Chapter 71: Eruption

A gasp went through the crowd. No one in the village had ever seen Lin Yue be so ruthless with someone. Someone whispered, “She’s still a child, how can she be so cruel?” Lin Yue coldly glanced in the direction of the speaker, and the crowd immediately fell silent.

Everything happened so fast that the two brothers didn’t have time to react before Zhang Xiaoxi was flung away.

They looked around and quickly decided to act separately. One stayed behind to check Lin Yue’s injured wrist, while the other went to help Zhang Xiaoxi.

Lin Yue hid her wrist behind her back. The wound on her hand was healing at a visible rate. She was afraid of being discovered, so she didn’t dare to let Zhang Shouyi check it. Liu Fang wanted to help her bandage it, but she refused.

On the other side, Zhang Shourong had already helped Zhang Xiaoxi up.

Zhang Xiaoxi felt a faint sweetness in her throat. She looked at Zhang Shourong expectantly, hoping he would stand up for her.

But she had only just stabilized herself, before she could even speak, she was slapped hard across the face.

Zhang Shourong was very disappointed in her, “I always thought you were just unable to tell right from wrong, but I didn’t expect you to do something like this. How could you repay Big Brother and Big Sister-in-law for their care all these years?”

Zhang Xiaoxi looked at her second brother, who had always doted on her, in disbelief. Ignoring the pain in her body, she loudly questioned, “What care have they given me? Are you talking about the money and tickets they gave to our parents? Isn’t that what they should do? Besides, since they had those two brats, Big Brother’s money has all gone to that woman. Don’t you remember? Before, the things Big Brother sent back were all ours, but now? They’ve all gone into those two little bastards’ stomachs! And you two, don’t think I don’t know, you’ve been secretly saving your candy for them. Before, whenever you had something good, you would give it to me!”

She became more and more agitated, her eyes gradually turning fierce again, “If those two brats hadn’t been born, if they hadn’t been around, you would still only be good to me, all the good things would be mine… Those little bastards shouldn’t have been born. I want to throw them all in the latrine, drown them, drown them all!”

She turned her head abruptly, staring fixedly at the two children, who were being held in the arms of two adults, her eyes fierce, like a wild beast about to attack.

Zhang Shourong trembled, both angry and scared. He slapped her hard across the face again.

Zhang Shouyi also turned back, looking at his sister in shock.

Over the years, the two brothers had put a lot of effort into their sister, trying to set her on the right path. They had argued with their parents’ countless times and apologized for her countless times.

But now, their hearts were completely cold. They had completely given up on their sister.

Someone who was rotten to the core, no matter how much effort they put in, couldn’t be saved.

Lin Yue’s heart was also cold.

She had thought that Zhang Xiaoxi just wanted to bully the two children, at worst, she would just get them dirty. But she didn’t expect her to be so vicious, she really wanted to throw the children into the latrine and drown them.

It was lucky that the two children were strong and didn’t let her succeed.

If these had been two ordinary children, she wouldn’t dare to imagine what would have happened.

She stared at Zhang Xiaoxi for a while, suppressing her emotions, before speaking, “This won’t end like this. When the children’s father comes back, I’ll discuss reporting it to the police with him.”

Zhang Shouyi rushed over and slapped Zhang Xiaoxi hard on the back, “You’re hopeless. Don’t expect me to take care of you anymore!” He then pulled his second brother and rushed towards Lin Yue, leaving Zhang Xiaoxi alone in the dirty and smelly outhouse, letting her face the varied gazes of others.

Zhang Xiaoxi watched their backs gradually disappear, and all the rage in her body suddenly dissipated. She felt a sharp pain in her body, belatedly, so much that she squatted down, curling up.

She listened to the people at the outhouse door pointing fingers at her, and finally, like a normal ten-year-old girl, she burst into tears.

The two young men eventually didn’t catch up with Lin Yue and the others. They stopped not far from the outhouse, because they felt too ashamed to face their sister-in-law’s family again.

The two brothers hung their heads and walked aimlessly around the village for a long time, neither saying a word.

As darkness approached, they still didn’t want to go home.

Zhang Shouyi was dejected. He mumbled for a long time before saying softly, “Second Brother, I don’t want to go back to that house anymore. Xiaoxi became like this because of our parents!”

Zhang Shourong didn’t say anything, he just continued walking forward in silence.

Zhang Shouyi stopped and shouted, “Second Brother, why don’t we split up? Let’s split off and not live in that house anymore!”

Zhang Shourong turned back abruptly and scolded, “What are you talking about! If we split up with our parents, who will they live with? Do you want Big Brother to support them again?”

Zhang Shourong hadn’t thought that far ahead. His face flushed red at this moment, and he didn’t know what to say.

Zhang Shouyi sighed and pulled his brother to sit under a big tree by the side of the road, whispering, “I don’t want to go back to that house anymore either. Xiaoxi believes our parents too much. Almost everything we eat and use comes from Big Brother’s money.

“But Mother still belittles Big Brother, making him seem worthless. It’s not like she’s treating her own son, but more like an enemy.”

And about what happened earlier, when people went to their house to inform them, their parents were actually both at home. But when they heard that Zhang Xiaoxi had bullied Xiao Wanli again, they sat there calmly, not in a hurry at all, not even showing any intention of going to check.

Zhang Shourong quickly encouraged, “Then let’s figure out a way, let’s just split up! We’ll take turns taking care of our parents, so Big Brother and Big Sister-in-law don’t have to worry!”

Zhang Shouyi was also very tempted. Children’s world is black and white, they are very stubborn, believing that the mistakes their parents and sister made are unforgivable. Once the idea of splitting up took root, it became their goal to strive for.

But they were just two twelve or thirteen-year-old children after all, how could they split up just like that? Later, they were beaten a lot because of this.

The two children sighed by the side of the road. Lin Yue was also restless when she got home.

Things happened suddenly, and both Lin Yue and Liu Fang rushed out. There were still a few people listening to the radio at home, but when they heard about the incident, they all ran to watch the commotion.

When Lin Yue and the others returned home, they saw that all the doors were open, and the house clearly showed signs of someone rummaging through it. Liu Fang’s bag, which contained dozens of yuan and tickets, had been stolen, and the radio was gone.

Lin Yue looked at the messy house with a numb expression. She said calmly, “Good, another item to report to the police.”

Most families in the village weren’t wealthy, and few could afford to install locks on their doors. They usually just used a chain or an old padlock, which could be easily pried open, only serving as a psychological deterrent.

But most families would buy a small padlock, not to lock the door, but to protect the box where they kept important items.

Lin Yue said weakly, “Go check if the wooden box is still there. Your documents and everything are in there.”

Liu Fang took the key and hurried into the house to check.

Fortunately, the box was still there, and nothing inside was missing.

Lin Yue guessed that it was probably fine. The thief was taking advantage of the chaos, so they could easily take some small, easy-to-hide items. They wouldn’t dare to take anything too conspicuous.

After this incident, Lin Yue didn’t dare to leave the two little ones for a moment.

She was now very regretful. She shouldn’t have been concerned about face and thought about putting up with it for a day. She should have been firm from the beginning, not letting so many people come to her house.

When Zhang Yuandong came back that night, she told him what had happened. Zhang Yuandong comforted her, “It’s not your fault. You can’t lock the children up in the house or lock the door and not interact with anyone.

It’s not your fault, don’t blame yourself.”

He gently picked up the two children. He also broke out in a cold sweat over today’s incident.

From the children’s fragmented descriptions, they learned what had happened.

Zhang Xiaoxi had initially tried to coax them out to play, but the two children didn’t like her. No matter what she said, they wouldn’t listen. Zhang Xiaoxi got angry and dragged them out to the street, half-dragging and half-carrying them.

The two children struggled too hard, and Zhang Xiaoxi hit them several times. Finally, she had no choice but to leave Lingling behind and only took Wanli.

Lingling was small and had short legs. She couldn’t catch up with Zhang Xiaoxi and her brother, so she cried for a while before running back home to find Lin Yue.

Zhang Yuandong heard what Zhang Xiaoxi had done to Wanli in the outhouse. Before she could even finish telling him what she had said, he was already furious.

He had endured his parents for so many years, not because he had any affection for them, but because he wanted to stay in the army. He couldn’t have a blemish on his record, and he couldn’t ignore his parents, so he had delayed dealing with his relationship with them. He didn’t expect that he would end up dragging his wife and children into this.

The two children were already asleep. He touched Xiao Wanli’s restless face in his sleep, his heart filled with guilt.

Perhaps he was scared badly, but in the middle of the night, Xiao Wanli developed a high fever.

Because they had been drinking spring water since they were young, the two children had hardly ever been sick. This time, the fever was very serious, and he seemed to be in a semi-comatose state, muttering in his sleep.

Xiaoda Village was far from the county hospital, and the road was too bumpy. Unless it was absolutely necessary, Lin Yue didn’t want to take the children to suffer.

Moreover, the level of medical care was limited at this time, even if they went to the hospital, it wouldn’t be much help.

Fortunately, it was the middle of the night. She asked Zhang Yuandong to keep watch while she took Xiao Wanli into the space.

Lin Yue didn’t know anything about medicine. The only thing she could use was the spring water in the space. She diluted the spring water again and again, and according to the method she had used to save Zhang Yuandong before, she gave Xiao Wanli a bath and had him drink it.

But this time, she didn’t dare to leave the child’s side easily. She stayed there, carefully observing the situation.

The little guy’s fever subsided relatively quickly. Before dawn, his temperature had stabilized.

She carried the child, who was asleep again, out of the space and saw Zhang Yuandong sitting next to Xiao Lingling, his eyes as red as hers from lack of sleep.

Liu Fang, who was sleeping in the other room, had also been tossing and turning for a long time.

He had walked to the door of the east bedroom countless times, only to leave silently.

The two children had been in danger, and all three adults were filled with self-blame.