Chapter 7 Domestic Violence: It's Either Zero Times or Countless Times
"Comrade, my name is Jiang Suining. Jiang is the Yangtze River, Sui is the rice stalk, and Ning is peace." Jiang Suining introduced himself first to lower the woman's guard.
She choked up again before she could finish speaking, and Jiang Suining whispered to comfort her, her mind racing: Zhang Hongjuan, Hongjuan, she recalled the plot of the original book, and looked closely at the little girl in the woman's arms, especially the red mole between her eyebrows.
Moles on the face are common, but a red mole between the eyebrows is quite rare. In the original book, the female protagonist has a twin sister who went missing as a child. When she was found, she had a daughter with her, and this daughter had a red mole between her eyebrows.
Lu Ye is the female lead's ideal man. The two know each other. Considering Lu Ye's surprised expression when he saw Zhang Hongjuan and what he muttered to himself, it's very likely because she looks similar to the female lead. They are twins, so it's perfectly normal for them to look alike.
Furthermore, the fact that the female lead's twin sister was found is related to Zhou Xiaomei.
In the original book, Zhou Xiaomei returned to her hometown to visit relatives after serving as a soldier on the island for three years. It was on the street of Hongxing Commune that she met a woman who looked extremely similar to the female protagonist. After returning to the island, she mentioned this to the female protagonist in a casual conversation. The female protagonist took it to heart and asked her family to investigate. Sure enough, the woman was her lost twin sister.
Jiang Suining remembered that the female lead's older sister was named Zhuang Hongjuan, and that she must have changed back to her original surname after being found.
The book also mentions that Zhuang Hongjuan was forced to divorce her husband because she was infertile after childbirth. Because she was raised by her mother-in-law's family since she was a child, she did not leave her husband's family after the divorce. She and her daughter became free labor for her husband's family. Her adoptive mother and husband would beat and scold the mother and daughter at any time, and often threatened to sell them if they did not obey.
Based on the above three points, Zhang Hongjuan is most likely the female protagonist's twin sister who was lost at a young age!
The female lead, Zhuang Lina, is the daughter of a high-ranking officer in the island's military region. A graduate of the military medical college, she works at the island's military hospital. After her husband's sacrifice, she raises her daughter alone. The male lead is accidentally poisoned, and it is Zhuang Lina who treats him. Their doctor-patient relationship develops into a romantic one, and they naturally get married. After marriage, the male lead's career rises steadily, thanks in no small part to the support and assistance of his father-in-law, who is also a high-ranking officer.
Jiang Suining thought that if she could find the female lead's sister, it would definitely be of great help to Lu Ye and herself in their future work and life on the island.
“I didn’t really help much. I just happened to run into you. If I don’t run into you tomorrow, I won’t be able to help you either.” Jiang Suining’s words were loaded with meaning. Zhang Hongjuan felt something and the tears she had managed to stop started flowing again.
"Sister Hongjuan, if you ask me, you should get a divorce. Even if it's not for your own sake, you should get a divorce for the sake of the children!" Jiang Suining said earnestly, looking intently at the woman.
"Should we get a divorce for the sake of the child?" Zhang Hongjuan was stunned. She insisted on not getting a divorce for the sake of the child. She wasn't afraid of divorce, but if the child lost his biological father, wouldn't he be gossiped about and cursed behind his back? He would be looked down upon even if he remarried in the future.
“Yes, you should divorce for the sake of the child!” Jiang Suining repeated again. Seeing that Zhang Hongjuan still looked confused, she quickly explained to her, “Although I haven’t seen how you two get along in your daily life, I can guess a thing or two from what I saw today. Does he beat and scold you all the time, and is he not good to the child either?”
Originally, family scandals should not be aired in public, but Zhang Hongjuan had suffered too many grievances over the years, and had nowhere to vent them. Today's incident became the last straw that broke the camel's back. She broke down, tears welled up in her eyes, and she nodded forcefully with a sob.
"You beast! Domestic violence is either zero times or countless times," Jiang Suining sighed inwardly. "What's there to miss about a man like that? Get a divorce as soon as possible to cut your losses."
Zhang Hongjuan, her eyes brimming with tears, held the little girl and cried incessantly, but the more she cried, the less she knew what to do.
Jiang Suining was speechless. Would crying solve the problem? "Don't cry, don't scare the child," she patiently advised.
Zhang Hongjuan then stopped crying and went to look at the little girl. Seeing that her daughter's brows were furrowed and her eyes were full of unease, she quickly hugged the child, patted her back gently, and whispered to comfort her.
"Are you unwilling to get a divorce because you're afraid of being criticized behind your back, or because you're afraid of losing your source of income and not being able to support your children? Or are you afraid that your children will be ridiculed for not having a father?" Jiang Suining listed three reasons for not getting a divorce, based on the psychology of women in this era.
“I have hands and feet, I can earn work points, and supporting Yueya’er won’t be a problem,” Zhang Hongjuan had thought about this issue before. Wiping away her tears, she said firmly, “I have nothing to hide, and I don’t care what others say! I just feel sorry for my child who has no father.”
As expected, it was still because of the child. Jiang Suining sighed, and thinking of what she had just said, she suddenly asked, "Is the child named Crescent Moon?"
In the original book, the female protagonist's sister's daughter's nickname was Crescent Moon. Why did she remember it so clearly? Because it sounded nice. When she read the book, she thought that this was the only nice-sounding name in the whole book.
"Yes, a nickname, but a formal name hasn't been chosen yet." Zhang Hongjuan said, her eyes welling up with tears again.
"The child is three years old, why hasn't she been given a formal name yet?" Jiang Suining knew that the reason she hadn't been given a formal name was because the man didn't like it or value it, but she asked this question to remind Zhang Hongjuan of the grievances her daughter had suffered.
“Yueya’er is almost five years old,” Zhang Hongjuan corrected in a low voice.
"Five years old?!" Jiang Suining was taken aback. The child's size didn't seem to match that of a five-year-old. Even if living conditions were poor in this era, his head was still too short. "Is it his age according to the Chinese system?"
Zhang Hongjuan shook her head, tears streaming down her face. Because she was a daughter, her child was neglected from birth. The neighbor's wife had given birth to twin big, healthy boys, but her mother-in-law didn't have enough breast milk. She forced her to breastfeed other people's grandsons for money, while her own daughter was only given rice gruel. After her postpartum period, she was forced to go to work to earn work points, leaving her child at home, sometimes hungry and sometimes full, which is why the child grew into this bean sprout-like shape. The thought of this tore at her heart.
Good heavens, Jiang Suining really wanted to rush over and beat up that scumbag who favored sons over daughters, but the most important thing right now was to persuade the woman to get a divorce.
"Is your family from this area?" Jiang Suining asked, wanting to confirm the woman's identity again.
“I have no family of my own,” Zhang Hongjuan said with a bitter smile. “When I was a child, my mother-in-law took me in and made me a child bride.”
"Perhaps I can help you find your biological parents." That's it! Jiang Suining almost clapped her hands with joy, and said in a low voice.
"Really?" Zhang Hongjuan was overjoyed, her eyes lighting up, but then dimmed again. "Where have we found someone like this all these years?"
"Lu Ye, come here!" Jiang Suining beckoned to Lu Ye.
Lu Ye was watching the man under the shade of a tree when he heard Jiang Suining call him and warn him to stay where he was and not to move. Only then did he run over.
"Lu Ye, Sister Hongjuan is an orphan. Can you help her find her biological parents?" To avoid unnecessary trouble, Jiang Suining couldn't directly say who Zhang Hongjuan's relatives were. By asking this, Lu Ye should be able to connect it to the female lead's twin sister.
"Are you an orphan?" Lu Ye's heart skipped a beat, and he pressed on, "How old are you this year?"
“When I was little, I got separated from my family and was taken in by my mother-in-law. I don’t know exactly how old I was, but my mother-in-law said I was about three years old when she found me. I should be twenty-five now.”
“I know an elder who has twin daughters. The older sister went missing when she was young, and she’s about twenty-four or twenty-five years old. I’ve met the younger sister, and she looks very much like you.” Lu Ye thought of how Chief Zhuang had been saddened by the loss of his daughter several times. If the person in front of him was indeed his lost daughter, it would be a relief for him.
"Really...really? Really...it could be...me?" Zhang Hongjuan couldn't believe it, and her words were too jumbled with excitement.
“I’m not sure, but you do look very much like his other daughter.” Lu Ye was being realistic; a resemblance alone doesn’t tell the whole story.
“Sister Hongjuan, there’s no rush about the matter of your biological parents,” Jiang Suining said, relieved that things were going as planned. “The most important thing right now is to get a divorce. In this new era, we need new ideas. Divorce isn’t a big deal. Besides, after the divorce, you and Yueya will no longer be subjected to domestic violence, Yueya will be well-fed and clothed, and you won’t have to serve your mother-in-law and husband anymore. You’ll have more time to take good care of your child.”
Zhang Hongjuan remained conflicted.
“I know you’re worried about the child,” Jiang Suining continued to persuade her, “but think about it. If you don’t get a divorce, the child will continue to be beaten and scolded by her own father and grandmother, and she won’t even have enough to eat. When she reaches school age, will any man let Yueya’er go to school? When she reaches marriageable age, he will definitely use Yueya’er to exchange for a dowry. Everyone says that marriage is the most important thing in a woman’s life, it’s like a second reincarnation. If you don’t get a divorce, Yueya’er didn’t have a good father in her first reincarnation, and she won’t have a good husband in her second reincarnation. Won’t her life be ruined? You have to get a divorce for the sake of the child. You don’t have to worry about being pointed at and gossiped about after the divorce. Once you find your relatives, you can take Yueya’er and leave this place.”
What she said made sense, and Zhang Hongjuan was somewhat tempted.
Seeing this, Jiang Suining took a drastic step: "You see, your husband desperately wants a son. If you keep dragging your feet and refuse to divorce, the couple will become resentful, and there will never be a peaceful life in the future. Who knows, he might be blinded by greed and sell you and the child for money, telling everyone that you two were kidnapped. After a year or two, when the news has died down, he can use the money from selling you to marry a new wife."
Zhang Hongjuan suddenly recalled how her mother-in-law almost sold Yueya'er when she was one year old. In the past two years, her husband and mother-in-law had been pressuring her to divorce for the sake of their grandson, and had threatened her more than once to sell the child. If she insisted on not divorcing, her mother-in-law might really sell the child while she was away from home.
The thought of this made Zhang Hongjuan tremble. She was both angry and scared, and the idea of divorce gradually became clear in her mind.
Jiang Suining pressed on: "If you get a divorce, your child and your life will be safer. Without a man's domestic violence, you can send Yueya'er to school, and later she can go to university, work in the city, and find a well-educated and reasonable man who won't hit you. That's really for her own good. Without a man, you can have your own career and live for yourself."
Zhang Hongjuan's eyes grew brighter and brighter as she grasped Jiang Suining's hands: "Girl, can I really do this?"
“Of course you can. Chairman Mao said that women hold up half the sky, so why can’t you? Didn’t you just tell me that you can support your child with the work points you earn?” Jiang Suining then asked the little girl, “Crescent Moon, would you be happy if you only lived with your mother in the future?”
"Happy!" Crescent Moon blurted out, "I don't want Daddy and Grandma anymore, they always hit Crescent Moon and won't let Crescent Moon eat!"
"Yueya'er, it's all my fault!" Zhang Hongjuan hugged Yueya'er tightly and said resolutely, "Fine! I'll get a divorce, and I'll let Yueya'er go to school."
Jiang Suining was in a good mood after achieving her goal. After thinking for a moment, she looked at Zhang Hongjuan and said, "Sister Hongjuan, don't tell your mother-in-law and husband about finding your biological parents yet. Get a divorce first. We're going back to the island tomorrow, so why don't you come with us?"
"That would be too much trouble for you." Zhang Hongjuan was very grateful. "Don't worry, I won't tell them." She wasn't stupid. If her mother-in-law and husband knew that she might find her biological parents, her mother-in-law probably wouldn't let her leave so easily, since half of the family's expenses came from her earnings.
After finding out Zhang Hongjuan's address and agreeing to meet at the pier early the next morning, the two left.
A note from the author:
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