When Qin Chunxia came to the house, Feng Jingrou was busy knitting a sweater.
She was thin and small, with most of her hair white. Her face had more wrinkles than Liu Fengying's, one of her eyes was black and blue, and her clothes were full of patches.
A little girl, only two or three years old, hid timidly behind Qin Chunxia, her dirty little hands tightly clutching her trouser legs.
Qin Chunxia was holding a dark blue bag in one hand.
In his other hand, he held a hemp rope, at the other end of which was tied a similarly dirty little girl, about the same age as Qin Ling, with a rather abnormal look in her eyes.
The mother, daughter and their two children stood at the door of the house, looking like beggars.
"Jingrou!"
Qin Chunxia called out, her voice so thin and soft that it was almost inaudible.
Feng Jingrou was knitting a sweater with her head down. When she looked up and saw the three people, she was stunned for a moment before she recognized that they were Qin Chunxia and her daughter. She quickly put down the wool and stood up to greet them.
"Sister, why are you here? Come on, come and sit at home."
When Qin Anan saw Qin Chunxia, her heart skipped a beat. She couldn't help but think, "Is she really my aunt? Why is she so... old?!"
According to the book, Qin Chunxia is only 46 years old this year, so why does she look as old as 66?
Qin Anan carefully recalled the details about Qin Chunxia.
She was the eldest in the family and had been forced by Liu Fengying to do a lot of farm work since she was a child. Every time she carried pig grass, she was asked to carry a huge basket like a mountain, which bent her back.
When she was 18 years old, Liu Fengying forced her to marry He Dong, a divorced man who was ten years her senior, for a betrothal gift of 300 yuan.
Qin Chunxia knelt on the ground and begged, crying until she passed out, but she was still unable to change her fate.
Ho Tung was a coal miner and earned a lot of money, so it sounded good to say it out loud.
But he abuses his wife!
The previous daughter-in-law couldn't stand his abuse and went crazy. One winter night, she fell into an ice hole and drowned.
The He family all said the same thing, that she ran away on her own accord. As for the real reason, no one knows it to this day.
As a marginal supporting character, the book rarely describes Qin Chunxia, and the Ho Tung family is even more briefly mentioned.
Qin Anan didn't know the details of her aunt's life, but looking at the bruises on her face, she knew that He Dong had beaten her a lot.
My aunt had a timid look in her eyes and seemed to be on the verge of going crazy.
Following her were her and Ho Tung's third daughter, Ho Sanni, and fourth daughter, Ho Sini.
After Qin Chunxia married into the He family, she was always expected to give birth to a son, but she gave birth to four daughters in a row. He Dong was so disgusted with them that he didn't even bother to name them. They were simply He Dani, He Erni, He Sanni, and He Sini.
He Dani and He Erni were already 18 years old and were "married off" by Ho Tung with a high bride price.
When He Sanni was picking up coal lumps with Qin Chunxia on the coal mountain, she was hit on the head by a falling rock and went crazy. Every day she wanted to run away, so Qin Chunxia had no choice but to tie her up with a rope and keep her by her side every day.
Because He Sanni went crazy and couldn't be "sold" for a good price, He Dong was very angry and beat Qin Chunxia many times.
Especially after He Sini was born, things got even worse.
When Qin Chunxia was first beaten, she would return to her parents' home to complain, hoping they would support her. However, Qin Futian and his wife took the He family's money and didn't care about her life or death at all, only scolding her for being useless and unable to give birth to a son.
Gradually, Qin Chunxia seldom returned to her parents' home, returning only during the Mid-Autumn Festival and Spring Festival to give gifts according to custom. Even then, she did not receive Liu Fengying's favor, and would be scolded if she did not give enough gifts.
She came suddenly today, and Feng Jingrou had already guessed the reason. She must have come to persuade her to sign a letter of apology.
After being married into the Qin family for more than 20 years, her elder sister-in-law Qin Chunxia has never made things difficult for her and has been kind to her, so Feng Jingrou naturally treats her with courtesy.
After asking her elder sister-in-law to sit down and pouring a bowl of white sugar tea for each of the three of them, Feng Jingrou spoke first: "Sister, if you are here to persuade me to sign the letter of understanding, then there is no need to speak. I will not agree."
Qin Chunxia sat hunched on the bench, looking at Feng Jingrou with her eyelids raised. There was no trace of intelligence in her eyes, only sadness and cowardice.
When the blue bundle was opened, a dozen or so oranges with a very bad appearance were revealed. It was obvious that they were picked up from the garbage dump of the wholesale market.
"Big sister really doesn't have anything to bring you. These...are...edible. Actually...I don't want to persuade you..." She lowered her head as usual, her voice so low that it was almost inaudible, "They forced me to come..."
"They" not only refers to the Qin brothers and sisters, but also her husband He Dong.
It would be very embarrassing to tell others that my father-in-law and mother-in-law were in jail, and they would be laughed at by their fellow workers in the mine.
This morning, as soon as Fu Hongmei went to He's house and talked to him, he forced Qin Chunxia to return to Huaihua Village to make peace.
Qin Chunxia knew that her parents had made a big mistake and was unwilling to step forward, so she was beaten by He Dong.
Fu Hongmei was also present at the time, but she only tried to symbolically mediate and did not really protect her elder sister-in-law at all.
Qin Chunxia's voice was filled with tears: "He Dong said that if I can't get the letter of understanding, Sanni and Sini and I will die outside and we will not be allowed to go back..."
She suddenly knelt on her knees and kowtowed to Feng Jingrou.
"Jingrou, just treat it as a request from your elder sister, okay?"
"Sign a letter of understanding and give Sanni and Sini and me a chance to live, okay?"
Feng Jingrou hurried to pull Qin Chunxia up.
He Sini, who was drinking sugar water, saw her mother kneeling down, so she immediately put down the bowl and knelt beside her mother.
The small body curled up into a ball and shivered constantly.
"Third aunt, please don't hit my mom, please don't..." She begged for mercy subconsciously.
This one sentence made Feng Jingrou burst into tears.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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