Wang Xiaohong felt sorry for Chun Tao and pitied her, but Wang Jieshi was, after all, her brother. He had ended up in this state now, and while it was all his own doing, how could his younger sister just ignore him?
"I'll take care of him!" Wang Xiaohong gritted her teeth and finally forced out these words.
Liu Cuilan's eyes went wide upon hearing this. "You'll take care of him? You're a young girl of sixteen or seventeen, you'll be married off in a couple of years. Can you take care of him for a lifetime?"
"Besides, he has a wife. Is it your place as his sister to step in? It wouldn't be proper for you to manage it either!" Liu Cuilan looked at Wang Xiaohong and softened her tone a little. "Step aside. Let her go back and tend to him. You stay and watch the melon field!"
"I'm not married yet. I'm his own sister, what's improper about it? I insist on going!" Wang Xiaohong blocked the entrance to the melon shed, refusing to budge.
Liu Cuilan, still harboring her own selfish plans, had no intention of letting Wang Xiaohong take charge of Wang Jieshi's care. Seizing a moment when Wang Xiaohong was off guard, she pulled her aside, stepped into the melon shed, and raised her foot.
"Li Chun Tao, you jinx! Playing dead in here, are you? Didn't you hear me calling you? Get up right now and go home to tend to your man!"
Liu Cuilan yelled while reaching out to grab Chun Tao. Chun Tao's whole body was weak, and with the sudden yank, she tumbled right off the bedding platform. Her legs gave way, and she nearly collapsed on the ground. Wang Xiaohong hurried over to support her. "Sister-in-law!"
Her eyes reddened, and she spoke urgently to Liu Cuilan, "My sister-in-law is so frail, how can she possibly take care of my brother?"
"When my brother ran off and left my sister-in-law behind back then, think of all the hardship and suffering she's endured these years! Did he ever consider how difficult her life was?"
"Now that he's back in this state because of his own misdeeds, why should sister-in-law be the one to suffer for it?"
Liu Cuilan, infuriated by the retort, raised her voice. "What do you, a young girl, know about anything?"
"He's her husband. If she doesn't tend to him, who will? Are we supposed to let your brother starve to death at home?"
Chun Tao suddenly lifted her head. Her voice was faint, but carried a stubbornness never heard before. "I won't tend to him."
Liu Cuilan was taken aback for a moment, then sneered. "You won't tend to him? He's your man. If you don't tend to him, who will?"
"I can't do it!" Uncontrollable tears finally spilled over, streaming down her cheeks. "He abandoned me right after the wedding and left. My life these years has been more bitter than coptis root. Did he ever care about my suffering?"
"Now he comes back like this, and I'm supposed to tend to him..."
This usually silent woman who couldn't be prodded into saying a word actually dared to defy her today. Liu Cuilan was so angry she felt her lungs would explode.
"What you say doesn't count!" she said, reaching for Chun Tao's arm again, only to have her hand slapped away by Wang Xiaohong.
"I'll take care of my brother. I'll bring him food and drink, whatever he needs. Let my sister-in-law rest in the melon shed for a few days!"
Liu Cuilan wasn't ready to let it go, but a glance at Chun Tao's deathly pale face and trembling body, and the memory of how Wang Xiaoming had protected Chun Tao, gave her pause. If something serious happened to Chun Tao, Wang Xiaoming would surely not let her off the hook when he returned.
She snorted fiercely and said to Wang Xiaohong, "Since you insist on taking this on, then you go! But I'm telling you right now, she has to take over tomorrow!"
Wang Jieshi was now immobile. It wasn't just about bringing food and drink; he needed help with washing and using the toilet. For a young girl like Wang Xiaohong, it really wasn't proper.
Wang Xiaohong discussed it with Wang Xiaoming. She suggested he stay home to look after Wang Jieshi, while she went to sell melons with Zhou Zhijun every day.
Wang Xiaoming, while tending to Wang Jieshi, worried about Chun Tao being alone in the melon field. He couldn't rest easy, so he ended up running back and forth between home and the melon field.
Meanwhile, Liu Cuilan took Wang Haichao and his brothers to the threshing ground to make adobe bricks, preparing for the eventual family division.
The villagers, seeing Zhou Zhijun helping the Wang family sell melons every day, started gossiping again. They said he never learned his lesson and deserved to be cheated by Liu Cuilan.
These words reached Aunt Zhou's ears, making her stamp her feet in anger. She was angry at the villagers for their loose talk, but even more so at her own son.
He had helped the old Wang family for four years, and in the end gained nothing but was slandered by Liu Cuilan's lies. And now, just a few days later, he was running to help them again.
When Zhou Zhijun returned from the melon field that evening, Aunt Zhou confronted him sharply. "Zhijun! Do you know what people in the village are saying behind your back?"
"They all say you have no memory, that you deserve to be cheated! How long has it been, and you're playing the good guy again? Don't go tomorrow. Come with me to hoe the fields!"
It wasn't that Zhou Zhijun had no memory; it was that he ached for Chun Tao. But he couldn't say that to his mother.
"Mom, the watermelons in the field will be sold out in a few more days. Let's help them see it through to the end," he urged in a low voice. "With Jieshi in this state, his family really is short-handed."
Chun Tao rested slowly in the melon shed. Zhou Zhijun specially bought a thermos flask and also brought malted milk powder and brown sugar for her to regain her strength.
Chun Tao didn't want to owe him any favors. The malted milk powder and brown sugar sat untouched for days, and though the water in the thermos was changed after cooling, she barely drank any.
That evening, after returning from selling melons, Wang Xiaoming wasn't in the melon field. Wang Xiaohong had gone back to cook, leaving only Zhou Zhijun and Chun Tao in the shed.
Zhou Zhijun looked at the items in the net bag hanging on the wall and asked, "Why haven't you had any?"
Last time, the pastries and brown sugar he gave Chun Tao were discovered by Liu Cuilan, who cursed her for being a glutton.
Chun Tao had wanted Wang Xiaohong to take these things to Granny Zhou, but Wang Xiaohong advised her, "Uncle Zhijun bought these especially for you. You should have them! After the melons are sold, I'll buy some gifts to visit Granny Zhou."
Since Wang Xiaohong refused to deliver them, the items had remained hanging in the shed.
Chun Tao pressed her lips together and stayed silent. Zhou Zhijun didn't press further.
He took a brown paper package from his pocket, unwrapped it, revealing fragrant braised meat and a warm meat bun.
He picked up a bun and offered it to her. "Eat."
Chun Tao turned her head away and said softly, "I'm not hungry. Take it home for yourself."
Seeing her like this, Zhou Zhijun set the bun aside, pinched a piece of braised meat, and brought it to her lips. His voice was soft, as if coaxing a child. "Be good. This meat is delicious. Have some, quickly."
"I said I'm not hungry!" Chun Tao shrank further away. Her voice wasn't loud, but the stubbornness in it was unmistakable.
"The bun and braised meat were bought for you. You must eat them!"
The gentleness vanished from Zhou Zhijun's face, his voice turning hard. "You won't take it nicely, is that it? Then I'll have to be rough!"
Before, Chun Tao had only felt timidity and respect towards Zhou Zhijun, always seeing him as an elder.
But now it was different. She was genuinely, deeply afraid of him. Afraid he would force himself on her again, afraid of that reckless, uncontrollable madness in him.
That night, also in this pitch-dark melon shed, what he had done still filled her with fear whenever she remembered.
The bruises he left took over ten days to fade.
And that midnight, when he took her into the room... if her period hadn't come just then, he would have ruined her!
Even though he didn't succeed that time, he had seen her completely naked, touched her all over...
And that time in the sorghum field, his wild agitation and unyielding strength made her shiver with fear. If Wang Xiaohong hadn't appeared in time, she wouldn't have escaped.
His heavy breathing, his scorching hands, and those "shameless" words all made her heart tremble.
This man meant what he said and could turn as fierce as a starving wolf when enraged. Chun Tao was genuinely afraid, terrified he might actually resort to force.
She was just about to say "I'll eat," but before the words could escape her throat, Zhou Zhijun pinned her down on the bunk.
"Ah... what are you doing..."
Her startled cry was abruptly cut off as he firmly sealed her mouth with his own...
