On the White Deer Plain, Leng Qiuyue is known as a representative of the poor daughter. As Zhaopeng's daughter-in-law, her life seems to be the epitome of a tragedy. Mr. Leng asked Lu Zilin twice for his daughter's letter of resignation, but never received a real reply. If he really wanted to take his daughter home, maybe Qiuyue's fate would be different.
Qiu Yue was violated by Lu Zilin drunk, and originally wanted to humiliate him with wheat grass, but he was pushed to a deeper abyss instead. At this moment, her world completely collapsed. Although the marriage of the two families of Lu Leng is comparable, the thoughts of the children are very different. Qiuyue and Lu Zhaopeng, one represents the old thought and the other represents the new thought, and their combination is destined to be inseparable.
Lu Zhaopeng has no feelings for Qiu Yue, he thinks that the marriage arranged by his parents is a bad habit and irresponsible for his feelings. He was reluctant to enter the cave room, was forced to enter by Lu Zilin, did not want to enter the ancestral hall to bow down to his ancestors, and did not dare to resist to the end. In this loveless marriage, he and Qiu Yue only had one husband and wife, and after that, this woman seemed to have nothing to do with him.
Lu Zhaopeng returned to the city shortly after his marriage and continued his work. He was separated from Qiuyue for a long time and never returned home. Later, because of his work, he was transferred back to Bailuyuan as the principal of the new school, but he still did not return home. The gossip in the village gradually spread, and although Lu Zilin was annoyed, he still maintained a kind appearance, hoping to maintain the appearance of peace in the family.
In desperation, Lu Zilin asked Grandpa Zhaopeng to come out. Grandpa Zhaopeng sat at school** and forced Lu Zhaopeng to bow his head with a bitter wait, so that he had to follow his grandfather home. However, even if the person came back, Lu Zhaopeng's heart was not here. The night he was at home, he only slept in his clothes, and continued to treat Leng Qiuyue coldly.
Leng Qiuyue is gentle by nature, she is not like Xiaowen's daughter-in-law, who can cry and make trouble. In the face of her husband's ruthless indifference, she silently endured the pain in her heart. In that era when traditional ideas and modern ideas were intertwined, she became a victim. Her story is heart-wrenching and makes one think deeply about the status and fate of women in that era. On that silent night, between Leng Qiuyue and Lu Zhaopeng, it seemed to fall into endless silence. She is not the kind of woman who dares to challenge the world, she is not as fearless as Bai Ling, nor is she as daring to ask her husband as Xiaowen's daughter-in-law. Her heart is bound to the framework of traditional morality and cannot break free.
If Leng Qiuyue had the courage of Bai Ling, maybe she could boldly complain to Lu Zilin, or vent her dissatisfaction to the outside world and force Lu Zhaopeng to express her position. However, she didn't. She endured the pain and tried her best to maintain a semblance of calm, so much so that she was eventually driven to the brink of madness.
As a representative of new thought, Lu Zhaopeng's every move affects Leng Qiuyue's fate. However, his ignorance of Leng Qiuyue was like torture for her soul. He didn't seem to care about her feelings, but let her struggle in the sea of misery. Such an attitude is undoubtedly a cruelty to Leng Qiuyue.
Lu Zilin, a person with a pivotal position in the village, every choice he made affected Leng Qiuyue's fate. He had thought many times that if Zhao Peng really didn't want to, then he would take a break from Leng Qiuyue. However, Leng Qiuyue is not just his daughter-in-law, she is also the daughter of Mr. Leng, who is deeply loved by the villagers. If Zhao Peng took a leave of absence from Leng Qiuyue, everyone would accuse Lu Zilin of having no way to teach his son.
For the sake of his own face, Lu Zilin has been delaying Leng Qiuyue's happiness. He lied in front of Mr. Leng, deliberately saying that Zhaopeng was working at the newspaper while going to school, and he was too busy to go home. He used such an excuse to cover up the truth that Zhaopeng did not go home. And behind all this is Lu Zhaopeng's deep resistance to marriage.
After the hustle and bustle of the newlywed passed, Leng Qiuyue began to notice Zhaopeng's abnormality. He was reluctant to enter the ancestral hall to worship his ancestors, and he never offered to go back to the village to have a look. All of this made Leng Qiuyue begin to doubt her husband's intentions. However, what she didn't expect was that Lu Zhaopeng rejected not only those "feudal etiquette", but also the marriage with her itself.
A year has passed, and Leng Qiuyue has still not seen Lu Zhaopeng. Her heart began to flood with a longing for a married life. When she saw the intimacy between Tian Xiao'e and Heiwa, she felt a trace of envy in her heart. That kind of life was something she had never experienced before. However, she soon suppressed this thought, she felt that she was Zhaopeng's daughter-in-law, and she should not have any other thoughts.
She firmly believes that her husband is busy with big things and has no time to return to the village. She imagined the glorious scene of his return to his hometown in the future, which would be her greatest pride. However, reality shattered her illusions again and again. Even with a busy day-to-day affair, the trip home for the Spring Festival is irresistible. Leng Qiuyue spent the New Year's holiday in deep disappointment and worry, but in the face of visiting relatives, she could only force a smile. The anxiety and uneasiness in her heart were keenly perceived by Lu Zilin. In order to appease Leng Qiuyue, he decided to go into the city to find Lu Zhaopeng.
After returning, in order to stabilize Leng Qiuyue's mood, Lu Zilin weaved a beautiful lie, claiming that Lu Zhaopeng went to Shanghai to work. This news made Leng Qiuyue put down her heart, and she immediately dispelled the fear of being abandoned, and instead firmly believed that her husband could not return home because he was busy with work.
However, the longing and loneliness did not subside. Leng Qiuyue began to dream frequently about intimate moments with her husband, and the faces in the dreams were sometimes Zhaohai, sometimes Heiwa, and even the male Lu Zilin. These dreams made her uneasy, and whenever she faced the gaze of an adult man, she felt weak and weak. The appearance of dreams became more and more frequent, and Leng Qiuyue began to close off her inner world.
On a drunken night, Lu Zilin used his alcohol to commit immoral acts to Leng Qiuyue. Leng Qiuyue fled back to the room in a panic, while Lu Zilin slept like a pig. Early the next morning, Leng Qiuyue prepared breakfast for Lu Zilin and hid a piece of wheat grass in the porridge. Lu Zilin found wheat grass while serving porridge, and he struggled with whether to break the bowl. However, reason led him to choose to throw out the porridge and avoid admitting his shameless behavior.
Lu Zilin's cunning and deep thoughts made Leng Qiuyue unpredictable. She was expecting the sound of the bowl breaking and Lu Zilin's roar, but nothing happened. Leng Qiuyue began to fall into confusion, unable to determine Lu Zilin's true intentions. And Lu Zilin knew that as long as Leng Qiuyue poured out the wheat grass, she would lose. The fate of Wheat Straw became a contest between the two.
In this contest, Leng Qiuyue seemed powerless. Her former resistance was in stark contrast to her young and simple heart, but in the face of Lu Zilin's wisdom, she was defeated. Her courage faded, and her inner turmoil and uneasiness intensified. Leng Qiuyue is in a predicament from which she cannot extricate herself, she must find a way to deal with this endless war, otherwise she will never be able to get rid of Lu Zilin's control. Leng Qiuyue's life fell into a cold and windy autumn night, and the boundless darkness shrouded her. Day and night, she repeatedly demonstrated the scene of opening the door for Lu Zilin like a marquee, and the tingling sensation of the man's contact stimulated her nerves like an electric current, making her powerless to resist. She knew that all this was the temptation of sin, but the lust in her heart grew like weeds.
When the autumn harvest is busy, she can still find a trace of peace in the exhaustion, and when night falls, the heavy exhaustion brings her to sleep. However, in her spare time, the desire for a man haunted her like a ghost. On a gloomy night, Lu Zilin found her, and since then, the door of her heart has been tightly closed until she went crazy and died.
A few months after being killed by Lu Zilin, Leng Qiuyue's sanity gradually became problematic. One noon, my mother-in-law went out to burn incense, and only Lu Zilin and Leng Qiuyue were left at home. Leng Qiuyue prepared the wine and food, and said to Lu Zilin: "My mother is not here, don't go out at night, I will be scared alone, and it is not convenient to open the door for you." After hearing this, Lu Zilin's face suddenly flushed, and he understood that his past scandal had been exposed by his daughter-in-law. He promised not to go out to drink in the future, but when he heard Leng Qiuyue's next invitation, he was shocked again.
Leng Qiuyue said: "If you want to drink, drink it in our house, and I'll fry two dishes for you." Lu Zilin's mouth opened wide, and his heart was flustered. At that moment, he seemed to see Leng Qiuyue's attempt. His eyes widened, completely stunned. However, it was Leng Qiuyue who misunderstood what he meant.
After Leng Qiuyue was busy with everything, she washed her face and smeared it with incense powder. Lu Zilin watched her every move and immediately understood her true intentions. He, a veteran who has read countless women, saw through Leng Qiuyue's explicit and clumsy tricks at a glance. However, the shame of that handful of wheat grass, Leng Qiuyue's words of scolding him as a beast, how to explain her courtesy today?He tentatively communicated with Leng Qiuyue, and when he saw that she released a signal to seek favor, he instantly made up his mind in his heart to take revenge on her fiercely.
Lu Zilin let Leng Qiuyue taste the dishes she made herself, as well as the cold bean sprouts. As soon as Leng Qiuyue put the bean sprouts in her mouth, she immediately vomited. She froze at the stone table, terrified because she had tasted the straw. When she went back to the house to wash her face and powder, Lu Zilin took the opportunity to stuff the wheat straw into the bean sprouts plate.
Lu Zilin threw the chopsticks onto the plate, stood up and said sharply: "Learn the rules!."You're the beast that eats grass!These words shot at Leng Qiuyue like a cold arrow, making her heart feel like ashes. From then on, there was no light in her world, only endless darkness and pain. On that cold autumn night, the moonlight was shining and gently sprinkled in the courtyard. Leng Qiuyue, the dignified and virtuous woman on weekdays, was sitting on the ground in pain at the moment, with dishes and chopsticks scattered all over the ground. She bit her lip, shame and self-reproach wrenching her heart. Lu Zilin's drunken rude behavior that night was repeated in her heart, like a stinger deep into her soul.
Since then, she has closed herself off, stopped talking, and avoided everything in the outside world. Every day, I just spin threads and sew clothes silently, and no one can understand the pain in my heart. This mute life lasted for months until that late autumn night. She suddenly rushed out of the house, shouting incessantly, "My father is so ...... with me."My dad and I ......"Leng Qiuyue, I'm crazy like this.
In order to calm her down, Mr. Leng could only use bitter medicine to poison her dumb. He knew that his daughter's madness stemmed from the pain in his heart, but he couldn't complain about Lu Zilin. He only said to Lu Zilin: "I will cure her of the disease, and you will ask Zhaopeng to write a letter of resignation." Lu Zilin silently agreed, but his heart was endlessly sad.
But the truth did not go as they wished, Leng Qiuyue's illness did not improve because of the medicine, but sometimes it was good and sometimes bad. Mother-in-law understands that what Leng Qiuyue needs is not **, but the care of her lover. So, they began to look for Lu Zhaopeng, hoping that he could come back and bring a ray of life to Leng Qiuyue.
However, fate always plays tricks on people. When Lu Zilin found Lu Zhaopeng in the city, he learned that he and Bai Ling were married. This news was like a thunderbolt from the blue, making Lu Zilin stunned in place. He knew very well that Leng Qiuyue's fate had been sealed.
Mr. Leng watched his daughter suffer, and his heart hurt like a knife. So, he made a decision and gave Leng Qiuyue a heavy dose of Chinese medicine. In this way, Leng Qiuyue passed away quietly in endless pain, and her body lay alone on the kang, like a pale skeleton.
Mr. Leng asked Lu Zilin for a letter of resignation, did he really want to end all this?Probably not. The reason why he asked for a resignation was more to test Lu Zilin's attitude. He always thinks that Lu Zilin is a virtuous farmer and agrees with his family style. So when Lu Zhaopeng did not return all year round, he proposed to take a leave of absence from Leng Qiuyue, but when Lu Zilin politely refused, he did not insist. No one can understand his distress - he is not really thinking about his daughter's future, but is deeply entangled in family honor and family affection. In the ancient land of Bailuyuan, Mr. Leng, a doctor with superb medical skills and high morality, mentioned the book of resignation twice, and the motive behind it was not out of real concern for his daughter Leng Qiuyue. He was worried that Lu Zilin would have objections to this family business, and he was afraid that he would not be able to let Zhaopeng divorce his wife because of his feelings. And Lu Zilin, also for the sake of his own face, is unwilling to divorce his daughter-in-law and bear the notoriety.
Until Leng Qiuyue's spirit began to collapse, Mr. Leng still didn't really want to take her home. He asked Lu Zilin for a letter of resignation again, because he was afraid that Lu Zilin would dislike Leng Qiuyue, who was crazy, and it would be inconvenient to get her away. When Lu Zilin replied that he would wait until his condition improved, he did not insist any longer.
Mr. Leng's two mentions of the letter of resignation are actually to maintain the harmonious relationship between the Leng and Lu families. They don't want to offend each other, but Leng Qiuyue becomes a victim of their relationship. In Mr. Leng's pharmacy, Leng Qiuyue occasionally appeared, always haggard and depressed. Doesn't Mr. Leng really understand her predicament?He knew it, but he always persuaded her to serve her in-laws well in a comforting tone, but Leng Qiuyue could only be silent.
When Leng Qiuyue was on the verge of madness, Mr. Leng still never really thought about taking her home. In order to protect the reputation of the Leng and Lu families, he ruthlessly poisoned his daughter's throat. He is unwilling to delve into the responsibilities of the Lu family, does not want to lose the friendly relationship with the Lu family, and even sacrifices the happiness and life of his own daughter.
The inhabitants of Bailu Plains were indifferent to what happened to Leng Qiuyue. A young woman lives as a widow and no one cares about her. Until she was driven insane, people blamed her for tarnishing their reputation. Only her mother-in-law watched her sweep the floor in the courtyard at a certain moment, and a trace of warmth welled up in her heart, and she sighed secretly: How could such a beautiful woman end up like this?
In contrast, the most enviable woman in the book is Mr. Zhu's wife, Bai Jiaxuan's eldest sister. After she married Mr. Zhu, she became more and more dignified and elegant. And Leng Qiuyue's experience has become a tragic portrayal of the low status of women in the old society.