112 - Divine Mastering Dragon System

Chapter 112: Throwing into the Lake Shao Shuzhen was threshing rice in the fields. The flood had been held back by that immortal figure, but fertile soil rushed from the mountain lake and settled in the valleys. Luckily, it was the time for crops to grow, and the soil was put to good use, ensuring a decent harvest this year. Watching plump grains of rice fall from the stalks and gradually fill the basket, Shao Shuzhen couldn’t help but smile. Life seemed to be getting back on track, and while it wasn’t a particularly special day, there was meat on the table. Yuan Tao and his father were eating heartily, grease coating their mouths. Though Shao Shuzhen was unaccustomed to such fatty foods, watching them savor their meal brought her satisfaction. Harmony had enveloped their household lately. In tougher times, her husband would often resort to violence, but as Shao Shuzhen grew older, she found the courage to stand up for herself. Her once-gentle nature became a thing of the past, and her bold demeanor seemed to intimidate him into reducing his aggression. Now that their situation had improved financially, even her husband's mood had softened, cultivating a new-found harmony between them. In front of the whole village, Kong Er had apologized to Pan Di. The Kong family had no grounds to cause further trouble, especially since Pan Di had become the disciple of a celestial being. The villagers’ respect for the once impoverished Lin Family was unprecedented, and walking amongst them now held a sense of pride. A few months ago, Yuan Tao had started attending the private school run by Scholar Kong, beginning his education. Shao Shuzhen couldn’t help but dream of becoming the mother of a successful scholar; if Yuan Tao achieved great things, their family would be secure for a lifetime. And all of this...was due to Pan Di. Lin Xiang often boasted that having such a remarkable daughter like Pan Di was a blessing for their family. Even Shao Shuzhen’s mother-in-law, who had once been dismissive, now showered her with praise, attributing Pan Di’s talents to her as well. Shao Shuzhen was flattered yet felt a pang of sadness whenever she recalled the scene of Pan Di leaving. How foolish she had been — even if the celestial being offered a hundred taels for Pan Di to be her disciple, Shao Shuzhen would still hesitate to part with her daughter. What was she thinking when she agreed to sell her daughter for just thirty taels? She sighed. Back then, burdened by the cost of Yuan Tao’s education, she felt pushed to the edge, thinking she had no other choice. One always had to prioritize one’s brother, right? She too had experienced hardship; had it not been for the famine year, she wouldn’t have ended up marrying Lin Xiang, a bachelor in his late twenties, pressured by his family because of her frail physique supposedly being unsuitable for bearing children, with the bride price bargained down. That’s the fate of women everywhere. Yet, why did she cry so heartily at her own wedding, only to turn around and become someone who sold her daughter? Shao Shuzhen felt her eyes stinging with unshed tears. Her eldest daughter had married into a family beyond her dreams, but the girl had cried so sorrowfully, surely not out of her own desire. For their humble family, marrying into the Li Family was already a great honor, yet Shao Shuzhen worried whether her daughter would face mistreatment there. Once she started worrying about Zhao Di, thoughts of Pan Di in that celestial sect flooded her mind — was her cultivation hard, was she doing alright? With her daughters away from home, her heart was perpetually restless. As some rice spilled out of the basket, Shao Shuzhen bent down to carefully pick each grain, discarding the bloated, empty husks. A sense of unease crept over her inexplicably. She glanced at the sky, sullen and overcast, pregnant with dark clouds that pressed upon her spirit — was it going to rain? A young girl from the neighboring plot rushed over, standing at the edge of the field and shouted, “Auntie Lin! Your daughter has returned!” Her daughter had come back? But which one? That premonition in her heart seemed confirmed; whichever daughter it was, she wouldn’t come home so easily... Shao Shuzhen brushed the chaff from her trousers and turned to meet her husband’s equally puzzled gaze. The couple exchanged a look, and Lin Xiang said, “You go ahead; I’m nearly finished here.” Shao Shuzhen glanced at him with gratitude before lifting the heavy basket of rice and hurrying home. Despite the burden, her steps grew quicker, the girl who came with the message struggling to keep up. Her mind went to Pan Di first. The second daughter, sometimes docile, sometimes stubborn, never quite learned to speak properly with others from a young age. Even Zhao Di marrying into the city kept her heart tethered, so how could she not worry about Pan Di, chosen by an immortal? Was there a problem with her cultivation? Or had she angered the celestial and been sent back? But if it were Zhao Di... A smile unwittingly spread across her face, wrinkles threatening to hide her eyes. Her eldest had been married for nearly two years, a match the Lin Family could only ever dream of. Concerned that her daughter might be mistreated, she dared not impose upon her in-laws by visiting too often. Consequently, she hadn’t seen Zhao Di since the wedding. Last New Year, they’d planned for a visit, only to be thwarted by unforeseen events on the Li Family’s side. A few months ago, Zhao Di had sent word that she was pregnant. Although nearly two years into marriage without any signs, this news filled Shao Shuzhen with elation. The prospect of seeing her daughter, belly round with child, mature like a woman, evoked both anticipation and a sense of bittersweet longing, spurring her to quicken her pace. She hadn’t paused to wonder why Lin Zhao Di, who hadn’t returned home for festivals, would suddenly decide to come back now. Her daughter was indeed home. Li Family’s young man brought Zhao Di, taking a cart from outside the city, swaying along the road for two hours before reaching Shanghu Village. The driver, noticing Zhao Di’s struggle to walk, did a good deed by taking them all the way to the Lin Family’s small courtyard. The wooden wheels bumped noisily over the uneven dirt and stone path. Wang Liping, Shao Shuzhen’s mother-in-law, in her fifties, still couldn’t let go of her five or six-year-old grandson Yuan Tao and was carrying him when she heard the ruckus outside. She went to take a look, child in arms. The young woman, having just given birth, still had her belly distended, skin stretched and slack. Blood trickled intermittently down her legs. Shao Shuzhen arrived home, a smile she couldn’t contain softening her features, only to find herself staring in shock at Lin Zhao Di, who sat dumbfounded in the courtyard. How frightening — was this unkempt, pallid-looking girl really her daughter? Zhao Di, the fairest in miles around, whom Shao Shuzhen thought could rival the town’s young ladies with her impeccable embroidery skills and first-rate appearance. My Zhao Di... Though she didn’t yet understand the situation, the mere sight of her daughter like this made Shao Shuzhen’s arms go weak, her earlier briskness vanishing. The basket fell to the ground with a thud, spilling rice everywhere. Shao Shuzhen stumbled toward her daughter, knees buckling with each step. Her son-in-law attempted to explain, but Shao Shuzhen, usually obliging and mild-mannered, brushed him aside. Shao Shuzhen’s lips trembled; she reached out to touch her daughter’s face but hesitated, unsure if she could bear to recognize the haggard girl as her Zhao Di. Shao Shuzhen fell into a frantic embrace with Zhao Di, fear etched in her voice, "What's happened to our Zhao Di? Is it the child?" At the mention of "child," the girl, who clutched a fabric bundle tightly and ignored everyone else’s words, finally reacted. Straining through tears to discern her mother's familiar features, she wailed, "Mother... my daughter is gone..." "Why are you sitting here? Come inside!" Shao Shuzhen hurried her daughter indoors, disregarding the bloodstained fabric of her daughter’s gown, and laid her carefully on the bed, propping a pillow behind her. Neither her mother-in-law nor son-in-law followed inside; perhaps Zhao Di’s state was too alarming, and they feared it might unsettle Yuan Tao, so they left mother and daughter alone to find solace together. Lin Zhao Di seemed to be lost in a haze of trauma, almost delirious. It was only when Shao Shuzhen tugged on her that she realized what her daughter clutched wasn’t a bundle, but a baby’s swaddling cloth containing a small, bluish corpse. Shao Shuzhen staggered back momentarily before quietly covering the lifeless form, as if ignorant of its presence, while cradling her daughter gently. The fetal death, naturally, should have been dealt with immediately after birth. Yet Lin Zhao Di’s hands were caked with soil, her body filthy. Despite being in agonizing pain, unable to even stand, how had she dug up this deceased infant, likely buried in secret? Miscarriage is neither trivial nor severe. At sixteen, Lin Zhao Di was young; there would be more children in the future. There was no need for such despair. Moreover, even if the child had been born healthy, it would have been merely a daughter. The Li Family, with its long tradition of single sons, had second thoughts after hearing of Shao Shuzhen's fertility issues only after the bride price was paid, fearing the daughter would inherit the mother’s shortcomings. "Mother... I don’t want to live anymore..." Zhao Di sobbed in her mother’s embrace, clutching Shao Shuzhen’s hand with painful ferocity. The Li Family regarded the rural Lin Family with disdain, subjecting Lin Zhao Di to endless humiliation. Yet, her exquisite embroidery fetched high prices. Her mother-in-law took advantage of these connections, arranging numerous commissions for Zhao Di without her consent. Over the course of half a year, the light in Zhao Di’s eyes had dimmed to the gray shadows of an aged woman. Blurred vision during the day, she was practically blind by night. Inherited from her mother, Lin Zhao Di was not only petite and delicate but also not particularly robust. Despite being married into the Li Family for over half a year, she had not conceived. She had tried almost every strange concoction and folk remedy, likely coerced by her in-laws. Each time a new bitter and peculiar medicine was brought, there would be sarcastic remarks about how much money her medication had cost the family. It was the young master of the Li Family who had stubbornly insisted on marrying Lin Zhao Di. He had fallen in love with her at first sight in the alleyways and urged his parents to propose marriage. It was a beautiful story, and Lin Zhao Di initially thought that although she was forced to marry a stranger, his deep affection might lead to a happy marriage. However, when she confided her grievances to her husband, hoping he would restrain his mother who both exploited her skills for profit and subjected her to torment, his initial reassurances quickly dissolved. He spoke of his mother’s hardships in childbirth and suggested that Zhao Di’s contributions to the household might eventually earn his mother’s approval. Ah, “maybe.” She realized then that her husband was still a child tethered to his mother's apron strings. Looking at the familiar yet unrecognizably compliant young man before her, Zhao Di understood that his mother’s harshness was all for the sake of her beloved son. After all, how much of the money earned did she herself get to use? And wasn't a child meant for whom, ultimately? Eventually, Zhao Di did become pregnant. Staring at her flat stomach, she could hardly imagine a life growing inside. She held a secret hope — though the Li Family constantly prattled on about sons and grandsons, she wished for a daughter. Zhao Di wasn’t pondering the world’s harshness against women, nor hoping for a son to shield her daughter from suffering. She just desired the bond of a daughter, envisioning a close relationship where she could pass down her embroidery skills. Zhao Di dreamed her daughter would be the most beautiful in the city! If she didn’t care much for boys and if this child were a daughter, she would ensure she wasn’t seen as useless or a financial burden. She would never treat her children unequally, nor sell her daughter like a mule. Her daughter wouldn’t be born into the same misery she had endured. Lin Zhao Di longed for her daughter to be the happiest girl in the world. From a young age, she cherished this dream, showering Pan Di with love, and now she had her own child. She hoped for a daughter and had even brought the imperfect doll from home that she had stitched together for the occasion, waiting to give it to her child. Then her mother-in-law brought the Inversion Pills. And the baby was gone. Dazed from suffering, she looked expectantly at her husband at her bedside, a mix of despair and hopeful laughter on her lips as she asked, “Where’s my child... my daughter?” Her husband only offered a comforting gaze, but beneath his smile Zhao Di saw fear and repulsion. Of course, he would feel nothing but distaste for the ordeal, being sheltered by his mother and spared any burdens of childbirth. To him, the sight of his child’s corpse meant nothing — akin to a nobleman watching pigs being slaughtered. Driven mad, Zhao Di demanded to know where her daughter was — she no longer cared if rebuked by her mother-in-law for a girl's unlucky fate. But her husband’s pitiful look, as though imploring her to grow up and face reality, drove Zhao Di to slap him so hard he staggered backward. Clutching him by the collar, she growled out her demand, “Where is my daughter?” That child was hers, not theirs. Her shattered dreams belonged solely to her. Though unable to even leave the bed, Zhao Di clung fiercely to her lifeless infant, driven mad by her wish to return home. The Li Family, startled by the sudden uproar from their usually docile daughter-in-law, were all too happy to send the problem back to the Lin Family. She returned cradling her child to the home where she’d been someone’s daughter for sixteen years, shocked by her mother’s familiar but hollow comforts: “You’re still young; there will be more children.” Ah, she was only sixteen. How long until she could finally die? Must she endure thirty, forty, fifty more years with that eternally immature man before she could seek death’s embrace? Bearing child after child, ceaselessly, like her mother and countless other women, until the life was wrung out of her? Continuing on with the endless births, each fleshy form, dead or alive, ushered into the world amidst blood and stench, cut from her as if severing another parasite feeding off her vitality. She knew she would never have a daughter, not one as delightful and free as in her dreams... Life was suffering for all, no one’s journey unburdened. Each person carried countless shackles, some born without keys freedom required, forced to bear extra chains weighing them down, quite literally held by father, husband, or son, with death alone offering release. The dark sky poured rain, a thin, harsh veil fluttering in the dismal horizon of early autumn. Shao Shuzhen left briefly to fetch hot water to cleanse her daughter’s body, returning to find Lin Zhao Di gone. The wooden basin clattered to the ground fall, dizziness staggering her as she leaned against the doorframe, calling her daughter’s name in mourning. But she was Zhao Di, wasn’t she? The boy had already been summoned; what use was there in calling this name again? An empty cloth lay forlorn on the bed, her discarded clothes marking where she had been. Lin Zhao Di and her daughter were nowhere to be found. Shao Shuzhen stumbled into the storm-swept night, rain drenching her completely, but she didn’t care. She frantically stopped every passerby to ask if they’d seen her Zhao Di. At last, one villager, huddled beneath a straw hat to escape the downpour, hesitantly mentioned seeing a young woman clad in red heading toward the mountains. Desperate, Shao Shuzhen made her way to Jiu An Peak, through relentless rain and wind. Along the lake’s edge, she found a piece of torn red fabric caught on a branch. It was Lin Zhao Di’s wedding gown, the one she had sewn herself, stitch by stitch, painstakingly embroidering each detail. It was grander than any gown among the villagers. Shao Shuzhen waded into the shallow water, wailing her daughter’s name, longing for some reply. That gown... She recalled teasing Pan Di about her lack of embroidery skills, jesting that she’d marry in rags at this rate. The memory felt ancient, as though from another life, and now both her daughters were lost. Clutching the vibrant red scrap, Shao Shuzhen descended the mountain in a daze. Illness struck swiftly, and soaked through from the rain and consumed by grief, Shao Shuzhen quickly succumbed to her sickbed, unable to recover. The once harmonious household revealed its illusion. Within half a month, the once vibrant Shao Shuzhen, barely thirty, lay skeletal, clutching her pillow, listening to her husband and mother-in-law discussing her fate outside. “Since Zhao Di’s death, the Li Family wants nothing to do with us. How much will her treatment cost?” “We must try. We can’t just let her die, can we?” her mother-in-law said, unexpectedly. “I can’t bring myself to do it, raising such a mad daughter,” Lin Xiang grumbled. “The body hasn’t even been retrieved yet. I say leave it.” “If you won’t, then I will. I’m an old woman; I don’t care about face. Besides, the Li Family drove Zhao Di to this! It’s only right.” Her mother-in-law’s voice pierced sharply. “If they hadn’t pushed her to the edge, why would A-Zhen go up the mountain and get herself ill?” “You may not care, but I do. We need to keep the money for Yuan Tao’s schooling, and she knows that,” Lin Xiang barked. “Zhao Di couldn’t handle herself. How many Inversion Pills have the Li Family sold, and don’t people say they’re effective? She’s just unlucky — can’t blame others. Don’t go.” Silence followed their exchange. Not far away, the playful sounds of her beloved son echoed from the courtyard, each laugh growing fainter from her world. Shao Shuzhen lay quietly, letting her thoughts drift away. It wasn’t the Li Family who killed her. It was I... Shao Shuzhen wept silently on her mat, releasing her death grip on the pillow she’d clutched, her hand falling limp beside her. Although I dislike children and the topic of having kids doesn't really concern me, I just wanted to share some idle thoughts. The main point is that I do appreciate mothers (and all women within this family system). The characters in the story have fears and reluctance regarding childbirth due to the era's circumstances. There's no intention to criticize those who wish to get married and start families. Zhao Di loves children, but her time offered her no choice. Even if it's your favorite food, if it's force-fed, it’s unpleasant, isn’t it? That’s the gist of it. Thank you to the little angels for casting their overlord votes or nourishing my story with nutrient fluid from 2022-05-17 35:52:05 to 2022-05-85 35:43:45~ Special thanks to the little angel Jiu Wan Li for contributing 30 bottles of nutrient fluid; I am sincerely grateful for everyone's support, and I will continue to work hard! Our site has no popup ads, with the permanent domain (xbanxia.com)