Chapter 4
I watched Mother in silence.
She was terribly torn. Far more so, apparently, than Little Four, lying in bed after being raped.
“Ah Ci, why must you be so unreasonable? Must you throw the whole household into turmoil?”
Her answer did not surprise me at all.
I only grieved for Little Four.
“Little Four has been sensible since she was small. Whatever remedy you brought home, whether filth, blood or ashes, whether snakes, insects, rats or scorpions—if you told her to put it on her skin, she did. If you told her to swallow it, she did. She never once complained.”
“What other girl her age isn’t innocent and carefree? Yet she has to waste away before an oil lamp and a statue of Buddha, living days as stagnant as dead water. You told her not to tell me, so she never said a word. She only said she waited for me to come home every day.”
“I thought she missed me. Only now do I understand: when I came home, she was allowed two or three days of freedom.”
“You wouldn’t stand up for her. You obeyed your mother-in-law in everything. You sacrificed Little Four for a peaceful household and a reputation for virtue. What a remarkable mother you are.”
Mother covered her face and wept. “What else could I do? Little Four belongs to the He family now. What choice has she besides marrying Zhili? Would you have her spend her whole life in a prayer hall?”
“Isn’t that where she is already?” I snapped. “You didn’t pity her before. Spare us the pretense now.”
She was my sister. I would protect her myself.
I turned a murderous look on He Zhili.
He swallowed and backed away, bluffing loudly. “She offered herself to me! You… I… I didn’t force her! Wherever you take this, that’s what I’ll say!”
I smiled. “Article Three Hundred and Twenty-Eight: the rape of a girl of twelve is punishable by immediate beheading. He Zhili, there’s another sentence after that. Consent is treated the same as force.”
Even if she had agreed, it was still rape.
He Zhili, who had only just managed to stand, collapsed onto the floor again.
“Grandmother, save me…” He crawled to her feet.
She gathered him into her arms and soothed him.
When she turned to me, her harshness had vanished at last.
“Yanci, you’re angry. You’re not thinking clearly. Think carefully. We’re all one family. Break the bones and the sinews still bind us. Why hurt your own side almost as badly as your enemy?”
“If this gets out, the Jiang family will lose face, and your unmarried sisters may never find husbands. Little Four will suffer most. How could she ever face anyone again? She may hang herself with a strip of white silk.”
I smiled. “You’ve misunderstood, Grandmother. A He son knowingly broke the law and behaved worse than an animal. The shame belongs to the family that raised such a monster. What has it to do with the daughters of the Jiang family?”
“As for Little Four, she signed the complaint and put her fingerprint on it. She has no intention of killing herself. You’re worried she’ll be ashamed to face people? Have you forgotten that you’ve never allowed her out of the house?”
Eleven-year-old Jiang Yanjin had never seen so much as a flower or a blade of grass outside.
But she had seen the ugliest things a human heart could hold.