Chapter 19: Big Sister, Come Out

“Mom, Mom?”

“Old woman, old woman, are you alright?”

Lei Honghua’s sudden fall startled Qiao Jiuwang and Qiao Jianguo.

Liu Haimou, as a doctor, quickly checked her.

“She fainted from anger. Don’t worry,” he said, pressing on Lei Honghua’s acupoint.

Lei Honghua groaned and woke up, her first words being, “Quickly, my pigs”

In the pigsty, the two pigs were running around in terror, Qiao Jiangxin standing guard with her knife.

Seeing Lei Honghua awake, Qiao Jiuwang rushed to the pigsty, “You crazy woman, get out!!!”

“Second daughter-in-law, can’t you control them?”  Qiao Jiuwang picked up a hoe.

Liu Afang was startled and stood in front of Qiao Jiuwang, “Father-in-law, Jiangxin and I raised these pigs. Jiangxin cuts the pigweed every morning, and I cook the feed.  Mother-in-law told us to pay for the medical expenses ourselves. We don’t have money, so we can only kill a pig to pay.”

“If you dare touch Jiangxin, you’ll have to step over my corpse.  You’ve disliked me for a long time anyway, just kill us both!”

Qiao Youcai quickly stood in front of his wife, blocking Qiao Jiuwang with her.

Qiao Jiuwang didn’t dare hit his pregnant daughter-in-law, so he shouted at Qiao Jiangxin, “Qiao Jiangxin, you crazy woman, get out!”

Inside the pigsty, Qiao Jiangxin was still butchering the pigs. Although two and a half of her three swings missed, the pigs’ screams were agonizing. Lei Honghua shakily got up, leaning on the wall and walking towards the pigsty.

She saw that both pigs were wounded.  The sight made her feel dizzy.

“Oh my god, Big Sister, you wicked girl, get out! Woo woo woo, you might as well have cut me! Oh my god!”

Qiao Jiangxin shouted back, “I’m not coming out. My father owes Uncle Haimou money for medicine. I don’t have money, so I’ll pay with two pounds of pork. My mother and I raised these pigs.”

“Don’t worry, they cost 17 jin when you bought them, I’ll pay you back.”

Lei Honghua pleaded tearfully, “Don’t cut them, don’t cut them, they’ll die! I’ll give you money, I’ll give you money! Woo woo woo, my pigs! I won’t live if my pigs die!”

“Old man, make that wretch stop! Those two pigs are Jianguo’s wives!”

“Pfft~,” Liu Haimou quickly covered his mouth.

Qiao Jiuwang looked at the pigs in the pigsty, then at his son and daughter-in-law blocking him.  He was so angry he pushed Lei Honghua down with his hoe.

“You old woman, go get the money!”

“Big Sister, if the pigs die, you won’t have a good life either. Come out! Grandma will get the money. We’ll pay for your father’s medical expenses.”

Qiao Jiangxin’s wrists were aching. Looking at the terrified pigs, she cursed inwardly. They were tough to kill.

She turned to Qiao Jiuwang, “Do you think I’m stupid?  This will happen again.  All the work our family does goes to the family head. 

The work points we earned, the money we got at the end of the year, everything belongs to Lei Honghua.

My mother needs to ask Lei Honghua for money to buy toilet paper. 

And Lei Honghua always curses her to death!”

“When we work, you’re afraid we won’t die from exhaustion. We work harder than oxen and horses, and eat worse than pigs. You often have secret meals behind closed doors.  Open your eyes and see, our family lives like refugees!

I’m a grown woman, and I don’t even have a single set of clothes.  I wear Qiao Jianguo’s or Qiao Fangfang’s hand-me-downs.  In other families, if you work this hard, you’d have new clothes!”

Taking a breath, Qiao Jiangxin continued, “I’ll use two pounds of pork to pay Uncle Haimou.  The remaining seventeen pounds of pork are for you. We’ll sell the rest. Eighty or ninety pounds of pork, at fifty or sixty cents a pound, will bring in forty yuan.

This is the money my mother and I earned this year. Lei Honghua won’t touch it. We’ll save it ourselves and never ask Lei Honghua for money again, to avoid being cursed by that venomous woman!”

Seeing her raise the knife again, Qiao Jiuwang pleaded, “Big Sister, Big Sister, listen to Grandpa.  Don’t you want new clothes?

I’ll buy them. Tomorrow, at the market, Grandma will buy you one, no, two sets.

Put down the knife. It’s only a few months until the end of the year. The pigs will fetch a good price then. If they die, we’ll lose a year’s worth of income.”

“Your fourth uncle needs the money from selling these pigs to get married~”

Qiao Jiangxin seemed persuaded and asked, “Really?  You’ll buy me new clothes?”

Seeing Qiao Jiangxin soften, Qiao Jiuwang nodded, “Yes, I’ll buy you two sets. Come out now.”

Lei Honghua hurried out, handkerchief in hand, and overheard this, immediately objecting, “New clothes?  Dreaming! Two sets?  We can’t afford this!”

Qiao Jiangxin, as if a switch had been flipped, swung the cleaver at the pig’s back, “Grandpa’s word is useless, we still have to look at Lei Honghua’s face. I manage my own money and can spend it as I please.”

“Bang!”

The cleaver landed on the pig’s rump. The pigs’ screams were sharp and prolonged, as if their lungs would burst.

Seeing that Qiao Jiangxin, whom he had just calmed down, was enraged again by Lei Honghua, Qiao Jiuwang slapped her.

“You stupid woman! You’re the root of all the trouble!”

After scolding her, Qiao Jiuwang turned to coax Qiao Jiangxin, “Big Sister, come out. Your grandmother doesn’t get to decide in this family. I said I’ll buy you clothes, and I will.”

Qiao Jiangxin looked at him suspiciously, “Really?”

Qiao Jiuwang said firmly, “Really!”

Qiao Jiangxin held out a hand, “Then give me the money first.  I’ll buy them myself tomorrow. I don’t trust you.  I’m afraid Lei Honghua will whisper in your ear tonight, and you’ll change your mind.”

“You!!!” Qiao Jiuwang was furious.

But looking at the two hundred-pound pigs in the pigsty, he suppressed his anger.

“Fine, here!”

Qiao Jiangxin pressed her advantage, “I want thirty.”

Qiao Jiuwang almost fainted, “Twenty, take it or leave it.”

Qiao Jiangxin raised the cleaver again, “I’ll kill both pigs. I can sell them for eighty or ninety yuan.  I don’t need your twenty!”