Chapter 81: The Pain in Tang Xue’s Heart

On a country lane, Tang Xue walked with a heavy heart, not daring to look up at Li Yi.

She knew Li Yi truly loved her and wanted to build a family with her that everyone would bless—especially her parents.

But she simply couldn’t bring herself to do that!

Toward those so-called family members, Tang Xue felt only cold, bitter disappointment.

Seeing Tang Xue in such a low mood, Li Yi stepped forward, took her hand, and said softly, “Don’t be sad. I’m here for you through thick and thin!”

Li Yi’s words seemed to give Tang Xue immense courage. She lifted her head to look into his eyes and asked in a trembling voice, “Don’t you have anything you want to ask me?”

“No!” Li Yi replied decisively.

Now it was Tang Xue’s turn to be taken aback. She asked instinctively, “Why?”

“Because you’re my wife. When you’re ready to talk, you’ll tell me naturally. If you don’t want to, then it’s obviously not something I should know. I don’t want to put you in a difficult position!” Li Yi said.

Tang Xue was truly touched by Li Yi’s words. So this was what it felt like to be cared for and loved.

For the past dozen years, she had never experienced this feeling.

Tang Xue could hold back no longer. Not caring if anyone was passing by, she threw herself into Li Yi’s arms and burst into tears.

She wanted to cry out all the grievances she had endured over the years!

They say there are no bad parents in the world, but Tang Xue simply couldn’t understand why her own parents could be so heartless.

There were three children in her family; aside from her eldest brother, who was a boy, the other two were girls.

She was the second child—her older brother was Tang Lei, and her younger sister was Tang Bing.

Being caught between an older brother and a younger sister at that awkward age, Tang Xue could understand why her parents didn’t pay her much attention.

But what she couldn’t understand was that when the policy was implemented, the Tang family was required to send one child to the countryside to join a commune.

Her brother was clearly more suitable for the assignment than she was—whether in terms of age or physical fitness—yet her parents chose her without hesitation.

Fearing she might refuse, her mother even signed her up without telling her; Tang Xue only found out when the mobilization order was issued.

When it was time to leave, other parents were filled with heartache and reluctance, handing their children all sorts of bags and bundles.

She, however, had nothing; she came with only a few personal belongings.

During the first year, all the educated youth lived in dire straits, and most relied on financial support from their families.

Yet her family not only failed to send her a single penny but actually asked her for money.

At the time, her monthly settlement allowance was only 22 yuan—barely enough to cover her own food and drink—yet she still had to send a few yuan back home. Tang Xue couldn’t even imagine how she managed to survive that period.

She cried for a full ten or so minutes before her sobs finally began to subside.

Li Yi didn’t try to console her; he simply held her tightly in his arms and gently patted her back to help her breathe more comfortably while she cried, so she wouldn’t hold her breath.

He knew this young woman was feeling wronged, and if he didn’t let her cry it out, it would only lead to trouble in the long run.

Only after Tang Xue’s sobs had subsided considerably did Li Yi whisper softly in her ear, “All right, stop crying now. You won’t look pretty if you keep crying!”

Tang Xue had let off most of her steam. She nodded immediately, then shyly slipped out of Li Yi’s warm embrace.

Seeing that his wife’s big eyes were all puffy from crying, Li Yi said with a touch of concern, “Let’s not cry like this anymore. Look how swollen your eyes are!”

“I didn’t want to cry either, I just felt so wronged!”

“It’s okay. From now on, if anything upsets you, just tell me. I’m your husband—it’s my job to shield you from the wind and rain!” Li Yi said.

However, Tang Xue shook her head with a bitter smile; there were some things she simply couldn’t bring herself to say.

For instance, she didn’t want to tell her parents about this marriage—not because she didn’t want their blessing, but because she simply couldn’t.

Tang Xue could easily foresee that once her parents found out she was marrying a villager, they would surely storm right over and take her away.

After all, they had already arranged a marriage for her—only the man she was supposed to marry was someone Tang Xue simply couldn’t bear to look at.

Li Yi could sense the sorrow and despair in Tang Xue’s heart. He gently cupped her delicate face, looked deeply into her eyes, and said earnestly, “I can’t control what happened in the past, nor do I have the right to. But from the moment you accepted the betrothal gift from our Li family, you became my wife, Li Yi’s wife. So your problems are my problems!”

“In the past, you had to swallow your grievances and endure them in silence, but you don’t have to anymore. Because I, Li Yi, have more than enough strength to protect you, and I hope you’ll trust me!”

Feeling the sincerity in Li Yi’s heart, Tang Xue hesitated briefly but finally nodded.

After a long moment, she wiped the tears from her eyes and composed herself.

“Do you know why I don’t want to tell my parents about our marriage?”

“Is it because they don’t approve of our marriage?”

“Yes!”

“Is it because of me?” Li Yi asked again.

“No!”

“Then is it because they don’t want you to marry far away?” Li Yi asked again.

“No, that’s not it either. It’s because they’ve arranged a marriage for me!” Tang Xue said, dropping a bombshell.

“What?”

To be honest, Li Yi really hadn’t known about this. He hadn’t come across this information in his previous life, so at first hearing, he was quite shocked.

Tang Xue said with a bitter smile, “Last month, I suddenly received a letter from home. They’ve processed my paperwork to return to the city. You know, I was so happy when I got the letter. In over three years, they’ve written me a total of 12 letters, but this was the only one that didn’t ask for money!”

“I thought they’d finally had a change of heart and remembered me, the daughter they’d cast aside. But I never imagined that their request for me to return to the city was simply so they could sell me off again.”

Li Yi immediately asked, “Sell me again? What does that mean?”

“My mother said in the letter that they’ve already processed my paperwork to return to the city, and the job is at the county textile factory—but only on the condition that I agree to the marriage they’ve arranged for me.”

At this point, a hint of sorrow flashed in Tang Xue’s eyes, and she continued, “You’ll never believe the kind of person they’ve picked out for me!”

Although Li Yi already had an answer in his mind, he still said in a grave tone, “Go on. I want to see just how far they’re willing to go to mistreat my wife!”

Tang Xue’s voice trembled as she said, “The man they want me to marry is a department head at the steel mill where my dad works—his surname is Liu! He’s about the same age as my dad, maybe even a bit older.”

“His age isn’t the worst part. The worst thing is that he’s notorious for beating his wives. He beat his first wife so badly she jumped into a well and killed herself, and he drove his second wife out of the house after she went mad.”

Li Yi clenched his teeth and asked, “Why are they doing this?”

“Because they want to secure a good job for my younger sister at the factory, and I’m the favor they’re offering in exchange!” Tang Xue said, her face filled with sorrow.

Li Yi didn’t even know what he was feeling at that moment; he truly had an urge to kill someone.

In his previous life, he hadn’t investigated Tang Xue’s suicide until he’d made a name for himself a decade later. Since more than ten years had passed by then, many details remained unclear.

So what Li Yi had uncovered was this: after Tang Xue returned home, she discovered that her younger sister was involved with the man she had loved for over a decade, and while the entire family seemed to know about it, they had kept it from her.

Unable to accept this reality, Tang Xue ultimately threw herself into the river and took her own life.

But now it seemed there were hidden circumstances surrounding Tang Xue’s suicide back then—he just hadn’t investigated them thoroughly enough.