Chapter 124: Poisoning

　　Jiang Youtao waited until the two of them walked away before she calmed down from the feeling of having just eaten the melon.

　　The appendectomy surgery was done very quickly and the patient was healed in a short while. Jiang Youtao signed up for hospitalization and Xu Qiuyue was pushed into the ward.

　　The effect of the anesthetic had not yet worn off, and Jiang Youtao said to her, "Rest well and don't worry about anything else. I asked the doctor, and he said that you can only eat after you pass gas, so you should starve for a while. I'll let Li Xiaolan accompany you at noon, and I'll come over in the evening if your family hasn't come yet."

　　Jiang Youtao said something and Xu Qiuyue nodded.

　　Jiang Youtao was a little worried, so she reminded him, "If anything happens, call the nurse. I've told them, and they'll be here soon."

　　"I understand, teacher."

　　Jiang Youtao went out and communicated with the nurse at the nurse station before leaving.

　　She didn't have breakfast in the morning and was extremely hungry. Fortunately, Gu Nianwei thought of her and cooked her a bowl of wontons. Although it had been left out for a while, the taste was not affected at all.

　　Jiang Youtao finished her meal in a hurry and the first class was over.

　　Gu Nianwei saw Jiang Youtao coming back and hurriedly asked what happened: "Acute appendicitis, she had surgery. I have to call her commune later to inform her parents to come over."

　　Jiang Youtao asked about it. In this era, it takes three or four days to see how the wound heals before you can leave after an appendectomy. If it doesn't heal well, you have to stay for a few more days. It definitely won't work if she relies on them. Their parents have to come.

　　"Well, their commune is quite far away, and they can't come here for a while. I will go back and cook some porridge and bring it to her at noon."

　　The two discussed for a while, and then Teacher Xu came in with a triangle ruler. Someone greeted him and he smiled very gently.

　　The second class was still taught by Teacher Xu. Teacher Xu took a sip of water and left again with the triangle ruler.

　　Jiang Youtao moved her stool and leaned back: "Teacher Zheng, how long has Teacher Xu been married? Did he have any children yet?"

　　Teacher Zheng screwed the cap on the pen and whispered gossip to Jiang Youtao: "It's been four or five years, and he still hasn't had a child. Some people urged him, but he said there was no rush."

　　Teacher Zheng sighed: "Teacher Xu is such a good person. Over the years, no matter how much Lian Xinlan did, he never got angry with her. Instead, he treated her very well. And he has a good temper. Over the years, I have never seen him get angry once."

　　"Why haven't I met a man like this? My husband usually looks nice, but if something happens, he will be very anxious. It's really annoying."

　　"That's not true. I think your husband is a nice guy. Last time I saw him taking your two kids out to play, he was very attentive."

　　When her partner was praised, Teacher Zheng smiled and said, "Yes, that's the only good thing about him. If he hadn't been so attentive, I wouldn't have liked him."

　　The bell rang, and Jiang Youtao walked towards the teaching building with Teacher Zheng, holding her books.

　　Jiang Youtao felt particularly uncomfortable with Teacher Zheng's evaluation of Teacher Xu.

　　Any normal man would show anger after his wife betrayed him, but according to Teacher Zheng, Teacher Xu never got angry about it and instead behaved very magnanimously.

　　And he is especially nice to Lian Xinlan.

　　Based on this situation, Jiang Youtao felt that either Teacher Xu was a cuckold, or he felt guilty when facing Lian Xinlan, so he humbled himself to please her.

　　Considering that Lian Xinlan had never given birth and had an abortion if she got pregnant, Jiang Youtao boldly speculated that Lian Xinlan was not pregnant with Teacher Xu's child, but that Teacher Xu was unable to have children.

　　Jiang Youtao felt that she was really smart, and she must have guessed the truth almost exactly!

　　Jiang Youtao asked the melon-eating system to closely monitor the family compound, and if there was a commotion in Teacher Xu's family, call her immediately.

　　As a person who enjoys eating melons, Jiang Youtao is determined not to let go of any melon that passes by her.

　　But it was obvious that Teacher Xu's schedule for today was quite full, and he didn't go home until the last class.

　　Jiang Youtao had her meal in the cafeteria and went home with Gu Nianwei, who had returned from the hospital after visiting Xu Qiuyue.

　　As the two of them walked into their yard, they heard the sound of something falling coming from Teacher Xu's house over there.

　　As a bad guy in the melon field, Jiang Youtao immediately took action.

　　Teacher Xu lives next door to Teacher Zhao. The two of them turned around immediately and happened to meet Teacher Zheng's mother-in-law who came out with a bowl of rice.

　　Her mother-in-law is very popular in the staff housing estate and everyone calls her Aunt Cheng.

　　Aunt Cheng waved to them and said, "Come over here."

　　Aunt Cheng took them directly to Teacher Yu's house, which was opposite Teacher Xu's house.

　　Teacher Yu's mother-in-law, Aunt Lu, and Teacher Cheng are good sisters. At this moment, Aunt Lu is eating with her son and grandson, while Teacher Yu is washing clothes in the yard.

　　It's so cold! Her hands are frozen red.

　　When Teacher Yu saw them come in, she stood up immediately.

　　Aunt Lu glanced at her and said nothing. Instead, she invited Aunt Cheng to eat.

　　Aunt Cheng didn't want to eat, and Jiang Youtao and the others had already eaten. Aunt Cheng asked, "What's going on at Teacher Xu's house across the street? Why did I hear something fall to the ground?"

　　Aunt Lu was squatting at the door just now, watching: "I saw Lian Xinlan coming back this morning holding her stomach, and Teacher Xu just came back in a very happy mood, but as soon as he entered the house, she threw things."

　　As soon as Aunt Lu finished speaking, they saw Lian Xinlan stumbling out of the house, followed by Teacher Xu with a slightly gloomy face. But when he saw so many people in Teacher Yu's house, his face suddenly changed.

　　"Xinlan, what are you doing? If something is broken, just buy another one. I don't blame you." Teacher Xu's attitude remained gentle, but the look in his eyes when he looked at Lian Xinlan was particularly deep.

　　But for some reason, Jiang Youtao felt a chill on her back.

　　This feeling is exactly the same as a TV series she watched when she was a child called Don't Talk to Strangers.

　　Lian Xinlan had already decided to give it a try. She turned her head to look at the people outside, then set her gaze on Teacher Xu's face.

　　"Xu Jianxin, stop pretending. Don't you know what kind of person you are? Why are you pretending like this?"

　　Teacher Xu still smiled gently: "Xinlan, what nonsense are you talking about?"

　　He looked confused, as if Lian Xinlan was being unreasonable.

　　Lian Xinlan hated Xu Jianxin so much that she reached out to her clothes and pulled them down, revealing scars of varying depths on her body. New scars overlapped the old ones, and the new scars were even oozing yellowish blood.

　　This changed Teacher Xu's expression, as well as the expressions of Aunt Lu and others.

　　Aunt Cheng was the most enthusiastic. She stopped watching and asked Lian Xinlan, "Xinlan, how did you get these injuries?!"

　　Lian Xinlan continued to pull her clothes down, revealing half of her back, which was covered with scars.

　　"This is all caused by the gentle and kind teacher Xu in your eyes."

　　The autumn wind outside was so cold, but Lian Xinlan seemed not to feel it. She still showed her scars to everyone: "I, Lian Xinlan, am also a girl from a good family, but after I met Xu Jianxin, he forced me to marry him."

　　"It would be fine if you were really nice to me. But don't you know your own situation? You are a natural eunuch!"

　　When Lian Xinlan said this, everyone was shocked, and even the neighbors came out to watch the fun.

　　Aunt Lu whispered, "I never thought that Teacher Xu, who usually looks gentle, is actually such a person. How cruel must he be to dare to do such a heavy hand!"

　　Teacher Yu made another comment after the fact: "I have long felt that he is not a good person, like a smiling tiger."

　　Jiang Youtao looked at Xu Jianxin and said, "Scumbag. A man who beats his wife should be killed."

　　Gu Nianwei also nodded in agreement.

　　Aunt Cheng's eyelids jumped, and she hurried forward and pulled up her clothes: "My daughter, we have grievances, but your body is your own, you can't treat it like this."

　　Aunt Cheng's hands were shaking, and the wounds were piled up one on top of the other, and it was painful to look at.

　　Lian Xinlan smiled at Aunt Cheng and said, "How much worse can it be? Xu Jianxin and I have been living like this every day for these years. When did my body become my own?"

　　"He, Xu Jianxin, doesn't want others to know that he is an incomplete person. He pretends to be a decent person outside, but he tortures me when he gets home. Every night when you guys are asleep, he, Xu Jianxin, would tie me up and beat me because he himself is incompetent."

　　"This is not his most perverted behavior. His most perverted behavior is that he himself is clearly not capable of having sex, but he still wants me to find a man outside to have a baby, and then say that the baby is his. This is nothing, because he found those men. After those men left, he started to torture me again, saying that I was a slut."

　　Before Lian Xinlan married Xu Jianxin, they had only met once. That time, she was carrying some things to her grandmother's house. While walking on the road, she saw Xu Jianxin fall on the side of the road, so she helped him up out of kindness.

　　She didn't take the matter seriously at first, but on the third day when she came back from collecting grass for pigs, she saw Xu Jianxin at home.

　　Xu Jianxin came to her house to propose marriage.

　　Xu Jianxin's family was from a wealthy commune. At that time, he had just graduated from a teachers' college and had been assigned to a middle school in Yangping County, where he was a middle school teacher and had a stable job.

　　Her home was in the mountains, and there were only a few households in the entire village. When Xu Jianxin came to propose marriage, everyone said that she was lucky. Even now, there are still many people who envy her good fortune.

　　Even Xinlan was secretly happy about this, but it all turned into a nightmare on the wedding night.

　　People nowadays all have some understanding of matters between men and women. As soon as Xu Jianxin took off his clothes at night, she knew that he was no longer able to do it.

　　His penis was not much bigger than her little finger, about the same size as her five-year-old brother.

　　Perhaps it was because her expression was too surprised that the usually gentle Xu Jianxin changed his expression instantly and started beating her on their wedding night.

　　From then on, she was beaten every day.

　　Her husband's family knew about this but did nothing about it. Her parents' family knew about this and advised her that everything would be fine after she had a child.

　　Lian Xinlan had thought so too. After all, when Xu Jianxin didn't beat her, he was really good to her. She was always the first to wear the new clothes and scarves from the state-owned stores. She could go to any restaurant she wanted, and Xu Jianxin would let her do whatever she wanted.

　　Moreover, Xu Jianxin didn't beat her every day, only once or twice a month at most. As long as she endured it, it would pass. Even Xinlan accepted her fate. After all, many of her parents' generation beat women. She had no intention of divorce.

　　But as they were married for longer, Xu Jianxin saw that other families had children, but he had no children at home. His temper became worse and worse, and he beat her more and more often.

　　A year ago, Xu Jianxin told her to find someone to lend her sperm, but Lian Xinlan was unwilling to do so. She thought it was ridiculous and she would rather adopt a child than do such a thing.

　　But Xu Jianxin had reached a dead end. He refused to recognize the child if it was not from Lian Xinlan's belly.

　　Whenever Lian Xinlan refused, Xu Jianxin would beat her. Finally, despite her objections, he invited his best friends to his house for dinner, and then locked them in a room when he was drunk.

　　That night, Xu Jianxin was sitting outside. She cried and begged him, but he was unwilling to let her out.

　　They succeeded. Xu Jianxin used this as leverage to demand that they sleep with each other at least once a week to ensure pregnancy.

　　Half a year ago, Lian Xinlan finally got pregnant. Xu Jianxin was very happy. He touched her belly very gently and promised that he would never beat her again and that they would live a good life.

　　Lian Xinlan believed it. Then when she was three months pregnant, Xu Jianxin drank and assaulted her again. The baby died after three months of pregnancy, and she started to borrow sperm again.

　　During this period of time, Xu Jianxin's treatment of her was sometimes good and sometimes bad. When he was in a good mood, he would pamper her to the sky, but when he was in a bad mood, she would be tied up and beaten with a whip dipped in salt water all night long. He would beat her until she was tired and had no strength left, and the alcohol took effect, so he would fall asleep.

　　For countless nights, she curled up at the head of the bed, looking at the stars and the moon outside the window and waiting for dawn.

　　This month, her period came a week late. Xu Jianxin was very happy. He talked about his previous promises again, but she no longer believed him.

　　She went to have an abortion this morning, and the child's biological father went with her.

　　The child's biological father used to be Xu Jianxin's best friend, and they are still friends now, but they are almost like enemies. He has no parents and just got married the year before last, but he doesn't have any children yet. Xu Jianxin's action has almost destroyed his family.

　　He had divorced his wife half a month ago. He didn't want any property and gave it all to his ex-wife, including two houses in the county town.

　　He said that he wanted to kill Xu Jianxin, and that way she would be free.

　　He had already risked everything, and he gave her a lot of money, more than a hundred yuan in total, which he had saved without telling his wife.

　　He said that no matter how they started, he was reluctant at first, but later, he was willing. He was sorry for her, and the more than one hundred yuan was his compensation to her.

　　After he kills Xu Jianxin, she will take the money, live a good life, and then find a good man to marry.

　　Lian Xinlan had never been treated well in her life. Her parents raised her for a high bride price. Once the bride price was paid, they didn't care whether she was beaten or killed after she married into her husband's family.

　　Her in-laws were not good people. They all knew about Xu Jianxin's situation. When she was beaten, no one came to help her.

　　Not to mention Xu Jianxin. Most of the suffering she endured in these short twenty-two years came from him.

　　There was only Gu Subing. Their relationship started off ingloriously, but he gave her the attentive care she had never had in her life.

　　Lian Xinlan felt it was worth it. She couldn't let Gu Subing's life be ruined, but her life could.

　　"Xu Jianxin, you know you are a waste."

　　Xu Jianxin hated being called a loser the most. He finally stopped pretending and walked towards Lian Xinlan step by step: "You bitch, have you betrayed me?"

　　Lian Xinlan buttoned up her clothes and looked at Xu Jianxin. She estimated the time the man selling rat poison had given her, and then counted silently in her mind. When she counted to the tenth time, Xu Jianxin fell to the ground with a thud, foaming at the mouth.

　　Someone screamed and everyone rushed in from outside in a panic.

　　Lian Xinlan turned her head suddenly. On the other side of the staff quarters, at the door of Teacher Zheng's house, there stood a silent tall man. Lian Xinlan stopped looking at him.

　　Xu Jianxin was sent to the hospital, and Lian Xinlan was controlled by Han Yanqing and Teacher Zheng's husband after hearing the news.

　　Lian Xinlan was escorted past him, and when the two looked at each other, the man's eyes suddenly turned red.

　　Seeing him like this, Lian Xinlan smiled especially gently.