Chirp, chirp, chirp!
Chirp, chirp, chirp!
Was that the sound of a bird chirping?
The first thing Li Yang was aware of when she regained consciousness was the distant sound of a bird chirping.
Slowly opening her eyes, she looked around the room in confusion. The whole roof was supported by three horizontal beams, with thin rafters interlaced on top.
The walls around were not whitewashed plaster, but were made of loess bricks that could crumble.
Where was she? Hadn't she just passed out from drinking too much?
She still remembered the taste of alcohol filling her mouth and nose before she fainted. At that moment, she thought, she was surely going to die.
But she didn't? However, where was this place?
“Mom, Li Yang isn't dead, hurry up and inform Liu's family to bring a goat and take her away!”
Just as Li Yang was pondering, suddenly a joyful shout echoed from above, followed closely by footsteps disappearing outside.
It was a girl's voice.
Li Yang felt startled, what does she mean by saying she's not dead? What's with the Liu family and a goat?
She wanted to get up and see what was going on, and who had run out just now, but unfortunately, she had barely moved when she realized she was tied up completely and couldn't move her hands.
What on earth was going on?
With a loud bang, the door was kicked open. Immediately following that, a storm of angry scoldings echoed through the air, "Lili, watch the entrance for your mother. Be careful when your father comes home. If I don’t beat this bitch to death today, I might as well change my lastname to something other than Liu."
In came a woman in her thirties or forties, wearing a navy blue cotton gown and a chin-length bob haircut, an expression of liberation etched across her dark, yellowish skinned face. Her bangs, held up by a black hair clip on the top of her forehead, framed the ferocity in her eyes.
Yet, her appearance was lost on Li Yang.
In her hand, she was holding a duster, rushing towards Li Yang, sleeping on the kang bed with her head towards the edge near the door and started hitting her.
Her name is Liu Cuihua, the mistress of the house.
"I told you to jump into the river, I told you to go kill yourself, why won't you just die? Rescued by some man, being hugged and held – I think you are just lacking a man, aren't you? Aren't you? Im going to beat the life out of you for scaring us like that!”
Cuihua continued berating Li Yang while vigorously hitting Li Yang on the head with the handle of the duster.
Tragically, Li Yang was tied up, unable to move or resist. Before she could even let out a cry, she was beaten till her vision went dark and she passed out.
"Mom, you're not going to kill her, are you? Didn't you just say that once she wakes up, you’d let the Liu family come and take her away?" said Li Lili, who was standing guard at the door for her mother, her voice trembling with fear.
Before Liu Cuihua could comment, a raging voice echoed from the courtyard, it was Li Qingshui, the head of the family, "What did you say? Is your mother hitting Li Yang again?"
In the past, Li Qingshui didn't believe when Li Yang reported that her stepmother had hit her. But just yesterday afternoon, he witnessed his current wife abusing his elder daughter from his previous marriage. Recalling the past incidents when Li Yang complained about her stepmother's abuse and he had blamed her for misunderstanding, he now felt a pang of regret.
"Ah, Dad, you...you're back, no...my mom didn't hit sister!" The fifteen-year-old Lili quickly shouted, informing Liu Cuihua inside the house. She had learned to pretend to have a good relationship with her sister in front of her father.
Upon hearing this, Liu Cuihua quickly shoved the duster under a broken cabinet on the ground, and after making sure there was no blood on Li Yang's face and head, she turned and exited the room.
"My husband, what's going on? Why do you always say I'm hitting YangYang? Do I look like that kind of person? I just came in to see if she was awake. Look, I didn't bring anything with me, what could I have used to hit her? Honestly, you are falsely accusing me.” While saying this, Liu Cuihua even put on an aggrieved look, glaring at Li Qingshui.
Li Qingshui gave her a glance, walked into the room, saw that Li Yang was still unconscious, still tied up, but was well. He snorted coldly, then turned around and walked out, heading back to the main room for a drink.
......
When Li Yang was conscious again, he was overwhelmed by a terrible headache, and at the same time, he found many unfamiliar memories in his mind, as if they came from another person.
After going through these thoughts once, Li Yang was suddenly stunned, and then furious.
He didn't just survive death, he had been somehow transported back after his death to inhabit a young girl, who also happened to be named Li Yang, in the year 1982. This girl had tried to commit suicide by jumping into a river the day before, but was saved. When she woke up, she was him.
And the reason why Li Yang tried to end her life was because her stepsister and stepbrother wanted to eat mutton. Their stepmother, who came from a village where a family raised sheep, had a 36-year-old son who was unmarried. This family was interested in Li Yang and proposed to exchange her marriage for seven sheep.
When the stepmother gave this proposal to her father, Li QingShui, she talked him into it by portraying the Liu family as rich and wealthy, with a bicycle and sewing machine. They could provide a comfortable life for Li Yang. They were even willing to give seven sheep to her family as a dowry.
At this time, a pound of mutton cost nine cents. A sheep could weigh up to 110 pounds, so these seven sheep were worth at least three to four hundred dollars. Therefore, if Li Yang were to marry into the Liu family, the dowry would indeed be generous. Her father, coerced by her insisting stepsiblings and their longing for mutton, finally agreed to the stepmother's proposal.
Her father had momentarily forgotten the rumor that Liu Haikuan, the son of the Liu family, was a notorious ruffian who liked to peep on women from the top of toilet walls.
However, when Li Yang found out about this, she protested to her father who, instead of listening, slapped her, saying "You have to agree even if you don’t want to. It's for your own good," before he went off to the fields.
Her stepmother, in her determination to make her agree, chased her around the house, beating her with a feather duster throughout the morning. She only stopped when Li Yang, covered in bruises, knelt down begging for mercy and reluctantly agreed.
Unfortunately, by noon, Li Yang felt more and more desolate about the future and in a desperate bid to find escape, she jumped into the river while the family was taking their afternoon nap.
With these memories in mind, Li Yang cursed inwardly. Looking around the dark room, she remembered that she was still tied up and needed to focus on freeing herself from the ropes.
Slowly, she moved her legs, turned her body sideways, and made her way to the edge of the concrete bed.
Slowly, she moved her arm over and rubbed it against the edge of the bed.
After more than an hour of grinding, Li Yang finally managed to free herself from the ropes. She got off the bed and immediately felt a wave of dizziness.
She stepped back a few paces, leaning against the half-rotten cabinet door for support. This slight sense of stability allowed her to gently rub her aching scalp. Li Yang found her stepmother to be truly detestable.
However, at the moment, she did not have the luxury of thinking about how to retaliate. She had to consider what she was going to do next.
Her first priority was to dissuade them from selling her for a sheep. Otherwise, if that matter kept troubling her, she would not be able to step out of the house. After all, this was the 198s; people's vicious gossip could drown a person.
Grrr... A lamenting sound echoed from her stomach. She was hungry!
At this time, it was already midnight. Thankfully, the moonlight was bright. By its light, she was able to see the layout of the courtyard. Following her memory, she quietly found the kitchen so that she could find something to eat.
She did not dare to light a lamp, so she groped around in the pitch-dark kitchen, but found nothing except a hard cornmeal bun.
She took a thermos, poured half a bowl of water, and soaked the cornmeal bun in it. After a while, it softened, and she quickly ate it. After wiping the bowl dry and placing it back in the cabinet, she quietly left the kitchen.
Next, she had to find the village head. In this village, the village head and the secretary held the most authority. Only by seeking their help could she save herself and manage her despicable father and stepmother, convincing them to change their minds.
Scared to go back to her room and sleep, she found the village head's house in the dead of night from memory. She sat at his front door, leaning against the doorstep, hugging her knees, holding herself tight, and waiting for the village head to come out when daylight arrived.