The two of them, hearing that agonized cry, were both startled into stopping in their tracks.
Then, from inside the melon shed, came a woman's voice choked with tears.
"Ah... you damnable scoundrel, who did you learn this from? Are you trying to ruin me?"
"I didn't know it would end up like this... those bastards said it would be fun... I just wanted you to enjoy it too...
Don't move, just bear with it a little..."
The voices of the man and woman in the melon shed belonged to none other than Wang Haichao and Liu Cuilan.
Their voices weren't loud, but they were clear. Chuntao could tell they were doing that, but the more she listened, the more confused she became.
Between a man and a woman, besides that way, what other way could there be?
When they did it at home, she had never heard anything like this. Why was it so painful this time?
Chuntao had never experienced that herself. Even if she racked her brains, she couldn't figure out what other tricks could be played besides that way.
Wang Xiaohong, a young unmarried woman, was even more clueless. She resented her mother for being with the good-for-nothing Wang Haichao, but she was still her mother after all.
Hearing her mother's pained moans, she violently shook off Chuntao's hand and charged into the melon shed. When she saw the scene inside, she was dumbstruck, her little face flushing deep purple.
Wang Haichao and Liu Cuilan were both naked. Wang Haichao was crouched over, looking inside...
"You... what are you... doing..." Wang Xiaohong shouted.
Wang Haichao and Liu Cuilan were also frozen in shock. When Liu Cuilan came to her senses, she hurriedly covered herself with clothes.
"Get out! Get out now!" she yelled at Wang Xiaohong, but her voice was noticeably weaker than usual.
Wang Haichao scrambled to grab his clothes and pull them on. "Xiaohong, you keep watch here. I'm going to borrow some fire tongs!"
He rushed out of the melon shed while still fastening his belt.
Chuntao quickly hid on the other side of the shed, but he still saw her. He didn't say a word, just hurried off toward the village.
What on earth had happened? Chuntao's heart was pounding with anxiety. After all, that was her mother-in-law, but she was caught in a dilemma.
Liu Cuilan claimed Chuntao had jinxed Wang Jieshi into running away. She had disliked her from the very first day she married into the family, always nitpicking and finding fault with everything she did.
Just as Chuntao was at a loss for what to do, Wang Xiaohong came running out of the melon shed, her face and neck flushed bright red.
"Sister-in-law!" she cried out, her chest heaving violently.
From inside the shed came more of Liu Cuilan's pained groans. Chuntao didn't dare ask what was wrong, afraid Liu Cuilan would hear and start cursing her again.
Wang Xiaohong went up and grabbed her hand, saying tearfully, "Sister-in-law, what should we do?"
Hearing this, Chuntao's heart leaped into her throat, but she still didn't dare ask for details.
Chuntao could only comfort Wang Xiaohong. "It's alright. He went to get something, didn't he?"
Not many households in the village burned coal briquettes. Only Old Zhang's family on the west side of the village did so every winter, and only they had fire tongs.
Before long, Wang Haichao came running back with a pair of rusty fire tongs. He glanced at Chuntao and Wang Xiaohong standing outside and went into the melon shed.
Soon, even more agonized moans came from inside. "Wang Haichao, you bastard! Do you want to kill me?"
"Don't move..."
"What if the bulb breaks?"
"Ah... stop... get off..."
Listening to Liu Cuilan's cries of pain, Wang Xiaohong clenched the fabric of Chuntao's clothes tighter and tighter, her knuckles turning white.
Wang Xiaohong was usually feisty and fearless, but she was still just a child. Faced with this situation, she was terribly frightened, tears streaming down her face.
"Sister-in-law, what should we do?"
From their conversation, Chuntao finally understood...
This man was utterly shameless, to actually do such a thing. He wasn't treating Liu Cuilan like a human being!
She thought this to herself but couldn't say it out loud. She just kept comforting Wang Xiaohong. "It'll be alright..."
But they struggled until midnight. The people who had gone to bathe had all returned home one by one, and still they hadn't managed to get it out. Liu Cuilan's moans grew fainter and fainter, until finally there was no sound at all.
Wang Haichao was also exhausted, sitting on the ground without a word.
"What are you sitting there for? Hurry up and take my mother to the commune clinic!" Wang Xiaohong shouted at him, wishing she could kick him a few times to vent her anger.
In the dead of night, he didn't want to go to the clinic. He planned to find the village's barefoot doctor, Zhao Qingjiang, but he was also afraid the villagers would find out and laugh at him.
Under Wang Xiaohong's urging, he finally got Liu Cuilan onto a flatbed cart and called a few of his brothers to go with him to the commune clinic. Wang Xiaohong, worried, went along too.
There were cows, pigs, and over a dozen hens at home that couldn't be left unattended, so Chuntao stayed behind to mind the house.
Wangjia Village was over ten li from the commune. By the time the group delivered Liu Cuilan to the clinic, it was almost dawn.
In those days, the clinic had no night shift. They waited in the courtyard for the doctors to arrive for work at daybreak.
Wang Haichao had five brothers; he was the eldest. Before he got involved with Liu Cuilan, his family had four bachelors. Only the youngest brother had gone to another village to become a live-in son-in-law.
The ones who came with him were his three bachelor brothers: the second brother, Wang Haihu; the third brother, Wang Hailong; and the fourth brother, Wang Haibao.
Wang Haichao sat slumped against the wall, head hanging. The three bachelors, who had never known a woman's touch, were burning with curiosity. They huddled around him, asking for the specifics.
"What happened? I was fooled by those no-good scoundrels. They gave me a light bulb, said it would be fun..." Wang Haichao's tone was oddly calm, as if he wasn't worried at all.
Hearing this, the others grew even more interested, lewd smiles appearing on their faces. "Big brother, how exactly do you play with it? Tell us..."
"Shut your filthy mouths!" Liu Cuilan was in such a state, and they were still saying such shameless things. Wang Xiaohong couldn't take it anymore and yelled at them.
They were startled. Wang Haibao said sheepishly, "You're such a fierce girl. Be careful no one will marry you!"
Wang Xiaohong grabbed a clod of dirt from the ground and hurled it at him!
Back to Chuntao. After they had left with the cart, she went to the outhouse and then prepared to close the gate and go to sleep.
Just then, Zhou Zhijun walked over, hands clasped behind his back.
"Where did Xiaohong and the others go?" Chuntao's heart immediately leaped into her throat. Remembering what happened in the melon shed last night, her chest felt like a heavy stone was pressing down on it again.
"They... they didn't go anywhere?" She didn't dare tell the truth, afraid Zhou Zhijun would take advantage of her without restraint.
She hung her head, her slight frame trembling faintly.
Seeing her so frightened, Zhou Zhijun softened his voice a little. "Last night's business... I... did I scare you?
Tao, these years, I've seen how hard your life has been... Wang Jieshi is a bastard... to abandon such a good wife..."
His voice grew colder, the last sentence sharp as an icicle in the dead of winter. "If he ever comes back, I'll break his legs!"
Chuntao wanted to escape quickly. She said in a low voice, "Uncle Zhijun, I... I'm going back inside..."
Zhou Zhijun looked at her. "Go on. Bolt the door well!"
He had just turned around when he heard a voice as faint as a mosquito's hum. "Uncle Zhijun, wait!"
Zhou Zhijun turned back and saw she was clutching something in her hand!
"Here, you eat it yourself!" She extended the object in her hand toward him.
It was a boiled egg, the very one Zhou Zhijun had given her that morning when she returned from fetching water.
Zhou Zhijun's face darkened slightly. He did not take the egg. Instead, he grabbed her hand in a tight grip.
"Chuntao, I... I fancy you!"
He was a rough, lonely man who had never known a woman's touch. Facing the young woman he had yearned for over four long years, he could hold back no longer.
For four years, he had thought of her every single moment—wanting to hold her in his arms and cherish her, wanting her to hold her head high, to live with dignity, to laugh with genuine joy.
Chuntao was terrified, her whole body tensing up. She struggled to break free in a panic, but it was already too late.
Zhou Zhijun was like a ravenous wolf that had gone too long without the scent of prey. He half-dragged, half-pulled her into the room and kicked the door shut with his foot.
"Chuntao, I adore you, I want to treat you right... I won't let you lie in an empty bed anymore..."
