Chapter 9 Chapter nine

The Women's Federation is meeting again.As usual, Yuexiang went to the next door to ask Mrs. Jin Gen to go with her.  "She went to wash clothes by the stream," Mrs. Tan said.  Yuexiang walked away, and Aunt Tan muttered, "Whether you want to go by yourself or not, you have to ask others to go with you. Others don't just sit at home and have nothing to do. The old and the young in the whole family arrive one day. I'm busy going to meetings at night, who will do these things at home? Sometimes you will call, then you will call, and you will call like a ghost. You are not the director of the women's association, so I want you to be so fawning and pull people everywhere. Really Husband and wife are of the same mind. You've become a model worker—" She changed the subject, talking about Jin Gen, her voice getting louder and louder. "People praised you for a few words, and then you fainted. Don't even think about it, where did the nine loads of grain you collected go? Where did you go? Let me ask you—are you hungry like us!" 

"Okay, okay, don't talk anymore," Boss Tan said softly.  "Oh, young people are so stupid!" Mrs. Tan said with a sigh.She sat there numb. "I can't stand two good words from others, so I want to eat my heart and liver for them, and I will die. My old woman lived longer than you, and I ate more salt than you. There are so many things I have seen After a while this one comes, after a while that one comes, and the soldiers come and the bandits are very powerful. There are four taels of millet buried in the ground, and he has the ability to know! Oh, don't try to hide it from them!" 

"Hey, God, what are you talking about?" Boss Tan yelled loudly. "I went crazy today!" Aunt Tan simply yelled, "Don't be afraid, old man! I won't tire you, don't worry! Let them report it! Go make meritorious service! Let him curry favor, if you don't follow We are equally hungry!" Boss Tan knew that her temper was getting more and more drunk, and she couldn't stop her, so she let her go.He knew that Comrade Gu Gang was not at home today, and he went to the town to buy his private bakery—this is no secret now—and Jin Gen also went out to collect firewood on the mountain.They saw Kim Gen go out, but he just happened not to be seen by them when he came back.He has been in his room. 

Yuexiang also came back, because she forgot to tell Jin Gen not to let the child sneak into Comrade Gu's room.As soon as she walked into the yard, she heard Aunt Tan yelling, and she couldn't tell whether she was arguing with the old man or scolding her daughter-in-law.When she returned to her room, she saw Jin Gen standing at the door, looking very strange, with arms hanging awkwardly, like a half-grown child who was too tall.  She turned the ice slightly to the side next door. "Who are you arguing with?" He looked at her as if he could not understand what she was saying. 

Then she heard clearly what Aunt Tan was yelling.Jin Gen's face was stern.She looked away quickly from his face.She hated the old woman for exposing his sores so cruelly and making him feel so uncomfortable.  "Ma'am, can you stop shouting like that?" she shouted through the wall. "It doesn't matter if we hear it. If someone else hears it and reports it, you will still blame us later, and you will still think it was our doing. This grievance will not be washed away by jumping into the Yellow River!" "Don't scare me with the report," Aunt Tan shouted. "I'm not afraid? I am an old man with a candle in the wind, and frost on the roof. Do I still want to live a hundred years? But you, young and light, don't have a black conscience! A black conscience hurts people, and there will be no good life in the future !"

"Okay, okay, let's not say a word!" Boss Tan desperately stopped.  "Call someone with a bad conscience for no reason," Yuexiang yelled. "A person who is an elder doesn't look like an elder! He has lived to the age of a dog!" Aunt Tan made a fuss. "You dare to scold me? You can scold me? Are you crazy? Are you eating or eating shit?" "Come on, come on!" Gold Root said to his wife.  "Damn old woman!" Moon Scent yelled. "Why don't you die, old woman!" "You women!" said Gold Root in disgust. 

"Go and report! If you have the ability, tell my wife to sue me! Go to the wife's association and sue me! Go! Go!" "Are you going to finish? Are you going to finish?" Boss Tan gritted his teeth and said, and then heard a scuffling sound, and the sound of fists beating on the cotton-padded coat.  "Okay, you fight, you fight!" Aunt Tan burst into tears. "I'm so old, and my grandson is so old, you still beat me? You beat me to death! I don't want to live anymore, do I still have the face to live?" Many things fell to the ground with a clatter, probably because the legs of the table were touched.Aunt Tan rolled around and cried loudly. 

"Go and persuade!" Jin Gen said to Yuexiang.  "I'm not going!" In the end, Jin Gen had to go alone. "All right, old man," he said, pulling the old man away. "It's such an old age, we've been married for so many years—look at people laughing." Aunt Tan burst into tears and snot, sitting on the ground and crying.A lot of loose hair, white and awake like a cat's whiskers, fell over her cheeks.  Boss Tan exhausted all his strength and was out of breath. He grabbed Jin Gen and was speechless for a long time, but he never dared to let go.He murmured and explained that the old woman suddenly went crazy today, but it had nothing to do with Yuexiang.Jin Gen didn't want to see his desperate and begging face.He shook off him with all his might, and went back to his own house.There was no one in the room, and Yue Xiang went to a meeting. Naturally, from this day on, Aunt Tan and Yuexiang never greeted each other when they met.