Chen Xiaosang sat on a small stool in the fenced yard. She was holding a ceramic bowl filled with water. She raised the bowl to her mouth and lightly sipped from it.
A woman dressed in mourning clothes entered the courtyard and looked around.
When she saw her, she walked straight over. "Where are your parents?"
"I've sent the leftovers to everyone," said Chen Xiaosang in a hoarse voice.
"Didn't you say that after you send your mother up the mountain we'll talk about splitting the inheritance? Why did you hurry to deliver the food and deliberately avoid me?" Mrs. Qian gnashed her teeth as she spoke.
Chen Xiaosang turned away from her aunt. Ever since her grandmother passed away, her aunt had been making trouble in the mourning hall every day.
Mrs. Qian kept on straddling the coffin, preventing Chen Xiaosang's grandmother from being buried. If the elders of the clan did not come out to speak, her grandmother would have missed the planned burial time. She had been crying so much these few days that her throat hurt, and she did not want to talk to this unreasonable auntie.
While she was in thought, Chen Xiaosang suddenly got flung into the air and fell to the ground.
When she came back to her senses, she was already empty-handed. At this time, Mrs. Qian was sitting on her small stool with her legs crossed and drinking her water.
"Auntie, that's my stool and bowl." Chen Xiaosang declared out loud.
Mrs. Qian handed the empty bowl back to Chen Xiaosang and glared at her with narrowed eyes. "What's wrong with me drinking your water? You don't even know how to give up your seat when your elders are here. You're already six years old and you still don't work. Do you think you're the daughter of the county? I'm dying of thirst. Go and get me another bowl of water!"
Chen Xiaosang got up from the ground. She looked at her big and strong aunt, then at her small arms and legs. She gave up the idea of beating her up. She patted the dust off her small butt with her small hands, took the bowl, and walked into the house.
Mrs. Qian was satisfied, but her mouth still did not stop. "You're just a sickly little girl, yet your parents still treat you like a treasure. You're just a good-for-nothing who will get married off sooner or later. Your parents are simply raising someone else's wife for nothing. Your family must be overflowing with money. Hey, the kitchen is over here, so what are you doing entering the house?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Chen Xiaosang pushed the wooden door with both hands. Mrs. Qian hurriedly ran over, but before she could get to the door, it was already locked from the inside.
Mrs. Qian shouted angrily, "You wretched girl, open this door right now!"
Chen Xiaosang ignored her. Her parents, brothers, and sisters-in-law were not at home. Who would support her?
Looking at her small arms and legs, she could only shake her head.
In her previous life, she was nearly 30 years of age and was working hard to establish herself in the big city. Who knew that the apocalypse would descend on the world overnight? The dead littered the entire world. While she did manage to live for ten years by relying on her pharmaceutical skills, who could have known that she would ultimately be poisoned and assassinated. When she woke up, she became the two-year-old daughter of the Chen family, and she had to suffer from a chronic illness for four years.
It was not easy for her to detoxify her body, so she could not let Mrs. Qian destroy it.
Mrs. Qian said angrily, "Are you not going to open the door? Fine, I'll be sitting in the courtyard. If you have the ability, don't come out for the rest of your life!"
Chen Xiaosang crossed her arms and said in a childish voice, "If my parents find out that you bullied me, they will fight you to the death."
Mrs. Qian wanted to hit her but could not. She was furious. "I'll sell you to human traffickers and make sure you become an old bachelor's wife."
Mrs. Qian's eyes lit up. Although Xiaosang was chronically ill and thin, she had good facial features. If she were to be sold, she would probably go for a considerable amount of money…
The more she thought about it, the more excited she became. She looked around and saw that there was no one from the Chen family that was currently present. Mrs. Qian softened her voice and tried to coax her out, "Xiaosang, your cousin went to the market two days ago to buy candy. If you go back with me, I'll give you three candies."
The deliberate tone gave Xiaosang goosebumps. She was unsure what Mrs. Qian was trying to do, so she kept quiet.
Seeing that the child did not respond, Aunt Qian cursed her in her heart. However, she further softened her voice and continued, "Candies are delicious. Open the door and we can go and get some."
"You're trying to trick me into opening the door." Xiaosang sneered. "My dad bought me a lot of candy. I'm not eating yours."
Mrs. Qian was so angry that she cursed, "Chen Baolai really is such a spendthrift. Why would he buy a girl like you candy? If he wants to buy candy, he should buy some for my grandson."
Xiaosang was about to retort when she heard an angry shout from outside. "What does it matter to you if our family buys candies for our children?"
It was her mother! Her mother was back, meaning one of her backers was back. She could finally borrow the tiger's might!
Xiaosang was overjoyed. She looked out through the crack in the door and saw Mrs. Li carrying a bamboo basket into the courtyard.
She immediately opened the door and ran over with her short legs to hug Mrs. Li's leg. She turned her head and pointed at Mrs. Qian, complaining, "Mom, Auntie said she wanted to sell me to a human trafficker."
Mrs. Li's face darkened when she heard this. She picked up Xiaosang and patted her back gently. She glared at Mrs. Qian. "How dare you even think about selling off my daughter?"
Being glared at by Mrs. Li, Mrs. Qian's heart trembled. Mrs. Li was a well-known evil woman in the village, and when it came to fighting, even men would lose to her.
No, she was here to split the family assets. She could not be intimidated by her.
"Who would even want to buy a chronically ill patient?" Madam Qian shouted at the top of her voice. "Only your family would treat something like her as a treasure. Mrs. Li, don't be unreasonable with me. In the morning, you and Chen Bao said that when mother is buried, you're going to divide her property with me. It's almost dinner time, so you have to give an explanation on how exactly you plan to split things."
Mrs. Li's eyes narrowed. "Tell me, what property does mother have that we can split?"
Mrs. Qian pointed to the house in front of her and said, "Your family has four big brick houses, as well as silver and food. They should all be split with us! Today, you said in front of mother that you were going to split the family wealth with us. The sun has not even set, and you are already going back on your word. Aren't you afraid that mother will come back to look for you in the middle of the night?"
Mrs. Li restrained her anger and patted Xiaosang's head, placing her on the ground. "Be good and go back to the house."
Chen Xiaosang gave Mrs. Qian a meaningful look, then ran back to the house with her short legs and looked out of the door.
Her mother pulled Mrs. Qian's hair and scolded her as she did so. "You shameless wretch. Don't you dare mention us being half-siblings! You haven't even given your mother a warm meal all these years. How dare you come and want a portion of the family's wealth?"
Mrs. Qian was beaten until she cried out. She wanted to fight back, but she was not as strong as Mrs. Li. After she struggled free, she retreated outside the courtyard.
Her scalp was numb and her face was burning. She screamed and fell to the ground, crying, "You've no conscience! Chen Baolai's wife hit me! She won't recognize me even if I were to die!"
The commotion attracted many villagers to come and watch.
At this moment, Mrs. Qian's face was swollen. Her hair had been pulled off by Madam Li, revealing a small patch of her scalp. Her clothes had been torn into a mess. Coupled with her tears and snot, she looked extremely miserable.
Mrs. Li's clothes were also in a mess, and there were even some traces of blood on her face. However, she looked much better than Mrs. Qian.
At this moment, some people could not help but sympathize with Mrs. Qian. "We're all from the same village, and they're even sisters-in-law. Why are they fighting?"
The person beside her saw that she was young and said, "You just got married and so it's normal that you don't know. Mrs. Li's mother-in-law was also Mrs. Qian's mother-in-law.
When Mrs. Qian's father-in-law died, her mother-in-law was too weak to work. Mrs. Qian's husband, Chen Qingshan, sold his mother to the Mrs. Li's father-in-law to become his wife, and she then gave birth to Chen Baolai.
Although Chen Baolai and Chen Qingshan were half-brothers, they had not contacted one another all these years. Today, when their mother was buried, they began quarreling."
"If you ask me, their mother has not even been dead for seven days yet. I'm afraid she's still at home and can't bear to leave. Seeing that you brothers and sisters-in-law don't get along, how can she be at ease?"
"What are you guys quarreling about?" The villagers asked.
Mrs. Qian cried as she replied, "You all might not know but my Qingshan is my mother-in-law's eldest son. He should be the one to carry her memorial tablet, yet she had let Chen Baolai carry it! She did not even discuss it with my family before doing so!"