Chapter 22 Chapter Six

The army leader showed me an urgent telegram, saying that my wife Wang Renmei was pregnant with her second child.The leader told me seriously, you are a party member, a cadre, since you have received the one-child certificate and monthly subsidy for one-child, why did you let your wife have a second child?I was at a loss.The leader ordered me: go back immediately, and resolutely kill it! My sudden appearance surprised the family.The two-year-old daughter hid behind her grandmother and looked at me in fear. Why did you come back so suddenly?Mother asked me thoughtfully. On a business trip, by the way.

Yanyan, this is your daddy, call him daddy.The mother pushed her daughter forward and said, "My child, if you don't come back, you'll be talking about looking for your father every day. If your father really comes back, you'll be scared." I reached out, held her arm, and tried to hug her, and she cried "wow". Mother let out a long sigh, and said, "Every day I'm afraid, I hide it, no, I'm still breathing." what happened?I asked angrily, didn't she wear the ring all the time? This, my mother said, she told me only after she showed herself.Seeing you come back to visit relatives, she went to Yuan Ji to take out the ring.

Yuan Ji, the bastard!I cursed bitterly, didn't he know it was breaking the law? You must not sue others, the mother said, it was Renmei who begged him many times, and then entrusted Wang Dan to intercede, so he took it. It's too dangerous, I said, Yuan Ji is a bitch, dare to take rings from others, what if something happens? A lot of people asked him to get it. The mother lowered her voice and said, "I heard from your wife that he has very good skills. He used an iron hook and hooked it out in a few strokes." Shameless!I say. Don't worry, my mother looked at my face and said, it was Wang Dan who accompanied her. Yuan Ji was wearing a mask, sunglasses, and rubber gloves when taking the ring. The iron hook was first wiped with alcohol, and then burned with fire. Yes, guaranteed non-toxic.Your daughter-in-law said that there is no need to take off your pants, just cut a hole in the crotch.

I do not mean that. Runner, the mother said sadly, your elder brother and second brother both have sons, but you don't. I am also willing to let her have a baby, but who can guarantee that it will be a boy? I look like a boy, my mother said, and I asked Yanyan: Yanyan, is your mother a younger brother or a younger sister?Yanyan said, brother!Children's talk, it works.Besides, even if she had another girl, Yanyan would have someone to rely on when she grew up. What if something happened to a girl?I'm so old, I close my eyes and don't know anything.I am thinking for you! Mother, I said, there is discipline in the army, if I have a second child, I will be expelled from the party, dismissed from my post, and go home to farm.I have struggled for so many years to leave Zhuanghudi. Is it worth it to give up everything in order to have another child?

The mother said: Can party membership and position be more precious than a child?Some people have the world, but no descendants. Even if you become an official as big as Chairman Mao's boss and your second child, what's the point? Chairman Mao died long ago.I say. I don't know that Chairman Mao passed away long ago?My mother said, I am making an analogy. At this time, the door sounded.Yanyan yelled: Mom, my father is back. I watched my daughter move her calf, stumbling towards Wang Renmei.I saw Wang Renmei wearing the gray jacket I wore before serving in the army, and my stomach was already protruding.She was carrying a red cloth bundle in the crook of her arm, with colorful cloth heads protruding from it.She bent down to pick up her daughter, smiled exaggeratedly and said: Oh, Xiaopao, why are you back?

Why can't I come back?I said angrily, you did a good job! Her face covered with butterfly scars turned pale, then flushed again in an instant, and she said loudly: What am I doing?I work in the fields during the day and take care of my children at night, and I have done nothing to apologize to you! How dare you quibble!I said, why did you go to Yuan Ji without telling me?why don't you tell me Traitor, traitor!Wang Renmei put down the child and walked into the room angrily. The little stool tripped her, and she kicked the little stool away, cursing, who told you that? The daughter was crying in the yard.

Mother sat by the stove and wept. Don't quarrel, don't scold, I said, obediently follow me to the health center, nothing happened. Don't think about it, Wang Renmei threw a mirror on the ground and shouted loudly, the child is mine, and in my stomach, whoever dares to touch a hair on him, I will hang myself on the threshold of whose house! Run away, let's not be that party member, nor that cadre, and go home to farm, isn't it good?Now is not the period of the people's communes. Now the land is divided into separate farms, the food is inexhaustible, and people are free. I think you can come back...

No, definitely not! Wang Renmei rummaged through boxes and cabinets in the room, making crackling noises. This is not about me alone, I said, it involves the honor of our unit. Wang Renmei came out carrying a big burden.I stopped her and said: Where are you going? Never mind! I grabbed her bag and didn't let her go.She took out a pair of scissors from her bosom, pointed at her stomach, her eyes were red, and screamed sharply: Let go! run!Mother screamed. I naturally know Wang Renmei's temper. You go, I said, but you escaped today, you cannot escape tomorrow, no matter what, you must do it!

She carried the burden and hurried away.The daughter ran after her with outstretched hands and fell to the ground.She doesn't care. I ran out and picked up my daughter.My daughter stood upright in my arms, crying and looking for her mother.I had mixed feelings for a moment, and tears welled up in my eyes. The mother came out tremblingly, leaning on a cane, and said: Son, let her give birth... Otherwise, this day will be impossible...