Three Women in the Cage

That day, Zhang's father happily said to Zhang Sanmao and Liu Chunxiang, "I went to see the house we built for you today, and it's almost finished. I was thinking of finding a time for you to move in, but now that our eldest grandson is born, we're going to hold a housewarming party and a full-moon party together to have a double celebration! What do you think?"

Father Zhang looked at them with a smile on his face, very satisfied with his proposal.

Liu Chunxiang thought that she could finally stop living under the same roof with a bunch of stinky men. In addition, she had given birth to a child, which made her life even more inconvenient. She could move there right after she finished her confinement. This was exactly what she wanted, so she couldn't help but say happily, "Thank you, Dad!"

Zhang Sanmao looked at Liu Chunxiang's happy expression and echoed, "Thank you, Dad!"

So Zhang's father went to every household again and invited the neighbors to attend the double banquet of full moon banquet and housewarming banquet. The neighbors once again congratulated him on the double happiness.

Amidst all the congratulations, Zhang's father smiled widely and wandered around the village in high spirits, fearing that others would not know about his new fat grandson.

When their family was immersed in the joy that Liu Chunxiang gave birth to the first grandson of their Zhang family, only Yang Yu was watching coldly.

Now the whole village is talking about the double celebration of the Zhang family's full moon party and housewarming party, and it seems that everyone has forgotten that they have Yang Yu, a daughter-in-law, and her two granddaughters. It is said that people always listen to the laughter of the new people and ignore the crying of the old ones.

Yang Yu laughed sarcastically, and then burst into tears. She hated the fact that she was different as a daughter-in-law, different as a wife, different as a sister-in-law, and even her own children were the same as her, different.

These differences bound her feet like a chain, shackled her neck, and made her struggle on the brink of life and death. She was unwilling to give in, and she didn't want to just admit defeat. She hesitated and struggled to endure in that moment.

"Wa wa wa", sensing her mother's sadness, Yaya started crying again in Yang Yu's arms. Yaya's crying brought back Yang Yu's lonely sadness.

Yang Yu walked around holding Yaya and rocking her, while constantly coaxing her, "Yaya, be good, Yaya, don't cry. You still have your mother and your sister. We all love you very much."

Yes, she also has two lovely daughters, who are her spiritual support and motivation in life.

Zhang Erfa walked in suddenly and saw Yang Yu crying and coaxing Yaya. He felt annoyed and couldn't help yelling, "Why the hell are you crying all day long? Why are you pretending to be pitiful? You cry every day, big and small. You've ruined the family because of you crying. Look at you, you have a sullen face all day long, as if someone owes you millions. It's unlucky and annoying to look at you!" Zhang Erfa walked around her in disgust and went into the kitchen to find something to eat.

Yang Yu was no longer indifferent. She would not indulge him anymore. She wanted to vent her anger immediately, so she sneered, "If you want to see me being unlucky, go look at someone else. Look at the ones who gave birth to sons down there. They're so happy that their faces are about to bloom. All that's missing is you flattering them. Don't you love flattering your family the most?"

Zhang Erfa went to the kitchen and looked at the cold stove and found nothing to eat. He also heard Yang Yu talking nonsense there, and he was furious. "What the hell are you talking about? You are just flattering me. You can't give birth to a son yourself, and you don't allow others to have one. You couldn't give birth to a son twice, but Chunxiang gave his parents a big fat grandson as soon as he came. What's wrong? Are you bothering him because he is happy?"

After Zhang Erfa finished speaking, he looked at Yang Yu with disdain and said, "Since you can't make your parents happy, just stay at home and don't act so sullenly to dislike others. Do what a woman should do, take care of your husband and children. Don't let your man come back to find the house empty-handed and have to face your sour face."

Yang Yu said with a frustrated look on her face, "Are you worthy of being my husband? You don't know what a loser you are, yet you still talk in such a high-sounding manner. It really makes her feel sick."

So I said bluntly, "What's wrong with me not being able to give birth to a son? I'm happy and content. If you want me to be a good wife, don't even think about it. If you don't want to see my ugly face, just stay down there every day. No one will be bothered by it!"

Finally, they parted unhappily again. Zhang Erfa slammed the door and left. After watching Zhang Erfa leave, Yang Yu sat down dejectedly on the stool, covering her face and crying.

The day finally arrived when Zhang Sanmao and his family had a double celebration. The banquet was arranged to be held at the new house. Zhang's father and mother brought the men in the family to help at the new house early in the morning. Of course, Zhang Erfa was among them. In view of the delicate relationship between Yang Yu and them, and the fact that he had only taken care of Yaya for more than two months, Zhang Erfa did not plan to take her to the banquet.

So Yang Yu took Yaya and stayed at home alone, while almost all the people in the village came to the banquet. In order to save face, Zhang's father made a grand ceremony. During the banquet, the neighbors warmly sent their blessings and brought gifts. There were firecrackers and gongs and drums at the gate of the courtyard. The whole banquet was immersed in a lively scene.

When the banquet was about to begin, Liu Chunxiang, holding the child, slowly walked from Zhang's mother's side with the support of Zhang Sanmao, and walked towards the new house. When she reached the gate of the new house, she shouted and slowly moved in. Amid the cheers of the crowd attending the banquet, she was helped into the new house.

Then with another shout, everyone entered the climax of the banquet and started to eat today's feast amid all kinds of cheers.

Yang Yu stood at the gate of their new house, looking at the noisy scene below. She just watched with a cold look in her eyes, watching Liu Chunxiang walk into the two-story brick house with a smile on her face, supported by Zhang Sanmao, watching Zhang's father and mother bent over with smiles to accept the congratulations and gifts from the neighbors, watching Zhang Erfa awkwardly smiling to blend in with the atmosphere, and watching her brothers-in-law warmly entertaining the guests with a smile they had never smiled before.

Looking at these people who have some relationship with her but seem to have nothing to do with her, she watched quietly. She wanted to numb herself, she wanted to isolate herself and never let these people hurt her again.

Suddenly, a neighbor seemed to have sensed something and looked in the direction of Yang Yu. Seeing Yang Yu who had been staring at them, he was stunned for a moment, as if he couldn't react for a while. Who is she?

Just as he was stunned, Yang Yuxian quickly withdrew her gaze and ran away in a panic. She couldn't let others see her miserable appearance. She didn't want that family to laugh at her, and she didn't want the neighbors to laugh at her. She couldn't let anyone laugh at her like a poor thing, like a clown, so when that person looked at her, she hurriedly hid.

After Yang Yu left, the neighbor finally realized what was going on. He asked, "Hey, did you see where my second sister-in-law was standing just now? Oh, and why didn't she come to the banquet?"

The person next to him looked around and made sure that Yang Yu was not there, then said, "I didn't notice it, but it seems that the second sister-in-law didn't come."

So everyone looked at Zhang Erfa, who was grinning all the time, and joked, "Brother Erfa, why didn't you invite your second sister-in-law to the banquet? After all, we lived together before and she took care of Chunxiang. Why didn't she come to such a big event?"

Everyone was joking with each other, and Zhang Erfa could only say innocently, "She just came out of confinement, and it's inconvenient for her to bring the baby. Besides, she has a bad temper all day long and has a sullen face every day. It's annoying to look at her, so we didn't let her come."

It's no wonder that outsiders tease the couple. They are not polite at all when exposing each other's shortcomings in front of outsiders. So when the neighbors hear Zhang Erfa's undisguised complaints, they treat it as gossip and tease him even more recklessly.

Occasionally he would let out a mocking laugh, laughing so hard that he fell backwards with joy.

Zhang Erfa also laughed along without caring, which made people want to make fun of him.

Yang Yu, who was not far away, also heard their jokes, the undisguised laughter, and the unscrupulous teasing. She just felt that Zhang Erfa was extremely cowardly. She fooled him, and he was still smiling. They even laughed at his wife, but he didn't care and pretended not to hear.

This man had inadvertently made others treat her as a weakling who could be bullied, as if he could step on anyone who was unhappy with him. It would have been fine if he didn't care about her, but why did he drag her into this? Yang Yu's hatred and disgust for him reached the extreme.

Zhang's father, mother and brothers-in-law also turned a deaf ear to the neighbors' jokes, as if they were used to Zhang Erfa being ridiculed and laughed at, but it had nothing to do with them.

Yang Yu felt as if his ears were ringing as the laughter grew farther and farther away. Even when he got home, the constant noise of teasing and laughing was still ringing in his ears.