When Sister Fang upstairs heard this, she hurriedly covered her mouth. Although it felt good to say it, talking like that was likely to get Wen Qian hit, right?
Wen Qian of course knew that speaking like this would anger others, but she didn't care with certain people whether they got angry or not.
Sure enough, the man walked forward two steps aggressively: "How can you talk like that!" He seemed to want to teach her a lesson.
The woman hugged the man, looking aggrieved but magnanimously tolerant, reminding Wen Qian of the white lotuses in novels, though this was an old white lotus.
"She talks to you like that and you still defend her," the man said angrily, even pointing at Wen Qian, "I'm telling you, don't always be like a mad dog, biting whoever you see. We didn't mean any harm!"
"And who are you? What business is it of yours to speak?" Wen Qian looked at him as if only now noticing his presence.
"How is it none of my business? Do you know who I am?"
"I don't care who you are. I don't know you, but if you're looking to be unlucky, I don't recommend making an enemy of me."
The young man didn't care about ridges and ditches. He just felt this woman needed to be taught a lesson. That mouth of hers begged for it; she must have made enemies with quite a few people.
If not for his good upbringing, he would have gone over earlier to teach her manners.
In the past, Wen Qian certainly wouldn't have spoken like this or deliberately provoked others.
But now she had her space, and she had learned to use it as a weapon.
Some time ago when she went to collect grain, she picked up a few cement boards by the roadside.
The cement blocks were from an old road that had been pried up when a new road was built.
When Wen Qian saw these things, her first reaction was to smash heads with them. Such a big cement slab could crush someone into meat paste.
If her life was truly threatened, she wouldn't mind using her "stockpiled goods" to drop a Mount Tai on her opponent.
What difference was there between a dead person and the pork she had wholesale-bought and stored in her space?
Wen Qian had secretly tested in the mountains the angles and ways to turn her space into a weapon.
If they didn't come looking for her, she would just think about it. But since they insisted on harassing her, they couldn't blame her for being ready to kill and wanting to test it out.
"If you were really uneasy, you would have come long ago. Over so many years, even the ants have crawled here from your village. So what is it? What do you want from me?"
"We don't want anything from you. We just wanted to come see you." The other person's words were suddenly gentle. It was as if he hadn't heard the first half of what Wen Qian said.
"Since you don't want to take anything from me, then you must want to give me something, right? If you feel guilty, can you give me this car? Having a car would be quite convenient."
The young man rolled his eyes. The car was bought for him by his family. Did she think she was somebody, asking for his car right off the bat?
He didn't want to stay here another moment. He had never met anyone so materialistic.
The woman seemed to understand that Wen Qian was deliberately provoking them, so she said, "I know it's difficult for you, but I'll come often until you're willing to see me."
"If you dare come here often, I'll go to your home. I know where you live. From the 15th day of the 12th lunar month to the 15th of the 1st month, I'll buy a truck full of paper money and burn it for your whole family from morning to night!"
Wen Qian pointed up the mountain: "My grandparents are buried up that slope. Or why don't you go ask them underground? See if they'll agree to you coming here."
The young man may not care about paper money, but older folks couldn't stand such curses.
Making such trouble at New Year's was clearly deliberately provoking ill fortune. So the woman looked at Wen Qian mournfully again before being bundled into the car by her son.
Just as the man opened the car door to leave, Wen Qian stopped him: "Take your rubbish that you dumped here back with you. At least you spent your hard-earned money to buy it. Take it home and eat it yourselves to make up for it."
Wen Qian's condescending mocking words made the mother and son very uncomfortable.
The young man quickly grabbed the things, drove off cursing all the while.
"She's just crazy! And you were still thinking about coming to see her. Look at how she is. No one taught her, so she has no upbringing!"
He said this while completely forgetting that the people who should have raised her had abandoned her at the roadside.
"What's so hard about it? Our family at least has a car. And her? Still living in this broken-down place! And she still dares to look down on me!"
The young man's name was Zhang Jiale. He was a few years younger than Wen Qian and had two older sisters.
His mother's name was Wang Xiaoping. If she hadn't abandoned her child, their family would now have four daughters and one son instead of one son and two daughters.
And that was just the ones who had survived. Who knew how many more hadn't made it.
Although young, Zhang Jiale had already been married once before. Because his wife didn't get pregnant for over a year, he divorced her.
Now he was looking for a second wife. Zhang Jiale didn't know what madness had seized his mother to suddenly want to look for her daughter.
There were still his two sisters and father at home. His father wouldn't stoop to this, but his mother insisted on coming. He was the only one in the family who could drive, so he had no choice but to come along as driver.
After the car drove away, Aunt Chen's first words were, "So this is your...." She didn't finish the sentence.
Wen Qian nodded. She had known since high school.
Wen Qian's grandparents didn't hide anything from her. When Wen Qian asked, they directly explained everything clearly.
Likewise, they also understood that other family's circumstances very clearly, including that they had given away another child after abandoning Wen Qian, before finally having a son.
That must be this young man now.
Wen Qian had heard from others while collecting grain that he was divorced and looking to remarry again.
Wen Qian had been to their village before and found out everything just chatting.
"What? What madness is this that they suddenly come looking for you now? You're already twenty-six, seven years old. Why look for you suddenly now?"
Actually, when chatting with Wen Qian's grandparents in the past, Aunt Chen and the others had talked about this possibility—what if the child's family came looking when she was grown up. The old lady said the child wouldn't go with others. If she left, she would at least flay them first before going. Her child had a temper that wouldn't stand being taken advantage of.
Now it seemed the old lady was quite right.
So Aunt Chen couldn't help repeating what she had said. Hearing this, Wen Qian laughed. That was indeed the case.
"I'm not concerned with their reasons for looking for me, and I don't plan on having anything to do with them."
"Don't you want someone living who can walk around?" Aunt Chen looked at her, thinking that she was alone on festivals and holidays. When she had lived in the city, there were many people. Now living in the mountains, it seemed lonely.
"Whether or not I walk around with someone, there's no need for it to be with their family. You agree, right?"
Aunt Chen was somewhat worried: "That's true. I just don't know if they'll come again."
Fang Ya had come downstairs long ago and had been standing by without speaking. Hearing Wen Qian give a mocking laugh, her tone icy,
"If they dare come, I dare bury them."
