Quick Wear: Reversing Life

Chapter 277: Escape from the Mountains (58)

Li Yanshu didn't know where Xiaocao had decided to go, and he didn't ask.

Until he was taken to Xiaoba Village.

Xiaocao once lived here and left here with her mother and sister.

Xiaocao took him from the high-speed rail to a bus, from the bus to a minibus, and then to an off-road vehicle.

It took most of the day to reach the entrance of the village by car.

The two didn't talk much along the way.

Xiaocao was catching up on her sleep in the car, while Li Yanshu was looking at the short trees on the hillside flashing by outside the window, feeling very complicated.

After 12 years, I came back here and everything seemed to be the same, yet everything seemed to have changed.

A winding mountain road has been built on the main road leading to the village, which is suitable for cars to pass through, but the road in the village is still a yellow mud road.

The Hope Primary School at the entrance of the village is still open, but it is summer vacation and the school is empty.

The simple security booth consisting of a table and chairs at the school gate has been removed and replaced with a long wooden table.

The school's exterior walls were painted white, and the original small cafeteria opposite was demolished and a larger one-story cafeteria was rebuilt.

"Do you know who funded the construction of this Hope Primary School?"

Li Yanshu was silent for a while.

Xiao Cao didn't wait for his answer and said, "It was built by a charity foundation named after my mother."

"There are 47 schools like this across the country."

She found this out when she was in college.

The reason why the village chief's house had that newspaper was because of the construction of this school. Many books, periodicals and newspapers were transported there and were accidentally posted on the wall of the village chief's aunt's house.

Chen Xianhua would probably never have imagined that the children who grew up here were able to go to school because of his protection, while his daughter was tortured two miles away from the school.

Li Yanshu followed Xiaocao silently.

The layout of the village has not changed much, but many of the houses look like they have not been lived in for a long time. The courtyards are overgrown with weeds and shrubs, and look dilapidated and desolate.

I walked halfway along the main road before I saw an elderly woman carrying a wooden bucket coming out of the yard.

The woman noticed the two neatly dressed young men and her gaze turned into one of doubt.

All the young people in the village have left. Normally, there are few outsiders coming here. Now that it is neither a festival nor a holiday, I don’t know why they would come here to look for people.

Xiaocao walked forward and greeted people in his familiar local accent.

"Auntie, is the former village chief still here?"

The woman nodded. "You're asking about Wang Quangui, right? He got into trouble a few years ago and was arrested."

She glanced at Xiaocao: "Whose daughter are you from?"

Xiaocao smiled slightly: "I am Li Xiaocao."

The woman was stunned at first, then her eyes widened, and even the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes disappeared.

"Xiao Cao? You are the daughter of Lame...Lame Li? You, you——"

She looked at Xiaocao's back as she left, muttering, "This is unbelievable... This is unbelievable..."

The woman will never forget that day.

One day, the remote village suddenly started to build a road. After the road was completed, a large group of people suddenly came and blocked the village.

Most people in the village had never seen a car, and the first thing they saw was a police car with flashing red and blue lights.

All the villagers were driven to the open-air sacrificial site of the Wang Family Ancestral Hall and questioned one by one.

In the end they took away a large number of people, including the village chief and his aunt. The old woman's crying and screaming echoed throughout the ancestral hall.

Everyone who stayed knew that all these changes were caused by Li Xiaocao, the daughter of Lame Li.

She escaped from the mountains with her mother and sister who were sold there, and called the police.

Some of those who were taken away never returned, while others returned with a broken leg.

Xiaoba Village originally had more than 50 households, but the population suddenly dropped by half, and now there are only a dozen households left.

...

Xiaocao took Li Yanshu all the way to the end of the village and stopped in front of the house where they used to live.

The courtyard had been abandoned for 12 years and the houses were in a dilapidated state. There was a big hole in the roof of the main house, and the exposed wooden beams were visible.

The original wooden fence at the entrance to the yard is gone, and weeds have spread to the main road.

At first glance, there was only one peach tree standing among the weeds.

Stepping over the knee-high weeds, Xiaocao walked to the peach tree and touched the trunk which was as thick as a bowl.

“This is where I used to live.”

Xiaocao pointed to the main house and said, "That's the house I used to live in."

"You must be wondering why I brought you here."

She looked at Li Yanshu and said to him seriously, "As high as the sun and the moon, as close as husband and wife. Since we are destined to be husband and wife, I want you to know my past."

"You know what? From the time I was born until I was 14, I can't remember how many times I was beaten or how many times I went hungry."

"My biological father was an alcoholic. Whenever he got drunk, he would beat people up. Xiaohua, my mom, and I were all his punching bags."

She pointed to a small, dilapidated house across the street and said, "That's where my mother was once imprisoned."

"I know she was sold here, not because I'm smart. Many women in this village were sold here. Some women can be bought for a few hundred yuan."

"They never shy away from people when doing business, just like selling vegetables and meat."

Li Yanshu listened quietly, but his heart was not calm at all, like a turbulent tsunami.

Xiaocao touched the rough trunk of the peach tree and looked up at the egg-sized peaches on the branches.

Because no one took care of them, most of the fruits were eaten by birds and holes were left in them.

"I hid the peach tree here because I was afraid someone would find out I was stealing food and get beaten."

"Until one day, I saw this fruit sprout."

"At that time, I swore that I would take them out of this mountain."

"I succeeded."

She turned to look at Li Yanshu: "You all know what happened next."

"But later, I discovered that the prejudices against people in this world are also mountains of towering proportions."

"Because I look like my biological father, my grandfather doesn't like me; because I am deep-minded, my uncles are afraid of me."

"Now, because I'm a woman, they think I'm not capable of managing a group."

“But ability has never been gender-specific.”

Li Yanshu looked at her in a daze.

"I know you've always wanted to ask me why I had to fight for a position with my uncle."

Li Yanshu quickly said: "I..."

Xiao Cao interrupted him: "I know they have contacted you and want you to be their lobbyist."

Although Li Yanshu doesn't understand these things, he is not stupid.

"If Grandpa lets my uncle take the position of chairman, I will never have the heart to fight. But this position was given to me by Grandpa, and one of the conditions was to marry you."

Li Yanshu was stunned again.

Xiao Cao looked at him and said, "Although this marriage is not a sacrifice for me, since it is a transaction, there is no possibility of compromise."

"Besides, I have things I want to do and people I want to protect."