“When I was in junior high school, my dad lost his job due to factory layoffs, but my mom was not on the layoff list because she did well. After that, my dad became a different person. He drank and gambled every day. Once, my mom said something wrong, and he hit her with a bottle.”
Tian Wei's voice was low, but as if she had finally found an outlet, she slowly recounted her ordeal.
She didn't know if this rich girl, born with a silver spoon in her mouth, could understand her ordinary family background, but now, apart from the girl in front of her, she had no one else to confide in.
"Mom, are you alright?" Tian Wei, who had just started junior high school, rushed over when she saw a crowd gathered at her door.
The living room was littered with shattered wine bottles. Tian Chan sat in the middle, clutching her head, blood trickling from between her fingers and dripping onto the floor, blooming into snowflakes.
"Weiwei." Tian Chan was a little dazed from being hit, but she still instinctively hugged her daughter.
"Dad! What are you doing!" Tian Wei looked at her father in disbelief.
Because of the layoffs, the mother and daughter understood him, so even though he went out drinking and playing cards every day, they didn't say much to him. They just felt that he was upset and would be fine in a couple of days.
This pause lasted for a month.
After working overtime for several days in a row, Tian Chan thought that she finally didn't have to work overtime today, so she went to the market to buy some good meat to cook something nice for her husband to comfort him.
I didn't expect to see bottles of wine scattered all over the house and bowls piled up in the kitchen sink when I got home. My already depressed mood plummeted to the lowest point.
She sighed and couldn't help but grumble a few words while cleaning up. Unexpectedly, her husband smashed a wine bottle at her.
"I...I..." The man was clearly flustered and dropped the half-broken bottle in his hand.
The crowd outside was pointing and talking. The man's eyes were unfocused. He took two steps back, and then, seemingly feeling ashamed, deliberately straightened his back.
"I'm the head of the household, so what if I hit her! If you don't obey, I'll hit you too!"
"Dad?" Tian Wei looked incredulous. Although her father was somewhat chauvinistic, he would never say such a thing.
For a moment, Tian Wei felt that the man in front of her was somewhat unfamiliar.
"What are you looking at? What's wrong with me disciplining my own wife?"
"Wow, Bin, that's incredible! He's got the air of a head of the household. Unlike me, I have to do whatever my wife says." One man said, and then several other men chimed in.
"Hmph, what's wrong with me hitting my wife once? Even if I hit her ten times or a hundred times, she'd still behave!"
Hearing the half-joking compliments from the others, the man straightened his back a bit more, and the panic on his face disappeared, replaced by a hint of smugness.
"Mom, are you alright?" Tian Wei listened to her father saying these distorted things and looked at her mother who was still in shock, tears streaming down her face.
Seeing the mother and daughter like this, many elderly women and men shook their heads and left without saying anything, while only young women tried to persuade them.
"Ah Bin, that's your wife. Why can't you talk things out?"
"Yes, I just ran into your wife at the market. She said she was going to buy some groceries to make your favorite sweet and sour pork ribs. What a wonderful wife she is. You'd better be careful."
The man looked over, and the other man immediately tugged at his wife's hand.
“Ah Bin is disciplining his wife, what are you all meddling for? Hurry up and go home.”
"If you dare treat me like this, I won't be as obedient as Achan. I'll make a scene."
The crowd dispersed in twos and threes, some joking, some shaking their heads in regret, but no one stood up to stop them.
As people dispersed and the sun slowly set, the bright living room gradually dimmed.
"Alright, stop pretending. Get up and cook, I'm starving!" The man glanced impatiently at the mother and daughter sitting there, but dared not look them in the eye. He went straight to the refrigerator, took a new bottle of wine, took a swig, and then curled up on the sofa to watch TV.
The television light illuminated the man's face, and Tian Wei looked at him as if she were seeing a demon.
"What are you looking at! Are you trying to rebel too?!" Sensing the gaze, the man picked up the ashtray on the table and smashed it over.
Tian Wei flinched and instinctively closed her eyes, but instead of feeling pain, she heard a muffled groan.
Tian Chan blocked the ashtray.
"Mom!" Tian Wei's pupils contracted. "Are you alright? How are you? I'll take you to the clinic now."
"No need, it's just a superficial wound. I'll disinfect it with iodine later. You go do your homework first, and I'll call you when dinner is ready. Your dad's been in a bad mood lately, so don't argue with him."
Tian Chan waved her hand and forced a smile. The blood on her forehead had dried, leaving a bloodstain that looked rather frightening at first.
Tian Wei's eyes were red, but she knew her mother's personality; if she said she wouldn't go, she wouldn't. She tenderly tried to wipe away the bloodstains with her fingers, but they were dry and wouldn't come off.
"Go lie down, I'll cook it. I'll go get some medicinal wine from Grandma Li next door to rub on your back later, it must be bruised." Tian Wei's voice was a little choked up.
"Stop crying and wailing! You cry every day, and I'm ruined because of your crying! Go cook!" the man roared, startling the two men.
Tian Chan patted Tian Wei's back to comfort her, but she herself was terrified.
Tian Wei sniffed, helped her mother into her room, put down her schoolbag, and then went to the kitchen to cook.
They thought today was just an accident, but they didn't expect that in the days that followed, the man would become more and more outrageous, taking his anger out on the two of them at the drop of a hat. At least he didn't lay a hand on Tian Wei, but it was a pity for Tian Chan. She was covered in bruises every few days, and even the villagers distanced themselves from her, always pointing and gossiping about her behind her back.
In essence, it means that women shouldn't be too assertive. If her husband gets laid off, and she stays on, who knows if she has some shady relationship with the factory manager.
It was clearly the man's fault, but in the end, it became the woman's fault for being indecent and that she deserved to be beaten by the man.
Tian Chan remained silent. Only she knew that if she didn't go to work, the family would go hungry.
The man either drinks or gambles. When he wins money, he buys alcohol; when he loses, he beats her to force her to buy alcohol. Before long, all the money saved at home has been squandered.
Food, clothing, and daily necessities all cost money, including the children's schooling. She's most grateful now that she didn't lose her second child; otherwise, the baby would have been born and suffered alongside her.
Speaking of the second child, it was because of the man that we couldn't keep it.
At that time, the man was having an affair with another woman at the factory, which she caught him doing. She then miscarried.
The man felt guilty and never mentioned having children again. This matter remained in her heart like a knot, but looking at her innocent daughter, she could only endure it.
She didn't tell anyone about it.
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