Chapter 1 Is this a flash of life?
There was wind, blowing gently on my face, and it felt quite comfortable.

This was the only feeling Hua Xiali had at this moment while sleeping.

It was unknown how much time had passed before she slowly opened her eyes. Her left eye was swollen and painful, and she had no way of opening it. She could only open her intact right eye.

What caught my eye was the earthen wall covered with newspapers. The whole room looked simple and empty, without even any decent furniture. There was also a strong smell of Chinese medicine.

Looking at the light shining from the roof, Hua Xiali blinked in confusion. This was the old house where she had lived since she was a child. She had lived here for decades before and after her marriage. She was very familiar with it.

But later the village land was expropriated and the house was demolished. Why is this house still intact now?

And she clearly remembered that her ex-husband's mistress came to steal her resettlement house and pushed her down the stairs. The old girl died from the fall. Could this be a last gasp?
If you look back in your mind, you can see the house where you grew up, but can you see your family?
She missed her father, mother, elder sister, elder brother-in-law, and younger sister...

She missed them so much that her heart ached in her dreams at midnight.

Could she be allowed to take one last good look at them?
Or could she be reunited with them down there?
Since she didn't accompany them well when she was alive, let her stay by their side after she dies. She doesn't want to go anywhere else.

"Xia Li, Xia Li, get up and have lunch." There was a crisp knock on the door and a familiar shout.

Hua Xiali was stunned when she heard this. Was she hallucinating? Otherwise, how could she hear her mother's voice? And that voice sounded so young, not old at all.

Could it be that God heard her cry, knew her regret, and allowed her to take one last look at her mother before she died?

Thinking of this, Hua Xiali shouted excitedly, "Mom, Mom..."

Could she finally get a glimpse of her mother?

When Hua's mother heard Hua Xiali's anxious shout, she was very worried and hurriedly opened the door and walked in, "Xia Li, what's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"

When Hua Xiali saw Hua's mother, he rubbed his intact right eye in disbelief and asked in confusion, "Are you my mother? How come you are so young and beautiful?"

The Hua mother in front of him looked to be in her early forties at most. Her skin was dark yellow due to the wind and sun from doing farm work, but her facial features were very superior, with smooth cheek lines, a clear jawline, thick eyebrows, big eyes, a high nose bridge, and not a trace of excess fat on her face.

You can imagine how stunningly beautiful they must have been when they were young, otherwise these three girls would not have been so beautiful.

Hua's mother thought Hua Xiali was praising her, and her cheeks couldn't help but feel a little hot. She scolded, "You kid, your mother is only 40 years old, of course I'm young and beautiful." Then she came over and sat on the edge of the bed, lowered her head to observe Hua Xiali's eyes, "How could you be so careless? You saw those kids fighting, why did you get involved? You're going to get engaged soon, and how can you get engaged when your eyes are hit like this with a stone? Wait a minute, I'll boil some eggs for you, so you can roll your eyes..."

Hua Xiali listened to her mother's nagging without any impatience, and felt particularly warm. When he heard the word "engagement", his eyes widened and he looked at her mother in confusion, "What engagement?"

She is already in her seventies or eighties and is about to be buried. Why would she want to get married?
"Wang Liang and Ding Yong are pursuing you so closely. No matter who you choose, you will be married before the end of this year, right? But mom still supports you to choose Wang Liang. His home is in the village next door, less than ten minutes' walk away, which will be convenient for you to take care of the family. Besides, there is only one older sister in his family, so there will be less trouble. Ding Yong's home is too far away, and he has three older sisters. If you marry him, it will be like having four more mothers-in-law, which you won't be able to handle..." Hua's mother started nagging again.

Hua Xiali only realized when she heard the names Wang Liang and Ding Yong that her mother was talking about what happened in 1990, when she was 19 years old.

Before the Chinese New Year this year, she and her elder sister went to the supermarket to buy New Year's goods and met two of her elder sister's elementary school classmates, Wang Liang and Ding Yong. Both Wang Liang and Ding Yong pursued her fiercely at the same time. She listened to the advice of her mother and family members and chose Wang Liang who lived closer to home.

She got engaged to Wang Liang in May 1990 and married him in November.

After marrying Wang Liang, she gave birth to their eldest son the following year. A year later, when she found out she was pregnant again, Wang Liang disappeared and never came back nor did he bring back a penny. Hua Xiali had to take care of the child alone while pregnant. Not only did her parents-in-law and elder sister-in-law not help, they also always came to bully her.

Especially the eldest sister-in-law, she is more troublesome than ten mothers-in-law.

Later, Hua Xiali raised her two sons with the help of her mother's family. When the youngest son was ten years old, Wang Liang came back with a pregnant woman. In order to give this woman a status, he came back to divorce her.

It was at this time that Hua Xiali realized what a worthless person Wang Liang was. It turned out that he had a girlfriend outside, but the other party wanted a dowry of several thousand yuan, which he could not afford. So after returning to his hometown and seeing that Hua Xiali was beautiful, he came to pursue Hua Xiali. In order to make Hua Xiali stay in his house willingly and take care of his parents, he stayed at home for two years, just to let her give birth to a child and completely tie her heart. Then when she became pregnant for the second time, he ran away.

Because he knew that Hua Xiali could not leave.

The reason why he came back to get a divorce was because his girlfriend was getting old, already in her thirties, and he had to get married.

Hua Xiali was, after all, a high school graduate and had studied in the city for several years. She was not a fool. She had been bullied and suffered for twelve years. How could she let those two scumbags go easily? So before going to get the divorce certificate, she went directly to the court to sue Wang Liang and his girlfriend.

Even if they cannot get compensation, they must ruin their reputation or make the child break off relations with Wang Liang and no longer have any relationship with him.

It can also serve as a reminder to rural women that if your husband does not come home during the holidays and does not send money home, he probably has a woman around him.

After all, they are all ordinary rural people with low income. If they support one woman, they naturally cannot support a second one. But if they send the money back home, the woman outside will naturally not want to be with him. In order to please the woman outside, most men choose to treat their wives and children back home badly.

(End of this chapter)