flawed

Chapter 70 6 years old

Yao Huilan gets married in spring.

The peach blossoms all over the slopes in the village bloom into patches of pink mist, reflecting the petal-like face of a bride.Qi Nuliang has never seen a girl so beautiful, and he has never been so sad.

Cars tied with flowers and ribbons lined up on the side of the road to pick up the relatives and friends who came and went laughed.His father went to join in the fun with two packs of candy. Old Uncle Yao looked down on his father's cheap gift, but he was not easy to push people away because of his affection, so he could only deal with his compliments with a cold face.

Qi Nuliang also took this opportunity to squeeze through the crowd and arrived in front of Yao Huilan's room.Only then did he realize that among the group of happy people, he was not the only one who was sad.

Yao Huilan, with pink face and red lips, and a golden headdress, sat on the bedside and wiped her tears. Aunt Yao and three aunts and six wives surrounded her to persuade her.

"Don't cry, look at the ostentation outside, my uncle is already here and waiting, it's bad luck after the time has passed."

"It's not for you to suffer, but for you to enjoy the blessings. It's not good for a girl to be so stubborn. When you come to your husband's house, your character will suffer."

"That's right. Besides, there's nothing wrong with the new son-in-law. He's a good-looking man, and he's from the city. He also has a solid job in the factory. If you marry him, you're from the city."

That man, Qi Nuliang, has also seen him before. He is tall and not ugly, but his red nose and gray eyes make people not like him.Even if Xiaolan couldn't marry him, he didn't like her marrying such a person.

But he can't control anything, let alone the man is from the city, has a good job, and the most important thing is that he gave a staggering gift.The last point is the news that has been talked about in the village recently, accompanied by some envy and hatred.

Her arms couldn't hold her thighs, and the parents had already collected the dowry money, so the girl had to get married.

Everyone surrounded Yao Huilan to go out, and Qi Nuliang stood in the middle of the gate, like a dog blocking the way.

Yao Huilan passed through the crowd, beckoned him, and then took out a red envelope from her bag and gave it to him.On the square red paper seal is a gold-plated "囍" character.

A child in his teens, dressed in shabby clothes, stood like a patch among a group of well-dressed guests.He lowered his head and grabbed the hem of his clothes with both hands, neither reaching out nor moving.

"Do you think it's too little? Then sister will give you another one."

Yao Huilan took out four or five of them one after another, and the people around him also began to scold him, telling him to get out of the way quickly with the red envelope.

The boy is like a silent stone.

Yao Huilan was also in a hurry, the tears she had stopped just now couldn't stop shedding, her voice sobbing: "Ah Liang, what are you doing, get out of the way..."

The person next to him shouted: "Who's kid, this ignorant person, come and pull him away."

A boy who has not grown up can't be a stone blocking the way, at best, he can only be a stone, which is gently kicked away.

On the day of her wedding, Yao Huilan's tears seemed to be a bad omen. After only a few months of marriage, she ran back crying and complained to her parents, saying that Jiang Minggui beat her.

Jiang Minggui came the next day.After he came, some quarrels and low-key calls for peace broke out in the Yao family from time to time.

On the third day, the Jiang family's parents also came, and the Yao family's quarrel became much quieter.In the evening, Yao Huilan also left with the Jiang family.

But this is not the end, this is just the beginning.

Since then, she ran back to her natal family again and again, and was taken away by the Jiang family again and again, from being alone, to holding her belly, to holding the baby, to leading the youngest son.

In Qi Nuliang's memory, the clearest thing is that Yao Huilan looks like a girl at home.He always couldn't remember what she looked like after she got married, and it was only later that he realized that since then, he didn't dare to look at her face carefully.When facing her, his eyes always fall on her protruding belly and the baby's white and tender face after the birth.

But that face is still deep in his memory, no matter how long it takes, like an indelible pain.

Her waterfall-like long hair had been cut long ago, and the short stubble couldn't cover her ears. Her eyeballs were swollen, her cheeks were swollen, and her face and body were bruised from time to time.I don't know when it started, but she always wears a pair of sunglasses, covering most of her unclear face.

It was a kind of disintegration, like the white porcelain vase was smashed, and then the porcelain pieces were forcibly bonded together with cement, and it was still able to maintain the human shape.

It is very common for men to beat women and men to beat children in the village.

At first, when she returned to her natal family, her natal family also scolded and warned Jiang Minggui, but as time went on and the number of times increased, her numbness started from getting used to it.They began to persuade her to temper her temper a little more and obey her man more.When these persuasions didn't work, the indifference turned into boredom, and he began to blame her for being ashamed of going back to her mother's house every two days.

She ran back again.

Qi Nuliang hit a wild duck with a slingshot from the river bank downstream of the river at the head of the village.In autumn, wild ducks are fat and have bright coat colors, which are more beautiful than domestic shelducks.He was walking back with the duck, and along the way someone asked him if the duck was for sale, and he shook his head.

He was going to give it to Yao Huilan, maybe it would make her feel better.

The last time she came back, he went to the back mountain to dig a bag of fresh lilies for her.Originally, she was asked to take it home to eat, but she said that she had planted it, and the flowers were fragrant and beautiful, and she liked it very much.

Qi Nuliang was standing in front of Yao's house with a duck in his hand.In broad daylight, the door of the main room was closed tightly, and there was a quarrel inside, accompanied by the howling of children.

He listened outside the door for a while, and he understood that Yao Huilan was going to get a divorce, but her parents refused to let her, saying that she was crazy and out of her mind, that the children were already so old, and that she was living a happy life, so why divorce.He also said that if she insisted on leaving, she would die outside and don't come back to make a fool of herself.

The door opened with a "bang", and Yao Huilan rushed out, running in a burst.

Qi Nuliang hurried to catch up, shouting while chasing, but Yao Huilan didn't stop, attracting many people along the way.She ran to the river at the head of the village, without any hesitation, she just jumped down in a daze.

The river is not deep, and the current is not too fast, but it is enough to drown a person. Every summer, people drown in this river.

Qi Nuliang was scared out of his wits, and dropped the duck in his hand, and Sa Yazi jumped down after him, and grabbed Yao Huilan's hand before she sank to the bottom of the river.

All of a sudden, the villagers who called for help surrounded her, and everyone worked together to fish her up.

He was rescued in time, only choked on some water, and his life was not hindered.But for those who have come this far, something has died in their hearts.

Qi Nuliang carried the woman back to his home.

She sat in his house, didn't take a sip of hot water, didn't change the dripping clothes on her body, just stared at a certain point without moving.

Qi Nuliang moved the coal stove in the house to her side, and advised: "Xiao Lan, don't seek death."

She rolled her eyes, and it took a while to focus. Looking at Qi Nuliang, her pale lips trembled with cold: "Ah Liang, you shouldn't save me. Death is a kind of relief for me."

He didn't speak, he carried the quilt from home and wrapped it around Yao Huilan, but she threw it away with a twist of his arm.

"Leave me alone?"

"You have Xiao Yu."

"Someone will raise him."

"When he grows up, he will also blame you for leaving him...I now blame my mother for leaving me in the first place."

This sentence made the dead part of Yao Huilan come back to life, and she felt grief, pain, and infinite nostalgia for her child.In an instant, tears broke the embankment, and the sound of wailing came from the roof of Qi's house.

Not long after, Uncle Yao came over with the child in her arms, and the child was also crying and calling for mother.The mother and son cuddled together, crying together.

Uncle Yao pulled her back, but what her father said was just angry words.Yao Huilan didn't reply, and said that even if she died, she would get a divorce.

The next day, Jiang Minggui came to find him, but Yao's family failed to persuade him, so he found Qi Nuliang's house.

The man's nose was redder and his eyes were cloudier. He drank alcohol before coming here.

Yao Huilan refused to go with him and announced that she was going to divorce him. The two quarreled and he started to fight.

As soon as Qi Nuliang saw the man making a move, he rushed up and wrestled together in an instant.But he is still just a young man, even with Yao Huilan's help, he is no match for the tall and burly Jiang Minggui.

He was knocked down to the ground. The man grabbed Yao Huilan's hair, dragged her out, and scolded as he dragged, "Well, let me tell you why you keep running to your mother's house and don't live in peace with me. The man is hooked, dog, see if I don't beat you to death today."

Yao Huilan pressed her scalp, picked his hands, and said through gritted teeth, "Okay, if you have the ability, you can beat me to death in front of your son today. As long as I have breath, I will divorce you, a scumbag."

Yao's parents also rushed over, one went to hold Jiang Minggui's hand, and the other persuaded Yao Huilan to stop talking, and the two were in a hurry.

The man's cloudy eyes turned blood red, he kicked Yao's father to the ground, and continued to drag her out: "Son? Now we can see if it's my kind."

For a moment, Yao's mother cursed, Yao's father moaned, and the child cried.

Jiang Yu, who was not yet four years old, ran up, hugged the man's leg, and cried, "Don't hit mom... don't hit mom..."

Just as he was walking to the door, the man lifted his leg, and the child on his lap rolled onto the dam along a few stone steps outside the threshold.I don't know where it fell, but it was not a light fall, and the child suddenly cried loudly.

Yao Huilan went mad with anger, like a lioness protecting her cub, she scratched Jiang Minggui's face with her backhand, and there were several blood marks on the man's face.

The man felt the pain and let her go briefly.Yao Huilan wanted to jump over to see the child, but was grabbed by the hair again.

"Jiang Minggui, you are not a person, you are a beast, let me go..."

The man grabbed her hair and slammed her head against the earthen wall... once, twice... The sound of "dong dong dong" made people's teeth chill.

"...Bastard, let me go...Xiao Yu...Xiao Yu..."

Blood gushed out of Yao Huilan's nasal cavity, and her voice gradually weakened.

Yao's mother screamed and came up to grab the man's hand, but was pushed away.

Enduring the pain, Qi Nuliang stood up and wiped his nosebleed, tried to open his bloodshot eyes, and saw the shovel leaning against the courtyard wall from the red mist...

With a muffled sound, Jiang Minggui let go of Yao Huilan's hand, and his whole body went limp, rolling from the stone steps onto the dam, lying flat, twitching non-stop.The whites of those cloudy eyes rolled, there was a snoring sound in his throat, and veins popped out of his forehead.

But soon, he calmed down, his ugliness and rage disappeared, and his calm and peaceful appearance was completely different from just now.On the ground where his head rested, black and red blood spread.

Everyone fell silent, even Jiang Yu stopped crying.

Yao Huilan quickly got up to pick up the child and hid his face in her chest.

Mother Yao crawled towards the man lying on the ground, looked at him, and put her trembling hand in front of his nose.

After a breath, the color on her face faded, and her whole body trembled like chaff.

"He... he seems to be out of breath."

That year, Qi Nuliang was 16 years old.