Zhao Mingyue slept soundly and peacefully. When she woke up the next day, she saw her mother talking to a neighbor in the yard. Their voices were not loud, and she couldn't hear what they were saying. After Zhao Mingyue finished washing up, her mother had already returned to the house and said to her mysteriously, "Mingyue, something happened to Wang Qiulan."
Zhao Mingyue looked at her mother: "What's wrong?"
Hu Nianchun said, "They said he had a seizure for no reason last night, foaming at the mouth, and then passed out."
Zhao Mingyue's mouth dropped open, and it took her a while to realize: "Is what Aunt Zhang said true?"
Hu Nianchun nodded to his daughter: "It seems to be true."
Zhao Mingyue chuckled, "She really wants me dead?" This woman's wickedness is utterly incomprehensible. Aunt Zhang said yesterday that the backlash from such actions is extremely strong; unless one is filled with deep hatred, most people wouldn't risk doing something like this. Wang Qiulan had only written a letter of denunciation before; it's probably because her marriage proposal was rejected, and she was caught stealing grain from her family last time, that her anger drove her to act this way. No wonder she hasn't come to work for many days; doing this kind of thing requires a week of bathing and fasting.
Hu Nianchun patted his daughter's hand: "No matter what, it's good that you're alright. What happened to others is their own fault. As people, we should always be wary of others, but we should never have the heart to harm them, understand?"
Zhao Mingyue nodded: "I understand, Mom. Has Wang Qiulan been taken to the hospital yet?"
"No, we invited a barefoot doctor to our house. Tang Jiumei wouldn't spend money to go to the hospital for a girl." Hu Nianchun curled his lip in disdain. What family treats their son and daughter the same way as his?
Zhao Mingyue was in a good mood that day and went to work happily. The early rice harvest was almost complete, and now only the late rice transplanting was left. Zhao Mingyue was pulling seedlings in the paddy field. Although the weather was hot, standing in the water was still bearable and not unbearable.
Shen Xuyue and a group of male educated youths came to pick rice seedlings. A group of young people joked by the field: "Who washed these seedlings? They're covered in mud. Are they trying to break our backs?"
The girls pulling rice seedlings in the field laughed and joked, "It was washed by the bright moon."
Zhao Mingyue straightened up: "The water here is too shallow, and it's all muddy, so I can't wash it clean. Thank you all for your hard work."
Zhao Mingyue was beautiful and had a sweet smile, which immediately calmed down the group of male educated youths: "No water? If there's no water, hurry up and call someone to bring water!"
"The water truck driver hasn't arrived yet; he's gone home for lunch." The work in the team is divided into different tasks: the water truck driver is responsible for watering, the water carrier is responsible for carrying loads, and the rice seedling puller is responsible for pulling rice seedlings.
Shen Xuyue took a look and saw that the water in the paddy field was indeed very shallow. He said, "If there is no water, then hurry up and draw water. I will draw water, and you can carry these seedlings to plant them for them."
The male educated youths all carried their loads and left. Shen Xuyue walked to the pond, turned around and said, "Who wants to help me draw water?"
The girls all said, "Zhao Mingyue!"
Shen Xuyue smiled and said, "Then let's go with Zhao Mingyue, come and help quickly."
Zhao Mingyue glanced at her laughing and joking sisters, then pretended to be reluctant as she came up from the field. She washed her hands and feet in the puddle behind the waterwheel, wiped her face to remove non-existent mud, and then walked over to Shen Xuyue.
Shen Xuyue asked her, "Do you know how to draw water?"
Zhao Mingyue grinned: "Not really." She had never driven a car through water before, but she often watched other people's cars, so it didn't seem too difficult.
Shen Xuyue handed her a handle: "It's very simple, just try a few times. I'll go first, you just follow my movements." Shen Xuyue pushed the handle down, and Zhao Mingyue pulled it in front of her, and the waterwheel started turning. Soon, the water rose.
Shen Xuyue said approvingly, "Yes, that's it."
The two quickly got into perfect coordination, and the water was hauled up by the truck, flowing into the ditch and rushing into the rice paddies. The sisters below cheered, "Mingyue, the water's here! Great job! Keep it up!"
It was Zhao Mingyue's first time riding in a car, and she was so excited that her face turned red and she kept giggling.
Hearing her giggles, Shen Xuyue felt much better and pumped the water even harder.
Before long, the person in charge of pumping water arrived. Seeing Shen Xuyue and Zhao Mingyue pumping water, he quickly said, "Oh dear, why are you having Secretary Shen help me pump water? It's too much trouble for you. I can do it myself."
Shen Xuyue said, "You take Zhao Mingyue's hand first."
Zhao Mingyue gave him her hand and went down into the pond to wash her hands and face. She heard Shen Xuyue ask the man, "Where is the other person?"
"You mean Wang Changfu? His daughter has fallen ill, and he's treating her at home."
Zhao Mingyue stopped, wondering about Wang Qiulan's condition.
Shen Xuyue frowned: "What illness does Wang Changfu's daughter have?"
The other person said, "I don't know either, it seems like epilepsy or something. He's going crazy at home."
Shen Xuyue said, "If they're sick, take them to the hospital."
The other person said, "I don't know about that."
Zhao Mingyue figured she wouldn't hear anything new, so she went back to continue pulling rice seedlings. The women in the paddy field were all whispering about Wang Qiulan.
"...I hadn't seen Qiulan at work for many days. Was she sick?"
What illness does he/she have?
"I don't know, they say it's epilepsy."
"It doesn't look like epilepsy to me, it's more like a mental illness, she might really be crazy. I heard her cursing at home this morning."
"Oh, what happened to cause this?"
“I heard that she asked someone to act as a matchmaker a while ago, but the family didn’t agree, and she started acting strangely. She was always muttering to herself, and I don’t know what she was saying.”
"Are you so desperate to get married that you're going crazy?"
"I don't know, it's quite pitiful."
“What’s there to pity? With her terrible temper, I think this is just karma,” said a girl who was often bullied by Wang Qiulan.
A young woman said, "Qiu Lan's mouth is indeed a bit sharp."
Zhao Mingyue listened silently without saying a word. All of this was Wang Qiulan's own fault; she brought it upon herself and deserved to suffer the consequences.
As Wang Qiulan's illness worsened, the village girls and wives went to visit her in groups. One of the girls noticed that Wang Qiulan's youngest sister was playing with a small doll sewn from a scrap of cloth. She thought the doll looked strange, picked it up, and saw that it had Zhao Mingyue's name written on it. When she asked, she was told that her sister had made it for her.
Upon closer inspection, the girl realized something was amiss. These were the kind of effigies people used to make for curses, the kind people used to stick in the ground. The girl didn't know her sister had sewn them for a ritual; she thought they were little cloth dolls made for her. And with Zhao Mingyue's name written on them—wasn't that Wang Qiulan cursing Zhao Mingyue?
The news quickly reached Zhao Mingyue's ears. Now that there was both witness testimony and physical evidence, Zhao Mingyue certainly couldn't let them off so easily. If she hadn't sought help from others to solve the case, wouldn't she be the one lying unconscious in bed right now?
Zhao Mingyue summoned all the village officials and went to the Wang family to demand justice. Wang Qiulan's mind was in a state of flux, sometimes lucid, sometimes confused. When others asked her why she had done this, she was still cursing, "Zhao Mingyue, I'm going to kill you!"
Looking at their delirious daughter, Wang Changfu and Tang Jiumei were speechless, only able to claim they didn't know she would do such a thing. Hu Nianchun then said, "How old is Wang Qiulan? A teenage girl, how could she know this? Someone must have taught her." He pointed the finger directly at Tang Jiumei, who retorted angrily, "What do you mean? You're saying I taught her?"
Hu Nianchun is usually easygoing, but when others bully her children, she turns into a fierce mother tiger: "Your daughter is so vicious, using this method to curse my daughter. Who taught her this? If it wasn't you who taught her, then you didn't teach her well. Her heart is so cruel, aren't you afraid of retribution?"
Tang Jiu Mei roared, "Who are you calling a victim of retribution?"
Hu Nianchun sneered: "Isn't the one lying in bed getting his comeuppance?"
Tang Jiumei's face flushed red and then turned pale, before she suddenly went berserk, rolling on the ground and crying, shouting that the Zhao family was bullying them. Then her children all started wailing and screaming, turning the whole house upside down. The brigade cadres were all forced to retreat outside.
Shen Xuyue said with a solemn expression, "Wang Qiulan used feudal superstition to curse others. Regardless of whether such things are true or effective, this behavior must be investigated and stopped. Therefore, we need to thoroughly search her house and clean up all those remaining feudal poisons." Thinking of Zhao Mingyue being cursed by Wang Qiulan, he was particularly angry. This woman was far too vicious and absolutely could not be let off lightly!
No one can object. Some people are not progressive enough and still have feudal superstitious ideas in their minds. People can't control these kinds of thoughts, but if they use this method to harm others, then they must be strictly investigated and stopped.
People found many talismans, ritual implements, and Taoist robes in Wang Changfu's house. These items had actually been confiscated and searched at the beginning of the movement, and it was unknown how Tang Jiumei had managed to secretly keep them. Then they burned them all.
Only then did Zhao Mingyue's life finally return to peace. People talked about the Wang family with a sense of dread, and dared not greet any member of the Wang family, partly because they disliked them, and partly because they feared offending them and bringing about their own demise.
Wang Qiulan's curse on Zhao Mingyue backfired, causing her only temporary mental instability. After resting at home for half a month, she returned to normal. However, her parents, siblings, and other family members all complained about her. Her parents would scold her at the drop of a hat, her younger siblings wouldn't speak to her, and the villagers dared not associate with her for fear of offending her and bringing trouble upon themselves.
The Wang Changfu couple were eager to marry their daughter off, so they asked a matchmaker to arrange a marriage. They weren't picky about the groom's conditions, as long as he was willing to pay a dowry of one hundred yuan. At least they couldn't have raised their daughter for nothing. To be honest, one hundred yuan wasn't much. In better-off families, the annual income was over one hundred yuan, so spending a year's income on a bride was quite reasonable.
Finally, the matchmaker helped them find a family. The family wasn't well-off; the man was short and a bit older, almost thirty. Hearing that as long as they could afford the bride price, they could marry a young and fairly pretty wife, they scraped together 100 yuan from their meager savings and married Wang Qiulan. It hadn't even been half a month, not even past the seventh month of the lunar calendar. In rural areas, there's a saying: "Fifth month is unlucky for weddings, sixth for death, seventh for demise, eighth for life." The fifth, sixth, and seventh months are considered unsuitable for weddings, as they are considered bad omens. Weddings are usually held after the eighth month or before the fifth.
As a result, Wang Qiulan was sent back to the family after only a few days, and they demanded that Wang Changfu's family return the betrothal gifts. The reason was that Wang Qiulan refused to consummate the marriage and even scratched the man's body. This matter caused a great uproar. Wang Changfu and his wife refused to return the money, saying that their daughter's reputation had been damaged. The man's family gathered a large group of people to support them. In the end, Wang Changfu and his wife returned half of the betrothal gifts.
Because of this incident, Wang Changfu and his wife constantly beat and scolded Wang Qiulan, who was completely isolated. Her personality changed drastically, and she often threw hysterical tantrums, gradually becoming more and more erratic.
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