☆ 2. Unexpected Encounter

“How is it? Are you hurt?”

Ji Meng rushed forward at the fastest speed in her life, pulling Su Qiu away from Su Zhaodi and Su Laidi, and anxiously pulled her over to check carefully.

Su Erhu had hit her hard, and the little girl had several bright red, clear handprints on her face, with some blood from broken skin. Ji Meng’s heart sank as she quickly asked again:

“They hit your face, but what about your body? Are you hurt anywhere else?”

Su Qiu stared blankly at Ji Meng, her tear-filled eyes brimming with disbelief. She opened her mouth cautiously and called out, “Mom?”

Was this a dream?

The mother who had left suddenly came back.

And now, she was holding her hand, showing concern for her…

Ji Meng froze for a moment. Although she had mentally prepared herself for being a mother with a daughter, hearing Su Qiu call her “Mom” and seeing the little girl’s timid expression made her feel something indescribable.

It was strange, but it softened her heart.

“Yes, what’s wrong, Qiuqiu? Are you scared? Is there anywhere else you’re hurt? Tell Mom.”

Ji Meng softened her voice as she responded, asking Su Qiu again.

She checked over Su Qiu, and aside from her cheeks, she didn’t find any obvious injuries on the exposed skin. However, the previous scene had been too frightening, and she worried that Su Qiu had already been bullied by them before she arrived. It was still February, the coldest time of the year, and in the countryside, the wind was strong. She couldn’t just lift the little girl’s floral jacket to check her body, so she had to ask her.

“No.”

Since she was three years old, Su Qiu had never seen her mother be so gentle with her. She felt dazed and wanted to cry, fearing that her mother would think she couldn’t express herself clearly and would turn back into that fierce mom. She quickly added, “Mom came just in time, Qiuqiu isn’t hurt.”

“That’s good.”

Ji Meng carefully touched the little girl’s cheek and saw that the blood wasn’t from Su Qiu and that the handprints hadn’t caused serious bruising. She let out a breath and spoke.

Then, she pulled the little girl to her side, took a few steps forward, and grabbed the stunned Su Erhu, raising her hand to slap his bottom twice.

“You little brat, you’re quite the bully, aren’t you?”

Noticing the sharp stone in Su Erhu’s hand, Ji Meng’s anger flared even more. She snatched the stone away and waved it in front of Su Erhu’s dirty face.

“So, having a rock makes you something special, huh? You think it’s okay to hit people with a sharp stone? You little brat, do you know what it feels like when this rock hits someone’s face, huh?”

The stone was sharp and hard, gliding over the thin skin of his face with the terrifying possibility of cutting him. Ji Meng, in a fit of rage, frightened Su Erhu so much that he cried out.

“Waaa! Let go of me, you wicked woman, let me go…”

“Su Zhaodi, Su Laidi, save me! You two hurry and save me!”

“Aunt San, Erhu was wrong. Please let him go, he won’t dare to bully Su Qiu again.”

Su Zhaodi and Su Laidi, the two sisters, snapped back to reality and hurriedly pleaded with Ji Meng.

“Let him go? When our Su Qiu was being bullied just now, why didn’t you let Su Erhu off? You even acted as accomplices.”

If there’s a grudge, it must be repaid, and the best time to do it is on the spot. This was Ji Meng’s principle. She had no concept of adults not bullying children. She spoke harshly and shot a glance at the two sisters.

“And you two, Zhaodi and Laidi, didn’t Su Qiu’s grandmother take care of you both? When you were bullying Su Qiu together, you didn’t feel any guilt, did you?”

“Su Qiu’s grandmother really is kind-hearted, feeding a group of ingrates with meat and candy!”

The faces of the Su sisters instantly turned pale, and the younger one, Su Pandi, didn’t dare to say another word.

Since childhood, Su Zhaodi had been brainwashed by her family to take good care of her brother, believing that he was her lifeline. Seeing Su Erhu crying with snot and tears mixing together, she felt both heartbroken and anxious. Although Ji Meng’s words made her feel embarrassed, she couldn’t help but plead again.

“Aunt San, this is our fault towards Qiuqiu, and we’re sorry to Grandma Er. But Erhu is still young, he gets scared easily. Su Qiu is fine now, so please let Erhu go.”

“He’s the only boy in our family… If something happens to him, my mom and grandma won’t let us off! If you’re really angry, just take it out on me, hitting me is fine!”

Su Zhaodi was dark and thin, with a pitiful appearance. Because her family was poor and treated her harshly, she didn’t even have a thin cotton jacket. In the cold weather, she wore a tattered shirt sewn with dozens of pockets, and her thin lips were frozen and purple. The sight of her pleading with Ji Meng was incredibly pitiful.

However, Ji Meng didn’t even spare her a glance.

Perhaps there were characters in that book who shared the same name as Ji Meng, and she read the entire book thoroughly. The memories in the book about Su Qiu fleeing the village at thirteen were only a few brief sentences.

However, Ji Meng was deeply impressed and could not forget them to this day.

The old lady wanted to take advantage of the village and the state to receive her support payments but didn’t want to support this idle person or pay for her education. So, she brought home her distant cousin, who was seventeen and mentally retarded, saying that from now on, she would be his wife and had to take good care of him, otherwise, she wouldn’t have anything to eat.

That short, crooked-mouthed fellow, despite being mentally retarded, had somehow learned to enjoy tearing girls’ clothes and beating people.

Su Qiu was unwilling and hit him with a stool, knocking him unconscious. Zhaodi stumbled upon this scene and, fearing something would happen to the fool and that they would get implicated and beaten, she called the family over despite Su Qiu’s pleas and torn clothes.

She was surrounded by them in the house, facing their accusations and curses, while the old lady wielded a stick and beat her half to death before locking her in the pigsty.

That night, Su Qiu thought she would die, but when morning came, she was still alive.

However, she finally understood that the little village she had loved since childhood, the house her father had worked hard to build, no longer had a place for her.

Since her mother abandoned her and her grandmother died, she had no place to live.

She couldn’t even find anyone to help her.

The people in the village who had once benefited from her grandmother’s kindness and were willing to stand up for her had either passed away or left to seek opportunities elsewhere. The remaining villagers dared not provoke Su Erhu’s family, and those who occasionally sneaked her a bite to eat had already shown her their greatest goodwill.

She wanted to live, she didn’t want to marry a fool and didn’t want to experience having her clothes torn apart and being beaten again.

While they were arguing with the fool’s family about compensation, she set a fire and took the opportunity to escape from her home.

Zhaodi’s name only appeared once in the book, but it left Su Qiu with the deepest wound of her childhood, showing that she was not a good person and had no sympathy.

“Su Erhu is your family’s precious little baby, but our Qiuqiu isn’t our family’s precious little baby? Now you’re afraid of scaring Su Erhu. What were you thinking when you teamed up to bully Su Qiu earlier?”

Ji Meng scoffed coldly.

“I’m definitely going to settle the score with you. Not just you, both of you sisters and Su Erhu, none of you can escape.”

As she spoke, Ji Meng raised her hand and slapped Su Zhaodi and Su Laidi each across the face. She then turned around and slapped the crying Su Erhu again. Feeling that wasn’t enough to vent her anger, she gave him another slap until his face swelled up like a pig’s head, unable to cry anymore, before throwing him outside.

“Remember this, Su Qiu’s dad is gone, and her mom is still here. You brats can’t bully her!”

“Get lost!”

Ji Meng’s entire face was cold, her imposing presence terrifying, it was a look that Su Zhaodi and Su Laidi had never seen before. They covered their stinging cheeks in fear and fled, dragging Su Erhu away.

“Scared?”

Glancing at the direction in which Su Erhu and the three sisters ran off, Ji Meng turned to look at Su Qiu beside her.

The little girl was gazing up at her in a daze. She was thin and small, with bones clearly visible beneath her skin. Her neck and arms were delicate, as if they could break with a slight touch. Her face was exquisite and small, like a doll, now marked with several finger imprints, adding to her pitiful appearance. Her large eyes were watery and beautiful, shining like glass in the sunlight, making one’s heart soften at the sight.

Not having to experience a big belly, an unappealing body shape, or the excruciating pain of childbirth, and still having such a soft and adorable daughter is not too bad.

Ji Meng’s expression softened slightly as she reached up to pat down a tuft of messy hair sticking up on Su Qiu’s head, comforting her:

“Don’t be afraid. Mommy was just really angry, they shouldn’t bully Qiuqiu like that.”

“Qiuqiu isn’t afraid.”

Su Qiu shook her head and then nodded vigorously. She secretly pinched her palm—ouch! This mom was real, she truly hadn’t left and was being very gentle with her… Su Qiu’s dark, shiny eyes suddenly lit up, as if filled with countless stars.

“Mommy, Qiuqiu wasn’t scared, I just thought Mommy was really impressive just now.”

This was the first time she wasn’t afraid of her mom being fierce, in fact, she quite liked it.

“Is that so impressive?”

Ji Meng chuckled softly and couldn’t help but ruffle the little girl’s soft head. Noticing the old-fashioned leather suitcase that Su Qiu had thrown aside earlier, she walked over to pick it up and then returned to take the little girl’s hand:

“Let’s go home first.”

Su Qiu noticed the suitcase in Ji Meng’s hand, she paused for a moment, and her big eyes dimmed.

Mommy must have forgotten to take something when she came back.

She would still leave here, not wanting her.

If, at this moment, she asked her mother, telling her that she would be obedient, work hard in the future, and wouldn’t be a burden…

Would her mother be willing to stay and not abandon her anymore?

Su Qiu clenched her little hands, looking up at Ji Meng but ultimately didn’t dare to say it out loud. She just softly replied, “Okay.”

Ji Meng didn’t know what the little girl was thinking. With one hand carrying the suitcase and the other holding Su Qiu’s hand, she followed the system’s navigation and slowly headed home.

The Su family lived in the inner part of the village. Their house was a small brick building renovated with money sent back by Su Qiu’s husband, Su Cheng, after he joined the army, they built on the foundation of the old house, with a small courtyard outside.

In the late 1970s, the economy opened up and special zones were established, but there hadn’t been much impact on the remote Xiaopan Village.

Everyone still relied on farming for a living. Those with a bit more ambition raised some poultry and fed a couple of pigs at home, living well enough to have enough to eat, occasionally enjoying a meal with meat.

The village still had mostly thatched-roof houses and mud-walled homes. The Su family’s house was considered one of the better ones in the village, built taller with small blue bricks, making it quite noticeable and easy to find. It didn’t take long for them to arrive.

Just as Ji Meng was about to push the door open, the gate to the courtyard suddenly swung open, and a messy old lady came stumbling out.

Seeing that they were about to collide, Ji Meng quickly raised the suitcase to block the impact.

“Ouch, you’re going to kill me!”

“Who’s trying to kill me? Can’t you see where you’re going?”

The suitcase bumped into her, causing Wu Kaifen to fall onto the threshold with her backside. She subconsciously opened her mouth to curse, but when she supported herself on her waist and saw Ji Meng, her whole body froze, and she was so startled that her tongue couldn’t get straight.

“Ji, Ji Meng!”

“You, you didn’t leave? Why did you come back?”

Wu Kaifen asked, glancing anxiously into the courtyard.

Ji Meng furrowed her brow, looking at her but remained silent for a moment.

The system provided too much information about the original character, she only remembered the faces of Su Qiu and the mother-in-law she was about to meet. For the others the original character interacted with, she only recalled basic information, and she would have to think slowly to match the names with the faces.

The old woman in front of her was vague in her memory, and she was about to ask the system when she heard Su Qiu timidly call out, “G-Grandma…”

Grandma, Su Erhu’s biological grandmother.

She was also the culprit who darkened Su Qiu’s entire childhood in the book, forcing her to flee home and end up on the streets.

According to the information from the system, Su Qiu had been afraid of Wu Kaifen since she was three years old.

Unlike the original owner’s indifference towards Su Qiu, Wu Kaifen often cursed Su Qiu in private, saying she was a worthless girl destined for a short life. When Su Erhu was beaten by village kids for stealing Su Qiu’s things, instead of going after those kids, she would drag Su Qiu and beat her.

Fang Aihua wasn’t as strong as she was and couldn’t fight back. As for the original character, perhaps because Su Qiu was a girl, she favored boys and had always disliked Su Qiu, never caring for her. Whenever she saw Su Qiu being beaten, she would just look on coldly.

Gradually, Wu Kaifen became a terrifying presence for Su Qiu.

At a young age when Qiuqiu had just started to remember things, the originally lively and cute little girl became increasingly timid after being frightened several times in a row, to the point that she didn’t even dare to go out the door.

Fang Aihua was extremely worried and finally called her son Su Cheng to discuss the matter.

When Su Cheng returned, he beat up Wu Kaifen’s son, Su Dazhi, to make her keep her son in check. Afterwards, he took the original owner and Qiuqiu to the military camp, hoping to give Qiuqiu a change of environment.

After Su Qiu arrived at the military camp, her father, Su Cheng, who was capable and had good interpersonal skills, along with the fact that Su Qiu was cute, made her well-liked by many grandmas and aunts in the military district, as well as by little friends. Her personality became much more optimistic, and she gradually grew braver, no longer afraid of Su Erhu.

However, when she returned to the village, Wu Kaifen remained the person she feared the most.

Just like now, Su Qiu was so frightened that she pressed herself tightly against Ji Meng, and her little palms were sweating cold.

“Did you come to my house for something?”

Ji Meng stepped forward, shielding the little girl behind her, and looked coldly at Wu Kaifen. After a moment, she sized her up from head to toe:

“You look flustered, you’re not here to steal something and run away, are you?”