Free Web NovelChapter 232: Chapter 232: Who’s to Blame?
While Zhou Mazi was off signing papers, Gu’er entered the hospital room. Zhou Feng’er, Zhou Duo’er, and Zhou Cai followed her inside.
Gazing at Li Hua lying there, the three siblings each had a different expression, but what they had in common was that none of them stepped forward. They just stood there, watching.
Gu’er didn’t know what they were thinking or if they felt any grief. ’Probably not,’ she thought. ’Otherwise, they wouldn’t have just stood by and let Zhou Mazi beat Li Hua this badly without interfering.’
"Big Sis, is Mom going to be okay?"
Zhou Duo’er asked Gu’er timidly.
Gu’er glanced at her but didn’t bother to reply.
"I... I didn’t know Mom was hurt this badly. I thought she’d be fine after lying down for a couple of days." frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
Zhou Duo’er explained in a small voice.
"Why don’t you try lying down for two days and see if you get better?"
Gu’er had had more than enough of the Zhou siblings. ’Are they stupid? How could anyone in that state get better after just two days? Why don’t they try it themselves?’
Zhou Duo’er lowered her head and bit her lip. ’If something really happens to Mom, and if Dad really goes to jail, what will happen to me?’ Suddenly, she felt lost about her future.
"Big Sis, Dad only hit Mom because of Second Sister. This has nothing to do with me."
Zhou Duo’er felt deeply wronged. ’It had nothing to do with me, so why am I getting dragged into this in the end?’
"Exactly! And you wanted to report Dad! If you hadn’t stirred up trouble, would Dad have hit Mom like that?"
Zhou Cai yelled at Zhou Feng’er.
Zhou Feng’er clenched her fists tightly. ’So what, was I just supposed to let myself be sold to some gambling lowlife? Even if Li Hua got beaten like this for speaking up for me, she deserved it. Who told her to give birth to me in the Zhou family? If she wasn’t capable of protecting me, then she deserved to be beaten.’
’So it was because of Zhou Feng’er?’
Gu’er glanced at Zhou Feng’er, seeing the hatred in her eyes.
Then, Zhou Duo’er and Zhou Cai told Gu’er why Zhou Mazi had beaten Li Hua.
It turned out that because Lin Shan had warned Zhou Mazi, he had mostly stopped hitting Li Hua for a while, even if he was still frustrated. He would just curse at her a few times. He was afraid of Lin Shan coming to make trouble for him.
But after some time, Zhou Mazi’s old habits flared up again. When he was out of money, he wanted Li Hua to go to the city, play pitiful for Gu’er, and ask for some cash. When Li Hua refused, he started hitting her again. It wasn’t too severe, though—just a slap or two when his temper got the better of him. He was still wary, afraid that Sun Jiaming would find out and that Sun Jiaming and Lin Shan would come looking for trouble.
Later, after Sun Jiaming and Grandma Sun moved to the city, Zhou Mazi seemed to lose all his inhibitions. Beating Li Hua became a common occurrence again. He blamed it all on her, thinking he’d have money if only she had been willing to go ask for it.
Recently, Zhou Mazi had a bad gambling streak. He not only sold everything of value in the house but also ended up owing an old gambler nearly a hundred yuan. He ordered Li Hua to go to the city and get the money. When she just lowered her head and said nothing, Zhou Mazi beat her. Afterward, he went and sold Zhou Feng’er to that same old gambler. The deal was that if Zhou Feng’er married the man, Zhou Mazi’s debt would be wiped clean, and the gambler would even give him an extra ten yuan for booze.
Zhou Mazi returned, smug. He figured having daughters wasn’t so bad after all—they could be sold for money. Without Gu’er, he still had Feng’er and Du’er, both of whom could be exchanged for cash. ’Besides,’ he thought, ’a woman has to marry someone eventually. As long as it gets me money, it doesn’t matter who.’
When Zhou Mazi announced this, Li Hua and Zhou Feng’er naturally refused. Zhou Feng’er sobbed, wailing that she would rather die than marry him. Li Hua, her heart aching for her daughter, tried to reason with Zhou Mazi. She said the old gambler was nearly fifty—old enough to be Feng’er’s father, and then some—how could he let Feng’er marry him?
That made Zhou Mazi explode. He grabbed Li Hua by the hair and dragged her from the *kang* bed to the floor, beating her the whole way. He slammed her head hard against the edge of the *kang*. Even that wasn’t enough. When Li Hua stopped moving, he kicked her viciously a few more times before casually heading out for a drink.
Even though Li Hua was beaten so severely over Zhou Feng’er’s situation, her children were used to it. They saw their mother getting beaten as a common occurrence and didn’t even think to call a doctor.
Zhou Feng’er, in particular, was full of bitter resentment for Li Hua.
It was only when they saw Li Hua vomiting and crying out that she was dizzy, and she finally fell unconscious, that Zhou Duo’er suggested getting a doctor. But Zhou Feng’er and Zhou Cai stopped her, saying she’d be fine after lying down for a couple of days. This led to the siblings’ argument at the doorway that Uncle Zhao overheard. Otherwise, who knows what would have happened to Li Hua.
Gu’er looked at Zhou Feng’er. ’In this life, I escaped the fate of being sold. Is it Zhou Feng’er’s turn now?’
Zhou Feng’er was only fifteen this year, wasn’t she? ’That Zhou Mazi is truly inhuman. Zhou Feng’er is his own flesh and blood, not adopted like me. Then again, if he were human at all, he would never have beaten Li Hua like this.’
"What are you looking at me for? Am I supposed to just marry some old man? I’m not asking for much. He just has to marry me off to a decent person! He can hit me, he can curse me, I’ll accept it. As long as he marries me off to someone decent, I’d accept that too. But he wants to marry me off to an old man, a gambling addict just like him! Should I just accept that? On what grounds?! I won’t marry him! I don’t want to live that kind of life anymore!" frёeωebɳovel.com
Zhou Feng’er finally erupted. The past few days had been torture for her: endless chores, constant scoldings, unending frustration, and on top of it all, being sold to an old gambler. She couldn’t take it anymore.
Gu’er grabbed her by the collar and dragged her over to Li Hua’s bedside.
"Look at her! She’s like this because of you, and you’re still complaining! She is weak, yes, but she gave birth to you, she raised you, and she did her absolute best to protect you! If you didn’t want to be sold, you could have run away! You have hands and feet; you can survive anywhere. You don’t have the courage or the ability yourself, so who are you expecting to save you? Who are you to blame!"
As Gu’er scolded Zhou Feng’er, she thought about her own past. When she had just been reborn and left the Zhou family, she thought she had no way to survive. Now she knew that as long as you dared, anything was possible.
"Why should I be the one to leave? She gave birth to me, so she’s responsible for me! If she can’t protect me, then she deserves to be beaten to death! Even if I really get sold to that old man, if my life is miserable, I’ll make sure none of them get to live happily either!"
Zhou Feng’er’s way of thinking was completely different from Gu’er’s. She didn’t think about how to escape the Zhou family, find her own way, and strive for a better life. Her philosophy was that if she couldn’t be happy, then no one else could be either.
"Get out. Go make whoever you want miserable, just don’t let me see you again. Or else I’ll be the one to make *your* life miserable."
Gu’er gave her a hard shove. She really couldn’t be bothered to talk to Zhou Feng’er anymore. It was pitiful that a fifteen-year-old like Zhou Feng’er was being sold, but she herself was not worthy of pity or sympathy.
Zhou Feng’er stumbled back a few steps. She looked at Gu’er, then at Li Hua on the bed, and wondered what she should do.
’Whether Li Hua could be cured or not, she was no longer someone I could rely on. My father is still going to sell me. How can I avoid being sold?’ she wondered. ’The only way is to get Zhou Mazi sent to prison. Once he’s in jail, he can’t control me anymore. Then I’ll be in charge at home. I can marry whoever I want, and once I’m married, I’ll never come back to this family. As for Zhou Duo’er and Zhou Cai, I couldn’t care less if they live or die.’
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