More kowtowing?
Lu Yun felt her mother's hand trembling even more violently. The hatred and venom in her own heart had reached a boiling point.
"How smug you are now, just wait and see how wretched I'll make you in a moment."
"Today I'll see how I tear off your mask and vent this fury for mom, consider it just the interest. Let's first make everyone see what kind of creature you, Chen Juxiang, truly are! Later, I'll deal with you slowly, just wait and see if you still deserve, still have anyone to kowtow to you in this lifetime?"
Lu Yun quickly raised her head and looked at Chen Juxiang with a look of horror, "Grandma, I saw dad."
What?
Chen Juxiang's old face twitched uncontrollably, what is this losing investment talking about? How is this different from what she had in mind?
"Dad told me that what you asked me to drink wasn't ash water but rat poison, right?"
The voice Lu Yun shouted out was hoarse, yet every word was exceedingly clear, also vividly conveying the despair and grievances of a young girl who deeply felt deceived.
"Grandma, my dad was crying, saying you are cruel. If dad hadn't given up the chance to reincarnate and begged the King of Hell, I would never have been able to return. Grandma, your heart is so cruel, it was you who harmed my dad. Dad also said he was sorry to my mom. He told me to stick with mom and Uncle Lu Aiguo in the future. Dad also told me to change my surname to Lu and not to deal with the Su Family anymore."
The crowd immediately burst into an uproar. Although the shattering of feudal superstitious practices had been thorough over the years, the old beliefs still couldn't be completely eradicated from the hearts of the older generation. Especially when such words came from the mouth of a six-year-old girl who had always been obedient to her grandmother.
Almost everyone who heard it believed it, including several members of the Su Family, and immediately their faces turned pale. Such words, no one could believe that an ignorant little girl could have fabricated them.
Lu Yun continued to cry out "heartbrokenly," "Grandma, I said I didn't want to drink it, but you forced me and even lied to me, saying it wasn't rat poison but ash water."
"You said they tricked you into drinking it by saying it was ash water and not rat poison? Were you not drinking the medicine because you were unwilling to let mom remarry?"
Xia Yuan was shocked. The truth was ten times more brutal than what she had guessed. She couldn't help but tremble all over, it was rage. Pure unbridled rage. Lu Aiguo remained by her side, quickly whispering comfort to her, fearing she might explode with anger.
The surrounding people were obviously stunned by the shocking news—a grandmother tricking her own granddaughter into drinking rat poison disguised as ash water, could this be the act of a human? Even animals knew to protect their young. No wonder her devoutly filial son had told his daughter to stay away from her...
This woman was too frightful. People who could exploit their own granddaughter so thoroughly, associating with them, what could happen in the future...
For a while, all the eyes looking toward the Su Family members were filled with a strange light; the actions of the Su Family had far exceeded what they could tolerate.
"Mom, I didn't want to drink it, I wanted to be with you and Uncle Lu Aiguo. But they wouldn't let me. I was so scared. They said once mom followed Uncle Lu Aiguo, you wouldn't want me anymore."
Lu Yun cried with sobs and sniffles, she wasn't entirely acting but actually driven to tears by her own foolishness reflecting on the past.
"They said that I could only continue to be a descendant of the Su Family if I drank that lye water; otherwise, they would call the human traffickers to sell me to another family. They beat me three times a day and wouldn't give me food to eat," Xiaoyun said.
"Mom, Dad said he wasn't killed by you and Uncle Lu. Is that true? But Grandma keeps saying that Dad was killed by you and Uncle Lu, and that you would kill me too. She says I am from the old Su Family, and you are an outsider, that your love for me is all pretend. She told me not to listen to you," Xiaoyun shared.
"You damned brat, money-losing goods, what nonsense are you spouting here?"
Chen Juxiang never expected that her always timid daughter, easy to manipulate just like her mother, would wake up completely transformed as if she had become a different person. A loud 'bang' exploded in her head.
The situation before her eyes was nothing like what she had anticipated, and when she saw that naked look of contempt from the surrounding villagers, the uneasy feeling in her chest grew heavier. In a burst of heat, her eyes flaming, she let out a shout and lunged forward.
"You are not my granddaughter, you are some orphan's ghost who has taken over my obedient granddaughter's body. Go die quickly, and return my true granddaughter to me," she screamed.
This time, Lu Aiguo didn't care that she was a woman, and as she rushed at him, he quickly stepped forward, grabbed her hand, and with a forceful jerk backward, pushed her over so she fell flat on her back, also knocking over Su Huahua who was close behind her, while the other members of the Su Family managed to dodge in time to avoid being dragged into it.
A flicker of satisfaction flashed through Lu Yun's eyes. Pretending to be extremely frightened, she threw herself into her mother's arms, burying her head deep into her embrace and tightly wrapping her arms around her waist, failing to suppress the smile on her face.
"Mom, Grandma's gaze is so scary. Could she kill me? I'm your Xiaoyun, I'm not some deserted spirit," she murmured.
Her "dear grandmother" had always accused her mother of "killing her husband" hadn't she? So today was the perfect time for Xiaoyun to launch a major counterattack using the son her grandmother was so proud of.
She had no fondness at all for her "beloved father" who had supposedly been a blindly filial son and died early.
If speaking on her father's behalf brought her any karmic retribution, then let it come down on her as well. She had detested the half of her that bore the Su surname ever since she'd grown old enough to understand it. How many times had she hated that she wasn't the biological daughter of Uncle Lu?
Why couldn't Uncle Lu, who was a thousand times more caring than her real father ever was and who lived with lifelong regret, dying without peace of mind because of it—why couldn't he be her real dad?
"Xiaoyun, don't be afraid, your Uncle Lu will protect us. Your mom and Uncle Lu will never abandon you. Mom will change your surname, and we will stay far away from the Su Family people. Rest assured, you will still go to college," Xia Yuan comforted.
Holding her daughter's slight body, Xia Yuan could distinctly feel her trembling in her arms, her hatred for the Su Family members burned at its peak, vowing never to share the same sky with them again. But now was not the time for settling accounts.
"Xiaoyun, be good. Let's go to the village hospital first to get you treated," she said soothingly.
"That's right, Xiaoyun, be good. Your Uncle Lu will take care of you and your mom. We will go to college and become the top scholars," added Lu Aiguo.
Lu Aiguo came over and embraced Xia Yuan and Lu Yun. As he looked at the two of them, a shimmering glow and a trace of wetness appeared in his eyes. He was so close to losing everything again, by just a hair's breadth.
He lowered his head and gazed at Lu Yun in Xia Yuan's arms, making a solemn promise.
In that moment, the joy of having what he lost returned, illuminated his scarred face that usually seemed ferocious, making it shine brightly.