“Zhi’er’s niang, how can you continue working here? Your family had an accident, you haven’t come back yet.”

Zhao Lan straightened her sore waist, but still hold the wheat seeds in her hands: “There’s still a little work left. I’ll go back as soon as I finish. What happened in our family?”

“You still want to work? Your daughter has been killed. Let’s go and you take a look ah.” Hu Changlin said with a worried face.

Zhao Lan was stunned. But then, she quickly threw away the wheat seeds in her hands and come up to the terrain of the field: “What did you just say?”

Hu Changlin sighed: “While you are working in the field, your mother-in-law and sister-in-law forcefully tied your daughter and planned to sell her to the sick son of Wu Family in the town. Your daughter refused, so she was beaten to death. When I heard she’s not breathing, I came here to… …”

Hu Changlin hasn’t finished his words, but Zhao Lan already runs in a hurry.

*

There were many people outside the Bai Family’s house, and these people continue whispering near their courtyard.

When Zhao Lan rushed inside, she saw her daughter lying on the straw mat with no breath.

Zhao Lan‘s legs soften, and she stumbled next to her daughter’s body. She took her cold hand and looked at her daughter’s wounded face. Zhao Lan was heartbroken, she wanted to cry out loud, but she could only open her mouth, as her tears keep falling down.

The Bai Family’s first daughter-in-law, Mrs. Liu, came out of the house and saw the third daughter-in-law of the family came back. She raised an eyebrow, as her grim face showed a dissatisfied look: “How come you are here? Have you finished the work in the field? If not, then don’t think about eating at night.”

Zhao Lan‘s eyes were red. Her face was full of anger. She turned her head and shouted to Mrs. Liu: “Who made my daughter like this? Who is it?!”

Mrs. Liu was shocked, Zhao Lan has always been silent and allowed herself to be bullied. No matter how much she scolded and forced her to work, she never heard her complain, nor yell at her like this.

“What are you yelling for? It’s me and niang, so what? Huh? Who told her to be disobedient? The Bai Family had spent a lot of food to raise her to grow up this big. But she dared not listen to her grandmother and aunt?!”

Mrs. Liu’s said with killing intent. In anger, Zhao Lan crawled up to ground and rushed toward Mrs. Liu. She then slapped her face with both hands again and again: “I work like a horse all day long. But you still dare calculate my daughter’s food? Didn’t we earn every meal you give us? There were several people in the family, but only I do the work. I work alone, but have you ever heard a single complain to my mouth?”

“She was only twelve! She was only twelve!”

Mrs. Liu was beaten by Zhao Lan‘s every slap. She had been married into this family for a long time, but she was never been beaten like this. Especially, not in front of so many people in the village. Mrs. Liu sat down on the ground with her butt and shouted: “Beat me, come on, beat me to death, come!”

Seeing the lively show, the villagers outside the courtyard couldn’t help but shook their head: “To have such a sister-in-law and mother-in-law, Zhao Lan was really unlucky.”

“Originally, the work in the field was done by the Bai family’s three sons. But, when Old Bai and the third son died, the work fell to the youngest daughter-in-law. Say, regarding this matter, the second son also has a daughter, right? Which is a bit much older. So, why they didn’t  sell that child first?”

“The sick bully picked this child.”

• Niang – mother