In the evening, the sun gradually sets, and the villagers who have left work in Liutou Village also come back intermittently.
There is a well under the big banyan tree at the entrance of the village. Everyone comes to the well to fetch water or wash clothes. When everyone gets together, the way to relieve boredom is to discuss the problems of the East and the West.
However, the topic of recent discussion has become the matter of the Feng family’s adopted son-in-law going to college:
"Hey, is there anything going on with the Feng family? Are you still arguing?"
"It must be noisy. Who is staying in this ravine when you can go out to study in college?"
"Hey, the daughter of the Feng family is still pregnant. If the educated youth goes to college and doesn't come back, what's the difference between her and a widow?"
"Stop talking, stop talking, Cuixiang is here."
…
A few people were chatting animatedly when Mother Feng came over from the slope carrying two iron buckets. She looked at the people at the wellhead and said forcefully, "Are you cooking?"
"No, I'm planning on going back to do it." Aunt Xu responded with a smile.
Mother Feng nodded and continued to fetch water, looking a little dazed.
Several people looked at her and then looked at each other. Aunt Zhang couldn't resist the gossip. When Feng's mother was about to leave, she asked worriedly, "Cuixiang, if Ji Huai goes to college now, what will your Qiaolan do?"
Before she finished speaking, Feng's mother's face changed, she forced out a stiff smile, and said cowardly, "I don't know about this yet."
"Tell me, she's already married and pregnant. Why is he bothering? If he wants to live a good life, which university should he go to? He said he wanted to leave." Aunt Zhang gave her some advice, leaned closer and lowered her voice and said, "I heard that university If his admission notice is gone, he can’t go, and he definitely can’t be allowed to go.”
"Yes, if he goes, can he come back? Then he will study, be assigned a job, turn around and marry someone else."
"Isn't that right? You and Feng Dafeng have to take good care of him. Not to mention the man, the educated youth daughter-in-law of Xu Dong's family left her child and ran away."
"Why are you marrying an educated youth? Those in the Educated Youth Academy are not good people!"
…
Aunt Zhang and several other women were busy discussing how to get her out. Her words seemed to be filled with regret and worry, but in fact there was also a lot of gloating hidden in her words.
Mother Feng was weak-tempered, with embarrassment on her face. The more she listened, the more panicked she became. She hurriedly picked up a half-filled bucket of water and hurried home.
After she left, Aunt Zhang also picked up the water, sighed and said slowly, "How much did my family Dahai like Qiaolan back then? She looked down on Dahai and wanted to marry Ji Huai because she wanted him to be literate and literate. It's better now, but I'm not willing to live a good life with her."
The women behind also laughed and walked home with different thoughts.
Apart from other things, Feng Qiaolan is the village beauty. She is pretty and pure, and is a good match for Ji Huai's appearance. Ji Dahai seems to be just as tall as Feng Qiaolan, short and fat, with fat head and big ears. Standing together is not harmonious. I can't say that I have a good temper, but I have a lot of tricks and ideas. The only good thing about me is that I am active in work.
However, his father Jizhuang is the captain of the production team, and his family is in good condition.
It's getting dark.
The dim yellow lights lit up in Feng's house. Feng's mother arranged the food and put the cooked rice on the table, "It's time to eat, Xiaolan, come out to eat."
After a while, Feng Qiaolan walked out from another room holding on to the wall. Her mental state had not been good these days. She had become thinner. She was carrying an eight-month-old belly, and her eye sockets were somewhat sunken. In addition to not sleeping well, her eyes were dark. The eye circles are also serious.
Feng Dafeng came back from the fields, stood in the yard, scooped water to wash off the mud on his feet, washed his hands and came over, ready to serve the meal.
"Mom has boiled brown sugar eggs for you. Eat more. I see how thin you are. If you don't eat, the child will have to eat too." Feng's mother looked at her daughter with distress in her eyes and put the boiled brown sugar eggs in front of her. .
"Mom, isn't Ji Huai back yet?" Feng Qiaolan couldn't help but ask.
"Eat your food!" Feng Dafeng raised his voice and said, "Do you want the whole family to wait for him to eat? Do you want to treat him in a sedan chair?"
He originally disliked that boy, he was weak and chirping, he had the aloofness and arrogance of a scholar, he couldn't do the work, and he still had to be well fed and served, so he just turned a blind eye because of the fact that he was the bride-in-law. Close one eye.
The results of it
This kid studied secretly behind their backs, took the college entrance examination, passed it, and went to college. What did they do to their house? They are already married, and a child is about to be born. What does he think of his daughter? Abandoning wife and children
Feng Qiaolan lowered her eyes and stopped talking. She tightened her hand on the spoon and said no more.
"What are you doing standing here? Eating." Feng Dafeng looked at Feng's mother again and said.
The atmosphere at the dinner table was solemn and depressing, and there were sounds from outside the door. Ji Huai was seen walking in carrying a hoe, a bundle of firewood tied to the end, and a straw hat on his head.
"Xiao Huai is back? Wash your hands and eat quickly. We just finished eating." Mother Feng stood up again and said to Ji Huai with enthusiasm.
In the past few days, there has been a lot of trouble at home because the other party is going to college. Of course she doesn't want Ji Huai to leave. Feng Qiaolan is about to give birth. How can she not have her husband by her side
Just like Aunt Zhang said, if she doesn't come back, won't her daughter's life be ruined? She was afraid that Ji Huai would leave, so she almost tried to please him these days.
"Mom, you eat first, don't worry about me, I'll be right back." Ji Huai didn't show anything unusual, and carried the firewood to the kitchen, took out the hoe and put it in the corner.
"Hey." Mother Feng agreed, sitting down uncomfortably, looking at Feng Dafeng who was eating heavily with a sullen face, her eyes kept flickering, and she was extremely uneasy.
By the time Ji Huai was served, Feng Dafeng had already finished eating and walked back into the house without looking back. Mother Feng put the eggs in front of Ji Huai and said softly, "Eat more eggs, not much salt. Tell mom if they are salty." .”
How can rural people eat eggs every day? Their family has made good arrangements and eats eggs every now and then. However, since Feng Qiaolan became pregnant, the eggs at home have basically been used to replenish her health. The eggs they eat are just one egg with a few handfuls of wild vegetables and a lot of salt. Chop it finely because it is salty enough so that the three of them can eat it for a day or two.
Ji Huai was very dissatisfied with this. He was still talking about it during the quarrel yesterday, saying that he didn't want to live this kind of life for the rest of his life.
Feng Qiaolan looked at the golden-fried eggs with fragrant pork on them. Father Feng had just stopped taking off his chopsticks, and there was a complete fried egg on the plate.
She bit her lower lip, buried her head lower, and tried her best to suppress her emotions. The fingertips holding the spoon turned white.
"You can eat. I've been getting angry recently and want to eat more vegetables." Ji Huai said in a leisurely manner, unable to predict his mood. He picked up the bowl and ate, holding the vegetables in his mouth.
Mother Feng's expression was taciturn, and she wriggled her mouth several times, but in the end she said nothing and did not eat the fried egg.
Feng Qiaolan didn't speak or raise her head from beginning to end. When Feng's mother persuaded her to eat more, she nodded and put it into her mouth while resisting nausea.
After the meal, Feng's mother was tidying up in the kitchen and came out to see Feng Qiaolan boiling water. She hurriedly came over and said, "Mom, we'll boil the water later. Don't work blindly if you have a big belly. What should I do if I encounter someone who is working in the dark?"
"It's not a heavy job." Feng Qiaolan continued to add firewood.
Compared with girls of the same age who have had to do a lot of housework since childhood, she is living a better life. Feng's mother had been in poor health since giving birth to her and could not regenerate her. Although her family was not rich, they did not treat her badly.
"Where is Ji Huai?" Mother Feng asked again.
Feng Qiaolan: "I went to take a shower at the entrance of the village."
Men are not as troublesome as women. In the summer, they can just go to the well with a bucket, fetch two buckets of water, and flush it in the brick partition on the side.
Mother Feng sighed silently and sat down next to her.
"Mom." Feng Qiaolan suddenly called Mother Feng, her face expressionless, staring at the burning fire, muttering, "Is it difficult to raise children?"
Knowing that a son is like a mother, Feng's mother suddenly became at a loss. She was just a traditional and cowardly woman. She was also sick. And because she only gave birth to a daughter, people behind her back said that she was the cause of Feng Dafeng's demise. She quickly said: , "Of course it is difficult to raise a child. You cannot raise a child alone. There must be a man in the family, otherwise what will others think? Women are like golden vines, they have to live dependent on men, and children cannot live without a father!"
"What are you excited about? It scared me, so I didn't say anything." Feng Qiaolan tugged at the corner of her mouth and added more firewood.
Feng's mother was even more confused. After Feng Qiaolan returned to the house, she immediately went into another room. After thinking about it for a while, she said anxiously to Feng Dafeng, "I heard that if you tear up the admission notice, Ji Huai will not be able to go to college. I can't go to college either." I don’t want to harm him, but Qiaolan is about to give birth, what will happen if he leaves?”
As she spoke, the corners of her mouth trembled and her voice became choked.
She was looked down upon by the villagers, but now she is even more laughed at. Feng Dafeng was made miserable by her and her daughter. In fact, she didn't have the courage. She just wanted to seek medical treatment in a hurry.
"Just leave. Can you try your best to keep someone who wants to leave? If you keep him, he might become an enemy. What can he do? Do you still expect him to work in the fields to earn work points? I think it will be difficult to support yourself!" Feng Dafeng said coldly. He snorted with great disdain.
However, it could be seen from the ups and downs of his chest that he was also very angry.
It's one thing for Ji Huai not to earn work points, it's another thing to want to run away. Their family doesn't have a son to begin with, so Ji Huai will be considered half a son after he marries his wife. He can just live a down-to-earth life. If Ji Huai leaves, The whole family became a joke.
He has a strong self-esteem, and if he remains strong for a lifetime, he will never bow down.
"What should we do with our daughter..."
"I'm not dead yet, I'll take care of you!" Feng Dafeng interrupted her with a dark face and said angrily, "That kid is not a good guy either. He has a bad heart and a dog's heart. He has lived the same life as him!"
Mother Feng didn't dare to offend him anymore, so she could only swallow her grievance and anxiety, turned around and secretly wiped her tears.
The other end.
When Ji Huai entered the room, Feng Qiaolan was already sleeping on the bed. She was covered with a thin quilt, her belly was bulging, and she did not move even when she heard the sound.
Ever since he received the admission notice, she had gone from disbelief to persuasion, and then cried and questioned her, but he remained indifferent, and the two of them stopped arguing for the past two days.
Ji Huai looked around the house. The windows were covered with newspapers, and the wooden door still had the inscription "囍" from a year ago. The house was a tile-roofed house with wooden beds and wooden cabinets. It was Feng Qiaolan's boudoir, where many people from the countryside lived. Earth house, this is a pretty good house.
Feng Dafeng is a hard-working man, tall and strong. When he was young, he worked as a porter. He would go to places twenty or thirty kilometers away to pick things and sell them to small vendors or processing factories. He also worked as a bricklayer and built houses for others. Later, he worked as a bricklayer. Worked as a coolie in a brick kiln, earned some money, and gained some wealth.
Feng's mother was frail and sick, but Feng Dafeng was able to earn work points, and the family of three lived a good life. He was an educated youth who went to the countryside. Ji's mother took him to remarry in the early years and gave birth to a younger brother, Ji Hao. Ji Hao would definitely not come down to become an educated youth. Only he could do this kind of hard work.
After writing letters back to the city several times, Ji's mother persuaded him and stopped sending money invoices to him. She said that Ji Haocheng had given birth to a child, and the family's expenses were not enough, so there was nothing they could do.
After waiting for a few years, he was getting older and seeing no hope, so he had no choice but to marry a village girl, hoping to gain a foothold in the village.
He looked down on the others, but Feng Qiaolan could barely take a liking to him. After all, he looked pure and quiet, did little farm work, and had fair skin. He had a good family background and had read a little.
He lowered his profile to get close to her. Where was Feng Qiaolan? I have long had a crush on him. He is completely different from the men in the village. He looks like a scholar and speaks softly and slowly.
After going back and forth, the two of them got close. Feng Dafeng originally looked down on him, but Feng Qiaolan liked him and thought it would be okay to marry into his wife, so he agreed to their marriage.
He has an introverted temperament, and some scholars may be steady, but in fact he is arrogant and weak, greedy for life and afraid of death, lazy and selfish.
On the one hand, he knew that he had no choice but to marry a woman in the village to gain a foothold. Otherwise, it would be difficult for him to support himself with his little work. He also needed a woman to take care of his physical needs and give him children.
On the other hand, he felt that the mud-legged man was not worthy of him. He was different from those vulgar men, and he was unwilling to do so.
It’s typical to take advantage and still feel like you’re at a loss.
He and Feng Qiaolan have been married for a year. Although Feng Dafeng didn't approve of him at first, they are a family and they try their best to help. He doesn't dislike him because he always picks leisurely jobs and earns few work points. Feng's mother also takes care of him. I hope he treats his daughter better.
Ever since he married Feng Qiaolan, his life has become much easier. He is about to have a wife and children. Unexpectedly, the college entrance examination will suddenly resume. How can he bear it
Afraid that the Feng family would find out, they secretly reviewed and then participated secretly.
In the last life, no matter how much Feng's mother begged privately, he still left. Before leaving, he promised to come back. Feng's mother secretly gave him travel expenses with tears in her eyes. He said it was to give Feng Qiaolan and her children a better life. He must not He betrayed her and immediately cut off contact with her after he went to university.
It was like a past that he didn't want to recall, without any nostalgia.
But he didn't know that Feng Qiaolan suddenly fell and gave birth prematurely half a month after he left, killing one and two.