"When she was in her natal family, she was protected as a 'daughter' by her 'father and brother'. Since her father violated the rules of being the head of the family, the elder brother killed her corrupt father and replaced her; when she got married, she She became the private property of her 'husband', so it became natural for her husband to beat her.
"I can even say that if one day Aksinya's brother also begs his wife, if he beats his wife as badly as Stepan beat Aksinya, then this woman will immediately fall into the same trap. fate - because in the Cossacks, no one can take away a man's right to beat his wife.
"There is no revenge for Aksiniya at all. There is only a change of power. The person who controls her destiny changes from her father to her brother, then to her husband and lover. Everyone of them recognizes this set of rules, including Ah Ksenia herself - her only rebellion is that although she also believes that she is a slave and a vassal, she dares to betray her established 'master' and choose and follow a 'new master'."
Hesta took a deep breath, and she didn't notice that her voice became faster and faster, and more and more passionate.
Ava stared deeply at Hesta, "Are you angry, Eureka?"
The entire glass house fell into silence, and everyone's expressions became calm. Some of them looked at Hesta, and some lowered their heads and looked at their toes, and their eyes were lit with a hazy fire.
"How can this not make people angry? The whole village, the whole land, all the men, women, old people, children - no one is innocent, they are all complicit!"
Hesta's index finger tapped the cover of "The Mountains" hard, "Everyone maintains a cage together. In this cage, the woman who has been squeezed out of everything is the 'mother', and the woman who is disciplined and diligent is the 'mother'." 'Wives', chaste and young women are 'daughters'.
"Except for these three categories of people, the rest are all bitches, bitches, maggots, and sluts—and all bitches, bitches, maggots, and The things that sluts do... are just the most ordinary things in the lives of all 'noble Cossack men' -"
Ava was the first to laugh.
"What are you laughing at?" Alja looked at Ava and asked in a low voice, "Do you think what Eureka said is wrong?"
"No, she's absolutely right." Ava whispered, her eyes flicking to Hesta, "Eureka, what should I say? You are so lucky that it makes people jealous. Yes, you don't have a father, no Brother, you have no husband or son...so you are born with a pair of 'female eyes'."
"Female eyes..." Hesta didn't understand. "Everyone here has a pair of female eyes."
"We cut it ourselves with a knife," Ava said lightly. "Every pair of eyes that are opened here are stained with the blood and tears of the past."
Ava stood up from her seat holding on to the chair handle. She slowly walked through the narrow space of the glass house, stopped in front of the window, and stared at the night outside the window.
"When I was very young, my father taught me and several brothers and sisters that people should not only look for role models around themselves, but also look for them in the wider world, whether they come from real history or fictional stories. Or something else.
“Find a great person and let him become your spiritual coordinate, then from now on, you will never get lost on the road of life.
"The first time I read "The Mountains Under the Storm" was when I was nine years old. It took me one day and one night to read the entire eight volumes of "The Mountains"...I didn't realize it at all at the time. Nothing is wrong. On the contrary, I was immersed in this magnificent epic. Until now, I can’t forget the shock that the word ‘Cossack’ brought to me back then. Cossack, in Turkic language, means ‘people who are free everywhere’.”
Hesta frowned, "...So what were the 'coordinates' you found then?"
Ava laughed, with self-mockery, "Who else could it be? Of course it was the hero of "The Mountains", Gregory. I remember that for a whole month, I was like a demon and became a 'spiritual Cossack' '."
Hesta looked at Ava and was speechless for a moment.
Ava took a deep breath, turned around, looked at the people under the light, and whispered:
"'Only weeds grow in the earth, sucking the milk of the earth that creates life, accepting indifferently the caress of the sun and the ravages of the weather. They fall docilely to the deadly onslaught of the storm. Then, the seed Scattered to the wind, dying equally indifferently, the withered stalks rustling in homage to the autumn sun that shines upon death.'"
Ava recited the passages she was most familiar with and loved, and walked slowly past everyone. The bright yellow lamp casts a faint shadow behind her. The old man's voice was so sonorous and powerful that it reminded people of a war flag fluttering in the wind.
"If you have read another book from District 14, "Children of the Storm", you may better understand my preference for Gregory when I was a child - Paul Korchagin in "Children" is like a man standing in the times. The man in the light, and Gregory in "The Mountains" are the shadows cast on the ground. Although they are all involved in the torrent of the times, there is always Zhu Helai beside Korchagin, and Zhu Helai becomes him. A spiritual guide, like a father and a dear friend - and Gregory, nothing.
"Paul Korchagin is a chosen person, a loved one, while Grigory is like a weed. He had to be pushed and made a choice in the wind of the times. No one cared about his life or death, but , he doesn't care at all.
"There is a kind of indifferent bravery in him. He is never grateful for the caress of the sun, and sees it as normal when the wind and rain damage him. So I like this character, I like it to death."
Hesta suddenly gritted her teeth.
It wasn't until this moment that she suddenly realized why she couldn't answer when Ava asked her "Why didn't you put it down for a moment?" - in her disgust for Gregory, she also felt what Ava was feeling. The "indifferent bravery" mentioned, this conflict of love and hate made her at a loss as to how to speak.
Perhaps it looked ugly and cruel, even with a kind of animal inferiority, but this shameless barbarity aroused astonishing waves in Hesta's heart.
Everything about the Cossacks reminded her irresistibly of her life in Short Ring Alley. Outside of old Charlie's backyard, the entire Short Ring Alley was dark and strict. That kind of life was like a nightmare imprinted on her childhood, cruel and enduring. These distant pasts are now pulling her, like the magic flute at midnight, making her hold the book involuntarily and turn page after page.
