In the third month of the year, a girl in a gray padded jacket ran frantically along the barren yet greening ridges of the fields, her steps chaotic and unsteady.
Despite stumbling several times along the way, nothing could halt her frantic advance.
“Shiyi, Shiyi, something terrible has happened!”
Chen Shiyi, who was chopping firewood on the hillside behind the village, immediately stopped her swift work and looked toward the source of the voice.
“Chunni, what happened?”
Chunni stopped in front of Chen Shiyi, panting heavily.
“My mother urged me to come and tell you to run away quickly. Your mother… she’s going to sell you.”
Chen Shiyi froze for a moment, then bent down again as if nothing had happened and resumed chopping wood.
Chunni grew anxious.
“Your mother is about to sell you, and you’re still here chopping wood for her?”
Chen Shiyi numbly repeated the motion in her hands.
“Isn’t this bound to happen sooner or later?”
“You…”
“If I don’t finish chopping this wood, I’ll get another beating when I go back.”
Ever since her father had died suddenly from illness half a month ago, Chen Shiyi had known that this day would come eventually.
Her birth mother had died early, and her father had remarried, giving her a stepmother.
Her stepmother had borne her father two sons and a daughter, and for her hard work and contributions, she was the only laborer in this family of six besides her father.
Her stepmother had a pleasing way with words, telling everyone how obedient and sensible Shiyi was. But behind closed doors, Shiyi’s body was never free of bruises and scars.
Run away?
Where could she run to?
She was an orphan girl with no money in her pocket and barely any clothes on her back. On some cold winter day, she might freeze to death in some corner, only to be torn apart and eaten by wild dogs.
Here, at least she had a roof over her head and broken walls to block the wind.
All she wanted was to survive.
On the way back, Chunni chattered incessantly in her ear.
“If you’re sold, you won’t be a person anymore. You’ll be an object, something that can be beaten or killed at will.”
A scornful smile tugged at the corner of Chen Shiyi’s mouth.
“I’m not really a person now either. At best, I’m livestock. No, wait—livestock is worth more than me. Chunni, it doesn’t matter what happens to me. As long as I have a mouthful of food to eat, that’s enough.”
Back in the dilapidated courtyard, Chen Shiyi set down the firewood. A boy slightly taller than her was holding a porcelain bowl, slurping down porridge, swallowing it hastily.
“Why is there so little firewood today? Were you slacking off again?”
Chen Shiyi remained silent. No matter how much firewood she chopped, they would always complain it wasn’t enough. When people’s hearts turn bad, it has nothing to do with how much firewood there is.
“I’m talking to you! Are you deaf?”
Chen Shiyi took a deep breath and turned to the boy.
“Your mother is going to sell me. From now on, you’ll have to chop the firewood yourself.”
“What?”
Chen Shiyi fetched water, washed her face, and carefully cleaned her hands before walking out of the courtyard gate.
The boy hurriedly asked, “Where are you going?”
Chen Shiyi’s eyes were eerily calm.
“To see where your mother is selling me. Want to come along?”
Xiangyang Village hadn’t been this lively in a long time.
Under the large banyan tree at the village entrance, almost the entire village had gathered, their eyes wide and ears perked up, listening to Lü Erniang haggle with the matchmaker.
“My daughter is the hardest worker in ten villages around here. She’s obedient, sensible, and pretty too. If you buy her, you’ll definitely make a profit.”
Cai Yapozi sat on the oxcart plank, picking at her yellow teeth, her smile not reaching her eyes.
“Everyone who sells a daughter says the same thing. Hardly any of them turn out to be any good. Let’s wait and see.”
Chen Shiyi arrived late, pushing through the layers of onlookers until she reached Lü Erniang’s side.
Across the way, Cai Yapozi took one look and froze, pointing a finger at Chen Shiyi as she asked Lü Erniang in disbelief, “This is the daughter you want to sell?”
Lü Erniang grinned, revealing her gums. “Exactly. Didn’t I tell you? My daughter is a beauty, just like that… what’s-her-name in the heavens…”
“Stop, enough, enough…” Cai Yapozi’s expression turned sour. “Don’t compare her to Chang’e—she’s not worthy. I could pick a random skeleton from the mass graves, and it’d be prettier than your daughter. Move aside, move aside. What a waste of my time…”
Lü Erniang hurried after her. “Auntie, auntie, listen to me…” She whispered a few words into Cai Yapozi’s ear, and the matchmaker’s expression softened slightly.
It seemed the deal was done.
Chen Shiyi’s dark eyes watched as the matchmaker not far away beckoned to her. “Child, come with this old woman.”
Child?
Only those with a father’s doting and a mother’s love could be called children.
Those without parents had another name—orphans.
Behind her, a clear child’s voice rang out. “That whore’s daughter is finally leaving. She’s been freeloading at our house all this time, shameless as can be…”
Chen Shiyi abruptly stopped, turned, and walked toward the little boy who had spoken. She grabbed him by the collar and swung her fist, punching him directly.
Lü Erniang saw this and was horrified—her precious son being beaten by that little wretch! Her face twisted with rage.
Chen Shiyi was pulled away by those trying to break up the fight. She spat in the direction of Lü Erniang’s family. “You’re the one raised by a whore! Your whole family is raised by whores!”
Lü Erniang, furious and flustered, rolled up her sleeves, ready to fight Chen Shiyi.
Cai Yapozi snorted, stopping Lü Erniang. “I’ve given you the silver. She’s mine now. If you dare lay a hand on someone who belongs to me, you’d better weigh your own worth.”
Cai Yapozi shot a glare at Chen Shiyi. “Hurry up and get on the cart! Do I have to beg you three or four times?”
On the oxcart were several other girls around the same age, sharing the same fate as Chen Shiyi.
The cart jolted violently. She looked back at the village—the dilapidated mud houses, the ancient banyan tree—all fading into the distance, swaying with each bump.
The sorrows of the past were now far behind, but what of the unknown future? Would her prospects remain just as bleak?
Along the way, Chen Shiyi cautiously asked Cai Yapozi, “Are we being sold to a brothel?”
Cai Yapozi, who had been dozing, slightly opened her droopy eyelids and glanced at Chen Shiyi indifferently. “Oh, you’re not worthy,” she replied lazily.
Then she turned to the burly man sitting beside her and asked, “Tell me, why did I agree to take this low-quality goods? It’s like I was under a spell. I hope she doesn’t end up stuck in my hands. I, Cai Yapozi, have never made a loss-making deal.”
The man grinned, the scar on his forehead looking particularly fierce and menacing. “What’s there to worry about? If she doesn’t fetch a high price, we’ll just dump her in the deep mountains. There are plenty of cripples, widowers, folks with peculiar tastes, and brothers too poor to afford a wife. No matter what, you won’t lose out!”
They chatted and laughed so casually, deciding the tragic fate of others with just a few words.
No wonder the little girls on the cart all had eyes red as rabbits’.
But Chen Shiyi would not cry.
Back when Father was still alive, she had cried many times. Father would always puff on his dry tobacco, his murky, dull eyes flickering with a trace of numbness, and let out a heavy sigh.
“Endure it. Which girl doesn’t come through this?”
Even when Father was alive, he wasn’t her support. Her tears were just water—after a certain point, they would no longer flow. And even if they did, a gust of wind would blow them away without a trace.
On the day Father was buried, Lü Erniang fiercely scolded Chen Shiyi for being heartless, not shedding a single tear even when her father had died.
What was there to cry about!