I can’t betray Xiaoxue.
Meeting her made me realize what love truly is.
She spun into my life like a beautiful falling leaf. At first, I thought she was like autumn foliage—fragile and in need of care.
But then I realized, when I held her hand, she was a budding shoot in early spring—full of vitality.
So… I followed my heart and gave her a child.
A brand new life. The product of our love. I have to be responsible… for a lifetime.
So please, Yuwei, let’s divorce. Forget me.
You can stay with my family — my parents will still treat you like a daughter, and my siblings like their own.
But I… I’ve chosen to be someone else’s safe harbor…”

“TO HELL WITH YOUR WHOLE DAMN FAMILY!”

Zhao Fang couldn’t finish. She shook the letter in the air and roared:

“That little bastard! He didn’t even graduate middle school, and now he’s spouting this flowery garbage? Cheating’s bad enough, but now he’s trying to romanticize it?”

She was so angry she was trembling.

And the villagers… were stunned into silence.

Everyone in the village was a simple farmer. The most educated folks had only finished junior high, barely anyone made it to high school. No one really understood this kind of poetic nonsense.

But even they could tell — Pang Chuan was really putting on a show.

Some of them didn’t quite get the “falling leaf” or “spring bud” metaphors, but they all caught the most important part:

“There’s a baby!”

Immediately, murmurs began to ripple through the crowd:

“Ohhh, so that’s why Zhao Fang flipped out — he knocked someone else up!”

“Yeah! And here I thought that Pang Chuan kid was a decent guy. He even made that big promise at the wedding about treating her right. What a load of crap.”

“Total scumbag. If this were a few years ago, he’d be dragged out and paraded through the streets! Sent to a labor camp!”

“Exactly!”

Seeing the tide turning against them, Liu Chunhua finally shouted through labored breaths:

“Don’t believe them! They’re lying! All of this is just to ruin my Chuanzi’s reputation!”

“Pah!” Zhao Fang spat toward her in disgust. “Have you no shame? Just answer me — is this letter from your Chuanzi or not?!”

“…”

This time, Liu Chunhua was at a loss for words.

Because the letter was real — straight from the army. The divorce agreement even had Pang Chuan’s signature. He had already sent it in, just waiting for Su Yuwei to sign so he could file for divorce.

There was no denying it now…

As she stood there, unsure what to say, the crowd suddenly parted and a chubby little boy squeezed his way through.

It was Pang Hai — Pang Chuan’s little brother.

He was a few years younger than Pang Wenli, currently in the fifth grade at the village’s primary school.

He’d just gotten out for lunch break, his army-green backpack still on his shoulders.

As he looked around the chaotic house — at Liu Chunhua and Pang Wenli both beat up and miserable — his young face went totally blank.

He had no idea what the hell was going on.