Slender willows sway in the breeze

Chapter 23 The Meat Smells So Good

Miji, covering his nose: "..."

He had initially thought the woman had gone mad, but she seemed to have regained her senses and even knew to send him away: "I'll wait for the Third Miss at the door... Be careful, she's a bit strange."

Once she was sure Mi Er was far away, the woman calmly said, "Miss, help me kill someone!"

Liu Sijun looked at the three infant spirits clinging to the woman: "If you hadn't killed anyone, you wouldn't be in this prison. Since you did kill someone, why didn't you do it yourself?"

"That old hag is long gone. Neither I nor my children can find her."

Liu Sijun was taken aback: "These three are your children?"

"You can see them?"

The woman's calm face instantly came to life. She gripped Liu Sijun's sleeve tightly with both hands and pleaded, "Please let me see them! I know they're with me, but I can't see them or touch them. I miss them so much!"

"Did they die shortly after birth?"

The woman, who had been completely numb, suddenly felt a surge of malevolence when Liu Sijun asked her that question. The three infant spirits, who had been obedient and cute, instantly became hideous and bared their fangs at her.

However, to Liu Sijun, they were too weak.

With just a little bit of pressure, the three cowered and hid behind the woman.

"What do you mean by 'died young'? They were all born healthy."

"Then why are they all..." dead?
The woman released her grip, leaned against the cell bars, and slowly began to speak.

The woman's name was Xue Wei, and she was from Jiu'er Village in Laiyang County. She married Liu Erbao from the neighboring Jiu'san Village.

Liu Erbao was the second oldest son. His eldest son suffered brain damage from a high fever when he was young and never got married. Because of this mentally challenged son, he could not work and needed to be looked after. The Liu family lived a harder life than the others in the village.

However, Liu Erbao was quite good-looking, and he sold everything he owned to marry the village beauty from the next village.

In the first year after she married into the family, her in-laws treated her quite well.

But his belly remained flat, and he gradually lost patience, starting to boss her around and order her around, leaving all the heavy work for the family to fall on her shoulders.

Instead of speaking up for her, Liu Erbao joined his parents in bullying her.

Finally, in the second year after they got married, Xue Wei's belly started to move, which made Lao Liu's family extremely happy.

They immediately changed their attitude, treating her like they had when she first came in.

Xue Wei was naturally very happy.

My belly grew bigger day by day, and finally the day of delivery arrived.

She gave birth in the west room, while her in-laws were in the east room praying to heaven and earth, shouting that they must have a big, fat grandson.

But she was born a girl.

Her in-laws' attitude changed drastically. After the midwife left, they completely ignored her. She had to cook her own meals, wash her own clothes, and take care of her own child.

But because of the poor diet, there was no breast milk at all, and the baby cried loudly from hunger.

They not only didn't care, but they also complained about the noise.

The child fell asleep from hunger, and she, too, was tired, sleepy, and hungry, so she stayed with the child until she fell asleep as well.

When she woke up, she smelled the aroma of meat.

But the child has disappeared.

"Where is my child?"

"The child is in my room, doing well! Eat this meat and take good care of yourself."

This was the tenth day after she gave birth, and it was the first time her mother-in-law, Qian, spoke to her kindly and even cooked meat for her.

Xue Wei was deeply moved.

The mother-in-law couldn't accept that her beloved grandson had turned into a granddaughter, which is why she treated her this way.

He must have figured it out.

My hard times are finally over.

After eating the meat, Xue Wei went back to sleep.

This was the longest she had slept since giving birth; she slept for a full six hours.

When I woke up, it was already completely dark, followed by a fierce wind and torrential rain, with lightning and thunder. A thick bolt of purple lightning ripped across half the sky.

Even so, she still didn't hear the child cry. Xue Wei got up and went to the east room. The room was eerily quiet. Her parents-in-law and Liu Erbao were not there.

Half an hour later, the three returned.

Soaked to the skin.

Xue Wei grabbed Liu Erbao and asked, "Where's the child? Why can't I see the child?"

Liu Erbao's eyes flickered, and he stammered, unable to speak.

Mrs. Qian said, "Oh dear, it's no use making things difficult for your husband. The child suddenly developed a high fever and died! So we quickly buried him to avoid keeping him at home and bringing bad luck."

Just then, Liu Dabao ran out of the locked room, holding an empty bowl in his hand, shouting, "It smells good, Mom, the meat smells so good! I want more!"

"What a disaster! Why did you run out again? Go back right now!"

The parents-in-law together pushed Liu Dabao back into his room, and Liu Erbao shouted that he wanted to take a bath and leave to go to the kitchen.

The cramped main hall suddenly felt empty, leaving only Xue Wei standing there, still in a daze.

The flesh that fell off during ten months of pregnancy is gone just like that.

Nobody cares about her feelings.

Xue Wei was in a daze and sick for several months, and her in-laws would scold her every few days for not dying.

Yeah, why isn't he dead yet?

She dreams of her child every day, staring at her with blood on his face.

One day, Xue Wei dreamed that her lost child turned into a shooting star and flew into her belly, and she suddenly regained her energy.

The illness was mostly cured.

Two months later, her belly started to move again, and her in-laws were overjoyed. When she was six months pregnant and they saw her belly was pointed, they were even happier.

Xue Wei gradually became more rounded. She was full of anticipation when she gave birth. Although it was another daughter, she was very content because the baby's cry was loud, which meant that the baby was very healthy.

She fell asleep contentedly, only to wake up to find her child gone again.

She searched frantically, but her in-laws said the baby was born dead and that she was just hallucinating.

Xue Wei chuckled as she said this.

"I thought I was hallucinating because I missed my first child so much, so I believed the old woman's words. Until I got pregnant with my third..."

When she was pregnant with her third child, she was very tense and always felt that there was something around her, but she couldn't see or touch it. Only when she was asleep could she feel a pair of gentle hands stroking her face.

On the night before she was due to give birth, she dreamed again that her dead child turned into a shooting star and flew into her womb.

She woke up immediately.

Liu Erbao was nowhere to be seen, but faint voices could be heard coming from the east room.

"Mother, what if it's another girl?"

It was Liu Erbao's voice.

Then came Qian's voice: "Just like the previous two times, the master said that as long as you eat the child's flesh, you will definitely be able to give birth to a boy."

"But the second child was also a girl."

"That means he didn't eat enough. The first time, your older brother kept asking for more food, so I gave him more. This time, he ate a lot, so he'll definitely have a son. The master's words are definitely true."

Xue Wei was trembling all over.

That kind of cold comes from the soles of your feet; even your bones feel cold.

They are not human.

Even the most wicked ghost could not have done something so outrageous that it would offend both gods and men.

At that moment, Xue Wei had only one thought in her mind—to escape.

She and her unborn child must escape this place to survive.

(End of this chapter)