"Pah! I don't believe you for a second."
Hu Dazhi was actually a lecherous old man. The person speaking in front of him was clearly a young woman. Under normal circumstances, he might have threatened her to have sex with her right there. But now Li Hongying was soaking in the cesspool, covered in filth, and he had no interest in it at all.
Before long, Hu Sanqiang and Aunt Hu got up and went to the outhouse.
Aunt Hu, holding a flashlight, walked along saying, "Whoever tries to steal our things, you damn thief, you're asking for trouble."
She shone her flashlight into the toilet and saw Li Hongying, whose face was covered in excrement and urine, and whose body was still lying in the excrement and urine, as well as Hu Dazhi, who had not pulled up his pants.
"Hurry up and pull up your pants!" she yelled at Hu Dazhi.
"I haven't finished pooping yet, I haven't even wiped my butt," Hu Dazhi protested. He could only sigh, grab a clod of dirt from the ground, wipe himself, and pull up his pants.
Li Hongying stood up, supporting herself on the filthy ground, and said to Aunt Hu, "My face is covered in excrement and urine. Let me wash my face at your house first."
"Wash your mother's hair! You came to my house to steal things, and I'm supposed to wash your face? Dream on! Heh, it feels good to have shit and pee smeared on your face, huh? Keep it on. Sanqiang, this woman came to our house to steal things, why don't you find a rope and tie her up? We'll hand her over to your uncle tomorrow. Oh, and go check if anything's missing from our house."
"Okay, Mother. I'll go get the rope first."
“I’m not a thief, I was dumped here, you have to believe me,” Li Hongying continued to explain.
Aunt Hu waved her hand: "Still believe you? Do you think we're all fools?" Hu Sanqiang had already returned with the rope. Aunt Hu said: "Sanqiang, tie her up for me."
Li Hongying was covered in excrement and urine, and smelled terrible. It took the three members of the Hu family working together to tie her up. At daybreak, Hu Sanqiang called Lai, the Party Secretary, and the brigade leader.
The Hu family insisted that Li Hongying had come to their house to steal, but Li Hongying claimed that she had been thrown in by a ghost, and as a result, she was accused of engaging in feudal superstition.
Since Li Hongying did not commit theft and the Hu family did not suffer any material loss, after discussing it with the village head, Secretary Lai decided to make Li Hongying apologize to the whole village and then have her go to the pigsty to collect pig manure for a month.
Li Hongying was on the verge of tears. Not only had she been beaten, but she was also being wrongly accused. Why was no one listening to her explanation?
She had no way to defend herself and could only accept the punishment.
Finally, she returned to the Liu family home in a disheveled state, under the watchful eyes and pointing fingers of the villagers, only to be met with a barrage of angry words from Liu's mother.
"You bastard, where did you go last night while my son was running off to? We're short on grain. Did you keep a mistress and give our grain to some random guy?"
"I don't."
"No? You're still trying to deny it!" Liu's mother originally wanted to slap Li Hongying's face, but because there were still feces stains on her face, she could only kick her. She also ordered Liu Aiguo: "Look at your wife, she's stealing grain behind our backs, I don't know which wild man she's keeping. I have to teach this kind of wife a lesson."
So, the mother and daughter didn't even ask Li Hongying what she had experienced last night, and then they punched and kicked her. Li Hongying lay on the ground covered in injuries. From last night to today, in just one night, she had suffered the humiliation she had never experienced in her life.
That ghost really caused her a lot of trouble.
At the same time, because she was so afraid of the ghost, she silently prayed that she would never see him again.
After Liu's mother and Liu Aiguo disciplined Li Hongying, they went inside to rest. Li Hongying got a chance to catch her breath, fetched a basin of water and washed herself a little. Before she was finished, someone came in and dragged her to the threshing ground, demanding that she apologize in front of the whole village.
The people in the youth compound also heard about this. The youths, who had been cooped up indoors for days during the winter, were bored and restless. Finally, there was something exciting to see, so they all planned to go to the threshing ground.
Jiang Manyue came over excitedly and called to Luo Jingyan: "I heard that a female educated youth from the neighboring Peach Blossom Brigade married into the village. Her name is Li Hongying, and she's Liu Aiguo's wife. Last night, she went to Hu Sanqiang's house to get something and accidentally fell into their latrine. She was caught by the Liu family. Later, she'll have to give a self-criticism to the whole village. Jingyan, it's been a long time since we've had something so exciting. Let's go watch it together."
Luo Jingyan knew the inside story best, so she wasn't interested at all. She'd rather stay in her warm and cozy house and pet her cat.
"I'm not feeling well for the full moon celebration, so I'd like to rest and won't be going."
"Alright, you get some rest. I'm going with the other educated youth."
"Um."
Luo Changtian went to school and was no longer at the educated youth settlement, which would also prevent him from running into Li Hongying.
After all the other educated youths in the courtyard had left, Luo Jingyan quietly went to the cowshed.
Inside the cowshed, Luo's mother and father were eating breakfast. Luo's mother said, "I knew she had ulterior motives and didn't really want to take care of us. She promised to deliver the grain last night, but we didn't even see her. If she comes again, I'll kick her out."
When Luo Jingyan arrived, she overheard what her mother said. She covered her mouth and smiled, then knocked on the door and went in.
As soon as Luo's mother saw her, she said the same thing as before.
Luo Jingyan said, "Mom, I heard from the people at the educated youth settlement that she went to steal something from a family in this village yesterday, but somehow fell into their toilet and was caught. She's been dragged to the threshing ground to be displayed."
Upon hearing this, Luo's mother laughed heartily.
"Evil people get their just deserts. Her two old relatives are wicked, and the young one is also malicious. They deserve it!"
Mr. Luo didn't say anything, nor did he pity Li Hongying. He had already treated that family as strangers. As long as they didn't bother him and his family, he would treat them like air.
Mrs. Luo said, "Jingyan, I'm so happy today because you brought me this news. I'll eat more."
"Yes, Mom, I'm very happy too."
threshing ground
Li Hongying's situation was more than just writing a self-criticism. Because the villagers had been hibernating for a long time, they were bored at home every day. When something exciting happened in the village, they were like they had been injected with chicken blood. They were all full of energy. Some mischievous people picked up snowflakes from the ground, made them into balls, and threw them at Li Hongying. Once one person started, many others followed suit. Snowballs were hitting Li Hongying's body one after another. Li Hongying already had injuries, and the snowballs made her body ache all over.
She ran away, but was dragged back, and the others continued to throw snowballs at her.
The village officials watched from the sidelines, taking it as a form of punishment for Li Hongying. As long as they didn't tell them to stop, the villagers wouldn't stop.
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