154 Vicious
At this point, the old lady's gaze became a little unbearable. It was as if only the memories could make her, a bystander, feel pain.
The water in the water tank had been too hot. As soon as Ah Hui had entered the water tank, she had let out a miserable cry. The sound had pierced through everyone's eardrums and had made their hearts tremble.
Ah Hui had waved her arms, cried, and shouted. She had struggled desperately, clung to the edge of the water tank, trying to escape.
"Don't let her out!" the witch doctor had shouted. "This is a critical moment!"
Thus, Aunt Mei and her eldest daughter-in-law walked to the side of the water tank and forcefully pushed Ah Hui, who had been struggling, into the water.
Ye Ling had closed her eyes in pain, unable to imagine the cruel scene. She had used too much force, and her nails had dug into her flesh, causing a stinging sensation.
The old lady sighed and continued, "After the ritual, Ah Hui's condition hadn't improved. Instead, she had developed a high fever. Her face had turned waxen. She had used to be such a fair and tender young girl, but now she had looked like a sick ghost infected with the plague."
"Weren't they going to send Ah Hui to the clinic?" Ye Ling had asked hoarsely.
The old lady shook her head slowly and said, "Aunt Mei's husband had fallen off the roof a few years ago when he had been repairing the roof. He had been sent to the clinic and then to the county hospital. In the end, he had still died. From then on, Aunt Mei hadn't trusted doctors anymore."
Ye Ling had been helpless and hadn't known what to say.
After Ah Hui's condition had worsened, the witch doctor said that the fox demon's magic power had been too powerful. A ritual hadn't been enough to expel the fox demon. She had needed to rest for a while and wait for her energy to recover before she could fight with the fox demon again.
The witch doctor had set the time for the second ritual to be held nine days later.
However, in the past two days, Ah Hui's condition had been very bad. After the witch doctor's assistant had come to take a look, he had prescribed a prescription and had asked Aunt Mei's family to get the medicine.
The person who had gone to the pharmacy to get the medicine was Aunt Mei's second son, who had also been Ah Hui's husband, Ma Biao.
At this point, Ye Ling had finally understood that the witch doctor had just been playing tricks.
Ye Ling hadn't known if Ah Hui had been sick or not, but through the witch doctor's torment, a healthy person had been about to be "treated" for a terminal illness.
The witch doctor had used the excuse that he still needed to perform a second ritual. He had probably seen that Ah Hui's condition hadn't been good enough, so he had wanted Ah Hui to die before the second ritual.
This thought had been too vicious!
Ye Ling had guessed that the reason why the witch doctor had dared to treat Ah Hui so boldly might have had something to do with the fact that Ah Hui had been Aunt Mei's daughter-in-law.
From the old lady's tone, Ye Ling could also sense that the villagers seemed to have a contemptuous attitude towards people who were bought from other places. It was as if those people were not living people but just purchased products and the person who bought them had absolute rights to use them.
It was precisely because of this thought that Aunt Mei would beat and scold Ah Hui without restraint.
For the witch doctor, if a villager died, the situation would be very serious. However, if it was a girl who was bought, the situation would be very insignificant.
Anyway, she was bought and did not even have a household registration file. Even if Aunt Mei's family wanted to pursue the matter, they would not even dare to report it.
This was because if they were to report the case, they would have to admit that they had bought Ah Hui. This kind of human trafficking was illegal. Aunt Mei's family would naturally not be stupid enough to go to the police station to admit this.
Thinking of this, Ye Ling suddenly felt that something was wrong.
If the witch doctor's purpose was to let Ah Hui die as soon as possible, then why did the witch doctor's assistant send Ma Biao to the pharmacy to fetch medicine?
Ye Ling's mind flashed with an idea, and she clenched her fists.
Not good!
The witch doctor's assistant must have seen that Ah Hui's condition was extremely bad. Even if she took those ginseng slices, it would not get better.
Those ginseng slices were just a type of herb. There wasn't even a prescription. If Ah Hui were to take them directly, her condition would not improve. Moreover, the medicinal effects of the ginseng slices were too strong. Without the suppression of supplementary medicine, Ah Hui's weak body might not have been able to withstand such medicinal effects at all, which would have accelerated Ah Hui's death.
Since Ah Hui would die regardless of whether she took the medicine or not, the witch doctor and her assistant only had one goal, which was to push the cause of Ah Hui's death to a third party.
Ah Hui was a daughter-in-law that Aunt Mei had bought from overseas. She was essentially equivalent to a sum of money. Although her death would not cause too much trouble, money was still money. Without Ah Hui, even if Aunt Mei's family did not dare to call the police to investigate, they would have trouble with the witch doctor and the others.