Chapter 75: Voluntary

The little girl was none other than Li Jia. Li Jia didn’t even dare to breathe loudly; tears streamed down her cheeks as she listened intently to the story of her own origins.

Someone in the crowd couldn’t hold back and questioned, “Don’t tell me your little sister was also abused to death by your mother?” It was hard to blame them for thinking so—Wang Po’s malicious deeds were truly contemptible.

“Of course not, that’s impossible. She was my real sister. My mother still loved her!” he protested.

“That’s not necessarily true,” someone muttered nearby.

“It really wasn’t that! My sister died because my mother accidentally rolled over and smothered her in her sleep. She was just two years old, died young, and the family was forbidden from holding a proper funeral. So my mother planned to bury her secretly,” Wang Damao blurted out in panic. Only after the words left his mouth did he realize what he’d admitted and clapped his hand over his mouth instinctively.

Feeling the shocked and incredulous stares from all around, Wang Damao quickly tried to change the subject.

“Who would have thought we’d run into Li Jia’s mother, collapsed with Li Jia at the edge of the woods? My mother said Li Jia’s mother was dying and begged her to take care of Li Jia for a while. Out of compassion, my mother brought her home.” As he spoke, Wang Damao glanced at Li Jia, recalling how she’d always been treated at home, and the words his mother repeated every day echoed in his mind. Suddenly, he felt justified. “Even though she wasn’t my mother’s own child, our family raised her and married her off. If not for my mother, who knows what would have become of her?”

Bai Xi gave a sweet, soft laugh, but her next question left Wang Damao silent for a long time. “If your mother did nothing wrong, why would Heaven strike her with lightning?”

Exactly! Others listened and nodded in agreement. If someone had done good deeds, there would be no reason for Heaven to punish them. After all, Heaven is not blind.

With everyone present, the lightning struck only Wang Po. Clearly, it was retribution for her evil.

Under Bai Xi’s clear, penetrating gaze, and the whispers of the villagers, Wang Damao looked at his lightning-struck mother and wilted like a deflated balloon.

Could it be that his mother had taken the money, failed to care for Li Jia, and didn’t call a doctor for that woman?

No, he couldn’t let anyone know that. Otherwise, his mother would be arrested, and their whole family would be despised.

Wang Damao’s eyes darted nervously, and he hastily said, “Yes, my mother took the money, but it was given willingly, wasn’t it?”

As it turned out, when Wang Po went to bury her own daughter, she happened to meet a woman who had fallen ill at the edge of the woods with her daughter. The woman, knowing her illness was grave, pleaded with Wang Po to have mercy and call a doctor. When Wang Po refused, the woman begged her to care for Li Jia for a few years.

The woman handed over all the money she had—more than ten silver coins—as payment for raising Li Jia, and she fastened a jade pendant around Li Jia’s neck, telling Wang Po repeatedly that this would one day serve as proof when the family came to find her daughter.

A child not yet two years old didn’t require much to feed; a little rice porridge would suffice. To raise her for a few years in exchange for more than ten coins—with the expectation that the family would pay handsomely if they came to claim her, judging by the woman’s clothes, which did not look impoverished—Wang Po agreed.

In truth, the woman knew Wang Po was unreliable, but with no other choice, she had to gamble on fate.

A child nearly two years old didn’t look much different from another of the same age. After keeping Li Jia behind closed doors for three or four months, no one in the village would recognize her as not Wang Po’s own daughter.

At first, though Wang Po wasn’t attentive, the money was still tempting enough that she treated Li Jia decently, at least not abandoning her.

But as three years passed with no family coming to claim her, and learning the jade pendant was worthless, Wang Po felt swindled—raising a money-losing child for nothing. Resentment grew, and Li Jia’s miserable fate began.

Having taken money yet abusing the girl, even if Wang Po was struck senseless by lightning, it did nothing to lessen the villagers’ scorn.

Bai Xi voiced the question Li Jia herself longed to ask: “Where is the jade pendant?”

Wang Damao looked at Bai Xi, then nervously avoided her gaze, only to meet Li Jia’s eyes. After a moment’s hesitation, he replied, “My mother thought she’d been cheated. When she came back and found Li Jia had wet her pants while playing in the water, she was so angry she smashed the pendant.”

Li Jia’s face turned ashen; she seemed to remember something. That day, her third brother had gotten her wet and falsely accused her of wetting herself. As she was about to explain to her foster mother, the woman stormed in, shoved her aside, cursed her for bringing bad luck, and, in a fit of rage, smashed something. The shards flew, cutting Li Jia’s face. Seeing the blood, she burst into frightened tears and was severely beaten before being locked in the woodshed without food.

From that day on, she slept in the woodshed, was never allowed to eat her fill, and was made to work constantly.

Thinking of the only thing her birth mother had left her, now destroyed by her foster mother, Li Jia was overwhelmed by grief and began to wail in utter despair.

“Don’t cry, don’t cry…” her husband tried to comfort her. “Now that you know the truth, you shouldn’t cry anymore.”

He understood that being despised by Wang Po had always been a thorn in Li Jia’s heart. Now that the truth was out—her foster mother had taken money but shirked her duty—severing all ties was nothing to mourn.

“Don’t cry, you still have me, and our children. You’re not alone.”

Li Jia, comforted by her husband, only felt more wronged, and leaned into his arms, weeping more bitterly.

“Don’t cry, don’t cry…” Seeing his efforts only made her cry harder, the honest man was at a loss, repeating the same words over and over.

In the end, it was Li Po’s cousin who couldn’t bear it any longer. She went inside, brought out the twins, and placed them in Li Jia’s arms. Only then did Li Jia’s sobs subside.

Bai Xi asked a few more questions, pressing Wang Damao until he had confessed everything he knew, then waved her hand for Chen Daliu to send them away.

The villagers, seeing the young lady give her command, called on a few sturdy men to drive out the entire Wang family from Niuluo Village.

Wang Damao, along with his wife, brother, and sister-in-law, left in disgrace, carrying Wang Po. They hadn’t even eaten at the wedding feast, and their mother had been struck by lightning. The three Wang brothers felt nothing but misfortune.

Thinking of Li Jia’s resolute declaration that she would never again have any connection with the Wang family, not even in death, they felt they had lost out.

This time was different from before. Previously, they could claim blood ties, that broken bones still knit together. Now, with everything exposed and the severance letter already signed, unless Li Jia was a fool, she would never again allow herself to be exploited.

Even if they tried to coerce her, her in-laws were not to be taken lightly. The more they thought about it, the more uncomfortable the Wang family became.