Three Women in the Cage

The car started slowly and drove slowly towards the distance. Yang's parents stared at the direction of the old house through the half-open window for a long time, watching the figure on the eaves getting farther and farther away, smaller and smaller, and finally blurry and unclear!

Only when he could no longer see any trace of the shadow did he withdraw his gaze and lean against the car window, silently wiping away his tears!

After they left, the old house returned to its coldness for a moment, and no one spoke! Finally, Yang Su couldn't hold back any longer and broke the silence. She wanted to leave. Since her third brother and the others had left, why should she stay? So she was the first to speak, "Sister-in-law, if there's nothing else, I'll go back first! I've been delayed here for a few days, and I'm afraid the children at home will be waiting anxiously..."

Tian Yun knew she wanted to leave, and she was right. All the people she wanted to curry favor with had left, so how could she still have the heart to stay here? Seeing that she looked unbearable for even a minute, Tian Yun said unhappily, "What can happen to me? My husband is already buried, what else can happen! If you want to leave, just go. There's no point in staying anyway, and there's no one you care about here anymore, so just go..."

Yang Su didn't expect her to speak so directly, and he felt a little embarrassed, but since his elder brother had just left, he didn't bother to argue with her. He frowned angrily, turned around and left angrily!

After Yang Su left, Yang Yu thought, since his eldest brother's matter was settled, his parents were settled, and his sister-in-law and nephew had the money, there was nothing to worry about! So he gave Tian Yun some instructions and took the three children back home!

Just like that, Tian Yun’s matter came to an end!

This year, it was soon time for Huanhuan to take the college entrance examination. Yang Yu was very nervous, fearing that she would fail and become a laughing stock, and that he would be pinning all his hopes on his child, only to get nothing in the end!

Because in the entire village, all the children of Huanhuan's age or a few years older have either married young or followed their parents out to work! Huanhuan is the only one who can study and get into the county high school. So, everyone in the village is watching Huanhuan to see if she can become the village's first college student!

Of course, they were more of a laughing stock and didn't really want her to get into college! Another point was that they already looked down on Yang Yu's family, and they didn't want her child to be better than theirs. That would be a slap in their faces, not to mention a girl who was not favored!

Yang Yu knew that they were waiting to laugh at him. Perhaps to prove something, or to vent his anger, or even to slap them in the face, Yang Yu seemed to attach great importance to whether Huanhuan could be admitted to university!

But the funny thing is, perhaps because he was bewitched by Zhang's parents, Zhang Erfa stopped sending back the pocket money he usually sent, and called back to sternly stop Yang Yu from supporting Huanhuan's college entrance exam!

Knowing that he would argue with Yang Yu every time he called, he wrote back more than once, and the letters were filled with all kinds of earnest advice.

Yang Yu unfolded the letter and glanced at it casually for a few seconds before tearing it to pieces. She knew the contents of the letter even before she finished reading it!

"Don't you know how much college costs? It's several thousand. Do you have that kind of money? I told you not to send them to school before, but you refused to listen and were so stubborn that I couldn't persuade you. I thought, just let them finish junior high school and forget it! But you still want to send them to high school. I wouldn't mind just sending them to high school, but I didn't expect you to be so crazy and want to send them to college. I really don't understand. Why do you want them to succeed? They are not sons, just useless girls. Even if they succeed, it has nothing to do with you! Besides, no matter how well a girl studies, it's useless! What are you so obsessed with? Why are you fighting so hard?"

Zhang Erfa looked down on girls from the bottom of his heart, thinking that it was a waste for them to study, and that it would be better for them to go out to work early like those people in the village!

But Yang Yu didn't think so. Perhaps it was because she had been suppressed for a long time as a woman, or perhaps it was to prove that women could be better than men, or perhaps it was to save face, or even worse, to fight against the injustice she suffered for not having a son. In short, she would give everything she had to send the child away, to a position that would be envied and jealous by the villagers!

Faced with Zhang Erfa's strong resistance, Yang Yu resolutely fought him and refused to compromise! Besides, her child was very outstanding and never let her down. Since she could go to school, why not send her? She was determined to send her. The more they tried to stop her, the more she would go against the odds!

She had explained to Zhang Erfa a thousand times, but he wouldn't listen and didn't understand her, so now she stopped talking to him and stopped explaining! She even disdained to talk to him. She hung up every time he called and tore up the letters he sent back without even reading them!

I want to walk a path that others disdain to walk, but I also disdain their ideas! As the saying goes, others laugh at me being too crazy, I laugh at others for not seeing through me!

Later, when Zhang Erfa saw that he couldn't stop it, he once again stopped sending back the pocket money he usually gave Yang Yu. Faced with the situation of having no source of income, although Yang Yu was distressed, she soon cheered up!

Huanhuan was in high school at that time and needed 20 yuan per week for living expenses. In fact, 20 was the minimum standard, and Yang Yu had no extra money to give her!

I had some pocket money that Zhang Erfa had sent back before, and I could barely take out twenty yuan to get Huanhuan through a week at school!

While the food wasn't great, it at least provided basic food. Now that his allowance had been cut, Yang Yu couldn't afford to give Huanhuan any extra money, so he had to go out and buy a food that could be eaten by soaking in water. It was a specialty of theirs, called mung bean flour, made from a mixture of vegetable leaves and rice flour. It appeared as a series of emerald green curls.

Don’t underestimate this roll of food. When you eat it, it is as simple and convenient as instant noodles, but it is more nutritious than instant noodles. After all, it is made of vegetable leaves and rice noodles!

Every weekend before Huanhuan returned from the county, Yang Yu would always buy a few rolls of these, cut them into strips with a knife, and put them in a large bag! He would then buy some white tofu and black fungus, stir-fry them with lard, and pack them in an iron lunch box as a sauce!

When Huanhuan comes back, let her take these things with her as food for a week.

Huanhuan would always stuff the mung bean powder she brought to the dormitory and put it in her locker. Every lunchtime or afternoon when everyone in the dormitory went out to eat, she would quietly take out the bag and lunch box, put the mung bean powder strips in a large bowl, and then scoop a few spoonfuls of臊子 from the lunch box and sprinkle it on the mung bean powder. Then she would pour boiling water into it and simmer it for two minutes. A bowl of mung bean powder that could fill her stomach was ready. Huanhuan was already numb to the taste and would eat it mechanically with big mouthfuls, just as a meal to fill her stomach!

She has been eating this thing for several months, eating it three times a day, non-stop. At the beginning, she could still taste it, but after a long time, she became numb and could no longer taste anything!

But there was no way. Ever since Zhang Erfa stopped giving her pocket money and stopped her mother from sending her to school, she had no money and had to eat in the school cafeteria!