Chapter 82

Xu Zhao saw that her expression was not right and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Jiang Suihan handed him the letter and rubbed her forehead. “There’s really a problem. What do you think my uncle and aunt are thinking? Weiyu isn’t even eighteen yet. She’s still a child. Yet they want to marry her off to an idiot just so their son can return to the city. Is their son more important because he’s their biological child, while their daughter isn’t?”

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. “I’ve never seen such biased parents. Sons are treasures while daughters are mere weeds! I knew they were biased, but I didn’t expect them to be this cold-blooded. Jiang Weiming’s shamelessness is off the charts. He’s content to drain his sister’s blood without a shred of guilt. Weiyu must have had the worst luck in the world to have such parents and a brother like him.”

The letter was sent by her younger cousin, Jiang Weiyu. In it, she explained that her parents were forcing her to marry an idiot. This “idiot” was the son of the deputy factory director, who had damaged his brain due to a high fever in his childhood. The local community knew about this foolish son of the deputy factory director. As he reached marriageable age, no one was willing to marry him. Somehow, Jiang Weiming learned of this and convinced their parents to marry his sister to the deputy factory director’s son. The deputy factory director had promised him that as long as the two families became related, he would find a way to bring him back to the city.

Jiang Weiyu was adamant about refusing. They forbade her from studying and forced her to stay at home to care for her young nephew. She endured it because, after all, she was living at home and felt that contributing labor was only fair. However, she never expected her parents to be so ruthless.

This is forcing her to die.

No matter how wonderful her parents and second brother’s words were, she always answered with only one word – no. She thought about escaping, but before she could act, her mother locked her in the room. She was brought meals every morning and evening and was not allowed to go out. Every day, someone brainwashed her and analyzed the various benefits of marrying the deputy director’s son, such as the good life after marriage, and the deputy director also promised to arrange a job for her.

She had secretly written this letter and thrown it out of the window, asking a child to deliver it to her best friend, who then mailed it for her.

Xu Zhao frowned. “Some people are simply unworthy of being parents. Your cousin’s misfortune is having such parents. Judging by the date on the letter, it’s been half a month since she wrote it. We have no idea how she’s doing now. The distance is too great. What do you plan to do?”

After Chenchen came into his life, Xu Zhao had a deeper understanding of the role of parents. When he couldn’t see Chenchen, he would subconsciously think about him, worrying whether he would wake up crying, whether he had wet the bed, or whether he was hungry. He was deeply concerned and couldn’t stand seeing Chenchen cry or suffer even the slightest hardship.

Perhaps this was the mysterious power of blood ties. Chenchen was their child, carrying their blood. He felt a rapid heartbeat and a heart that seemed to be overflowing when he held Chenchen in the hospital, as if his entire heart was stuffed with something, swollen.

There were even more unworthy parents than her aunt and uncle. He had once been on a mission near a very remote village and had witnessed parents giving their teenage daughter to a thirty-something bachelor just for a half-bag of grain. No matter how heart-wrenching the girl’s cries were, her parents turned their backs and left with the grain.

In those ignorant and feudal places, people valued sons and raised daughters only to exchange them for dowries when they married, so the brothers at home could afford brides. Daughters grew up hungry and cold, working from a young age, doing everything from washing and cooking to farming, yet despite their hard work and sacrifices, they were never treated well.

Xu Zhao didn’t share these observations with Jiang Suihan, as she was still in confinement and shouldn’t be troubled with such matters.

Jiang Suihan was deeply distressed and anxious, to the point of wanting to bite her nails. Xu Zhao slapped her hand gently to stop her from doing so.

“I can’t travel far in my current condition, and you can’t take such a long leave from the army either. We’re both in no position to help, and Lele is even more unreliable. He’s just a small child, and it’s driving me crazy.”

The small number of people in the family was a disadvantage in times of crisis. With no one to help, Jiang Suihan was troubled, not knowing how to help. Now that Jiang Weiyu’s letter clearly showed that she was seeking help, Jiang Suihan couldn’t remain indifferent and watch as a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl’s life was ruined.

Jiang Suihan suddenly remembered the comrade Xu Zhao had mentioned before and asked urgently, “Has there been any news from that comrade? Can we ask him for help?”

Xu Zhao had some understanding of how busy the public security bureau’s work was and speculated that his comrade might be too occupied with work to visit Uncle Jiang’s house.

He reassured her, “How about this? I’ll go to the county tomorrow and call him to check the situation. If the situation is as your cousin described, with her family forcing her to marry and having nowhere else to go, we can arrange for her to come here to avoid the situation.”

Xu Zhao was not a kind-hearted person who would help anyone. He truly sympathized with Jiang Weiyu—a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl who, having probably never even spoken much to a boy, was being forced to marry an idiot by her parents and elder brother. The harm from the family was the deepest, and the girl was very pitiful.

Moreover, Jiang Weiyu was the only one with a conscience in Uncle Jiang’s family. She had taken a risk to inform Jiang Suihan that night, and Xu Zhao wanted to repay her for that.

Jiang Suihan considered this solution the most direct and effective. Unable to think of a better solution, she agreed.

On the train.

Jiang Wei Yu was holding a package, not daring to sleep, and she kept her eyes open desperately trying to keep herself awake. Thinking of the thrill and excitement of that day, she still felt a little excited and scared.

The day before, someone had thrown a stone through her window, landing on the floor of her room. She was startled and picked it up to find a piece of paper tied to it. Curious, she opened it and read a letter from someone claiming to be her cousin’s comrade, offering to arrange for her to travel to Lis Province if she wanted to leave her home.

Jiang Weiyu was skeptical. Her cousin Jiang Suihan married a soldier. Although she had never met her cousin’s husband in person, she knew about him. Her second brother and mother had planned everything, but they went to her cousin’s house and found nothing. Afterwards, they learned that her cousin had left long ago. Her second brother and mother were furious and cursed her cousin for several days. She hid in the room and listened until her ears were almost callused.

She was unwilling to marry a stranger, especially when that man was a fool. Her second brother said she was selfish, her mother scolded her for being cold-blooded, her father looked at her with disappointment, and her eldest brother and sister-in-law were silent. At that moment, she realized very clearly that there was no place for her in this family.

Jiang Weiyu had no way to verify the truth of the words on the paper. It was like grabbing a life-saving straw. As long as she could escape from this cold-blooded and heartless home, she was willing to try.

That night, after everyone in the family fell asleep, she opened the window and slowly climbed down along the hanging rope. She was unskilled at first and was afraid, and her hands and feet were bruised. She clenched her teeth tightly and dared not make any sound for fear of waking up her second brother and others. Fortunately, the house was only on the second floor, not very high, and everything went smoothly.

Her cousin’s husband’s comrade-in-arms sent her to the train station, bought her a train ticket to Li Province, prepared some food for her, and told her to be careful, not to trust strangers on the train, not to talk to anyone, not to meddle in other people’s business, and just take care of herself. He said there were bad people on the train who liked to target young single girls and sell them to the mountains to be other people’s wives. They would spend their whole lives in the mountains giving birth to other people’s children like a sow, and that would be the end of them.

Jiang Weiyu was terrified; her face went pale. Once on the train, she was extremely nervous, avoiding any conversation. If someone spoke to her, she would either ignore them or merely nod or shake her head. Initially, the people in her carriage thought she might be mute, or sadly, that such a young girl was actually disabled.

A kindly middle-aged woman in a blue top and black pants sat next to her. With a warm and friendly smile, she handed Jiang Weiyu a generous handful of dried fruit.

“This is homemade, it’s not worth much. You should try some,” the woman said.

Jiang Weiyu, adhering to the “three don’ts and one must” advice, shook her head and said softly, “Thank you, but I can’t eat it.”

The woman, still smiling, insisted on putting the fruit in Jiang Weiyu’s hand. “We’re all on the same train, it’s fate. Don’t be polite, I have plenty of these, enough to last me until we reach our destination.”

Chatting away in a naive and unsophisticated manner, the woman continued, “I’m going to visit my husband. He’s been sent to work in another province for almost a year and hasn’t come home. I’m worried something might have happened to him. We have two kids at home, one just ten years old, the other only five. They can’t be without their father. If something really happened, I don’t know how we’d get by. By the way, young lady, where are you going? Are you traveling alone?”

Jiang Weiyu wasn’t good at rejecting others. She quietly returned the dried fruit to the woman and said firmly, though softly, “I’m allergic to mangoes, so I can’t eat them.”

Desperately, she came up with a reason, hoping the woman wouldn’t continue talking to her, as she was quite scared.

Hopefully, she was just being overly cautious.

The woman’s smile faltered briefly, but she continued to smile and said, “That’s fine, you don’t have to eat it. I also have some plums I brought for the trip, made by my mother-in-law. Try these, they’re very delicious.”

Jiang Weiyu felt increasingly uneasy, fearing she might have encountered the traffickers her cousin-in-law’s comrade had warned about. Her forehead was sweating, and her hands and feet were cold. She knew she couldn’t panic. She must stay calm.

Pinching her palm to distract herself from the fear, she said, “No, thank you. I’m a bit tired, so I’ll take a nap now.”

Without giving the woman a chance to react, she immediately closed her eyes and pretended to fall asleep instantly.

Unbeknownst to her, she subconsciously tightened her grip on her package, holding her breath and straining to hear any sounds around her.

The woman was almost thrown off balance with frustration. The girl’s vigilance was so high, she didn’t fall for the food temptation or the conversation. The woman started to suspect Jiang Weiyu might know something.

She walked to a corner near the bathroom where a middle-aged man was waiting. “How did it go? Did we catch the fish?”

The woman spat out in irritation, “The little wench is too cautious, didn’t take the bait. How about we drag her away when we get off the train? She’s alone, with no one around.”

The man stroked his chin, thinking for a moment. “Alright, we’ll decide based on the situation. Remember, safety first. Don’t act impulsively.”

Jiang Weiyu quietly opened her eyes, relieved to see the woman had left, but she remained uneasy, worried that if the woman’s plan didn’t work, there might be other schemes in place.

Regardless of whether she was overthinking it or not, it was always better to be cautious.

She was trying hard to think in her mind about how to ensure her own safety.