Sold immediately after wearing it? I took my family and fled the famine.

But she didn't want to go to Jiang Xing either; she was afraid of him.

She had the image of Jiang Xing standing at the village entrance covered in blood that night etched into her mind, and she would think about it every night before going to sleep.

She told herself it wasn't true, that others were exaggerating, and that Jiang Xing couldn't possibly have killed someone, but the image kept haunting her.

She gritted her teeth and went to find Liu.

Liu was cooking wild vegetable soup. The soup in the pot was a deep green color, with more wild vegetables than rice. Jiang Laifu was squatting next to her, gnawing on a cornbread, his mouth full of crumbs.

Jiang Caiyun sat on the cart, picking wild vegetables one by one, her movements very slow.

Yang Cuihua squatted down and lowered her voice, "Sister-in-law, why isn't there a single drop of oil in your pot?"

Liu glanced at her but ignored her.

"I'm out of food too." Yang Cuihua gestured towards Jiang Xing's house. "It's different over there. They have plain rice porridge with meat in it. Your family is your uncle, and she doesn't care?"

Liu paused for a moment. Yang Cuihua thought she had been persuaded and was about to continue when Liu raised her head and stared at her.

"Stop stirring things up." Liu's voice wasn't loud, but it was firm. "Jiang Xing is my niece, that's true, but you're still her mother. Does she care about you? Each family raises its own children. My daughter is thin because I'm not good enough. You can't blame anyone else. Mind your own business."

Yang Cuihua's face turned red.

"Besides," Liu said, putting the pot lid back on, standing up, and patting the mud off her hands, "if we hadn't run away with Jiang Xing that night, our family wouldn't even have a bone left to look for. You want me to go to her for money? How many lives do I have?"

Yang Cuihua opened her mouth as if to say something, but was glared at by Jiang Laifu.

Jiang Laifu, still chewing on a cornbread bun, mumbled, "Go away."

Yang Cuihua is gone.

As Liu watched her retreating figure, she grabbed another handful of rice into the pot.

Yang Cuihua went to find Zhou Shi again.

There was a messy history between her and Zhou Shi. Back in Jiangjia Village, Yang Cuihua hated Zhou Shi the most.

Zhou was sharp-tongued, ruthless, and never satisfied with taking advantage of others. In the first few years after marrying into the Jiang family, she was often bullied by Zhou. But now, she needed an ally.

Zhou was squatting next to the cart, breaking off a piece of coarse grain cake that was as hard as a rock. Jiang Qingyue was sitting next to her sewing clothes, and Jiang Qingshan was squatting by the fire reading a book.

Jiang Dazhu is not here; we don't know where he went.

Yang Cuihua walked over, a smile plastered on her face: "Sister-in-law, busy?"

Zhou looked up at her but didn't say anything.

"Sister-in-law, I need to discuss something with you." Yang Cuihua squatted down and lowered her voice, "Look at Jiang Xing over there, eating and drinking like a king, while we're starving here. She's still a daughter of the Jiang family, shouldn't she share some of the food?"

Zhou's hands never stopped breaking the pancakes.

"My husband said he'd divorce me if I couldn't get any food." Yang Cuihua's eyes reddened. "Sister-in-law, please do me a favor—"

"What does it matter to me that you were divorced?" Zhou finally spoke, her voice not loud, but every word was like a knife.

Yang Cuihua was stunned.

"You think I don't know what you are?" Zhou put down the cakes, raised her head, and her eyes were filled with long-standing hatred. "You harlot, do you think you can hide the men you've been seeing? I've caught you several times with that man surnamed He, going in and out of the mountains, your clothes disheveled. You've been sending Jiang Laosan's grain out, do you think I don't know? Whose grain is that? It's the eldest son's! You're using our family's things to support your philandering..."

"You're talking nonsense!" Yang Cuihua's face turned pale.

"I'm talking nonsense?" Zhou sneered. "You dare swear you didn't do it? If you didn't, may your whole family be wiped out!"

Yang Cuihua's mouth was open, but she couldn't speak.

"You've come to me now to help you deal with Jiang Daya?" Zhou stood up, looking down at her. "Don't dirty my place. Get out."

Yang Cuihua stood there, trembling. She hadn't expected Zhou to refuse, and she certainly hadn't expected Zhou to know everything.

"Get out of here," Zhou said again, her voice not loud, but several people nearby had already heard her and were looking in their direction.

Jiang Qingyue watched Yang Cuihua's retreating figure and whispered to Zhou Shi, "Mother, is she really with He Daliang...?"

"Shut up and drink your porridge," Zhou said.

Jiang Qingyue lowered her head and stopped asking.

Yang Cuihua turned and left. Her face burned as if she had been slapped.

Undeterred by setbacks on both fronts, Yang Cuihua squatted beside her shed all night, pondering the situation. Just before dawn, she made her decision: to go directly to Jiang Xing.

She made a scene, not believing Jiang Xing would dare do anything to her in front of everyone. She was her mother, her own mother. She didn't believe Jiang Xing could withstand the pressure of filial piety.

Yang Cuihua walked straight to Jiang Xing's oxcart. Jiang Xing was tidying up his basket when he saw her coming, but he didn't stop what he was doing.

"Jiang Daya, come out here." Yang Cuihua stood a few steps away, her voice not loud, but deliberately suppressed.

Jiang Xing didn't look up.

"Did you hear me? I have something to tell you."

"Speak." Jiang Xing closed the lid of the basket, clapped his hands, and looked up at her.

Yang Cuihua opened her mouth, but she couldn't say a word she had prepared.

Jiang Xing's gaze was too calm, so calm that it made her feel uneasy.

"I am your mother," Yang Cuihua said.

"If this is all the nonsense you're going to say, don't waste my time," Jiang Xing said.

"I gave birth to you and raised you."

"You gave birth to me, but you didn't raise me. You ran away after my father died. And now you're telling me you're my mother?"

People around started looking this way. Aunt Wang poked her head out from behind the cart, Granny Zhao put down her work, and several women whispered among themselves.

Yang Cuihua's face flushed red. She took a step forward, pointing at Jiang Xing, and said, "Say that again? Believe me, I'll beat you to death today!"

Jiang Xing narrowed his eyes and said nothing more. Zhang Shi came out of the shed.

Zhang's leg was still hurting, and she walked with a limp, but the aura she exuded was like a wall.

She stood in front of Jiang Xing, looking at Yang Cuihua with no warmth in her eyes.

"How dare you show your face here?" Zhang's voice wasn't loud, but it was as steady as a nail driven into a wooden board.

"Grandma, this is none of your business—"

"How can this not be my business?" Zhang took a step forward. "You harmed my son, and now you want to harm my granddaughter? Do you think I'm dead?"

Yang Cuihua's lips trembled: "Who did I harm? Jiang Laosan died on his own, what does it have to do with me!"

Before she could finish speaking, Zhang's slap landed.

The blow was loud and crisp, and Yang Cuihua's head was knocked to one side. She staggered two steps to the side, and five red marks immediately appeared on her face.

Zhang didn't stop; she grabbed Yang Cuihua by the collar and slapped her with her other hand.

Yang Cuihua tried to fight back, but Zhang kicked her in the shin, causing her to kneel on the ground. Zhang then pressed down on her shoulders and slapped her repeatedly on the face, head, and shoulders.

Yang Cuihua was beaten to the ground, covering her head with her hands and screaming.

Everyone around was stunned. Zhang was a thin, small person who was also old and usually walked with a limp. Yet she fought so fiercely.

Yang Cuihua hadn't eaten enough the whole way and was completely weak. Zhang Shi pinned her to the ground and beat her so badly that she couldn't fight back and could only scream.

Jiang Xing stood and watched for a few rounds, and only stepped forward to pull Zhang Shi away after she had finished fighting.

"Grandma, that's enough." She hugged Zhang's shoulders and pried her hands off Yang Cuihua.

Zhang was panting heavily, her eyes still red, but she still let go and took two steps back.