seattlejaycees Chapter 408: Remarried Widow 1
Chapter 408: Remarried Widow 1
Yuan Chun traveled once again, inhabiting the body of a thirty-year-old widow.
This was 1980, just a few years after the reinstatement of college entrance exams, during the era of reform and opening up, when the entire nation was brimming with vitality.
But the Mei Family was shrouded in clouds of misery.
The previous host was named Mei Yuan Chun, thirty years old, whose husband Chen Dagang was crushed to death by a collapsed coal mine a few days ago. Although the mine compensated with a significant sum, the Mei Family lost their main economic source, and without labor, even with a sum of money, they were bound to squander it.
In the previous life, one month after her husband’s death, the previous host was coaxed into remarrying by an aunt from the village.
The previous host was an only child, her deceased husband was a live-in son-in-law, and they had four children: three boys and one girl. The eldest son was only ten years old, the youngest was only three, and Mei Yuan Chun took the youngest pair of children with her to her second husband’s home, leaving the two eldest sons with the Mei Family to carry on the lineage.
However, the previous host’s remarriage led her into a life akin to hell.
Her second husband was a coward, foolishly obedient, doing everything his mother said, and his mother was a sharp-tongued, vicious old woman. When the previous host’s pair of children arrived at her husband’s family home, they were forced to work in the fields.
The daughter was only five years old, yet she had to learn to wash clothes and cook, and the son, merely three, had to do some chores within his ability, like cutting pigweed, digging wild vegetables, and collecting dry branches for firewood.
At first, the previous host cared dearly for her pair of children, but her mother-in-law declared that her family didn’t raise children for free; if they wanted to stay, they had to work to support themselves.
The previous host fiercely refuted, but was brutally beaten by her second husband at her mother-in-law’s command, who then snatched away the compensation from her deceased husband.
The previous host had no family to rely on; even when bullied, there was none to stand up for her. Her grievances were swallowed quietly.
Without money, unable to divorce, she could only continue living miserably with her pair of children at her husband’s home.
The previous host’s pair of children never attended school, never learned to read, always working at home, rising before the chickens, sleeping after the dogs, working more than the cattle, yet never had enough to eat, leading to deteriorating health.
At a young age, their bodies were frail, yet they still endured beatings and starvation, forcing their sickly bodies to work in the fields.
Her son died of exhaustion at eighteen.
At fifteen, her daughter was sold by her mother-in-law to a remote valley, to become the wife of an over thirty-year-old widower, where she was later beaten to death.
Later on, the previous host also became severely ill from overwork; by fifty, she was bedridden, and not wanting to support a useless person, her husband’s family threw her back to the Mei Family.
The two eldest sons resented her abandonment, loathing her deeply, especially after learning that their siblings were killed by the stepfather’s family. They were even less willing to care for their mother, leaving the previous host in an unused abandoned house, leaving her to fend for herself.
The previous host died of starvation.
After her death, she deeply regretted the remarriage.
Her remarriage failed to protect the pair of children, leading to their tragic deaths, and she failed to look after her two eldest sons, forcing them into labor at a young age.
She was filled with remorse, regretting her past decisions.
Her death was a restless one.
Even in death, she couldn’t find peace in hell.
Her soul was consumed with regret.
"Please, let me live again. I don’t want to marry again; I want to raise my four children well, provide them education, help them build their families and careers, help my daughter find a good family to marry into, let them live happy lives. I know I am weak and incapable, unable to achieve these, so I plead with you, hope you can help me accomplish it."
In the final memory, the previous host’s soul left this message.
After accepting the memory, Yuan Chun let out a deep sigh.
In her opinion, the previous host brought it upon herself, having a house and a substantial amount of money, it would have been best to live with the children. In a few years, the two eldest sons would have grown up to help with work, why marry again?
The compensation from her deceased husband was wasted on that malicious family.
Letting her pair of daughters labor like livestock for over ten years, with one dying of exhaustion, the other beaten to death.
Alas...