Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Lin Qian Isn’t a Bad Person

Lin Qian was in utter disbelief. In front of everyone, Zhang Cui had actually slapped her.

“Slap you?! I could just tear you to pieces!”

Zhang Cui looked absolutely frantic and lunged at her again.

“Sister-in-law! Sister-in-law! Calm down!”

Su Tang, still holding Mai Sui who was crying so hard she was hiccupping, saw things were getting out of hand. She quickly freed one arm to wrap it tightly around Zhang Cui’s waist.

“Mai Sui is terrified! Focus on the child! Focus on the child!”

As she yelled, she shot a look at the other women from the compound who had rushed over, silently asking them to help pull Zhang Cui back.

Held back by Su Tang and the others, Zhang Cui struggled for a moment before her eyes fell on Mai Sui, whose little face was flushed red from crying in Su Tang’s arms. She immediately took her daughter and tried to soothe her.

Spurred on by her mother’s own sobs, Mai Sui’s wails grew even louder, practically earth-shattering.

The courtyard instantly descended into chaos, a cacophony of overlapping sounds.

Lin Qian clutched her cheek, her face burning with shame as she took in the chaotic scene and the stares of the onlookers.

She stomped her foot and ran off.

Clutching her precious daughter, safe at last, Zhang Cui was overcome with a mixture of lingering fear and heartache. Tears streamed down her face as she continued to mutter curses under her breath.

A few of the neighboring women gathered around, trying to calm her down, but they couldn’t help but steal glances in the direction Lin Qian had run.

Seeing that everyone was busy comforting Zhang Cui, Su Tang said nothing and simply headed off in the direction Lin Qian had fled.

For some reason, in that fleeting moment, Su Tang had seen it. ’Lin Qian isn’t as bad as I thought.’

’At least she’s not like Hu Lili, who’s just plain rotten to the core.’

She knew Lin Qian’s proud nature. ’After being humiliated like that, she’ll probably find a secluded place to hide and cry.’

Sure enough, Su Tang found her on the small, barren hill behind the family compound.

Lin Qian was crouched in the shade of a few crooked poplar trees, her back to the path. Her shoulders hitched as she sobbed, unable to catch her breath.

“I didn’t mean to… I really didn’t mean to…”

She sobbed brokenly at the yellow dirt at her feet, her voice choked and halting.

Su Tang walked over and sat down on a lump of earth beside her.

The evening wind was dry against their faces.

“Mai Sui’s okay. She was just crying in her mom’s arms a minute ago. She’s got a strong set of lungs.”

Lin Qian snapped her head up. The swollen side of her face glowed red in the twilight, and her eyes, puffy and bloodshot from crying, made her look like a startled rabbit.

She stared at Su Tang, her eyes a mixture of disbelief, confusion, and a faint, cautious hope. “Sister… Sister Su Tang? Y-you don’t hate me?”

“Hate you for what? For giving Mai Sui a plum?”

’If Lin Qian’s panicked and helpless reaction hadn’t seemed so genuine, Su Tang would have thought she’d done it on purpose.’

“You’re not a bad person, I can tell. You’re just… a bit thoughtless sometimes. A little foolish.”

Her words, meant to be comforting, were anything but, and only prodded at Lin Qian’s wounded feelings.

Her lip trembled, and fat tears began to roll down her cheeks again. “I just… I just saw her staring so eagerly at the plums on the tree. She looked so hungry for one… I wasn’t thinking, I really wasn’t…”

While she might have had selfish reasons for visiting the children at first, Lin Qian had genuinely come because she truly liked them.

The cultural troupe hadn’t had any work for a long time. The troupe leader said their superiors were planning to disband them and that they would have to find other careers.

Naturally, Lin Qian had to think about her own future. She had been here for many years, and staying was her best chance for a good career path.

That’s why she started visiting the children in the family compound. What if another job opportunity came up?

Today, seeing that Sister-in-law Zhang Cui was busy, she had offered to look after Mai Sui.

She just never imagined something like this would happen—that she would nearly cause Mai Sui’s death.

The hillside fell quiet for a moment, the only sounds being the RUSTLE of the wind through the poplar leaves and Lin Qian’s stifled sobs.

After a moment, as if she’d made a great resolution, Lin Qian wiped her tears with her sleeve. Her voice was thick and nasal as she spoke softly, “Sister Su Tang, I’m sorry.”

Su Tang glanced at her, saying nothing, waiting for her to continue.

“I was wrong to hold a grudge against you before.”

Lin Qian lowered her head even further, until it nearly touched her knees.

Su Tang knew perfectly well what this was about, but she still asked calmly, “Because of Lu Xiao?”

Lin Qian’s face instantly flushed a shade of red deeper than her swollen cheek, the color spreading all the way to her ears.

She waved her hands frantically, stumbling over her words. “No, no, no! It’s not that! It’s… it was back at the beginning, when I first met Lu Xiao. I thought he was a really great person—steady, reliable, and just so convincing in everything he said and did.”

“When I first heard you were coming, I admit I was a little upset, so I wanted to check things out. I’m very sorry for the trouble I caused you and Lu Xiao.”

She explained herself hurriedly, terrified Su Tang wouldn’t believe her, twisting her fingers until her knuckles turned white.

’Even if she did have a crush on Lu Xiao, that was a long, long time ago.’

“And what about later?”

“If you were over it, why did it still seem like you had a problem with me?”

Lin Qian’s body visibly tensed.

She lowered her head, unconsciously picking at a hard clod of dirt. Brown earth quickly packed under her fingernails.

Her voice grew even softer, almost carried away by the wind.

“It was Zheng Jinxin, a nurse from your hospital… She came to see me a few times…”

Hearing this, it all clicked into place for Su Tang.

’Lin Qian was in the cultural troupe; she was proud and cared a lot about her reputation. Before I even arrived at the family compound, everyone was saying I came from a bad background and that Lu Xiao and I would get divorced sooner or later.’

’So Lin Qian probably thought she’d have a chance after the divorce.’

’That’s why she came to make a show of force. But it was only that one time; Lin Qian never came back after that.’

’Later, when she said she wanted to visit the children, everyone assumed she was still after Lu Xiao and hadn’t given up.’

’I thought so too, and I was even a little jealous when I heard she was coming.’

’But thinking about it now, what Lin Qian did was nowhere near as bad as Hu Lili.’

’Hu Lili was always blatantly in my face with her hostility.’

’And then there was Zheng Jinxin, hiding in the shadows. She had truly perfected the art of using others to do her dirty work.’

’Compared to those two, Lin Qian was practically a saint.’

“Zheng Jinxin told me so many bad things about you, and at the time, I actually believed her.”

Lin Qian felt like a complete fool for believing everything she was told.

She couldn’t even tell right from wrong.

“Don’t worry about it. When I first got here, everyone was saying bad things about me.”

Su Tang pushed herself up slightly and leaned back.

“If you really feel bad about it, go check on Mai Sui tomorrow. Sister-in-law Zhang Cui isn’t a bad person; she just panicked.”

“Once she calms down, she’ll realize that slapping you was too rash.”

After a moment’s thought, Su Tang added this.

No matter the reason, hitting someone is wrong.

Lin Qian reached up and touched her stinging cheek, then lowered her head.

“I don’t blame Sister-in-law Zhang Cui. It was my fault. I didn’t know any better when I gave Mai Sui the plum.”

’Her child almost died in my hands,’ she thought. ’If I were in her shoes, I wouldn’t just slap the person. I’d want to kill them.’

Hearing this, Su Tang couldn’t help but smile.

“Well, you should be more careful from now on. Don’t let yourself be used as someone else’s weapon again.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep