The courtyard: the atmosphere of human life

"Sister, is my little sister really divorced? That's a big deal, right?"

Xiaoying's question interrupted Darong's thoughts. Qiaozhen's words kept echoing in her mind. In that era, divorce was a very big deal and was almost a scandal for a person.

At that time, most people would not carefully distinguish the reasons for divorce. Once the news of someone's divorce spread, both parties would be punished severely and no one would get away with it.

"That should be the case. Although Qiaozhen loves to gossip, she doesn't usually say anything nonsense, and she certainly can't talk nonsense about such a big thing."

"That little sister is so pitiful." Xiaoying sighed with some sympathy.

The two sisters didn't say anything else and walked back home.

As soon as she entered the door, Darong saw Lao San sitting in the yard with his head hung down, and Xizi was lying behind Lao San with his tail between his legs, not saying a word.

"Mom, we are back."

Darong and Xiaoying greeted Darong's mother as soon as they entered the house. Darong's mother was sitting on a bench picking wool without even raising her head, and it was obvious that she was still angry.

After putting down the things, the two sisters didn't dare to ask any more questions. Darong went into the kitchen to prepare dinner. Xiaoying sat obediently on the chair and read a book, occasionally stealing a glance at Darong's mother's back.

"Mom, let's eat. I'll work in the afternoon. You can take a rest before going to work." After Darong brought the simple meal to the table, Darong said to Darong's mother.

"Hua Zi, come in and have dinner..."

"Leave him outside and let him starve to death. See if he still has the energy to beat someone up."

Before Darong could finish her words, Darong's mother started scolding the third child in the yard.

Originally, the third child kept silent, but with his stubborn temper, he could not stand more than three words. When Darong's mother scolded him for the fourth time, he jumped up and started to argue.

"Why should I hand over my son? He didn't raise him. I have to be handed over just because he says so." The third brother stiffened his neck, looking indignant.

"Then why don't you do it? He's your uncle, and you're driving yourself crazy, you little bastard." Darong's mother stood up again and prepared to grab the broom behind the door.

Darong was confused by what she heard and quickly stopped her mother.

"What's going on?" Darong asked with a frown after stopping her mother.

"That bastard beat up your third uncle, his face was broken, and they both ran away. Even your grandma couldn't stop them."

Darong's mother became angrier and angrier as she spoke, and she kept rushing out to beat the third child.

"If I don't beat him up, he will hand Xizi over to the dog-beating team. How can Xizi survive?"

After hearing this, Darong roughly understood the whole story. At that time, the village and the town would often organize dog-beating teams. In fact, the original intention was to prevent stray dogs from hurting people, but later on, it gradually changed its nature.

Originally, beating dogs was a popular thing among the people due to the prevalence of wild dogs and people's fear of rabies. Later, in order to speed up the progress of the work, villages and towns began to set a number of dogs to be beaten. As a result, the people in the dog beating team began to distort their original intention in order to complete the task.

Domestic dogs have also become targets of arbitrary extermination by dog-beating teams, and many dog ​​owners dare not speak out.

This time Zhouzhuang assigned a task number to the dog-beating team. The team leader went to Darong’s grandmother’s house in person and issued an ultimatum to hand over the dog within a certain period of time.

The unsuspecting third brother had just brought Xizi to Zhouzhuang today when his third uncle tied up Xizi with a rope. The third brother then fought with his third uncle for his life.

"Mom, you can't blame Huazi entirely. It's wrong for my uncle to do this. We can't really let him hand over the baby."

After understanding the whole story, Darong felt a little unhappy. If her third uncle really handed over the child, Darong would never forgive him.

Although Darong's mother was still angry, she was not unable to distinguish right from wrong. She was only angry because the third brother and the third uncle had a fight.

"Hua Zi, admit your mistake to your mother. It was wrong for you to hit your third uncle." Seeing that her mother was no longer as angry as before, Darong quickly tried to smooth things over and provided a way out.

"Sister, you don't know. I tried my best to persuade my uncle, and I almost knelt down to beg him, but he was like possessed by a demon and insisted on sending Xizi away. Later, I found out that the captain of the dog-beating team was his girlfriend's eldest brother. He wanted to exchange Xizi for his wife, so I couldn't help but take action."

The third brother refused to go down even one step, still stubbornly shouting with his neck stiff and his voice raised.

Darong had actually gotten used to it a long time ago. This kid had been like this since he was a child. Once he was caught, it would be harder than climbing to the sky to make him admit his mistakes.

Even though Darong's mother beats him the most every day, she is actually most afraid that he will do something wrong. Other children would give in when they can, but he doesn't. He insists on competing with him. After all, she is his mother, and she can't give in before him, but she can't really hurt him either.

"Mom, don't you know Huazi's temper? Don't be angry. I'll go see my third uncle this afternoon. He didn't do anything wrong, so I won't hold on to it."

Seeing that the third brother refused to give in, Darong had to find a way to smooth things over herself.

Darong's mother didn't say anything. She was tired of making a fuss and couldn't keep staying in this stalemate. She had no appetite and went straight into the inner room to lie down.

Darong comforted her mother, walked into the yard, tapped the third child with her hand, sighed, and took out a bun for him.

"Xiaozi, they are beating dogs outside again. You are not allowed to go out these few days. Stay indoors if you have nothing to do. If the dog beating team comes, hide under the bed and don't make any noise. Do you hear me?"

Darong gave instructions to Xizi. Although she didn't know how much Xizi could understand, she still spoke every word seriously.

Xizi lay on the ground, looked up at Darong with a wronged look, and wagged his tail twice without making any sound.

After tidying up the house, Darong rode her bike and took Xiaoying to Zhouzhuang. Usually it took half a day to walk to Zhouzhuang, but now it didn't seem so far when riding a bike.

As soon as Darong entered the room, she saw her third uncle lying on the bed with his back to the door, and her grandmother was sitting on a chair beside him picking black bugs (note: small black bugs that grow in rice).

"Grandma, is my third uncle asleep?" After greeting her grandma, Darong asked, looking at her third uncle's back.

Grandma smiled and shook her head.

Darong knew that her third uncle was lying on the kang sulking.

"Third Uncle?" Darong called out tentatively, but her Third Uncle on the bed did not respond.

Xiaoying climbed directly onto the kang and walked around to her third uncle.

“Hahahaha… Third Uncle… Haha… My brother is so cruel… Haha…” Xiaoying couldn’t help laughing out loud after looking at her Third Uncle.

When Xiaoying smiled, Darong came closer with even more curiosity and grabbed her uncle to see what he looked like.

My third uncle pushed me a few times at first, but then he just sat up. The scratches on his face were clearly visible, and there were red scratches on both sides of his cheeks.

"Hua Zi really deserves a beating." Darong said with pursed lips after taking a look.