Chapter 28 I'll Pay You with My Life (1)
It's late at night.
In the dense forest at the back of the mountain, Bai Zhenzhu sat on a big tree, staring blankly at a full moon slowly climbing up into the night sky. It was like an arrogant and indifferent eye, gazing at her with contempt. The cold and bone-chilling light filtered through the branches above her head and sprinkled down in tiny pieces.
It makes people feel cold to the bone.
Bai Xingxing's voice was heard from under the tree, "...Bai Zhenzhu! Get down here! You are so capable... You bully my dad because he is sick and can't do anything, and you bully my Hongdou because she is only six years old... They can't do anything to you, right? If you have the guts, come down here, and try to bully me!"
Bai Zhenzhu closed her eyes and tightly grasped Bai Taotao's clothes that she had snatched from the eldest wife.
Bai Xingxing also wanted to climb up the tree to grab Bai Zhenzhu, but she couldn't climb up after trying for a long time. She was so angry that she stood under the tree with her hands on her hips, cursing and yelling, and even picked up stones everywhere to throw at Bai Zhenzhu...
Nine times out of ten, I miss.
Bai Zhenzhu found temporary peace.
Xingxing stood under the tree and cursed loudly. When she got tired of cursing, she sat on the ground and gasped for breath.
Bai Zhenzhu got a moment of peace, but her mind became confused.
She thought: How did it come to this? ? ?
Bai Zhenzhu also wanted to be like the girls from the first wife's family, with a father who loved her and a mother who cared for her...
But her mother's belly was not good and she gave birth to four daughters in a row! In the rural area where boys are valued more than girls and the strong laborers hold the final say, her family does not have a single boy, which is commonly known as a "family without a son".
Grandmother Chen Juxiang hated Zhenzhu's mother to the core, believing that the third house's family line was destroyed by Zhenzhu's mother; Zhenzhu's mother gritted her teeth and tried her best to get pregnant and give birth to a baby, but after four years and three children, they were all girls.
Ever since Bai Zhenzhu was born, Chen Juxiang has been instigating her father and mother to divorce. Fortunately, her father did not listen.
But as Chen Juxiang kept nagging, cracks gradually began to appear in the relationship between Zhenzhu's parents.
A few years later, Pearl's mother became pregnant again.
This time she had an attack in the middle of the night. Since she was not sure whether this baby was a son, Pearl's mother did not dare to alarm her mother-in-law, Chen Juxiang, for fear that if she gave birth to another daughter, she would be ridiculed and mocked to death. So she gritted her teeth, endured the extreme pain, and struggled silently to give birth to the child.
The result was another girl - Bai Zhenzhu's younger sister Bai Feicui.
Pearl's mother was in despair. She lay on the bed and didn't even dare to cry out loud. Pearl's father got angry and slammed the door and went out in the middle of the night. He would rather sleep on the haystack than come back.
Mother Pearl lay on the bed, feeling hopeless.
As dawn approached, Pearl's mother made a decision.
——At that time, Pearl's eldest sister was only nine years old, and her mother ordered her to throw her newly born younger sister into the dense forest on the back mountain.
Pearl's eldest sister was already sensible enough and was forced to leave the house carrying her infant sister. But she was afraid and didn't want to abandon her sister, so she wandered in the yard for a long time.
After hesitating for a long time, Zhenzhu's elder sister carried her younger sister and knocked on Tang Liren's door.
Tang Liren got angry when she heard this, and she made a scene with the whole family. She asked Bai Zhenggan to take the boys out to look for Zhenzhu's father, and scolded him after they found him. She also personally cooked sugar and egg soup for Zhenzhu's mother to nourish her body, and gave the newborn baby a bath and changed her into clean clothes...
Chen Juxiang and Li Cui'er were also woken up. When they heard that Zhenzhu's mother had given birth to another daughter, they became sarcastic and accusatory.
One said he gave birth to two sons, and the other said he gave birth to three sons. The two of them then acted like they were performing a crosstalk, saying that the first and second wives at least had two sons each, so how come the third wife couldn't give birth to a son at all?
Tang Liren couldn't scold Chen Juxiang directly, so she scolded Li Cui'er -
"Giving birth to a daughter is useless? Go home now and ask your brothers from your mother's family - are you, Li Cui'er, really useful? Just look at the things you take from your mother's family every year, oil, salt, firewood, rice, clothes, dishes, etc. I won't talk about them, you just want to steal your old woman's underwear and bring it to your mother's house!"
"Based on this, your family still dares to say that you are a useless daughter? Li Cui'er, let me tell you, if they really say so, don't be afraid. I will take care of it for you and go back to your family's house with you... Let's get all those things back! Let's go! Let's go now!"
Li Cui'er was so scared that she dared not speak and quickly hid back in the house and cried.
Chen Juxiang also felt embarrassed.
——Indeed, there was one time when Tang Liren gave Chen Juxiang two small pieces of cotton cloth, saying that the cloth was good but a little small. It was a discounted commodity sold at a low price by the town's supply and marketing cooperative. Although it could not be made into a whole piece of clothing, it could be cut into a pair of pants to wear.
Unexpectedly, Li Cui'er took a fancy to the two pieces of cloth, secretly stole them and took them back to her parents' home.
Later, Chen Juxiang asked for another piece of cloth from Tang Liren, thinking that three pieces of cloth were just enough to make a pair of underpants for each of her three grandchildren. Only then did she realize that the two pieces of cloth she had saved before had been stolen by Li Cuier! Chen Juxiang was so angry that she beat Li Cuier!
At that moment, Chen Juxiang had nothing to say. She cursed at the third room, calling it a money-losing bastard, and then turned and went into the house.
At that time, Bai Zhenzhu was wondering why Tang Liren was not her mother?
——Tang Liren raised a silly daughter named Taotao, who was only twelve or thirteen years old and could only call dad, mom, brother and sister. If Taotao was born in another family, she would probably be abandoned early on. Her best fate would be to be raised carelessly and married to a fool or a disabled person in exchange for some dowry.
However, Tang Liren just loved Taotao to her core. The silly Taotao who couldn't even speak was kept clean and pretty all day long. Anyone who saw Taotao, even though they knew she was a silly girl, would talk to her patiently and gently because of her fair complexion and cuteness.
——But what about Pearl’s mother? She actually... wanted to throw away her newborn little sister!
Later, the relationship between Pearl's parents became worse and worse.
The mother became more and more nagging - she always talked about how difficult it was for her, complaining that her husband was not considerate and not as capable as her uncle Bai Zhenggan in leadership; she also complained about her daughters being ignorant and not ambitious enough, not as smart, capable, pretty and generous as the girls from the first wife's family. This made her feel ashamed and unable to raise her head in front of Chen Juxiang and the people from the fourth wife's family!
The father became more and more silent - if he really couldn't stand his wife's nagging, he would just beat people up, regardless of whether his daughters were present or not.
In contrast, Zhenzhu really envied the girls in the eldest wife's house: their parents had a good relationship, as did the parents and their children; the family was harmonious, they could discuss everything and could always work together no matter where and at what time.
She also vaguely heard people say that the first wife was so hardworking that she shouldn't be poor, and it was only because of the second, third and fourth wives that she was dragged down by them.
Later, the sisters grew up slowly.
Pearl also wants to have a harmonious family like Dafang's.
She had observed that everyone in the big house was hardworking and caring about the family. Everyone rushed to do the heavy work and were courteous when eating. With the support of great uncle, everyone in the family, except Taotao and Hongdou Huangdou, went to school for a few years. They are all polite and reasonable...even Brother Nansheng, he can control his temper when others don't provoke him.
Bai Zhenzhu also followed suit.
But--
——She rushes to do rough and heavy work? Well, in the end all those jobs were hers!
——She is polite to her parents and sisters and gives the delicious food to them? Well, in the end they really thought she was stupid and she refused to eat, so they stopped giving her any more.
——She said she wanted to go to school too? Well, in the end I got a severe beating! It was the uncle and aunt next door who heard the noise and came over to persuade her, and repeatedly did ideological work on her, but her parents refused to agree to spend money to send her to school. Finally, her aunt taught her personally, taking half an hour every night to teach her to write her own name and address. Later, she copied a small excerpt from an expired newspaper every day... Slowly, Pearl learned to read.
——She also wanted to be like the girls in the eldest wife's house and have intimate conversations with her mother and sisters. Well, she ended up being ridiculed by her mother and sisters, who laughed at her for overestimating her own abilities and for being stupid and ignorant.
Gradually, Pearl felt disappointed.
Since there was no male child in the family, Pearl's mother often thought about leaving a daughter at home and having a son-in-law come to live with her.
——However, in this era, most men who are willing to marry into a woman’s family are not in very good conditions.
None of the Pearl sisters wanted to rot in this fetid quagmire for the rest of their lives, so they each tried to find a way to marry themselves off - the eldest sister listened to her aunt's lies and married far away; the second sister ran away with a peddler and her whereabouts have been unknown to this day.
The responsibility of being a son-in-law fell on Zhenzhu and her sister Feicui.
Jade is still young, she is fifteen this year. She is prettier than Pearl and has a sweet mouth, so she is deeply loved by her mother.
Pearl is eighteen years old this year. In the eyes of rural people, she is already of marriageable age.
She is big-boned, tall and strong. She has been following her father in the fields doing farm work in the wind and sun since she was a child, and she had to eat coarse food. Her skin is dark and rough, and her hair is dry and yellow. The key point is that she cut her hair into a men's style, and from the back, she looked no different from a young man.
This is the biggest reason why Pearl's mother wants her to stay at home as a son-in-law.
Pearl's mother has even started spreading the word that she wants to find a suitable candidate for a son-in-law within the area. There were also several young men from other places who came to see Pearl, but they all thought she was ugly and instead fell in love with the prettier Bai Feicui.
Gradually, more and more men came to the house under the guise of looking at pearls, but actually came to look at jadeite. Some even offered a hefty gift in the hope of marrying jadeite.
Mother Pearl is happy to see this happen.
——She raised four daughters. The eldest daughter was resentful of her. She listened to her sister-in-law's deception and married far away, where communication was inconvenient. This meant that Pearl's mother had no way of asking her daughter and son-in-law for some financial support. The second daughter shamelessly ran off with a peddler, not only leaving her without a penny of the bride price, but also ruining the reputation of the pearls and jadeite of the third branch of the Bai family!
Now, even though pearls are ignored and even criticized, the value of jade has been raised!
This is a good thing!
So Pearl's mother spoiled Feicui even more, and pampered her little daughter in the same way Tang Liren raised Taotao.
Now Feicui doesn't do any work at home and can still eat a boiled egg every day. Zhenzhu was so angry that she asked why she and her father worked in the fields every day and were not worthy of eating boiled eggs?
Pearl's mother said contemptuously, "You also want to eat eggs every day? Then you have to be able to earn an egg every day! Do you have it? You don't! Besides, if you eat an egg every day, you will become more beautiful? Are you more beautiful than jade?"
"I'm telling you, I want to let Feicui eat an egg every day. I want Feicui to be beautiful, prettier than the idiot in the first wife's house! Maybe in the future my Feicui can even marry someone in the city! If she can find a son-in-law who is a regular employee in a state-owned factory... that would be Feicui's fortune, and mine too! Otherwise, who would I rely on for the rest of my life? You? Or your father who can't even fart even with three sticks?"
Thinking of this, Zhenzhu clenched Bai Taotao's clothes in her hands.
——Her mother wants her to stay at home and be a son-in-law?
No.
She couldn't do what her second sister did, and ran off with a peddler without any status; but she could, like her eldest sister, ask her aunt to act as a matchmaker, marry far away in a legitimate way, and start a new life from then on!
Pearl went back to her grandmother's house and found her aunt to explain her purpose.
But my aunt looked at Pearl and shook her head.
——Pearl is eighteen years old this year. This is obviously the most delicate and beautiful age in a girl's life. However, Pearl, who has been working in the fields for many years, has rough and dark skin, and thick joints on the fingers and toes. In order to save time on washing her hair, Pearl has always had a men's haircut. Moreover, due to long-term malnutrition, her body is skinny and flat, with no feminine characteristics at all.
If it weren't for her girl's voice, no one would doubt that she sounded like a boy.
My aunt said earnestly, "Pearl, girls should take care of themselves. If you don't know how to do it, just look at how your sister Feicui takes care of herself. If you can't do it, look at the three cousins in your family's first house. Except for the silly one who doesn't work, Lizi and Xingzi also go to the fields to farm. But you see... they have good skin and good hair. Their clothes are old, but they are neat and tidy, and their nails are clean and decent... You should learn more first!"
Pearl understood.
What my aunt meant was that she was too ugly and no one would want to marry her.
Pearl began to pay attention to the fruit sisters from the first house.
She found that Lizi and Xingzi took turns working in the fields. When working, they always wore a bamboo hat with a piece of gauze on it to cover their faces tightly.
In fact, it is not only the sisters Li Zi and Xing Zi who wear this, but many women working in the fields in the village also wear this. But most people put a towel on the hat to block the sun and make it convenient to wipe sweat.
Li Zi and Xing Zi were hanging gauze on their hats.
That kind of gauze is the same one that nurses in hospitals use to bandage patients' wounds, and it's not that rare.
Zhenzhu also tried it. She made a hat for herself and covered it with a piece of gauze and put it on her head. But when the weather is hot, it is really uncomfortable. She went to ask Li Zi and Xing Zi: It's so hot, why are you wearing this? Aren't you feeling stuffy? Don’t you feel uncomfortable?
People’s answer was: Of course it’s very hot, but I don’t wear it every day, I only wear it when I go out, so I just have to bear with it. Besides, if you don’t cover your face, it will be more painful if you get sunburned!
That’s right, other sisters take turns working in the fields, but Pearl works in the fields every day.
The women in the first house all have long, black, smooth and beautiful hair. Tang Liren is over 50 years old, but her hair is still thick, black and shiny. Zhenzhu is very envious and runs to ask Bai Lili how she usually takes care of her hair and whether she uses the shampoo that city people use.
Bai Lili said: "Our family is so poor, how can we afford shampoo cream! My mother went to the oil mill and picked up the tea oil residue that no one wanted, and we all use that to wash our hair! You can make a small cloth bag, knock off a small piece of tea oil residue when washing your hair, boil it in water, soak it, and use the small cloth bag to rub your hair when washing your hair..."
Then he taught her in detail, "But this stuff has a strong smell. After rinsing it in a basin of water, pick a few jasmine flowers and rub them on your hair when washing it. It will cover the smell of the tea oil residue!"
Zhenzhu asked Taotao and Xingxing again, and got almost the same answers. The difference lies in that in the final washing and rinsing stage, some use honeysuckle and some prefer wild rose.
So Zhenzhu went to the oil mill to find some waste residue from pressing tea seeds for oil, took it home to try it, and sure enough, she found that after washing her hair with the tea oil residue, her hair became particularly shiny and refreshed!
But when Pearl's mother heard that the girls in the first house all used tea oil residue to wash their hair?
From then on, the tea oil residue picked up by Zhenzhu became exclusively used for jadeite.
Pearl's mother even found a jar, put the tea oil residue that Pearl picked up into the jar, and then locked it in the cupboard.
pearl:……
Later, Zhenzhu tried to get close to her cousins from the first wife. She borrowed beautiful hairbands from them and wanted to imitate them and make one for herself... When Zhenzhu's mother saw it, she snatched it from Zhenzhu's hand and tied it to the ends of Feicui's hair.
Pearl borrowed clothes from her eldest cousins, originally wanting to learn how they mend old clothes. The sisters in the eldest room are very clever and can sew a small flower on old clothes, cut a little rabbit and sew it on, and they can make a plain grey old dress neat and beautiful.
But when Pearl's mother saw this, she immediately snatched Taotao's clothes from Pearl, took off the beautiful patches, sewed them onto Feicui's clothes, and then threw the damaged clothes back to Pearl...
Pearl was both resentful and annoyed, but she didn't know how to do needlework at all. Although she tried to mend the clothes and return them to her sisters in the eldest wife's house, she really didn't have the ability to do so!
Pearl was almost always involved in such matters.
As time went by, the sisters in the eldest wife all hated Zhenzhu - because they were cousins, they would borrow whatever she wanted, but she never returned it on her own initiative. She would only return it "reluctantly" after they urged her many times, and all the things she returned were bad!
Pearl had nothing to say.
However, a few days ago, my aunt suddenly asked someone to avoid Zhenzhu's mother and sent a message to Zhenzhu, saying that on the eighth day of this month, she must go back to her grandmother's house, and remember to dress herself up!
Pearl knew it well.
——It must be her aunt who arranged the matchmaking for her.
Zhenzhu was eager to escape from this suffocating home, but she didn't know how to take care of herself... She was really at her wit's end, and she remembered that Taotao from the eldest wife's house seemed to be particularly good at cleaning and dressing up. So she went to see Taotao and fell in love with the beautiful dress Taotao was wearing at first sight!
Unfortunately, Taotao refused her request to borrow her clothes.
A few days later, it was heard that the eldest wife's aunt took Li Zi and Tao Zi to the city... Zhenzhu's aunt sent her two more messages through someone else, both of which reminded her that she must go on the eighth day of the first lunar month and that she must dress up nicely.
Pearl couldn't calm down.
She knew that even if she mentioned borrowing clothes or other things again, the people in the first house would never agree. It would be better for her to go directly to Taotao's room to get the clothes and leave while no one is in the main room... She can return the clothes when she comes back from her grandmother's house. Taotao's clothes would not be damaged as long as they did not pass through the hands of her mother and Bai Feicui.
So on the eighth day of the first lunar month, Zhenzhu deliberately avoided Bai Xingxing and went to her house.
She thought that her uncle's back injury had not yet healed and her cousin's wife was pregnant and about to give birth, so these two would definitely not stop her...
But she didn't expect that little Hongdou looked well-behaved and sensible, but her personality was just as fierce as Tang Liren's!
"Aunt Pearl, we didn't allow you to break into my fourth aunt's room. You are so uneducated!"
"Aunt Pearl, taking something without asking is stealing. Even I know this. You know it, don't you?"
"Aunt Pearl, please put down my Fourth Aunt's clothes! You are committing robbery by doing this! You are here to steal my things!"
"Aunt Pearl, if you do this again, I will tell the village officials and have the police arrest you!"
But Bai Zhenzhu had only one thought in her mind: to dress herself up and go to her uncle's house to meet the man. No matter what conditions the other party proposed, she would agree to them all! Then come back, return the clothes to Bai Taotao, and get married immediately!
She continued to search -
Little Red Bean pounced over and bit Bai Zhenzhu's wrist hard!
Bai Zhenzhu screamed in pain!
She lost her mind.
——Whoever dares to stop her at this critical juncture is the culprit who wants her to stay in this stinking quagmire for the rest of her life!
Bai Zhenzhu glared at Xiao Hongdou with a fierce look in her eyes.
Little Hongdou was scared, so she snatched Bai Taotao's clothes from her hand when she wasn't paying attention, screamed and ran out of the house.
Bai Zhenzhu chased after her and caught up with Xiao Hongdou in just a few steps. She grabbed Xiao Hongdou and tried to pull the clothes from her hands. But Hongdou was protecting it tightly, and Baizhenzhu tried to pull it out, but couldn't pull it out...
Bai Zhenzhu was afraid of tearing her clothes, so she simply grabbed Xiao Hongdou and held her up high!
"Zhenzhu, are you crazy? Hongdou is still a child!" the eldest cousin's wife screamed.
Bai Zhenggan also yelled, "Hongdou, give her the clothes, give her...Zhenzhu, calm down, it's just a piece of clothes, if you want it so much, just take it! Put the child down quickly..."
As he spoke, he saw Tan Fenghui desperately rushing forward to save the child, and hurriedly called out to his little grandson, "Huang Dou, hold on to your mother's legs quickly, don't let her come over!"
Then I saw Bai Zhenzhu holding Hongdou high up, with no intention of putting it down?
Bai Zhenggan stepped forward with his crutches, "Zhenzhu, put the child down... put the child down!"
In a split second, Bai Zhenzhu chose to fight to the death.
She threw Hongdou down heavily, pushed Bai Zhenggan, then bent down, pulled out Taotao's clothes which were tightly held in Hongdou's hand, and ran away.
But the moment she escaped from the yard, she turned around and saw Xiao Hongdou lying on the ground with blood coming out of her mouth and nose, unconscious; she saw her eldest cousin's wife kneeling on the ground with a big belly, anxiously and distressedly calling for her daughter; she also saw her eldest uncle who fell to the ground, holding his waist with a painful expression, struggling to get up, and when he turned his head to look at her, his face was filled with shock and anger...
Bai Zhenzhu thought: What did I just do?
Bai Zhenzhu fled back home in a daze. She was trembling and wanted to put on the beautiful dress and leave immediately. But when she spread out the clothes, she saw... the collar was stained with large patches of blood!
Yes, it’s Xiao Hongdou’s blood!
Red Bean...
Yes, when she threw Hongdou, she clearly heard the skull hitting the stone with a crisp "dong" sound; she also clearly saw Hongdou's small body shaking a few times.
Will red beans die?
In panic, Bai Zhenzhu heard Bai Xingxing yelling and cursing outside...
Fortunately, Chen Juxiang was at home. She didn't know what was going on and thought Bai Xingxing was causing trouble for the Chen family, so she started to quarrel with Bai Xingxing. The panicked Bai Zhenzhu took the opportunity to escape through the back door.
Unexpectedly, Bai Xingxing kept chasing her and they actually ran into a dense forest!
Recalling what had just happened, Bai Zhenzhu suddenly burst into tears.
Bai Xingxing, who was sitting under the tree, looked up and said angrily, "How dare you cry?"
Zhenzhu cried for a long time and asked softly, "Xingxing, today is... the ninth day of the lunar month, right?"
Bai Xingxing, "What? Are you crazy and you still want to pick a day?"
Pearl let out a cry of despair.
——The eighth day of the New Year has passed, and there is no hope in her life anymore.
Forget it, blood debt must be paid with blood! Isn’t it just a life? There's no point in her living anyway, it would be better if she died.
Pearl turned over and climbed down the tree.
Bai Xingxing didn't know what she was thinking. She jumped to the side, stood there with a laundry stick in her hand, and stared at Zhenzhu eagerly...
As soon as Zhenzhu got off the field, Bai Xingxing rushed over with a laundry stick in hand, hitting Zhenzhu all over the head and face, cursing as she beat her -
"Bai Zhenzhu, are you still a human being? Chen Juxiang has tortured your mother and your sisters for so many years. When did my mother not stand up and make decisions for your mother and your sisters? And you repay kindness with hatred?"
"When your elder sister got married, she didn't even have a decent dowry. It was my mother who took our family to the mountains to chop bamboo and wood, and made four basins and four buckets for your elder sister, and also used bamboo to weave four boxes and four bamboo mats. Only then did your elder sister have a dowry for her marriage!"
"Two years ago, your father had a perforated stomach and had no money to go to the hospital. It was my father who borrowed money from everywhere in the village to send your father to the hospital...Did your family pay you back? No! We saved and saved to pay them back!"
"And you! When you were a kid, you picked up leftovers from the ground that were used to poison rats and ate them, and you got poisoned... Your mom just cried, and your dad said forget it, it's your fate! My dad beat your dad up for this, and my mom went to find herbs to keep you alive, but she fell and almost died! My brother Dongsheng ran barefoot with you on his back in the mud for more than 20 miles before he took you to the town hospital and saved your life..."
"Bai Zhenzhu, are you still a human? How could you hurt Hongdou? She is Dongsheng's child, and she is only six years old! When she was just born, you held her in your arms and said she was pretty... Bai Zhenzhu! You are not a human, you are not a human!"
Bai Zhenzhu had empty eyes and stood straight, allowing Xingxing to beat and scold her.
Xing Xing had been chasing her all day and her strength was gradually weakening. Although she was angry, she was more afraid that something might happen to Little Hongdou because of her inadequate protection. So she hit Bai Zhenzhu hard a few times. Bai Zhenzhu cried "wow" and fell to the ground helplessly. She shouted angrily: "Bai Zhenzhu, I tell you, if anything happens to my father or my Hongdou, I will tear you to pieces!"
Bai Zhenzhu replied softly, "Okay."
Bai Xingxing: ...
"Xingxing, let's go home quickly and don't waste time here," Bai Zhenzhu said calmly, "We have to go see how uncle is doing and how Hongdou is doing."
Bai Xingxing glared at her, "What do you want to do?"
Pearl said hoarsely, "Let's go!"
Having said that, he walked away first.
Bai Xingxing was so anxious that she chased after him again, "You still want to run?"
"I won't run away anymore. I can't run away, and I don't want to run away... When I go back, I will pay you with my life." Bai Zhenzhu said lightly.
Bai Xingxing looked Zhenzhu up and down.
Pearl looked back at her and smiled, "I can die in front of you now, but I'm afraid... people will misunderstand that you killed me, which would implicate you."
She walked towards the village.
Bai Xingxing looked at her in surprise and doubt, and hurriedly chased after her.
At dawn, the two finally returned to the mountain behind the village.
The village was bustling.
Many people were carrying hoes and farm tools, preparing to go to work. When they saw Xingxing and Zhenzhu, they asked Xingxing in surprise, "Xing, did you find someone?"
Some people also said, "Xing, your mom and your sister are back! Also, your sister-in-law had a seizure last night... Go check it out, I heard she's not doing well!"
Xing Xing got anxious when she heard this. She grabbed Zhen Zhu by the collar and ran, "Go, go, go! Go!"
The villagers behind him shouted, "Xing, your mother and sister-in-law are at your second aunt's house!"
"Oh, I see, thank you, auntie!"
Xingxing rushed to the intersection of her second aunt's house and happened to meet Bai Taotao who was walking downstairs carrying a double-handled pot.
It looks like the food in the double-handled pot is very heavy. Taotao was weak, had little strength, and was panting, "Xingzi, come and give me a hand!"
Xing Xing hurried over, and together with Fourth Sister, she lifted up the double-handled pot, and asked again, "Fourth Sister, how is my sister-in-law?"
Tao Tao hated Bai Zhenzhu deeply. She glared at her fiercely before saying, "We tossed around all night... Third sister and sister-in-law Yongjun walked in the middle of the night before they brought Dr. Zhao from the town hospital here..."
"Our mother was in charge here. Our eldest sister-in-law was frightened and had bleeding, but our little nephew hadn't entered the pelvis yet - I didn't even know what entering the pelvis meant. In addition, the midwife said that our little nephew's body position was not right. Our mother accompanied our eldest sister-in-law in the house for most of the night. In the end, our eldest sister-in-law gave birth to a little nephew, weighing more than five kilograms. The child is fine, but our eldest sister-in-law... suffered so much! So pitiful."
According to rural rules, Taotao is an unmarried girl and cannot enter the delivery room.
But through the thin doors and windows, Taotao, who was standing outside, could hear clearly what her sister-in-law was going through in the house!
The midwife said:
"Dongsheng, my wife, you have to squat down, squat down..."
"Turn sideways! If you turn sideways, the doll's position will turn sideways little by little!"
"Dongsheng's wife, bend down, bend down!"
"Don't stop, don't stop! Keep going! Keep going!"
Tan Fenghui said——
"Oh my god, I can't do it anymore. I really don't have the strength!"
"Mom, it hurts, it hurts!"
"Dongsheng! Dongsheng, help me..."
"Mom, where am I? Where's Hongdou? Where's Dongsheng..."
Tang Liren said——
"Son, let's hold on a little longer, just a little longer!"
"Don't be afraid! Mom is with you. Mom will walk with you, and we will push sideways together!"
"Hui'er, try harder! The child is about to turn over. Look, feel it yourself, is it sideways? Let's try harder to help the child turn his head over!"
"Hui'er, you've worked hard. Mom knows you're in pain and tired. If you get through this night, you'll be fine, and so will the child..."
After staying up most of the night, Yongjun's wife and Bai Lili brought Dr. Zhao over.
After another two hours of suffering, Tan Fenghui could no longer speak and could only hum.
A loud and strong baby cry sounded -
Taotao's heart suddenly tightened!
The women began to get busy, bringing basin after basin of clean water into the house and pouring basin after basin of blood outside...
After a long while, everyone's faces calmed down a little, and they began to discuss in low voices -
"Seventh Aunt, Fourth Sister-in-law, today is all thanks to you!"
"That's impossible. When a woman gives birth, she's stepping into the gates of hell. Your family is kindhearted, so you've accumulated so much good fortune. Anyway, I've never seen a miracle like Dongsheng's wife. She was clearly exhausted, but she was able to struggle for most of the night and finally gave birth to the baby safely... This is a miracle! A miracle!"
"In my opinion, it's a good thing that Dr. Zhao was here, otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to help with the massive hemorrhage at the end!"
"Dr. Zhao, thank you!"
"You are very experienced. If you hadn't used earthwork to turn the child's head... then Tan Fenghui and the child would have been in great trouble. I have seen many tragedies like this in the village!"
Finally, Doctor Zhao instructed Tang Liren, "I sewed up Tan Fenghui. Remember, it's best not to move or clean her for three days. Do you still have the iodine tincture I prescribed for you last time? Use it to apply it on her wound three times a day... It's best to let her eat liquid food, such as soup or porridge, and avoid eating rice, noodles, etc. I'll come to see her again in three days. If the wound heals well, she can eat solid food."
When Taotao and Xingxing were talking about what happened last night, Bai Zhenzhu stood aside with her head down, not knowing what she was thinking about.
However, after discovering Bai Zhenzhu, Yongjun's sister-in-law became nervous instantly, "Bai Zhenzhu! How dare you come here?" Her voice was sharp and high, and her angry tone was mixed with a strong sense of vigilance.
Tang Liren and Aunt Bai rushed out upon hearing the news.
Second Aunt Bai, "What, Bai Zhenzhu is here?" She was still afraid that Bai Zhenzhu would commit a crime, so she picked up a thermos and used it as a weapon. And then suddenly you realize that the thermos is a fragile thing? Then he put it down gently, looked around, and found that there was nothing useful to hold. He had to take off one of his shoes, hold it tightly in his hand, and look at Bai Zhenzhu vigilantly.
Tang Liren also hurried out of the west room, angrily saying, "You've come just in time! I want to see how someone who is fed with all kinds of grains can have such a rotten black heart! How could he do such a cruel thing!"
Bai Zhenzhu fell to her knees with a "thump".
Tang Liren: ...
Tao Tao ignored Bai Zhenzhu and said, "Mom, aunts, Sister Yongjun, Doctor Zhao, you are tired after a night's work, come and have some breakfast first! My third sister just cooked some noodle soup dumplings!"
Second Aunt Bai, "Well, why are you still cooking up there? Why don't you just cook something for us?"
Taotao and Xingxing worked together to lift the soup pot onto the table, opened the lid, and said, "There are six eggs in this pot of noodle soup, two of which are whole poached eggs, specially made for my sister-in-law. The other eggs are mashed..."
He asked his sister-in-law to bring the bowls and chopsticks over, and the aunts and sisters-in-law stood in front of the table to share the bowls, add soup, and add noodles.
At this time, Aunt Bai San got the news and rushed over.
As soon as I arrived, I saw Bai Zhenzhu kneeling in front of Tang Liren with her head down...
"Bai Zhenzhu! You are such an ungrateful bastard! Have you forgotten how kind your uncle and aunt were to you? How dare you do such a thing? Are you crazy?"
As she said that, Aunt Bai San went over and hit Bai Zhenzhu a few times!
Bai Zhenzhu didn't dodge or evade, but just knelt straight.
Aunt Bai hit Bai Zhenzhu a few times, and suddenly she smelled the aroma of fried eggs in the air? When she looked up, she saw Taozi, Xingzi and Yongjun's wife dividing the noodle soup with long spoons?
Aunt Bai couldn't help but look at Tang Liren.
Tang Liren was glaring at her?
Aunt Bai San lowered her head in embarrassment and ran towards Taotao and the others. She glanced into the pot and said with a smile, "Oh, you're eating eggs. Hahaha... Taotao, is your sister-in-law okay? Is it a boy or a girl?"
Taotao ignored her.
Yongjun's wife said, "It's a boy, weighing 5.6 jin."
When she heard that Tan Fenghui had given birth to a son, Aunt Bai was envious and jealous. She chuckled twice, looked into the pot again, and said, "So you're inviting people to eat eggs... and you're only eating this little?"
——The current custom in rural areas is that when a daughter-in-law gives birth to a child, the host family will make red eggs and give them to relatives and friends to eat. The method is also simple. Boil the eggs with the shells on, then cut a piece of red paper, dip it in water and dye the eggshells red.
Last night was so chaotic and chaotic, how could the family have the mind to make red eggs? This pot of noodle dumpling soup this morning is also a thank-you gift to the two midwives and doctors who worked all night last night.
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