Of all the men, women, and children in the village, only the Cheng Yi family, Widow Wang, and Aunt Wei's family didn't send anyone; everyone else came out to look for their children.
Aunt Wei muttered curses, "Such a little brat, is she worth so many people running around for? We might as well just abandon her."
"What are you saying? That child also has the surname Wei. Don't even mention she calls you 'Grandma.' Besides, her father and your son are cousins." Wei Erzhuang's wife noticed that no one from her in-laws' family had come looking for the child. She wanted to come and try to persuade them; since her aunt's family was in trouble, it would be better for her to take the initiative and ease tensions later. She didn't expect to hear this. "I was smart for once in my life, separating from you. People these days don't allow severing ties. Otherwise, I would have cut all ties with your family." After the weaving group distributed money, her mother-in-law wanted to take it, but she refused, so her mother-in-law encouraged her husband to hit her.
In the weaving group, living with the other educated youth, she learned a lot. She learned that if a man beat a woman, someone would intervene. So she made a huge scene. She went to the women's director and the brigade leader. If they didn't care, she would go to the police station. If the family didn't complain, the brigade leaders wouldn't intervene. But if it escalated, the leaders wouldn't allow it. It wasn't unreasonable for her mother-in-law to keep the money since they hadn't separated the family. But it was also unreasonable for the whole family to stay home, with only her doing the work, and not wanting to give her a single penny.
The women's director tried to mediate, but Aunt Wei absolutely refused. She thought her daughter-in-law couldn't possibly cause any trouble!
The educated youth were different; they were educated and had seen more of the world in the city. Li Yuanzhao casually remarked, "It's better to get a divorce than to suffer so much."
Song Yan was certain that Li Yuanzhao's words were premeditated, and ultimately, because of him.
Wei Erzhuang's wife had an idea. Her mother-in-law insisted on money, right? Divorce. Wei Erzhuang's wife was determined to divorce, but if she didn't, they could separate the household. Unlike Song Yan, Wei's mother-in-law was a local; if she asked the village head, he would definitely side with his own people and wouldn't issue a certificate. Wei Erzhuang's wife had her family; they could send someone to ask the village head for a divorce certificate. Even if his wife wanted a divorce, Wei Erzhuang wouldn't agree! And so, Wei Erzhuang separated from his family.
Therefore, Aunt Wei especially hated the weaving group and Song Yan in the weaving group. If it weren't for them, would her daughter-in-law dare to act like this?
Her daughter-in-law slammed the door and left, leaving Aunt Wei stunned. If word got out about what she'd just said, she wouldn't be able to stay in the village. "What am I going to do!"
"You have such a foul mouth, always causing trouble. If you hadn't offended Song Yan, would your eldest daughter-in-law have been left out of the weaving group? If you hadn't been constantly badmouthing your brother's family in front of the children, would your sons treat them the way they do?" Uncle Wei slapped Aunt Wei in anger. "Neither of you should stay home, hurry up and go find them."...
The team leader and Cheng Yousuo organized a systematic search. They first searched the village, even checking the wells, but found nothing. Since the search was fruitless, they began searching outside the village. Following the leader's instructions, groups of several people searched in different directions…
"Found it! Found it! In the big ditch north of the village. The ditch is a bit deep; if someone goes down, they won't be able to come back up. We need to prepare a rope," Sun Si shouted.
Song Yan knew about the large ditch north of the village. It was over two meters deep. Water often flowed there in the summer. Song Yan ran towards it as fast as he could.
The Cheng brothers had already reached the bottom of the ditch, and Cheng Yousuo was holding Wei An tightly. Because of the snow accumulation on the sides, the ditch was no longer as steep, and it wasn't as deep as before. Song Yan slid down the ditch wall.
Wei An lay curled up in Cheng Youfu's arms. His forehead was bleeding. How did the child fall into such a deep ditch? And how long had he been there? Song Yan was frightened and dared not check the child's breathing.
Cheng Youfu noticed Song Yan's fear. "Sister, Wei An might have just been knocked unconscious. He's fine." He wanted to say that he was still alive, but he didn't say it.
"The rope is here!" The person above threw the rope down.
"Sister, I'll carry the baby up." Cheng Youfu felt that he was a strong young man, and with one hand holding the baby and the other hand pulling the rope, he was sure he could make it up.
"No need!" Song Yan hugged Wei An tightly with one hand and pulled on the rope with the other. "Pull the rope!" Song Yan's hard work these past few days had paid off. She used the rope to quickly climb up the slippery side of the ditch.
Wei Erzhuang's wife, who was waiting by the ditch, snapped at her husband, "Hurry up and take the child to the clinic!"
Wei Erzhuang picked up the child and ran towards the clinic!
Some of the villagers followed them to the clinic, while others pulled the Cheng brothers out of the ditch.
When Song Yan arrived at the clinic, Wei An was already awake! The child was crying loudly!
It's good that you can cry!
Hearing Wei An's cries, Song Yan breathed a sigh of relief and almost tripped. Fortunately, the people on either side caught him. Song Yan then carefully examined Wei An again and found that he had a cut on his head and minor frostbite on his hands and feet. These were not serious problems.
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