Night crept in from the horizon, devouring the land bit by bit.
Chen Yaozu burst into Su Nian’s room again, carrying a bowl of brown sugar egg soup, his eyes glinting with excitement.
“Wife, look! I ran all over the village to borrow this brown sugar. Hurry and eat it while it’s hot.”
Su Nian glanced at him and unceremoniously took the bowl to eat. After finishing the soup, a warmth spread through her body, and she felt much stronger.
She pretended not to see the hopeful look on Chen Yaozu’s face.
“You should go back to your room and sleep. Remember to go to the supply and marketing cooperative tomorrow to buy brown sugar and return what you borrowed.”
Chen Yaozu was displeased. “Didn’t you say you’d let me stay with you and our daughter tonight if I got you brown sugar?”
Su Nian snorted. “I only said I’d consider it. I still need to see how you behave over the next few days.”
The bitch tricked me! She’s treating me like a dog!
Veins bulged on his forehead. Chen Yaozu clutched the bowl and sneered, “Fine, we’ll do it your way.”
He would let Su Nian be smug for another two hours.
Once the neighbors were all fast asleep, he would make Su Nian kneel and lick his feet, make her bark like a bitch!
The rural night was dead silent. To save kerosene, everyone extinguished their lamps and went to bed early.
While Chen Pozi and her son were making their preparations in their room, Su Nian opened the back door and let Aunt Niu in.
“Auntie, I’m a restless sleeper. I should probably sleep on the inner side of the kang.”
The one paying was the boss, so Aunt Niu naturally deferred to Su Nian in all matters.
Su Nian then placed a stick as thick as an arm by the side of the kang and said with a smile, “I’m a bit of a coward. If a stray cat howls at the window in the middle of the night, just use the stick to poke the window, and it’ll run off. Saves you the trouble of getting off the kang.”
Stray cats were common in the village.
Aunt Niu didn’t think much of it. She took off her coat, slipped under the covers, and prepared to sleep.
Once the kerosene lamp was extinguished, the room was plunged into darkness.
Su Nian, holding her daughter, curled up in the innermost corner of the kang and slept lightly in her clothes.
In the middle of the night, the faint sound of a door being pried open came from outside. After realizing the lock wouldn’t give, the sound moved to the window.
Su Nian woke with a start, her gaze fixed on the window.
The window latch was pried open from the crack with a small knife. A hand pushed the window open, and a dark figure climbed into the room.
Even though Su Nian had been forewarned by her daughter’s thoughts and was mentally prepared, seeing it with her own eyes still made her heart pound in her chest.
Her arms tightened around the swaddled baby.
Su Nian didn’t dare to imagine what kind of torment she would have endured tonight without her daughter’s precognitive thoughts!
Clatter!
The sound of something falling was exceptionally loud in the silent room.
Chen Yaozu froze in place. His gaze pierced the darkness and fell on the raised lump under the quilt on the kang, his eyes cold and sinister.
Everything was going exceptionally smoothly!
Tonight, he would vent all the resentment and hatred he had accumulated over the past year on Su Nian!
The thought of Su Nian’s delicate beauty and exquisite figure made Chen Yaozu’s mouth go dry. He began to strip off his clothes with a sense of urgency.
One piece of clothing after another was thrown to the ground.
After stripping himself completely naked, he eagerly lunged at the person on the kang.
Chen Yaozu remembered Chen Pozi’s words clearly.
He rushed forward to pin ‘Su Nian’ down, lowered his head, and bit down hard.
“You bitch, I’ll make you submit to me tonight!”
The person on the kang was plump, which felt a little off to him.
But his mind was clouded by emotion, and he didn’t stop his actions.
“AARGH!”
A pained shriek tore through the night sky.
The sharp, ear-piercing, hoarse voice sent a shiver down Chen Yaozu’s spine.
He stared blankly at ‘Su Nian’, his pupils constricting in shock.
That voice? Why does it sound so much like Aunt Niu from next door?!
Before he could get a closer look to confirm, his body was thrown over in the next second, and a torrent of fists rained down on him.
Aunt Niu lived up to her name, resembling a raging, mad bull. She hammered him wildly with one punch after another, cursing as she hit him.
“Damn it, where did this scumbag come from? You’re killing me!”
“Damn you, how dare you grope me in the dark! I’ll curse your ancestors for eight generations!”
“I’ll beat you to death, you shameless, rotten hooligan!”
“You goddamn piece of trash! Spitting your filth on me! I’ll pound it into dust!”
A mixture of foul curses and miserable screams filled the air.
Su Nian silently picked up the stick and joined the fray, aiming every blow at his vulnerable spots.
Under their combined assault, Chen Yaozu, curled up on the ground with his head in his hands, could only let out pained groans.
A cold glint flashed in Su Nian’s eyes. Holding the stick, she suggested, “Aunt Niu, this hooligan climbed through the window in the middle of the night. It’s clear this isn’t his first time! Let’s call people over and send him to the public security bureau!”
“Hmph, good point! Damn it, I’ve never been so humiliated in my life!”
Still furious, Aunt Niu kicked Chen Yaozu again.
She threw on her cotton-padded jacket, dragged Chen Yaozu into the courtyard, and yelled out over the courtyard gate, “Help, catch the hooligan! A hooligan climbed through a window to harm someone!”
The shouts shattered the night’s silence. The pitch-black village instantly lit up as storm lanterns rushed toward the Chen family courtyard. The villagers descended upon the pale figure on the ground with a flurry of punches and kicks.
“Catch the hooligan! Let’s take him to be shot! Get rid of this menace before he ruins the girls and wives of the village!”
“Damn hooligan, take him to the public security bureau and let him rot in jail!”
Chen Pozi, who had been dreaming of big gold bracelets under her quilt, was startled awake by the commotion in the courtyard. She rubbed her eyes.
Catching a hooligan? Where did a hooligan come from in our house?
“Ah! Mom! Help me!”
A familiar scream rang out in the courtyard. Only then did Chen Pozi realize that the hooligan they were talking about was her own Yaozu!
Could it be that Yaozu was too loud while sleeping with Su Nian and attracted the neighbors?
That damn Su Nian! How dare she accuse Yaozu of being a hooligan and let people beat him!
Chen Pozi slapped her thigh. Without even bothering to put on her shoes, she rushed into the courtyard to stop them. “Stop hitting him! Stop! It’s a misunderstanding! There’s no hooligan! Everybody stop!”
She pushed her way through the crowd, shouting. Seeing Chen Yaozu curled into a ball being kicked by Aunt Niu and the villagers, her heart ached terribly.
“Stop hitting him! He’s not a hooligan!”
Chen Pozi threw herself over Chen Yaozu, raising her hands to block the villagers’ kicks. “You’ve got the wrong person, he’s not a hooligan!”
At a time like this, she couldn’t care about face anymore.
Chen Pozi said with difficulty, “It’s Yaozu, my Yaozu, just joking around with his wife…”
“What? It’s Yaozu!”
The villagers exchanged glances, lowered their storm lanterns, and saw the face of the person on the ground. They gasped. “My god, it really is Chen Yaozu!”
“Of course it’s Yaozu! He was just fine with his wife, why are you all hitting him!” Chen Pozi pulled down her clothes to cover Chen Yaozu’s gleaming white buttocks, hating Aunt Niu, who had been kicking him viciously.
“Old hag Niu! My Yaozu was just playing around with his wife, what are you, an old bat, screaming about! If you’ve hurt my Yaozu, can you afford to compensate us!”
At the mention of this, Aunt Niu’s teeth itched with hatred. “Compensate my ass!”
At her age, to think she would be molested!
“Your son is a shameless bastard! I was sleeping soundly, and he rushed up and bit my chest!”
Aunt Niu pulled open her cotton-padded jacket, pointed at the red, swollen bite mark on her chest, and spat at Chen Yaozu. “A pervert born from a hag! Have you not seen a woman in eight lifetimes? You’d even molest an old woman like me!”
The trembling bite mark was obvious, clearly fresh.
The villagers looked from Aunt Niu to the naked Chen Yaozu on the ground and whispered among themselves.
“How did Chen Yaozu end up on Aunt Niu’s kang?”
“Does he have some kind of psychological problem? He likes older women?”
“You can’t tell, can you? He usually seems so honest. How could he end up molesting Aunt Niu in the middle of the night?”
Discussions broke out.
A smile touched the corners of Su Nian’s lips. Holding her daughter, she stood under the eaves and questioned Chen Pozi, “Grandmother, aren’t you and Chen Yaozu going to explain this to us?”
“Why was Chen Yaozu naked and on top of Aunt Niu? Why did he pry open my window and sneak into my room in the middle of the night? Could it be that Chen Yaozu is so beastly that he intended to rape and assault me, disregarding the fact that I just gave birth?”
Chen Pozi was speechless, feeling like her head was about to explode.
What on earth is going on?
Wasn’t Yaozu supposed to be teaching Su Nian a lesson? How did he end up molesting Aunt Niu!
Assaulting a woman in postpartum confinement—if word got out, Chen Yaozu’s reputation would be ruined.
Facing the pointing fingers around her, Chen Pozi held her breath for a long moment before forcing out an excuse.
“Yaozu has a sleepwalking disorder. He probably had an episode in the middle of the night and missed you, so he wanted to check on you. By the way, old hag Niu, you still haven’t said why you’re in my house!”
“Of course, it’s because your daughter-in-law is blessed with great fortune and happened to ask me to help with the baby!”
Aunt Niu sneered, tearing off Chen Pozi’s fig leaf and stomping on it.
“If I hadn’t been here, your daughter-in-law would have suffered tonight. Your Chen family really doesn’t do a single decent thing, do you?”
“Grandmother, the midwife warned us. She said I suffered during childbirth and can’t do any strenuous exercise or get tired, or I could hemorrhage and my life would be in danger! You all clearly heard her, so why would Chen Yaozu still climb into my room, disregarding my life? Are you trying to kill me!”
Su Nian lowered her eyes and said coldly in front of all the villagers, “I cherish my life. I don’t want to be molested in the middle of the night during my confinement month, and I don’t want to die. I can’t live like this anymore. I want to divorce Chen Yaozu!”
“Divorce? What divorce! I already told you, Yaozu has a sleepwalking disorder, he wasn’t conscious of his actions! Su Nian, what more do you have to fuss about!”
Chen Pozi got up and chased after Su Nian, trying to grab her and force her to explain on Chen Yaozu’s behalf.
“No matter how bad Yaozu is, he’s still your man, Su Nian! Hurry up and explain to everyone that tonight was just Yaozu playing around with you!”
The door slammed shut in her face. Chen Pozi balled her fists and pounded on the door.
“Su Nian! You come out here and explain things clearly! Tell everyone tonight was all a misunderstanding!”
But no matter how much she pounded, the door remained tightly shut.
Listening to the discussions behind her, a cold sweat broke out on Chen Pozi’s forehead.
If Su Nian stubbornly refused to explain to the villagers, after tonight, the news would spread, and her Yaozu’s reputation would be ruined!
Chen Pozi’s legs trembled. Remembering the other plan Chen Yaozu had mentioned that afternoon, she steeled herself, shut her eyes, and fell straight backward.
“Mom!”
“Oh my, Chen Pozi fainted!”
“Quick, help her up! She can’t lie on the ground, she’ll have a stroke!”
Cries of alarm rose from outside.
Su Nian leaned her back against the door panel, her gaze dark and profound.
Heh, so Chen Pozi is moving the plan forward, using a fake faint to get Chen Yaozu out of this mess?
So next, someone should step forward to condemn me, the wicked daughter-in-law, for abusing my mother-in-law, right?
Good thing my daughter gave me an early warning, or I would have been caught completely off guard!
Her fingertip gently poked a small dimple on her daughter’s rosy cheek. Su Nian murmured with a faint smile, “Baby, you really are Mommy’s little lucky star.”
“Let’s call you Fubao for a nickname. As for your formal name…” She pondered for a moment, her eyes gentle. “The older generation says a baby can’t handle too much ‘fu’ (fortune) in their name, so let’s name you Jingfu. Chen Jingfu.”
If it weren’t for the fact that giving her daughter the surname Su would affect the public opinion on her divorce, she wouldn’t want her daughter to have any connection to Chen Yaozu at all.
But fortunately, almost everyone in Shilianghe had the surname Chen, and her daughter’s biological father was also named Chen…
As Su Nian was lost in thought, the door was pounded on again.
“Comrade Su, open the door quickly! Your mother-in-law fainted from anger because of you! Hurry up, open the door and get some money to send her to the commune health clinic to save her life!”
“Comrade Su, your mother-in-law treats you better than her own daughter! You just said you wanted fish soup, and she went down to the frozen river in the middle of winter to catch fish for you. With such a good mother-in-law, how can you bear to watch her die and do nothing!”
“Chen Pozi has always been in good health. If she hadn’t been freezing while catching fish for you during the day, how could she have just fainted like that? Comrade Su, a person can’t be so heartless.”
The woman shouted as she pounded, every sentence siding with Chen Pozi.
Su Nian looked out through the window.
The woman was wearing a long gray coat. She was short, and her small, triangular eyes glinted shrewdly in the dim night.
Su Nian recognized this woman. Her name was Wang Chunhua, also a widow, who often associated with Chen Pozi. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they were two peas in a pod.
Chen Yaozu, wrapped in a cotton-padded jacket, stood beside Wang Chunhua, his face swollen as he pleaded, “Wife, I’m begging you. We can talk about tonight’s incident later. First, get the money to send Mom to the commune health clinic. I’ll change my clothes and be right there.”
As soon as Chen Yaozu ran off, Fubao’s thoughts sounded again.
【The big bad guy is hiding behind the window, trying to peek at Mommy.】
Su Nian glanced at the back window and indeed saw a small dark shadow by the window.
Her guess about Chen Yaozu’s intentions was right.
He pretended to leave, hoping to peek at where she hid the gold bars when her guard was down.
Su Nian sneered. This time, she would show Chen Yaozu and his mother what it meant to try to steal a chicken only to lose the rice used to lure it.
Outside, Wang Chunhua continued to urge, “Comrade Su, no conflict is more important than a human life! Just get the money first!”
Other villagers also chimed in, “It’s a matter of life and death, we can’t delay!”
【The bad grandmother wants to pretend to be unconscious and go to the town health clinic.】
【The big bad guy bribed a doctor to lie and say the bad grandmother’s treatment will cost lots and lots of money.】
Go to town?
Perfect. I also want to make a trip to town to find that person to be a witness to the hooliganism and send Chen Yaozu to prison!
But for now, I need to make Chen Pozi suffer a little!
In the winter of Shilianghe, water turned to ice in an instant, let alone at night.
Since Chen Pozi liked to act, she would play along with them for a while longer. It wasn’t her who was freezing, anyway.
Amidst Fubao’s soft, accusing cries, Su Nian silently pinched her own arm, opened the door with red eyes, and said, “My mother-in-law fainted from anger because Chen Yaozu acted like a hooligan. How can you blame me?”
“Still being stubborn at a time like this? Wang Chunhua can prove that you forced Chen Pozi to go into the river. The fish Chen Pozi caught are still right there.”
The brigade party secretary pointed to the wooden basin at Wang Chunhua’s feet and reprimanded with a stern face, “Comrade Su, we can’t have this kind of extravagant and corrupt behavior! Giving birth doesn’t give you special privileges. Forcing an old woman to brave the cold wind and break ice to catch fish just so you can eat meat and drink soup—if she had frozen to death in the snow, what would other villages say if this got out?”
His voice grew louder and louder. At the peak of his agitation, he banged his tobacco pipe. “They would laugh at me, the brigade party secretary, for being incompetent! For encouraging capitalist tendencies!”
“Comrade Su, you usually seem like a sharp person. How could you make a mistake on such a matter of principle! The morale of the production brigade has been completely corrupted by you educated youth!”
As soon as the brigade party secretary’s accusations ended, hushed murmurs rippled through the crowd. Ambiguous gazes, like thorns, eagerly focused on Su Nian.
“I told you this girl was no good. Chen Pozi used to be in perfect health. When did she ever faint after a little exertion? It’s all because this girl has been tormenting her and making her freeze.”
“If you ask me, the children of capitalists are rotten to the core. What students, what educated youth, they’re all black-hearted sinners. They should have been kept in the cowshed for re-education!”
【It’s not Mommy’s fault! It’s the big bad guy! Waaah, don’t scold Mommy…】
【Fubao is useless, I can’t protect Mommy…】
Hearing the jeers around them, Fubao grew anxious and burst into loud sobs. Her wails drowned out the murmurs, echoing in the courtyard.
“Fubao, be good, don’t cry. Of course Mommy won’t admit to something that isn’t her fault.”
Look at them, all people she had treated before.
Fortunately, she had never expected any kindness from them and had always kept things professional, so she didn’t feel too sad now.
Su Nian patted the crying Fubao, her gaze sweeping over the gossiping people in the crowd, her light brown eyes devoid of any warmth. “I’ll say it again, she fainted from anger because of Chen Yaozu. I didn’t ask her to catch fish. Her condition has nothing to do with me.”
“What do you mean it’s not your fault? Chen Pozi didn’t faint from anger, she fainted from the cold! In this freezing weather, if you hadn’t been greedy and forced her, why would Chen Pozi go onto the ice to catch fish? Why would her body be damaged by the cold?”
Wang Chunhua jumped out from behind the crowd. “There’s a limit to lying. In the dead of winter, you can freeze to death if you stay outside too long. Don’t tell me Chen Pozi was tired of living and came out here to seek her own death!”
“I don’t know if my mother-in-law is tired of living or not.”
Su Nian glanced at Chen Pozi, who was lying on the ground feigning unconsciousness, her tone sarcastic. “But I didn’t force her to catch fish. It has nothing to do with me. If you don’t believe me, you can ask her.”
Su Nian’s confident tone made Wang Chunhua and Chen Pozi’s eyelids twitch. They had a bad feeling that things were spiraling out of their control.
“Of course a bad person won’t admit they’re bad. Chen Pozi is unconscious, how can we ask her?”
Wang Chunhua’s heart pounded. She threw the problem to the brigade party secretary, hoping he would make a final decision and pin the blame on Su Nian. “Secretary, you be the judge.”
Before Liberation, the village secretary was the clan leader who managed village affairs. After Liberation, he was elected to the position of brigade party secretary and held considerable prestige among the brigade members.
In the minds of the villagers of Shilianghe Village, the brigade party secretary’s word was law.
Everyone’s eyes turned to the brigade party secretary, waiting for him to make a decision.
“She’s still unconscious, what’s the use of arguing back and forth? Let’s send her to the commune health clinic first. As for Comrade Su’s capitalist tendencies, we’ll decide how to punish her after Chen Pozi recovers.”
The brigade party secretary rolled up his tobacco pouch and made the final call. “Alright, we’ve been at this half the night, and it’s almost dawn. Everyone, disperse.”
“Handling it this way is unfair, Secretary.”
“Oh?” The brigade party secretary stopped and squinted at Su Nian. “Comrade Su has a different opinion?”
“Of course I do. Whether I forced Chen Pozi to catch fish or not, we’ll know if we just wake her up and ask!”
“Comrade Su, stop making trouble. Have some pity on your mother-in-law,” Wang Chunhua said, rejecting the idea hastily, afraid of a change in plans. “We’ve already tried pinching her philtrum and everything, it didn’t work. Hurry back inside and get the money so we can get her to the commune health clinic. Don’t let this drag on and cost a life.”
“What’s the rush?”
Su Nian handed Fubao to the Women’s Director standing beside her, walked up to the brigade party secretary, and looked directly into his cloudy eyes. “Has the Secretary forgotten that I studied medicine? I have plenty of ways to wake Chen Pozi up!”
“Fainting is no big deal. One needle prick will do the trick.”
The corners of her lips lifted. She pulled a long, thin embroidery needle from her sleeve and waved it. “I’ll go administer the needle to my mother-in-law right now. Not only will she wake up on the spot, but she’ll also be able to jump up high!”