When Li Yan followed Li Guihua to Nan Dashu's house, she was five years old.
Before turning five, she had lived entirely amid the beatings and curses of her biological father.
In her biological father's eyes, a daughter was nothing more than a debt-traitor; beating her to death would just be beating her to death.
It was only after truly arriving at Nan Dashu's house that Li Yan experienced a good life.
She had enough to eat and drink, and even got to wear her own clothes.
Previously, Li Yan only wore clothes her older brother had outgrown. From birth, she had never owned a single garment of her own—everything was hand-me-downs from others.
Yet Li Yan had not forgotten the memories from before she turned five. It was simply that experiencing a few years of good life had caused her to subconsciously lock away those painful memories.
Now, seeing Nan Yu strike her brought all those hidden memories rushing back.
Once awakened, the terror became unstoppable. Nan Yu's face gradually merged with her biological father's, terrifying Li Yan to the point where her entire body shook and she didn't even dare to cry out loud.
That was precisely how Li Yan behaved in front of her biological father: daring neither to speak nor to plead for her mother, able only to weep in silence on the side, her once-fluent tongue completely paralyzed.
Because if she made a single sound, her biological father would only beat her all the more viciously.
People truly were inclined to bully the weak and fear the strong. Once at Nan Dashu's house, Li Yan stopped receiving beatings and instead wrapped Nan Dashu around her finger, treating her as if she were his own flesh and blood.
Yet taking advantage of Nan Dashu's favor, Li Yan turned around and bullied Nan Dashu's biological children.
What made Nan Yu detest Li Yan most was that, knowing full well how poorly fed and clothed Nan Dashu's own children were, she would deliberately bring delicious treats right in front of Xiaosan and Xiao Si to taunt them.
She would burst into laughter watching the two of them drool, humiliating them as beggars.
Children of roughly the same age, yet Li Yan was capable of such cruelty.
She would wear her own new clothes right in front of the pair, mocking Xiaosan and Xiao Si for having nothing to wear.
Because Nan Zhi and Nan Yu were older, Li Yan didn't dare push her luck too far with them, but she routinely bullied the two younger ones.
This showed that Li Yan was not unaware that bullying was wrong; she was simply pure evil, always picking the softest persimmon to squeeze.
Nan Yu remembered that in his past life, when he returned to the village to pay respects to his younger sister, villagers had mentioned that because Xiao Si was pretty, Li Yan grew jealous and deliberately smeared her reputation, spreading rumors everywhere that Xiao Si was loose and flirtatious with men.
Because of those vicious rumors, Xiao Si had actually been cornered by local hoodlums on several occasions.
Had Xiao Si not been lucky enough to have passersby interrupt each time, she would have long since been ruined.
Later, after Li Yan got married, she brought her husband back to her maiden home to visit Li Guihua.
Just because Li Yan's husband glanced at Xiao Si a few times, Li Guihua created a massive scene at home, shrieking that Xiao Si was seducing her brother-in-law.
Xiao Si's reputation suffered an even heavier blow as a result.
And later on, when Xiao Si was violated by Li Hai and drowned herself by jumping into the river, it was undoubtedly fueled by the despair of feeling her reputation had been utterly destroyed by Li Yan, leaving her with no reason to go on living.
Thus, Li Yan bore a share of the blame for Xiao Si's death in their past life.
Thinking of all this, the fury inside Nan Yu surged upward like leaping flames, impossible to suppress.
He took a step forward, and right across Li Yan's face delivered a rapid volley of slaps, shouting as he struck.
"You're barely ten years old, yet knowing full well that the four of us siblings are bullied by your shameless mother, you still bring things to flaunt right in front of my younger sister and brother!
You even tell them they have cheap lives and don't deserve such good things!
You show off the new clothes your mother bought you right in front of my younger sister and brother, telling them they're only fit to wear rags?!
Are those things bought with money you earned? Huh?
Those were earned by the sweat of our four siblings!
My eldest sister and I work day and night, waiting on this entire household—when have the three of you ever lifted a finger around the house? Huh?
My younger brother and sister are still so small, yet even though there's no heavy labor suited for them, they still get forced by that mother of yours to climb mountains to gather firewood and cut grass!
While the four of us siblings are being bullied by you three, we have to endure insults from a brat like you!
You and that mother of yours are cut from the exact same cloth—rotten to the core!
Just look at what you and Li Hai are like! Look at what the four of us siblings are like?!
Not only do you feel no gratitude, but you bully my younger brother and sister every single day!
You really are a wicked seed by nature!"
Nan Yu wasn't saying this for the benefit of Li Yan and Li Guihua; he was saying it for the villagers gathered around to watch the spectacle.
He was laying the groundwork to formally sever family ties with Nan Dashu later on!
Previously, everyone in the village viewed Nan Yu as gentle and soft-natured. Now that even an honest person like him had been pushed to the breaking point, anyone could imagine how immense his grievances must have been.
What kind of life Nan Yu and his siblings endured at home was something everyone had witnessed with their own eyes.
When Nan Yu finally severed ties, nobody in the village would blame the four siblings; they would only condemn Li Guihua and Nan Dashu for being inhuman monsters who drove four children to such drastic measures.
Nan Yu still had to live in the village for some time. He didn't care about his own reputation, but the reputations of his elder sister, younger brother, and younger sister must not be tarnished.
That was why, as he beat Li Yan, Nan Yu made sure to lay out every detail so everyone understood how Li Yan routinely bullied others.
Seeing her daughter being beaten, Li Guihua did not show the same frantic panic she had when her son was struck, nor did she make any move to rescue her daughter from Nan Yu's hands.
In this era, most people still clung to old-fashioned notions of favoring sons over daughters.
Consequently, Li Guihua didn't truly value Li Yan; she treated her well ordinarily simply because Li Yan was her own flesh and blood, and using her was a way to suppress Nan Yu and the others.
As for Li Hai, he had long since hidden deep within the crowd, not daring to show his face. No mother or sister mattered as much as avoiding a beating himself.
Sitting flat on the ground, Li Guihua wailed toward Nan Dashu in the courtyard: "Nan Dashu, are you dead? Are you just going to stand there and watch your son beat the three of us!
I've followed you for all these years, you heartless wretch, and you just stand by and watch!"
Nan Yu had been waiting precisely for Li Guihua to say that—it would allow everyone present to understand exactly why their household was blowing up today.
Nan Yu stopped raining blows on Li Yan's face and cast a cold, mocking glance at Li Guihua on the ground.
"Fine! Then let's make it crystal clear today why I'm beating you like this!
Uncles and brothers, I'm not afraid of being laughed at; let everyone hear just what kind of monsters Li Guihua and Nan Dashu really are!
My elder sister is twenty this year. By all rights, she should have been betrothed a couple of years ago.
Yet Li Guihua figured that if my elder sister got married, the household would lose someone to wait on them hand and foot.
So for the past two years, Li Guihua deliberately blocked anyone from coming to matchmake for my sister.
Everyone knows what kind of person my sister is—it's not like suitors never came to our door to propose.
Yet every single person who came was chased away by Li Guihua.
If that were the end of it, fine—if she wasn't going to marry, she wouldn't marry.
But now, Li Guihua wants to marry my sister off to a man in town who has already beaten two wives to death—all so she can trade my sister for a six-hundred-yuan betrothal gift!
She puts up a pretty facade claiming my sister's bride price will be used to buy me a factory job, but in truth, that job is being bought for her own younger brother! Everything has already been settled with people at the factory.
The moment my sister's bride price is in hand, her younger brother gets to walk right into the factory and start working!
Everyone tell me, is this something a human being could possibly do?
Buying a job for her own brother while sending my sister into a fiery pit, and lying to both me and my sister that the job was bought for me!
Had I not accidentally overheard the truth about this scheme, we truly would have fallen for it, and my sister really would have been sold by her!"