There is a Tangchang town in northern Jiangsu, and there is a village under Tangchang Town, called Gushi Village. Gushi Village is near a green mountain in the north, in fact, it is a bit exaggerated to say that it is a mountain, but it is larger and higher than the hill, and the mountain is rocky and rugged, and the mountain is full of pines and cypresses. To the south of the village is a large river that flows from west to east, with wide and clear water. In winter, the children of the village skate on it, and in the summer, the children and adults swim in it. The mountains and rivers here are beautiful, and the people are outstanding. Every family in the village pays attention to education, and every year a child is admitted to university. So this village is very famous in the local area. But another reason why this village is famous is that there are two madmen from this village, one is a female madman and one is a male madman. The exact dates of birth of the two madmen are now no one remembers. I only know that they were all born in the late sixties and early seventies, and they are all students who failed the college entrance examination.
The female madwoman's name is Meizi, there are four brothers and sisters in the family, two sisters and one brother, and she is the youngest. Meizi is medium to thin, with curly hair, a round face, big eyes, **white and red, and she is a beautiful and lovely little girl. The elder brother is the eldest and has not graduated from primary school to work as a farmer at home, and his two sisters have been admitted to the local normal college.
The male madman's name is Haizi, and he has five brothers and sisters, two older brothers, a younger brother and a younger sister, and he is the third. Haizi is tall and thin, with slender limbs, a white face and a square face, and a handsome appearance. Two elder brothers and younger sister were admitted to Shandong University after graduating from primary school, and Haizi failed the college entrance examination and went home to work as a clerk in the village brigade a few months later.
Meizi's family and Haizizi's family are on the same street, separated by four families. Meizi took the college entrance examination a year earlier than Haizi. The two have had a good relationship since childhood. When I was a child, we always played together, and we all studied in the same school in elementary and junior high school. As they grew older and went to high school in other places, the two interacted less and less. It wasn't until the two of them returned to the village to farm after failing the college entrance examination that they became acquainted again, but due to the heavy farm work, the two rarely chatted together, and everyone was busy until both of them participated in the work.
Meizi works as a second-grade Chinese teacher at the village primary school. She gets up at dawn every morning, eats porridge and steamed buns and walks to school, and is always the first to arrive at school. In winter, I helped to make the office fire, and in the summer, I helped the office water to be boiled and cooled in advance, and everyone liked this lively and enthusiastic little girl. Meizi also likes the teachers and children here. Some of the teachers are still her old teachers.
After Haizi failed in the college entrance examination, he worked as a clerk in the village brigade. Haizi also likes the work of the village brigade, usually there are not many things, most of the time he helps distribute newspapers, and there is not much newspaper, and then he goes around the village with his office colleagues to deal with some short things in the parents. Rural women had a low status and were often treated as animals, so he made up his mind at that time that he would definitely take the woman he liked out of here in the future.
Meizi's school is separated by a wall from the village brigade, and every day Haizi is busy with the things at hand, he will lie on the wall and look at the school with a smile, watching a group of innocent students in the school doing exercises and taking physical education classes, until the sound of reading aloud came from the campus, and he reluctantly returned to the office. When he came to the office, he would take out a red book of "** Quotations" from the drawer and read it carefully.
Meizi and Haizi are working in their favorite positions. The two sometimes go to work together and sometimes leave work together. Talking and laughing along the way, they talked about the problems in their respective work and their own ideals. Meizi's dream is to become a full-fledged teacher one day. Haizi's dream is to go out for a walk and see the outside world.
Time flows in the two young people, spring, summer, autumn and winter, they walk into each other's hearts. On the way to and from work, the people of Murakami often see the two of them walking together. The people in the village thought that they were still children, two children who had played together and were more familiar with each other.
Until one day, Meizi's mother got up early in the morning to find that Meizi was missing, and at the same time found that Meizi's usual clothes and belongings had also disappeared together. Meizi's mother immediately wailed in the courtyard, and the wail alarmed the neighbors and the whole village.
And Hai Zi's father also found that Hai Zi was gone. The villagers all walked out of their homes and gathered around the doors of Meizi and Haizi to watch the excitement. Meizi's mother was crying and howling in the yard, and Meizi's father was scolding at the gate of the yard. Haizi's house was relatively quiet, Haizi's mother was so frightened that she hid in the house and didn't come out, Haizi's father and brother sighed and discussed going out to find Haizi. So the whole village knew that Meizi had eloped with Haizi.
The village brigade mobilized the whole village to go out to look for Meizi and Haizi, but no trace of the two was found in the town or the county seat. Three days later, Meizi's father and brother rushed to Haizi's house with sticks and knives, smashed everything they could, scattered grain all over the yard, and a sheep and a few chickens were also captured by Meizi's parents. Haizi's mother was crying in the yard and grabbing the ground, Haizi's father squatted in the yard and sighed, Haizi's brother dared to be angry and didn't dare to speak, after all, his brother kidnapped his daughter.
Three months have passed, and the Meizi family and the Haizi family have never given up looking for them, but the two of them seem to have disappeared, and they can't find a trace. It's coming to the end of the year, and the two families decide to look for it after the year.
The Spring Festival is coming soon, and the whole village is preparing for the New Year, and every family is frying peanuts, steaming steamed buns, and fried fruits. The whole village is immersed in the festive atmosphere of the New Year. At this time, a person in the village who was working in other places came home from vacation, and he told Mei Zi's father that he had met Mei Zi and Haizi in Weihai, Shandong. Meizi's father immediately told Haizi's father when he learned the news, so the two families went to Weihai, Shandong Province to look for them.
The man in the village didn't tell a lie, and they really blocked them in Weihai, Shandong, but unfortunately Haizi took the opportunity to escape. They can only take the plum home.
When Meizi returned home, she was inevitably beaten severely. Her father and mother prevented her from escaping again, so Meizi's eating and drinking Lazar was strictly supervised by her mother, almost not leaving, and at night she tied Meizi's hands to the head of the bed with a rope. Meizi doesn't eat or drink, and every day except for sleeping, she stares at the roof with her eyes wide open. Mei Ziniang was worried that something would happen to Meizi, so she told her father not to tie Meizi at night. When her father heard this, he scolded Meizi for being shameless and harmful. Meizi listened and didn't speak, and big tears fell down.
One morning Meizi woke up with a feeling of nausea and couldn't help but vomit. Meizi's father and mother didn't take it seriously, thinking that Meizi had eaten too little in the past few days, and her stomach was not good. Meizi was retching there for several days, and Meizi's father and mother thought that Meizi might be pregnant.
The next day, Meizi was caught on the flatbed by her father and mother, her hands were tied to the flatbed, and her body was covered with a big quilt, and she was pulled by her brother to the town hospital for examination. The results of the examination were as Meizi's father and mother guessed, and the doctor said that Meizi had been pregnant for more than two months. Plum's father and mother were shocked to hear that it was like a thunderbolt from the sky, and Meizi's father and mother rushed directly to the doctor's office and asked to do ** for Meizi immediately.
Although Meizi pleaded and struggled. But he was still pressed on the operating table by his father and brother.
When she came back from the hospital, Meizi never ate or drank again. Mei Zi's father said: "If you don't eat the ball, Lao Tzu's face will be lost by her!" She is a selfish debt collector, she doesn't want to think about her like this, how her brother marries his daughter-in-law, how her sister marries! After speaking, he vigorously knocked the dry tobacco bag in his hand on the ground a few times. Meizi's mother sat next to Meizi, kept pointing at her forehead, and kept scolding: "It's embarrassing." Meizi's brother leaned against the door frame, and after hearing his father's words, he walked up to Meizi and kicked Meizi in the leg hard, and then left the house in a rage.
Meizi's face was pale and her eyes were glazed. She didn't say a word, and let her father and mother beat and scold.
The Spring Festival has passed, and spring is coming. The villagers were busy preparing for spring planting, and everyone seemed to have forgotten about the plum sea. Meizi is also slowly getting better, but she doesn't like to go out, doesn't like to talk, and likes to be in a daze in the house every day. Her father's and mother's care for her was also looser, and she was no longer tied up every night, but the big lock in the room was still locked every day.
During this period, there has been no news of Haizi in Haizi's family.
Spring goes and autumn comes. On this day, Meizi was at home helping her father and mother rub corn in the yard. A villager in the village who makes a living as a matchmaker walks into the courtyard. As soon as Meizi's father and mother saw the matchmaker, they immediately invited the matchmaker to sit in the room, greeted each other with a smile, and poured tea and water. As soon as the matchmaker sat down, Mei Zi's father hurriedly handed over a large front door cigarette, squatted next to the matchmaker's feet, and looked up at the matchmaker with a smile.
The matchmaker said: "Big brother, I have run for you in these ten miles and eight villages, and people are not satisfied with the situation of your family, and the following three sisters, two are still studying, and the burden is too heavy." ”
Mei Zi's father said: "Yes, then please bother my brother more, see which girl is willing, we don't choose, as long as we are not stupid, we don't lack arms and legs." ”
The matchmaker took a puff of cigarette and said, "There is a family in Nancun, there is a son and a daughter in the family, the girl is about the same age as your plum, and she is also handsome." There is just one condition, the son in the family is also older, and it is time to start a family, the family knows the situation of your family, and people have no opinion on Meizi, so they propose to change parents. The matchmaker took another puff of his cigarette.
Father Mei Zi was silent for a while and said, "How is that boy?" ”
The matchmaker scratched his head and said: "He is quite tall, healthy, and able to work, but his brain burned out with a fever when he was a child, and he is not very smart." ”
Mei Ziniang was anxious when she heard this: "A fool? ”
Plum Daddy was silent for a while, and everyone didn't speak. In the yard, Meizi was still rubbing corn with her head down. Meizi seems to be a little silly now, she doesn't speak, she loves to be in a daze, and she doesn't go except to work at home.
Plum Daddy tapped it with a cigarette pouch and said, "Let's just decide!" Ask my brother to help me bring a message another day, we have no opinion here, let's see when the children meet. ”
The matchmaker got up and said, "Okay, I'll go first." ”
The matchmaker got up to leave, and Meizi's father and mother sent the matchmaker out of the door enthusiastically.
Meizi was still rubbing corn in the yard with her head down.
A few days later, Meizi's father, Meizi's brother, Meizi and the other party's family met in a teahouse on the street. Meizi didn't want to go out, so her brother forcefully carried her to the flatbed truck and sat with her mother.
arrived at the teahouse on the street, and the matchmaker left after the introduction, and then the parents of both parties also left. The four young men sat together, and everyone did not speak. The woman on the other side was about ten years old, with thin eyebrows and fine eyes, her face was crimson, and she kept rubbing her clothes with her hands. Brother Meizi liked it very much, and hurriedly got up and poured water for everyone. The other party's brother is very tall and fat, with a big round face, a wide distance between the two eyebrows, and a pair of small eyes dripping on Meizi's body. Umeko sat there expressionlessly, as if she were an outsider.
Half an hour passed, and everyone still didn't say a word. So Brother Meizi said, "Otherwise, let's go back first." So everyone got up and left the table, and went home to each of his fathers and mothers.
On the way home, Meizi didn't say a word, her eyes glazed. Brother Meizi excitedly told his father about the situation of the other woman, and Meizi's father and mother were also in a good mood and smiling.
After returning home, Meizi's father immediately went to the matchmaker and quickly settled the matter to prevent long nights and dreams.
The matchmaker replied two days later that the other party was also satisfied. The date of engagement is set for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
In the blink of an eye, the Mid-Autumn Festival has arrived. The parents and children of both sides sat down for a meal and exchanged the birth dates of their respective children. The wedding date is set for March 3 of the following spring.
The days passed unhurriedly like this, and Haizi still didn't have any news.
The Spring Festival is coming, and the people in the village are busy preparing for the Spring Festival again. It's just that Meizi is becoming more and more silent, and sometimes she will suddenly sit up at night, laugh twice, and then look at the roof with her eyes open, and her eyes are terrible.
On the third day of March, the whole village came to Meizi's house to congratulate and eat wine. Meizi's two older sisters also returned from out of town. They pulled Meizi into the room and dressed her. The two sisters were crying while dressing up, and Meizi looked sluggish, looking at the two sisters crying there, she smiled. This made the two sisters even more sad.
As soon as the hour came, firecrackers rang out in both homes, gongs and drums were noisy, and several tractors rushed to each other's homes with dowries. Brother Meizi married the other woman, and Meizi married the other brother.
Daddy Plum looked at the bride and smiled from ear to ear.
On the day of Meizi's wedding, Haizi's father and mother didn't come out of the house all day.
After the marriage, Umeko returned. Meizi's father asked her how she was at her in-law's house, but Meizi just smirked and didn't answer. After that, Meizi never came home for half a year.
Until one day in winter, Daddy Plum had just gotten up and was ready to cook. Suddenly, there was a sharp knock at the door. Meizi's father hurriedly opened the door, and there was a person standing outside the door, and the voice of the person who came hurriedly said: "Uncle, you hurry up and go to Meizi's mother-in-law's house to have a look, Meizi is about to be killed by her husband." When Meizi's father and mother heard this, their faces changed, and they hurriedly locked the door and called Meizi's brother and sister-in-law to go to Meizi's mother-in-law's house together.
When I came to the village of Mei Zi's mother-in-law, before I arrived at Mei Zi's house, I saw a group of people gathered at the door of Mei Zi's house from a distance, and there was a sound of scolding and whipping in the crowd. Meizi's father and brother hurriedly pushed away the crowd, only to see Meizi's husband whipping Meizi with a belt in his hand, Meizi shrank her head and kept protecting her head and body with her hands.
Meizi's father shouted: "Brute, what are you doing!" ”
Mei Ziniang hurriedly ran over and hugged Mei Zi and cried loudly: "What a sin! You've been killed with a thousand knives! ”
Meizi's brother snatched the belt from Meizi's husband's hand and was about to pull it at Meizi's husband. Meizi's sister-in-law hugged Meizi's brother and said, "What are you doing!" Brother Meizi was deflated for a moment.
Meizi's mother-in-law and father-in-law also came out of the house, and Meizi's father-in-law said, "Oh, my in-laws are here." Oh, the two children are ignorant and awkward, hurry up and sit in the house. ”
Meizi's father and mother helped Meizi into the house.
Mei Zi's father said: "Today I must explain why I beat my daughter." ”
Meizi's parents-in-law did not speak.
Mei Ziniang said loudly: "You are too bullying, how did my good daughter come to your house like this!" ”
Mother-in-law Meizi said: "Since the in-laws said so, then let's talk about things today." At the beginning, our two families agreed to change parents, we married a good girl to your family, but your family married a stupid girl to my family, how can you do this! ”
Mei Ziniang said loudly: "Whose daughter do you say is stupid!" ”
Mei Ziniang and Mei Zi Niang quarreled.
Daddy Mei didn't speak. Hearing the two old ladies arguing there, she shouted loudly: "Okay, stop arguing!" ”
There was silence again, followed by the laughter of Meizi.
Mei Zi's father said: "Then what should I do next?" ”
Meizi's father-in-law said: "I didn't expect this, since your Meizi married into my family, she didn't do anything, she was in a daze all day long, every time my son wanted to **, she refused to live or die, this didn't force her son to do it today." We also want to pass on the lineage! ”
Mei Zi's father didn't speak, and Mei Ziniang didn't speak, only Meizi's laughter was heard.
After the silence, Meizi's father said, "I'll bring my daughter home today, and I'll talk about it later." ”
Meizi's mother-in-law said, "Big brother, that relationship is good! Go home and show your daughter. ”
In this way, Meizi followed her father, brother, sister-in-law and sister-in-law back to her home in Gushi Village.
The news of Meizi's return to the village attracted onlookers and discussions in the village. Meizi's father and mother thought Meizi was embarrassed, so they locked Meizi at home all day and didn't let them go out.
At this time, Meizi's sister-in-law was also pregnant, and Meizi's mother didn't have time to take care of Meizi, so the whole family discussed and decided to send Meizi to the county psychiatric hospital.
So Meizi was sent to a mental hospital, and the people called Meizi became crazy.
During this time, there was still no news from Haizi's family.
Haizi's sister went to the county hospital to visit Meizi once. Meizi saw that Haizi's sister didn't say a word except for giggling, and Haizi's sister finally left the mental hospital in tears.
Pregnant in October, Meizi's sister-in-law gave birth to a boy. Meizi's father and mother were happy and decided to take Meizi home for a few days.
Meizi was taken home from a psychiatric hospital, giggling all day long, and sometimes beating Meizi's father and mother. Meizi's father and mother were worried that Meizi would not hurt her grandson, so she sent Meizi to a mental hospital the next day after Meizi returned home. Brother Meizi got up early in the morning and set off with Meizi, and they were going to town to catch the bus. Meizi sat on the back seat of her brother's bicycle and giggled all the way.
Meizi and her brother came to the town and waited on the side of the road for the bus to the county seat. People come and go on the road, and from time to time some people stare at Meizi, who is not afraid of people, and grins at pedestrians.
Meizi's brother said to Meizi: "Meizi, you wait for me here, I'll go buy you a bottle of water to drink." With that, he turned around and walked into the small shop on the side of the road. As soon as Brother Meizi stepped into the shop, he heard a screeching sound of brakes. Brother Meizi hurriedly turned around and ran back.
Umeko was already lying in a pool of blood.
Umeko died, being hit by a passing car.
Meizi's father and mother were sad for a while, and asked someone to help pull Meizi back to the village. Because Meizi was married, the body could not be parked at home, and because Meizi was under the age of thirty, she could not be buried in a coffin. So the villagers found a mat to wrap the plums, put them in front of the house, and stopped for a day before they were hastily buried. Buried in the north hill of the village.
The life of Gushi Village continues, and the life of the Meizi family continues. Umeko's nephew is also getting older, and Umeko's two older sisters have also married into other places one after another. Everyone was not affected by Meizi's death, on the contrary, Meizi's family felt less burden and less shame.
Spring comes and goes, year after year, and slowly the people of Gushi Village have forgotten about plums and Haizi. It was as if these two men had never been seen in the village.
It's autumn again, and Haizi's father and mother are picking peanuts in the yard. The door opened, and a tall man with a bag in his hand walked in, came to Haizi's father and mother and knelt down with a "plop". Haizi's father and mother put down the peanuts in their hands, hugged Haizi and cried. Haizi is back.
Haizi is back after 7 years. From an ignorant young man to a young man in his twenties now.
The people in the village rushed to tell each other, Haizi is back! So Haizi's house was crowded with villagers. Everyone seems to have remembered the elopement of Meizi and Haizi again.
Haizi told his parents that after he escaped, he ran to Qingdao, Shandong, where he was penniless and unfamiliar with life. I wanted to go home but didn't dare to come back, wandered on the streets, picked up rags to get by, one day my head was hot, I sneaked into a factory to steal other people's cables and sell them for money, but I was caught by the police, and served five years in prison, and I was released some time ago before I hurried home.
When the parents heard this, they were distressed again, and they hugged Haizi and cried again.
When Meizi's father and mother heard that Haizi was back, the family closed the door and did not go out for several days.
One night a week after Haizi arrived home, he asked his father, "Is Meizi okay?" ”
Neither father nor mother spoke.
Haizi asked her sister again, but her sister didn't say anything when she saw her father.
Haizi was anxious: "What's wrong with Meizi?" Can you say something?" and asked repeatedly: "Did something happen to her?" ”
Hai Zi's father, who had been lowering his head and smoking, said: "You still have the face to ask, why didn't you send a letter to your family for so long, you question us now, why did you go earlier." There was silence again.
Haizi stopped talking, he knew that he was young and afraid that his family would know about his situation and would arrest him back, and his father's character would definitely lose a layer of skin. In the end, I ended up in prison, and I felt guilty and didn't want to contact my family. Now that he is out, he feels that he still can't forget Meizi, and his thoughts about Meizi are getting stronger and stronger, so at the risk of being beaten, he still comes back.
Hai Ziniang said: "His father, let's tell the child!" He'll know sooner or later anyway. ”
Haizi's father paused and said, "Meizi is gone." ”
What does it mean to be gone? Married? Haizi asked urgently.
He's dead. Hai Zi Dad whispered.
He's dead. How did he die? Haizi cried out to her father and mother with a cry.
Haizi's mother shed tears, and Haizi's sister also cried.
Haizi cried and took her sister's hand and said, "Sister, good sister, tell my brother, what happened?" How did Meizi die? Please, tell my brother quickly. ”
Sister Haizi said: "Brother, Sister Meizi's life is hard! ”
So Haizi's father and sister told Haizi everything that happened after Haizi left.
Haizi cried while listening, and cried loudly when he was sad. Haizi's father and sister also cried with him.
This night, Haizi stayed awake all night, thinking about Meizi's sin, he felt more sorry for Meizi, and hated his cowardice and incompetence even more. In this way, he felt distressed and remorseful. Every day, slowly the family found that Haizi's expression was a little wrong.
One day, the family found that Haizi was not at home, so everyone split up to look for him. The younger sister finally found Haizi staring at the river in a daze, her eyes red. The younger sister hurriedly ran over and hugged Haizi's waist and said, "Brother, don't think about it." Haizi didn't speak, took out the red book "** Quotations" from his pocket and read it aloud. The sound of reading aloud is high and low, joy and sorrow. The younger sister was so frightened that she cried loudly, and her sister's crying attracted the family, and Haizi's brothers hurried to arrest him home.
When he got home, Haizi didn't eat or drink, just laughed. Haizi doesn't sleep at night, he walks around the yard at night, reciting *** quotations in his mouth.
The people in the village knew that Haizi was also crazy.
Haizi's father and mother didn't believe that Haizi had gone crazy, so they found a goddess to exorcise Haizi's evil spirits.
On the day of the spell, Haizi was tied to the bed, the goddess had words in her mouth, and Haizi's second brother was holding a wicker in his hand. Every time the goddess recited a sentence, the second brother of Haizi waved a wicker and beat Haizi. Haizi bared his teeth in pain, howled loudly, and kept scolding in his mouth. After a total of eighty-one pumps, Haizi was covered in blood and unconscious. Haizi's sister was so distressed that she had already hid to the side and cried, and Haizi's father and mother angrily scolded Haizi's second brother for being too ruthless, how to kill him. The second brother of Haizi was also aggrieved and cried, he said, the goddess said that it was useless not to use force.
Haizi didn't wake up until noon the next day, and the family members all came forward nervously, wanting to see if Haizi was okay.
Haizi woke up, expressionless and glazed. When his family called out to him, he ignored him. Everyone, you look at me, I look at you. Haizi's mother cried loudly.
Haizi's madness did not get better, on the contrary, it became worse.
Haizi's family decided to send him to the county psychiatric hospital**. The next day, Haizi was sent to a mental hospital by her brother.
Since then, there has been another madman in Gushi Village.
When Haizi's father and mother were alive, they would take Haizi home for a few days during the New Year's holidays. With the death of his father and mother one after another, Haizi never returned to Gushi Village.
Until the second brother Haizi received the mental hospital**, saying that Haizi was not in good health, and asked the family to hurry over.
Haizi's brother, sister-in-law, and sister all rushed to the hospital, but they still didn't see Haizi for the last time, and Haizi died.
Haizi's brother brought Haizi's ashes back to the village and buried them in the north mountain of the village, separated from Meizi's grave in a private plot.
On the day of Haizi's burial, Haizi's second brother also added some new soil to Meizi's grave.