Chapter 5: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 5: Mountain Gully Village 5

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Upon hearing these words, Wang Yuejin's face immediately revealed a meaningful smile.

Li Xiulan's family was so poor that even if all their possessions were scraped together, they probably wouldn't be worth as much as two pigs.

So he immediately said to Yang Dafu:

"Go, take me to her vegetable garden right now!"

Li Xiulan's head buzzed with a loud hum, as if struck by lightning.

Whether her family could have a decent year with enough food and clothing this year depended entirely on these two pigs.

"Don't take my pigs away, please, I beg you!"

Li Xiulan hurried forward and grabbed Wang Yuejin's hand, trying to stop his bandit-like behavior.

However, Wang Yuejin coldly shook off her hand and even condescendingly lectured her severely:

"Li Xiulan, you'd best not make a scene. We act lawfully and in accordance with regulations. The higher-ups have long since stipulated that for families unable to pay the superbirth fine, valuable items from their homes can be seized as collateral!"

"No, no, those are my pigs, the pigs I raised for over a year..." Li Xiulan's face trembled all over, tears streaming down, her expression full of despair.

She was illiterate, she didn't understand the law. She only knew that the two pigs she had painstakingly raised, even if the Jade Emperor himself came, should still belong to her.

She didn't understand that over-quota births required fines, and she understood even less that failure to pay the fine meant having her home raided.

She simply tried very hard to live on, that was all. She hadn't provoked anyone, hadn't harmed anyone. She didn't understand why these people before her were treating her like this!

"Please, I beg you, don't take my pigs, please, I beg you..."

Li Xiulan was so anxious she knelt down and hurriedly kowtowed.

But Wang Yuejin and the other Family Planning Office personnel remained indifferent to this.

As frontline enforcement personnel for family planning, what kind of over-quota households hadn't they seen? They had long since become inured to such sights! How could they possibly change their stance just because Li Xiulan knelt?

So, fines that should be levied still had to be levied, and things that should be confiscated still had to be confiscated.

As for Li Xiulan, if she wanted to cry, let her cry on; if she wanted to kneel, let her kneel on.

Just like that, everything Li Xiulan had painstakingly managed was almost entirely swept clean in a single morning by a group of bandits who weren't bandits.

Her furniture and electric fan were gone, her chickens, ducks, dogs, and pigs were gone.

No miracle occurred, no reversal happened. Life was just this ruthless.

"Li Xiulan, just you wait. There's more suffering in store for you later."

As Yang Dafu left with the Family Planning Office people, he still said this with a grin right by Li Xiulan's ear.

He was just like a traitor guiding devils into the village, arriving arrogantly and leaving with a flourish.

There were actually quite a few people in the village who knew the Family Planning Office people were dealing with Li Xiulan, a weak woman, but no one dared step forward to help her, because there wasn't a single farmer who dared oppose those enforcement personnel.

Fortunately, after that bunch from the Family Planning Office searched and took away almost everything of value from her home, they did not forcibly take her away for an abortion.

Additionally, those silkworm babies in the silkworm room that were about to cocoon were also not taken away.

This counted as leaving Li Xiulan a sliver of hope.

After the Family Planning Office people left, Li Xiulan wiped away tears while cleaning up the mess all over the floor of her home.

Once cleaned up, she immediately set off without stopping, taking her two children to the mulberry fields to pick mulberry leaves.

No matter what, life had to go on.

The silkworm babies couldn't go a single day without mulberry leaves, just as her children couldn't go a single day without a meal.

She didn't call Wang Changgen, who was far away in the city working, to tell him about this, because she knew that even if she told him, he couldn't help much; it would only add to his worries. Better to let him earn money peacefully outside.

She'd have him come back once when the child in her belly was nearly due. At that time, if he could still remember today's matter, she'd mention it casually; if he couldn't remember, she'd say nothing at all.

Li Xiulan picked mulberry leaves while thinking like this.

"Xiulan, Xiulan..."

At this moment, a familiar voice came from outside the mulberry field.

"Brother Dazhu, how did you come here?"

Li Xiulan looked up and saw He Dazhu parting the mulberry branches on the field ridge, striding over quickly.

"I heard the Family Planning Office people went to your home this morning. I just ran to your home and didn't see you, you scared me to death! I thought they'd taken you away for an abortion! It's all my fault, I drank too much last night, slept too soundly, and didn't wake up until very late today!"

He Dazhu's face was full of worry. Sober now, he was much more spirited than last night, looking quite handsome, but Li Xiulan had long since lost all feeling for him.

"They took away all the valuable things from my home, saying it was to cover the superbirth fine. I think this should count as having paid the fine, right? The child should be able to be born now, right?"

Li Xiulan's face was full of bitterness as she said this.

But in her heart she kept recalling the words Yang Dafu had said before leaving, and she faintly felt that Yang Dafu would not let her and the child in her belly off lightly.

"Glad to see you're alright. I'll help you pick mulberry leaves!"

He Dazhu was very enthusiastic and proactive. He snatched a snake skin bag from Li Xiulan's hand and began nimbly picking mulberry leaves.

Li Xiulan originally wanted to politely decline his help, but then thought again: she had come to the mulberry field late today, and if she picked alone, she probably wouldn't be able to pick enough for the silkworm babies' needs by noon.

So in the end she still accepted He Dazhu's help:

"Brother Dazhu, thank you. You're truly a good person..." Li Xiulan thanked him from the bottom of her heart, then asked with concern:

"Last night was all my fault, causing a misunderstanding between you and Sister-in-law Chunhua. How is Sister-in-law Chunhua now?"

He Dazhu laughed it off:

"That woman is doing just fine. She forgot everything after one night. Last night she was still clamoring that she'd definitely go get a divorce with me today, saying whoever didn't go was a bastard. But this morning she didn't make a peep, got up early, obediently cooked salted vegetable porridge for me, then went off to work in the fields all cheerful."

He Dazhu was carefree, as if this matter was something to be quite proud of.

Li Xiulan saw it in her eyes, and in her heart she felt uneasy for Liao Chunhua; at the same time, she also felt fortunate that initially she had not chosen to go all the way with He Dazhu.

He Dazhu's character — being friends is fine, but living together is not.

"Xiulan, last night I wronged you, causing you to be beaten by that stinking woman Liao Chunhua; from now on, whatever you need me to help with, just say the word, I will definitely do my utmost to help you!"

He Dazhu took the initiative to curry favor; the things he had once lost, he now wanted to salvage back.

Even if those things were already completely no longer their original appearance.

"Xiulan, didn't you say last night you wanted to take the children to your maternal home for a few days? Give me the keys to your home, I'll help you look after your house, and you can take the children back to your maternal home today at noon!"

Faced with He Dazhu's such enthusiasm, Li Xiulan instead revealed a bitter expression:

"The valuable things in the house have already been taken away by the Family Planning Office people; there's no longer any need to go back to my maternal home to avoid the limelight."

He Dazhu's face was full of sympathy:

"Really not a single valuable thing left? Were all the livestock you raised also seized?"

Li Xiulan nodded, tears unable to stop flowing down: "The valuable things in the house were all taken away, the chickens were seized, the ducks were seized, the pigs were seized, even the old yellow dog that had followed me for five years was seized..."

He Dazhu immediately brimmed with indignation, sharing the same hatred:

"Those beasts! Don't they have mothers! Such conscience-less things they can actually do!"

He Dazhu suddenly grabbed Li Xiulan's hand, his gaze turning gentle, his voice also turning gentle:

"Xiulan, your husband works outside and doesn't return home more than a few times a year; you're all alone in the village, lonely and helpless, they just see you have no man to rely on and are easy to bully, so they dare treat you like this! How about this — during this period when your husband isn't here, let me take care of you, purely take care of you, nothing else, you say okay or not?"

He Dazhu's eyes carried humility and plea; he very much wanted to once again hold in his hand this former white moonlight of his, especially after last night's incident, this thought of his became even more intense.

Actually Li Xiulan didn't know, after she left last night, He Dazhu and Liao Chunhua quarreled the whole night, the two of them smashed almost everything in the house that could be smashed.

He Dazhu felt that his and Liao Chunhua's relationship had already reached its end.

He actually wanted a divorce even more than Liao Chunhua, only this morning Liao Chunhua went off to work in the fields without a word, not giving him this chance.

He needed Li Xiulan to fill the regret in his heart; even if Li Xiulan had already married someone else, already given birth to two children for someone else, was currently pregnant with a third child for someone else, he didn't care!

He simply wanted to obtain Li Xiulan! That's all!