Chapter 4

“Qiu’er, why are you back again?”

When Yang Qiujin arrived at her mother’s home in Xinfeng Brigade, her mother, Wu Shulian, was preparing to go to work.

Wu Shulian looked 50% like Yang Qiujin. Both had big double eyelids and bright red lips, but Wu Shulian had fair skin and a small face. Although she was nearly 45, she looked like she was in her 30s and still had charm.

“Mom, I picked some bamboo shoots and brought them to you.” Yang Qiujin walked into the earthen house and handed the basket to Wu Shulian. She looked around and asked, “Is Dad being lazy again and not going to work?”

“He said he had a headache and won’t leave for work today.” Wu Shulian took the basket and, seeing the bamboo shoots and candied eggs, felt a little happy but also guilty. She glanced at Yang Qiujin, “Qiu’er, you’re married now, save the good things for your mother-in-law and Tianyou. Don’t always bring them to me; people will laugh at you.”

“Who dares to laugh at me? Have you forgotten when you fell off the mountain while working, broke your waist and legs, and almost died? My sister and I begged our aunt to send you to the best hospital in Shanghai. We took turns taking care of you until you recovered. Everything I gave you was to nourish your body. Who dares say anything bad about me?”

Yang Qiujin got angry seeing Wu Shulian holding a sickle. She grabbed it and stormed to the east room: “You’ve only been well for a few years, and you still have many issues with your body. You should stay home and rest. But you send a grown man with healthy hands and feet to work the fields to support you, while you, a sickly person, work. How many work points can you earn? Is it enough for both of you to eat? Don’t earn points and cause more health issues, then Qiuyue and I will pay for it!”

Wu Shulian quickly stopped her, seeing how upset she was. “Qiu’er, your father is really not feeling well. Don’t argue with him…”

But Yang Qiujin rushed into the east room, where her father, Yang Chenghua, was sleeping soundly, wrapped in a quilt. She angrily lifted the quilt, kicked him to the ground, and cursed, “Yang! What time is it? The sun’s already out! Why are you still lying in bed? You let Mom work again? You’ve been lazy for half your life. She raised you and you want her to take care of you forever? Can’t you see she’s in poor health and needs rest?”

Yang Chenghua, with his messy beard and hair, appeared 45 but still had fine features. He groggily opened his eyes, grimaced in pain, covered his backside, and stood up. “Who kicked me? Do you want to die?”

Yang Qiujin sneered, “I’m Gui’er, and you’re Gui’er’s father, Gui’er’s grandson!”

Yang Chenghua widened his eyes. Seeing his eldest daughter holding a sickle, he quickly shut his mouth, hid behind Wu Shulian, and asked in fear, “What are you doing here again?”

He was scared. Lazy and gluttonous since childhood, he never worked unless forced. He couldn’t even be bothered with fieldwork.

His laziness made it impossible for him to get married in an era where hard work was valued. But he was good-looking and charming, able to woo women. He eventually convinced Wu Shulian to marry him without a dowry, while she wore old clothes.

After marrying, Old Master Yang decided to divide the family property among his sons. With hard work, the couple could’ve supported themselves, but Yang Chenghua’s laziness and manipulation made Wu Shulian take care of everything.

Even so, no one thinks it’s a big deal since most women these days live like this.

However, Wu Shulian couldn’t give birth to a son. Over the years, she only had two daughters, Yang Qiujin and Yang Qiuyue. To Yang Chenghua, who preferred boys, Wu Shulian was just an old hen that didn’t lay eggs. He constantly looked down on her and wanted to kick her out.

But he also knew that if he really kicked Wu Shulian out, who would wash his clothes, cook for him, bring him footbath water, and wait on him? Who would work hard in the fields to earn work points^[1]are a form of labor-based currency. to support him? No matter how handsome a man is, if he doesn’t earn money to support his wife but is supported by her, it’s unacceptable.

He looked down on Wu Shulian and her daughters, but was reluctant to give up the series of benefits she brought him. He just dragged it on without understanding why, and his personality grew increasingly strange.

At first, he would beat and scold them, but later he became addicted to gambling. All the valuable things in the house were used for gambling.

He later started stealing and visiting brothels with uneducated people and eventually had an affair with a widow from the Pioneer Brigade. This made Wu Shulian so angry that she cried every day. Later, he teamed up with the widow and her daughter to drug Yang Qiujin and pushed her into the house of Chen Shengqing, whom the widow’s daughter Shi Fangfang refused to marry.

After Yang Qiujin woke up from the drugging, she learned that it was her biological father who had done it. Years of accumulated disappointment and resentment burst out. She picked up a kitchen knife and attacked Yang Chenghua like a madwoman.

Yang Chenghua was stabbed twice on the arm and was so scared he ran around shouting in the village that she was an unfilial daughter who wanted to kill him, which attracted many people to try to dissuade him.

In an era where filial piety was highly valued, Yang Qiujin’s actions were seen as treasonous. While everyone condemned her for being unfilial, they tried to pull her back.

Unfortunately, Yang Qiujin was so angry that she wanted to kill her scumbag father, and would chop anyone who tried to stop her.

Everyone was frightened by her crazed behavior, watching as she chased Yang Chenghua, and father and daughter began fighting in the street.

In the end, lazy and weak Yang Chenghua was no match for Yang Qiujin, who had developed strong physical strength from working in the fields. Yang Qiujin stabbed him several times in the back, face, hands, and feet.

Of course, the wounds were not serious—just scratches on the skin. It was not as serious as when Yang Qiujin pinned him to the ground, punched, and kicked him into a pig’s head.

From then on, Yang Qiujin became famous overnight, known as the young shrew in several villages and towns. After all, there were many shrews in that era, but few dared to beat and nearly kill their own fathers. Yang Qiujin was the first.

After the beating, Yang Chenghua still refused to accept defeat. Once he recovered, he put on airs again, trying to beat Yang Qiujin as he did when she was a child, forcing her to admit her mistake.

Unexpectedly, times had changed. He was over fifty years old, his health wasn’t what it used to be, and he was no match for the young, strong Yang Qiujin. After several confrontations, he was beaten into a pig’s head. The last time, he almost had his balls cut off.

After that, he behaved himself. He no longer dared to be sneaky, visit brothels, or have contact with the widow. Aside from his laziness, he was no longer problematic.

Yang Qiujin despised Yang Chenghua’s cowardly behavior. She thought back to how arrogant he was when he was younger, always beating her and her sisters whenever they disagreed with him, thinking he could control their lives and satisfy his addiction to power.

Now that she was older and had been disciplined by me more often, he was afraid of her. He dared not confront her directly, instead hiding behind her mother. What rubbish!

Yang Qiujin threw the sickle in front of him and said, “I’ll give you one minute. If you stay at home and don’t go to work in the fields, I’ll castrate your useless balls!”

Yang Chenghua knew she could carry out her threats, and fearing she would cut off his balls again, he hurriedly dressed, grabbed his sickle, and ran out. As he ran outside the yard, he muttered curses: “I really got into trouble. I gave birth to such a debt-collecting ghost, a jinx…”

Yang Qiujin watched him leave and turned to Wu Shulian, asking, “Mom, why didn’t you divorce him?”

Since childhood, Yang Qiujin and her sister had been trying to persuade their mother to divorce the scumbag, but she always found excuses like “you’re too young, it’s pitiful not to have a father,” or “your father is good to me, except for being lazy.”

As Yang Qiujin grew older, she realized it wasn’t that her mother didn’t want a divorce, but that the concept of divorce was not part of her upbringing.

Her mother was born before the founding of the People’s Republic of China. At that time, rural women were taught to regard their husbands as their gods and never divorce them, no matter how many tears and grievances they suffered. They had to endure it until both grew old and died.

Yang Qiujin couldn’t change her mother’s mind, so she continued to tell her over and over again that it was a new era. Women should hold up half the sky as the Chairman said, should fight against men, and live their own lives.

She had hands and feet. She wouldn’t starve if she left a man, and her two daughters would support her for life. She didn’t need to waste time on a scumbag.

Her mother always responded with “hmm” and “ah,” and Yang Qiujin wasn’t sure how much she listened.

“Your dad has been doing better lately, getting full work points every day. He was just lazy today.”

Wu Shulian didn’t dare to look her eldest daughter in the eye. She lowered her head, took the items out of the basket, and placed them in the kitchen. She retrieved three steaming buns and three salted duck eggs from the pot, placing them in Yang Qiujin’s basket. She changed the subject: “These are the duck eggs I just soaked. Take them back and let your mother-in-law and Tianyou taste them. Shengqing hasn’t sent a letter for two years. When will your miserable life end?”

Yang Qiujin took the basket and said, “Mom, can I be as miserable as you? If you keep pampering my dad, doing all the work yourself, and not divorcing him, torturing yourself… when you torture yourself to death, I’ll put you in a coffin made of bitter coptis root, and you’ll suffer in the underworld, working like a cow or a horse, never at peace.”

Wu Shulian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “You kid, you’re talking nonsense again.”

“Mom, remember: your body is your own. If you overwork, no man will care about you, only your children.”

Yang Qiujin brainwashed her every day: “The candy and eggs I gave you are to nourish your body. Don’t secretly give them to that scumbag. If you let him eat them, I will never bring you good things again. I’ll make him spit them out. Don’t think you can take advantage of me!”

“I know, I know,” Wu Shulian nodded quickly. “I locked the things you gave me in my cupboard and ate them secretly without him knowing. But I had to send the candies and eggs I couldn’t finish to your sister. She’s been married for over two years and still hasn’t gotten pregnant. Her in-laws treat her poorly. I’m not sure how she’s doing these days.”

Yang Qiujin thought about her sister, who was living a similar difficult life, sighed, said nothing, and went home with the basket.

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