Chapter 8: Heart-Stopping Thrills

Lin Yi listened, his heart pounding with anxiety. "Girl, you need to be careful! Don't get into another fight with your mother-in-law! Your father has been scared out of his wits this time!"

Lin Qin lowered her head, feeling a pang of guilt. She knew that such incidents would only become more frequent in the future, and she hoped her father’s heart was strong enough to endure it; otherwise, he would surely be sickened by the anger.

Seeing her expression, Lin Yi knew his words had fallen on deaf ears. He sighed helplessly and said, "I opened the kitchen door early this morning and found another cleaned black fish, just like yesterday. I don't know which kind soul left it. I already drank a bowl myself, and it's fine. You two should eat; black fish is good for healing wounds. You should eat plenty."

Yesterday morning, he had woken up to find a cleaned black fish, weighing about a pound, on the kitchen counter. He had assumed it was a gift from a neighbor, but after asking around, no one admitted to it. In this weather, a cleaned fish wouldn't stay fresh for long, so he had simply stewed it. He hadn't expected another one to appear this morning.

Their village had a pond, but it only contained wild African tilapia—tiny fish that no one bothered to catch, and which were nearly impossible to catch anyway. Black fish like these could only be found in the South Stream. Thinking of the South Stream, the image of Chen Wenjun flashed through Lin Yi’s mind. He instinctively glanced at Lin Qin, then shook his head. It couldn't be him; he was a total stranger to his daughter and had never visited their home. How could he possibly know where they lived?

If it wasn't Chen Wenjun, then who could it be? Lin Yi was completely baffled.

Lin Qin, however, had a guess. She first picked the bones out of the fish for Liu Yaya and fed her a bowl of the broth. Smiling, she asked, "Yaya, is the fish soup delicious?"

Liu Yaya nodded obediently. "It's delicious! It's so much better at Grandpa's house; we have fish to eat every day. At Grandma’s, Yaya only gets sweet potato porridge with pickled vegetables. If I ask for more, Grandma calls me a money-wasting burden." Even at six years old, she understood everything.

Lin Yi’s face darkened instantly, and he nearly dropped his chopsticks. "Ma Cuihua has gone too far! Yaya is her own granddaughter! How can she treat a child like that?"

Lin Qin let out a cold laugh. "Dad, after how she treated us yesterday, did you really expect her to give Yaya meat?"

Lin Yi was choked by her words, left only with a heavy sigh. Lin Qin calmly finished her soup and helped clear the table.

Over the next few days, Lin Yi found a black fish on the kitchen counter every morning. At first, he insisted on getting to the bottom of it, but after finding nothing, he gradually grew accustomed to it and began cooking the fish in various ways. Sometimes he made tofu fish soup, sometimes soy-sauce-braised fish with sweet potato porridge, or, on more indulgent days, he would fry it in lard—all just to ensure his daughter and granddaughter had something nutritious to eat.

Under Lin Yi’s care, Lin Qin’s wounds healed remarkably fast. They scabbed over in three or four days and began to fall off within a week. Just as she was looking for an excuse to linger at her parents' home, the Liu family sent word that Liu Yongming was about to return and demanded she bring Liu Yaya back.

Upon hearing this, Lin Yi could no longer keep her there. Without a second thought, he told her to pack her things. "Girl, listen to your father. Yongming is a college student, an educated man; he surely won't favor his mother blindly. Go back and explain everything to him. Let him stand up for you. If possible, take the child and leave with him so you stop being bullied by that wicked woman, Ma Cuihua."

Lin Yi rambled on with many instructions. The more Lin Qin listened, the more her heart ached. She held back her tears, turned to pack her bags in the shed, and slipped the fifty yuan to Lin Yi. "Dad, it’s not safe for me to keep this money. Please keep it for me. If I need it, I’ll come to you."

Lin Yi understood her concerns and agreed immediately, happily sending her and Liu Yaya out of the village.

It took the mother and daughter an hour to walk back to the Liu house. As soon as they entered, they were met with Xu Manzhi’s gloomy face. Lin Qin didn't even spare her a glance, heading straight to her room with the child in her arms.

Before she could even sit down, Ma Cuihua’s shrill scolding began. "The Liu family must owe her a debt! She can’t even give birth to a son, yet she expects to be treated like an ancestor! Isn't she afraid of losing her lifespan?"

Lin Qin covered Liu Yaya’s ears and gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't listen to that nonsense; it’s filthy to the ears. Are you tired? Do you want to sleep?"

Liu Yaya shook her head, clutching the corner of Lin Qin’s shirt tightly. Lin Qin smiled knowingly and lay down beside her.

Ma Cuihua ranted in the courtyard for a long time until her throat was dry, but there was not a single sound from Lin Qin’s room. It was like performing a monologue, which infuriated Ma Cuihua. She immediately ordered Liu Li to take over.

Liu Li, still holding a grudge because Lin Qin had scratched her face, rushed to the door and pounded on it frantically. "Second Sister-in-law! Mom told you to come out and work, did you hear me? Are you deaf? Open the door!"

Liu Li’s shrill yelling was like a haunting spirit, so loud it felt as if her heart might jump out of her chest. Annoyed, Lin Qin got up, grabbed a cup of cold water that had been sitting for days, and swiftly opened the door to splash it onto Liu Li.

Liu Li was soaked to the bone. After a moment of shock, she began to jump and scream in rage, pointing at Lin Qin and cursing, "You bitch! You dare splash me? I’ll fight you to the death!"

She lunged at Lin Qin, but Lin Qin side-stepped and tripped her. Liu Li fell face-first, her chin hitting the floor tiles. She wailed in agony, "Mom! Sister-in-law! The bitch Lin Qin is bullying me! Ah, ah, ah..."

As she scrambled up and ran outside, she was wet and filthy, with saliva, tears, and snot streaming down her face. Seeing her youngest daughter in such a state, Ma Cuihua flew into a rage. "Lin Qin! I will beat you to death, you slut!"

Xu Manzhi came over to help. Seeing that she had backup, Liu Li’s spiteful eyes darted around. She turned, ran to the kitchen, grabbed a ladle of boiling hot water, and charged back at Lin Qin. "You splashed me, so today you’ll taste what it’s like!"

Ma Cuihua and Xu Manzhi grabbed Lin Qin from both sides, pinning her down. Liu Li splashed the boiling water directly at Lin Qin. At the critical moment, Liu Yaya lunged forward and knocked into Xu Manzhi.

A heart-wrenching scream echoed through the entire alley, mingled with Liu Yaya’s shrill crying and Ma Cuihua’s vicious curses. Lin Qin bolted out of the courtyard, clutching the near-unconscious Liu Yaya, and hammered on the neighbor’s door.

"Lin Qin? What happened to Yaya?" asked Old Granny Liu nervously.

Lin Qin fell to her knees before her. "Granny, that madwoman Liu Li threw a ladle of boiling water at me, and Yaya blocked it for me. Her back is scalded. I need to take her to the hospital, but I don't have any money. Could you please lend me a few yuan? I'll pay you back as soon as I can."

"Yes, yes, yes! Don't worry, just wait here, I'll go get it!" the old woman rushed back into her house.

Lin Qin went to the neighbors next door as well. It took knocking on three or four doors before she finally scraped together a dozen yuan.