"The first time you hit me, it's out of anger. The second time, it's still out of resentment. The third, fourth, and fifth time, it will become a habit from then on. You men, you beat your wives at the slightest dissatisfaction."
"And what about women? Feeling guilty about their infidelity, they endure repeated beatings from their husbands. Enduring this, they face two outcomes: one is being beaten to death by their husbands. The other is a silent outburst of resentment, resulting in their death alongside their husbands."
"This is your future life. Do you want to live like this?" Bei Yutang asked coldly.
The villagers were silent, each one of them was deep in thought.
Suddenly, an elderly woman with lace-colored hair stood up and said to Bei Yutang, "We in Zhixiao Village absolutely do not allow any unclean women to stay in the village. All of these defiled women must be thrown into the pig cage."
So old-fashioned!
Bei Yutang hated, hated the beliefs of this village from the bottom of her heart.
This is not a belief, but a bondage, a bondage on women.
The women in the village all turned pale. No one could remain calm when facing death.
The old lady said in a deep voice, "Village chief, do you still remember? Back then, the village chief's woman fell into the river and was rescued by a man. Her body was touched by that man. What did the village chief do at that time?"
The village chief said, "Let his daughter marry the second beggar."
In the second year after the girl was married to Er Laizi, he sold her to a brothel. After only two years in the brothel, she contracted syphilis and died of ulcers all over her body.
"Then do you still remember how Yue Qiuping saved his daughter's reputation after her hand was captured by a man thirty years ago?" the old woman continued to ask.
"I remember, I remember. Yue Qiuping simply chopped off her daughter's arm, preserving her innocence."
"Okay. You remember all this. Their bodies have become dirty. What do you think should be done with them? What do the heads of your families think should be done with them?" the old woman said in a resounding voice.
Seeing the struggle on their faces, the old woman continued, "The Chastity Archway of our Jihyo Village, the reputation of chastity, has been preserved by generations. I will never allow the reputation of our Jihyo Village, which has lasted for hundreds of years, to be destroyed by these filthy women."
"You are all people of Jihyo Village. The reputation of the village depends on you. Why can't you do what our ancestors could do?" The old woman swept her cold eyes over the crowd.
"Now is the time for you to follow the example of your ancestors and uphold the village's century-old reputation."
As Bei Yutang listened to the old woman's words, the coldness in his eyes grew stronger and stronger. He looked at the chastity archway under the setting sun and felt it was extremely dazzling.
Dai Xiang was very angry when she heard this.
If it were in the past, maybe I wouldn’t, or even agree with it.
However, since she started following Bei Yutang, she began to understand what freedom, independence, and equality are.
Men and women are born as human beings.
Why should men be superior to others, and why should women be destined to be stepped on?
Why do men have the power to control the life and death of women?
What about the sayings of "a married woman should obey her husband" and "a married woman should obey her son"? That's all bullshit. They are shackles used to bind women.
And it will take thousands of years to break free from this shackle.
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