Chapter 509: A Single Scar Moved the Entire Zhu Family

“Shu’er… what happened to your wrist?”

Li Shu had already drawn everyone’s attention by serving herself so little food. Now, with Madam Chen’s sudden question, every gaze in the room shifted at once to her wrist.

The scar there was impossible to ignore. It wrapped nearly halfway around her slender wrist, as thick as a little finger. At first glance, it looked almost frightening—like a crude bracelet formed not of jade or gold, but of raw, jagged flesh. Judging by the scabbing, it was clearly a recent injury, likely from just a few days ago.

But how could a wound be so large… so deep?

What kind of suffering had this child endured?

The sight alone was enough to make one’s heart ache.

Madam Chen stared at the scar, her chest tightening, her eyes already glistening with tears.

Juan’er, the eldest sister-in-law, also asked with concern. Zhu Pingan’s Father and the others said nothing, but their eyes were filled with worry.

In their minds, this horrifying wound must have come from the pirates they had encountered at sea. After all, those men were ruthless killers—cutting someone was nothing to them, and taking lives even less so.

But to strike so viciously… even against a young woman like Li Shu…

It was simply too cruel.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just a scar,” Li Shu said lightly, smiling faintly as though it were of no importance. She tugged her sleeve down to cover it and continued serving the rice.

Yet though the scar was hidden, its terrifying image lingered even more vividly in everyone’s minds.

“And you call that nothing? Such a big scar… how much pain must you have suffered…” Madam Chen’s voice trembled, her eyes moist. In her imagination, she could already see those merciless pirates raising their blades against Li Shu, the thought alone enough to make her shudder.

“Mother, it wasn’t the pirates,” Li Shu said gently after finishing serving the rice. She shook her head, offering a reassuring smile.

“Not the pirates? Then how did you get hurt?” Madam Chen asked, puzzled.

“This?” Li Shu glanced at her wrist again before sitting down. “I did it myself. It just looks scary—it’s really nothing.” She spoke casually, even smiling as she comforted them, as if the matter were utterly trivial.

You did it yourself?

Madam Chen froze. Everyone else fell silent in stunned disbelief—everyone except Zhu Ping’an.

Such a severe wound… and she had done it to herself?

A strange thought crept into their minds: could this new daughter-in-law… have something wrong with her head? Why would anyone injure themselves like that, leaving such a terrible scar? Could she have some sort of self-harming tendency?

There was a madwoman in the neighboring village—perfectly normal most of the time, but once she lost control, no one could stop her. Whether she held scissors or a kitchen knife, she would lash out at whoever was near, caring neither for kin nor stranger.

Despite themselves, a dreadful image surfaced in Madam Chen’s mind: Zhu Ping’an quietly eating a meal when suddenly—bang!—Li Shu bursts out with a cleaver raised high. Or the two of them resting in bed when—snap!—she suddenly pulls out a hairpin, her face twisted with a chilling glare…

Just imagining it was terrifying.

“Second sister-in-law… why would you make such a large wound on your own wrist?” Juan’er asked carefully, voicing what Madam Chen found difficult to say aloud.

“Oh… this…”

Li Shu’s expression shifted as she began to recall the events. When she spoke of the danger, a trace of lingering fear appeared on her delicate face.

“It happened when we encountered pirates at sea. At the same time, a great storm struck, and the ship overturned. Husband, Hua’er, and I were swept onto an island. Just as we were about to reach the shore, another huge wave came and hurled us toward the rocks…”

As she spoke, the room fell silent. Even though Zhu Ping’an and Li Shu now sat safely before them, the vividness of her description made everyone’s hearts tighten, as though they were reliving the peril themselves.

“There were reefs everywhere along the shore. The wave smashed us against them. Husband shielded me… but he struck the rocks himself…”

At this, Madam Chen and the others visibly tensed, their hearts leaping into their throats.

“Husband lost consciousness. Hua’er and I dragged him onto the shore, but no matter how we called to him, he wouldn’t wake… and it was all because he was protecting me…”

A tear slid down Li Shu’s cheek as she spoke.

Hearing this, everyone felt their hearts twist painfully. Madam Chen, in particular, felt both fear and lingering dread.

“He was unconscious for so long… no matter how we called, he wouldn’t respond. Then, faintly, he murmured one word—‘water.’ His lips were pale, cracked… I was so worried. But the sea water couldn’t be drunk, and there was no fresh water nearby…”

Even now, her face carried the same helpless anxiety she had felt then.

“If he didn’t drink water, something terrible would happen…”

She paused briefly, then continued in an even tone:

“So… in my panic, I used a shell from the shore to cut my wrist, and fed him my blood.”

She said it simply. Calmly. As though it were no more than a small, insignificant act. There was even a faint smile on her lips, as if she were quietly pleased that she had managed to find a way to save him.

But to the others, her words crashed like thunder in their hearts.

In their minds, they saw it clearly: a delicate young lady, alone on a desolate island, picking up a rough, jagged shell… and dragging it across her own wrist, again and again.

“At first, the wound was too small… the blood flowed for a bit, then stopped. So I used the shell to cut a little more… and then the blood flowed more freely…”

As she spoke, she even mimicked the motion with her finger.

In their ears, it was as though they could hear the harsh, scraping sound—scritch, scritch—echoing faintly.

Madam Chen and the others sucked in sharp breaths, their expressions changing drastically. Another image rose before their eyes: Li Shu watching the blood slow, then pressing the shell back against her own flesh, cutting deeper… forcing it open again…

They had never heard the tale of a saint cutting flesh to feed an eagle, nor of a loyal man slicing his own meat to sustain another. But the shock and impact of Li Shu’s act surpassed anything they could have imagined.

“Fortunately… after drinking the blood, Husband woke up…” Li Shu finished, a bright, relieved smile blooming on her face.

When they looked at her again, their hearts were filled with shame. Just moments ago, they had thought her unwell in the head for injuring herself. Yet it turned out she had done it to save Zhu Ping’an—cutting so deeply, so cruelly upon herself, just to let more blood flow.

This foolish girl… how could she be so harsh on herself? Hadn’t it hurt terribly…?

At that moment, Madam Chen’s eyes grew wet as she gazed at Li Shu.

In her heart, Li Shu had already become the best—no, the very best—second daughter-in-law imaginable. No one could ever replace her position.

To the Zhu family, Li Shu was no longer merely a daughter-in-law in name. She had, in a single moment, become family in truth.

In less than half a day since meeting her in-laws, she had completely—fully blended into—the Zhu household.

“Zhu Ping’an!”

Madam Chen suddenly turned her head and called his full name sharply.

“Ah?” Zhu Ping’an froze. His mother had never addressed him so formally before—usually it was “Zhizi,” “little Zhizi,” or simply “second son.” This was the first time she had called him by his full name.

“What ‘ah’? From now on, you’d better treat Shu’er well. Don’t you dare bully her. If I ever find out you’ve even laid a finger on her—see if I don’t break your legs!” Madam Chen glared fiercely at him, like a hen protecting her chick, shielding Li Shu with absolute determination.

“Mother…” Li Shu lifted her head, her large eyes shimmering with emotion, a mist forming within them.

“Mother…”

Zhu Ping’an, completely caught off guard, could only stand there in stunned confusion.