Xu Zijin was overwhelmed with a strong sense of panic.
"How could this be? I have lost everything. My father, my stepmother and my child are all dead because of me. My love for Fu Sinian is gone. And I"m blind... I once thought that I was at the bottom and couldn"t be any worse off. But now I"m in an even worse situation.
Did I do something wrong? Why did these bad things happen to me?
If I had known that one day I would suffer like this, I would have drowned myself in the Zhujiang River. At least, in that case I wouldn"t be forced to be a stranger"s wife.
No! I can"t stay here and sit pa.s.sively for my end. I have to do something to save myself," she thought.
Xu Zijin finally came to her senses and decided to run away. She p.r.i.c.ked up her ears and listened carefully for a while. There was a dead silence outside. She got out of the bed in a hurry.
Perhaps it was because Xu Zijin was a poor blind woman that the middle-aged woman hadn"t locked the door when she had left. Xu Zijin felt her way out of the room and stumbled along a narrow mountain road.
The road was rugged and rough. She b.u.mped along the rough road with difficulty, her heart filled with panic. How she wished she could grow wings and fly away from this d.a.m.nable place!
"If I weren"t blind..." she thought.
For the first time, Xu Zijin hated herself for being blind.
Xu Zijin failed to escape. Soon after, she was caught and taken back to the village. At the sight of her, that middle-age woman slapped her hard across the face. Xu Zijin fainted away because of her poor health.
When she awoke from the coma, she could hardly breathe because someone was lying on top of her. Then a hand tugged rudely at her upper outer garment and tried to tear it up. She felt achy all over.
"My wife... She is my wife... Haha..."
A voice rang in her ears. Xu Zijin suddenly came to herself and realized what was happening to her. Someone was trying to rape her! What a horrible thing! Terrified, she opened her eyes and struggled frantically. "Go away! Let go of me!"
"Haha... Mom... My wife is awake..." a mentally r.e.t.a.r.ded man said.
"My dear son, your wife is awake and you can have s.e.x with her," the ferocious middle-aged woman said in a soft voice.
"I want to have s.e.x with her. I want a baby." The r.e.t.a.r.ded man was so happy that he clapped his hands.
"What are you going to do to me? This is against the law! Go away! Don"t touch me!" Xu Zijin screamed and flailed her arms wildly to prevent them from approaching her. She was so scared that she couldn"t help trembling, because she knew clearly what they were going to do to her.
"Clap!"
The middle-aged woman gave her a hard slap in the face.
"Shut up! Lay down and open your legs. You"d better be obedient. Otherwise, I swear you will suffer a lot."
Xu Zijin"s cheek became red and swollen at a speed visible to the naked eye. Five fingerprints were etched into her face and looked shocking, while her ears were buzzing from the blow. She perceived the metallic taste of blood in her mouth. Desperation filled her eyes and a crazy idea rushed into her mind. Suddenly, she raised her foot and kicked that r.e.t.a.r.ded man out of the bed.
The man fell heavily to the ground. The middle-aged woman rushed over to hold him, crying and shouting. Xu Zijin gritted her teeth and banged her head against the brick wall with determination.
"I would rather die than live in such a painful, humiliating way," she thought to herself.
"Bang!"
She felt a sharp pain in her head and lost her consciousness again.
It was late at night, and all was quiet in the village. In a shabby shack, Xu Zijin crouched in the corner s.h.i.+vering with cold, as the cold wind was blowing through the big crack of the wooden door. Her head was swathed in bandages and her face was swollen and bruised.
It was only three days since she had been brought here. However, she had lost a lot of weight.
Three days ago, she had tried to commit suicide but failed. Then she was locked in this shack which was filled with the foul smell of the feces of pigs and dogs.
Perhaps because they were afraid that she would attempt suicide again, they didn"t force her to sleep with their son these days. But Xu Zijin was on high alert.
Over the past few days, every time she had just fallen asleep, she woke suddenly with a start. She was frightened, fearful and hungry. As time went by, she was gradually sinking into the depths of despair.
Xu Zijin hoped that someone would come and save her, but she knew soberly that it was just an extravagant hope.
Fu Chen was the only person in the world who cared about her.
But she didn"t think that he would come to save her. No one would take risks for an unrelated person.