Dong Feiyan deeply hated someone for the first time in her life, so much that she wanted to kill them; however, Baobao’s father stopped her. If she really killed the person, she would undoubtedly end up in prison. To pay with her life for such a worthless scoundrel wasn’t worth it at all.
She wasn’t afraid of going to jail, but if she were gone, what would her husband do? Moreover, there was her Baobao, whose whereabouts were unknown; she didn’t know how much suffering her child had endured outside and longed to find Baobao and bring her back.
In the following ten years, Dong Feiyan tirelessly sought the whereabouts of the trafficker, only to learn in a roundabout way that the trafficker had somehow crossed some major figure and met a severed and scattered end, cutting off her only lead as well.
Ten years, how many decades can one have in a lifetime?
From the initially sworn determination to gradually becoming disheartened, but after making a big roundabout, two years ago, when Baobao was sixteen, mother and daughter were reunited at last.
She was full of guilt and pity, along with a bit of disbelief.
The Baobao of old was as exquisite as a piece of finely carved jade, truly clever as can be. She had always been beautiful from a young age, but upon their reunion, her originally fair skin had become as dark as coal, and her face was covered with pockmarks.
She had repeatedly asked Baobao how her years had been, where she had lived, and so on, but whenever she brought up the topic, Baobao always had a silent and desolate look.
After being shut out several times, she stopped asking too much.
No matter what, it was good that the child had come back.
But not long after, another incident occurred.
The day Dong Feiyan returned from the mountain, she had caught two pheasants, intending to nourish Baobao’s body. However, as she approached the village, before even setting foot inside her home, she heard Baobao emit an hysterical roar.
She immediately rushed into the house and saw her husband and children, all injured.
Her husband was the most severely hurt, leaning against the wall and continuously coughing up blood—an internal injury. The second daughter and youngest son were frightened, crouching in a corner huddled together, and it was the first time Dong Feiyan witnessed Baobao’s madness with her own eyes.
Afterward, Baobao seemed to calm down a bit, but seeing the fearful and terrified looks of her younger siblings, she was in great pain. Then, without saying a word, she dashed out of the house and was not found until several days later when Dong Feiyan discovered Baobao, barely alive from hunger, in a cave on the mountain.
At the time, Baobao was like she had gone insane; she lay powerless in the cave, and didn’t respond when called, dispirited as if she had lost her mind.
After that, over the span of a year, Baobao’s temper grew increasingly irritable, and the frequency of her fits of rage became more common, from once every half month to once every ten days, and later, multiple times within a single day.
Dong Feiyan knew something was wrong, but it was no use; Baobao was like a tight-lipped bottle gourd, impossible to coax anything out of.
She knew nothing of Baobao’s past ten years, aware that something must have happened in that decade to cause Baobao’s recurring fits, yet she was powerless to do anything.
It wasn’t until a year ago, by sheer chance, Dong Feiyan saved an old nun.
The nun was an expert in Divination Skills, and to thank Dong Feiyan for saving her life, she offered to read Baobao’s fortune.
The nun said that the child had an unusual fate. If the lifespan of a normal person was a hundred years, Baobao only had six portions of fortune, referring to her time from one to six years old. As for after the age of six, she had endured life and death hardships, possessing a destiny that was prone to attracting disasters.
The nun also said that Baobao’s life was destined to follow a rough path. The path held many calamities, yet only three tribulations were particularly noteworthy.