Three Women in the Cage

Finally, after he collapsed in the snow due to the cold, Tian Yun opened the door and asked Ermao and Sanmao to help him in.

Afterwards, Tian Yun and Li Jian huddled in the bedroom, warming themselves by the fire, eating something with a pot of hot water beside them.

Li Jian had a sullen face and had not yet recovered from his anger. Tian Yun was beside him, coaxing him with a smile on her face.

Five-year-old Sanmao and eight-year-old Ermao helped Yang Zheng to the kitchen and let him sit in front of the stove to absorb some warmth and drive away the coldness in his body.

At this time, there was a blazing fire in the stove, and the crackling flames illuminated the dim kitchen.

After Yang Zheng sat down, Sanmao quickly brought him a cup of hot water and asked him to drink it to warm his stomach.

Yang Zheng hugged his body and absorbed the warmth from the stove, and his body slowly warmed up.

Before he could fully stretch out his body, Tian Yun's urging voice came from the bedroom: "Ermao? Is the meal not ready yet? Your father is hungry. Make it and bring it here quickly. Your father has just been discharged from the hospital and can't stand being hungry..."

Ermao quickly responded: "I'm doing it, it will be done soon..."

Sanmao was chopping wood nearby. Because he was weak, he couldn't chop the wood for a long time and was sweating profusely.

Ermao was only as tall as the stove, and he was busy running around in front of the stove in a panic.

Yang Zheng, sitting on the stool, watched all this unwillingly, his heart filled with helplessness and inability to struggle. At some point, a tear silently slid into the water cup in his hand.

Suddenly Sanmao, who was chopping wood nearby, saw him. He stared at his brother crying in a daze. He couldn't help but stepped forward and cried out in a sobbing voice: "Brother..."

Yang Zheng, who was discovered, wiped away his tears in embarrassment and forced a smile: "What's wrong? Don't be afraid, I'm here..."

As he said this, he took the axe from his hand and chopped the wood hard. The wood fell down with a loud "crack".

He chopped it hard, as if he was treating the wood as a man, venting his anger and dissatisfaction with all his strength.

After a while, the aroma of food wafted from the stove. Before Ermao could bring the food out, Tian Yun hurried in.

Looking at the prepared meal, Tian Yun muttered, "Why is it taking so long to cook? What are you doing? Your dad is starving."

After saying that, he used a small bowl to pick out some dishes from the two dishes, put them on the kitchen table, and said to them: "You guys eat here, your dad and I will eat in the bedroom. By the way, Yang Qing, remember to feed the cows..."

After saying that, she served the hot meal, walked out of the kitchen, and went to the bedroom to please the man.

The three brothers squeezed into the small space in the kitchen, eating their meal to keep each other warm, but they all felt unhappy in their hearts.

After finishing her meal, Tian Yun went to bed with the man. Ermao came in to clean up the dishes. When he left, he helped close the door.

Just like that, in the freezing cold weather, two shameless people sent their children out to do farm work and housework, while they themselves enjoyed a life of having clothes to wear and food to eat in their bedrooms.

It seemed that this kind of life brought them pleasure and they were even a little obsessed with it. If the three children were dissatisfied, they would be beaten and taught a lesson by the two men.

This matter gradually spread in the village and seemed to have become a common knowledge. The two became more and more shameless and their actions became more and more excessive.

As if they had no restraints, they did not care about the pointing and criticizing of outsiders, and had no guilt about beating, scolding and punishing their children.

Yang Zheng finally couldn't bear it anymore, so he left home cruelly and started a life on the construction site exposed to wind and sun.

After Yang Zheng left, Ermao and Sanmao suffered even more. They were forced to drop out of school and could only stay at home to work. Their temperaments had been smoothed over by Tian Yun and Li Jian, and they were so docile that they dared not resist at all.

These things finally reached Yang Yu's ears after being passed down from outsiders. She then realized that her two nephews were living in dire straits, even in her mother's home. She felt so depressed that she couldn't breathe.

She was unwilling to accept that her innocent family was being ruined by that woman and her two nephews were also abused in this way.

That woman was truly heartless. She lived in someone else's house and received someone else's gifts, but she acted ungratefully.

Two outsiders who have no blood relationship with me actually control my mother's family and do shameful things.

She hated it and was unwilling to accept it, but now, no one seemed to care except herself. Even her parents, third brother, and sister chose to turn a deaf ear and act like outsiders.

Was it that I was being overly irrational, or were they just too cold-hearted?

She began to feel lost and hesitant. What did those so-called affections really mean to them? Why did they choose to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear?

They even turned a deaf ear to the fact that they were arrested for this, and they haven't called me even once to ask about it.

Sighing, human hearts are always too cold-hearted...

However, no matter how indignant Yang Yu was, she was ultimately too weak to have the courage to go to the door and argue for her two nephews.

What can be done? Apart from a frustrated response and more violence, what can be done to change things?

No, she can’t do anything. Her own life is already mired in mud and a mess, so how can she dream of saving others? She can’t save them, no one can save them, she can’t even save herself…

With reluctance and helplessness, she sighed, hoping that her two nephews would be safe and sound, and begged her eldest brother's spirit in heaven to bless his children and let them live a life without worries...

After Li Jian's body gradually recovered, he began to want to make trouble for Yang Yu. Several times in the fields, she saw the man from afar with a gloomy face, staring at her like the god of death.

From then on, Yang Yu always carried a sickle with her to prevent sudden attacks from men.

However, the man seemed to be deliberately trying to scare her. He just stared at her from a distance every time but never made a move.

He probably just wanted to make Yang Yu unhappy and make her live in fear every day.

Later, Yang Yu couldn't bear it anymore and felt that his headache was coming back. It seemed that his ears were filled with insulting voices, all kinds of mocking sounds, and all kinds of cruel eyes that wanted to tear him apart.

She was lying in bed in the middle of the night, and the slightest movement outside would wake her up suddenly. It seemed that if she didn't wake up in time, someone would sneak in and kill her in the silent night when she was least prepared.

She didn't dare to be careless, never dared to sleep too deeply, and always remained vigilant.

However, because her nerves were tense for a long time, they began to become disordered and her mind began to become hazy, as if her world had fallen into an endless darkness.

She began to close her heart, hiding herself in a small corner, rejecting everything and everyone outside.

Yes, everyone outside will harm her, everyone is a bad person, and she is wary of and hates everyone.

Even an unintentional glance from them could make her see the deep disgust towards her in their eyes.

She could also hear other people saying bad things about her from the way their mouths moved.

She could see malice in other people's every move, which drove her crazy, especially at night. Those voices haunted her, forced her, and made her unable to bear it anymore and roar out. She pointed at the darkness, gesticulating and cursing.