Rebirth 78, the beginning of the marriage was broken off by the female educated youth

The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th of August.

I remember it very clearly. The mine was doing exceptionally well, and that day the boss gave us extra high-temperature subsidies for the previous two months and a Mid-Autumn Festival bonus. Back then, no other company had any high-temperature subsidies, so I was overjoyed.

I heard that our mine is going to be nationalized, and the boss hopes that we will work hard in the remaining days and give him one last shot.

I laughed it off at the time, but when it came to actually working, I worked incredibly hard.

They were just joking, but I took it seriously.

Because I myself came from another place fleeing famine, I worked from dawn till dusk in the mines for several years, bought a house, and even got married, which allowed my mother and sister to live a good life. I am very grateful.

Although it only adds up to twenty yuan, that twenty yuan represents a lot of hard-earned wages for an ordinary family like ours.

With two crumpled ten-yuan bills in my pocket, I went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy two jin of fruit candy and a piece of red ribbon.

Guihua is over seven months pregnant, and lately, for some reason, she keeps craving sweets.

My younger sister, Xiaoqin, is sixteen years old, a time when she loves to look pretty.

I saved the remaining seventeen yuan for my mother; it made her happy.

When I got home, it was just getting dark.

My mother was busy steaming buns in front of the stove, and she also made mooncakes, which are only eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The whole house was filled with a special aroma that I will never forget.

Guihua was sitting on the small kang (heated brick bed) knitting a sweater, which was for her unborn child. When she saw me come back, she looked up and smiled, her eyes full of tenderness.

The setting sun shone on her face, making her look especially beautiful.

"Jianjun's back?" Mom wiped her hands on her apron, took a mooncake out of the steamer and offered it to me, adding, "Do you want dumplings tonight? Mom will make some for you!"

Xiaoqin skipped and hopped out of the room, and as soon as she saw the red ribbon in my hand, she jumped up happily, "Brother, I was just saying it casually, you really bought it for me?"

I nodded with a smile, and seeing the smiling faces of everyone in the room, I waved generously, "Let's splurge tonight and make dumplings!"

I immediately gave Xiaoqin and Guihua some fruit candies. The two of them puffed out their mouths, sucking on the candies, their eyes crinkling into crescent moons as they kept saying how sweet it was.

"Eat more sweets!" I smiled and patted Xiaoqin's head, then reached out to touch my wife's belly, proudly saying, "After the baby is born, we'll let him know that our family can also achieve candy freedom!"

Although life was tough, our family lived better and more comfortably than others.

Because I am hardworking and diligent, I have experienced hardship and know how hard it is to earn every penny, so I cherish everything I have.

What makes a happy person?

It belongs neither to the rich nor the poor; it belongs only to the content.

I have suffered, but I have a beloved wife, a living mother, and a sister who is like a sibling to me. I am already very content.

That evening, the four of us were making dumplings at the table.

Guihua, Xiaoqin, and I kneaded the dough, chopped the filling, and rolled out the wrappers. My mother was the most skilled, and she made dumplings right next to us. Each dumpling looked like a gold ingot, very beautiful and full of meaning.

"This time next year," Mother said with relief, "our family will be five people! Jianjun, you'd better work hard! This whole family depends on you for food!"

"Mom, you can't worry!" I patted my chest and assured everyone, "Foreman He at the mine said that I'll be a team leader after the new year, and I'll get an extra five yuan a month in subsidies!"

Guihua was overjoyed and squeezed my hand tightly under the table. "After the baby is born and I finish my postpartum confinement, I'll go work in the mine. I can't let you suffer alone. Our lives will definitely get better and better!"

"It's getting better and better!"

Mother and Xiaoqin both chimed in, and I was overjoyed.

After eating dumplings and mooncakes, and then having a steamed bun, I was very full that night.

Xiaoqin cut out lanterns from red paper in her room. She's always been skillful with her hands, and she insisted on dragging me along to put up two beautiful lanterns for the house.

I did as she asked and hung the lanterns under the eaves.

Once the candle is lit, it glows red and feels incredibly warm!

"Brother," Xiaoqin said gently, standing on tiptoe with her hands behind her back, looking up at the lanterns. "You see, life is always bitter at first but sweet later. We feel like it's New Year's every day now. Thank you!"

"No need to thank me!" I choked up a little because of my sister's words. I looked at the red lanterns and couldn't say anything, but I sighed in my heart, "If only Dad were here too."

I finally managed to support my large family and become as upright as him, but he can't see it.

He's clearly the one who works the hardest in this family!

Life has improved, but he can't see it anymore. Sometimes I wonder, is all the effort I've put in still meaningful?

But when he looked down and saw Xiaoqin, his mother, and his wife, he felt that it was meaningful!

I pulled Xiaoqin back into the house. My mother had finished cleaning up the dishes and was discussing with Guihua whether the character "平" (ping, meaning peace) should be added to the purse. Guihua, however, said that the single character "安" (an, meaning peace) was already very good.

That scene was incredibly heartwarming, but I didn't know that it was the last night our family would reunite.

We had just finished tidying up and were getting ready for bed when we suddenly heard a heavy thud in the yard.

I opened the door with a flashlight, and it was immediately kicked over.

Zhang Hu led three men in single file, all reeking of alcohol.

He was a slacker in the mine's security department. My heart tightened and I instinctively wanted to call for help, but Ma He slapped me back to the ground.

Sun Fang and Chen Yan ran into the house and chased the women out.

"I heard you got paid today? Tsk tsk, look at how well you're doing, some out-of-towner is making more money than us! How much did you get today?" Zhang Hu said with a forced smile, grabbing my neck. "Hurry up and hand it all over, let us guys have some!"

I instinctively clutched my pocket: "Brother Tiger, these are all for the New Year, my kid's coming soon..."

Snapped!

"Shut the fuck up!" Zhang Hu slapped me across the face. "I've always known you're a sly and untrustworthy person. Did I give you any face?"

The mother smiled apologetically and said, "Young comrade, let's talk this out. Did Jianjun do something wrong...?"

"His biggest problem is that he's rich, damn it!" Ma He shoved his mother away. "You old hag, get out of here!"

With that push, Guihua and Xiaoqin were terrified and rushed forward to catch it, and disaster struck immediately!

Zhang Hu spotted my wife's big belly at a glance, his eyes gleaming with lust. "Tsk, Jianjun, I've always heard you have a pretty wife, she's really something!"

Ma He grabbed my sister and exclaimed, "Hey, this little girl is pretty too!"

I realized something was wrong and struggled to get up from the ground, trying to push the two of them away, but suddenly, someone hit me on the head from behind with a club, and I couldn't stand up right away.

"Tie them up!" Sun Fang and Chen Yan were even more ruthless than they expected.

The next dozen or so hours were the longest nightmare of my life.

They robbed the house of all its money, and then took out our stored grain, candy, wine, cured meat, and other New Year's supplies and ate and drank to their hearts' content.

After we finished drinking, that bastard Zhang Hu dragged Guihua into the room. Her shrill screams still echo in my ears.

My baby is seven months along!

How could that beast do such a thing!

I struggled and used all my strength to try to get out of the ropes, but those two bitches, Sun Fang and Chen Yan, tied me up even tighter. Ma He even stuffed a sock into my mouth!

My mother kowtowed on the ground, pleading, "Please, please spare my daughter-in-law, she's pregnant..."

As soon as my mother said that, that bastard Chen Yan kicked her in the chest, yelling, "Old woman, don't worry, you'll be next!"

Xiaoqin was trembling in the corner, crying over and over again. My eyes turned red with worry!

That night! My home turned into hell!

With the help of those two women, those two beasts didn't spare my wife, sister, or even my mother; they violated them all!

They forced me to watch all of this, and whenever I fainted from grief, they would immediately wake me up with fire tongs!

It's almost dawn.

I thought it was finally over!

However, Guihua suffered a massive hemorrhage, and Xiaoqin was also driven to mental instability by the torment, drooling in a daze. Her mother was on the verge of death and unable to speak.

"We've gone too far, what should we do?" Zhang Hu asked, fastening his belt.

Sun Fang's eyes were as cold as an animal's. "Then we'll have to silence them! We can't let anyone know about what's going on between us!"

They strangled my mother, drowned my sister in a water vat, and when Guihua was still alive, that bitch Chen Yan actually picked up a pair of scissors...

I watched my whole family die right in front of me, and I was too exhausted to even scream anymore!

……

At this point, Hu Jianjun was already sobbing uncontrollably.

Li Xiangnan was also moved to tears, extremely angry at the heinous acts of those beasts. He gently pressed Hu Jianjun's shoulder and asked, "What happened next? How did your body end up in the mine?"