When Shen Donghua first escaped, she didn't dare go to the city at all. She just ran in the direction of whatever was off-limits, even clinging to the side of a larger boat to cross the river. That day, she observed a small fishing boat for a long time, sure it was a sneaky black boat, so she bravely asked where it was going and if she could give her a ride.
In fact, thinking about this incident later still makes one break out in a cold sweat. In those days, anyone who dared to go out on the black ship was desperate. Donghua was probably just giving up, and she would take whatever she could get. If she died in the river, it would be considered as not being left exposed in the wilderness.
The man who was out of the boat was also frightened. Who could have thought that a female ghost would appear in such a corner of the riverbank in the middle of the night?
He was so reckless that he met someone who was seeking death. He didn't ask Donghua why she was going across the river, and Donghua didn't ask him why she was going on the black boat. The two of them actually rowed the boat across the Qiantang River together, and after reaching the shore, they went their separate ways.
She walked eastward along the mudflats, hoping to find something to eat by the sea, and also to look for a place where she could get some sleep.
But at that time, any stranger entering the village would attract a lot of attention, because there was no place to live and nothing to eat. Within a few days, they were discovered and brought to the local commune director.
She didn't have anything on her that could prove her identity. When asked where she came from, she refused to tell me and just said she had no parents and no household registration. If that's not true, just shoot me.
The commune director said that was not possible as they were short of workers right now, so he sent her to Guhua Farm.
Several years later, when the director was arrested, Donghua found out that he had actually committed a crime and persecuted a sent-down educated youth, which was not a glorious act. Donghua's arrival just filled this hole. It was as if she was living on the farm in place of that educated youth.
But by the time the matter came to light, it was seven or eight years later. She had already married and had children, and her household registration was settled, so this matter did not involve her.
Donghua is willing to endure hardships. Compared with the group of educated youth who went to the countryside, she is good at farm work, but she is also illiterate and cannot get along with them.
The farm just happened to be sending a propaganda team for the poor and lower-middle peasants. They asked the village to send one member of the propaganda team, and then send two farm workers to that production team. It was like being sent to the countryside to work, like being left behind, and most of the educated youth were unwilling to go.
Now they say I'm going to help temporarily and I'll be paid, but policies changed so quickly back then, and if I go, I might not be able to come back. Donghua, on the other hand, volunteered to go.
She knew she was just a pheasant, and that she would be most comfortable in the countryside. People were afraid she wouldn't be able to return, so she just wanted to stay put there.
Ten years ago, when Donghua was 21, she was introduced to her current husband, Mao Dachui. Although he had a rural hukou, he was considered a farm worker.
Mao Dachui is an only child, and his parents-in-law are quite kind. They don't despise Donghua for being an orphan without parents, and the family lives in harmony.
Before long, Donghua and Mao Dachui had a son and a daughter. Only then did she feel truly settled.
Mao Dachui has a cousin whose family lives in another town. Four years ago, a matchmaker came with a man named Zhu to introduce them to each other.
She said that although the man had also come from the countryside, he was a pig butcher in a provincial town, and his family was well-off. Moreover, there was no mother-in-law above him, so the girl could be the head of the household once she got married. She rambled on and on, much to the amusement of Mao Dachui's uncle and aunt.
It’s just a little far, his aunt thinks.
The matchmaker said it wasn't that far, actually. Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai are all homegrown. We'd all been fleeing here every few decades, and we could still get there. Now, in this modern era, it only takes a few hours to get there by train. If we miss our child, we can just send a telegram! It's much more convenient than in the old days.
In the end, it was because of the betrothal money, which was considered quite high in that small town, that Mao Dachui's uncle and aunt agreed to marry their child to him. After all, they already had a son, and the money was enough to give the girl a dowry and save some for the betrothal money for the son.
In the first two years, the girl did send a telegram during the holidays, but she never came back, saying that it was not convenient and she would come back in two years when it was more convenient.
At the end of the second year, she said she was pregnant and would come back with the baby after giving birth. Mao Dachui's uncle and aunt were very happy, thinking that after two years, their daughter finally had good news and they were going to be grandparents.
There was no news from then on. They sent telegrams again, but no one responded. At that time, they thought that maybe she had a lot of things to do after giving birth and had no time to contact her family, so they put the matter aside.
When her brother was about to get married and there was no news about her sister coming back, the couple became anxious and ran to discuss with relatives what to do.
Donghua felt something was wrong when she heard their introduction to her son-in-law's family. A rural villager with the surname Zhu, a butcher, and no mother-in-law? It just didn't seem right no matter how she heard it.
She asked her uncle and aunt if they had visited their son-in-law's home, but the couple who had been buried in the fields their entire lives shook their heads.
"How do I get there? The train tickets are so expensive, and I need a letter of introduction."
"If we go there, what will we do with the farm work?"
"A daughter who's married off is like spilled water; she belongs to another family. If you go to someone else's house for no reason, what if they get upset?"
Shen Donghua: ...If she were to say, maybe Zhu Laosan and his son just like this kind of in-laws.
She didn't explain it in detail, only saying that she had heard from the educated youth who came from that direction that girls who didn't see their parents for years were most likely to be bullied by their in-laws, and that it would be best for you to go over and take a look, so that you could help if anything happened.
But they were still hesitating, thinking that their mother's family could not help them enough and that they had to be tough on themselves in this matter... In the end, it was Mao Dachui's cousin who decided to go and see his sister. No matter whether there was anything important or not, it was reasonable for the brother to visit his sister.
So before the autumn harvest, he made a trip to Zhejiang Province, which led to the subsequent report.
When the old couple learned the details, they cried so hard that they almost fainted at the local police station. After returning, his aunt remained in bed and could not get out of bed. Mao Dachui and Shen Donghua helped to complete the autumn harvest.
When his aunt received the news that the two men were to be executed later, she got out of bed and said she was sorry to her daughter. If she had gone to check earlier, perhaps this would not have happened. Now she must go and watch those two beasts die for her daughter!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
