Chapter 8 Section VIII

The half moon hangs in the sky above the willow forest in the river bend, and the sound of frogs in the paddy field nursery on the river beach shows the tranquility of the night in the river even more.Qinwa took a big step, jumped over the irrigation canals, and walked along the embankment.He avoided the dirt road and chose the river beach where there are few pedestrians. If he meets an acquaintance and asks him what he does out of the village at night, it may arouse suspicion. He held his breath, thinking about seeing his father-in-law and mother-in-law, how should he speak out about the shameful things their daughter has done?The specific measures his uncle taught him to deal with this matter seemed to be a kind of restraint. According to his nature, he should severely scold their daughter for insulting the family tradition in front of the elders of her family. I am familiar with Wuzhuang Village.

Going to a relative's house on such a night is itself an ominous sign.The father-in-law Wu San, his mother-in-law and his brother-in-law all surrounded him, six pairs of eyes rolled on his face, searching and guessing, almost asking at the same time: What happened in the house?Coming so late, my complexion is not good... Seeing the frightened look of the old man, Qin Wa suddenly felt uncomfortable.Because of making adobe for Wu San, he ordered his daughter. Before and after marriage, the two old people loved him very much as his son-in-law.He often said in front of him, if Yuxian is not available, you have to take care of her, beat her and scold her.They are honest peasants, they like the diligence and obedience of Qinwa and his son, and they are very satisfied to marry their youngest daughter to him.In the past, the mother-in-law used bamboo cages to carry the delicious food she cooked from time to time... Now, things have come to such a point, how sad they will be when they hear this!

Seeing the terrified looks of the two old men, Qin Wa couldn't speak anymore, and the sulking that gathered in her heart on the way ran away.He put his head in his hands suddenly, sighed a long time, and almost cried. "What's the problem, tell me!" The mother-in-law urged eagerly. "Oh—" Qin Wa sighed again, it was too difficult to say. Wu San, the father-in-law, sat on the side and stopped asking questions.He judged something from Qinwa's expression and behavior, and told his son who was standing aside: "Go, call your sister back!" When the father-in-law's elder brother walked out, he thought it was easy to talk, so he choked up and talked about Yuxian and Teacher Dongxue.The mother-in-law scolded in shame, but the father-in-law, Wu San, trembled with anger and fell down on a chair, speechless.

"I'll come back!" Qin Wa said goodbye, "I can't blame the old man when my daughter goes out. I don't blame your two elders, you treat me well..." "Don't go!" The father-in-law stopped him, "We'll talk about that shameless man when he comes back!" Qinwa sat down. "You dog day did a good deed!" Wu Sanyi lost his temper when he saw his daughter walking in, "You said..." Yuxian stood in front of him, hooked his head, and remained silent. This kind of silent behavior itself proved the reliability of the scandal that Qin Wa said.Wu San got angry and knocked her daughter down with two slaps.

"Don't hit me! Dad..." Qinwa grabbed her father-in-law's arm. "Unbelievable things!" The mother-in-law scolded cruelly from the side, "When I was at my mother's house, everything I told you should be windy..." "Don't enter my house until you die!" the father-in-law scolded. Yuxian has no sympathizers, and in such a family, she doesn't expect anyone to relieve her.Her parents are decent peasants who want face.It was only natural for her to be beaten and scolded for doing scandalous things that humiliated their family.She lay on the ground and struggled to stand up again.

"Kneel down!" Wu San roared. Yuxian was too humiliated, how could she kneel down in front of Qinwa and her parents and brother?At this moment, her father Wu San kicked her down, and her ankle hurt so much that she couldn't stand up. Wu San took a leather rope from the wall and stuffed it into Qinwa's hands: "Qinwa, hit—" Qinwa caught the leather rope, hung it on the nail on the wall without hesitation, and comforted Wu San: "Forget it..." The mother-in-law secretly cast a moved look at Qinwa. Wu San took off the leather rope again, and raised his hand, causing Yu Xian, who was only wearing a jacket, to roll over on the ground, trembling with painful and suppressed cries.

When Qinwa was beating Yuxian herself, it seemed that she was only agitated by an unquenchable evil fire. When he saw the scene of her father-in-law waving the leather rope, his heart trembled. I feel even more cruel.He hugged Wu San's hand. "Don't pull it! Let me beat this shameful thing to death!" Wu San became more angry and jumped even more fiercely, "You are shameless, I want more!" Qin Wa suddenly thought that he shouldn't have stayed here just now.The father-in-law kept him because he wanted to teach his daughter a lesson in front of him, so that he could wash away the shame of his parents with the most solid behavior in front of his son-in-law.If he wasn't in person, Wu San might not be so ruthless.He persuaded Wu San to say goodbye.

Yu Xian blew on the dim kerosene lamp, took off her clothes, and got into bed, she was afraid that her mother would see the disgraceful scars on her body.The mother seemed to have noticed the intention of her behavior, got up from the other end of the kang, and struck a match with a "boom", and the kerosene lamp emitted a yellow flame of black smoke, illuminating the room. The mother lifted the quilt she had covered, and with an "ouch", she hugged her aching body and cried.On her body and legs, there were black-blue and purple bruised and coagulated wounds left by Qinwa's fists, and there were also marks from her father's whipping with a leather rope just now, oozing blood.She is the flesh that fell from the mother, and the mother loves her own flesh and blood and cries very sadly.

Yuxian didn't feel like shedding tears, the pain was unbearable!Any flesh that has been whipped by fists or leather ropes, as soon as it touches the mattress, it hurts so much that I want to turn over. Turning over, the pain is still too painful to support the weight of the body.But she didn't cry.When Qinwa knocked on the door suddenly that night, she was stunned. Everything that happened after that seemed to be in a dream, until her grandfather clumsily pushed a large rusty steel needle straight from the base of her nose. With the gap between her teeth, she returned from another world to the crop yard that she felt was no longer so nostalgic.Now, the mother's breast was pressed against her fat arms, and the tears were streaming down the back of her neck.She didn't want to hear any more comfort from her mother.She wanted to lie quietly and think about what she should do.In the new house where she lived with Qinwa for nearly half a year, she couldn't think calmly. She was always worried about being hit by a fist as hard as iron. The quilt woke her up from her dream.Now, her father, Wu San, beat and scolded Qinwa in front of Qinwa, saving his face.The punishment she should have suffered has passed, she wanted to think about it quietly, what should she do next?

"Hey... hey hey hey hey..." The mother drank in a low voice, her chest trembling.She gave birth to this daughter, raised her with milk until her teeth grew, and she chewed hard and astringent cornmeal buns just like adults.Although she and Wu San love their daughter dearly, they are not used to it.Since she was a child, she taught her daughter not to play with male dolls; when she grew up, she taught her daughter how to do needlework, and taught her all the country customs and family customs that women should obey.When she and Wu San decided to marry their daughter to the son of the adobe customer at the gift price of three stones of wheat (the lowest price at that time), she began to teach her daughter how to serve her parents-in-law, especially in a family without a mother-in-law. How should I talk to grandpa, serve food, empty the urinal, how should I serve my husband, how should I get along with the elders of the neighbors next door, and even how to deal with the inevitable jokes and jokes of brothers of the same generation... Inside and outside the family, internal and external affairs , she has told them all, and more than once. "It's wrong to teach a daughter not to be a mother." She taught it, and Yuxian did it too.After Yuxian got married, she came back to her mother's house several times, and she questioned her every time, and she was very satisfied.The information obtained from acquaintances in Kangjia Village also fully proves that the new daughter-in-law of the adobe Hakka is a virtuous and good wife.But, what happened, the worst scandal suddenly appeared... After the mother finished shedding tears, she began to criticize: "You clearly wake up the baby, why did you jump into the mud pit by yourself? "

I have already jumped down, so what's the use of regretting it?Lying beside her mother, Yuxian said in her heart, I have died once, do I still want to use some regret medicine to cure my illness? "Why didn't you tell me about your winter school?" The mother chased the bottom line, "You are a woman, what do you do when you go to school? You can read two characters, you can eat, you can wear it? Fang Xuetang, the place where children are taught to be blind... You did a good job last winter school!" She remained silent.She needs to think for herself, no one else understands her mood and situation. "For the time of your engagement, I asked your aunt's aunt to inquire in Kangjia Village, and she said that Qinwa and his son are good people. The old man is good. He will pass away in ten or eight years, and it will be all about you and Qinwa. Family belongings. Qinba is honest and diligent, and the housework is not up to you? In this new society, there is no fear of cowards and evil spirits, and the government loves honest peasants. What are you not satisfied with? Hu Chengjing?" The mother began to change from distressing her daughter to admonishing her , "Human! The picture looks good, can it be eaten? When I was with your father, I always saw that his temper was not going well, and he was irritable for a while, and laughed for a while. How do you live with this guy? Sun and moon? It’s been a long time, and I figured out that your father has a kind heart, and he doesn’t play around with gambling and work hard for a poor life. I think this person is very good! Baby, don’t be dazzled, listen to what mother said, what mother said World affairs..." She didn't distinguish, nor promised, and lay quietly. "Stay in our house for ten days and a half months, go home happily, make amends to your grandfather, and say good things to Qinwa." The mother said, "From now on, An An will live a life. After a year, everything will be fine. It's fleshy!" The mother stopped talking, and sighed, and after a long time, the snoring sound sounded. Yuxian got up gently and moved to sleep on the other side of the kang. The house was dark and quiet, and the wind rustled the leaves in the backyard. When she was blindfolded and carried to a strange place, was brought into a strange new house by a strange woman, and the red cloth was removed, she saw for the first time the strange man who was going to spend a lifetime with her. man.Her heart skipped a beat, but she wasn't excited.This is an ordinary looking man.Neither good-looking nor ugly, neither too tall nor too short.In the past few months of married life, she saw that he was neither effective nor stupid.She wasn't very satisfied with him, but she wasn't sad about his fate either.To her parents who found such a son-in-law for her, neither gratitude nor hatred.Like an ordinary grain of wheat in a wheat field, he is not a few sporadically higher than all the wheat trees, nor is it a few short ears sandwiched between dense wheat trees.He is as ordinary as many rural youths in Kangjia Village and Wuzhuang.She will also live with Qinwa like many ordinary young wives.It has been like this since ancient times, elders and people of the same generation are betrothed in this way, married together in this way, slept on the same kang, and gave birth to children... When she saw Teacher Yang for the first time, she was surprised.There is such a well-dressed and clean man in the world!Why are the teeth so white!There are so many things to know!It's not like the young guys in the country are together at all, except for talking about Zhuangjing, which is to say vulgar words between men and women.Teacher Yang's oblate head with civilized hair contains so many new things that Yu Xian has never heard of!In the Soviet Union, iron oxen were used to plow the fields, machines were used to cut wheat, steamed buns were all machines, is that a joke?The bad-mouthed Seventh Aunt smiled face-to-face and asked: Do babies also use machines?Teacher Yang showed everyone the photos of plowing and harvesting wheat, and didn't care about the offensive words that Aunt Seven said.He is always smiling, smiling face, smiling eyes, always smiling when he speaks, and he seems to be smiling when he sings. She has no evil intentions for him.She couldn't even imagine how such an elegant and civilized person would have "meaning" for a country woman like her?When she felt his unusual gaze for the first time, and when he grabbed her handwritten word "Fan", she didn't dare to think about it.Until he even pinched her fingers together when he took the rice bowl, she only thought that he was unintentional, until he put his arms around her waist, and she unified these things in an instant.She didn't refuse, because the sudden joy that she didn't even dare to think about made her almost faint. "I love you, sister..." As he said this, he pressed his lips to hers.That voice was so touching, she trembled, and instinctively hooked her hand wearing a stone bracelet to his shoulder. She has never heard a man call her sister so affectionately, and no one has ever said the word "love".Qinwa only said "Hello with me", but never called her "sister".Qin Wa's fingers touching her body were so stiff.Teacher Yang... She gritted her teeth and endured Qinwa's fist.She is his woman, he should hit her.Her father gritted her teeth and endured beating her. She had humiliated him and her mother, so beating her was justified.However, although she was covered with blue marks and red spots, she could not connect herself with Qin Wa again.She was beaten for dear Teacher Yang, and she had no tears to shed. If she can divorce Qin Wa and marry Teacher Yang, she will not consider losing face or not.The Marriage Law was shouted everywhere in the village, and the general black letters promoting the Marriage Law were written on the street walls of the houses in the crop yard. In many villages, there were rumors about the divorce of men and women who were arranged marriages.Once she and Teacher Yang are officially married, who are they going to laugh at?If you can't marry Teacher Yang and continue to be husband and wife with Qin Wa, then you will be blamed for not being able to see people for the rest of your life. She had to find a way to meet with Teacher Yang again and tell her exactly what to say, and then she went to the township government to file for a divorce.Now that I can no longer go to winter school, it is too difficult to meet Mr. Yang, but we must meet.Otherwise, she is not sure, what should I do? It is impossible to find an opportunity to meet Teacher Yang in Kangjia Village.In her natal family, she is much more free than under the supervision of Grandpa and Qinwa.Teacher Yang is the central primary school teacher of the administrative village. In Sangshu Town, he thought of an excuse to go to the town, the sooner the better...