That night, Zhou Zhijun lay in bed, not closing his eyes once until dawn.
He blamed himself for being so impulsive; he should have approached her slowly, protected her... let things develop naturally.
He was afraid of scaring her! Thankfully, he had slammed on the brakes at the critical moment! Yet, a part of him now felt regret.
Should he take it slow and steady? Or should he charge ahead with full force? Contradictory thoughts tangled within him, torn between the fear of hurting her and the inability to suppress the restlessness in his heart.
In the melon field, Chuntao lay on the worn-out mat like a startled bird, the flashlight left on all night.
The bitterness in her heart grew wildly like weeds and vines, tightly entangling her. Tears flowed silently, streaming into her heart to form a river, yet they couldn't wash away even a fraction of her humiliation and helplessness.
When the sky began to lighten at dawn, she finally felt a hint of drowsiness, but she couldn't sleep. She had to get home quickly; a pile of chores was waiting for her there.
She walked to the riverbank, washed her face, let out a long sigh, and forcefully pushed down the shame lodged in her heart.
She dared not think about what happened last night again, preferring to treat it as a nightmare!
But the pain in her chest constantly reminded her that it was not a dream, but something that had truly and undeniably happened.
When she returned home, Liu Cuilan and that man were not yet up, and the sound of their flirtatious laughter drifted from the room.
Originally, Liu Cuilan was supposed to get married to Zhou Zhijun, yet here she was, sleeping with another man.
...
When Chuntao married into the Wang family, her father-in-law Wang Laohan was not yet ill. His illness was diagnosed just one month after she entered the Wang household.
The villagers all gossiped, some saying he was angered into sickness by Wang Jieshi, others claiming Chuntao brought him bad luck.
In Liu Cuilan's view, Chuntao was a "jinx," who had driven away Wang Jieshi and was now going to be the death of Wang Laohan.
In those times of extremely poor medical conditions, the ascites Wang Laohan suffered from was an incurable disease.
Even if the family had money, which they didn't, it couldn't be cured; he could only linger, waiting for death.
The eldest son, Wang Jieshi, had run away to escape the marriage, and the pair of twins were only twelve. Wang Laohan feared that if he died one day, his wife and children would struggle.
He wanted to find them someone to rely on before he died, so he silently sized up all the bachelors in the village. After comparing them over and over, he still felt Zhou Zhijun was the most dependable.
One day, Wang Laohan, with his swollen belly, trembling and unsteady, went to the fields to find Zhou Zhijun. He said that when he was gone, he begged him to look after the mother and children.
Zhou Zhijun had no wife; he was already thirty-six that year and wasn't in a position to be picky. Wang Laohan was certain he would agree.
As expected, Zhou Zhijun agreed readily, putting Wang Laohan's mind at ease.
That night, Wang Laohan told Liu Cuilan about it, but she scolded him harshly: "You heartless thing, are you trying to sell me off? You're not even dead yet, and you're already in such a hurry to find me a new man!"
"This illness of mine, it's just a matter of sooner or later. I won't live to see the children grow up. When I'm gone, I won't rest easy worrying about you and the kids.
Zhijun is a good man, strong and kind-hearted. If you're with him later, you won't have to suffer so much anymore, and the children can live a proper life too..."
Liu Cuilan, for her part, certainly wanted a man to rely on. She fell silent, which amounted to tacit consent.
When the villagers saw Zhou Zhijun helping the Wang family with their work, putting in more effort than for his own family's chores, they all thought he was doing it for Liu Cuilan. In truth, they were all mistaken.
The reason Zhou Zhijun agreed to Wang Laohan's request was not for Liu Cuilan, but because he fancied Chuntao.
One had to say, Wang Laohan's illness was remarkably tenacious; he lingered on for four whole years.
Just half a year ago, Wang Laohan finally burned out his last drop of oil, leaving his wife and children behind as he passed away.
When he died, Liu Cuilan didn't cry, nor did her children. They had long grown numb from the hardships weathered over the years.
The suffering a man should endure had reached its end; passing on could be considered a relief.
People in the village said Liu Cuilan had finally waited for her man to die, and the two children would soon be calling Zhou Zhijun 'Dad.'
Everyone assumed Zhou Zhijun would be impatient to register the marriage with Liu Cuilan, but he did not.
On the very evening after Wang Laohan's funeral, Zhou Zhijun's nephew, Zhou Xiaowei, was passing by Liu Cuilan's house when he saw a light on inside and heard strange noises.
The creaking of the old wooden bed, groaning under unbearable weight, rose and fell, accompanied by Liu Cuilan's suppressed sounds—trying to hold back but failing.
A young man like him understood perfectly well what those sounds meant. He thought it was Zhou Zhijun inside.
His uncle had waited four years and finally got his wish! As a nephew, he was genuinely happy for him.
He couldn't help but stop, pressing his ear against the window to listen carefully. But this listen instantly made his blood boil.
"Wife, this is too damn good!"
The man speaking inside was not Zhou Zhijun at all, but another man.
His uncle had toiled from dawn till dusk for the Wang family for four years, finally waiting for Wang Laohan to die, only to have the meat at his lips snatched away by someone else.
Listening to the obscene sounds from inside the room, Zhou Xiaowei, a hot-blooded young man, felt like ten tons of gunpowder had exploded in his chest!
He didn't even think of going to fetch his uncle first. With one kick, he broke open that old wooden door.
Like an enraged lion, eyes blazing with fire, he charged into the room and saw Liu Cuilan entangled with the village bachelor, Wang Haichao.
Zhou Xiaowei roared, glared, and lunged forward to haul Wang Haichao up.
"Wang Haichao, you've gone too far!"
Wang Haichao was usually quite a bully, but faced with a truly tough opponent, he was scared.
Stark naked, he was dragged off the bed by Zhou Xiaowei and thrown heavily to the ground, receiving several hard kicks to his abdomen.
Liu Cuilan was also frightened, her face ashen, but her domineering nature wouldn't let her back down. She shouted, "Zhou Xiaowei, who the hell do you think you are? What I do is none of your business. Get the hell out of here now!"
"Liu Cuilan, has your conscience been eaten by dogs? My uncle worked like an ox and horse for you, and you bring in some stray dog..." Zhou Xiaowei's eyes were bloodshot.
Back then, hardly any homes had courtyard walls; they all lived in simple mud-brick houses. Such a commotion quickly drew a crowd of onlookers.
Seeing so many people gathering to watch the spectacle, Liu Cuilan felt her pride was at stake. She turned the tables and shouted, "Zhou Zhijun did help me, but he's not a real man. In four years, he never laid a finger on me.
If you don't have the diamond, don't try the porcelain work? Without the capital to be a man, yet wanting to hog the latrine without shitting... I, Liu Cuilan, refuse to live as a widow with him..."
Hearing Liu Cuilan insult Zhou Zhijun like this, Zhou Xiaowei gritted his teeth until they creaked and moved to slap her.
The onlookers also despised Liu Cuilan's ingratitude, and no one stepped forward to stop him.
Just then, a loud shout rang out, "Zhou Xiaowei, stop right there!"
Zhou Xiaowei's hand froze mid-air. He turned to see his uncle, his face icy cold.
Sheepishly, he said, "Uncle, Liu Cuilan is fooling around, and she insulted you. They're shitting all over you! How can you still take this?" Zhou Xiaowei stamped his foot in frustration.
Zhou Zhijun's lifelong principle was: If others don't provoke me, I won't provoke them; but if others provoke me, I will certainly retaliate!
Yet at this moment, he did not step forward to teach the pair a lesson. Instead, he had stopped Zhou Xiaowei.
Everyone's eyes were fixed on him, eagerly awaiting the next act of the drama. But what he did next left them utterly flabbergasted.
