Tian Jing watched the two of them with leisurely amusement. They wanted to pressure her with their elder status? She wouldn't use status, but her aura.
Just as Uncle Li and Aunt Li were about to buckle under the pressure, Tian Jing decided to ease up slightly when she heard Da Mai scream from the side room, "Mom."
Tian Jing immediately flashed into the side room.
As she flashed away, her aura suddenly receded, and Aunt Li almost fell again.
Uncle Li, who had been straining against the pressure, suddenly stood up when it lifted, swayed, and nearly collapsed.
Before the two of them could even enter the side room to check, figures flashed out again.
"Li Zhengguo, I'm taking Da Mai's mother with me."
"Together."
"You stay."
Tian Jing's words were already spoken from outside the courtyard.
"Cousin Uncle," Da Mai chased out, but couldn't see Tian Jing. She asked Li Zhengguo, "Where's my cousin aunt? Where is she taking my mother? Doctor Yang said my mother might not last."
"Doctor Yang is a quack, don't listen to him."
The quack, Doctor Yang, came out wanting to retort, but was silenced by Li Zhengguo's glare. He could only leave with his medicine box.
Li Zhengguo glanced at his uncle, "Uncle Li, how does it feel to use schemes on your own children and nephews? Satisfying? Happy? Joyful?"
After taunting his uncle, Li Zhengguo looked at Da Mai and Xiao Mai, "You two, just come to my place. Otherwise, you'll become tools for others to vent their emotions. Your father can't be relied upon."
"Okay." Da Mai pulled her sister to her cousin uncle's side.
"Don't you want to bring a couple of clothes?"
"No, Grandma never allowed us to sleep out with clothes."
"Go pack. Your grandmother is mentally ill, muddled by her illness."
"Oh."
Da Mai pulled her sister back into the side room and soon came out with a small bundle.
Li Zhengguo beckoned, "Let's go."
...
Tian Jing, carrying a person with almost no body temperature, rushed into the mountains.
As she dashed into the dense woods, her powers were already being channeled into the ground in large, rapid amounts. By the time she flashed to where the jar was buried, the jar had emerged from the ground.
She placed Da Mai's mother on the ground, took out the tea mug from the jar, bent down, and forcefully pried open Da Mai's mother's mouth, pouring almost half of it in.
After putting away the mug and the jar, Tian Jing waited quietly. This was all she could do. Her powers couldn't be exposed in front of outsiders, and Brother Zheng had forbidden it.
Let fate decide.
After a long wait, Da Mai's mother on the ground slowly opened her eyes.
The last ray of sunset cast on Tian Jing's face. Zhao Xiaofang looked at the beautiful face bathed in the sunset and smiled, "Are you here to take me away?"
"Yes, to take you to the Pure Land," Tian Jing retorted impatiently. "To torture yourself into this ghastly state, what was it all for? For Da Mai and Xiao Mai? Or for your pathetic husband?"
"Tian, Tian Jing?"
"Yes, it's me."
"My body feels so comfortable and light, a feeling I've never had before."
"Of course. I used the best and most expensive medicine in the world to save you. Your life no longer belongs to you; you have no right to squander it."
"Mm!" Zhao Xiaofang nodded vigorously. "My life is yours, to arrange as you see fit."
"Can't you have some backbone and your own ideas?"
"Gone, worn away."
"Hmph, it's because you didn't resist, because you let others torment you. Whether a child is born male or female has nothing to do with the woman's belly; it has to do with the man's seed. You actually took the blame for someone else's mistake onto yourself."
"Really? It has nothing to do with the woman's belly?"
"Of course. All the women's committee members know this. 'Women hold up half the sky' doesn't just mean women are as capable as men."
"It's also because if there were no women, and only men, how would humanity continue? If women didn't hold up half the sky, the sky would fall."
Tian Jing's twisted logic, however, gave Zhao Xiaofang confidence and encouragement. "That's right, without women, men can't have children themselves. Hahaha, it's not my fault, it's not that my belly is not competitive, hahaha... sob sob sob..."
Zhao Xiaofang first burst into happy laughter, then began to weep uncontrollably.
Tian Jing let her cry.
After holding it in for so long, it was time to vent.
As the sky grew darker, even the sobbing Zhao Xiaofang sensed the quietness around her. She stopped crying, "Where is this?" Sudang Novel Network
"Deep in the mountains."
"Ah? You, aren't you afraid?"
"I'm not afraid, are you?"
"I... I'm a little afraid."
"You've already died once, what are you afraid of?"
"Right, you're right. I've died once, I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid."
If her voice hadn't trembled, it might have been more convincing.
Tian Jing pulled her up, "Let's go, down the mountain."
This time, she didn't need to carry her. Tian Jing simply held Zhao Xiaofang's arm, "Hold steady, I'm very fast."
This time, Tian Jing didn't use her power shield.
Zhao Xiaofang only felt the rushing wind blowing past her ears, dark shadows flying by, but she couldn't see or feel anything else.
Upon reaching the edge of the village and leaping down from the treetops, Tian Jing asked, "Shall I take you home or to my place?"
"I..."
Zhao Xiaofang didn't know where to go.
Tian Jing simply took her directly back to her home.
...
At the Li family's house, after Li Zhengguo brought Da Mai and Xiao Mai back, Mother Li and Li Min busied themselves with cooking and warming food.
They were only halfway through dinner when their son and daughter-in-law went out, and now they had brought back two more girls, requiring more food to be made.
Li Min made a quick noodle soup.
Once the food was ready, Mother Li asked her son, "Where's Tian Tian?"
"She'll be back soon. Mom, find the needle and ask Min Min to help Da Mai pick out the thorns from her hand."
"Oh, right. Da Mai, you silly girl, you shouldn't have slammed our door."
Da Mai's right hand, which she kept behind her back, was pulled out. Mother Li and Li Min gasped. The flesh of her palm was filled with dense black thorn fragments. She must have tried to pull them out herself and hadn't gotten them all.
Mother Li's eyesight wasn't good, and Li Min's movements weren't gentle enough. Da Mai winced as she picked.
Xiao Mai timidly said, "Cousin Aunt, let me. I can pick them."
The girl, who was eight years old but as thin as a five or six-year-old, looked scared but endured it, meeting Li Min's gaze.
Li Min extended her hand and handed her the needle, "Alright, you do it."
Xiao Mai's movements were very skilled, suggesting she often did this kind of work.
Da Mai looked down at her sister, her eyes filled with heartache.
A warm atmosphere flowed between the sisters.
The moment Tian Jing entered the courtyard, she saw this scene in the main hall.
Zhao Xiaofang also saw it, "Da Mai? Xiao Mai?"
Xiao Mai's hand trembled, and Da Mai hissed.
The sisters simultaneously put down their hands and ran towards their mother, shouting in unison, "Mom."
"Eh."
Zhao Xiaofang responded, her eyes once again filling with tears.
The mother and daughters embraced and wept.
Tian Jing quickly closed the main gate. She disliked being watched.
Entering the kitchen, she saw that Li Min had prepared dinner. She called out to the courtyard, "It's time to eat. Cry after you've had your fill and gained some strength."
Mother Li chuckled, "You child, can't you let people have a moment of sentimentality?"
"Sentimentality for what? Crying? It's pointless. If no one cares, who are you crying for? If someone cares, you wouldn't have the chance to cry. In short, women must treat themselves well, and then others will treat them well."