"You were also the first person in Mantou Village to advocate for gender equality. You were the first person to dare to ask a man for a divorce. You were the first person to defy fate and change it."
…
After the lecture, Tao Xiaoxi asked Ni Linli to stay. Before he could ask her anything, Ni Linli burst into tears.
After crying with her for a while, Tao Xiaoxi began to feel a little anxious. Lin Nanshan was still waiting for her outside, and she had no intention of speaking yet.
"Why don't you come to my place and we can talk on the way?" Tao Xiaoxi suggested.
Ni Linli shook her head and said, "I have to go back. Chunchun is waiting for me at home."
"Chunchun?"
"My daughter."
"Oh." Tao Xiaoxi understood.
"And your husband?"
Ni Linli twitched the corner of her mouth and said, "Divorced."
Tao Xiaoxi actually made a gesture in her heart. When she got married, she hoped that the bridge would collapse.
"Then why didn't you go home?" Tao Xiaoxi asked. She had never seen her again in Mantou Village.
"How can a divorced woman have the face to go back?" Ni Linli said with a wry smile.
"Where do you live then?"
"Under the bridge in the southern suburbs." Ni Linli whispered.
Tao Xiaoxi gasped, "What about your child?"
"She lives there too. When I go out today, I'll ask someone else to take care of her."
Tao Xiaoxi got up and left, taking her shawl, coat and bag.
After she finished packing, she saw Ni Linli still sitting there, and she got a little angry. "What are you still doing there? Let's go."
Ni Linli looked bewildered, "Where are we going?"
"Go pick up your baby. You can live under the bridge, but your daughter is still so young, how can she live there?"
Ni Linli wanted to say it was okay, that there were plenty of people there to keep her company, but before she could say it, Tao Xiaoxi had already left.
She had no choice but to follow him out.
When Li Nanshan saw his wife coming out, he got out of the car and opened the door, but found that there was someone following her.
"Lin Li, you sit in the front and show the way." Tao Xiaoxi opened the front door and let Ni Linli get in.
Li Nanshan was confused.
"Ni Linli, don't you recognize me?"
"Ni Linli?" Li Nanshan said the name, "I know her."
"She is divorced from her husband and now lives in a bridge hole with a baby. Let's go and pick her up first." Tao Xiaoxi explained briefly.
Li Nanshan understood and got into the car from the other side.
Ni Linli looked at the brand new car in front of her and hesitated to get in.
"Anything else?" Tao Xiaoxi asked.
"I know what you're going to do, Dr. Tao. I'm not here to seek help today. I'm just here to listen to your lecture. That's enough."
"So you plan to become a beggar with your child, raising her on the back of a thousand other people's food? And let her never be able to hold her head up high for the rest of her life?"
Ni Linli twisted the corner of her clothes. She didn't think so, but she seemed to be doing just that.
"I have a factory and I'm always looking for workers. You know, if I can hire someone else, I can hire you, unless you want to get something for nothing and wait for others to give you something."
"It's not like that. I never thought of waiting for others' charity. I just need a little strength. I need the strength to live!" Ni Linli finally said.
"Then put away your tears and prove to me with your actions that if tears can do it, sweat can do it too."
Ni Linli finally got on the car.
When they arrived at the bridge arch and looked at the women and children sleeping in a row on the ground, Tao Xiaoxi seemed to understand what Ni Linli said.
All the women here have suffered domestic violence after marriage and are not liked by their in-laws. They really can't stand it, but they dare not go back to their parents' home. They have nowhere to go and no one to rely on, so they came here. Most of them have given birth to daughters or have never given birth.
Tao Xiaoxi thought that the person who needed to be rescued was only Ni Linli, but unexpectedly it was a group of people.
She left, and before she left, she left a message, "Wait for me here, I will come back."
On the way, Tao Xiaoxi's mind was working rapidly, she was thinking about who she should contact for this matter.
"Civil Affairs Bureau." Li Nanshan said.
"Ah, isn't that the place to get a marriage certificate?" Tao Xiaoxi had the impression that the Civil Affairs Bureau was the place to get married.
"It is also a place for social assistance, and homeless people fall into their category," said Li Nanshan.
"Then let's go to the Civil Affairs Bureau." Tao Xiaoxi said.
"It's late today, and everyone has gone off work. Let's go tomorrow. Come back when you're at work."
They agreed to come again tomorrow, but in the middle of the night Li Nanshan received a call from his eldest brother, saying that his mother was dying.
The news was like a bolt from the blue, and the couple drove back overnight.
When they got home, it turned out that Mrs. Li was dying, hanging on to her last breath. The doctor was called in, examined her, sighed, and asked all the children and grandchildren who could come back to see her as soon as possible.
Li Nanshan's eyes were bloodshot, he called out "mother", and knelt straight in front of the bed.
Mrs. Li opened her mouth and stared with her eyes wide open, but she couldn't say a word and her expression was almost distorted.
"Mom, you go. We will take good care of Dad. We will also take good care of the chickens, ducks and geese at home. You go safely." The eldest sister-in-law cried.
But Mrs. Li just couldn't swallow that anger. She looked outside the door and tears kept streaming down her face.
Li Nanshan suddenly realized something, "Have you called Nanqiu?"
"I called him and he's on his way back." The eldest brother replied.
Li Nanshan leaned over to his mother and asked in her ear, "Mom, do you miss Nanqiu?"
Mrs. Li didn't even have the strength to nod, but she blinked her eyes suddenly.
Li Nanshan suppressed the grief in his heart and took out his phone. "I'll call Nan Qiu right now. Please wait."
The call was connected, and Li Nanshan turned on the external speaker. From inside came the sound of whistling wind, car horns, and Li Nanqiu's intermittent crying.
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