1430 What Happened Back Then (2)
Thinking back, Aunt Miao still didn’t know how she survived. Xu Jianmin only had this one premature son at first. Although Mother Xu didn’t like him, Xu Jianmin was still good to Ranran.
Back then, Aunt Miao thought that there was still hope for Xu Jianmin. It wasn’t until later that she realized how naive she was.
Aunt Miao briefly recounted her relationship with the Xu family. The others felt terrible when they heard this. They couldn’t understand how a mother-in-law could dislike her daughter-in-law and even her own grandson so much.
In an ordinary family, even if the child was born prematurely and mother-in-law and daughter-in-law didn’t get along, the mother-in-law wouldn’t dislike their own grandson.
When Chi Shuyan heard this, she also frowned. Some people might not be able to get it, but Chi Shuyan could clearly parse Mother Xu’s selfish thoughts. For one thing, Mother Xu was a widow and only had one son. In addition, Mother Xu was probably very domineering. Such a person was used to controlling her son and wouldn’t allow him to have any ideas of his own. Mother Xu was probably afraid that Xu Jianmin would forget his mother when he got a wife, and so wanted to control her son. Naturally, she couldn’t bear to see her son and Aunt Miao get along well. As for not liking her own grandson, that was because Mother Xu was too selfish. It could only be said that Mother Xu valued herself too highly and looked down on others too much.
Aunt Miao was too unlucky to marry into the Xu family and encounter such a selfish mother-in-law. It would be fine if her husband had a sense of responsibility, but since he was weak, cowardly, and a mommy’s boy, Aunt Miao could only admit defeat.
Taking in everyone’s subtle expressions and seeing Shuyan look at her worriedly, Aunt Miao pursed her lips and smiled lightly before she continued, “I can only blame my bad luck for falling into such a state back then. I don’t blame my mother-in-law for what I suffered back then. In the end, it was on me that I wasn’t able to see through people. I didn’t have much feelings for Xu Jianmin at that time. I just wanted to raise the child and see him start a family and marry a steady and hardworking wife. I had all these thoughts, but I never expected the Xu mother and son to send us to our deaths.”
At this point, Aunt Miao’s eyes were filled with monstrous hatred and resentment. Even when she brought this up for the first time in decades, her face still couldn’t help but twist with hatred when she thought of what happened back then.
Chi Shuyan sensed that Aunt Miao was coming to the main point. Aunt Miao took several deep breaths before she continued, “I didn’t have a good life back then, but I had a child. Although Xu Jianmin was a coward and a mommy’s boy, to be honest, he treated me just fine and rarely hit me. As for Mother Xu, she was mean and scolded me every day, but didn’t dare hit me for real. My life might not have been as good as I had imagined, but even that changed one day, when Father Pan brought an outsider to the village. I remember the first time I saw that person: He was wearing clothes of very good quality. I could tell at a glance that he was someone of status, and he was treated as a distinguished guest by the Pan family.”
Chi Shuyan saw that Aunt Miao had a strange expression on her face when she spoke of this man. Aunt Miao continued, “At first, the villagers were curious and wary about such a well-dressed outsider coming to the village, and they shunned him. It was mainly because the villagers were uneasy and afraid that this would lead to disaster for Dashan Village. Not long after, however, Father Pan told everyone that this benefactor wanted to do business with the village and wanted everyone to be rich. At first, no one believed him. After all, the people in the mountain village were uneducated; how could they have the skills to do business with others? Later, however, this person bought a lot of mountain goods from Dashan Village, and everyone gradually believed what Father Pan said about this benefactor wanting to do business with them.”
Back then, Dashan Village was too poor; who wouldn’t be happy to be able to make some money? That included Aunt Miao. Back then, she felt that the Pan family were lucky to encounter this benefactor. The family was generous and didn’t forget to bring prosperity to the entire village. It wasn’t until everything which happened later that she realized that the ‘person’ whom Father Pan had brought back wasn’t some benefactor at all, but a ghost who ate people.
After the villagers made a lot of money, they believed Father Pan’s words and believed that the person was Dashan Village’s benefactor. One day, this benefactor told everyone through Father Pan that the reason he could prosper was because he believed in the True Buddha Lord. He said that as long as a person sincerely believed in the True Buddha Lord, all their wishes would be fulfilled.
Not only that, Father Pan decisively dismissed everyone’s opinions and allowed the man to set up the Buddha statue in the temple; he even specially repaired the temple for that thing so that everyone in the village could go and worship the True Buddha Lord.
In fact, not many people back then had been willing to believe in the True Buddha Lord. For one thing, the Buddha statue looked indescribably evil and strange to the villagers. For another, they were still quite wary and felt that nothing in this world came for free.
At that time, Father Pan was especially close to that ‘benefactor.’ Who knew what benefits that ‘benefactor’ gave the Pan family, but Father Pan did his best when it came to the Buddha.
Father Pan’s cousin’s family was very disgusted with such superstitions. They didn’t like how Father Pan fawned on that ‘benefactor,’ and always felt that it was a little strange.
At that time, Father Pan had specially brought that ‘benefactor’ to visit his cousin. Cousin Pan’s family had several children, and when they saw the ‘benefactor,’ they were so scared that they cried loudly. It was also because of this that Father Pan’s cousin felt that the ‘benefactor’ wasn’t a good person, and even suspected that he was a human trafficker.
It could only be said that Father Pan’s cousin was too naive. He led the villagers in objecting toward accepting the Buddha. Not only that, Cousin Pan quarreled with Father Pan several times and wanted him to chase the ‘benefactor’ out of the village.
It was a pity that Father Pan only had the benefits from that ‘benefactor’ at heart. Not only did he not listen to his cousin’s urging, he also reprimanded him. Not long after, the children of his cousin’s family suddenly disappeared along with several of his daughters-in-law who were pregnant.
At that time, everyone in the village was in a panic and terrified because of this matter. It was Father Pan who suppressed it and firmly said that this had nothing to do with the ‘benefactor.’ Later, Cousin Pan’s house suddenly caught fire and the whole family died.
