Chapter 644: Chapter 556: Bait

Not long after lunch, Grandpa, Mo Jiabao, and Jiang Junlin were still resting at home. A few village grandmas had brought their grandchildren over to play, joined by five or six neighbors, young and old. All told, about twenty people were sitting in the courtyard, chatting and enjoying the cool air under the pear tree and the eaves. Children chased one another playfully, and a breeze rustled through the pear leaves, bringing with it a refreshing coolness. The scene was one of peace and comfort; some of the adults even started to doze off in their chairs mid-conversation. But the tranquility was shattered when the mother-daughter pair, Liu Fengying and Wu Qin, burst in. Their shrill cries and shouts, like the wails at a funeral, were enough to scare the soul out of a person.

Grandma had dealt with Liu Fengying so many times that her reaction was practically a reflex. With a single glance, her face darkened. She said to Mo Jiabao and Yu Wumei, "Throw them out and bolt the courtyard gate!"

Yu Wumei had been deceived by Liu Fengying before. Back then, seeing a single woman raising five children while also caring for two disabled family members, Yu Wumei, a mother herself, had felt a pang of pity. But all she had agreed to was letting Liu Fengying pick a few herbs from the garden to make medicinal soup for her children. Who would have thought Liu Fengying would bring people in to steal several large sacks of herbs? The theft had earned Yu Wumei a scolding from her husband and several lectures from her parents-in-law. Her mother-in-law had then recounted, one by one, all the cruel and vicious ways Liu Fengying had abused Xiao Man. Listening to the stories made Yu Wumei’s scalp crawl. Now, looking at Liu Fengying was like looking at a venomous snake. She was filled with hatred and fear, but more than anything, she wanted to beat the woman to death with a carrying pole!

Her mother-in-law had given the order. Seeing Mo Jiabao and the family’s son-in-law, Jiang Junlin, step forward, Yu Wumei quickly stopped them. ’This woman is rotten to the core and utterly shameless. How can I let good men like them touch her? They’d just get her foul, unlucky stench on their hands!’ She strode forward herself, rolled up her sleeves, and grabbed Liu Fengying to drag her out. The two women were of similar age, but Liu Fengying’s strength was no match for Yu Wumei’s. Liu Fengying quickly grabbed Wu Qin’s arm, and with their combined weight, Yu Wumei’s progress slowed.

Wu Qin tried to crawl closer to Liu Fengying, hoping that if they clung together, they wouldn’t be dragged away so easily. She also needed to remind her mother of their purpose. But with no strength in her limbs, she could only flail on the ground like a duck, flapping her arms and legs helplessly. She had no choice but to shout at Yu Wumei, "Make Xiao Man come out and talk to us! And call Grandpa over!"

Liu Fengying immediately understood and chimed in, "That’s right! Get Xiao Man out here! Let everyone see what a vicious heart that damned girl has! She’s the one who harmed my eldest girl! She had someone beat my Xuanxuan into this state... Oh, Grandpa, you have to hold court and bring us justice!"

The mother and daughter launched into another fit of loud, heart-rending wails, a truly unsettling performance.

Grandpa emerged from the backyard with Dapeng, still holding some bamboo strips. They had been out repairing the vegetable racks. Grandpa shot the mother-daughter pair a glare, then patted Dapeng’s head and murmured something. Dapeng immediately took off, running out of the courtyard gate.

Qiuyan and Jiang Erxue, who had been sitting on a stone bench under the pear tree playing cat’s cradle, were stunned by the sight of Wu Qin. They were staring, dumbfounded, when Qiuyan saw her older brother run past. She quickly hopped down, but he was too fast and vanished in the blink of an eye. Qiuyan pouted, then turned and scurried into the house.

Xiao Man and Xinghua soon came out, along with the other young girls who were over to play. Guan Ailan and a few others had heard Xiao Man talk about what happened to Wu Qin in Beijing, but seeing her in person, they were still startled by her wretched condition.

Wu Qin had been severely injured and taken from Beijing by Gongsun Hanshan two months ago. This was the first time Xiao Man had seen her since then. She knew that the tendons and bones in Wu Qin’s limbs had been brutally snapped, but she hadn’t expected her to be disfigured as well. Each of her cheeks was marked with two intersecting red scars, stark and eye-catching. They looked just like the large X’s a teacher would draw over wrong answers in a student’s workbook. One stroke of the X on her right cheek was so long it nearly touched the corner of her mouth. Furthermore, she had no strength in her hands or feet. With her twisted arms and crippled legs, she looked like someone suffering from a severe case of polio.

’Xiao Man was familiar with Gongsun Ruxue’s medical skills. Since she’d taken Wu Qin in, she should have been able to heal her far more effectively. At the very least, she could have restored some normal function to her limbs. And as for the scars on her face, Gongsun Ruxue could have removed them completely. But she hadn’t. Instead, she left Wu Qin in this half-treated state and sent her back to Gongdao Village. It was obvious even to a child: just what kind of massive bait had the Gongsun Family dangled in front of Wu Qin?’

’If they knew that only the herbs from Grandpa’s garden could be traded for the Gongsun Family’s medicine—medicine that could restore Wu Qin’s health, maybe even make her more beautiful than before, or grant some other, greater benefit—then given Wu Qin and Liu Fengying’s personalities, they would surely stop at nothing!’

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.