"The Biography of Hulan River" | The young daughter-in-law of Hulan River
There are many neighbors living in the protagonist's yard, including those who raise pigs, run powder houses, grind mills, and drive carts, and it is very lively. After one family married a new daughter-in-law, they suddenly became the focus of attention from the neighbors. It seems inappropriate to talk about marriage. One of them is a reunion wife picked up by the Hu family who was driving a car, and the other was brought by Feng Waizizi from Lamo to cause trouble. They are different from ordinary marriages.
? On the day when the reunited daughter-in-law arrived, the usually quiet Hu family was in a state of commotion. Old Mrs. Yang in the next courtyard, Grandma Zhou and her mother from the old Zhou family...all the people they knew and didn't know gathered around. At Hu's house. The reunion daughter-in-law is tall, with big and shiny black braids, a dark face, and a cheerful smile. Because she was too tall and was afraid of being laughed at, the 12-year-old called her 14-year-old. She was so generous that she didn't look like a reunited daughter-in-law, and she didn't even look like a new daughter-in-law who had just entered the house. However, when the Hu family brought in the reunited daughter-in-law, they did not treat her well. Her mother-in-law was determined to give her a blow and beat her every day. Reunion's daughter-in-law is a stubborn person. When she was beaten at first, she would definitely resist. When the beating got more severe, she would say she wanted to go home. So the beatings became more and more severe. When I first arrived, there were only cries that resounded through the night, but later they stopped day and night. Until winter, there was no more crying, and the Hu family danced again.
Before their grandfather asked them to move out in February, the Hu family said that if Xiaotuan Yuan’s daughter-in-law let her take action again, her life would be in danger. Well-meaning people gave them a lot of ideas to save their daughter-in-law. He burned "substitutes", ate whole-haired chickens, and took folk medicines. He used many methods to treat a dead horse like a living horse, and even listened to nonsense prescriptions made by half-crazy medicine shop cooks. I was deceived again by a "trickster" and spent a lot of money, but my illness became worse day by day. The mother-in-law of Yuan Yuan’s daughter-in-law is a very calculating person. She spent all the money she had saved over the years on needles and thread to treat her. Although she was heartbroken and full of grievances, Yuan Yuan’s daughter-in-law’s life must be saved, and she couldn’t stand it anymore. By cheating here and there, money is spent lavishly. The mother-in-law who reunited her daughter-in-law said she was evil, but she was indeed evil.
As mentioned above, at that time, in that place, it was natural law for men to hit women, and gods and ghosts were the same. All the ladies in the temple will be beaten by the master. However, at home, women also hit women, and they were more cruel, more unprovoked, and more hysterical. The mother-in-law of Yuan Yuan's daughter-in-law said that she was extremely evil, and she was really afraid that Yuan Yuan's daughter-in-law would die, so she spent real money and thought of various ways to treat her daughter-in-law. Alas! No matter how much people wanted to scold her, they couldn't even scold her and they couldn't express themselves. If there is a sober and understanding person who reprimands her foolish behavior and stops her going in the wrong direction, it will be useless, because she really wants to beat her to reunite her, and to save her, she also sincerely wants to bring her back to life. Really no more.
Lao Hu’s family continued to dance, and gave the reunited daughter-in-law a bath in public. Such a strange event made everyone put down what they were doing and come over to watch. Little Reunion's daughter-in-law was scalded three times with hot water, once and fainted once. The kind-hearted women surrounding her tried to save her when she fainted to see if she was still alive. If you are still angry, there is no need to save him. If it is dead, pour cold water on it quickly. It was unclear whether they wanted to live or die.
The reunited daughter-in-law who was stripped naked and took a shower was called shameless, and the reunited daughter-in-law who had her pigtails cut off was called a monster. Fortunately, Little Reunion’s wife is dead after all.
Compared with the reunited daughter-in-law, Feng Waizuizi's daughter-in-law seemed to have a better life, and she did not suffer as much torture and sin. Sister Wang suddenly came to live in Feng Waizuizi's mill, and she brought a baby with her. People who know the Hulan River area will definitely guess that this is another big news that attracts people's attention. The mill was drafty from all sides and was as cold as the outside, and Feng Waizuizi was just a miller. The shopkeeper of the mill came to evict him when he heard the news, and did not allow his "wild wife" to live in the mill for fear of ruining the feng shui. Fortunately, Feng Waizuizi begged his grandfather earlier, and the family moved into a house with straw at the south end of the mill. The house was full of grass, and the child lay in a nest nestled in the grass, covered with grass.
Sister Wang is not an outsider, she is the eldest daughter of the old Wang family who lives in the same hospital.
According to her mother, she was a very reputable girl. People in her neighborhood used to praise her, saying, "She will be a good person in building a family in the future," "She has a big nose, big eyes, and she is very good-looking." "Bring some blessings", "a tall and big sunflower"... In short, she is a good girl, and everyone says whoever marries her is a great blessing. However, since Sister Wang appeared at Feng Waizuizi's home, Sister Wang's appearance changed overnight.
Everyone in the courtyard wrote a biography for Sister Wang, completely completing her life trajectory from childhood to the present day, and how she grew up to be the person she is today. It was said that she had always been with boys since she was a child, and she had neither boys nor girls. She injured her cousin, ate duck eggs, and snatched water chestnuts. She had been doing all kinds of evil since she was a child. A group of people became like professional visitors, squatting by Feng Waizuizi's window every day, hoping to overhear even the slightest bit of news, so that they could be used as first-hand propaganda materials. When they heard that Feng Waizui was about to hang himself, twenty or thirty people in the whole hospital came to see the excitement, and there were also people who came after hearing the news from the streets around him. There is no need to spend money to buy tickets for the excitement, Hulan River City has always been very sensational.
Neither Feng Waizuizi nor Sister Wang had any problems, and they were still living well. Two or three years later, Sister Wang became pregnant with her second child. Although Feng Waizuizi felt sorry for Sister Wang and did not let her overwork herself during the pregnancy, Sister Wang became thinner and paler day by day. After giving birth to the child, her body never recovered.
Feng Waizui's woman died in a quiet night. It is said that women who die after childbirth will become wandering spirits.
The story of Feng Waizuizi is considered to be a tender one in the whole book, and the author ends with it. After the death of Sister Wang, Feng Waizuizi did not fall into despair and could not survive as the onlookers suspected. He worked hard to take root in this world for his two children and assumed the responsibility of a father. Although in the eyes of others, his youngest son will not grow up and will die, Feng Waizuizi has always been optimistic. In contrast, Sister Wang only served as a joke for the people in the hospital for a while, providing everyone with a little more happiness. Although rumors can kill people, in Hulan River at that time, most people may have been Sister Wang, so it was nothing.
? The marriage of Xiaoyuanyuan's daughter-in-law and Sister Wang (let's call it marriage for the time being) are two extremes. Xiaoyuanyuan's daughter-in-law is a feudal patriarchal arranged marriage, or even a disguised transaction; while Sister Wang is Independent free love even destroyed the universal idea of well-matched society at that time. Obviously, their active or forced choices and performances were not in line with the mainstream value standards at the time, and they could not be called qualified and well-behaved young wives.