Chapter 26

Mo Daoyan wanted to hear more about Tong Yi and Tong Yufei. He wasn't particularly interested in the events themselves, but the incident had occurred not long before Tong Yufei married him. If there was some causal connection between the two, it might help him get a divorce. Tong Yi remained silent, unwilling to speak, because that would make him look like a weak-willed revolutionary traitor, deceived by the enemy's sugar-coated bullets. Mo Daoyan was certainly not an enemy, but a husband who knew nothing about these things, which anyone could understand, could truly be so sincere to Tong Yufei.

From the moment Tong Yi entered the door to the moment she had dinner with the Mo family, she discovered that Mo Daoyan's gaze never stayed on Tong Yufei for more than five seconds. Disgust with a person can be hidden, but liking for a person is like tears in the eyes, which can only be hidden when sleeping. People don't have to have love to live a stable life. Many people never know what that thing is in their entire lives. When the lights are turned off, they can still sleep and have children based on the body's needs. But Tong Yufei is different. In her situation, life will be very hard with someone who doesn't love her.

In the movie, when Brandi was hung up, Tong Yi spat out the pear core and asked, "Do you love her?"

Mo Daoyan took a sip of Maojian: "First come, first served. Please answer first before asking."

"You don't love her, but you still want to sleep with her. How shameless."

"Is your sister's dancing a hobby or a professional level?"

"When you have questions, you don't seek answers, but just want to take what's ready-made. Are you attending a fake university?"

"This is not something you, a junior high school dropout, should be concerned about."

"It doesn't matter whether you love her or not, just don't harm her in the future, or I'll fight you to death."

Tong Yi licked the juice on his hand, looked at Mo Daoyan meaningfully, stood up, kicked away the stool he had been sitting on, and ran out. Just as he reached the door, his calf and knee were suddenly hit by a wooden stool sliding from behind. He staggered forward a few steps, and before he could stand firmly, Mo Daoyan pulled him back by the back of his collar, and then folded his arms with lightning speed, twisted them behind his back, and the hand pulling his collar suddenly grabbed his neck, pressing him against the wall.

There was a mahogany guitar hanging on the wall, and Tong Yi's face was hitting the guitar strings, making a chaotic melody, like an unrestrained mockery.

"Mo Daoyan, if you have the guts, you can challenge me head-on. What kind of man is that if you attack me by surprise?" Tong Yi struggled but couldn't get away. He started to curse, "You villain, you despicable villain."

Mo Daoyan remained silent. Ren Tongyi sweated profusely and cursed until he ran out of words. Then he said indifferently, "When you are a guest at someone else's house, the host should treat you with courtesy. It would be fine if you didn't thank me, but you are still threatening people with outrageous words. You are a scoundrel with only a tough mouth. You were born by a mother but not raised by her! You have a rotten life, and you think you can scare people by playing with it? Go ahead and try it, and see if I can be scared! Your sister is much smarter. If she relied on someone like you who can do nothing but cause trouble for her, she would have been harmed eight hundred times by now."

Tong Yi gasped: "Have you said this to her? She lost a father and two mothers, and there is no one to take care of her."

Mo Daoyan released the hand that was holding Tong Yi, his expression slightly serious: "Her adoptive parents are gone?"

Tong Yi rubbed his sore arm and gritted his teeth: "You deserve to die!"

-------

"Is it Tong Yi who is cursing?"

Tong Yufei was in the bedroom on the second floor. The single-story building of this building was nearly six meters high, and the sound insulation effect was much better than that of ordinary old houses. Even if Mo Daoxing was practicing piano upstairs, it usually did not affect the people downstairs. Even so, she could still vaguely hear Tong Yi's roar. Would he have a conflict with Mo Daoxing?

She wanted to go up and check, but Tong Wan grabbed her and pushed her back to her seat. "Tong Yi, don't you know? People always like to shout and scream when watching movies. They're young and have good lung capacity. There's nothing to worry about. Fights need a trigger. How can they be divided into factions just because of watching a movie? Is a gentle scholar like Mo Daoyan the kind of person who would fight?"

Tong Yufei had reservations about Tong Wan's last sentence, but the first few sentences made some sense. She was the only person they had in common, so there was only one reason for them to argue: a competition to scold her for being the first one. So she sat down again and threw the red underwear Tong Wan brought back: "I don't want it. You can use it if you want. I wish you many children, but now there is family planning, two is more than enough."

Tong Yufei was stunned. Tong Wan pulled her into the house before she'd even finished her meal. She'd assumed something important was going on, but Tong Wan had given her someone else's red underwear, claiming it was from Zhao Weimin's cousin, who had just given birth to a 18-pound "horse baby." There was a village legend that used underwear from a woman who'd given birth could bring good luck, so Tong Wan begged her cousin for a fresh pair of red underwear. If Tong Yufei agreed to wear them, that was best; otherwise, she could put them under her pillow. This was beyond Tong Yufei's wildest dreams. After all, the only thing she'd heard at work was a tampon. Over 40 years after the founding of New China, there were still people mired in the ravages of feudal society, unable to keep up with the times.

Tong Wan forced the matter into his mouth. "Women should have children early. If you miss the chance, you'll never get it again. It's like corn in the field. If it doesn't bear fruit when it should, it won't bear fruit after the season. It's better to believe it than not. Hurry up and have a child. With a child, your status will be secure. Although the saying 'a mother's status depends on her son' may not sound good to women in the new society who hold up half the sky, it does make sense. Just like the story says, rich men divorce their wives in droves, but how many of them don't want their old mothers? Sons are much more reliable than husbands. Take it!"

"I already told you no, you're annoying me."

Tong Wan's expression suddenly changed. "There's no outsider here. Tell me the truth. Is it because of that ankle incident? You think everything I do is full of evil intentions? You're my sister. How could I expect anything bad to happen to you? I regret it so much. If time could flow backwards, I would chop off my hands rather than be so cheap as to help you!"

Sometimes Tong Wan couldn't understand why some people were born with a silver spoon in their mouth and had a smooth life, while others had a rough fate and endless obstacles. Take her sister, for example. When she was born, she looked like a little yellow person, skinny and bony. The barefoot doctor in the village said it was hemolytic jaundice and she had to go to a big hospital. The family had no money for treatment and didn't want the child to die, so when they were at their wit's end, her father gave her to a wealthy family.

The man who adopted her was a research officer at the county cultural center, and the woman was an accountant at the economic management station. Her adoptive parents cured her illness and allowed her to dance to improve her cardiopulmonary function. They treated her like the apple of their eye, holding her in their hands for fear of dropping her, and holding her in their mouths for fear of her melting. My sister lived a good life during those years, like a princess in a movie.

No matter how much you plan, it's nothing. A stroke of the sky, a rain, a fire, takes it all away.

Although his sister blamed their father, believing that his stubbornness was the root cause of the tragedy that befell her adoptive parents, Tong Wan never felt that his father was wrong to take his sister back from the foster family. His tongue was a soft knife, and the rumors about her and the foster family were deadly. If she stayed, not only would her future be limitless, but her ability to get married would also be in doubt. Moreover, her father had not let the foster family raise the child in vain. In order to get his daughter back, he went into debt and was willing to spend everything he had...

Tong Wan would not criticize her adoptive parents in front of Tong Yufei. They were gone and everything was over, but in her heart, they were not pure and flawless perfect people.

My younger sister's adoptive mother died in an arson attack. She sought justice for her adoptive mother everywhere, but the elders in her family advised her to give up. The other party was wealthy and powerful, with connections above them. Since ancient times, people have never fought against the rich. Besides, what difference would it make if she lost, and what difference would it make if she won? Would her adoptive mother ever come back? There wasn't even anyone at home to mourn, so who was she supposed to show off her victory to? Like a stubborn calf, my younger sister angrily demanded, "Why did her adoptive mother die in vain? It's unjust!" She refused to believe it! She searched for information, dug up evidence, wrote letters of denunciation, and visited the homes of various relevant leaders. She slimmed down from over 90 pounds to just over 70, a figure so thin it would collapse at the slightest breeze. Her hard work paid off, and she accomplished what everyone thought was impossible.

The murderer was killed on the Ghost Festival, the 15th day of the seventh lunar month. My sister couldn't come home from school, so Tong Wan offered sacrifices to her adoptive parents on her behalf. While burning incense and praying to the Buddha, she prayed to the gods: "The Jade Emperor, the Guanyin of the South China Sea, the seventy-two gods, please don't plunder a single wool. My sister is a mortal and can't withstand too much abuse. Please pray for good luck and prosperity." She repeated this over and over again a thousand times. She felt that the divine revelation had fulfilled her wish, because my sister always took first place in her major on the exams. My sister attended an art college. In fact, with her college entrance examination scores, she was fully qualified to enter an undergraduate dance academy, but my sister chose a two-year junior college to graduate early and earn money.

By some accounts, my sister was the "head of the chicken," but she was no less impressive than the "tail of the phoenix." She had won the gold medal in a city-wide college dance competition, overwhelming the dancers from other prestigious schools. After graduation, my sister was assigned to teach at her former unit. Hoping for a bigger stage, she forgoes her spot on campus and auditioned for the city's song and dance troupe. When the news of her acceptance reached home, Tong Wan ran over ten miles to buy bamboo incense sticks to fulfill a vow, then made another wish: "My sister is old enough, has a good job, and now all she needs is a marriage. Please, gods, bless her to marry a man who is both attractive and capable."

But less than a week after her joy, her sister's admission was cancelled. The recruiting teacher explained that there was an error in the score record, and after correction and re-release, her sister's interview score dropped from third to sixth, and the total score slipped from second to fourth. Tong Wan heard the bad news and slapped herself twice. She must have been too greedy, and the gods were tired of her and took back her wish.

My sister didn't eat or sleep for two days. On the third day, she went to the Municipal Song and Dance Troupe's Human Resources Department to explain the situation. The selection interview had a strict process. In addition to basic questions and answers, there were three live performances: song, dance, and acting. Each of these was assessed by three teachers simultaneously. There were only two possible reasons why her score could have been reduced and eliminated. One was that she made a major mistake in a single performance, which she was certain she hadn't made. The other possibility was that at least two or more of her scores had been recorded incorrectly. What was the probability of this happening? She requested a review of her original scores.

The city song and dance troupe's response was not positive. They said that the selection office was composed of teachers temporarily transferred from various universities, and the interviewers were all famous teachers with high moral character and many students all over the world. They would never do anything that violated the ethics of teachers. After the recruitment work was completed, it was disbanded. The song and dance troupe had conducted an internal self-inspection to ensure that there were no objections to each process before reissuing the results. Tong Yufei's mood was understandable, but correcting mistakes was a responsibility to all candidates.

Tong Wan protested her sister's innocence. She didn't understand professional matters, but she had heard stories about the Monkey King and the cat-substitute prince, and real-life stories of people who had their university entrance exams taken by someone else. Something must be wrong. They were hiding the wrong grades, claiming everyone else's were correct, but hers were. How could they be sure it was a misjudgment and not a deliberate alteration? The city song and dance troupe ignored her sister's demands, offering only clichés and polite remarks, picking on the weak and bullying the common people without support.

She went to the troupe without telling her sister, asking for an explanation. They saw her as a country bumpkin and ignored her. She couldn't hold back her anger, so she started cursing. They were so sanctimonious, so in cahoots with them, and they were even calling her a song and dance troupe. They were all prostitutes, and they were so righteous. They only sold themselves, not the public's property. Whoever harmed her sister would have their entire family killed, their intestines pierced, and they thought I was afraid of you. The barefoot aren't afraid of the shod. If I can't kill you, I'll at least splatter your blood! Unable to vent her anger, she started smashing things, breaking a typewriter, a thermos, three stools, two trophies, four certificates, a pot of gladiolus, a basket of Gomoku chess pieces, and ultimately landed herself in detention.

At that time, those imprisoned with her included not only ignorant and fearless people like her who were ignorant of the law, but also thieves, middlemen who speculated in resale, prostitutes, robbers... there were as many as twenty or thirty people. Among them was a woman with shackles on her feet. She used a pot to end the life of her husband who had treated her like an animal for ten years. At night, the woman described the process of the crime in vivid detail. Tong Wan felt her stomach churning and vomited all over the floor. The woman thought this was disrespectful and pounced on her, clamping her neck. Before she lost consciousness, Tong Wan thought, fortunately it was her who was imprisoned. If it was her sister, how could she endure it with her small body?

She was released after a day of detention. Despite her minor injuries, she was sent to the hospital. The city's dance troupe's leadership, regardless of past grudges, pleaded for her, explaining that she was a first-time offender and that her actions were motivated by her sister's concerns. They offered some leniency. When the police released her, they warned her that there was no second-best martial artist, no first-best scholar, and that subjective questions were just a matter of eloquence. There was no point in taking her to Beijing without evidence. They urged her to return home. After all, she was a university student, and there was still time for her to find a good job.

People can never be taught, but things can be taught. Tong Wan remembered the story of Fan Jin's success in the imperial examination and knew she had to do something. She couldn't let her sister run to the city again. Although her sister was much smarter than Fan Jin, and the two things were completely unrelated, they had one thing in common: if people are always stuck in one thing, sooner or later they will drive themselves into a state of mental illness. She couldn't let her sister's college education be in vain, and she couldn't let a shackled woman ride on her sister and strangle her neck. Her sister would be terrified. She made up her mind and locked her sister up, telling her to accept her fate, but her sister refused to accept her fate and escaped through the window, riding her bicycle back to the city.

Tong Wan caught up with her on a dirt slope, pulled his sister into the back seat of the car and said, "Tong Yufei, why won't you accept your fate? If you accept your fate sooner, will your adoptive father die?"

I don't know whether it was because Tong Wan wanted to stop Tong Yufei's car in the rice field next to him and pushed the car too hard, or because my sister was momentarily confused and lost her direction, but the car neither rushed into the rice field nor climbed over the hillside. It rolled down the slope in pieces like a shriveled zombie with its soul sucked out. My sister fell off the car, her right foot stuck in the rear wheel, and her shrill cries broke the silent wilderness.