Transmigrated Leftover Woman in Rural Style

Li Xiaoyang stood at the doorway, watching Li Xiaonuan's lonely yet resolute figure in the courtyard. He suddenly had a thought that Li Xiaonuan might disappear into the night at any moment and never return.

The siblings stood there quietly, each lost in their own thoughts. Seeing Xiao Yang staring blankly outside, Chen, who was inside the door, curiously went out to take a look. Upon seeing him, she exclaimed in surprise, "Oh my, the moonlight makes our Xiao Nuan look like a fairy! I almost feel like she's about to fly away!"

An old lady's disgruntled voice came from behind: "Hurry up and call Xiao Nuan in, what are you all dawdling about?"

Li Xiaonuan had already snapped out of her daze when Chen Shi spoke. After hearing the old lady's words, she knew that the adults had already reached a decision. Li Xiaonuan looked up at the sky again and murmured, "It looks like the rain will start in the middle of the night."

In the main room, where Uncle Si and his wife had been kneeling together, only Li Shi remained, kneeling alone with a sorrowful expression. Looking at Li Shi's desolate face, Li Xiaonuan thought, "Why bother?" The saying "There's always a reason why someone is pitiful" is truly accurate.

Li Xiaonuan sat down and asked, "Grandma, what did you call me here for?"

The old lady glanced at Li Xiaonuan and gestured for Su Shi to pass on a message to Li's father. Li's father looked at Li Xiaonuan and said, "Xiaonuan, your fourth aunt made that mistake because of a momentary lapse of judgment. I called you here to ask you if you are willing to forgive her?"

Li Xiaonuan looked to the left rear of the old lady, took a deep breath after a long while, and slowly said under everyone's expectant gaze, "Since everyone wants me to forgive Fourth Aunt, may I ask a few questions?"

The old lady scrutinized Li Xiaonuan for a long time before finally speaking: "What do you want to ask?"

Li Xiaonuan surveyed everyone, then looked to the old lady's left rear before asking, "We used to be a harmonious family, why are we now like enemies? I've never understood why you all hate our family so much?"

Upon hearing this, Fourth Uncle, who had been standing to the side with a gloomy face, first glared angrily at Father Li, then snorted coldly and turned his head away. Fifth Uncle also looked at Father Li; although he was also very dissatisfied, he did not exude the resentment and hostility that Fourth Uncle did.

Seeing this, Li Xiaonuan raised her voice and said, "Why aren't you answering? Is it really because my father disregarded all feelings and kicked you brothers out of the house? Or did my father seize your land and take away your house?"

When Li Xiaonuan questioned her like that, the old lady's expression changed. No one had deliberately hidden what happened back then, but it had truly become a taboo subject for the whole family. Therefore, the younger generation was completely unaware of the past grievances.

Fourth Uncle clenched his fists, his neck stiff, refusing to look over. Fifth Uncle lowered his head, lost in thought. Second Aunt Tang and Su, however, embraced and wept softly. Father Li sat blankly, his gaze towards Li Xiaonuan quite complex.

Seeing that no one spoke, Li Xiaonuan continued, "Since none of you want to talk about it, then I'll guess. The reason our family has become like this is probably because of Grandpa's death, right?"

"Let me guess again. The reason you hate my father so much is because he wasn't by my grandfather's side on the day of his accident, so you think he indirectly caused my grandfather's death, right?"

"Similarly, you also hate my second uncle, who isn't with Grandpa. But since he's the second son, you think my father should bear the greatest responsibility. So, you direct all your anger at my father and ignore my second uncle's family. Am I right?"

"Xiao Nuan, stop talking. It's all my fault." As Li Xiao Nuan finished speaking, her father scolded her in a trembling voice.

"Dad, why won't you let my sister speak? Did she say anything wrong?" Xiao Yang retorted, sticking out her cheeks.

The old lady spoke weakly: "Eldest son, let Xiaonuan continue. So many years have passed, some things should come to an end."

Li Xiaonuan looked at the old woman, who seemed to have aged several years in an instant, and noticed that her back was no longer as straight as before. Li Xiaonuan suddenly realized that all the old woman's previous coldness and harshness were just a facade. Only in that way could she live on with strength.

But now, there's no room for Li Xiaonuan to back down. She wants a harmonious and happy family; she longs for mutual support among relatives. She fears family members who might stab her in the back at any moment. Because the world she's about to face is far more complex and treacherous than this small family dispute.

After adjusting her mindset, Li Xiaonuan continued her analysis: "As far as I know, the reason why Grandpa went back to the mountains alone to attend the funeral was because my fourth and fifth uncles didn't want to accompany him. Because the mountain roads were really difficult to travel, and the conditions in the mountains weren't good either, right?"

“You can’t blame your third uncle for fighting on the front lines back then. All of you brothers owe him, including my father. The conscription roster back then required families with many children to send one soldier. At that time, your fourth and fifth uncles were not married, so they couldn’t go. My father and second uncle were both married and had children, so they couldn’t go either. So, you sent your third uncle, who had only been married for a year and had no children, to the battlefield.”

These words brought tears to the eyes of Third Aunt Mao, who had been standing silently to the side. No one understood how sad and desperate she had been back then; how worried and afraid she had been during the years she stayed at home.

Now, Li Xiaonuan's words, "You all owe him," have caused Mao's long-suppressed resentment to erupt. If Li Dajian hadn't returned unharmed, she might have really hanged herself at the Li family's doorstep.

Seeing that Tang and Su had calmed Mao down, Li Xiaonuan continued her analysis: "When Grandpa received the news of the death of a relative in the mountains, he originally wanted one of you brothers to go back to attend the funeral. But Fourth Uncle and Fifth Uncle made excuses that they couldn't leave because of their work and went to hide in the city."

"My second uncle was in the mountains with the village hunters, and they had been staking out the white snake for almost ten days. My father happened to be home that day, but he didn't agree to go back to the mountains. So my grandfather had no choice but to go back by himself."

"Two days later, people from the mountains came and said that my grandfather had an accident. At that time, you started to blame everything on my father. Am I right? But because of this, you resent my father without any mercy?"

At this point, Fourth Uncle finally couldn't hold back any longer and roared at Li Xiaonuan, "Since you already know, why are you still asking? Shouldn't your father be blamed? As the eldest son, and with nothing to do at home, why can't he go back to the mountains? No matter what you say, it's all your father's fault."

Li Xiaonuan glanced at the old woman silently wiping away tears, then at her fifth uncle, whose eyes were red as he glared at her father, and sighed softly. So, all these years of misunderstanding really stemmed from this incident. But why couldn't those people ask her father about what happened back then?