Chapter 6

Gu Yinyin thought carefully. The money she was carrying now all belonged to Shen Guo’an. If she took the money and left, leaving the two children to suffer in the Shen family, that would surely be unreasonable.

Besides, she had already occupied the original owner’s body. Adding to that, this was a parallel world, which meant these children were also her children. To abandon them would indeed be too excessive.

But she also did not want to devote her entire life to Shen Guo’an and the two children. After thinking it over, Gu Yinyin decided that before Shen Guo’an came back, she would first take good care of the two children. When Shen Guo’an returned from delivering goods to another place, she would then discuss divorce with him.

By then, after one or two years, when the land reform arrived, land would be divided among households, the production team would be dissolved, and there would no longer be a need for cloth or food ration coupons. She could live on her own even if she left by herself.

Da Wa looked at the silent Gu Yinyin, and his heart sank.

These past few days, his mother had seemed like a completely different person—fierce, bold, and treating the two of them very well. But as it turned out… she was planning to leave!

So it was true—she did not truly care about him and Xiao Wa!

Da Wa felt miserable, yet he still awkwardly spoke up. “You can choose not to want me, but you can’t not want Xiao Wa. Wherever you go, take her with you. She likes you the most.”

Xiao Wa looked at Gu Yinyin with tear-filled eyes. “Mother, brother likes you too. Please don’t leave, all right? My brother and I will both be obedient and well-behaved! We won’t cause you any more trouble.”

She cried harder and harder. “I don’t want to be without a mother. Children without a mother are so pitiful.”

The little girl was naturally delicate and beautiful, like a small jade Guanyin statue. No wonder, when she grew up, she would become the most popular top celebrity in the entertainment industry. When she cried like this, Gu Yinyin’s heart ached unbearably. She hurriedly wiped away her tears.

“I won’t abandon you! Don’t worry. At the very least, during these days, I will protect you well. No one will dare to bully you!”

Xiao Wa was reassured, but Da Wa’s heart tightened. During these days? Did that mean his mother still intended to leave in the end?

His heart felt heavy, and even his steps became slow and burdened.

Gu Yinyin then took the two children to buy some fine wheat flour, wrapped it in a small cloth bundle, and when she saw bananas for sale, she took out money to buy two.

Money was not easy to spend carelessly. She had less than a hundred yuan left in her pocket, and besides, it was not even hers, so she could not be willful. She bought two bananas because she wanted Da Wa and Xiao Wa to taste them together.

She herself had eaten bananas countless times before. Would she still crave one? It was only so the children could try them.

Da Wa and Xiao Wa had never eaten bananas before. Xiao Wa carefully accepted hers, but Da Wa turned his head stubbornly. “I don’t like eating this!”

“You’ve eaten it before?” Gu Yinyin asked in confusion.

Da Wa pressed his lips tightly together and, after a long pause, finally said: “I haven’t eaten it, but I don’t like it!”

Gu Yinyin insisted on arguing with him. “If you haven’t eaten it, you should try! It’s delicious, just try it!”

She did not believe that a child would refuse tasty food. But Da Wa still refused to eat. Even when Gu Yinyin peeled one open and tried to push it to his mouth, he would not open up. In the end, Gu Yinyin became a little angry.

She had spent money to buy two bananas on purpose, so why wouldn’t Da Wa eat them?

Gu Yinyin scolded him: “I say, you are such a stubborn child! Why won’t you eat? This was bought with money. Why exactly won’t you eat it?”

Da Wa lowered his head, staring at the tips of his shoes. “If you eat it, if you eat it… then don’t leave. I’ll protect you and my sister. If Grandma and Third Aunt bully you again, I’ll fight them for you. Whatever food we have, I’ll save it for you to eat. Don’t leave… my sister can’t bear to lose you.”

His voice was very soft, carrying a trace of sorrow, and Gu Yinyin’s heart sank.

Even if she had been foolish, she could still hear it clearly—on the surface, Da Wa acted cold and resistant toward her, but in reality, he was still just a child who hoped his mother would love him.

These two children truly were pitiful!

She reached out to pat Da Wa’s head, but he shrank away slightly.

“Da Wa, if you eat it, then I won’t leave. Really, I promise.”

Da Wa lifted his head, his eyes blinking a few times before he silently accepted the banana.

The sweet, soft flesh instantly delighted the taste buds, and his mood lifted along with it. To think there could be something in the world this delicious!

Da Wa’s eyes stung with a faint ache. When he grew up, he swore he would buy his mother and sister many, many bananas.

Gu Yinyin led the children to the roadside, waiting for a passing tractor. She thought about hitching a ride, so they would not have to exhaust themselves walking.

Xiao Wa circled around her, chattering non-stop about the things in the village. Da Wa watched them silently, then suddenly spoke. “Up ahead is the health clinic.”

Gu Yinyin, holding a blade of grass in her hand, stood up. “Ah?”

Da Wa was quiet for a moment before he said: “The wounds on your body… they need purple medicine.”

At his reminder, Gu Yinyin remembered her injuries. She had been beaten so badly the previous night that it was a miracle she had even survived. Until now, there had always been a dull ache lingering, but she had been in a constant state of battle and had simply ignored the pain.

But then Gu Yinyin thought of something—it might be better to make use of these wounds.

She took Da Wa and Xiao Wa to buy some purple medicine, but she did not apply it. Instead, she immediately caught a ride on a passerby’s tractor and returned straight to the village, heading directly to find the big Captain.

Before going in, Gu Yinyin tousled her hair into a messy state. Holding Da Wa’s hand in one and Xiao Wa’s in the other, she instructed them: “You two must act like you’re starving to death.”

Although Da Wa and Xiao Wa did not understand, they obeyed. Both children slouched with weak and powerless postures, looking extremely pitiful. Xiao Wa’s hair was also left disheveled, her hairpin hidden away.

The big Captain was momentarily stunned when he saw Gu Yinyin arriving with the two children. He had some impression of her.

After all, this woman was the most beautiful in Hongxing Village. His wife had grumbled about her in private more than once, always with a sour tone, saying that someone so pretty surely would not be virtuous.

In truth, the big Captain also felt it was a pity. Shen Guo’an was an outstanding young man in their production team, but he had married Gu Yinyin out of desire for her beauty. Who would have thought that though Gu Yinyin was indeed beautiful, she was utterly clueless in household work, and Shen Guo’an often went out looking shabby and untidy.

As the saying went: “A man’s clothes are the reflection of a woman’s hands.” If a man’s clothes were dirty and disorderly, it meant the woman was clumsy and incompetent.

But since she was Shen Guo’an’s wife, the big Captain still had to give her some respect. He set down his large tea mug on the table and stood up. “Guo’an’s wife, what matter brings you here?”

Gu Yinyin did not answer. Instead, she lowered her head and suddenly began to sob.

She knew very well that although it was now the time of reform and opening up, the old thinking still lingered in most people’s hearts. A woman being beaten was considered normal, and the big Captain might not be willing to help her.

But she had to make the big Captain help her.

Seeing Gu Yinyin cry, the big Captain softened. “Speak properly. If there’s something I can help with, I’ll definitely help.”

Gu Yinyin nodded. “Yes! Big Captain! I really didn’t want to trouble you. But with Guo’an not at home, I, a lonely woman with two children, really cannot go on like this. Last night, I went to Educated Youth Lin’s place to collect a mug that Guo’an had sent back, but my husband’s family beat me up, saying I was having an affair with Educated Youth Lin. Look at these injuries!”

She rolled up her sleeves and pant legs. Large patches of bruises covered her skin, looking as if she had been beaten quite severely.

The big Captain frowned, though in his heart he did not really want to involve himself in such matters. After all, in the whole Hongxing Village, there were plenty of women who got beaten—he could not manage them all.

But Gu Yinyin continued. “Today I took the children to the town to see a doctor, and we met a good doctor. He told me that for beatings as serious as mine, I could go to the Women’s Federation. If the village Women’s Federation couldn’t help, then I should go to the one in town. These days, women can hold up half the sky—we shouldn’t just get beaten for nothing. With fists this heavy, what if I were beaten to death? Wouldn’t that mean my parents raised me in vain?”

She looked at the big Captain pitifully. “Big Captain, I went to our village’s Women’s Federation, and they said they couldn’t manage. So tell me, shouldn’t I go to the town’s? Being beaten is one thing, but my reputation being slandered—I can’t bear that! I really don’t know what to do!”

Go to the town to lodge a complaint? That would mean bringing shame to the whole Hongxing Village! The big Captain’s hand trembled around his cigarette. Even if he did not want to meddle, now he had no choice.

“Come, I’ll call the Women’s Federation people and we’ll all go to your house together!”

The big Captain summoned two women leaders from the Women’s Federation, and the three of them headed toward the Shen family home.

It was just noon, mealtime. Liu Wenxiu had just finished cooking, and the family quickly bolted the front door, afraid that Gu Yinyin might bring the children back to eat.

Liu Wenxiu hesitated. “Hongmei, Meijuan, aren’t we going too far? Eldest Sister-in-law is alone with the children—where could she even go? Why not leave the door unlatched? If she comes back, that would mean she knows she was in the wrong…”

Ma Hongmei spat. “As if she has the face to come back!”

With that, Ma Hongmei yanked the door bolt firmly into place.

But outside came knocking, accompanied by Gu Yinyin’s gentle voice. “Is anyone there? I’ve brought Da Wa and Xiao Wa back.”

Ma Hongmei sneered and shouted through the door: “Why don’t you go live with Educated Youth Lin? Do you still have the nerve to come back here? There’s no place for you in the Shen family!”

Gu Yinyin turned helplessly to the Women’s Federation members, forcing a bitter smile. “You see…”

She wiped at her eyes. “But I truly have nothing to do with Educated Youth Lin. I don’t care about myself, but Educated Youth Lin has powerful family connections in the city. If his family hears that we’re slandering his reputation here, wouldn’t that drag even the big Captain down with me?”

That was exactly right! Educated Youth Lin indeed had strong backing in the city. The big Captain’s face darkened, and he raised his hand to knock on the door again.

Next came Li Ailian’s voice.

Her fever had subsided, and the moment she thought of how Gu Yinyin had overturned a whole table of food that morning, hatred gnawed at her teeth. She only regretted not beating this shameless woman to death the previous night!

Inside the door, she stamped her feet and clapped her hands as she cursed: “You little slut! Get back to wherever you came from! From today on, my son divorces you! Don’t you ever dream of returning to the Shen family! Get out at once!”

Gu Yinyin feigned pitiful pleading. “Mother! Please, I beg you! Even if you don’t want me, you should pity the children! They’re about to faint from hunger. The big Captain himself said, what kind of grandparent doesn’t love their grandchildren? Isn’t that right?”

Seeing Gu Yinyin grovel, Li Ailian cursed even more fiercely, her tone growing prouder. “Don’t try to scare me with the big Captain’s name! What’s a Captain worth? I’m telling you, Gu, even if the King of Heaven himself came, I still wouldn’t let the three of you in!”

Gu Yinyin quickly said: “Then what about the Women’s Federation? Mother, if you don’t open the door, I’ll go call the Women’s Federation people here!”

Li Ailian spat. “The Women’s Federation isn’t worth a bird! Now get lost!”

After hearing those words, the Women’s Federation leaders’ faces darkened instantly. They could no longer hold back and immediately pounded on the door.

“Comrade Li Ailian! Open the door! We have something to say to you!”