Chapter 73: Struck by Heaven's Thunder

Old Madam Wang shouted, “So what if I curse her? She’s the wretched spawn of an ungrateful wretch, a little brat who doesn’t know how to honor her mother—she deserves to die!” The look of venomous self-righteousness on her face left everyone in Niuluo Village dumbfounded. Was this really a mother? Everyone knew that when a mother is kind, her children are filial. With a mother this cruel, wasn’t she pushing her daughter toward a dead end?

Even in Niuluo Village, where some still valued sons over daughters, most people still treasured their girls—after all, a daughter was flesh of their flesh. “Enough!” Li Jia trembled with anger, “Have you forgotten that you already sold me to the Li family? I have nothing to do with the Wang family anymore.” She didn’t even call her mother “Mother” now.

Old Madam Li, standing by, helped Li Jia up and, facing the questioning gazes of the villagers, nodded in silent confirmation. They had taken the bride price and signed a severance contract—what else was that but selling a daughter?

No one but Old Madam Li and Li Jia’s husband knew that the Wang family, after collecting a hefty bride price, feared that if Li Jia died soon after her marriage, the Li family would demand the money back. So, the day before the wedding, they made Li Jia sign a document severing all ties, declaring that her fate from then on had nothing to do with her birth family—she was at the mercy of her in-laws, to be sold or beaten to death as they pleased.

It was only Li Jia’s good fortune that she hadn’t fallen into worse hands. Otherwise, as a girl with no natal family to protect her, she could have been sold off to a brothel by her in-laws, using her own children as leverage—such stories were not unheard of.

“You always say you gave birth to me and raised me, but I’ve already repaid you in full.” Li Jia’s voice was raw with emotion. “Before I was six, I was already washing clothes for a household of over a dozen, fetching water, cooking, working in the fields and on the mountains—what job didn’t I do? My three brothers never lifted a finger. When the family ate, I could only squat in a corner. If I worked too slowly, I was beaten. If you were unhappy, I was beaten. If my brothers made a mistake, I was beaten…”

“I only ate once a day—barely half a bowl. I could count the grains of rice in my bowl on one hand. If I didn’t work enough, I wasn’t allowed to eat, and sometimes I didn’t even get one meal a day…”

“When I fainted from hunger, you accused me of pretending, kicked me awake, doused me with cold water to make me work. Right up until my wedding day, I slept in the firewood shed…” At this point, Li Jia couldn’t hold back her sobs.

Facing her accusations, Old Madam Wang’s expression remained utterly unrepentant. In her mind, girls were just money-losing burdens—of course they should eat less and work more. How could a useless daughter compare to her three sons? She expected her sons to care for her in old age, not her daughter.

“When I was not yet twelve, you tried to sell me as a wife to an old widower in the next village—he was almost sixty, older than you. If I hadn’t threatened death, if you hadn’t feared losing a worker and the bride price, you would have sold me off long ago.”

Li Jia couldn’t even bring herself to mention that her mother once tried to sell her to a brothel—some shames were too deep to voice. If not for today’s public scene, if she weren’t worried her mother-in-law and husband would be forced out of the village, she’d never have said a word.

“When I was fifteen, I saved someone and was given five coins as a reward. You took that, along with the bride price from my mother-in-law, and all these years you’ve demanded offerings from my husband—that’s more than enough to repay whatever kindness you ever showed me.” By the end, Li Jia was sobbing uncontrollably.

Even Bai Xi was tongue-tied at this, thinking how lucky she was to have ended up in Niuluo Village. Had she been born elsewhere, as a five-year-old girl, what horrors might she have endured?

The villagers couldn’t help but recall Li Jia’s arrival: a battered bundle in hand, wearing clothes far too small and threadbare, so thin she looked like a strong wind could blow her down. They’d thought she was just slow to grow, but who could have imagined the life she’d led?

How much could a child eat, anyway? Was it really necessary to treat her so cruelly? Meanwhile, Li Jia’s three brothers were all tall and sturdy, and even Old Madam Wang herself was a burly woman. No wonder Li Jia always said her current life was better than she’d ever dared dream.

Was this wretched woman truly Li Jia’s mother? Not just Bai Xi—even others began to doubt it in their hearts.

“So what if that’s how it is? You’re a girl!” Old Madam Wang felt no shame at all. She figured that not drowning her at birth and giving her a bite to eat already made her generous—what more could the girl want?

“You’re my flesh and blood, born of me, so it’s only right you serve me!” The villagers, disgusted by her words, could do nothing—it was, after all, a family affair—so they glared at Wang with silent condemnation.

To have such a mother was truly a curse.

But Old Madam Wang didn’t care about things like shame. The contempt in the villagers’ eyes meant nothing to her. All she cared about now was how to wring some money from the villagers and squeeze another sum from her daughter’s in-laws.

Perhaps the twins felt sorry for their mother, for they frowned and looked as if they might cry, glancing at Bai Xi. Bai Xi looked left and right—well, it seemed it was up to her to step out and deal with this.

“Grandaunt,” she called. As soon as Bai Xi stepped outside, the villagers greeted her in unison.

“Well, look who finally dares to show her face!” Old Madam Wang had thought Bai Xi had run off—who knew she’d just been hiding inside? She snapped, “You got me beaten—you owe me compensation!”

This useless girl had no money, but the villagers clearly valued her, so surely they’d pay for her.

Wang’s second son eyed the chubby Bai Xi with a glint in his eye, threatening, “Listen here, little girl. If you don’t pay up, just watch what I’ll do to you!”

“Just you try!” The villagers all shouted in unison, startling the entire Wang family.

Old Madam Wang planted her hands on her hips and stepped forward. “What, you want to hit me? Go ahead, kill me!” She turned to her sons and told them that if she was beaten, they should go to the magistrate in town and have everyone arrested.

This shamelessness was as hard as iron, making it hard for anyone to take action. Of course, there were hot-tempered men in the village, ready to end her once and for all—life for a life—sick of the Wang family’s outrageous bullying.

Bai Xi, however, wasn’t the least bit intimidated by Wang’s vicious glare. She raised a hand to quiet the angry villagers, looked at Old Madam Wang with composure, and spoke in a soft, childish voice—words that made everyone’s expression change.

“Wang Xiaohua, there are gods three feet above your head. You’d best know when to stop—otherwise, heaven will strike you down!”

“Oh, listen to this little brat trying to scare me! Heaven’s wrath, lightning—I’m not afraid!” Old Madam Wang burst out laughing, her bruised face twitching with pain, but she paid it no mind.