Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Fueled by alcohol, Lame Liu got handsy and tried to grab Mom’s hand.

“Yufen, don’t run so fast. If you fall, it’ll hurt me more than it hurts you.”

Every eye around us turned to Mom.

One of the men asked when they would be drinking at Mom and Lame Liu’s wedding feast.

Grandma gnashed her teeth. “Shameless slut. No wonder you wanted a divorce. So you were hooking up with some wild man all along.”

Mom’s face flushed scarlet.

She snatched the cup full of Leibi from Auntie Zhao’s hand and flung it straight into Lame Liu’s face.

Countless tiny bubbles burst across his skin.

He stuck out his tongue and licked some off, grinning shamelessly. “Once you’re my woman, you can’t go splashing your own man like that.”

Mom’s eyes reddened. She rushed out of the wedding tent, grabbed the cook’s cleaver, and swung it at Lame Liu’s face.

“All day long, all you think about is what’s in your pants.”

“Why don’t you take a look in the mirror? Your belly’s like a basket, your teeth are like charcoal, you were born a squat little winter melon, and you even walk lopsided. I wouldn’t take a fancy to you even if I were blind.”

She brandished the cleaver so hard it whistled through the air. “You haven’t even touched one finger of mine. If you dare spread rumors again, I’ll chop that thing of yours to pieces and feed it to the dogs!”

Seeing the blade skim past his ear, Lame Liu was so scared he dove under the table.

Everyone rushed up to break up the fight.

Mom gripped the cleaver tightly and glared at the group of men who had been laughing at her earlier.

“Every last one of you dog men-I wouldn’t look twice at any of you. If you dare run your mouths again, I’ll chop off yours too and feed them to the dogs!”

I stared, dumbfounded.

Mom had a bad temper, but she cared about her pride.

Even when she found out Dad had cheated with a woman from the city and wanted a divorce, she had never gone this crazy.

After the cook snatched the cleaver away, she grabbed me by the ear.

“Let’s go. They’re bullying us to our faces now. We’re going home!”

“We’re not eating this meal!”

I was dragged away by force. All I had time to do was grab two pieces of braised pork that had just been served and stuff them desperately into my mouth.

They were so hot my tongue went numb, but I couldn’t bear to spit them out.

Mom was in a hurry to get divorced, and we hadn’t gotten much when the family property was divided.

There were already few vegetables to eat in winter. For days in a row, I had been eating rice mixed with the pickles my aunt had sent over.

On the way home, Mom scolded me the whole time.

“Were you a starving ghost in your last life?”

“You’ve got a mouth and all you know how to do is eat. When people talk about you, don’t you know how to talk back?”

When I stayed silent, she reached over and twisted my mouth.

It hurt so much I cried out, “Ah!”

The meat in my mouth fell with a plop into the mud.

My tongue was numb, but I still hadn’t gotten to eat the meat.

In that moment, grievance surged through me like a tide.

I burst into loud sobs.

Mom raised her hand to slap me. “Cry, cry, cry. You still have the nerve to cry? If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have to stay here at all.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for a long time, but the slap never landed on my face.

Trembling with fear, I opened my eyes a crack and saw Mom’s hand still raised, tears already spilling from the corners of her eyes.

The moment she met my gaze, she immediately turned her head away.

She wiped her tears dry, then smoothed down her messy hair with her hands and tied it up again.

Only then did she speak calmly. “Life will only get harder from now on. What use is crying? Save your strength.”

That night, Fifth Grandma and Third Aunt-in-law came over.

They had come to apologize on behalf of Third Uncle for offending Mom, and they brought two bowls of leftovers while they were at it.

One bowl of braised pork, and one bowl of shredded bamboo shoots.

Back then, the leftovers from countryside banquets were all good food. A substantial dish like braised pork was something the host family would usually keep to eat slowly themselves, reluctant to give any away.

There were seventeen pieces of braised pork in that bowl. Mom cooked them with preserved mustard greens.

She said she didn’t like fatty meat, and only ate two pieces in total.

For the rest, she heated one piece for me at every meal. I ate them for five days.

In the end, there were only a few scraps of preserved mustard greens left. Mom filled a bowl with rice, poured hot water over it, and made do with that for a meal.

After the birthday banquet, Mom’s personality changed completely.

At the slightest disagreement, she would get into huge arguments with the men in the village.

Many people gossiped in private, “Yufen’s temper is worse than an ox’s after her divorce. How is she supposed to marry again like that?”

Soon it was the twelfth lunar month, and every household began making cured fish and cured meat.

We were poor, so Mom only bought five pounds of pork and one silver carp to cure.

When she hung them out to dry, Grandma started making sarcastic remarks again.

“So stubborn about getting a divorce, and now you can’t even afford meat for the New Year.”

“Now you know, don’t you? Other than my Qingshan, no man would be willing to spend money on you.”

The moment she finished speaking, tall, burly Uncle Dazhuang from the neighboring village strode over.

“There is.”

His dark face was bright red as he handed Mom two slabs of already-smoked cured pork.

“Yufen, this is for you.”

The matchmaker hurried after him, panting, her face piled with smiles. “Yufen is young and pretty. You have no idea how sought-after she is. The moment this meat finished smoking, Dazhuang dragged me straight here. He didn’t even check for an auspicious date.”

Uncle Dazhuang’s face turned even redder.

He was tall, good-natured, and a skilled worker. His family had a two-story house.

After his wife died in an accident last year, people had been lining up to introduce him to women.

In the countryside, he was considered a highly desirable man.

Grandma’s face turned green. She gnashed her teeth. “You want a vicious shrew like her too?”

Uncle Dazhuang smiled honestly. “It’s good to be a little fierce. That way she won’t be easy to bully.”

Grandma was about to say more, but Mom spoke in a measured tone. “Granny Wang, we have proper business to discuss. Isn’t it inappropriate for you to stay here?”

Grandma was so angry she nearly choked, but she left unwillingly.

They discussed matters in the main room, while Mom told me to stay in the east side room.

I pressed my ear to the door panel and heard Uncle Dazhuang say,

“I’ll give three thousand yuan as betrothal money. From now on, you’ll have the final say at home, and I’ll hand over all the money I earn to you. It would be best if we could have another child together. A boy or a girl is fine.”

“I only have one request. You can’t bring your daughter with you. I already have a son and a daughter, and in the future we’ll have one or two more. I really can’t afford to raise that many.”