At the beginning of spring in February, there was a steady drizzle. It had been raining for a whole month in Xiangtan Village. The dirt yard in front of Du's house turned into a puddle of watery mud.
Du Wanchun walked into the house with his muddy skirt, put down the vegetable basket in his hand, and patted the mud stains on his skirt.
A woman with a big belly suddenly walked up to her and yelled at her, "You stinky girl, why are you back just now? Why don't you pack your things and get married!"
Her name is Mrs. Liu, and she is her father's newly married stepmother five years ago.
The widow from the Osmanthus Village next door brought a daughter as old as herself when she got married. Although she was a step-in-law, she was rolling around in the crops with her father long before her mother died.
Everyone in the village knew about this, and by the end of the story, her mother died of illness.
Du Wanchun just got haircut this year, and she was stupid since she was born. She has been disliked by her father for so many years. Fortunately, her mother has always raised her up with care.
After Mrs. Liu entered the house, she treated her silly stepdaughter like a slave. She was not given clothes in the winter and food in the summer. She was obviously a little girl in her teens and was tortured to the point of becoming emaciated.
Her father, Du Dajiang, was an old farmer with little ability. He was so controlled by Mrs. Liu that he wouldn't even dare to fart when he saw his stupid daughter being bullied.
A few days ago, Magistrate Li of Cheng'an County sent someone to propose marriage for his son, saying that he wanted to marry this silly girl like her.
This was so shocking that Ms. Liu couldn't sleep all night. Although the official position of County Magistrate Li's family was not high, they were considered to be emperors in the entire Cheng'an County. If she married someone, she would fly up a branch and become a phoenix.
Mrs. Liu was so jealous that she finally discussed with Du Dajiang to let her biological daughter Liu Lanzhi marry her silly sister.
As the saying goes, if you have a stepmother, you will have a stepfather. This is true. Du Dajiang agreed without even thinking about it.
In order to avoid long nights and many dreams, Mrs. Liu specially found another match for Du Wanchun.
The eldest son of the Zhou family from Changliu Village next door.
The Zhou family is a well-known poor family in Changliu Village. A widow has three sons. The eldest son is disabled, the second son is blind, and the third son is deaf. No one in the family is intact. Thanks to Aunt Zhou. One person supports the whole family, but because there is no man to rely on, the family is often bullied by neighbors. Either the land is occupied or occupied, and now I am afraid that there is almost no rice to cook.
Mrs. Liu is marrying Du Wanchun now because she clearly wants to push her into the fire pit.
Du Dajiang sat aside, took a puff of dry cigarette, and said: "Wan Chun, don't blame dad. You are stupid. Marrying to the county magistrate's family will only be wasted. It is better to marry to the Zhou family. It will be good for you and your sister." .”
After he finished speaking, he did not forget to look at Mrs. Liu's belly. The Du family only had two daughters, Du Wanchun and Liu Lanzhi. Du Dajiang had always dreamed of having a son. This old mussel of the Liu family was really pregnant, and now she has a son. She was seven or eight months old. I went to several doctors and they all said it was a boy.
He knew in his heart that the Zhou family was a pit of fire, but for the sake of the male child in the Liu family, he was willing to sacrifice his own daughter's happiness.
Even if it costs his daughter's life.
Du Wanchun stood up and looked coldly at Du Dajiang and Liu. After a while, he arched his eyebrows and said with a smile, "Okay, dad, I'll marry you."
Mrs. Liu calmed down her anger, put her hands on her hips, and snorted coldly: "That's pretty much it. Go, quickly change your clothes and follow the matchmaker to Zhou's house!"
"Yes, mother." Du Wanchun responded obediently, turned around and entered the house.
It was a small, dark woodshed, and there were not many rooms in the house. After Mrs. Liu took her daughter through the door, she was rushed here.
It had been raining for a month, and the bed was covered with mold. There was a musty smell as soon as you entered the house.
Du Wanchun looked around, and then took out a pack of red wedding dresses from a cabinet, which were made by her mother before her death and were reserved for her to wear when she got married.
Today she finally used it.
She took out the wedding clothes inside and put them on one by one.
Du Dajiang and Mrs. Liu outside the house just thought she was stupid. In fact, they didn't know that just now she accidentally fell on the field dam, and when she woke up, her brain suddenly lighted up.
She is no longer stupid.
The eldest son of the Zhou family is named Zhou Ruiyuan. She is willing to marry anyone she has met.
When Aunt Zhou took her three sons to Changliu Village, she passed by the entrance of their village.
She remembered that Aunt Zhou was extremely beautiful, and she wore a bright yellow skirt just like that noble lady from Beijing.
People in the village often say that Aunt Zhou was a child bride who was sold to the capital by the Chen family when she was young. She gave birth to three sons to a groom. Later, the groom died, and she returned to Changliu Village with her three sons.
But Du Wanchun knew that Aunt Zhou was definitely not an ordinary peasant woman.
Aunt Zhou is literate and sensible, and the son she has raised will definitely be good. Instead of marrying the fat son of Magistrate Li's family, she would be better off marrying Zhou Ruiyuan.
After she put on her wedding dress, she took her only belongings and walked out of the door that had trapped her for more than ten years, and left the house without looking back.
