The beloved but ungrateful girl is reborn: This time she has truly changed.

Qi Weiwei's hands were trembling.

She bit her lip and gently cleaned the wound with a cotton swab dipped in iodine.

The iodine irritated the wound, and Chen Hongxia shuddered in pain, but she didn't cry out. She just closed her eyes, and tears slid down her cheeks.

"Mom, just bear with it, it'll be over soon." Qi Weiwei's voice choked with emotion, but she tried to move as gently as possible.

After cleaning, apply medicine and bandage.

Then treat the injuries on my face.

The slap mark was deep; half of his face was swollen, and his lip was cut.

"Who hit him?" Qi Weiwei asked, her voice choked with emotion.

Chen Hongxia shook her head and didn't say anything.

Qi Weiwei didn't ask any more questions and continued to treat the wound.

Then it's Dad.

The marks on his hands, the bruises on his face, the cut on his lip.

And then there's the leg—when you lift up the trouser leg, there's a large patch of bruises on the calf, and it's swollen quite a bit.

"They beat me with sticks," Qi Chou finally spoke, his voice hoarse, "saying I was 'stubborn' and 'refused to confess.'"

Qi Weiwei's tears welled up again, but she forced them back.

Now is not the time to cry.

After treating all the wounds, Ling Heping brought over two cups of hot tea.

Qi Chou took it, his hands trembling so badly that some tea spilled out.

Chen Hongxia didn't even have the strength to lift the cup, so Qi Weiwei fed her a few sips.

"Are you hungry? I bought steamed buns and some vegetables," Qi Weiwei asked.

Both of them shook their heads.

"Have some." Qi Weiwei went to the kitchen to heat up the dishes and steamed the steamed buns until they were soft before bringing them over.

Qi Chou barely managed to eat half a steamed bun, while Chen Hongxia only drank a few sips of cabbage soup.

After finishing their meal, Qi Weiwei helped her mother lie down and covered her with a blanket. Her father also lay down, but his eyes were open, staring at the ceiling.

"Weiwei," Qi Chou suddenly said, "how come we were suddenly released? We've already put our fingerprints on the confession; logically, we should be sentenced... Did you... did you beg them?!"

"Dad, I didn't. I took that guarantee to Tang Heng and told him that if he didn't release you, I would cause trouble at the military base. Breaking up a military marriage is a crime punishable by imprisonment," Qi Weiwei said briefly. Then she advised, "Dad, don't think about these things for now. Don't worry, they won't arrest you again for the time being. Let's focus on recovering first, and we'll talk about the rest later."

Qi Chou looked at her, his eyes filled with worry, guilt, and a hint of relief.

Chen Hongxia asked anxiously again, "Weiwei, quick! Tell me about your trip to Shandong Province. Where are the children?"

Qi Weiwei took a deep breath and began to speak.

After hearing this, both Mom and Dad cried.

Qi Weiwei sat on the edge of the bed, looking at her parents' old and haggard faces, and the hatred in her heart grew wildly like weeds.

Tang Qu, Tang Aijun, Tang Tiantian, Zhang Qingtian...

She won't let any member of this family go.

Not a single one.

Ling Heping suddenly spoke, breaking the silence in the room.

"Uncle Qi," he said softly, as if afraid of startling something, "were you released from the courtyard of the land reclaiming committee?"

Qi Chou leaned against the headboard, shook his head, and moved very slowly, each movement aggravating the injuries on his face.

He opened his mouth, his voice terribly hoarse:

"No...we were moved yesterday, wearing hoods, and we don't know where we were taken. We were even taken by car. Tonight, we were also wearing hoods and taken by car to...a cemetery in the western suburbs."

The enamel mug in Qi Weiwei's hand fell to the ground with a "clatter," spilling water all over the floor.

"What?" Her eyes widened, her voice rising. "You walked back from the western suburbs cemetery? Then... how long did it take you to walk?"

Chen Hongxia closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face. "About... three or four hours. It was dark, the road was difficult to walk on, and your dad's leg was injured again..."

Cemetery in the western suburbs.

Qi Weiwei immediately pictured that place in her mind—a desolate mass grave a dozen miles from the city, surrounded by farmland, with no place to shelter from the wind in winter.

The temperature dropped to minus seven or eight degrees Celsius at night, and the north wind was as sharp as a knife.

My parents were so badly injured, with bruises on their faces, marks on their bodies, and difficulty walking, yet Tang Qu deliberately took them to the western suburbs cemetery before letting them go.

This is practically wishing them dead.

If Mom and Dad collapse from exhaustion, they could freeze to death overnight.

Even if they didn't freeze to death, dragging their injuries and walking for three or four hours at night, they would be barely alive by the time they got home.

Qi Weiwei felt a rush of heat to her head, and her ears were ringing.

Her vision blurred, and she had to hold onto the edge of the bed to steady herself.

A sharp pain shot through my palm.

She loosened her clenched fist and looked down.

Because his fist was clenched so tightly, his fingernails had dug deep into his palm, leaving four deep crescent-shaped wounds from which blood seeped, mixing with the wounds from the previous cuts caused by the broken pieces of the vase, making his entire palm a bloody mess.

"Weiwei!" Chen Hongxia exclaimed, struggling to sit up.

Ling Heping quickly came over and grabbed Qi Weiwei's wrist: "Don't move, I'll take care of it for you."

Another flurry of activity ensued.

Ling Heping opened the cloth bag he had brought earlier and took out new gauze and iodine.

He moved quickly but gently, using a cotton swab dipped in iodine to clean the wound on Qi Weiwei's palm.

The iodine irritated the wound, and Qi Weiwei trembled in pain, but she gritted her teeth and didn't make a sound.

Her eyes were fixed on her parents, her eyes red-rimmed but without tears.

After bandaging the wound, Ling Heping glanced at the old-fashioned grandfather clock on the table—it was already past one in the morning.

"Weiwei, Uncle Qi, Aunt Qi," he stood up, his tone steady, "I have to go to the harvest committee now. Chun Chun and Maomao are still waiting there to pick you up. After I pick them up, I'll go to Grandpa Qi's place in the suburbs to let him know; they and Brother Qi are also waiting there."

Qi Weiwei snapped out of her daze and nodded: "Thank you, Brother Heping."

Ling Heping looked at her, wanting to say something, but in the end he just patted her shoulder: "Why are you being so polite with me? Lock the door, and don't open it for anyone except me."

He turned and walked away quickly, his footsteps fading into the distance in the hallway.

Qi Weiwei bolted the door and returned to the bedside.

My parents had already closed their eyes, but they were clearly not asleep.

Dad's brow was furrowed, and Mom's hands trembled slightly under the blanket.

"Go to sleep," Qi Weiwei said softly, "I'll stay here."

She pulled up a chair and sat down on the edge of the bed.

The coal in the stove was burning brightly, making a soft crackling sound.

The water in the kettle boiled, and the steam made the lid hiss loudly, which was especially clear in the quiet night.

Qi Weiwei filled the thermos and tucked it into her parents' bed.

Looking at their aged and haggard faces, images from her past life uncontrollably surfaced in her mind.

How her family members were drained of their lifeblood by the Tang family, dying one by one...

And all of this is because of her.

Because she was blind to the truth, because she was stubborn and unrepentant, because she dragged her whole family into hell for a scumbag.

Hatred, like molten lava, surged and boiled in her chest.

She wished she could rush to the Tang family right now, grab a kitchen knife, and chop Tang Qu, Zhang Qingtian, Tang Aijun, Tang Tiantian, and those two little beasts into mincemeat.

But it's not possible.

This second chance is not meant to be wasted!