Chapter 58 You Thousand-Times-Accursed, Neck-Chopping Son of a Bitch

Huanya never expected that there was such a history of animosity between Sister-in-law Guiying and the Song family. Once Mother Song had calmed down, she said, "Auntie, let's not get angry with them. We'll just be more careful from now on."

"We certainly need to be careful," Mother Song said. "Come next spring, I'm going to replace that fence around the house, build an earthen wall instead, and change the gate too. Let's see how she manages to snoop around then!"

Huanya chimed in, "Why don't we just build a big brick house with grey tiles? Then we won't have to worry about the roof leaking on rainy days!"

Mother Song laughed. "Mmm, and it has to have an attic so we can store all our surplus grain up there!"

"Wow! That would be wonderful!"

"You're dreaming!" Mother Song amusedly tapped her on the head. "We can't even afford an ox cart right now, let alone a tiled brick house! Hurry up and gather some firewood!"

"You got it," Huanya replied with a smile, though a tiny seed had been planted in her heart.

A wheelchair would come, an ox cart would come, and a big tiled house would definitely come too!

Unaware of what Huanya was thinking, Mother Song followed her to the spot where they had previously hidden the firewood.

After walking just a few steps, Huanya stopped dead in her tracks.

Mother Song asked in confusion, "Why did you stop? Is there no path ahead?"

Huanya shook her head and said through gritted teeth, "Auntie, the firewood I gathered earlier is gone."

"Gone? How can it be gone?" Mother Song turned to look. Scattered across the ground were plenty of weeds, a few broken twigs, a mess of chaotic footprints, and the hemp rope originally used to tie the firewood had even been cut and left on the ground.

Huanya clenched her fists and, holding back her anger, said, "I piled the firewood right here before I left. There was nobody around at the time, I made sure of it!"

Seeing the young girl's eyes turn red with anger, Mother Song quickly patted her shoulder. "Don't be angry, don't be angry. It's not worth making yourself sick over!"

Before her voice had even faded, she turned toward the woods and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Which thousand-cut bastard stole the firewood I tied up?! Bring it right back to this old lady!"

"God damn your ancestors, you've got both hands broken yet you steal my firewood! You must have had your conscience eaten by dogs!"

"You neck-chopping thief, you took it if you wanted it, but what the hell was the point of cutting my rope?! Aren't you afraid of getting yourself strangled to death sooner or later!"

Huanya's eyes were red, tears welling up on the verge of falling, but hearing this, she was completely dumbfounded.

She suddenly understood what Liushun's mother had meant when she said that if Auntie was around, she would definitely scold Old Mrs. Sun to tears.

Auntie's tongue was far sharper than hers!

Mother Song opened her mouth to hurl more abuse, but seeing Huanya looking at her with an expression of pure awe, the words stopped right at the tip of her tongue.

She choked back the rest of her tirade and swallowed it down. "Huanya, let's just gather some more."

"Okay."

Huanya nodded, and her previously stifled mood instantly cleared up.

She wiped her face and said with a regretful tone, "Auntie, it's my fault too. I was in a hurry to get down the mountain and didn't hide it properly, which even caused the rope to get ruined."

If she had hidden it a little better back then, whoever did this surely wouldn't have found it.

"How can you blame yourself for this?" Mother Song waved her hand dismissively. "That person must have been following you the whole time. You didn't see them then, but they were probably hiding far away. Come to think of it, you being safe and sound is the most important thing!"

The more Mother Song thought about it, the more convinced she became. "Oh my, thank goodness they were only after the firewood and not after people!"

Hearing this, Huanya felt a chill run down her spine.

That's right, if that person had come after her, then she...

"Still, I haven't offended anyone in the village," Huanya frowned and said. "Who would follow me like this, just to steal the firewood I gathered?"

Even the rope had been cut. To say it wasn't intentional—how could that be possible?