Chapter 2 She has a life but no one to support her
People, you have to accept that your parents don’t love you that much.
——Orange Confessions
1992, July 14th of the lunar calendar.
The eldest granddaughter of the Zhen family was born. Except for the loud cry when she was first born, she has been so well-behaved that she doesn't look like a baby in swaddling clothes.
Grandma Zhen always praises her to everyone: "Our baby is so well behaved. After eating, he goes to sleep quietly. When he wakes up, he opens his eyes wide and looks around curiously without crying or making a fuss."
When neighbors all praised Zhen Hao as an angel baby, Grandma Zhen always added: "It would be great if he had a boy."
Grandpa Zhen didn't like to hear this. He always smiled when talking about Zhen Hao: "Granddaughter Hao is like a little cotton-padded jacket for grandpa and grandma."
"Yes, yes, yes, granddaughter is great. You are grandpa and grandma's little cotton-padded jacket." Grandma Zhen also smiled, her eyes full of love for her granddaughter.
Although Zhen Aizhen always said that her granddaughter was not a boy, her love for Zhen Hao was genuine.
She truly loves this granddaughter and really wants to have another grandson.
Zhen Hao has long limbs and one can tell at a glance that she will grow into a tall girl. However, her skin is dark, and her small belly seems to be inflated and becomes round every day.
Citong Village, located in Min Town, Min City, is situated on the hillside at an altitude of 500 meters, far away from the town center. The people there are simple in customs but have backward and feudal ideas. There is a saying that giving a child a humble name will make it easier to raise him.
Thus, the dark-skinned baby Zhen Hao, who was not as delicate as a piece of jade, got his own nickname - Apeng - under the final decision of Grandma Zhen.
In the Min dialect, these two words mean fat and round, with a sarcastic meaning.
If Zhen Hao could make her own choice at that time, she would definitely throw a tantrum and refuse this despicable name.
Unfortunately, there is no if.
The whole family had no intention of using this derogatory name. After all, compared with the neighbors' derogatory names like "Stinky Head" and "Rice Noodle Pig", "Abang" even sounded a little cute.
Only Grandpa Zhen noticed the key point: "Is it because your spleen and stomach are not in good condition that you are always bloating like this?"
Only Grandpa Zhen insisted on calling her "Haohao," saying, "Haohao is so nice, it sounds wonderful just by hearing it."
But the poor Zhen family did not have extra money to find a doctor for Zhen Hao, so they just raised the child like a pig and brought him up smoothly.
When Zhen Hao was five years old, August should have been a season of unbearable heat, but typhoons were a common occurrence in the summer along the coast of Minzhen.
Before the typhoon arrived, dark clouds pressed down layer by layer, and the wind blew the plastic bags on the ground into the air, flying farther and farther in an unknown direction.
Zhen Hao sat on a big rock in his yard, swinging his chubby legs and watching the clouds in the sky rolling rapidly in the wind.
It looked exactly like the somersault cloud she had seen on TV.
The Zhen family has an old color TV that was discarded by a wealthy relative. It can only search for two or three channels. Sometimes when the wind blows, the antenna is blown crooked and only snowflakes are left flickering.
But it was still the most valuable piece of furniture in the Zhen family. Zhen Hao often sat in front of the TV with her grandfather to watch news and legal programs that she didn't understand.
Watching TV with her grandfather was one of the few entertainment activities in her childhood, and it was also the warmest time she recalled when she grew up.
Zhen Hao looked at the clouds for a while, and felt his neck a little sore, so he turned over and lay on a big rock, slowly stepping onto the ground.
I don't know where my grandparents went. In the huge house, the only sounds were the rustling of the wind and a tabby cat lying lazily on a bamboo chair in the front hall.
The Zhen family's house is big, but a little run-down. Some of the tiles have been loosened by the wind and leak when it rains.
It's dripping and won't stop.
Zhen Hao doesn't like rainy days and is afraid of typhoon season because it means heavy rain outside and light rain at home.
Typhoons are always accompanied by heavy rain for several days. The windy and rainy weather made her worried. She was afraid that the fragile roof would collapse, and that the rain would rise higher and higher until it drowned her, as reported in the news.
Even though such thrilling moments have not happened so far, her little heart is always in pain because of the bad weather.
Zhen Hao ran towards the front yard where three huge longan trees were planted, shouting as he ran, "Grandpa... Grandpa..."
The little girl's voice was so sweet, and it was carried by the wind, unknown where it went.
No one responded to her.
All the children in the village are like this. They can stay at home alone at a young age, or go out and play with their friends.
Everyone in the neighborhood knows each other well. If a child doesn't come home, you can almost find him or her by just yelling a few times.
It really proves the saying - you have to walk to get around, and you have to shout to find people.
Zhen Hao walked towards her neighbor's house with her short legs. She guessed that her grandparents might be having tea and chatting at someone else's house.
To get to my neighbor's house, I had to go down a narrow dirt road, heavily trodden by the traffic. The path was lined with weeds, a verdant landscape dotted with small flowers. A large mango tree cast a cool shadow.
Every time Zhen Hao walked on this kind of road, he was afraid that something would suddenly jump out, or that insects would fall from his head.
Minzhen has a subtropical marine monsoon climate and is rich in fruits, insects and snakes.
Although what falls down are often ripe mangoes.
The wind grew stronger, dark clouds pressed down layer by layer, and occasional flashes of lightning flashed through.
A thunderstorm is coming.
Just when Zhen Hao was a few steps away from her neighbor's house, a blinding light struck down in front of her. The strong light rubbed against the large rocks on the ground, producing sparks and emitting a burning smell.
Immediately afterwards, a loud thunderclap sounded, shaking the ground as if it were trembling.
Zhen Hao was so frightened that he stood there motionless, unable to move.
When she realized that it was a bolt of lightning that struck the big rock in front of her, she cried out "Wow", but in the next second she bit her lips tightly and dared not cry out loud.
She remembered that one day she woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't find her grandmother who was sleeping next to her, so she ran out crying.
She didn't know where her grandmother had gone, and even though she was afraid of the dark and ghosts, she still ran towards the fields at home crying in the dark.
The path between the fields was narrow and full of weeds. Zhen almost stepped on air and fell into the rice field several times, but he still walked with one foot deep and one foot shallow, biting his lips tightly.
The little figure under the moonlight is so stubborn that it makes people feel distressed.
When he finally found his grandma, Zhen Hao couldn't help but burst into tears.
Grandma Zhen, however, was holding a long, old-fashioned silver flashlight and pretending to hit her. Her expression was vicious and her tone was fierce: "Why are you crying? Don't cry! Why are you running out here in the middle of the night?!"
Zhen Hao was frightened and instinctively shrank back, his eyes filled with tears, but he dared not cry anymore.
This became the most memorable and saddest scene in Zhen Hao's later life.
She was full of expectations and overcame many obstacles before finally reaching her trusted and close family. However, the relatives she trusted showed their cruel side to her...
A little girl's heart was broken so gently.
From then on, she never cried loudly in front of others. When she was sad or wronged, she would just shed tears silently and never cried out loud again.
When Zhen Hao grew up, she often thought, what would have happened if her grandmother had not been angry with her that night, but had hugged her and gently comforted her not to be afraid?
But there is no if in life, and the countless ifs she hoped for are impossible to come true.
Zhen Hao no longer cared about looking for his grandparents and turned around and ran home.
The thunder was loud but the rain was small. Every time there was a thunder, Zhen Hao's heart would shrink.
She was afraid of insects, the dark, ghosts, thunder, and no one around her... There were so many things she was afraid of.
She ran hard with tears in her eyes.
To alleviate her fear, she sang the nursery rhyme her grandmother had taught her in a tuneless voice: "It's dark, the sea dragon king is marrying someone... Grandpa is digging taro with a hoe... Grandpa wants to cook it salty, Grandma wants to cook it light, they're both afraid of getting their heads broken..."
As she ran, she met some children playing sandbag throwing.
Children are playful by nature. Zhen Hao stopped singing nursery rhymes and was no longer afraid of Lei - she also wanted to play throwing sandbags.
She stared at the sandbag being tossed around, feeling itchy inside, but after several rounds no one invited her to play.
Zhen Hao lowered her head sadly, tears hanging on her eyelashes, about to fall.
Finally, she couldn't resist the temptation of having fun. She raised her head, approached them, and mustered up the courage to say, "Can I play with you?"
She is very good at throwing sandbags.
Her grandfather made a sandbag for her. When no one was playing with her, she would entertain herself in the yard. Over time, she became more accurate in hitting the ball.
The leading child was the village's leader, Zou Xiaowei. A sly glint flashed in his eyes as he readily agreed, "Okay, we're just short of one more defender."
Hearing this, Zhen Hao's eyes, already soaked with tears, became even brighter.
She didn't expect that they would agree to let her join. She was so flattered that she forgot to move.
This was not the first time she asked to play together, but these kids had never accepted her.
She didn't understand where their malice came from, so she could only observe the rules of the game from a distance. She would go home and practice throwing sandbags over and over again, hoping to shock everyone one day.
"Why are you still standing there? Go to the defending camp." Zou Xiaowei pointed to the opponent's camp and signaled her to go over quickly.
Zhen Hao had no suspicion and happily joined the defending camp.
The children who played together were all from families within a five-mile radius. Even if their parents were not familiar with each other, their grandparents were very familiar with each other. Zhen Hao was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling when he thought about having so many playmates in the future.
But the following game didn't seem as interesting as she had imagined. First of all, throwing sandbags with multiple people was completely different from her usual self-entertainment, and she played it very badly.
Secondly, her forehead was hit by the sandbag again and again, and her entire forehead was burning with pain. But in order to fit in, she could only grit her teeth and not cry out in pain.
"Have you had enough fun?" When they launched another attack, an unhappy voice sounded from the attacking team.
Shi Xu ran to the opposite camp, grabbed Zhen Hao's hand and was about to drag her away, but the latter stubbornly refused to obey and retreated with resistance.
"Can't you see they threw you there on purpose?" Shi Xu stared at the dark and thin girl in front of him. He really couldn't bear to see her being bullied like this, and she foolishly thought that others were showing goodwill to her, so he spoke out to stop them.
When Zou Xiaowei heard this, he became unhappy: "Shixu, don't talk nonsense."
"That's right, there are bound to be bumps and bruises when playing sandbag throwing." Zhen Hao also echoed in a low voice.
Shi Xu was so angry that he laughed: "Good intentions are really not rewarded."
He shook off Zhen Hao's hand and said rather coldly, "If you want to play, play by yourselves. It's boring."
"When..." Zou Xiaowei wanted to say something but was interrupted by another half-grown child.
"Xiaowei, if you ask me, we should stop pretending. I'm tired from playing anyway, and my mom should call me home for dinner." The person who said this was Tao Wencan, who was two years older than Da Zhen and had just started the first grade.
He winked at his friends behind him and started singing their newly composed ballad: "Zhen Hao Zhen Hao, there's life but no one to take care of it, the house is tattered and broken, not good at all... Zhen Hao Zhen Hao, there's life but no one to take care of it..."
How bad can a child be? Every word he writes can kill people and destroy their hearts.
Zhen Hao's eyes turned red, but he just pinched the flesh of his thigh tightly, and dared not say a word.
They sang it once, but it wasn't enough. They started over again: "Zhen Hao Zhen Hao, someone has a life but no one to support him, his home is shabby and miserable, not good at all... Zhen Hao Zhen Hao, someone has a life but no one to support him, his home is shabby and miserable..."
A figure quickly passed by Zhen Hao and knocked down Tao Wencan, who was smiling smugly. The two of them soon started fighting.
Immediately afterwards, Zou Xiaowei also rushed forward, and the three of them fought fiercely.
Some timid children at the scene were frightened and started crying. Zhen Hao was stunned and a tear slipped down her face. When she came to her senses, she no longer cared about anything else and rushed forward to scratch and claw at the bully, no matter how others tried to pull her back.
When the scuffle finally ended, several children sat on the ground gasping for breath, and the frightened child stopped crying.
Zou Xiaowei and Tao Wencan's faces were covered with bruises, and they looked so painful that they wanted to cry but couldn't. In the end, they just said "We'll see" unwillingly and left angrily.
Shi Xu simply lay on the ground, watching the clouds in the sky moving quickly, his small chest rising and falling rhythmically.
Zhen Hao followed his example and lay on his back on the ground, only then did he realize that the clouds in the sky looked different from this perspective.
The clouds seemed to grow larger and move faster.
Shi Xu turned his head and smiled at her, saying nonsensically, "That's right."
"What?" Zhen Hao didn't quite understand what he meant.
"When you encounter oppression, you must know how to resist. It is useless to just endure." Shi Xu looked up at the sky again, as if he was talking to the girl beside him, and as if he was talking to himself.
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