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“If anyone dares bully Xiaolan again, I... I’ll fight them to the death!”

Liu Fen was small and frail, her voice usually soft and lacking any real intimidation. Yet at this moment, no one present doubted—she was not joking.

Even a rabbit will bite when driven into a corner.

Liu Fen was that cornered mother rabbit, forced to the edge of a cliff. If she took even a single step back, the one who would fall first would be her daughter, Xia Xiaolan. How could she retreat?

Xia Dajun clutched his aching waist where he had been struck.

“Are you crazy, woman?!”

Liu Fen stood firmly in front of Xia Xiaolan, looking almost deranged. Xia Dajun clenched his fist but in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to swing it.

He could knock Liu Fen down with a single punch.

But what then?

For the first time, Xia Dajun felt afraid.

His daughter Xia Xiaolan looked at him with eyes colder than ice, utterly devoid of warmth.

His wife Liu Fen looked at him with hatred… and fear.

“Mom. Let’s go.”

Xia Xiaolan lowered the scissors and stepped forward, wrapping an arm around Liu Fen’s shoulders.

This woman—no matter how timid or weak she had been in the past... was fearless at this moment. The way she protected Xia Xiaolan gave her something she had never known in her previous life.

Unconditional familial love.

For that alone, no matter how ignorant or cowardly Liu Fen might be, Xia Xiaolan would never abandon her.

Liu Yong spat fiercely onto the ground.

“You worthless trash. There isn’t a single decent person in the Xia family. You don’t even want your own wife and daughter! Yet my niece has to cling to your house just to beg for food? Let me make this clear today! From now on, Xiaolan has nothing to do with the Xia family.”

“Not a single damn thing.”

Xia Xiaolan was eighteen—an adult.

Though rural areas were conservative and information was limited, the broader social climate encouraged women to stand on their own. Women hold up half the sky—those were words spoken by national leaders. If Xia Xiaolan wanted to move out and live independently, at worst people would gossip.

It broke no laws. This wasn’t the old society where clan elders had the final say.

Besides... what reputation did she have left to lose?

Xia Xiaolan dragged Liu Fen away, almost forcibly.

It wasn’t that Liu Fen was reluctant to leave, her eyes burned with hatred. What had just happened had finally shattered this long-suffering woman’s endurance.

Before leaving, Xia Xiaolan stopped in front of her uncle Xia Hongbing.

“As for the care Sister Ziyu once gave me... I’ll settle that account with her properly in the future.”

Getting into college wasn’t some divine achievement.

College students in 1983 were rare and valuable, yes,  but in her previous life, Xia Xiaolan hadn’t been illiterate. She had forgotten much of what she once studied, but knowledge could always be relearned.

Once she straightened out her life again, she’d take the entrance exams herself! Just for fun, nothing else.

Xia Hongbing unconsciously loosened his grip on Liu Yong.

Xia Xiaolan was frightening now.

She wasn’t screaming or making a scene like before, yet she radiated an untouchable presence. That made sense... after all, in her previous life she had clawed her way up to become a regional executive of a multinational corporation.

Even if one compared tempers, her experience alone made her far more formidable than anyone in the Xia family.

The scissors in her hand could be pressed to her own throat or plunged into someone else’s at any moment.

Normally, Xia Xiaolan preferred to solve problems with her mind rather than violence. She had worked too hard for success, why smash priceless jade against worthless rubble?

But right now, she wasn’t jade.

At least, that was how others saw her... someone they could trample at will.

If she didn’t strike back fiercely enough, wouldn’t everyone feel entitled to step on her?

Her beautiful face froze into icy calm. Xia Dajun didn’t understand why he feared her, but he could only watch helplessly as Xia Xiaolan, Liu Fen, and Liu Yong pushed their bicycles and disappeared at the entrance of Dahe Village.

Once they were gone, the women who had been frightened earlier crept back out, chattering eagerly.

“Dajun, why didn’t you beat her just now?”

“She doesn’t respect her elders at all—there’s no law anymore!”

“Your brother-in-law must be making money now, feeling bold enough to stand up for your wife. And she didn’t even give you a son! Only you are kind enough to tolerate her.”

“Is your mother really sick from anger?”

“Xiaolan’s gone too far, always threatening death…”

The noise left Xia Dajun unable to think.

Just then, his elder brother Xia Hongbing sighed as he walked over.

“From what I heard, Xiaolan even resents Ziyu now. That girl can’t tell right from wrong. Ziyu never got angry at her, yet she… ah, forget it. Let’s go see how Mother is doing.”

Shame and guilt washed over Xia Dajun until he could barely lift his head.

The three brothers shut the courtyard gate, much to the disappointment of the gossiping women outside.

Xia Dajun went to tend to Old Madam Xia. Wang Jingui pulled her husband aside again, still talking about Xia Xiaolan’s now-vacant room.

Whether Liu Fen would come back was uncertain, but after such an ugly scene, Xia Xiaolan certainly wouldn’t.

Wang Jingui wanted to claim the empty room first. The Xia family was large, and the courtyard cramped.

Xia Hongbing went to keep the “bedridden” old woman company for a while. Only his second brother truly believed she was ill, Xia Hongbing knew it was an act. But why expose it?

Only this way would his brother feel guilty enough to obey their mother—and continue earning money for the family.

Aside from Xia Dajun, the fool, the other two brothers each had their own calculations.

Meanwhile, everything in Dahe Village had already been pushed aside in Xia Xiaolan’s mind.

Liu Fen’s hometown, Qijing Village, was a three-hour walk away, located east of Anqing County, while Dahe Village lay to the southwest. Xia Xiaolan’s maternal grandparents had fled famine and settled there years ago, but they passed away early, leaving three children behind.

Liu Yong had been idle in his youth, but still managed to raise his two younger sisters. Xia Xiaolan also had a younger aunt married into a neighboring county, though they rarely visited.

Liu Yong didn’t marry until his thirties. His son, Xia Xiaolan’s little cousin was six this year, the Liu family’s only heir.

By the time Liu Yong brought Xia Xiaolan and Liu Fen back to Qijing Village, night had fully fallen, unnoticed by the villagers.

Liu Yong’s wife, Li Fengmei, couldn’t sleep. She was sitting in the main hall, holding the child. Hearing movement at the door, she hurried to open it.

“You’re finally back! How’s Xiaolan?”

Liu Yong stepped aside, and Xia Xiaolan moved forward, calling softly, “Auntie.”

Hearing how steady her voice sounded, Li Fengmei visibly relaxed.

“I heard you hit your head at home! I was terrified. But your little cousin had a high fever, and I couldn’t leave him… Thank goodness you’re all right!”

Liu Yong had even argued fiercely with her earlier over not going to see Xia Xiaolan right away. Li Fengmei felt both wronged and frightened.

If anything had happened to Xia Xiaolan, Liu Yong would never forgive her. Seeing Xia Xiaolan looking well, she hurriedly explained herself.

Xia Xiaolan wasn’t unreasonable. Her aunt by marriage wasn’t blood-related, and who wouldn’t prioritize their own child? Men like Xia Dajun, who favored others’ daughters over their own were rare fools.

“Auntie, I’m fine. Is Taotao doing better?”

Taotao lay weakly in Li Fengmei’s arms, listless.

“Let’s talk inside.” Liu Yong said impatiently.

“My sister’s staying here too. Xiaolan and her mother will live with us from now on.”

Only then did Li Fengmei notice Liu Fen silently following behind, and the piles of luggage on the bicycle.

This didn’t look like a short visit.

Had things with the Xia family… completely fallen apart?

Happy with the mass update?

I might just do the same on Chinese New Year!

Comment: Mass Update for Chinese New Year!

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