Three Women in the Cage

Yang Yu stayed at night. After his father and mother sent Yang Su and his wife away, Yang Yu returned to his former bedroom alone.

She sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the pitch-black night outside. She held her head up and thought hard about how to talk to her parents.

Suddenly, there was a creaking sound and the door was pushed open from the outside. Mother Yang came over quietly and sat next to Yang Yu, looking at Yang Yu who looked increasingly haggard.

"You seem absent-minded all day. Is there something wrong at home? You married far away and we can't take care of you normally. If you encounter anything, remember to tell us!" Mother Yang patted the back of her hand gently to comfort her.

Yang Yu looked at her mother's slightly aged hand resting on the back of hers. She tried to speak several times, but her words faltered. Although her mother told her to speak up if she had anything to say, she felt a little awkward about borrowing money from them for the first time as a married woman.

"Tell me, as long as it's not murder or arson, it's not a big deal!" Yang's mother joked happily.

Yang Yu was amused. "What are you talking about, Mom? Do you think I dare to do such murder and arson?"

"I don't think you dare. So tell me what's the matter. If you don't tell me, I won't care about you anymore. I'm leaving!" Mother Yang stood up and pretended to leave.

Yang Yu grabbed Yang's mother at the right time, and then said softly with determination, "Mom... I just... want to borrow some money from you."

After saying this, Yang Yu's face turned red and she felt a little embarrassed.

But Yang's mother laughed and said, "It's not a big deal. If I don't ask you, will you keep it in your heart and feel uncomfortable?"

"How much do you want to borrow? Let me see how much I have on hand. If it's not enough, I can ask your dad for more," Yang's mother asked.

"I want to borrow 50 yuan. I don't have any livestock at home. I also need some daily necessities and farming supplies..." Yang Yu said embarrassedly.

Yang's mother didn't question her daughter's lack of money, nor did she ask why she had to worry about all these things. She understood that if she wasn't truly desperate, her daughter wouldn't come to her like this, nor would she be so embarrassed to speak and look so worried.

Yang's mother took out a cloth bag from her inner pocket and slowly opened it. Inside was a stack of banknotes rolled up with string. The outermost one was a 10-yuan note. As it was slowly unfolded, there were some wrinkled 5-yuan and 1-yuan notes, with larger denominations at the bottom and smaller denominations at the top. On the top was a pile of -cent notes.

Then Yang's mother took out the large-denomination banknotes one by one and counted them to Yang Yu one by one. When she counted to 50, she had almost finished counting the whole stack of banknotes. Yang's mother stuffed the counted stack of banknotes into Yang Yu's hand.

"Take these and use them first. If it's not enough, come back for more." After saying that, Yang's mother rolled up the remaining money with trembling hands and stuffed it into her underwear.

"It's getting late, go to bed early. You need to have a good rest. You look so haggard."

Mother Yang touched her face with some distress. When her hand touched the wound on her face, Yang Yu cried out softly.

"Did Zhang Erfa beat you again?... I noticed it when you first came. After dinner, your father also asked me to ask you."

Mother Yang paused, her sobs choking. "It's all our fault... We couldn't help you. Now you have two children, and there are some things we can't interfere with... Sigh, you've suffered, my child."

Yang's mother shook her head, sighed, and walked out in a trance. When she turned around, she was already in tears. She sighed at Yang Yu's experience and felt helpless.

Meanwhile, Yang Yu's eyes were already filled with tears when she took the stack of money her mother stuffed into her hands, and now the tears were rolling down silently.

Another sleepless night, the tinnitus came as expected, this time it was the voice of Yang Su mocking her, laughing at her husband for not loving her, her parents-in-law for not caring about her, laughing at herself for being beaten and covered with scars, laughing at herself for causing her parents to worry about her, laughing at herself for not having a happy life as her, and then there was the voice of Yang's father and mother looking down on her, saying that she only knew how to use them to clean up their messes.

Yang Yu pressed her head into the pillow, clenched her fists, and sweat poured down her forehead. She kept telling herself, "No, those are not their voices. They are all fake. No one is talking at all..."

But these voices would never let her go. Yang Yu could no longer control the attacks on her nerves. Finally, she screamed madly again, "They are all liars! They are all laughing at me! They all look down on me! Go away, go away!"

Yang Yu held her head in her hands with a splitting headache, opened the door and rushed into the darkness outside. Only this silent night could allow her to breathe. She wanted to hide herself in this abyss-like darkness.

In order to prevent his parents from noticing his abnormality, Yang Yu packed up early in the morning and prepared to go back.

Huanhuan ran over from her grandmother's place to find her mother. She saw that her mother was in a bad mood yesterday and didn't dare to disturb her. She was afraid that her mother would leave again today, so she woke up early and ran over to find her mother.

Seeing her mother packing up, she felt a pang of loss. As expected, her mother was leaving again today. She didn't know how long it would take for her to see her mother and sister again. Looking at her mother's back as she packed up, Huanhuan couldn't help crying and shouting.

"Mom..., are you leaving again?...Don't go, stay with Huanhuan a little longer..." Huanhuan sobbed.

Yang's father and mother, who came after hearing the crying, felt a little uncomfortable when they saw Yang Yu who seemed to be about to leave.

"Hanhuan, be obedient. Mom will come to see you again after a while, okay?" Yang Yu hugged Huanhuan and started crying too.

Yang Yu cried for a while, then pulled the hem of her clothes from Huanhuan's hands, turned her head and tried not to look at her.

She hurriedly said to Yang's father and mother, "Dad, Mom, I'm going back. Please take care of Huanhuan here."

After saying that, she couldn't control herself anymore and ran out. Mother Yang quickly chased after her and called out to Yang Yu, "Wait a minute, take these things."

I didn't know when, Yang's mother had already caught up with a bunch of things. Yang Yu looked back and saw that they were the things that her younger sister brought yesterday. Her face darkened and she refused decisively, "Mom, these are gifts from my younger sister. How can you take them back from me?"

"Your dad and I don't like to eat these either. We left some for Huanhuan at home. These are specially for you. Take them. It would be a waste to give them to us."

Seeing that Yang Yu still didn't take it, Yang's mother said anxiously, "There are some vegetable seeds and some daily necessities in it. We have a lot of them at home anyway, you can take them."

Afraid that she would still not take it, Yang's mother stepped forward, forced it into her hand, then turned around and hurried back.

By the time Yang Yu reacted, her mother had already walked back. She waved at her and said, "Go back quickly. Don't worry, Huanhuan is here." Then she carried her on her back without looking back.

Huanhuan was still crying sadly. Yang Yi held her in his arms and comforted her, "Mom has a lot of things to do at home and can't take care of you. Be good and obedient, and Mom will come to pick you up soon, okay?"

Huanhuan nodded while crying, "I understand, uncle..."