CHAPTER 319: CHAPTER 288: LIAR, BIG LIAR! (PART 2)

Second Lang’s wife was infuriated by these words and picked up the wooden stick behind the door, swinging it at Da Ya.

Song Erlang wanted to intervene but didn’t dare, so he could only watch with wide eyes.

Da Ya was sobbing uncontrollably, climbed up from the ground, and ran straight outside.

Song Erlang wanted to stop her.

"Stop!"

Second Lang’s wife rested one hand on her waist and pointed at Song Erlang with the other, "Don’t bother with her. Let her run. I want to see where she can go without this home!"

Song Erlang didn’t stop his wife from hitting their daughter earlier, and now he was really worried Da Ya might do something foolish in a moment of impulse. He glanced at his wife with a negotiating look, "What if I go and bring her back? Mrs. Cao is still waiting in the hall, and if she gets upset, where would we send her?"

Upon hearing this, Second Lang’s wife didn’t say anything in opposition.

Song Erlang quickly chased after her, but he searched everywhere without seeing any trace of Da Ya.

It wasn’t until evening that Da Ya didn’t return.

Second Lang’s wife held in a bellyful of anger and after making dinner for Mrs. Cao, she started having stomach pains, with large beads of cold sweat rolling down her forehead.

Mrs. Cao, being experienced, realized at a glance that she had moved the fetus.

Song Erlang was anxious about Da Ya going missing, and when he entered and saw his wife in pain, he was startled and hurriedly asked what was wrong.

Mrs. Cao said the fetus had been moved, and then asked Song Erlang, "Is there a barefoot doctor in the village? If there is, quickly get one. Madame’s condition is not optimistic, and if we delay any longer, I’m afraid the fetus won’t survive."

Song Erlang’s face turned pale instantly, and he ran out, meeting some villagers on the way.

The villagers saw him running with a head full of sweat and asked what happened and why he was in such a hurry.

Song Erlang briefly explained, saying Da Ya disobeyed and ran off, not coming back, causing his wife to be so anxious that she moved the fetus, and he needed to get a doctor.

At this point, he looked at the villagers and asked if they could help search for Da Ya.

The villagers were all registered under Song Wei’s name for land, so for such a small favor, they naturally wouldn’t refuse to help.

After Song Erlang left, the few went home to get oil lamps and went out to look for Da Ya.

Upper River Village had a barefoot doctor, and Song Erlang quickly brought him back home.

The barefoot doctor heard about the moved fetus and had prepared several pills before coming, then he quickly checked the pulse and gave them to Second Lang’s wife to swallow with water. He went back home to prepare some herbal medicines for Song Erlang to boil.

Mrs. Cao saw he was clumsy and feared he’d ruin the medicine, so she took over the fan from his hand, "Official, you should go out and find young Miss, I’ll handle the medicine."

Song Erlang was worried about his wife’s belly and his daughter not returning home so late, his mind was anxiously ablaze, but he stood in the house, not moving for a while.

Mrs. Cao looked at him, "Official?"

Song Erlang came to his senses and answered awkwardly, "I, I’ll go find her right away."

With that, he lit an oil lamp and hurried outside.

Second Lang’s wife took the pills, and soon after drank some bitter herbal soup, finally stabilizing. As she gained strength, she gritted her teeth, angrily scolding her rebellious eldest daughter.

Mrs. Cao sighed, "Young Miss is already twelve years old. Since she has her own ideas, Madame might as well let her be. She seems to have a strong character. If she doesn’t want to go to the Capital, forcing her there won’t make her happy."

Second Lang’s wife was unwilling to listen, "Ungrateful thing! Having the chance to climb high, yet she refuses to be sensible, planning to get married in this backwater place? She’s willing to suffer all her life, does she plan to drag the little ones along too?"

"Madame, please don’t get angry. You just managed to stabilize, if it starts to hurt again, the child may not be saved."

Second Lang’s wife clutched the bed sheet tight, unable to calm down without venting her anger, causing her to feel internally agitated.

...

Song Erlang went out shortly and joined up with the few villagers helping to search, splitting up to look.

They searched near the field paths to the riverside, then from the river to the embankment, finally finding Da Ya sitting in the large tree at the village entrance.

His wife moving her fetus had already made Song Erlang nervous enough, now his daughter was sitting so high up, making him sweat with anxiety. He raised the oil lamp high, shining light on the person in the tree, "Da Ya, why are you up there? Come down and go home with dad."

Da Ya didn’t respond.

"Hey! You girl, how old are you and still don’t listen to your parents? What are you messing around for in the middle of the night? Come down, I’ll take you to apologize to your mom. After all, she’s your biological mother, she won’t hold it against you."

"I don’t want to go to the Capital!" Da Ya spoke with a sobbing voice, "Dad, please stop forcing me. If you do, I’ll jump down from here."

"Why are you so stubborn?" a villager beside him muttered, "Your mom’s been so worried that she had to call a doctor for her stomach pain, and you’re still sulking here. What’s the matter, your mom wants you to go to the Capital to enjoy life and see the world, is she pushing you into a pit?"

Da Ya heard her mom moved the fetus, and her heart started to panic.

Her parents had longed for a son for years, she was already twelve, and she understood how much importance was placed on this pregnancy.

If her actions caused Mother to miscarry, her consequences could be imagined.

...

In the end, Da Ya went back home with Song Erlang. The moment she saw her sickly mother lying weakly on the bed, smelling the bitter medicine all around, Da Ya couldn’t hold back and began to cry again.

Without even opening her eyes upon hearing the sobs, Second Lang’s wife sneered, "What’s all the wailing for? I’m not dead yet!"

Da Ya dropped to her knees with a thud, "Mother, it’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have run out on my own."

With anger in her voice, Second Lang’s wife said, "If you obediently go to the Capital with Mrs. Cao, I won’t hold tonight’s matter against you. But if you dare run away again, see if I won’t break your legs!"

"I’ll go, I’ll go then." Da Ya said, crying and kowtowing on the floor.

After all the fuss throughout the day and night, hearing a proper answer finally let some of the anger dissipate from Second Lang’s wife’s chest.

Ten-year-old Er Ya watched her elder sister crying uncontrollably and timidly stood up, "Dad, Mom, since Big Sister doesn’t want to go, how about I go instead?"

Second Lang’s wife turned her head, glaring at her, "You’re just a child. What would you do so far away?"

Er Ya pouted and grumbled discontentedly, "Why does Sister get to go then?"

Song Erlang hurriedly pulled Er Ya aside and told her, "Your mother just drank her medicine, don’t bother her."

Er Ya looked up at her dad, "But I really want to go to the Capital!"

She had heard bits of Mrs. Cao’s conversation with her parents from outside the door and, though she didn’t understand everything, she got the general idea—going to the Capital meant no more daily farm work or fish-keeping. There would be servants to serve them like oxen and horses, and they could eat well, drink well, and wear beautiful clothes every day. They would be addressed as ’miss’ whenever they went out.

So Er Ya thought, why should Big Sister get to live such a comfortable life while she had to stay in the countryside as a country girl?

That’s why she seized the opportunity amidst Big Sister’s fuss and volunteered to go to the Capital instead of her sister.

Who would have thought that her parents wouldn’t agree at all?

Er Ya felt extremely wronged. Why shouldn’t she be allowed? Apart from being younger, in what way was she worse than Big Sister?

Er Ya had no idea what her parents had in mind.

Song Erlang and his wife had discussed it thoroughly before sending only Da Ya—Da Ya was the eldest and had to be married off first. Marrying her into the Capital could lead to opportunities for Er Ya and Sanyang in the future, gradually helping them escape the mountain village one by one.

For now, with the uncle having just become an official for a little over a year, their family’s finances weren’t great. Being able to support one was good enough; if they sent another, the mother-in-law would certainly give her a hard time.

In this regard, Second Lang’s wife was quite self-aware, knowing she couldn’t achieve everything in one go. These things had to happen gradually, especially since Er Ya and Sanyang were still young. Who knew what the situation would be after Da Ya was married in two or three years; maybe by then, the mother-in-law would urge them to send the girls to the Capital without them even mentioning it.

Who doesn’t want a better life? Since they couldn’t benefit from the uncle’s influence, they could only act through their daughters, not believing that the mother-in-law and uncle would ignore the Song family’s girls.

...

Song Erlang didn’t address Er Ya’s desire to go to Beijing, pulling her out and telling her to take care of Sanyang, not to upset their mother.

After Er Ya returned to her room, she sat in a sulk for quite some time.

The three sisters shared a room and a bed.

When Da Ya returned, Er Ya deliberately turned her back to her with a light snort through her nose.

She clearly wanted to go to the Capital for a good life, so what’s with all the drama?

If she didn’t want to go, she should just give up her spot!

Da Ya had no idea what was on Er Ya’s mind. After washing her feet, she climbed onto the bed and tucked herself in to sleep.

Er Ya waited for quite a while but didn’t hear Da Ya say anything. Feeling awkward, she turned to face Da Ya, "Big Sister, do you really not want to go to the Capital?"

Exhausted from the day’s ordeal, Da Ya was already worn out and only responded with a light "Mm."

"Then don’t go tomorrow!" Er Ya suggested, "At dawn you just go hide, and I’ll put on your clothes and go instead. By the time Dad and Mom find out, I’ll be on my way, what can they do to you?"

Da Ya looked at her calmly and said, "Stop fooling around, go to sleep."

"How am I fooling around?" Er Ya sat up angrily, "You’re the one who said you didn’t want to go to the Capital, I’m just trying to help you!"

Da Ya said, "Dad and Mom won’t agree to let you go."

"I bet it’s not that Dad and Mom won’t agree, it’s you who really wants to go to the Capital for a good life and are afraid I’ll take your place, huh, pretending!"

Da Ya had nothing to say, quietly closing her eyes.

Before dawn the next day, she got up, bid farewell to her parents in the main house, and set off for Beijing with Mrs. Cao in a carriage.

When Er Ya woke up to find that Da Ya had already left, she burst into tears, "All that fuss about not going, and yet she still went off with them, liar, big liar!"