Warning: Dark arc ahead, a little rap* description
There was no city bustling, and in this quiet village, there were only three or five groups of sparrows chirping, and a couple of domestic big yellow dogs barking when strangers passed by.
This one was not a very wealthy village. There were many small bungalows with half adobe and half brick everywhere, and some houses were in poor condition. All the houses’ walls piled up with cow dung wrapped in the mud. The roofs were heaped with straw and tree sticks. When it was a rainy day, you had to endure the water leakage at home.
Every yard in front of each house hung with racks. Some planted with pumpkins, some with loofahs, vine fruits climbed all over it. There were all kinds of fruits and vegetables growing nearby. It was verdant and lush, and it added some vitality to these old, dilapidated houses that the city did not have.
What a beautiful place!
Yan Chu stood on the muddy road not far from the village with a climbing stick and carried his half-person climbing bag, and his expression was inexplicable.
“This little brother, what you come to our village for?”
An older man with white hair and a crutch looked at Yan Chu with a kind face but a little vigilance in his eyes.
The older man was not tall and had a hunched back. Standing not far away from Yan Chu, he barely reached the height of his chest. His face was rugosity and had old age spots, cloudy eyes, slightly yellowing teeth, and dressed in a washed white sweater and big underpants. He was the image of an ordinary older man in a mountain village.
“Uncle, I’m going to see the sunrise on the mountain. But I don’t know if there’s anyone in this village who can let me sleep for a night. I’ll give them money.”
Yan Chu’s current image was a tall, thin, black-framed young man with a climbing bag, a climbing stick, and a standard climber.
The Wude Village was a very deprived one, also one of the nation’s key poverty alleviation targets. But after all, now the economy was remarkably developed, science and technology very advanced. Even such a poor village in the deep forests of old mountains also pulled the electric wire. In this village with more than 30 households, only two houses bought a small color TV. Every night the others that did not have TV would go to those two who had both to watch TV and news. They knew the frequent backpackers in news reports too.
“Just you alone?”
The older man hunched over and asked Yan Chu.
“Yes, just me.” Yan Chu smiled, with a straightforward big boy that seemed harmless to people and animals.
“The weather isn’t good these two days. Especially tonight it’s going to rain. If Little Brother wanted to see the sunrise, I’m afraid you can’t.” The older man’s vigilance to him was much smaller after hearing that he was alone.
Their village was relatively partial. However, because deep in the mountains, sometimes every few days, many city children, who had nothing to do, would eat their fill and explore the mountains.
Those people were generous, they only gave them 100 Yuan for a night, and if they ate, they added 30 for each meal. It was tremendous extra income for a mountain person with a per capita annual income of 2,000.
Before, the mountain people were wary of those who came to the village, and later on, found that they genuinely only came to play. As a result, the villagers often stared at those strange guests, but they did not feel beleaguered as before.
This elderly had only one son in his family, so the people at the house were not many. He had made up two spare rooms in his home, painted the limestone walls, and rented them out to the city people who came to play in the mountains.
His son was already forty years old this year. Because the mountains were poor, other village girls were not willing to marry into this ravine. He had to save money for his son and buy a daughter-in-law.
The Liu family and the Huang family’s daughter-in-law were pretty good in their village. They had given birth to several grandchildren. Later on, after he saved enough money, he would try to find the daughter-in-law seller, Lai San, where the Liu family and the Huang family bought a university girl. From hearsay, the gene of this kind of girl’s child was proper. These words could not go wrong.
The older man thought that he would save enough money in a short time. He smiled kindly and looked at Yan Chu more softly.
“Is it going to rain? The weather forecast didn’t write it either?”
Yan Chu was like a young man who had just entered society. He was very insecure, touched his nose, and said, “Uncle, how about like this? I’ll stay in the village for a few more days. This can’t keep raining, right?”
“I came to shoot the sunrise, and your village’s slant is soaring. I climbed the mountain alone for nearly two hours. I’m too lazy to go down the mountain and come back when the weather is fine. You can rest assured, I brought money. Anyway, before I went out, my parents said your village collected local cultural materials. The return time is uncertain. So they won’t be anxious either.”
Yan Chu held up the camera hanging in front of his neck. He looked like a fool with money coming quickly.
“That alright, but people in our village don’t like taking pictures. You have to wait for the weather to get better to shoot at sunrise. You aren’t allowed to rouse disturbance in the village. Otherwise, if found out, you’ll be driven out.”
The older man smiled. The farmers had their way to see the weather. By looking at this day, there was no problem with two or three days of heavy rain. On the other hand, to add the food expenses like this, he made four or five hundred more revenue in a flash.
“Oh.”
Yan Chu agreed with a sound and followed the older adult to his house.
When he left, he looked at the big stone tablet at the entrance of the village. The three characters of Wude Village written on it were unquestionably black. In the slightly gloomy weather, there unexpectedly was a faint red light.
Five Virtues—loyalty, filial piety, propriety, righteousness, and benevolence-
Hehe!
“Oldman Gen, is the young man who lives in your house well?”
In the village’s most luxurious cyan-brick and grey-tile courtyards, several old and young people from several communities sat together, looking a little solemn.
“He hasn’t been out all night except at mealtime. I’ve always watched him quite attentively.” Said Oldman Gen, who was the older adult that Yan Chu met when he came to the village, to the middle-aged man sitting opposite him.
“Hm, you pay more attention to him. I don’t know whether it’s the weather or something these past few days, my eyelids have been twitching, I feel restless.”
The middle-aged man, Lin Youde, was the village head of Wude Village. He rubbed his forehead and said with a sad face.
His physique was extraordinarily robust, 1,9 meter tall, a lump of meat from head to foot, a fierce-looking face, looked like a very not to be trifled with character. He was not only the village head but was also the hegemony in this village. The village’s youths followed him blindly. Because of him, people in other mountain villages were afraid to fight with them. In dividing the mountain forest land, they took a lot of advantage.
That was why Lin Youde’s prestige in the village was particularly high, no less than those of the older generations.
“Brother, are you not being scared by that little skinny girl, right?”
Others were afraid of Lin Youde, but Lin Youde’s younger brother was not necessarily to fear him. Lin Youcai and his older brother did not look like they were born from the same womb. His body was extraordinarily thin, a grown man with barely 1,6 meter tall, ugly, a vulgar face kind.
In this village, Lin Youde was the great hegemony, and Lin Youcai was the second one. They were twins. It estimated that Lin Youde absorbed too many nutrients in their mother’s womb, resulting in Lin Youcai almost not having the necessities of life several times in childhood. The Lin family often told the eldest son that this was what he owed his younger brother, so he must take care of his younger brother in the future.
Lin Youde listened to his mother’s words very much, and he truly loved his younger brother very dearly. No one could go beyond Lin Youcai. His younger brother laughed at him, and Lin Youde was not angry at all.
“Bah, I, your father, will be frightened by that little skinny girl. That to say, she isn’t very understanding. Oldman Zhang’s three sons already slept with her. Why can’t I, your father, sleep with her? Dare to beat I, your father, f*** off!”
Lin Youde spat on the side, touched the scab on his face, there was still a white mark on his face. He remembered what happened that day.
Their village was comparably poor. It was quite rare for girls from other ones who were willing to marry, but their village’s older generation was old-fashioned. They were unwilling to let their sons and daughters-in-law go outside to work, scared they would never come back, and nobody to provide for them.
Gradually, the source of the village’s daughters-in-law was no longer the common marriage, but through the outside children traffickers, to buy a daughter-in-law.
Usually, a big young virgin girl, the demanded term was 30,000. The slept-off ones were discounted to 25,000. For better-looking or college students, the price would be higher. The current most expensive daughter-in-law in the village was the Old Zhang’s daughter-in-law that Lin Youde’s mouth mentioned just a moment ago.
The Zhang family had to spend their hard-earned savings to buy that girl. It cost 50,000 Yuan.
Initially, Oldman Zhang was unwilling to buy her. Their family had to pay more than 30,000 Yuan in total. Where could they afford such an expensive daughter-in-law? Oldman Zhang had three sons, the eldest son was 36, and the second son was 33 this year with the youngest was only 21. It estimated that his mother was too old when he was born. His brain was not functioning well, saliva and snot flowed down every day, only known to stare at the daughter-in-law’s buttocks and breasts. It was disgusting.
But who let the girl Lai San bring this time to belong to the most good-looking girl? Her skin was whiter than tofu, and her big watery eyes were a rare sight. That girl was still quite young and seemed only 16 or 17 years old. But it did not matter. Such a big girl could already have children in the village.
Many families in the village who wanted to buy a daughter-in-law were interested in that girl. But Lai San’s asking price was too high. Later, the three sons of Old Zhang wanted this girl. It estimated that the older man would not have money to buy a daughter-in-law for the second and the third son because their family was poor. They, the three brothers, merely wanted a wife.
That girl was excellent-looking that they recognized her even if she was a shared wife.
Oldman Zhang thought it was the same thing. It was his sons anyway, all to be born was also his grandchildren. So he gritted his teeth, spent a lot of money, including the insufficient more than 10,000 Yuan, which he borrowed from Lin Youde.
Lin Youde also liked that girl. He lent money to Old Zhang’s family on a request, that was when the three sons of their family slept with the girl, he could also sleep with her. So with this kind of promise, he lent the money.
Oldman Zhang and his three sons discussed it and agreed.
The villagers did not know what the girl’s name was. The girl was stubborn. After being sold to the village by traffickers, she begged them to let her go, and her family would give them a lot of money but did not say anything else. She knew that they would not let her go afterward, only days full of hardship and cursing.
They called her the Zhang family’s daughter-in-law. On the wedding day, the girl tied up, the whole village heard her shrill cry, and it lasted all night until her voice grew hoarse and could not be heard anymore.
All the daughters-in-law brought into the village became like this. For the villagers, they had been used to it. As long as they had children, they would take root in there. It was not only in their ones but also at the foot of the mountain, many families who could not afford a daughter-in-law were also looking for those acquaintances to buy them. Such a closed small county town was full of relatives. Everyone knew about buying the daughters-in-law matter. Whoever ran around to buy a daughter-in-law, everyone would help to recruit people.
As long as they guarded the bus stop in the county, sooner or later, there would be a day to find someone.
Finding out one had beaten up, and the women became more numb as they failed to escape repeatedly.
More than three months ago, Lin Youde went to see Oldman Zhang’s son the day after he got married. Old Zhang did not dare to repudiate, so he asked his son to send him over. Who knew when he saw his daughter-in-law again, she was already a cold corpse.
Lin Youde said that the girl started to grab and scratched his face. He got angry and pushed her, who would have imagined that her head hit the cabinet on the Kang79Kanga heatable brick bed? Her blood rushed to the ground and immediately died.
The daughter-in-law bought at a high price was gone. Oldman Zhang and his three sons certainly would not do it. But who let Lin Youde be the local tyrant of this village? Finally, after discussing it, Lin Youde would help them to buy a daughter-in-law next time Lai San came. Of course, they could not get the best one, and then they did not have to pay back the money they borrowed before.
Old Zhang’s family recognized these pent-up unspoken grievances. That night, a group of men threw the girl’s body into the mountains, where there were wolves, allowing the beasts to shred her corpse into pieces, and then pretended a facade that the newly bought daughter-in-law was runaway stealthy and attacked by livestock.
They were the only ones who knew about Lin Youde’s murder.
Oldman Gen did not know this, only just that the girl died when she stealthily ran away into the deep in the mountains after Lin Youde slept with her. After listening to Lin Youcai and Lin Youde’s jokes, he just smiled.
“Nevertheless, let her go as soon as possible, okay? After a while, Lai San should deliver new goods.”
Lin Youde did not believe in supernatural beings. If there were ghosts, those women who committed suicide after they bought them in the early years should have come to them for revenge, and now their village was not living well.
In the final analysis, that girl did not know how to behave. She did not lie down when being slept on by several people. Foolish and unreasonable, she deserved to die.
“You can rest assured that on rainy days Lai San won’t take people up the mountain. After that, it’s time to see the sunrise. When the weather cleared up, he would leave after taking photos. He won’t be able to touch Lai San.”
Oldman Gen smiled innocently, showing a mouthful of yellow teeth.
The people on the side also laughed. Lai San came, meaning that the village had new daughters-in-law. Were daughters-in-law far away from having grandchildren? The village’s incense had already passed down from generation to generation. They had the face to see their ancestors when they were dead.
