An unprecedentedly long annual famine struck the land, and the wild herbs and weeds were uprooted for cooking as soon as they appeared, and the leaves were peeled off and thrown into pots, first willows, then elms, and then the extinction of a population.
Instead of grieving, family members may be glad that the elderly person has passed away, because it saves food and prolongs a more useful life.
The new daughter-in-law, who had just passed the door for a year, woke up in the middle of the night due to hunger and could no longer sleep. She suspected that her family was secretly eating behind her back, so she hid under the wall and eavesdropped. As a result, I heard my husband and my parents-in-law discussing to cook her and eat her: "Don't worry, when this difficulty is over, my father will marry you another one, otherwise we will all starve to death, not only you, but even the incense will be broken." ”
The bride was frightened and fled back to her parents' house all night without sleep. Under the coaxing of his mother, he was suddenly surprised to hear his parents talking: "I'd rather we kill it with our own hands than let someone else kill it." When the woman heard this, she immediately jumped up from the bed, and her mood changed sharply.
This is an era full of "people cannibalism", and even the daughters-in-law of Bai Jiaxuan's family and Bai Xiaowen's family, who are big families in Bailuyuan Village, were starved to death. Only at critical juncture will the cruelty and darkness of human nature be unabashedly revealed.
The forty-five women in "White Deer Plain", as Bai Xiaowen's daughter-in-law, are not the protagonists of Chen Zhongzhong's pen, and she is not even given a name.
She doesn't have the beauty of Tian Xiao'e, nor is she as knowledgeable and wise as Leng Qiuyue. Like most modest women at the time, she was physically strong and powerful, had never suffered from a serious illness, the muscles in her arms were strong and strong like those of a man, and her thighs and calves were firm and powerful.
* After the drama version of "White Deer Plain", I was very dissatisfied with the screenwriter's adaptation of this role. Xiaowen's daughter-in-law is portrayed as a selfish, indifferent, and bitter character in the play, she provokes Bai Xiaowen to split up the family, and also bullies Tian Xiao'e, which is unacceptable.
The interpretation of this character in the play seems to be clearing the charge for Bai Xiaowen, attributing his decadence to the incompetence and ugliness of women, and this explanation is also understandable.
She is an ordinary woman and the first woman in Bai Xiaowen's life. Despite marrying the richest family in the White Deer Plain, she was eventually starved to death, not because of poverty.
The author does not describe her too much, only uses her death to reveal the sorrow and helplessness of women in a patriarchal society. She represents the tragedy of many daughters-in-law in Bailu Plain, and it is also a portrayal of countless female images in rural China.
Bai Jiaxuan was indifferent and inattentive to her.
When Bai Xiaowen defected out of the house, it was a time when famine was raging, and she, as a daughter-in-law, took her two children to follow Bai Xiaowen around to make a living.
Changgong Lusan took the initiative to resign, unwilling to rely on the Bai family's food and treatment. Bai Jiaxuan said to him: "Third brother, listen, don't mention this matter again in the future." I have something to eat, and you have a share;I eat coarse, and you eat coarse;I eat fine, and so do you. If one day we get into trouble, the brothers can go out together to beg for food and help each other through the difficult times. ”
Bai Jiaxuan has a benevolent heart, but he treats his son Bai Xiaowen coldly, because Bai Xiaowen has seriously hurt his self-esteem, which he regards as precious as life.
Bai Xiaowen had a very difficult time during that time, and eventually he managed to ask to see Bai Jiaxuan, but it was through the help of his grandmother, Bai Zhao. When he saw Bai Jiaxuan, the latter only said one sentence: "Don't mention this matter again." ”
Is Bai Jiaxuan really indifferent and ruthless?
After Bai Xiaowen left, he asked his mother, Bai Zhao, to take Bai Xiaowen's two sons into his home, but did not mention Bai Xiaowen's daughter-in-law. This is not entirely the case.
In that period in ancient times, due to the effects of famine, women were seen as a burden, so the status of Bai Xiaowen's daughter-in-law was lower than that of her grandson. Only Xiancao can secretly help her without Bai Jiaxuan noticing, and only Xiancao, who is also a woman, can truly understand her helplessness.
In those famine years, a woman who had given birth to a child might not be as useful as a long worker, and when she lost her usefulness, she became an ornament.
Bai Xiaowen and Tian Xiao'e's selfish and indifferent attitudes were the culprits that led to her death.
Bai Zhao took the two children to eat, while Bai Xiaowen stayed in Tian Xiao'e's cave all day long, and she was the only one starving in the house.
During the time when she starved to death, Bai Xiaowen had the smoothest year. Because he was rejected by Bai Jiaxuan, he sold all his real estate and fields to Lu Zilin, and used the silver dollars he obtained to buy grain, but he didn't have a daughter-in-law.
In a society where masculinism is prevalent, she does not dare to resist Bai Xiaowen's ** rule. Until one night, she finally mustered up the courage to resist, but was beaten by Bai Xiaowen. Although she had taught others about the world, Bai Xiaowen did not like her.
Although she has no talent and no appearance, she is only good at housework, and she is three years older than Bai Xiaowen, but she was married to Bai Jiaxuan's son. The dissatisfaction and anger against Bai Jiaxuan were undoubtedly transferred to this daughter-in-law, and her death became proof.
Before she died, she personally went to Tian Xiao'e's cave and stood at the door jumping and scolding. Bai Xiaowen opened the door of the kiln and slapped her down on the threshold, but she still desperately broke into the kiln and fought Tian Xiao'e until Bai Xiaowen no longer heard her yelling and cursing and dragged her home.
Her last struggle, it is sad that she never thought of venting to Bai Xiaowen, maybe because of fear, maybe because of the lack of such awareness, the shackles of three obedience and four virtues made her live carefully.
She accurately forebodied her death, and said the saddest sentence to Bai Jiaxuan: "Dad, I have been in this room for many years, you can see my diligence, laziness and confusion, I have considered this and that, but I never thought that I would starve to death." ”
When she finished speaking, she fell to the ground, unable to get up again.
She is gone, but no one mourns for her, and no one will remember her.
Her mother's family did not do justice for her, and they did not even send her on her last ride.
They seemed to have lost interest in the girl who had not been out for many years, and sent only the youngest brother to mourn, and the younger brother, who had been tormented by hunger, after crying a few times, hurriedly picked up the large bowl, scooped the noodles in the pot, poured the noodles on it, and ate it with a big gulp.
The inhabitants of Bailuyuan are no longer particularly surprised by the death or overly sad by their families, and they do not show much sadness about it.
Bai Jiaxuan's family also died, which made people feel very surprised, even her funeral was solved by Bai Xiaowu, and Bai Xiaowen was like a person who didn't exist.
The person he didn't like had passed away, and the person who had taught him emotions was gone, and the tenderness in his heart flashed in an instant, and finally disappeared in his cave with Tian Xiao'e.
The last piece of paradise in Bailuyuan was in the famine era, and Tian Xiao'e and he hid in the cave all day long. When they were full, they smoked, and when they were satisfied, they slept on the kang and spent the most leisurely days of their lives.
The woman who married into the Bai family gave birth to two children for Bai Xiaowen, perhaps she had fantasized about living a good life in the Bai family, but she finally died in the mansion like a floating duckweed, and finally fell silent.
The tragedy of Bai Xiaowen's daughter-in-law, as the norm of that era, can be said to be a copy of feudal etiquette. They have struggled in the shadow of their husbands and in-laws all their lives, living humbly and unyieldingly, and such a tragedy makes people feel even more helpless and sad. Tian Xiao'e's subversion of feudal etiquette can only be regarded as a bit compared with the tragedy of Bai Xiaowen's daughter-in-law.
Although we now have doubts about the authenticity of events such as "starvation to death" and "cannibalism", some readers have commented on the reality of the famine in the past, and perhaps all the doubts stem from a lack of personal experience.
We should be thankful for our luck, but we should also reflect on the grief endured by those who are less fortunate. This is the theme of "White Deer Plain", and it is also the freedom and equality that we will always pursue.