"Alright, alright. Tsk, I really didn't know you spent five years in prison and came out with such skills! Your acupuncture was amazing! Thank goodness we ran into you, Wang Xu. Thank you."
Wang Wei stood up and held Wang Xu's hand tightly, eyes brimming with tears. If it hadn't been for Wang Xu's timely intervention, his father would have been in real danger.
"Heh, Uncle Wang, don't mention it. We're all from the same village—if you thank me, it makes it sound like we're strangers," Wang Xu said with a bashful smile.
As they spoke, the thunderstorm gradually passed, the wind subsided, and Wang Wei carried the old man back to the entrance of the mountain path.
"Just now I heard them call you Teacher Liu. Are you the teacher in our village?" Wang Xu turned to Liu Li.
"Mm, I teach at Lihua Village Primary School. My name is Liu Li. Earlier… I might have misunderstood you. Please don't…" Liu Li nodded, a little embarrassed.
"It's fine. And what I said earlier wasn't an exaggeration. You should really get checked at the hospital. If you trust me, I can treat you," Wang Xu said seriously, waving his hand.
"Uh… alright. I'm heading to the county anyway, so I'll have it checked out while I'm there."
Liu Li casually brushed her hair and walked out of the cave, leaving behind a beautiful silhouette Wang Xu couldn't take his eyes off.
Five years had passed, and not much had changed in the village. Most of the houses were still made of mud.
Among them, the two-story building of village bully Li Ming still towered above the humble farmhouses.
When it rained, the village's yellow dirt roads turned muddy, and Wang Xu's sneakers were quickly covered in muck.
When he reached the entrance to his house, he found the yellow wooden door locked with a new padlock.
Wang Xu's home was one of the few brick houses in the village—six rooms and a spacious courtyard. It was a mansion by rural standards. His father, Wang Jie, had been one of the wealthiest men in Lihua Village.
He had started a brick factory outside the village from scratch and became rich in just a few years. In Lihua Village, aside from the village tyrant Li Ming, Wang Jie had been the richest.
But things changed after he married Li Mei.
Li Mei was Wang Xu's stepmother. His biological mother had passed away when he was a child.
After marrying Li Mei, she gave birth to a son the next year. Unfortunately, the boy was born with cerebral palsy.
In the fifth year, an accident at the brick factory left Wang Jie paralyzed.
In the sixth year, Wang Xu was imprisoned.
Wang Xu had been framed by Li Qiang and wrongly convicted of killing his half-brother, Wang Bo, who had cerebral palsy.
In the third year of his sentence, Wang Jie died a tragic death, and Li Mei took all the family's assets and remarried the village tyrant Li Ming.
The once-prosperous Wang family was ruined, becoming the village's most talked-about tragedy.
"Eh? Wang Xu… you're back?"
As Wang Xu was thinking about how to get into the house, a pleasant female voice suddenly reached his ears. He looked up and was stunned for a moment before recognizing the girl next door—Wang Na.
"Wang Na? Wow, I almost didn't recognize you. It's been years! You must be eighteen now—and getting prettier by the day," Wang Xu said as he scraped the mud off the doorstep.
He remembered that when he went to prison, Wang Na had been a skinny, dark little girl of about fourteen or fifteen, with two yellowing braids from malnutrition. Now, five years later, she had grown into a lovely young woman.
But seeing such a pretty girl at the age when girls care about their appearance, still wearing patched clothes, made Wang Xu's heart ache.
In this day and age, not even the village girls, let alone urban teens, would wear clothes with patches.
Wang Na had a tragic life. Orphaned at a young age, she lived with her elderly grandmother. She gave up further schooling after middle school to work in the fields and support the family.
"Hehe, Brother Xu, always teasing me." Wang Na blushed.
Since childhood, Wang Na had followed Wang Xu around like a shadow, and he often joked with her like they were siblings. When the police took Wang Xu away, she had crouched at the wall and cried for hours.
"Wang Na, what happened to my father?"
Seeing her brought back painful memories of his father. He'd passed away alone without ever seeing his son one last time. When village chief Zhang Hu visited him in prison and delivered the news, he hadn't explained how his father died.
"Uncle Wang Jie, he…" Wang Na hesitated and looked around nervously as if afraid someone might overhear.
"What is it? Wasn't my father sick when he died?"
Wang Xu's heart trembled, a bad premonition surfacing.
"Brother Wang Xu, come with me. I'll show you your father's grave and tell you what happened along the way."
She grabbed his arm and led him toward the ravine on the west side of the village.
"Wang Na, just tell me—how did my father die?" Wang Xu asked urgently.
Only when they had left the village did Wang Na finally whisper, "Uncle Wang Jie… he starved to death."
"What? My father starved to death?! How is that possible?!"
Wang Xu froze, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"Uncle Wang Wei told me secretly. He handled your father's body. He's a trained medic—he wouldn't lie," Wang Na said with tears and fury in her voice.
My father starved to death?
The words hit Wang Xu like a thunderclap. He trembled with anguish.
He couldn't accept it. His father had been bedridden and paralyzed, and the only person by his side had been Li Mei.
She let her husband starve to death? That was murder!
He had always known Li Mei was a vicious, manipulative woman.
He also knew that after his father became paralyzed, she had been having an affair with the village tyrant, Li Ming.
But he hadn't expected her to be this cruel.
"Li Mei! You goddamn wretch!"
Wang Xu's eyes burned with fury, his fists clenched as he roared.
"Ah! Brother Xu, keep your voice down! If someone hears you talking about Li Mei and Li Ming, we're in trouble!" Wang Na tiptoed and covered his mouth.
"Everyone in the village knows the truth. But no one dares say anything. You know what Li Mei's like—she's a tigress. And now she's teamed up with that bastard Li Ming. Who dares stand up to them?" Wang Na whispered.
Wang Xu's face turned pale with rage. He vowed in his heart that he would never let Li Mei get away with it.
"Why the hell did they bury my dad on the riverbank?! When the flood season comes, won't the river overflow?! Damn you, Li Mei, and your ancestors!!!"
When they reached his father's grave, Wang Xu exploded again.
Everyone knew that when building a grave, you avoided placing it too close to water. People would rather bury their loved ones on a remote hill than by a river.
When his father passed away, Li Mei had been in charge of the funeral.
She let her paralyzed husband starve to death, and then buried him by the river like he was trash. How could a woman be so cruel?
Wang Xu nearly spat blood from rage. He really felt like the anger would kill him on the spot.