"That man carried me all the way to the train station and got on a train. I thought I'd never see you and Grandma again, but then Mom came."
Little Tang Mo was only five, but he spoke clearly and coherently, explaining everything in detail. Mrs. Tang's heart raced. "Your mom came to save you?"
"Yeah, Mom snatched me back." Little Tang Mo pressed his lips together. "That man hit Mom, but she didn't let go of me. Grandma... Mom must have been in a lot of pain. She even cried later..."
Little Tang Mo's eyes were red and brimming with tears. "Grandma, I came out just now and saw... Were you scolding Mom?"
As he spoke, huge teardrops rolled down his cheeks. "Grandma, it's because I didn't hold on to Mom tightly enough. It's all my fault. Please don't scold Mom anymore."
Looking at Little Tang Mo, Mrs. Tang's heart ached unbearably, and tears streamed down her own face. "Oh, my precious boy, don't cry, don't cry. It's all Grandma's fault. Grandma misunderstood your mom. Don't cry, please don't cry..."
Little Tang Mo, who had been crying silently, broke into soft sobs. "Waaah... Grandma... Grandma, don't cry..."
He tried to comfort Mrs. Tang between hiccuping sobs, but that only made him cry even harder.
Little Tang Mo was only five. After the disaster he'd been through today, even an adult would be plagued by nightmares. How could he not be terrified?
He still remembered the helpless fear he felt when the trafficker carried him away. All that terror and hurt finally came pouring out. "Grandma... I was so scared... Sob... Please don't scold Mom..."
Even as he cried, he didn't forget to plead for his mother.
Mrs. Tang hugged Little Tang Mo and wept. "I won't, my precious... It's all Grandma's fault... Don't be scared. Grandma's here, so Momo doesn't have to be scared. Grandma won't scold your mom. I'll never scold her again..."
The old woman and the little boy clung to each other, sobbing in the courtyard.
Inside the side room, Su Li had slumped to the floor, her back against the door. Facing away from the courtyard, she covered her mouth and wept in silence.
The houses from this era had poor soundproofing. Su Li heard every single word the old woman and the little boy said in the courtyard. She had thought she would feel vindicated, because she had finally cleared herself of the blame she had borne for two lifetimes.
She imagined Mrs. Tang's face, picturing her ugly, awkward expression, and thought she would feel a deep sense of satisfaction. But in the end, there was no satisfaction, only tears.
Little Tang Mo's cries and his defense of her caused the dam of Su Li's own tears to burst.
She had spent the entire day terrified, carrying Little Tang Mo on her back for hours. Her whole body ached, and she felt like she was about to fall apart. The places where the trafficker had hit her, both her scalp and her head, throbbed with a stinging pain.
It was a level of pain most people couldn't endure; they would have been crying out long ago. But she had been tormented by illness in her past life, spending a lifetime in constant pain. Having experienced the worst of it, she had a higher tolerance for pain than others and had grown accustomed to enduring it.
She had been enduring it out of habit, but when Little Tang Mo started crying, she suddenly felt the pain flare up.
Everyone in the world is afraid of pain; no one is an exception. It's just that some people have no one to feel sorry for them, so they get used to the pain and learn to endure it. But Little Tang Mo's heart ached for Su Li, and so, naturally, Su Li began to feel her own pain.
Su Li bit down hard on her lip, refusing to let her sobs escape.
Hearing Little Tang Mo's words made all the suffering and pain worth it. 'Rescuing him today, even at the risk of my own life, was absolutely the right thing to do.'
Mrs. Tang and Little Tang Mo cried for a while before stopping. Mrs. Tang wiped her tears, led Little Tang Mo to the door of the side room, and spoke in a low voice.
"Su Li, I was wrong tonight. I was too anxious and listened to malicious gossip, and I misunderstood you. I've wronged you. I'm so sorry. I'm apologizing to you. Please, you must not blame me."
Mrs. Tang's apology was sincere. She was truly ashamed, so ashamed she couldn't even face Su Li.
Mrs. Tang had a gentle and kind temperament. She had spent her life being good to others and never offended anyone—a truly rare, good-hearted person in the village.
After Su Li married into the family, she was different from most mothers-in-law. Just as Old Tang had said, she treated Su Li well. While she might not have treated her exactly like her own daughter, she was genuinely good to her. She never intentionally made things difficult for Su Li or tormented her. Compared to those awful mothers-in-law, she was one of a kind.
If it hadn't been about Tang Mo, she had always been kind and patient with Su Li. Even later, when Su Li acted out, she only focused on protecting Tang Mo and rarely spoke a harsh word to her. After marrying in, Su Li had also been fond of Mrs. Tang, even seeing her as her own mother.
Unfortunately, everything changed after Tang Mo was lost. This normally kind woman's personality and attitude underwent a drastic shift. She tormented Su Li relentlessly, ruining her stomach and destroying her health, which blighted the next half of her life...
The heartbroken disappointment and complex feelings from her past life were things Su Li still remembered vividly in this one. Mrs. Tang didn't understand and didn't remember, but Su Li could never forget.
Listening to the apology from outside, she felt a swirl of complicated emotions and remained silent.
In this life, no matter when she and Tang Yuanxiao might separate, Su Li knew she would probably never be able to face Mrs. Tang with a smile and no hard feelings. Even though Mrs. Tang hadn't done those things yet in this life, the resentment was still in her heart. She couldn't not hate her...
Su Li wiped her tears and said nothing, which only made Mrs. Tang more anxious.
"Su Li? Su Li, are you okay? Are you in a lot of pain? Let me come in and check on you, alright?"
Little Tang Mo's small hands clutched the door. He blinked, his little face filled with anxiety. "Grandma, we should hurry and get Uncle Shuanshu from the village."
Uncle Shuanshu's full name was Li Shuanshu. He was the village veterinarian, but he could also treat people. As long as it wasn't a major illness, he could handle common minor ailments. He gathered Chinese medicinal herbs from the mountains himself, and most villagers went to him when they got sick.
If he could cure them, great. If not, they would either go to a hospital elsewhere or simply die from their illness. The villagers trusted him a great deal.
"Yes, yes, we should get Shuanshu to take a look." Mrs. Tang agreed, then called to Su Li inside. "Su Li, you just wait here. I'll go get Shuanshu to check on you."
Hearing this, Su Li had no choice but to clear her throat and say, "There's no need. You should take Little Mo to bed. I'm fine."
"Mom..." Little Tang Mo's eyes lit up as he called out softly.
Mrs. Tang was also delighted. "So we don't need to call him, huh? Well... are you hungry? I can make you something. What would you like to eat?"
"No, thank you. I'm not hungry. Why don't you ask Little Mo what he wants and cook something for him? I'm a bit tired, so I'm not getting up," Su Li replied.
"Okay, okay, you don't have to get up. You get some rest." Mrs. Tang turned to Tang Mo. "Momo, are you hungry? What would you like to eat?"
"I'm not hungry, Grandma. I want..." Tang Mo hadn't eaten all day, but he had no appetite because of the drug. He wanted to see Su Li. He lowered his head, fiddling with his fingers while his eyes kept darting toward the door.
Mrs. Tang was in a difficult position. Tang Mo wanted to be with Su Li, and she was happy that Su Li had acted so differently from her usual self today, risking her life to save him. But she was in the wrong tonight, so she didn't know how to ask.
Little Tang Mo thought for a moment, then crept closer to the crack in the door and called out softly, "Mom, are you still in pain?"
He wasn't used to calling her 'Mom' at first, but after saying it a few times, it suddenly felt natural.
Su Li felt a lump in her throat. "I'm... I'm not in pain. Little Mo, you should go to sleep with Grandma. He'll probably have nightmares tonight, so you should hold him while he sleeps."
"Oh, alright, alright." Mrs. Tang agreed and patted Little Tang Mo's head. "Let's go, Momo. We won't disturb your mother's rest."
Little Tang Mo nodded, took Mrs. Tang's hand, and walked away, looking back with every step.