1344 Butterfly Mark
“Did you hold a wedding at that time? Was there any ceremony?” Qiao Mei asked curiously.

“We did not have money to hold a wedding ceremony. Besides, who could we invite to the banquet? At that time, we didn’t even have a marriage certificate. The two of us just felt that we could live together and so we did just that,” Qiao Qiang said.

One year after Qiao Qiang got married, Qiao Zhuang also found himself a wife. He applied to get a piece of land as the location of his matrimonial home and borrowed money from all the families in the village to build the house. Rather than saying he borrowed money from everyone, it would be more accurate to say that he robbed everyone.

After Qiao Zhuang and Qiao Qiang started their own families, it was as if they had gone their separate ways. One lived at the east end of the village while the other lived at the west end of the village. They rarely interacted with each other.

At that time, a group of people suddenly came to the village to hold a recruitment drive for the army. Any man of the right age could enlist as long as he passed the physical examination. After some careful consideration, Qiao Qiang left the village with them. He wanted to take this chance to work hard so that Xia Chun could live with her head held high and everyone would think highly of the Qiao family.

However, Qiao Qiang did not know that Xia Chun was already pregnant at that time. Even Xia Chun herself did not know that she was pregnant.

It was all the neighbors who helped out when Xia Chun gave birth. However, due to chronic malnutrition, she died not long after giving birth.

As Qiao Qiang’s younger brother, Qiao Zhuang should be the one to take good care of Xia Chun and Qiao Qiang’s child when Qiao Qiang was not in the village. However, not only did Qiao Zhuang not help out, he even added insult to injury.

Everyone had to chip in to give Xia Chun a funeral. After that, it was Village Chief Zhao Liang who raised Qiao Yue. Zhao Liang definitely could not afford to raise a baby on his own. None of the villagers could. At that time, every family in Foshan Village was so poor that they could not even afford to eat. At the mention of Foshan Village, people from other villages would all run far away.

Qiao Yue ended up being brought up by everyone in the village. By the time Qiao Qiang returned to his hometown, Qiao Yue was already of marriageable age and the grass around Xia Chun’s grave had already grown very tall.

“I owe your grandmother a lot. All these years, this is the thing that I find hardest to let go. Even if I can go back in time, I’m still in the wrong no matter what decision I make,” Qiao Qiang said guiltily.

“Grandmother won’t blame you. She’s such a kind person, so she must understand why you did what you did and still be very proud of you,” Qiao Mei said.
Qiao Qiang could only hope that Xia Chun had reincarnated into a good family in her next life and did not have to suffer so much.

Qiao Mei looked down and stared intently at the photo. She still could not understand why Xia Chun would appear in Foshan Village. In the photo, she was dressed very well. At that time, the Liang family should be considered one of the most outstanding families in the capital. To be able to take a photo with Liang Shu and Liang Can, she should be from a family of high status. Why would she suddenly appear in the village?

There were too many questionable points about why this woman with the peerlessly beautiful face turned into the disfigured woman whom her grandfather had mentioned.

When Xia Zhe returned, she would ask him to send an investigator to look into it. Qiao Mei had a feeling that there was something wrong here. Perhaps she would be able to get some dirt on the Liang family after the investigation.

After Qiao Mei helped Qiao Qiang back to his room, she went to the study alone to carefully examine the butterfly ring. If this ring and the photo were placed in the same box, could it also be related to Xia Chun?

Just as Qiao Mei was inspecting the ring closely, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her palm. No matter how hard she tried, she could not shake off the butterfly ring. The ring began to emit a blood-red light and gradually melted into Qiao Mei’s palm while she could only look on in horror.

Her body seemed to be held tightly by someone and she could not move at all. She could only watch as the ring fused with her body and completely disappeared, leaving behind a faint red-colored butterfly-like tattoo on her palm.

The butterfly seemed to have a life of its own and it slowly moved from Qiao Mei’s palm to her arm and then to her neck. Finally, it stopped near Qiao Mei’s heart and its color changed from light red to black. The light also disappeared at this time.

“What… what exactly is this!” Qiao Mei looked at the butterfly on her chest in fear. No matter how hard she tried, she could not wipe it off. Her skin turned red from all the rubbing she did, but the butterfly remained intact.