Leaving Zhou Dana's house, it was already late afternoon.
Wang Xiaohong supported Chuntao. "Sister-in-law, go back to your room and rest. Don't go back to the field!"
From a distance, they could see Wang Jieshi leaning against the gable wall of his own kitchen, propped up by a stick. His gaze was fixed and vacant, lost in thought.
"Brother..." Wang Xiaohong called out, and only then did Wang Jieshi slowly look up and see them.
Seeing Chuntao's deathly pale face, with two buttons missing from her coarse cloth jacket, revealing the patched-up coarse cloth undershirt beneath, his heart felt like a bottle of mixed spices had been knocked over—a turmoil of sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy feelings.
"What happened?" he asked, his voice hoarse.
Wang Xiaohong didn't want to bring up the awful incident and said vaguely, "My sister-in-law isn't feeling well. I'm helping her back to her room to rest!"
Wang Jieshi wasn't stupid. Chuntao's appearance wasn't that of someone merely unwell; something must have happened.
Just then, a few people walked down the main road, discussing the incident of Chuntao being bullied as they went, completely missing Wang Jieshi standing by the wall.
"Li Chuntao really has a bitter fate. Her husband left her right after the wedding, and now that he's back, he's become a useless cripple!"
"Exactly! If she had a man to protect her, that scoundrel Zhou Ergan wouldn't dare bully her like this..."
"Ah, a woman living alone in an empty house is bound to attract trouble, especially when she's so good-looking. It's inevitable people would have designs on her..."
These words pierced Wang Jieshi's heart like needles. His hand gripping the wooden stick tightened violently, his knuckles turning white.
What a good woman Chuntao was. How could he have been so bewitched back then, insisting on eloping with Cao Meiying?
Now he had made himself neither man nor ghost, and even dragged Chuntao down to suffer this humiliation. Wang Jieshi's eyes turned red, but not a single tear would come.
"Jieshi, what are you standing here for?" Liu Cuilan came bustling back.
After lunch, while Wang Xiaohong was taking food to Chuntao, she and Wang Haichao had seized the moment to have another go on that rickety wooden bed.
Afterwards, they even lazed in bed for a nap before leisurely heading to the fields.
When she reached the field, she saw the lunch pail still on the ridge. The food inside was stone cold, but there was no sign of Chuntao or Wang Xiaohong.
Liu Cuilan stood in the field and shouted a couple of times. The people working nearby, chipping in one after another, told her what had just happened.
She exploded as soon as she heard. "That shameless hussy! She must have seduced him!"
Fuming with rage, Liu Cuilan was about to go to Zhou Dana's house to find her when someone said Chuntao had been helped away by Xiaohong. Only then did she turn back home, disgruntled.
Meanwhile, Chuntao was lying in bed. Wang Xiaohong had cooked her a bowl of rice porridge with beaten egg.
"Sister-in-law, have a little, just to settle your stomach!" But the bitterness in Chuntao's heart had already filled her belly to the brim; she couldn't eat a single bite.
With a bang, Liu Cuilan pushed the door open and stormed in, yelling at the top of her voice, "Such a busy time, and you're still lying in bed playing dead? Get up and get to the fields right now!"
"My sister-in-law isn't well. Let her rest. I'll do the work in the fields!" Wang Xiaohong's face also darkened.
"Not well? Looks like laziness to me!" Liu Cuilan sneered, spittle flying. "Why didn't Zhou Ergan bully anyone else, just you? Flies don't go for a crack-free egg. You must have been improper yourself, seducing him! Causing nothing but trouble all day, such a disgrace!"
Hearing this, tears of grievance welled up in Chuntao's eyes. She abruptly turned over, facing the wall.
Having kept an empty bed for four years, she had always conducted herself properly, without a single improper thought. Yet the village gossip about her never ceased.
Now that she had been wronged, Liu Cuilan didn't curse Zhou Ergan, but instead cursed her for being improper.
The words cut her heart like a knife. The tears could no longer be held back, streaming down from the corners of her eyes, soaking the pillowcase.
"Sister-in-law, drink the porridge. I'll go to the fields first." Wang Xiaohong turned and glared at Liu Cuilan. "My sister-in-law isn't going to the fields today. She's resting at home! Let's go, to work!"
She planted herself in the room. If Liu Cuilan didn't leave, she wouldn't either.
Looking at Wang Xiaohong, Liu Cuilan was so angry her lungs felt about to explode, but she could only swallow it. When the family divided property later, she still wanted this girl to stay with her. She couldn't make things too tense, otherwise, with this girl's temper, if she really refused, there would be nothing Liu Cuilan could do.
Liu Cuilan didn't say another word and turned to leave. Wang Xiaohong urged Chuntao a couple more times before following her out.
Chuntao huddled in the corner of the bed. It felt as if all the blood in her body had frozen. Even her breathing carried shards of ice, cutting her throat raw.
The terrifying scene in the cornfield, the strange looks from the villagers, replayed over and over in her mind.
Zhou Dana said he would see justice done for her, make Zhou Ergan confess at the village meeting. But how was she supposed to face the pointing fingers of the entire village?
Meanwhile, at Zhou Dana's house.
Zhou Ergan's head was roughly wrapped with a few circles of cloth, blood still seeping out faintly. He sat on a stool, cursing and grumbling.
"Brother, you really want me to confess at the meeting? And dock my relief grain and fertilizer? How am I supposed to live after this?"
Zhou Dana squatted on the ground, smoking his long pipe. The pipe bowl made a pat-a-pat sound. His face was so dark it seemed water could drip from it.
"What else can we do? Zhou Zhijun is watching this matter. If we don't handle it this way, do you think he'll let you off? Besides, the filthy thing you did—if we don't punish you, how can we appease public anger?"
"Appease public anger?" Zhou Ergan's eyes widened, his tone venomous. "Zhou Zhijun is no good man either! He's been carrying on with Li Chuntao for a long time. Otherwise, why would he protect her like this?"
Before he could finish, Zhou Dana knocked his pipe forcefully against the sole of his shoe with loud bang sounds.
"Shut up! Even now you show no remorse! Go and make your confession properly tonight. Don't cause me any more trouble!"
But how could Zhou Ergan swallow this anger? He stole a glance at Zhou Zhaodi standing to the side.
This whole mess today was stirred up by Zhou Zhaodi.
He had long harbored improper thoughts about Li Chuntao, just never found the right opportunity.
At noon today, Zhou Zhaodi came back from the north field and went straight to find him. Winking and hinting, she said, "Uncle, Li Chuntao is all alone in the north field. Aren't you going to take a look?"
Zhou Ergan perked up immediately upon hearing this, trotting all the way to the north field. Sure enough, he saw Chuntao alone. His lustful courage instantly swelled.
Who would have thought that Li Chuntao, usually so soft and gentle, would dare hit him with a rock? And to be caught red-handed by Zhou Zhijun of all people!
The most infuriating thing was that his own brother, the village Party secretary, actually listened to Zhou Zhijun and wanted to punish him like this!
"Zhaodi, if it weren't for your instigation today, I wouldn't be in this mess!" Zhou Ergan said resentfully.
Zhou Dana's brows furrowed so tightly they could crush a fly. "What do you mean? You did a rotten thing yourself and now want to pin it on someone else?"
Zhou Ergan, unconvinced, recounted exactly how Zhou Zhaodi had come to him at noon.
Zhou Zhaodi didn't try to hide it either. Her dark, plump face twisted, and she sneered, "Li Chuntao is just a loose woman, playing at being some chaste martyr? If Zhou Zhijun weren't carrying on with her, why would he protect her like that?"
Zhou Dana shot her a fierce glare and scolded, "You can eat nonsense, but you can't talk nonsense! It's one thing to say it in front of me today, but if you dare spout such rubbish again later, see if I don't tear your mouth shut!"
He said this, but in his heart, he began to have doubts.
Zhou Zhijun had been helping the Wang family for four years, showing not the slightest interest in Liu Cuilan. What was he after? Could he really have something going on with Li Chuntao?
"She's just a fox spirit..." Zhou Zhaodi gritted her teeth, muttering defiantly.
Nightfall slowly descended, and wisps of cooking smoke rose from the rooftops of every house.
The loudspeaker at the village entrance suddenly crackled to life, and the voice of the village Party secretary, Zhou Dana, echoed throughout the settlement, "Attention all households! There's a big meeting tonight at the brigade headquarters. Everyone be there on time!"
Chun Tao sat in the inner room. Hearing the footsteps of villagers heading towards the brigade headquarters outside the courtyard, her heart crept into her throat, her palms slick with sweat.
Wang Xiaohong was also worried. "Sister-in-law, let's not go," she said. "It'll be a crowd at the meeting, all sorts of talk. Who knows what nasty things people might say."
But Liu Cuilan wouldn't hear of it. She grabbed Chun Tao's arm and pulled her towards the door. "Go! We must go! You need to prove your innocence at the meeting, otherwise our whole family will be disgraced because of you!"
"She's frail. That chaotic scene at the brigade headquarters... she can't handle it."
A cold, stern male voice suddenly came from the courtyard. "If anyone really asks, just say I told her to stay home and recuperate. I'll take full responsibility for anything!"
Hearing the voice, Liu Cuilan's grip on Chun Tao's arm instantly froze.
Chun Tao looked up. Peering through a broken hole in the window paper, she caught a glimpse of that tall figure in the yard, and her heart gave a violent thump...
