Chapter 932: Chapter 805: Dust Returns to Dust, Earth Returns to Earth

Over at the farm, ever since Jiang Jiangyu left, Lin Xuelin, who was in despair for two days straight, suffered many lashes and ultimately collapsed completely. On the vacated long bed, she, feverish and delirious, could not distinguish between reality and dreams, feebly reaching out to grab her mother Chen Jingru’s hand, yet always missing it by just a bit, unable to grasp it.

People came and went in front of her, including her grandmother Gu Ruyi, her grandfather, her father, and many other people she was familiar with, all quietly giving her one glance before turning away.

Only her mother continuously wept for her. She felt hatred, wondering why her mother only cried and did not embrace her? She felt cold, cold and pain all over. No, they all didn’t want her anymore; no one wanted her anymore.

As night fell, weary women gradually came in, each casting a vacant glance at the shadow curled up in the corner before collapsing on the bed, huddling together for warmth, none with the energy to pay more attention.

Too much sympathy had long been scattered by the Northwest’s fierce winds and sand. Here, if not dead, who else was honored to leave? Moreover, sometimes wasn’t death itself a release, a kind of happiness?

Outside, the howling cold wind blew at the corner of the burlap sack serving as a door, with no one uttering a word. Years of high-load labor had long left them exhausted into sleep, entering a dreamland—there was heaven.

When the news of Lin Xuelin’s death reached Chen Jingru, she was holding a cup of hot tea, contemplating her son’s housing issue post-marriage and planning the time and place for meeting the other set of in-laws.

Lin Aiguo, who entered, tightly clenched his fists, shed his disguise, and softly said: "Xiao Lin is gone, our Xiao Lin is really gone."

Chen Jingru, seeing the man not far with reddened eyes, went blank, suddenly collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness.

With a loud "bang," Lin Aiguo could no longer experience the heartbreak of losing a daughter, immediately rushing forward to squat down and pick up his wife, pinching Chen Jingru’s philtrum fiercely until she weakly regained consciousness.

Seeing his wife’s vacant eyes, Lin Aiguo couldn’t help but shed tears, "Mother of the children, don’t be like this, we still have Xiao Hui, our son is waiting for you. If you have hatred blame it on me. It’s all my fault, I shouldn’t have left for so many years, I am the one who should have died."

"It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t left, our child wouldn’t have ended up like this. Why didn’t she wait a little longer for me to figure something out? Why didn’t she endure just a bit more? How could she bear to let us, white-haired people, send off a black-haired one..."

"That was our first child. I’m the one who should have died, the one who should have died the most. I shouldn’t have come back and still not cared about her, no matter how disobedient she was, she was still my child. I abandoned her, I hurt her..."

Chen Jingru struggled to stand up, step by step moving into the bedroom, lying down straightforwardly on the bed, staring at the ceiling with wide eyes.

Lin Aiguo held her right hand, "Xiao Ru, say something, don’t be like this."

Chen Jingru closed her eyes without moving.

"Xiao Ru, should I let Xiao Hui come back to keep you company?"

Chen Jingru responded hoarsely, "Don’t tell him."

"Don’t be like this, if you have anger or hatred, vent it on me. I beg you to pull yourself together. It’s all my fault, hit me..."

Chen Jingru lay there silently, no matter how heartbroken; over the years, her tears had already dried. From the moment she abandoned this daughter, she understood she could not keep her, really couldn’t.

How did such a tiny package grow up? She forgot...she was not fit to be a mother. She was the sinner, she was the one who should have died. She shouldn’t have let the child be indulged by that old crone, shouldn’t have worried about the child resenting her happiness.

"...I’ll resign right away, we’re going to the Northwest now, we’re going to find our child..."

Chen Jingru opened her eyes, "It’s not your fault. She went to seek revenge on her grandmother."

Lin Aiguo instantly fell silent, staring in shock at her.

"Your mother is the main culprit, your mother is the sinner. It’s all her fault, without her, my daughter would have been as outstanding as Xiao Hui. Without her instilling the idea of matching station, without her education, my Xiao Lin wouldn’t have aimed too high, wouldn’t have been overambitious, wouldn’t have taken the wrong path."

"My Xiao Lin was so small, stretching out her arm asking me to hold her, your mother immediately sent me to the kitchen; your mother didn’t let my Xiao Lin visit her maternal family, because they didn’t match your family’s status as poor workers; your mother didn’t let my Xiao Lin marry, because they didn’t match your family’s status of farmer class."

"And your good sister-in-law, provoking every day to estrange us mother and daughter, causing them siblings’ resentment. My pair of children suffered countless wrongs, all caused by them, all caused by them! And your good brother-in-law, without his adding insult to injury, how could my Xiao Lin have gone to that damn place in the Northwest? It’s all caused by them, all caused by them that my daughter lost her life. And your father, he personally cut off a way for my Xiao Lin."

Hearing these words, watching his wife gradually regain vitality, Lin Aiguo tightly closed his eyes. In a way, good, let the hate fuel life; it’s good to live relying on these hatreds. This family has already lost a daughter, it cannot lose another member.

"Didn’t Lao Er say his wife just saw the child recently?"

Lin Aiguo opened his eyes to see his wife regaining her spirit, nodding.

"I sent so many parcels over just hoping she would fare better and endure, that one day we could personally fetch her back. Before, she still wrote letters to us, how did my daughter leave right after that woman visited her?"

Lin Aiguo’s brow twitched.

"Father of the children, I ask you for one thing."

Holding his breath, Lin Aiguo seriously agreed.

"Bypass Lao Er, secretly investigate what really happened to the child before she left." Saying this, Chen Jingru closed her eyes. "I want the genuine truth."

"Rest assured! If someone really harmed our child, I’ll surely take revenge."

Lin Aiguo understood this was misplaced hatred, but he still wanted to uncover what role that sister-in-law played. His daughter was a fierce character in heaven, alive she definitely wouldn’t seek death.

Hence, he entrusted his younger brother to visit the child when possible, giving her confidence to survive. Moreover, they had always scrounged and saved to send supplies over. With her nature, with so many things, she wouldn’t merely survive without food and clothing, nor would it reach a desperate end. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Unless the child secretly never received the things...this possibility, given Zhou Jiao’s example before, wasn’t impossible.

Considering this, Lin Aiguo decisively dismissed the thought. It was impossible; he treated Lao Er well, that was his niece whom he had watched grow up. Besides, this time he guarded against that insatiable sister-in-law.

With Lin Xuelin’s death, how the relationship between the two Lin brothers would unfold in the future remained to be seen through time. Yet, this couple had endured the pain of losing a daughter. As the year-end approached, they began preparing for the engagement of their soon-to-be daughter-in-law.

Did the emotions run shallow, or did death truly settle everything? Who knows if Lin Xuelin rests in peace under the nine springs? Her parents, whom she always longed for, had truly cut off ties of kinship this time with dust returning to dust, earth returning to earth.