The lively scene fell silent in an instant, and everyone’s eyes turned toward Wang Jieshi.
Everyone knew that Zhou Zhijun had thrown this lavish banquet, and Wang Jieshi must have been seething inside. But he was a cripple; no matter how angry he was, all he could do was swallow it down.
Besides, Chuntao was now married with children. She had nothing whatsoever to do with him anymore.
Yet Wang Jieshi refused to endure it quietly. He had actually crawled all the way over from home. Wasn’t he just asking to be humiliated? Everyone felt embarrassed for him.
Wang Jieshi paid no attention to anyone else. Gritting his teeth, he inched his way toward the gate.
When he reached the threshold, he draped half his body over it, raised his head, and fixed his bloodshot eyes on Zhou Zhijun and Chuntao, who were pouring wine for the guests in the courtyard. Then, summoning all his strength, he screamed:
“Zhou Zhijun! Li Chun Tao! You shameless adulterers! You’ll both die horrible deaths!”
Zhou Zhijun whipped his head around. His gaze was cold enough to pierce bone, like two ice-forged blades stabbing straight into Wang Jieshi.
Wang Jieshi had always been a useless lump of a man, and now he had thrown caution completely to the wind. He stiffened his neck and met Zhou Zhijun’s stare head-on. His eyes bulged wide, while his already sunken eye sockets appeared even deeper, making him look like a skull. It was horrifying.
Every guest in the courtyard turned to look toward the gate. Seeing what was happening, several men from the Zhou family hurried over to drag him away.
“Wang Jieshi, what the hell are you making a scene for? Get back home!”
Only Wang Jieshi’s upper body and arms could move. His lower body was completely paralyzed, and he was so thin he looked like little more than a bundle of dry bones.
He twisted and struggled desperately, but he had pitifully little strength. Just about anyone could lift him with ease.
Wang Xiaoming had been helping serve the dishes nearby. When he saw his brother crawling over to cause trouble, his face burned with shame, and he could barely lift his head.
He set the dish he was carrying on the table and strode over.
When the two men supporting Wang Jieshi saw Wang Xiaoming approach, they let go.
Wang Xiaoming’s eyes were red. Without saying a word, he bent down, hoisted the limp Wang Jieshi onto his shoulder, and turned to leave.
Wang Jieshi clenched his fists, thin as dry sticks, and hammered them frantically against Wang Xiaoming’s back, screaming at the top of his lungs.
Wang Xiaoming carried him home and threw him heavily onto the bed. Then he shouted in exasperation, “What the hell are you trying to do? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”
Wang Jieshi’s chest heaved violently, and he could barely catch his breath. After a long while, he finally choked out, “Wang Xiaoming, you’re siding with outsiders! Are you even still part of the Wang family? Are you trying to join them and drive me to my death?”
“You’re the one driving yourself to your death! Nobody else is forcing you!”
Wang Xiaoming’s voice trembled, and tears glimmered in his eyes. “Brother, I’m begging you—can’t you just settle down? Leave yourself some dignity, and leave some dignity for the whole family too, all right?”
“Li Chun Tao and Zhou Zhijun were carrying on like a pair of adulterers, and now they’ve even thrown this huge wedding banquet! I lost all my dignity a long time ago! If I can’t have a good life, neither will they!”
“They got their marriage certificate ages ago, and they’ve even had a child. You’re the one who committed a crime. If you keep causing trouble, the whole village will point fingers at you! Why don’t you just stay put and live your own life in peace?”
Wang Xiaoming’s words were harsh and blunt, but his voice was thick with emotion. In the end, the tears spilled from his eyes.
“They’re carrying on right under my nose! How am I supposed to live in peace? I might as well die!” Wang Jieshi said through sobs, his voice gradually weakening.
“If you want to die, then go ahead. Nobody’s stopping you!”
A cold, ruthless voice suddenly came from the doorway.
It was Wang Xiaohong. She had just entered and heard Wang Jieshi threatening to kill himself, so she immediately answered him coldly.
Her current miserable situation was all because of her crippled brother.
Living like this was sheer torture. She might as well die and have it over with.
But when she calmed down and thought about it, she knew her brother was pitiful too. So those words had been half spoken in anger and half meant sincerely.
To Wang Jieshi, however, they were like a sharp knife driven straight into his heart.
“You think I’m a burden! Fine! From now on, I won’t burden either of you. I’ll go die right now!”
Wang Jieshi wailed like an old donkey, his voice hoarse and grating. Bracing himself against the edge of the bed with his two withered arms, he struggled desperately toward the edge.
Wang Xiaoming stood there coldly, unwilling to help. Wang Xiaohong slammed the main-room door shut with a bang and hid in the kitchen, determined not to look or listen.
Then came a heavy thud.
Wang Jieshi had fallen hard from the bed onto the packed-earth floor. His face struck a hard clod of dirt and immediately swelled and bruised.
He lay sprawled on the ground, unable to move another inch. Perhaps he simply hadn’t summoned the last bit of strength he had.
Better to live miserably than die.
He couldn’t die just yet. If he died, there would be no one left to disgust Zhou Zhijun and Li Chun Tao.
He was determined to be the toad they could never shake off, disgusting them for the rest of their lives!
Wang Jieshi lay on the dirt floor and sobbed his heart out. Wang Xiaoming stood beside the bed, watching him in silence without offering any comfort.
He wanted to let him cry it all out. Perhaps afterward, he would come to his senses.
Only when Wang Jieshi could no longer cry, and all that remained was a wheezing, rattling breath, did Wang Xiaoming move him back onto the bed. He left him with a single sentence—“Think it over carefully”—then turned and walked out.
In the kitchen, Wang Xiaohong hadn’t prepared lunch. She sat on a low stool in front of the stove, staring blankly into space, her eyes rimmed red.
Wang Xiaoming glanced at her as he passed the kitchen doorway but said nothing. He went straight back to Zhou Zhijun’s house to help.
After Wang Jieshi’s outburst, Chuntao felt terribly uneasy. Her cheeks had been burning all afternoon.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that everyone in the courtyard was watching her, whispering behind her back that she was shameless. Even her two children would become the subject of gossip.
Seeing how unsettled she was, Zhou Zhijun immediately led her into the inner room to rest. He handled the guests alone, going from table to table to pour their drinks and make conversation.
The banquet dragged on until two or three in the afternoon before finally breaking up. Zhou Zhijun and his brothers busied themselves seeing the guests off. They also found people to use a wooden cart to return the rented tables, chairs, pots, bowls, and other items.
They had specially invited a projectionist from the commune to show an outdoor movie that evening. Aunt Zhou and her daughter, Zhou Zhicai's mother, cooked several dishes to accompany the drinks and served the projectionist.
The movie screen had just been hung on the courtyard wall, and the show had not yet begun, but men, women, and children from the entire village had already carried out little stools and filled the courtyard in a dense crowd.
Not until the movie officially started did Zhou Zhijun finally relax completely. He turned and went into the inner room to check on Chuntao and the children.
Chuntao sat on the bright red spring mattress, nursing Nuannuan. Her face was clouded with worry.
Zhou Zhijun knew she was still upset about Wang Jieshi’s disruption earlier that day.
He walked to the bedside, gently placed his rough hand on top of her head, and rubbed it lightly.
“Tao, are you tired?”
Chuntao looked up at him, her eyes filled with concern. “Brother Zhijun, there are so many people here for the movie tonight. What if Wang Jieshi comes back to cause trouble?”
“He’s just one cripple. What trouble can he really cause? Don’t worry. I’ve already told several of the militiamen to keep an eye out.”
Only then did Chuntao’s anxious heart ease a little.
Just then, Aunt Zhou entered carrying a steaming bowl of egg noodles. Smiling, she said, “Tao, you must be exhausted after running around all day. Hurry and eat this plain noodle soup to fill your stomach. Afterward, let Zhijun take you out to enjoy the movie.”
Nuannuan had finished eating. She released the nipple and tilted her little head back to gaze at Chuntao’s face. Her rosy lips curved into a sweet smile, making everyone’s heart melt.
“Would you look at this little girl? She knows who her mother is now!”
Zhou Zhijun reached out to pick up Nuannuan, but Aunt Zhou quickly stopped him. “Your hands are rough and your arms are as hard as iron. The baby’s skin is so delicate—what if you hurt her?”
Zhou Zhijun could only sigh helplessly. Even when the twins were still in confinement, his mother had refused to let him touch them, afraid his heavy hands might hurt them.
Now that they were already a month old, she still would not let him hold them. He only dared to sneak a few cuddles whenever his mother was not around.
Every time he held the babies, he treated them like priceless treasures, terrified that he might break them with one careless movement. He could never hold them for long before his whole body stiffened and his arms began to ache from holding them so carefully.
Even so, he yearned to be close to the two soft, cuddly little babies.
Whenever he saw them, it felt as though his whole body had been soaking in the warm sunshine of early spring, leaving him relaxed and utterly content.
Aunt Zhou carried Nuannuan into the east room. Zhou Zhijun picked up the bowl of egg noodles and brought it to Chuntao’s lips. “Tao, let me feed you.”
When she had been pregnant, her belly had grown so large that holding a bowl had been inconvenient, so Zhou Zhijun had fed her the entire time.
Now that the babies had been born, Chuntao did not want to trouble him anymore. She hurriedly waved him off. “I can eat by myself. You’ve been busy all day—go rest.”
“I’m not tired. Whenever I see you, I feel like I have endless strength.”
He spoke with complete seriousness, but his words were so heated that Chuntao’s face instantly flushed all the way to her ears, and her heartbeat fell out of rhythm.
Seeing her shy expression, Zhou Zhijun swallowed hard and leaned close to her ear. His voice was low and husky.
“Tao, tonight is our wedding night. I’ve been saving all this strength just for you…”
