In a place so small, a few posters were put up casually on the walls, and with just a simple mention by someone who knew Aoife, it felt as though the wind had carried the news throughout the entire forest.
As soon as Aoife stepped out of the car, people recognized her right away.
Aoife noticed that their gazes towards her were off, but she didn’t dwell on it. Carrying an urn, she walked towards a mountain path, with Finn following behind, wanting to go with her.
Passing by a house, Aoife borrowed a hoe and a sickle, and made her way up the mountain. There, she saw her grandmother’s overgrown grave – just a simple earthen mound with no tombstone, vulnerable to the ravages of time without anyone to clear the weeds. Over time, even the location of the grave would be forgotten.
Finn, unaccustomed to manual labor, came over to help and together they cleared the weeds. Aoife stood quietly in front of the grave, looking at the earthen mound. After a moment, she dug a deep hole next to the grave with the hoe, buried the urn, and covered it with the grass she had cleared.
She lit the prepared incense and paper money, with wisps of smoke rising. Aoife knelt on the ground, looking at the smoke and spoke softly.
“Grandmother, I’m leaving. Please take good care of the children up there for me.”
She truly missed them, but soon… she would see them. Not only her grandmother and children, but Ethan too.
A serene smile appeared on her face.
Finn, knowing his place, only helped clear the weeds in front of the grave and stayed at a distance, not daring to stand in front of Aoife’s grandmother, even though she was now just a dead person, a pile of soil.
As they walked down the mountain side by side, they could already hear a commotion below.
“Who would have thought that Aoife has the nerve to come back, doing all those despicable things. I feel embarrassed just looking at her. Who would have thought her shamelessness knows no bounds.”
“Ah, Wei, you’re here. Your daughter has returned, just Aoife. She went up the mountain to pay respects to her grandmother, she should be coming down soon.”
“Tied up with a rich guy and everything changes. Coming to the countryside in a luxurious car, just heard my son say that car must be worth at least ten million, and she had a handsome man accompanying her up the mountain.”
“Maybe this rich guy could be your son-in-law. You won’t have to worry anymore, you’ll strike it rich. Don’t forget your rural roots once you get rich in the city, lend me some money when the time comes.”
This group of people chattered on, making Rachel’s head spin, her hand being pulled.
At the mention of Aoife, she was consumed with rage. This disgrace had come home to roost. Three years ago, she had talked about becoming an actress, but was only given three hundred thousand to sever all ties with her mother. Rachel had actually believed that she could make a name for herself in the entertainment industry, but instead, she ended up making adult videos.
Alone, she could bear the shame, but bringing disgrace to her family in this way had left them restless, subject to whispers and looks of disdain wherever they went.
“Fine, she dares to come back.” Rachel gritted her teeth, wielding a pole. “Watch me beat her!”
Just as she spoke, a commotion was heard from up the mountain. The people around instinctively hushed and looked upwards. As soon as they saw Aoife and Finn, the spectators displayed eager anticipation.
But in the next moment, Finn shot them a cold look, freezing the onlookers in their tracks.
“Who do you want to beat?”
Rachel still wanted to say something, but upon meeting Finn’s threatening gaze, she stood there rigid as a log.
Aoife had already descended and, faced with insulting gazes once again, she refused to flinch.
The people she had feared the most were her own family, who were more monstrous than any villain, masking their control as concern and exploiting her for all she was worth, even if it meant robbing her of her body and life.
Aoife was a person who longed for love, but love was a rare commodity in her world – her only family was her grandmother.
Perhaps the thought of her grandmother just beyond the hill emboldened her to face the woman who was supposedly her mother without fear.
She mocked, a derisive smile curling her lips as she turned to leave.
Rachel seethed with resentment. The man walking beside Aoife appeared to be very rich, and if she could fleece him for a bit of cash, she could live in a mansion, own a luxury car, and even marry her son off again.
They said the man’s car was worth at least ten million – she had never seen such an expensive car, never even sat in one.
The man’s eyes were solely fixed on Aoife, walking cautiously behind her, clearly enamored – it was a look of love, not that of a sponsor or benefactor.
“Stop right there!” Rachel yelled as they turned to leave.
Finn halted, turning to look back. “Is there something else?”
“You’re just taking my daughter away like that?”
“My daughter?” Finn chuckled at the notion. Having known Aoife, he was also familiar with her family – and Rachel was the last person who deserved to be called Aoife’s mother.
Regardless of his tone, Rachel persisted, her voice raised. “In our culture, we receive a dowry for marrying off our daughters. You seem wealthy so how about giving me a billion, then you can take my daughter, I raised her for eighteen years, so it’s not much for you to give me some money.”
“Offering money is necessary. A billion? That’s nothing. I should give you a billion, ten billion, a hundred billion…”
As Finn casually tossed around these numbers, Rachel couldn’t help but swallow nervously, her eyes gleaming with greed.
“If you have so much money, I wouldn’t mind having some.”
“Of course, when’s a good day to burn it for you?”
Burning it – it would be paper money, not just a billion but even ten or a hundred billion. But who was the money being burned for? The dead person – the same person insulting her?
“Why are you like this?” Unable to outwit Finn, Rachel turned to scold Aoife. “You let him talk to your mother like that, your lack of manners. Make him hand over some money now, or I won’t let you two leave.”
The adage, ‘Trouble begets trouble,’ was no mere saying. Even to this day, there were people like this – vile, ignoble, ignorant, short-sighted, and willing to stoop low for quick gains… It had little to do with age, just that bad people simply aged.
Seeing Aoife calmly gaze back at her, Rachel felt mocked, as if her own daughter didn’t care about her opinion. Enraged, she moved to grab someone.
Before she could reach them, Finn kicked out, knocking her to the ground. The force was not light, but not too heavy either. Once Rachel fell, she remained there, shouting and sobbing, “Assault! Is there no justice here? You’re going to pay, pay for my medical expenses, or I’ll sue you.”
Finn had never encountered such a belligerent woman before. Frowning, he realized that Aoife had grown up in this environment. It pierced his heart like a needle.
Aoife had barely escaped this home, with a blueprint in her mind guiding her – yearning for freedom like a bird, only to end up in another cage. She not only had her wings clipped but her legs broken too.
Rachel’s commotion attracted more people, and some even contacted Aoife’s father and brother.
Wanting to avoid her family, Aoife felt disgusted.
“Let’s go.”
Finn made a call to have someone come and handle the situation. Life in the village was different than in the city – even with instructions, it would take at least an hour for things to be settled.
As Aoife began to walk away, Rachel cursed, “You heartless Aoife, attached to a man and you forget your own mother. I struggled to raise you, and now you play with men, sell your body, make dirty videos. You’re an embarrassment, causing shame to our entire family. People point and talk about us wherever we go, so what about compensation for mental anguish? I’m your mother!”
“I have no mother like you.” Aoife, who had been silent all along, finally spoke.
“Unfilial child! How did I give birth to such a beast? No mother, you should have been choked to death and thrown into a dung pit when you were born.”
Aoife shuddered. Sometimes she wondered if she really was her mother’s child. From the age of five, she had been doing household chores, weeding and tending to the pigs on the mountainside, with no one coming to check on her even when it got dark. After her grandmother’s passing, she took on even more responsibilities – laundry, cooking – everything was left to her once she gained some strength.
She had no pocket money, no new clothes – all her clothes were hand-me-downs from her brother. The most common phrase she heard was, “Why does a girl need so much education? Just find a man to marry.”
Before she even turned eighteen, her mother was already preparing to marry her off in exchange for a dowry.
Her father stood by, indifferent.
Her brother tied her up with a rope, unable to stand her crying, and gave her a slap.
This was her family – blood-suckers who would strip her of flesh and blood if they could.
“From the moment you forced me to marry a man in his forties, you ceased to be my family. Besides, I’ve already bought our relationship for three hundred thousand.”
Rachel attempted to justify herself, “How can you simply buy off a mother-daughter relationship with money?”
“You didn’t say that when you accepted dowry and forced me to marry. You claimed to be my mother, but what kind of mother have you been? Where were you when I was being bullied? When I was sick? You say my videos have embarrassed you, but if you had watched them carefully, you would know that I didn’t do it willingly – I was crying out for help. Did you hear me?” Aoife’s last words were almost a shout, tears streaming down her face.
She wasn’t just addressing Rachel, but everyone around her. They scoffed at her, saying she sold her body, made money from videos.
Yet, if anyone took a serious look at that video, they would see that she was being coerced, not willing. She was struggling, crying for help. She was a victim, but who saw that?
Was it really that they didn’t see it? No, it was because the victim was alive and well, thriving even more than them.
So now the victim was deemed guilty.