Xu Dahai abruptly stood up and asked, “What happened?”
“Th… that, Uncle Dagen is going to bury his daughter alive.” The man who had come to report the news replied between heavy breaths.
“What on earth is going on? I’ll go take a look.” Xu Dahai strode out.
“Mother, let’s go have a look too.” Carrying Xindang in her arms, Aunt Xu tugged at Fang Yuan’s eldest aunt’s sleeve, signaling for her to come along.
“What’s gotten into Dagen? Doesn’t he only have one daughter? That girl has always been quite sensible.” Grandma Xu frowned worriedly. She glanced at Grandpa Xu. “Why don’t you go try to persuade him?”
Grandpa Xu nodded, picked up his tobacco pipe, and headed over as well.
The moment Fang Yuan looked away, she realized Aili was no longer in the house. She searched around and saw that the little girl had already followed behind Eldest Aunt Xu and left the front courtyard.
After informing her grandmother, Fang Yuan hurried after them.
Li Dagen’s house was already surrounded by villagers. Some stood by with folded arms, watching the spectacle, some whispered among themselves, and others stepped forward to try to persuade him.
Aili was small, so she easily squeezed through the gaps in the crowd. Fang Yuan quickly followed, pushing her way through the people.
“Dagen, this is the New Society. If you beat your child to death, that’s a crime. You’ll be arrested and sent to prison.” Xu Dahai forcefully pulled Li Dagen away, snatched the thick wooden club from his hand, and sternly rebuked him.
“She did something so disgraceful and shameful. If I don’t beat her to death, the commune and the government will deal with her anyway.” Li Dagen’s face was dark with rage as he panted heavily. “I might as well dig a pit and bury her myself, so she won’t disgrace generations of our family.”
“Dagen, what exactly happened? Children don’t know any better. You teach them slowly. Why are you talking about killing her the moment this starts?” Grandpa Xu stepped forward and asked.
An elderly man beside him tugged at Grandpa Xu’s sleeve. “Brother, don’t interfere. This girl… this girl deserves a beating.”
Grandpa Xu looked at him questioningly.
“What a disgrace. Such a disgrace. She’s not even married, yet her belly’s already swollen.” The old man covered his face and let out a heavy sigh.
Grandpa Xu froze. He looked toward the girl, who was sitting on the ground in her mother’s arms. His lips parted slightly, but for a long moment, he couldn’t find the words to speak.
The villagers’ voices grew louder as they pointed at the girl and whispered among themselves. Li Dagen’s wife lowered her head even further, while Li Dagen’s daughter continued sobbing without stopping.
Fang Yuan finally caught Aili, who had been darting around everywhere. The little girl pointed at Li Dagen’s daughter and scraped her own cheek with her finger as she mocked, “Crybaby, shame on you.”
Fang Yuan quickly covered her mouth.
Aili struggled angrily. Fang Yuan lowered her head and whispered a warning into her ear. “If you’re not good, I won’t bring you sweet candy next time.”
Aili immediately stopped moving. She squatted down with a plop, then stood up again a moment later and stretched both arms toward Fang Yuan. “Carry me.”
Smiling, Fang Yuan picked her up. Aili wrapped her arms around Fang Yuan’s neck and nestled against her.
Fang Yuan’s heart softened. Holding her little sister, she stepped aside and looked at the girl sitting on the ground crying, unable to help feeling sympathy for her.
From the conversations around her, she learned that Li Dagen’s daughter was named Yinghua and was fifteen years old this year. She was extremely thin. Her yellowish hair, a sign of malnutrition, had been tied into two sparse short braids. Beneath her patched clothes, the slight bulge of her abdomen was visible.
Getting pregnant before marriage was certainly no small matter, but it should not cost someone their life. Hopefully, they could find the man responsible and make him take responsibility, reducing the matter to something more manageable, Fang Yuan thought.
Xu Dahai pulled Li Dagen aside and said, “Go ask Yinghua who the man is. Find him, and I’ll help you demand an explanation.”
“That dead girl is stubborn. I’ve beaten her for half the day, and she still won’t say.” Li Dagen stamped his foot in frustration. If he knew which bastard had ruined his daughter, he would be the first to chop him to pieces.
“Husband, maybe Yinghua is sick. Maybe it’s a tumor in her belly. She’s with me all day long. She really hasn’t been running around fooling around outside. Don’t you know your own daughter?” Li Dagen’s wife looked up at her husband and shouted.
“And you still have the nerve to say that? Do you think everyone else is blind? A tumor? Today I’ll beat you to death along with her.” Li Dagen raised his hand and charged toward them.
Xu Dahai stepped forward and kicked him.
“The truth hasn’t even been figured out yet, and you’re already making such a scene. Are you deliberately pushing your own daughter toward death?”
“How am I the one making a scene? I didn’t even know her belly had gotten so big. She stayed inside the house all day. I was busy from morning till night, how could I keep an eye on her? It was Old Lin’s wife next door who noticed it and spread it until the whole production brigade knew. I only heard about it from other people. When I came home and looked, her belly really was huge. She’s completely disgraced me.” Li Dagen pounded his chest, his face ashen with anger.
“Everyone, disperse. Disperse. Before we know what’s really going on, stop spreading rumors. We’re all from the same production brigade. Don’t ruin this girl’s reputation.” Xu Dahai waved at the crowd, trying to send the onlookers away first.
“Isn’t this obvious enough? An unmarried girl walking around with a big belly, who can’t tell what’s going on? As the brigade captain, you should straighten out the morals of our Qingwan Production Brigade. This should be reported to the commune for handling. You can’t just cover it up yourselves.” Old Lin’s wife folded her arms across her chest and curled her lips disdainfully.
“Li Dagen, you’d better find out who your daughter’s adulterer is. If you’re burying someone alive, bury both of them together.” Someone in the crowd shouted.
“Mao Laizi, stop stirring up trouble and get the hell out of here.” Xu Dahai pointed angrily into the crowd and cursed.
“The truth has to be found out.” Several of the village elders all wore grim expressions, and they all shared the same opinion.
“Don’t spread rumors. I’ll take Yinghua to the hospital tomorrow. She definitely has a tumor in her belly.” Li Dagen’s wife cried.
“Who knows where you’re planning to secretly get rid of the child? Then you’ll come back and say she had a tumor removed. That tumor really ought to be examined carefully.” Once again, it was Old Lin’s wife. The two families had had minor grudges before, and now that she had the opportunity, she was determined to kick them while they were down.
“You woman from the Lin family, you’re deliberately trying to ruin us. I’ll tear your gossiping mouth apart.” Li Dagen’s wife jumped to her feet and charged toward Old Lin’s wife.
She was stopped halfway, and the two women never managed to get into a fight.
Seeing Yinghua sitting on the ground crying by herself, Li Dagen walked over, grabbed her, and dragged her toward the door.
Yinghua was dragged over a meter, her trousers becoming covered in dirt.
“Dad, please spare me. Please spare me.” She could only continue crying and begging. Her small body trembled even more violently.
“Li Dagen, don’t do anything reckless.” Xu Dahai blocked his way.
In Fang Yuan’s arms, Aili had been happily watching the excitement only moments ago, but now she had become frightened. She clung even tighter to Fang Yuan with her little arms.
Fang Yuan gently comforted her. “Aili, don’t be afraid. It’s okay.”
After hearing what Yinghua’s mother had said and observing Yinghua more carefully, Fang Yuan could not be completely certain. Seeing Yinghua being dragged away, she finally could not hold back any longer and stepped forward.
“Uncle Dagen, I’m the Xu family’s second granddaughter, and I’m also a doctor at Yuyang County Hospital. Let me examine Yinghua first.”
Li Dagen hesitated. He looked at Fang Yuan, then at Xu Dahai.
“Ah Yuan is a doctor. Why don’t we let her examine Yinghua first?” Xu Dahai said after a brief hesitation. Deep down, he also believed Yinghua was pregnant, and he feared that confirming it would only make the situation even harder to resolve. But since Fang Yuan had stepped forward, he had no reason to stop her.
“I want to go home. I want to go home.” In Fang Yuan’s arms, Aili looked at Li Dagen’s bloodshot eyes not far away and became frightened.
“Guimei, come over to Auntie.” Fang Yuan’s eldest aunt stepped forward at that moment and took Aili into her arms.
Fang Yuan gently patted Aili before walking over to Yinghua. She helped her to her feet and said to Yinghua’s mother, who was still being held back by others, “Auntie, let’s take Yinghua inside first and help her clean up.”
Yinghua’s mother immediately broke free from the people restraining her and ran over with her hair in disarray. “Doctor Xu, you must examine our Yinghua carefully. Please don’t make a mistake.”
She thought Fang Yuan’s surname was Xu.
Fang Yuan and Yinghua’s mother helped Yinghua into the house. Outside, Xu Dahai was keeping the crowd under control. Li Dagen squatted in a corner, clutching his hair. Worry, hope, fear, every emotion was tangled together.
Old Lin’s wife kept hopping around, trying to sneak inside for a look. From time to time, she muttered to the people beside her, “They’re just covering things up themselves. Who knows what’s really going on?”
The village elders pointed at two older women and told them to go inside as well to observe the situation. They could not allow Li Dagen’s family to fool everyone on their own.
Fang Yuan helped Yinghua sit down on the bed. She asked Yinghua’s mother to fetch a basin of water so she could wash up, then pulled over a stool and sat down beside the bed.
“Yinghua, how old are you this year?” Fang Yuan softened her voice and asked gently.
“F… fifteen.” Yinghua’s voice was barely louder than a mosquito’s buzz.
“Don’t be afraid. Stretch out your hand first, and let me check your pulse.”
She placed three fingers on Yinghua’s wrist. After a while, she asked Yinghua to switch hands, then checked her pulse again for some time.
The expression on her face gradually relaxed.
“She’s pregnant, isn’t she? How many months?” one of the women who had followed them inside asked curiously.
“I… is it… a tumor?” Yinghua’s mother came in carrying a basin of water and asked in a trembling voice.
Fang Yuan did not answer. She took the basin from Yinghua’s mother, soaked the towel, and gently wiped Yinghua’s face.
Yinghua’s eyes followed Fang Yuan’s movements. She looked at her with hopeful anticipation, praying to hear some news from Fang Yuan that might give her a chance to live.
She was fifteen by traditional Chinese age reckoning. She was quiet and timid. She had only two older brothers, and she rarely went out or interacted with other people. She could not understand why her belly had suddenly grown larger. Could it have been the last time she went to the township with her brother to watch a movie? The crowd had been packed, she had almost fallen, and a young man had reached out and caught her.
Ever since she was little, her family had taught her that she must never let a man touch her, or she would become pregnant. Could it have been that single touch, when he caught her by the hand, that had made her belly grow?
Her father kept beating her and demanding to know who the man was, but she truly had no idea who that young man had been.
Her mother said she had a tumor. Right now, she also hoped it was only a tumor. A tumor could be cut out. If she was really carrying a child, she would have no way to survive.
“Yinghua, lie flat first. Let me examine you.” Fang Yuan instructed Yinghua to lie down.
With a trembling heart, Yinghua lay flat on the bed as Fang Yuan lifted her shirt and pressed on her abdomen. When Fang Yuan pressed one particular spot, Yinghua suddenly cried out in pain.
Fang Yuan was already certain in her mind, but she still needed to confirm one more detail with Yinghua’s mother.