Chapter 49: The Dark Room
The village chief rushed over. He had gone to Hu Changlin’s home first, only to find that Zhao Lan had already been dragged away and Hu Changlin was injured. Furious, he hurried here instead.
"Village Chief! You’re finally here! If you’d been a few steps later, that damned bastard would have probably tried to slaughter our entire Bai Family." Old Mrs. Bai lifted her sleeve to wipe her tears, but there were none. She rubbed her eyes until they were red, yet not a single tear fell.
The village chief frowned, his gaze sweeping over everyone in the courtyard. In a grim voice, he asked, "What exactly is going on here?"
Bai Dazhu was in so much pain he nearly fainted. He couldn’t move his hands, but his mouth still worked just fine. He yelled, "It was Hu Feng! That bastard broke both my hands! He didn’t even spare the women! Village Chief, if you’d been a moment later, who knows what other demented things he would have done!"
The village chief ignored him and asked bluntly, "Where is Zhao Lan? What have you done to her?"
Fragments of the body’s previous owner’s memories surfaced in Bai Zhi’s mind. In this family, she and Zhao Lan had no status and were often punished. Bai Zhi’s most frequent punishment was being locked in the ’little dark room’—after a vicious beating and on an empty stomach, of course.
The little dark room was in the rear courtyard. It was a tiny hut, filled with dry firewood, with only enough space for one person to curl up inside. Not only was it impossible to stand, but even sitting on the ground, one couldn’t straighten their legs. If it was like that for a small girl like her, ’what kind of agony must her taller, larger mother, Zhao Lan, be suffering inside?’
Without a second thought, she rushed into the main house and straight to the rear courtyard.
Several people were standing in the rear courtyard: Bai Dazhu’s elder son, Bai Dabao, and his younger son, Bai Xiaofeng; as well as Bai Erzhu’s elder daughter, Bai Zhenzhu, and his younger son, Bai Fugui.
Bai Dabao was eighteen this year, already as tall as his father. He looked more like Liu, with a mean, cruel expression etched on his face. He was sitting in front of the little dark room, the back of his chair pressed against the small wooden door, preventing anyone inside from getting out.
She could hear the sound of someone pounding on the door, and her mother’s shouts.
Bai Xiaofeng and Bai Fugui were muttering about something in a corner, while Bai Zhenzhu held a cattail-leaf fan, waving it listlessly. When she saw Bai Zhi enter the courtyard, she immediately shrieked, "Well, look who decided to come back! Is the bed at the Hu Family’s house much softer than ours?"
Bai Zhi was in no mood to argue with her right now. From her memories, she knew Bai Zhenzhu had always been hostile, targeting her at every turn. It was no surprise to hear such nasty words from her.
Bai Zhi walked straight up to Bai Dabao. "Move."
Bai Dabao squinted at her, his expression cold. "And what if I don’t?"
Her small fists clenched tighter and tighter. She was just about to punch Bai Dabao in the face when she heard the village chief’s voice from behind her. "If you don’t move, I’ll have someone report this to the authorities. We’ll tell them the Bai Family is abusing their widowed daughter-in-law to death."
The moment Bai Dabao saw it was the village chief, he didn’t dare say another word. He quickly stood up, grabbed his chair, and moved aside.
Bai Zhi quickly opened the door and bent down to help her mother, who was huddled inside, to her feet.
The bindings on Zhao Lan’s hands were long gone. Her clothes were torn in several places, and the red mark of a handprint was clearly visible on her face, along with bloody scratches from fingernails.
Zhao Lan’s face was ashen, her breathing was unsteady, and beads of sweat dripped continuously from her forehead. Her deathly pale lips had a bluish tint.
Bai Zhi was trembling with rage. If her mother weren’t gripping her hand so tightly, she would have grabbed the nearest weapon and thrown herself at these bastards.
The village chief sighed. "Let’s go to the front courtyard. Doctor Lu will be here soon."