Like you in the sun

In a remote village in Jinghai City, Zhang Yan had just entered the house when she heard her brother and mother singing Shuanghuang again.

Zhang Yan's brother: "Xiaoliang is several years younger than me, and he already has two children."

Zhang Yan's mother: "Our family is poor! There are few matchmakers who come to propose marriage."

Zhang Yan's brother: "I'm almost 30 years old and I don't even have a wife. How do people look at me when I go out?"

"Women have very high requirements for marriage. They must find a man with a car and a house."

Zhang Yan's mother: "That's right! You can't find a wife without a car and a house."

Zhang Yan's brother: "I want to buy a house in the city."

Zhang Yan's mother: "Qiangqiang, our family can't afford to buy a house in the city."

The two of them were singing the same tune and their words were all meant for me to hear, they just wanted me to pay.

Zhang Yan was already accustomed to these things. She didn't say anything, put down the gifts she bought and went back into the house.

Seeing that this trick didn't work, Zhang Yan's mother twisted her mouth and made eyes at Zhang Yan's brother to express her dissatisfaction.

When he saw the gifts on the ground, his eyes lit up instantly. He checked them out and said with disdain, "These are all sold at the market here."

(The term "jishang" refers to the big market in the countryside. It is an organizational form formed by villagers going to a fixed place regularly to conduct a large number of commodity transactions. It is also called a market or a bazaar.)

After looking at the gifts, he walked into the house and saw Zhang Yan lying in the inner room playing with her mobile phone through the crack in the door.

He ran to another room where miscellaneous items were stored, opened Zhang Yan's suitcase and began rummaging through the clothes inside.

When it was time to eat, Zhang Yan's mother placed the meat dishes in front of her son.

When serving the noodles, put the meat sauce at the bottom of the bowl, and then pour the vegetarian sauce on the noodles for your son.

The bowl of noodles given to Zhang Yan was just topped with vegetarian sauce, and there were even fewer eggs in the sauce than in the bowl of noodles given to her brother.

At the quiet dinner table, Zhang Yan's father smoked a pipe and kept rolling his eyes at Zhang Yan, the kind of eyes that showed disgust, and said, "Qiang Qiang plans to buy an apartment in the city so that he can find a wife in the future."

Zhang Yan's mother: "How can our family afford to buy a house in the city?"

Zhang Yan's father: "Yanzi, please help Qiangqiang."

"Don't you have a car? Sell it first and use the money to buy a house for Qiangqiang."

"If you have any problems in the future, Qiangqiang will help you. Brothers and sisters should help each other!"

Zhang Yan: "I sold the car to buy a house for your son? What about me?"

"How can my brother help me in the future? He doesn't go out to work and just idles around at home every day."

Zhang Yan's father: "Qiangqiang, it's not your turn to speak yet."

Zhang Yan's mother: "It's very hard to work outside. How can Qiangqiang go through that?"

Zhang Yan: "My brother is two years older than me. He can't go out and suffer, so I can go out to work and earn money."

Zhang Yan's father: "As long as we can still move, we can't let Qiangqiang suffer."

Zhang Yan: "Then you guys find a way to buy a house in the city. I can't afford it."

Zhang Yan's father threw down his chopsticks and shouted, "You are an ungrateful person. Your mother and I have raised you in vain."

"Now is the time to use you, and there is nothing in return."

Zhang Yan's mother: "As a woman, you will have to marry into another family sooner or later. When you find your in-laws, you can ask them to buy you a car."

"You are already old. If you don't get married at the age of 27, you won't be able to find a husband. The bride price in the village next door is higher than ours."

"You can ask your aunt to introduce you to someone tomorrow. You can ask the man for a car when the time comes."

Zhang Yan: "My car is still useful."

"Since I have already left the village, it is impossible for me to marry back into the village."

Zhang Yan's father: "What kind of man do you want to find? I think you've been living a wild life in the city! In a few years, when you're older, you won't be able to ask for more betrothal gifts."

Zhang Yan: "You are in such a hurry to get me married just for the gift!"

After saying that, he left the dinner table and walked out of the house. Before he had gone far, he heard his parents scolding him again.

Zhang Yan has long been numb to these things. Growing up in such a patriarchal family, she has been beaten and scolded almost every day.

Even when her brother stole money from home and was discovered by her parents, it was Zhang Yan who was beaten and scolded, blaming herself for letting her brother steal the money because she told her where the money was kept.

In short, she was beaten and scolded like a punching bag. Whenever her parents were unhappy, they would beat or scold her. Sometimes even the neighbors couldn't stand it and would come forward to speak a few words for Zhang Yan.

It was precisely because of this family situation that Zhang Yan was bullied by neighborhood children and classmates since childhood.

In order to see Zhang Yan get beaten, several classmates from the same street deliberately fabricated some stories in front of Zhang Yan's parents. The result was another beating and scolding, as you can imagine.

When she grew up, Zhang Yan dropped out of school before finishing junior high school and went out to work to earn money. Because she was young and had no education, she only did hard labor jobs.

In the winter, I have to get up at three or four in the morning and work until the evening. No matter if I am too tired from work or I am bullied, I will never get comfort when I call my parents.

What you get is always:

"Others can do it, why can't you..."

"They bully you now, but they won't bully you in the future..."

"What are you going to do if you quit your job?"

"Have you received your salary? How much money is left..."

When I returned home, all I saw was my father's cold stare and abuse, and my mother's various accusations and derogatory personal insults.

It seems like Zhang Yan would be a sinner if she doesn't go out to make money.

Gradually, Zhang Yan seldom returned to her so-called home and seldom called to contact her parents. Of course, her parents hardly ever called her except to ask her for money.

In recent years, she has had a little more money and her parents' attitude towards her has changed a lot compared to before. This time when she came back, she started to think about her car again.

After walking around the outskirts of the village, I felt a little better.

When I got home I heard my parents still scolding me, so I pretended not to hear them and went back to the inner room and closed the door.

The next day, Zhang Yan, who was still sleeping, was awakened by her mother's scolding while cooking.

All I heard was my mother holding the gift I bought and cursing, "What's the point of buying this crap? He's just a psychopath."

"You just want to bring it back so it looks good, right? We can also buy this crappy thing here at the market."

"Burn it quickly. It makes me upset just looking at it. This junk is not as good as the ones sold here at the market."

After saying that, he threw the gifts into the kitchen and burned them.

Zhang Yan in the room was so heartbroken listening to her mother's scolding that she almost got angry, and thought that maybe she should not have come back.

He left some money behind when his parents went to work in the fields and returned to the city.

So in Zhang Yan's eyes, money is the most important thing. For money, she can be a third party as long as she can get money.