Mutual fighting
The apartment we were allocated even had a bed and a table and chairs, which was a pleasant surprise.
I took the keys from my older sister, locked the door, and the factory gave me a day to move. They set the date for me to officially start work the day after tomorrow.
Wang Shuitao walked briskly towards the police station. If it weren't for the current situation, she might even have wanted to sing a couple of lines.
Since she had to guard against her parents causing trouble, she had to handle things properly today. She took the employment certificate from the sugar factory to the nearby street police station to transfer her household registration.
There are still five candies left from what Engineer Meng gave me. I'll divide them into two portions, two candies in each portion, and eat the rest on my way home so I don't faint again.
The unusually small white paper packet and the certificate were stuffed into the windowsill. The young man with the buzz cut sitting inside skillfully pinched it and stuffed it into his pocket. He looked up at her, smiled, and stamped the document with two smooth taps.
After obtaining the household registration transfer certificate, Wang Shuitao rushed to the grain and oil station to transfer her grain ration. Only after all the procedures were completed could she start eating commercial grain.
She had nothing of value, and two pieces of candy were hardly anything. She always approached young and inexperienced people, thinking they would be easier to talk to.
Just like before, they hid the paper package under the two certificates and stuffed them into the hand of a girl with short bangs and a bob haircut.
Actually, she didn't know if the candy had acted as a lubricant, or if the two people she found were just easy to talk to, or if it was just the current trend—that's how things are handled so decisively.
After all, every place has the slogan "Serving the People".
After everything was settled, Wang Shuitao had to put all the certificates back into the newly allocated house and found a corner to stuff them inside.
These are all pieces of paper, which are too easily torn up. She can't take them back, lest something unexpected happens.
On her way home, it was already dark. Although she could spend the night in her dormitory, she was afraid something might happen at home, so she decided to go back.
They would only accept being hit and punished; resistance would never even happen in the most outrageous of dreams.
With a renewed sense of purpose in life, the admirable virtues that the 21st century taught her also revived, such as the importance of repaying kindness.
After waking up a month ago, she quickly figured out what was going on and realized that she had entered the world of a period drama she had watched.
She knew the plot; her older brother would return with a job. Although she had previously toiled in the fields, she always held onto the hope that one day she would be able to earn a living in the city.
But when leeches crawled all over her calves, she wondered what she would do if, like in some novels, the plot couldn't be changed and she could only hopelessly accept her predetermined fate.
Although it's different from the original storyline, with her and her mother fighting every day, what if only the key moments remain unchanged while the ordinary details are altered at will?
When working in fields that seem to stretch on forever, my mind is always filled with the most negative thoughts.
If things had gone according to the original plot, she wouldn't have gotten the job for more than three months.
She'll go crazy if she has to do farm work for another three months.
She was sitting in a high school classroom, and her teacher had praised her as a diligent and hardworking student.
Even though she was a role model for everyone, she still wanted to run away when faced with the prospect of farming.
When she removed the leech from her skin again, she thought about dying, but in the end she couldn't bear to hurt herself.
She survived until today by cursing everyone in the dead of night.
After walking dozens of kilometers, her feet blistered and raw, she pushed open the door to her home, only to be met with a rough ceramic bowl thrown at her. Shards of the bowl flew across Wang Shuitao's cheek as it slammed against the wooden door, leaving a glaring red mark.
Friendly colleagues, smooth-talking boss, caring neighbors, and a world of birdsong and fragrant flowers have once again vanished before my eyes.
Hope was right in front of her, but she still needed to tiptoe to reach it.
The room had never been so crowded before.
After a busy day, unlike at noon when neighbors would save their energy for the afternoon's farm work, now they all sit at their doorsteps watching the show.
Holding a rice bowl in my hand, it's no different from watching short videos while eating in the future.
Wang Shuitao closed the door to block the view of outsiders, ignoring the faint sighs of regret that reached her ears.
The person who just threw the bowl out was her own father, Wang Datong, who wouldn't come back for a year or two.
As for why, it is inseparable from the widow Feng Shuiyun who was standing right next to him.
When Wang Shuitao was very young, Wang Datong went to live with the widow and took a steady stream of grain from her home.
As for the mother, Qian Liju, she was the laborer who willingly obeyed her husband and carried grain. As for the two children, they had to step back in front of the "pillar of the family."
The eldest brother, Wang Jinbu, was beaten badly, his face bruised and swollen, but he was actually the strongest one there, probably because he ate well in the army.
However, he would not fight back against his parents.
Once, when he was just growing up, he thought he could finally save his family.
He charged into the widow's house with all his might, but no one there could stand a chance against him; even if they all rushed at him together, it would be useless.
Just as he heard the tip-off, his father, who had returned from the fields, rushed into the kitchen, raised a cleaver to his own neck, and threatened to kill himself to force him to leave.
Before he could react, his mother, who had been cheering him on, rushed over and slapped him several times across the face.
Gradually, the eldest brother turned into this pathetic figure.
The one looking at her elder brother with heartache was her sister-in-law, who had been married into the family for two years. She had run away from the county town because her parents forced her to marry an old man with a high dowry.
So she had been living with the military and hiding from her parents until she got pregnant and returned to her hometown. Now she doesn't dare to go back to the county town for fear of being arrested.
She just gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, and has only been out of her postpartum confinement period for one day.
Because Qian Liju looked down on her, and Wang Shuitao had bullied her before, she remained silent in this family.
But she was very tolerant of her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, and never got angry.
Wang Datong was stunned for a moment, not expecting his daughter's face to be scratched, but he didn't care and just scolded, "You dare to come back!"
Wang Shuitao laughed in anger, looking at the two men and one woman beside the widow Feng Shuiyun, thinking that her family had really launched a full-scale attack.
I also hope that if the neighbors can't watch the show, they'll go home early and not come to mediate at the slightest provocation.
Her thoughts raced, and the next moment she picked up the sharp shards from the ground and rushed towards her father, Wang Datong.
I scratched her face the first time we met. If I don't get revenge, she's not a Wang!
Seeing Wang Shuitao rush up, the widow Feng Shuiyun made a quick decision, grabbed her three children, and hid in a corner.
Wang Jinbu blocked her mother from hitting Tao'er, refusing to back down even as her mother pinched her arm until it was bruised and red.
The shards I was holding were knocked away.
Ignoring the excruciating pain from the fists with protruding knuckles hitting her body, Wang Shuitao used one hand to grab her father's slightly long hair and hold his scalp in place. With her other hand, she used her fingertips to forcefully poke into his eyes with the force of gouging out his eyeballs.
Wang Datong let out a "howl," and stopped pounding on her like a madman. His fists loosened into his palms, and he focused solely on covering his eyes and wailing.
Qian Liju stopped pinching her son and ran to her husband with heartache, calling out, "Datong, are you alright? Let me see, let me see."
The widow Feng Shuiyun was initially intimidated by Wang Shuitao's imposing manner, which is why she ran faster. Who would have thought that the child had suddenly mutated? She used to be very well-behaved.
Seeing that the intensity of the battle had subsided, she wanted to come over and comfort Brother Wang, but the three children, who were equally frightened, held her tightly and wouldn't let her go. So she could only stand there at a distance, offering words of comfort and concern.
Now that Wang Shuitao had the upper hand, she was not about to give up easily. She slipped past the arm that was outstretched trying to stop her, picked up the shard, and slashed her father's leg, which was kicking wildly in pain from his eyes, leaving more than ten bloody scratches.
She used a trick, focusing on her left leg while ignoring her right, which made things even more difficult.
Qian Liju was so focused on her stabbed eyes that she completely missed her daughter's and husband's bloodied calves.
It was only after Feng Shuiyun loudly reminded him that he noticed and immediately pushed his daughter down.
He even tried to sit on his daughter and hit her, but his son grabbed his armpits and couldn't move.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Wang Shuitao rolled around a few times and escaped from her mother's feet.
There's just no way to deal with this idiot brother in the family who always sides with whoever is the weakest.
The mud walls had limited sound insulation, and sure enough, someone started knocking on the door, saying, "Da Tong, you can't just beat the child every time you finally come home after a year or two."
Everyone in Wangjiazhuang knew about this family's messy situation, so the neighbors naturally sided with the two poor children.
Wang Shuitao wasn't afraid of being disfigured. She vigorously rubbed the red marks on her face before opening the door and saying to her neighbors, "Thank you, uncles and aunts. My family is fine. You can go back now."
After saying that, she ignored their strange looks as they stared at her face, closed the door, and went back inside.
The once tidy little home had become a mess, resembling a pigsty. Unable to do anything about it, the group could only decide to sit down and have a proper discussion.
They righted the fallen long wooden bench, and Wang Shuitao and her brother sat on one side, while the couple sat on the other. The widow and her three children stood to the right and behind their father, and the negotiations began.
Wang Shuitao came back so late; everyone knew the job was already in her pocket.
So Wang Datong's opening line was a fatal blow: "I'm going to the sugar factory to report you for being unfilial."
His ferocious face only showed the joy of his impending victory. Of course, he felt no remorse, otherwise he wouldn't have abandoned his child and lived with Feng Shuiyun for more than ten years.
Threatening his daughter wasn't enough; he wouldn't let his son off the hook either, saying viciously, "Wang Jinbu, you little beast, if you don't give me the job, I'll report you for being unfilial to the army!"
Unlike Wang Jinbu, who would still tear up after hearing hurtful words a thousand times, Tao'er didn't care at all and remained extremely calm.
Is Wang Datong the only one who can use his reputation to threaten people?
He gave her such a great idea, so don't blame her for picking it up and using it.
Wang Shuitao showed no fear on her face, but calmly stated: "As long as my brother is sent home by the army, I will make a big-character poster about your affair with the widow and put it all over the county."
Feng Shuiyun suddenly looked up, and the three little brats behind her also glared at her with resentment.
Wang Shuitao hadn't finished speaking when she said, "Or if I lose my job, the news of your adultery will spread throughout the streets and alleys."
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