When passing by Lin Qingping's house, Xiaomai looked at the lamp in the house. Suddenly, she felt strength coming from nowhere. She broke free from her grandmother's hand and ran inside, almost blurting out "Aunt".
However, because her calves were short, she was grabbed from behind by her grandmother. At the same time, her grandmother covered her mouth before she could even say the word "aunt".
She was carried away by her grandmother with tears in her eyes. She kept turning her head and looking at the lights in Lin Qingping's house. A voice in her heart was shouting: Aunt, help, Aunt, save Xiaomai!
However, Lin Qingping could not hear the sound of shouting. Her tears fell down in big strings, wetting the back of her grandmother's hand.
As soon as she entered the house, Du Gen's mother threw her to the ground and slapped her, not on the face, but on the back of her head, because a slap on the face would leave a mark.
Xiaomai was just a little second grader, how could she bear such a strong slap? She was slapped to the ground, and her grandmother scolded her fiercely, "You are a traitorous little bitch. Your mother is a big bitch, and you are a little bitch. You actually want to collude with outsiders to show off in the house? I think you don't want to live anymore!"
Xiaomai lay on the ground, shaking with fear. She didn't even have the courage to look at her grandmother. Her grandmother was as scary as the man-eating old monster in the stories she had heard in the village.
"What are you doing lying there? Are you pretending to be dead? Go do the laundry!" Her grandmother kicked her right in the waist.
She curled up in pain and couldn't get up. But before she could recover, her grandmother kicked her again, and this time it hurt even more...
She was afraid that her grandmother would kick her again, so she endured the pain and stood up trembling all over. Unexpectedly, her grandmother grabbed her hair and pulled her over, pinching her back, waist and arms.
She really couldn't bear the pain anymore. She gritted her teeth but still couldn't hold back her tears. They flowed down her face.
Du Gen's mother saw this, grabbed her hair, and slammed the back of her head against the corner of the table.
Xiaomai felt a sharp pain at the back of her head, and something was flowing down. Her grandmother lifted her chin, looked at her tearful face and scolded her as a "little bitch". "Who are you crying for, little bitch? There are no men here! Don't act so cheap! No matter how beautifully you cry, that bastard Zhiyuan won't be able to see it!"
Xiaomai really didn’t understand these words. What did her crying have to do with Zhiyuan?
"Okay, stop hitting her, she's bleeding!" Dugen's father signaled to Dugen's mother. After all, she was Dugen's daughter. If she was beaten until she bled, it would be difficult to explain to Dugen when he came back.
Du Gen's mother then discovered that there was a pool of blood on the ground. She was shocked, but she didn't stop cursing. "Little bitch, little X, a money-loser" she kept saying. Then, she grabbed a handful of ashes from somewhere and rubbed them on her head. Then she pushed her hard and shouted, "Go wash clothes! We in the Du family don't keep a money-loser who eats nothing! Every girl in our family starts working at the age of six or seven. You, who was born a little bitch, want to be a rich lady!"
Xiaomai still felt pain on her head and body, but she endured the pain and ran away, fearing that she would be beaten again if she ran a step slower.
Her grandmother wiped the blood off the ground behind her and warned her fiercely, "Don't tell anyone about what happened today! Otherwise, I will ask your father to divorce your mother! I will drive your mother out to sleep on the street! And then I will sell you to human traffickers! You will never see your mother again! Go wash the clothes! If you can't wash them clean, I will beat you to death!"
Xiaomai shuddered after hearing these words and went to wash clothes silently.
There was a large basin of clothes, including those of her grandmother, her grandfather, her father, and that unknown woman.
There were sticky stains on some of the clothes. She didn't know what they were. It smelled like urine but not necessarily. It was disgusting and smelly. However, thinking of her grandmother's words, "I'll beat you to death if you can't wash it clean," she held her breath and washed vigorously.
There was a big basin of clothes, and the little girl washed them for a long time, and then hung them out to dry one by one. She felt dizzy several times, and everything in front of her eyes was spinning, but she still tried to stand still, for fear that the clothes would fall to the ground and her grandmother would hit her.
After finally washing the clothes, she also cleaned the stains on her body, but she didn't dare wash her hair. She touched her hair and found that it was no longer bleeding, but the hair was stuck together and a little hard. She didn't care about so much, she just felt dizzy, hurriedly finished her homework, and went to bed.
She didn't even know when her parents came back.
Gu Youlian did bring her some food, but Xiaomai had already fallen asleep. Gu Youlian called her several times at the door of the room but got no response. She quietly opened the door and saw that her daughter was sleeping soundly, so she didn't bother her.
In Gu Youlian's room, Du Gen called her, and the meaning was self-evident.
Thinking about that incident and the fact that Lifen and he even had a child, she still felt very resistant, but she remembered what Dugan said: Time must pass.
Since life still has to go on, no matter how disgusting it is, we have to overcome it...
The next day when Xiaomai went to school, she wore a hat, a sun hat.
"Why are you wearing a hat today?" Gu Youlian asked her.
Xiaomai only felt a pair of vicious eyes staring at her, and she knew it was her grandmother threatening her.
"Today... today we have an activity class. It's very sunny outside, so I'm wearing a sunshade." Xiaomai said in a low voice.
Du Gen's mother also hurriedly said, "It's better to cover up. I think the girls in the city are all fair and clean, and pretty. They are not like us in the countryside, who work in the fields under the sun every day and are all tanned black."
Gu Youlian said nothing more.
It was Dugan who took her to school again. Xiaomai followed him, feeling dizzy all the way. After finally reaching the school, entering the classroom and sitting down at her seat, she felt nauseous and wanted to vomit. She hurriedly handed her homework to the group leader and then lay down to rest.
Zhiyuan saw her and came over to ask her what was wrong. She said listlessly, "It's nothing. I... got sunburned while walking. It's a bit hot."
"Then let's go back and have some mung bean soup in the afternoon to cool down. Do you want some water?" Zhiyuan gave her his kettle.
She shook her head. "I'll just rest for a while."
During the math class, the teacher came to explain yesterday's homework, and the first person she called was "Du Xiaomai", because she had made all the mistakes in yesterday's homework and her handwriting was a mess.
"Du Xiaomai, what's wrong with you?" the math teacher asked her.
Xiaomai lowered her head, "I...wasn't feeling well yesterday."
As soon as she said she felt unwell, Zhiyuan looked at her.
The teacher came over and wanted to touch her forehead, but she dodged and said, "Teacher, it's okay. I feel much better today."
"Your face is red with heat, why are you still wearing a hat? Take it off in the classroom!" said the teacher.
Xiaomai shook her head, full of panic, "I...can I not take it? Teacher, I'm afraid of the cold..."
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