Chapter 2

Chapter 2

With her back to him, Mom made the bed and replied flatly, “Don’t trouble yourself. I’m fine staying here.”

Back then, I was a little annoyed that Mom had refused.

Only when I got older did I understand.

My uncle wasn’t the one who made decisions in his household. His offer was no different from people saying, “I’ll treat you to a meal sometime.”

Just polite words. You couldn’t take them seriously.

After the divorce, Dad couldn’t wait to go into the city and be with that woman. As for us, it took more than ten days to get the old family house cleaned up.

My uncle found some discarded bricks and temporarily patched up the collapsed west wing.

All the straw on the roof was replaced. When the warm afternoon sun shone on it, it gave off the unique fragrance of grain.

Once all that was done, my uncle refused even to stay for a meal. He rode off on his clattering bicycle.

Grandma stood at the village entrance cracking sunflower seeds, her voice as loud as a gong. “Where else under heaven could you find a man as good as our Qingshan?”

“She couldn’t even give birth to a son, and he still gave her a house to live in.”

“Just look at her brothers from her maiden family. They don’t welcome her back at all.”

Auntie Zhao couldn’t stand listening anymore. “If Qingshan were really so good, would he be out fooling around every day? I think Yufen is a proper woman. Besides, Beibei is a daughter of the Wang Family. Isn’t it only right to give her a place to live?”

Grandma rolled her eyes. “That’s because our Qingshan is capable enough to marry a city wife. With Yufen’s unlucky face, even if she wanted to get up to something, no one would want her!”

This time, Grandma guessed wrong.

That very night, a little after nine, the village’s old bachelor, Lame Liu, knocked on our door.

He shoved a fifty-yuan bill through the crack and lowered his voice. “Yufen, take this money and buy yourself a new outfit.”

“Qingshan doesn’t know how to cherish a woman, but I do.”

“It must be cold sleeping alone in the dead of winter, right? Open the door for me, and I’ll warm your bed for you.”

Mom didn’t say a word, so he kept calling out, his voice growing louder and louder.

Mom got out of bed, found a carrying pole, and braced it against the door. In a low voice, she scolded, “Get lost. I’m not that kind of person.”

For several days in a row, Lame Liu came to pester her.

Mom had clearly rejected him in the strongest terms, but many people in the village began looking at her with suggestive eyes.

That was just how people thought back then.

You were clearly the victim, yet everyone insisted flies didn’t land on eggs without cracks.

That day was Fifth Grandpa’s sixtieth birthday banquet.

Mom was invited to serve tea, and I followed along to eat at the feast.

We were poor then, and all the children looked forward to banquets as a chance to get some better food.

As soon as sunflower seeds and peanuts were brought to the table, we all swarmed forward to grab them.

I was small and weak.

In the end, I only managed to snatch a tiny handful of peanuts.

Just as I was feeling wronged, Lame Liu carried over more than half a plate of peanuts from his table and set it in front of me. “Here. They’re all for you.”

The atmosphere changed at once.

A woman who loved stirring up trouble teased me, “Beibei, looks like Lame Liu is already treating you like his daughter.”

I shoved the plate of peanuts away. “Who wants to be your daughter? I have a dad, and my mom doesn’t like you either.”

Lame Liu chuckled. “What does a little brat like you know? I go see your mom every night.”

Several men at his table laughed, including Third Uncle from the family hosting the celebration.

“Lame Liu, you move fast, don’t you?”

“Didn’t know you had it in you!”

“A woman fresh from divorce is still warm. Aren’t you afraid your bones will go soft going over there every night?”

“Beibei, call Lame Liu ‘Dad’ and make him give you ten yuan in pocket money.”

…

People in the village loved turning that kind of thing between men and women into jokes.

My eyes reddened with anger. Other than repeating again and again that my mom would never like him, I didn’t know what else to say.

Just then, Mom, who had been helping the host family serve tea, came out from the inner room.

When she saw what was happening, she ran toward me, but she was in such a hurry that she twisted her ankle.

The men laughed even more recklessly, hollering at the top of their lungs.

“Lame Liu, why aren’t you helping your woman up?”