Seeing Xie Daidi’s cowering demeanor, Wang Cuihua vented all the pent-up frustration she had accumulated from her humiliating encounter with Xie Zhong.
She casually picked up a stick as thick as a thumb from the yard and began beating Xie Daidi relentlessly.
Xie Daidi screamed and begged for mercy, running wildly around the yard, but Wang Cuihua did not stop.
However, this commotion finally distracted Xie Zhibao, who had been rolling on the ground wailing. He sat up instead, clapping his hands excitedly as he watched his grandmother beat his third sister.
“Hit her… Grandma, hit her hard! Beat this worthless girl to death!”
Xie Daidi endured the bruises blossoming across her body, her heart filled with confusion. Why did her little brother want Grandma to beat her?
Hadn’t she been good enough to him?
Wang Cuihua only stopped when the stick broke in her hand, her anger somewhat appeased. She then took the beaming Xie Zhibao by the hand and went inside, leaving Xie Daidi lying in the yard, covered in wounds, silently weeping.
Xie Zhong paid no attention to the drama unfolding in the neighboring yard.
His grandfather, Xie Changfu, had once been the steward of a wealthy household. He and Wang Cuihua’s husband, Xie Changlu, were full-blooded brothers.
Later, when the wealthy family scattered and fled, Xie Changfu could only bring Xie Zhong back to Chengjiawan Village, relying on the fact that his brother Xie Changlu was here.
Xie Changfu had originally planned well, thinking that with family nearby, he and his grandson could support each other.
After all, with just the two of them in the village, they were somewhat vulnerable.
Unfortunately, Xie Changfu never anticipated that the one who would stab him in the back was precisely this so-called brother.
Because Xie Changfu had brought back some money from his employer, he was able to build a house of green bricks and tiles in Chengjiawan Village.
This aroused Xie Changlu’s envy.
He directly denounced Xie Zhong and his grandfather as wealthy elements. From then on, the tiled house was seized and occupied by Wang Cuihua’s entire family.
Only two side rooms in the corner were left for the grandfather and grandson—a concession grudgingly made by Xie Changlu to save face and silence the villagers.
Perhaps due to the ugliness of human nature, when Xie Zhong was ten years old, Xie Changlu died in an accident in the mountains.
After Xie Changlu’s death, Xie Changfu, who had seemed to be holding on with sheer willpower, fell ill as well.
He didn’t last two years before he too passed away.
Thus, from the age of twelve, Xie Zhong became truly alone.
The villagers had once considered having Xie Zhong live with Wang Cuihua’s family.
However, after Xie Changfu’s death, Wang Cuihua had thoroughly searched the two side rooms inside and out and hadn’t found a single cent.
Naturally, she refused to take Xie Zhong in, putting up a fierce tantrum to reject the idea.
So, in the end, Xie Zhong was left to live alone in the side rooms, fending for himself.
Branch Secretary Liu felt sorry for him and would secretly have his wife give Xie Zhong some food from time to time.
Although Branch Secretary Liu had his wife secretly provide him with food, a growing boy eats his parents out of house and home.
Therefore, Xie Zhong secretly went up the mountain to find wild fruits and hunt game, stuffing himself with anything that could fill his stomach.
Day by day, he endured. Now, at eighteen, Xie Zhong was no longer the small, skinny child he had once been.
Moreover, when Xie Zhong turned sixteen, he had asked Branch Secretary Liu to help him build a wall separating his two side rooms from the house occupied by Wang Cuihua’s family, opening his own gate for easy access in and out.
Because of this, Wang Cuihua often stood on the other side of the wall, slapping her hands and stomping her feet, hurling curses at Xie Zhong and his deceased grandfather.
Xie Zhong never argued back when he heard her. Instead, when night fell, he would secretly climb over the wall, slaughter all the egg-laying hens Wang Cuihua kept, and splash the chicken blood in front of the doors of Wang Cuihua and her sons.
Then he would go up the mountain, roast all the hens, and eat them.
Because of this, Wang Cuihua had no energy left to curse Xie Zhong; instead, she cursed the thief who had stolen her hens.
But she only dared to curse silently in her heart.
The fact that the culprit not only stole the chickens but also splattered blood before their doors left Wang Cuihua and her family feeling deeply uneasy and frightened.
At the slightest sign of trouble, they would huddle trembling under their blankets, terrified they had offended some ruthless character who would come to exact revenge on the whole family.
This time, Xie Zhong’s thoughts were entirely occupied by Tian Baozhu.
Thinking about how she had acted as if she didn’t recognize him when they met again today, Xie Zhong felt a peculiar tugging sensation in his heart, as if pulled by ropes.
Recalling the events of the day before yesterday, his face suddenly flushed red, and he clenched his back teeth.
That woman—she had definitely done it on purpose.
Before heading to town, Tian Baozhu had been in quite a good mood.
She walked for nearly two hours, feeling like the soles of her feet might catch fire, before finally making it to the town.
But all she saw were a few rows of low houses; there wasn’t a single two-story building.
The entire town consisted of just one street. From one end to the other, the post office, the supply and marketing cooperative, and the state-run restaurant were all lined up along this street.
At one end of the street was a primary school, where children from several nearby brigades studied.
At the southern side of the other end was the commune’s brick and tile factory.
It was just a dozen small thatched sheds and four or five earthen kilns. The bricks were made manually, requiring intense labor and yielding low output.
There weren’t many workers, mostly temporary, yet it was still a highly sought-after job among the brigades.
The bricks and tiles needed for construction in several brigades were mostly taken from here.
On the northern side of the street end was the commune’s agricultural machinery institute.
Though called an institute, it housed only one tractor, which the leaders cherished dearly.
Tian Baozhu walked from one end of the street to the other but couldn’t find anyone to buy the goods from her space.
Thinking about the promises she had made to Branch Secretary Liu, she couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious.
However, even though the town was nearly a two-hour walk from Chengjiawan Village, Tian Baozhu was still worried about being recognized.
So she found a secluded spot and entered her space.
She went to her parents’ room, picked out a shirt and pants of her father’s, and put them on.
Then she applied some makeup, yellowing her face, darkening her eyebrows, and putting on a hat.
After much thought, she took about four catties of meat and ten catties of rice from the kitchen, placed them in a basket, and covered them with a new towel from the bathroom, leaving only a corner exposed.
When Tian Baozhu came out of the space, she hunched her back, carried the basket on her arm, and walked slowly toward the residential area.
Though called a residential area, it was actually just a small patch of land.
Before she even got close, she saw a middle-aged woman staring intently at her and her basket, her eyes full of scrutiny and suspicion.
Seeing this, Tian Baozhu felt very glad she had taken the time to disguise herself in the space.