Later they got married? This should have been a happy ending?
But Grandma Li’s eyes were filled with heartache. An Ran quietly watched Grandma Li, letting her imrse herself in mories, waiting for her to continue.
After a mont, Grandma Li opened her eyes and spoke again, "Who would have known, that man, just like others, only rushed to marry Shen when he learned about her background. After they got married, he forced Shen to contact her family, trying to find a way to get them back to the city.
During those days, they lived in the side house of my courtyard. I often heard them arguing over this. The man stord out several tis. Later, he often didn’t co back ho. In the end, I heard he got involved with an educated youth from the neighboring village and went back to the city with her. Poor Shen, at that ti, she was already five months pregnant."
As An Ran listened to Grandma Li’s story, her eyes gradually turned red. She didn’t know why, but hearing about that girl’s plight made her think of her own mother. Aunt Xia had said before, her mother was also abandoned by that scumbag father when she was five months pregnant.
"Grandma Li..."
Grandma Li withdrew her gaze and focused on An Ran, watching her eyes slowly redden, trembling as she reached out, gently patting An Ran’s head, "Poor girl."
An Ran knew the "girl" Grandma Li referred to wasn’t her, but the expression and pain were so real.
"Grandma Li..."
An Ran spoke again.
"Shen fell ill after hearing the news and was bedridden. Her five-month pregnancy was almost lost. Later, it was because of the child in her belly that she gritted her teeth and pulled through that ordeal. In the end, her lancholy affected the fetus, and she gave birth prematurely.
At that ti, conditions were poor. Shen didn’t have a man by her side, and most of her companions had already left. There was no one to help her, or it could be said, no one was willing to help her. I found a midwife from the village. Shen went through three days and nights of labor. In the end, the child was born, but she couldn’t make it."
At this point, Grandma Li finally shed tears.
An Ran reached out and gently wiped Grandma Li’s tears, "What about the child?"
Listening to Grandma Li’s story, the protagonist had a similar experience to her mother, and An Ran’s heart ached with each beat.
"The child was born on the fifteenth day of July, which is said to be Ghost Festival. Plus, her mother died right after she was born. Villagers saw her as an ominous thing. Families with children and couples without children didn’t want to adopt her. In the end, she only had my old woman to rely on.
But when the child was five months old, while I was out fetching water, she disappeared. So said she was taken away by a wolf, others said she was carried off by traffickers. Poor child, to this day, no one knows if she’s still in this world."
The child was born on the fifteenth day of July, and her mother was surnad Shen.
Hearing this, An Ran’s heart skipped a beat. It seed she understood why Grandma Li was telling her this story.
"Do you still rember what the child’s father’s na was?" An Ran asked with red eyes and a trembling voice, as if hoping for an answer, yet fearing it would be as she thought.
"That man’s na was An Youcai. Of all the educated youth back then, he was the best looking. To be honest, Shen and he seed like a perfect match, a talented man with a beautiful woman. But who would have thought, his heart was so black to betray Shen."
By the end, An Ran couldn’t hear what Grandma Li was saying, only feeling her vision turning black.
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