Chapter 102 It's Not Their Fault That They Were Saved
Upon hearing his mother's words, Zhang Xiaohu quickly covered his bottom. He didn't want to eat bamboo shoots stir-fried with meat; he was too old for that kind of beating.
“With so many books, there’s no need to cover them,” said the plump woman. “Without covers, how will you know which book is which? If you want to go to university, you have to get into high school first. Your younger brother Zihang is in junior high now. What if he gets into university and is waiting for you in the capital, but you haven’t gotten in?”
"No, I'm sure I'll pass the exam." Zhang Xiaohu quickly picked up his books.
Next door, Gao Xiuxiu and Fang Xudong were arguing. They were arguing about money, their child, and Fang's mother.
“You said your mom wouldn’t come over, but in the blink of an eye, she took Da Niu away. If someone hadn’t seen it, I would have thought Da Niu had been kidnapped by human traffickers, and I was so worried I was about to call the police,” Gao Xiuxiu said.
“Mom just missed the child, that’s why she wanted to see him. She didn’t have any other intentions,” Fang Xudong said. “She didn’t mean to harm the child. Didn’t she send the child over later?”
"She made the child eat popsicles. What kind of girl eats popsicles? It will cause her uterus to become cold." Gao Xiuxiu has gone mad about this. She herself can't have children, so she has to protect her daughter's uterus and make sure her daughter can't have children in the future.
“It’s summer now, and a lot of kids are eating popsicles, so there’s nothing wrong with that,” Fang Xudong said.
"I can't have children anymore, are you going to make sure our daughter can't have any either?" Gao Xiuxiu said. "From now on, we'll have Da Niu marry into a wealthy family. Da Niu's child will take your surname, Fang. Can't you protect Da Niu a little more? You can't protect me, and you can't protect Da Niu either? Da Niu is your own daughter!"
“Okay, okay, okay, I won’t let Da Niu eat popsicles, I won’t let Da Niu eat them. I’ll tell my mom not to buy popsicles for the kids anymore,” Fang Xudong said.
“If she doesn’t have it, let her buy it for Erniu,” Gao Xiuxiu said. “Erniu is healthy, unlike her sister who almost drowned.”
“Okay, let’s not let the eldest girl eat it, let the second girl eat it,” Fang Xudong said.
Actually, Da Niu still really likes popsicles, but she was too scared to speak when she heard her parents arguing. Even though her mother treats her well now, her mother sometimes acts erratically and her mental state isn't quite right, so Da Niu is still very afraid of her mother.
Fang Xudong noticed that Gao Xiuxiu's mental state wasn't very good, so he went along with what Gao Xiuxiu said, not daring to upset her.
“You should take care of your mother,” Gao Xiuxiu said. “Don’t always make me tell you things. You have eyes too, you can see for yourself.”
“Okay, I can see it, I can see it,” Fang Xudong said. “Don’t be upset, I will tell my mother.”
Fang Xudong was caught in the middle, which put him in a difficult position. Fortunately, Gao Xiuxiu did not live with Fang's mother, so Fang Xudong could talk to one person at a time, which avoided a lot of trouble.
Hearing the loud arguing next door, Fatty Sister shook her head, wondering how long Gao Xiuxiu and Fang Xudong would stop arguing.
Ever since Tang Qiming got into a fight at school, he has become somewhat gloomy and has a bad temper.
"It's all your fault." When Sister-in-law Tang came to pick up Tang Qiming, Tang Qiming said directly, "You can't let me go to a good school. Why did you say I could go to a good school? It made me laugh at by my classmates. Many people in the school know about it, and they are all laughing at me."
“Their parents also wanted them to go to good schools, but they didn’t succeed,” said Sister Tang. “It’s just that no one knows what their parents did, so they haven’t said anything. They always went to register on time, they…”
"Couldn't you have registered me on time?" Tang Qiming said.
“It’s all because of your grandma. We all thought she would come on the day of registration and tell us that she had found a good school for you,” said Sister-in-law Tang. “Who knew that your grandma hadn’t contacted a school for you at all? It’s your grandma’s fault. But don’t say that in front of your grandma.”
Sister-in-law Tang was still eyeing the property held by Aunt Song, so naturally she couldn't let her son mention it.
They said some unpleasant things. These people were already displeasing to Aunt Song, and if they said anything that would upset her, things would be terrible.
“I didn’t say anything,” Tang Qiming said. “I wasn’t even in front of her, and all you do is tell me not to say anything, not to say anything. Clearly…”
"Stop talking," said Sister-in-law Tang. "Mom won't hurt you. Just listen to Mom."
"..." Tang Qiming became even more unhappy upon hearing this. "There's no benefit in listening to you. I've become like this."
Tang Qiming gritted his teeth. He was living such a miserable life, and all these people did was tell him to obey. Tang Qiming didn't want to obey at all; there was nothing nice about it, and it did him no good.
Seeing her youngest son so unhappy, Sister-in-law Tang was helpless. This was reality; they wanted the money in Aunt Song's hands.
Jiang Ersao left the children at home, asking her eldest child to look after the younger ones, and also asked Aunt Yu to help keep an eye on them. Jiang Ersao and Jiang Erge sold stinky tofu together at their stall. Jiang Ersao knew that Jiang Erge was sincere towards her; if he weren't sincere, he wouldn't have sold his blood.
Jiang Ersao didn't want to lose someone who truly loved her, so she was willing to sell stinky tofu with Jiang Erge.
"Stinky tofu, stinky tofu!" Jiang Ersao was still calling out from over there, "Our stinky tofu is delicious."
Jiang Erge watched Jiang Ersao hawking her wares, his eyes slightly red. His wife had never liked doing these kinds of things before.
"We have guests, hurry up and make stinky tofu." Jiang Ersao pinched Jiang Erge's arm, then smiled at the guests, "Our stinky tofu is especially delicious, I guarantee you'll want more after you try it. Our tofu is all homemade, not sourced from outside. We make it from soybeans, starting with grinding the soybeans into a paste, all we need to do is grow the soybeans."
"Your stinky tofu is really delicious. You used to have a shop, but now it's a pushcart. If I hadn't come over, I wouldn't have known it was your stall," the customer said.
“Shop rent is too expensive, so we’ll just set up a stall. The cost of setting up a stall is low, and we can even give you an extra piece or two of stinky tofu. What do you say?” said Jiang Ersao.
Jiang Ersao knew that it was because she had borrowed money from loan sharks that her husband had sublet the shop, and he used the rent money to pay off the loans. Jiang Ersao couldn't tell these people, of course. Not all customers knew about the Jiang family's affairs; only those who lived on the same street as the Jiang family were likely to know.
Jiang Ersao watched as Jiang Erge fried the stinky tofu, and she wanted to watch too. If Jiang Erge wasn't around, Jiang Ersao could also fry some stinky tofu.
When Aunt Yu saw Jiang Ersao going out to sell stinky tofu with Jiang Erge, she hoped that Jiang Ersao could persevere for a while, preferably indefinitely. Jiang Erge and his wife were both able-bodied and didn't need to rely on anyone else. Selling stinky tofu wouldn't earn them a lot of money in the short term, but it would be enough to support their family.
When Song Fenglan visited Aunt Yu over the weekend, she saw Jiang Ersao and Jiang Erge selling stinky tofu not far from the intersection. Song Fenglan had finished lunch and arrived around 11 a.m. At that time, many people were buying stinky tofu, and Jiang Erge and his wife were very busy.
Upon arriving at Aunt Yu's house, Aunt Yu quickly asked Song Fenglan to sit down.
"Don't come to see me too often, I'm fine," Aunt Yu said.
“I saw my second cousin and his wife selling stinky tofu at the intersection,” Song Fenglan said.
“Yes, they go to sell together. There are more customers at noon, and it’s easier for two people to help each other out,” Aunt Yu said. “The children stay at home during the holidays, so I keep an eye on them, and their eldest child also looks after his younger siblings. I really don’t have anything to do here, and you’ve come twice this month already.”
Aunt Yu knew that Song Fenglan was very busy, so she felt embarrassed to always ask Song Fenglan to come and visit her.
“I come over whenever I have time. I always take a bus to the intersection,” Song Fenglan said. She likes to walk over from the intersection so she can observe the people and things around her.
“That takes time. You can use that time to rest,” Aunt Yu said. “You’ve seen it yourself. The couple are selling stinky tofu together now, and they’re not as arrogant as they used to be.”
"Change always takes time," Song Fenglan said. "As long as it develops in a positive direction, that's good."
Song Fenglan didn't speak ill of Jiang Ersao; she didn't like meddling in other people's family affairs. As long as she was sure Aunt Yu was alright, Song Fenglan was at ease.
Aunt Yu's family had just finished eating. On weekends, when the children are on holiday, they eat earlier. If the children are in school, they eat when they get home from school.
"I found a piece of cloth and sewed it up to partition off your second cousin and his wife's room," Aunt Yu said. "It's not very convenient for a boy and a girl to live together."
"Their rooms are so big, didn't they think of putting up some wooden planks or bricks to partition them?" Song Fenglan asked.
"I had thought about it before, but something came up and I couldn't make it," Aunt Yu said. "Wooden planks are indeed better; they're wider and take up more space. They have several children, so let's use wooden planks. We can also use curtains to separate the bunk beds."
"Do you need someone to help you?" Song Fenglan asked.
"No need, they can do this themselves," Aunt Yu said. "You've already helped so much, we don't need your help."
“Okay, sure,” Song Fenglan said.
"How have you been lately? Busy?" Aunt Yu asked.
"I'm still busy," Song Fenglan said. "Even when I'm busy, I need time to rest. I can't be busy all the time. That's why I came to see you."
Song Fenglan wasn't doing this for show; it was because Aunt Yu had genuinely treated her well that she came to visit her more often. Song Fenglan was worried that Aunt Yu would feel guilty. She hoped that Brother Jiang's blood donation had nothing to do with anything else; if he contracted the disease, Aunt Yu would be even more upset.
Brother Jiang is too stubborn; he'd rather sell his blood than go through the trouble of negotiating.
When Song Fenglan returned home, she mentioned to Qin Yizhou that Jiang Erge was too stubborn.
“He’s a grown man,” Qin Yizhou said. “Men have their dignity.”
Qin Yizhou believed that it wasn't that Jiang Erge was being too stubborn, but rather that many men were like that; they weren't so willing to back down and preferred to solve problems themselves. If they really couldn't find a solution, they would seek help from others. If they sought help from others and they were refused, they would feel hurt to some extent.
“His feelings changed after being rejected one by one,” Qin Yizhou said.
“…” Song Fenglan remained silent.
"When your experiments fail, are you also very frustrated?" Qin Yizhou asked.
"Fortunately, it just takes time to succeed," Song Fenglan said. "We all know that it's not going to happen overnight; it won't be that easy."
"That's because you were mentally prepared. Your situation is different from your second cousin's," Qin Yizhou said. "You don't have to worry about other people's opinions if your experiment fails."
"Not necessarily, it depends on whether the boss is happy or not. But in most cases, the boss won't yell at you, and their attitude is still good. Unless you've failed too many times and the boss is getting anxious," Song Fenglan said. "When you encounter this kind of situation, try to avoid the boss, don't think about whether the boss has other intentions, don't get close to the boss, and try to make yourself feel as comfortable as possible. I'm fine, I... I am the boss!"
After careful consideration, Song Fenglan realized that her life was going smoothly and everything was going well for her.
"Are you men really that proud?" Song Fenglan asked.
"That depends on the person," Qin Yizhou said. "If it were me, I might do what my second cousin did and try to owe less. If others aren't willing to lend to us, how can we borrow from them? We have to find our own way. My second cousin has been in the countryside for so long, his old friends might not all be in the capital. It would be better if he had more friends. Sometimes a man's friends are more reliable than his relatives."
"What, are you saying that I and my family are unreliable?" Song Fenglan raised an eyebrow.
"No, no," Qin Yizhou said. "It means his way out. He felt he had no other way out, and he did it in a moment of impulse. He has a wife and children to support, and he can't let them live under the threat of loan sharks forever. How many of those loan sharks are good people? If someone doesn't repay their debt, they keep disturbing their lives and making it impossible for them to live a good life. Over time, their families will also be affected."
"Sigh." Song Fenglan gently shook her head.
In the first place, we shouldn't have borrowed money from loan sharks.
“They’re only thinking about making money and getting bigger dividends,” Qin Yizhou said. “They’re blinded by greed and don’t care about anything else. Many educated youth who returned to the city have all sorts of problems. As long as they get better later, that’s enough. There’s no need to worry about so much. My second cousin and his wife live together, not others living with them.”
Song Fenglan turned to look at Qin Yizhou, "What, you said what I was going to say."
“We’re husband and wife, living together, so of course we’re alike, aren’t we?” Qin Yizhou understood Song Fenglan’s personality. Song Fenglan would say a few words, but she wouldn’t rub her hands too much.
Is selling stinky tofu hard work? Of course it is, but it's a fulfilling job.
Jiang Ersao and Jiang Erge would do the math to determine how much they earned. The couple also made their own tofu, getting up early to make it, mostly in the morning. The stinky tofu involved other processes, which Jiang Ersao and Jiang Erge did together.
When others saw Jiang Ersao busy in the yard, some couldn't believe their eyes. When did Jiang Ersao become so diligent?
A neighbor asked Aunt Yu, "Has your second daughter-in-law suffered some kind of trauma?"
“To make a living, you need money, so she does more things,” Aunt Yu said.
"She should be more sensible by now. She's not a child anymore; she's a mother herself. How can she just mess around with those things?" the neighbor said. "Loan sharks are something you can't touch."
“No, you can’t touch it. I’ve already told her that,” Aunt Yu said. “She already knows.”
“And you two are still so nice to her,” the neighbor said. “If it were me, I would definitely have a good talk with her and tell her not to act like that. She borrowed money from loan sharks and was still so arrogant. Now, she knows she needs to work, right?”
Aunt Yu smiled and said, "It's good that you can do the work."
"They owe so much money, are you going to help them pay it off?" the neighbor asked. "Why don't you ask your sister for some money?"
“We won’t borrow money,” Aunt Yu said. “Let the young couple pay it back themselves. They are the ones who owe the money, so they should pay it back themselves, not have others pay it back for them. As parents, we can’t take care of them forever; they have to rely on themselves.”
"Have you paid off all the loan sharks?" the neighbor asked again.
"I've paid it all off. Now I just owe money to my relatives," Aunt Yu said. "The money from my relatives is manageable. I can pay it back slowly. There's no need to rush. Haste makes waste."
"Speaking of tofu, does your family sell tofu? I mean, tender, freshly made tofu," the neighbor said. "Stinky tofu, please."
"Sure, sell it!" Jiang Ersao said before Aunt Yu could even speak.
Jiang Ersao overheard their conversation. Aunt Yu rarely spoke ill of her daughter-in-law, so she wasn't afraid of Jiang Ersao hearing what they were saying.
"We happen to have some freshly made tofu, would you like some?" Jiang Ersao asked.
"Can I just buy two?" the neighbor asked.
“Okay, one yuan is fine too,” said Jiang Ersao. “Go get a bowl to put it in.”
"You can deep-fry some tofu puffs, the bigger ones, and stuff them with meat," the neighbor added. "Many families in the south like to make stuffed tofu, and it tastes pretty good."
“Sure, as long as you have buyers, we’ll make it,” said Jiang Ersao.
Anyway, they're going to fry stinky tofu anyway, so making tofu puffs isn't out of the question.
Jiang Ersao knew that her stinky tofu business wasn't always booming; it was mostly good around mealtimes. Many people treated stinky tofu as a main dish, eating it as a snack until they were full, so they didn't need to eat anything else.
"I'll go get the bowls," the neighbor said. "If you take the tofu to the street to sell, people will still buy it."
"Well, we'll sell tofu another day," said Jiang Ersao.
Jiang Ersao thought they could make more tofu, selling both tender, soft tofu and stinky tofu, so they could earn more money. She remembered how she and her husband had worked hard as sent-down youth in the countryside; she wasn't incapable of enduring hardship. It was just that she had suffered so much in the countryside that after coming to the city, she didn't want to work and instead dreamed of getting rich there, which led her astray.
Aunt Yu looked at Sister-in-law Jiang and said, "Your tofu is pretty good."
“I did it when I was a sent-down youth,” said Jiang Ersao, “but I didn’t do it as well as you.”
"Practice makes perfect," Aunt Yu said.
"Yes." Jiang Ersao nodded.
Besides the original neighbor, two other people came with bowls to buy tofu. They had originally thought that Jiang Ersao and her husband only sold stinky tofu and not unprocessed tofu, but now that they knew Jiang Ersao and her husband were selling tofu, they came to buy some.
Jiang Ersao packed them some tofu and took the money. She glanced at the tofu beside her; she could sell some later. Even a small amount of money is still money; they couldn't always rely on others for help.
Jiang Ersao wasn't just putting on an act; she now understood that borrowing too much money could ruin even the closest of relationships. The Song family might be wealthy, but that money didn't belong to the Jiang family. Jiang Ersao and her husband couldn't get a large sum of money directly from them; the Song family was only associating with them because of Aunt Yu.
“Mom, if anyone asks you if we sell tofu, just tell them we do,” said Jiang Ersao. “I’m also planning to make some fermented tofu to sell.”
"Okay..." Aunt Yu looked at Jiang Ersao and felt that her second daughter-in-law was a bit unfamiliar.
"We'll probably be using this courtyard quite often," said Jiang Ersao.
"It's alright, your elder brother and sister-in-law won't hold it against you," Aunt Yu said. "As long as you do your jobs well, there won't be any problems."
Between brothers, there's no need to be so calculating.
If Brother Jiang and his wife don't earn money, are they supposed to be supported by Brother Jiang and his wife?
Impossible!
The Jiang couple didn't use the yard much, and the stinky tofu wasn't just displayed; it was all packaged so the smell wouldn't easily dissipate. The Jiang couple wouldn't be so petty. As long as the Jiang couple didn't borrow money from other places, didn't ask the Jiang couple to help pay it off, and didn't ask the aunt and father to pay it off, the Jiang couple had no objections.
"Mom, please pack two pieces of tofu over there," said Jiang Ersao. "Take them and cook them."
“Okay.” Aunt Yu didn’t stand on ceremony with Sister-in-law Jiang.
"If you want some tofu, just come over and tell me, and I'll bring you two pieces." Jiang Ersao knew that this was for her own benefit...
Jiang's wife was very unhappy about the family's debts.
Jiang Ersao has come to realize that she lives in the real world, not in an ideal dream world. She and her husband must support themselves and cannot rely on the rest of the Jiang family for help.
"You've earned money, so you need to buy some meat to eat. The children are growing, and you're also expending energy doing all this." Aunt Yu was worried that Jiang Ersao didn't understand this, and that she might ruin her health, which would be a loss.
Fang Xudong told his mother not to buy popsicles for Da Niu, and his mother nodded in agreement.
"You can buy some for Erniu if you want, Erniu is healthy." Fang Xudong came to see his mother and also bought a piece of meat.
"Erniu is so young, why should she eat popsicles?" Fang's mother felt indebted to her eldest daughter, which was why she treated her better.
Fang's mother didn't like Erniu very much. If Erniu were a boy, she wouldn't have made Gao Xiuxiu drink those folk remedies, and none of the subsequent events would have happened. Fang's mother felt that she had tried her best to do things properly, but those things still still occurred.
“Other kids get to eat popsicles to cool off, but Da Niu can’t,” Fang’s mother said.
"Mom, don't buy it for her secretly," Fang Xudong said. "If you're going to buy something, buy something else, not popsicles. What if popsicles hurt Da Niu again?"
"I……"
“Last time, when you fed Da Niu honey, she ended up in the hospital,” Fang Xudong reminded his mother. He had taken Gao Xiuxiu’s words to heart; he didn’t want his daughter to become a woman who couldn’t have children.
Men still care about whether or not a woman has given birth to a child. If a woman doesn't have a child, there's no buffer between the couple, and they don't have a common point of support.
"Alright, alright, let's not talk about the past. I was only doing this for Da Niu's own good," said Fang's mother. "How was I supposed to know things would go wrong?"
“She can eat honey now,” Fang Xudong said. “Why don’t you just let her drink some honey water?”
"I know, I know," Fang's mother said impatiently. "You're still the child I raised, and you're still doing just fine, aren't you? It's just that your child is precious. Children raised in the city are different, unlike children from the countryside... children from the countryside..."
“Mom, you don’t need to compare Da Niu and Er Niu with the children in the countryside,” Fang Xudong said. “Times have changed. The children don’t live in the countryside, but that doesn’t mean they are bad.”
“I have to sneak around when I see the child, and I can’t buy her food. I can’t do this or that,” said Fang’s mother. “I don’t even know if I’m the mother-in-law or your daughter-in-law is. I really don’t know what you people are thinking. The past is the past. Would I harm my own granddaughter?”
Fang Xudong's eyelids twitched upon hearing this. He already found his mother's words unpleasant, let alone Gao Xiuxiu's. Fang Xudong didn't want his children to suffer anymore. He only had two children; biological children are still biological children, and both had grown up by his side.
Before National Day, Li Hui and other women who had been trafficked to that village were rescued. When the people came to the village, Li Hui was locked in a pigsty, in a dazed state, with disheveled hair. The family that bought Li Hui had deliberately tortured her to make her obedient.
Most of the rescued women wanted to go back to their original homes and didn't want to stay there any longer. However, a few women wanted to stay, saying that their children were there, and going back would be a disgrace to their families, so they might as well stay.
The police were horrified when they saw the women who wanted to stay; they were brainwashed. They had suffered such severe injuries that they resisted the outside world and wanted to leave.
This operation was a joint effort by multiple departments. It's important to understand that many people in these villages are relatives. Several departments dared not contact the relevant departments at the county or township levels, fearing that those people would tip them off. In remote areas, relationships are layered upon layered; without a sufficient number of people and a powerful enough force, it would have been impossible to save those people.
After being rescued, some of the abducted women were given tickets by the police to go home, while others thought to contact their families first.
Li Hui's first thought was to call Guo Peng and ask him to come pick her up. Li Hui thought that since Guo Peng hadn't divorced her when she was with other men, he would surely understand now that she had been trafficked and wasn't really trying to elope.
As for the letter Li Hui wrote before eloping with someone, she completely ignored it.
Guo Peng made Li Hui feel very safe. No matter how she treated Guo Peng, he would never treat her badly and would always tolerate her.
Guo Peng wasn't home; Fan Yani answered the phone. Guo Peng had taken his sister-in-law to a prenatal checkup. The person at the public phone booth told Guo's mother, and Fan Yani overheard this, so she said she would answer the phone.
Fan Yani thought to herself that Li Hui had the nerve to call at this time. Did Li Hui know that Sister-in-law Guo was pregnant, and that's why she wanted to deliberately torment her? Li Hui had no idea that Guo Peng had remarried, nor did she know that Sister-in-law Guo was pregnant. She was just being tormented in the countryside and now she just wanted Guo Peng to come and pick her up.
"I am Fan Yanni, my older brother..."
"Why is it you?" Li Hui interrupted Fan Yani. "Where's your older brother? Tell him to come pick me up, I'm at..."
"My brother and you are already divorced, don't look for my brother anymore!" Fan Yani rolled her eyes. Who did Li Hui think she was? It was ridiculous.
"Divorce? How could that be? I wasn't there, how could he get a divorce? He... he betrayed me!" Li Hui gritted her teeth.
"Who betrayed whom? You left a letter and eloped with someone," Fan Yani said. "The divorce certificate was obtained through proper channels. You wronged my brother, don't blame others. Let your family pick you up. You have no relation to the Guo family. If you want to commit suicide, then go ahead and do it. How important do you think you are?"
Fan Yani found it infuriating that Li Hui had the nerve to say that Guo Peng had betrayed her.
"Fan Yani." Li Hui was furious when she heard the dial tone on the other end of the phone.
Li Hui didn't tell Fan Yani and the others that she had been trafficked; she was afraid of being laughed at. Li Hui hadn't given up after suffering so much in the countryside, so she was even less likely to die now. Li Hui then called her family, asking them to come and pick her up.
"Don't come back." When Li's mother received the call, she said directly, "You eloped with someone, and your brother and the others are very unhappy. Our whole family is being ridiculed."
"I...I didn't elope with someone, I was..."
"What is it?" Li's mother asked.
I was someone
"They've been kidnapped." Li Hui whispered.
"Li Hui, don't joke around." Li's mother didn't quite believe it. "Guo Peng has divorced you, and your niece is still with them. For your niece's sake, you shouldn't go to Guo Peng's place."
“I don’t agree to a divorce; he is my husband,” Li Hui said.
“He’s not your husband, he’s married,” Li’s mother said. “Don’t go there and humiliate yourself. If you go, they’ll dump your niece on you, will you raise her?”
Li's mother was thinking that the Guo family was still willing to raise the child as they were, and if Li Hui went over and made a scene, the Guo family might abandon the child. Although Li's mother didn't feel particularly sorry for the child, she thought it best if the child didn't come back.
"How could this be?" Li Hui couldn't believe what her mother was saying.
"Why wouldn't you?" Li's mother said. "How dare you go there now? You eloped with someone and even wrote letters to insult them. It's already a miracle they didn't send your niece over sooner. You shouldn't go. They're already married. Do you think you can get him to divorce his wife and marry you? Do you think he'd even marry you? His wife is pregnant!"
"Pregnant? So fast?" Li Hui still couldn't believe it.
"Your cousin said that his wife is several months pregnant," Li's mother said. "Do you think Guo Peng is still the same Guo Peng as before? Do you think he'll listen to you just because you say one word? Or do you think it's good that he has a biological child, so they can divorce and Guo Peng can stay with you?"
"..." Li Hui opened her mouth, not knowing what to say.
"Find somewhere to stay and don't come back," Li's mother said. "It's best if you don't go near Guo Peng either."
However, Li Hui refused to believe that Guo Peng would treat her like this. She had only been abducted for a little over a year. Li Hui wanted to find Guo Peng; these people were all lying to her. Guo Peng hadn't married another woman; he must still be waiting for her. If she went back, Guo Peng would be with her.
Li Hui didn't ask Guo Peng to pick her up; instead, she asked the police to help her buy a ticket so she could go to Nancheng.
That evening, Fan Yani approached Guo Peng and told him about Li Hui's phone call.
“I think she might not be doing very well, so I’m coming over,” Fan Yani said.
"Have some water." Sister-in-law Guo poured water for Fan Yani, who then sat down on the sofa.
"Sister-in-law, please sit down, no need to trouble yourself," Fan Yani said. "Sister-in-law, don't be angry, your brother is already married to you..."
“I’m not angry,” said Sister-in-law Guo. “Even if she comes back, there’s no place for her here.”
Sister-in-law Guo couldn't possibly hold a grudge against Li Hui; in her eyes, Li Hui was a thing of the past. If Sister-in-law Guo hadn't been pregnant, it wouldn't have mattered, but she would have worried about whether Guo Peng would end up with Li Hui. Now that Sister-in-law Guo was pregnant, and Li Hui wasn't even kind to her own niece, let alone her stepson and stepdaughter, Sister-in-law Guo believed Guo Peng knew what to choose.
“There’s no place for her here,” Guo Peng said. “She’s had a blast outside, and now she’s back? Does she think this is her safe haven?”
Guo Peng couldn't take it anymore; Li Hui had gone too far.
"Have you changed the locks at home?" Fan Yani asked.
"It's been changed," Guo Peng replied.
"I don't know when Li Hui will be back, so let's not leave my sister-in-law home alone. If she is home alone, don't just open the door to anyone," Fan Yani said. "Should we have Mom come and stay for a few days?"
"Mom will help you take care of the child, and it's too much trouble for her to come back and forth," said Sister-in-law Guo. "I'll have my younger brother from my family come and stay for a few days."
Sister-in-law Guo thought to herself that she had her own family in Nancheng, so why would she be afraid of Li Hui?
"Mom is a woman after all, don't let her get hurt," said Sister-in-law Guo.
"Sister-in-law is so thoughtful," Fan Yani said. "It's good that you invited your brother over, even if it's a bit of a hassle for him."
“Helping his own sister is no trouble at all. It’s not like we haven’t helped him before,” said Sister-in-law Guo. She looked at Guo Peng and said, “How about I let my brother come over?”
"Let him come, let him come." Guo Peng had no objection.
“He’ll come over for a few days to make sure everything is alright, then he’ll come back,” said Sister-in-law Guo. “He has a place to stay; he can’t stay here indefinitely.”
Li's mother knew that Li Hui was very likely to go to Guo Peng. She felt she had already explained everything, and if Li Hui still wanted to go to Guo Peng, there was nothing she could do but let Li Hui go. Li's mother didn't call Shi Guilan again, because Shi Guilan was no longer in Nancheng and couldn't control Li Hui.
That evening, Song Fenglan saw Li Hui on television and thought she was seeing things.
"Is that Li Hui? Or someone who looks a lot like her?" Song Fenglan could hardly believe it.
“It could be someone who looks very similar,” Qin Yizhou said. “She does look a lot like Li Hui.”
Li Hui just looked fairer and less tanned, and Song Fenglan couldn't see it anymore. The camera wasn't focused on Li Hui; the TV station was broadcasting news and couldn't pause the broadcast.
"This village is truly terrifying." Song Fenglan witnessed how multiple departments worked together to rescue those people.
Initially, personnel from various departments were sent there, but it was ineffective; those trying to enter were met with resistance and were even arrested. Fortunately, they were professionally trained and managed to escape. Later, a joint operation involving multiple departments was launched.
“I’m afraid there’s more than just this one village; there are probably many villages like this,” Song Fenglan said. “Located deep in the mountains, it’s very difficult for outsiders to get in, and very difficult for insiders to get out.”
“It’s terrifying, so many people,” Qin Yizhou said.
“These people have all become like this,” Song Fenglan said. “They were definitely not like this at the beginning. Some of them were still trembling and afraid of being touched by others.”
Thankfully, these people were rescued. If they hadn't been rescued, would they have been able to escape? Even if they wanted to escape, they probably would have had to wait until they had children.
Only after they give birth will the villagers loosen their surveillance, giving them a chance to escape. The villagers will assume they can't bear to leave their children, and some women who can't bear to leave their children won't run away. A few will exploit the children; once they escape, the children's fathers, grandfathers, and grandmothers will instill hatred in the children, saying that the children's mother ran away because she disliked the family's poverty.
From a young age, the children hear their elders speak ill of their mothers. They resent their biological mothers, believing they were abandoned and heartless. They have no idea that their mothers were trafficked or suffered immense hardship.
When Song Fenglan saw this news, her heart trembled.
Back then, when the Song family encountered trouble, they tried to keep Song Fenglan in the city, fearing she would suffer in the countryside. The men in the family could endure hardship, and nothing too serious would happen; Song Fenglan was still too young. If she hadn't been so young, the Song family might have urged her to marry in the city sooner.
"I've been rescued and I can go home," Qin Yizhou said.
“Go home? Can they still go back?” Song Fenglan said, “When they left home, things were completely different from now. Some of them are older now and have had children with other people. Not everyone can go back to where they were before. They… the ones who might hurt them are their families. Their families will think they are shameful and won’t let them go back.”
If that were the case, how heartbroken they would be. They thought that escaping this place of sorrow would make their lives better. But they discovered that their own family didn't need them, and neither did their in-laws. They had nowhere to go, adrift and helpless.
“In ancient times, if a woman didn’t return home for one night, they would assume she had lost her chastity and force her to end her life with a white silk ribbon,” Song Fenglan said. “If she lived, she would be sent to the family temple. What wrong could they have done? They weren’t at fault!”
Yes, they're not the ones who're wrong!
Li Hui thought so too. She went to the south of the city, to the family compound, and then went home. Li Hui no longer had a key to Guo Peng's house. Since she didn't have the key, she just knocked on the door.
"Guo Peng, Guo Peng!" Li Hui pounded on the door.
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