Fu Sitian was used to such gazes by now and didn't mind. He just smiled lightly, "Hello, Auntie, I am Fu Sitian."
Jiang's mother paused momentarily and then quickly smiled, "Hello, come in, come in."
As she spoke, she stepped aside to let the person outside enter.
After the man entered, Jiang's mother pulled Jiang Lin outside, lowered her voice angrily, and said, "What is this all about? How could you marry me off to a disabled person?"
Jiang Lin consoled softly, explaining in a gentle voice, "Mom, Sitian was just in a car accident fifteen years ago. He said that the doctors are currently saying it can't be cured, but I..."
"What?" Jiang's mother couldn't bear to hear any more and exclaimed loudly, "Are you saying that his legs can't be healed?"
"Shh!" Jiang Lin signaled to her to be quieter, but the very next moment, Jiang's mother suddenly choked up with sobs.
"Linlin, Mom forced you to get married because I hoped that there would be someone to protect you in the future. I don't want you to marry out of spite, Mom. It's not that I despise Sitian for being disabled, it's just, how can he protect you like this? It would be more likely that you'd have to protect him!"
Jiang Lin gently embraced her mother's shoulders and comforted her in a low voice:
"Mom, his leg condition is only temporary, I will do my utmost to cure him. Even if it can't be healed in the end, it won't change my feelings for him. Sitian has a reliable and pure character, with remarkable abilities. Staying with him, I won't live worse than others. Mom, trust me, and trust him, okay?"
"He can't even take care of himself, how am I supposed to trust him?!" Jiang's mother turned her back, wiping her tears secretly.
She didn't look down on disabled people; it was just that the thought of her daughter hastily marrying a disabled man made her regret pressuring her.
"Mom, look at Dad. He has hands and feet, is able to take care of himself, but other than using his hands to hit you and his feet to kick you, has he protected you?"
The daughter's deep and somber words froze Jiang's mother in place as the tears couldn't stop falling.
She was always aware that domestic violence had left a shadow in her daughter's heart.
"But..."
Jiang's mother wanted to speak, but at that moment, the door to the house opened. Jiang Hua, whom they hadn't seen for many days, walked in.
He had a toothpick in his mouth and when he saw the mother and daughter embracing, he raised his eyebrows and sneered, "What's the matter? Complaining about me to your precious daughter again?"
At his words, Jiang's mother instinctively shivered.
Jiang Lin gently patted her mother's hand, signaling her not to be afraid.
She looked coldly at Jiang Hua, "What are you doing back?"
"This is my home, why can't I come back?" Jiang Hua took a seat on the chair opposite them, swung his legs around arrogantly, and looked with disdain at Jiang Lin:
"As for you, a jinx, what are you doing back here? No wonder I've had such bad luck these past few days; it must have been you hexing me! Give me a hundred thousand yuan, I need to go out and win back everything with interest!"
Having said that, he carelessly spat the toothpick onto the ground and stretched out his hand towards Jiang Lin.
Jiang Lin furrowed her brows.
Mom had said earlier that he had gone on a business trip... It seems he had been gambling nonstop these past few days and only came back after losing.
It had always been this way since she was a child. Whenever he went out to gamble, things were fine if he won, but when he lost, he would come home and inevitably beat and kick her mother.
Thinking of this, she felt an increasing disgust toward her father right in front of her.
"What are you standing there for? Give me the money!" Jiang Hua barked and cursed, "Nothing but bad luck since you were born! I thought by having you marry Lu Kaipin, I could enjoy my latter years in peace. Who knew you'd mess that up too."
"Shut up!"
Faced with her biological father connected by blood, Jiang Lin felt nothing but revulsion.
"What?" sneered Jiang Hua, "Thinking of hitting me now, are you?"
"I'm not you. Only cowards hit women and children," Jiang Lin sneered back, hatred in her eyes deepening as she remembered the pain he had inflicted on her and her mother since childhood.
"But you've experienced what I'd do before, haven't you?"
"You!" Jiang Hua's eyes reddened with fury as he remembered the year Jiang Lin was fifteen, when he had been on a winning streak at the gambling den, and this loser had the audacity to call the police on him.
Not only was he and his gambling buddies imprisoned for a year, but all the winnings were confiscated as well, and on top of that, they had to pay a fine of a whole hundred thousand.
"I'm going to kill you today, you good-for-nothing!"
With old grudges and new anger combined, Jiang Hua picked up his slipper and swung it at Jiang Lin.
Jiang Lin quickly dodged with her mother, causing him to lose his balance and plunge headfirst into the sofa, missing his target.
Then he grabbed the broom next to him, trembling with rage, "You dare dodge? You bitch, you still dare dodge!"
"Don't do this, if you must hit someone, hit me," implored Jiang Lin's mother, shielding her daughter, her face full of pleading as she looked at Jiang Hua, "She's your daughter! If you want to hit someone, hit me. I'll stand still and let you vent, okay?"
"I'm going to kill you today!" Jiang Hua grabbed his wife's wrist and cursed, "My parents said they haven't received their living expenses of ten thousand for this month—damn it, I married you to bear me sons and toil for my parents, and you've done neither! I might as well kill you!"
Hearing this, Jiang Lin's mother's heart shattered, choking out, "You never give me any money. The ten thousand monthly living expense has always come from the inheritance my parents left me, and last month it was all spent, I really have no money left..."
"Then go sell yourself!" Jiang Hua spat, teeth itching with anger, "There are plenty of old men on the streets who'd pay for a pig. If you sell yourself to a few of them, not just ten thousand, you could get thirty thousand a month!"
"Shut up!" Jiang Lin spoke sternly, interrupting Jiang Hua as she tenderly embraced her mother, "Mom! Don't ask him for anything! He's not worth it!"
Jiang Lin was deeply saddened by her mother's submissive demeanor. As a child, she was incapable of protecting her from so much humiliation. Now that she was grown, she wouldn't let this bastard touch her mother ever again!
Not even a single hair!
She put her mother behind her and said, "Tomorrow, I will take you to the court to sue for divorce. I will take care of you!"
"What?" Jiang Hua was further enraged, "You good-for-nothing trying to persuade your mother to divorce me? I'm going to beat you to death today!"
With those words, he lunged at them with the broom again.
Jiang Lin, pulling her mother aside, avoided the blow. Jiang Hua got back up and swung viciously at them again. Jiang Lin, unable to get away, steeled herself, shielding her mother in her arms, ready to take the hit.
But to her surprise, the anticipated pain did not come. Turning around in astonishment, she saw her father's abusive hand being held by Fu Sitian.
The man, seated in a wheelchair, resembled a fierce beast whose scales had been ruffled, his gaze cold and ruthless.
"Linlin is my wife, and you can't touch her!"