Three Women in the Cage

The village held a village meeting that day, gathered everyone together, and announced the latest policy.

"The latest policy issued by the higher-ups is that due to the rapid population increase, various resources are in short supply and everyone's life has become difficult. Now we are required to control the population growth and limit each household to having no more than two children!" The fat, middle-aged village chief said arrogantly.

"We didn't pursue this before, but from now on, I hope everyone will strictly abide by it and cooperate with our work."

"Everyone is supervising each other. If anyone disregards the requirements and commits a crime, everyone can report it to me. There will be a reward for the reporter!"

"We will impose a fine of 500 yuan on offenders. Of course, you might ask who can come up with 500 yuan, but I certainly can't come up with 500 yuan!"

"For those who can't give it, they always have furniture, livestock, and food. When the time comes, don't blame us for letting them confiscate it and making it difficult for us to survive!"

"I've said all the ugly words to everyone today. I hope everyone will take it seriously. I'm not kidding!"

After the village chief finished speaking, everyone started talking and became noisy.

For a long time, people have been allowed to have children whenever they wanted, and no one has ever restricted them. Now that this new order has been issued, the implicit meaning is that it cannot be resisted.

Everyone became agitated for a while. They didn't know how the family planning policy worked, and they were all gloating over who would be the first unlucky person.

The person who was having the hardest time at the moment was Yang Yu. She had been feeling lucky that the village had not issued any new rules and was thinking of just getting by.

Unexpectedly, it came, and it came so quickly. She touched her belly worriedly.

He returned home in a daze, ignoring Zhang Erfa who was sitting in the yard. He went straight back to the bedroom, lay on the bed, and stared at the ceiling in a daze.

There was a sound of door opening, and Zhang Erfa pushed the door open from outside. Looking at Yang Yu, he stared at her for a long time with some confusion.

"Ever since you came back last time, you've been like a lost soul for the past month. I called you but you didn't hear me. What are you doing?"

Yang Yu acted as if she didn't hear anything and stared blankly at the ceiling. She no longer had the energy to say anything to him.

Zhang Erfa saw that she ignored him, so he said to himself, "I took the eggs away these days. I told you, they won't make much money anyway, so I might as well give them to my sister-in-law and her family to nourish their bodies!"

After saying that, he walked out without waiting for Yang Yu's reply.

Yang Yu really wanted to tell him that she was also pregnant and needed to nourish her body, but in the end she said nothing.

Her mental state is getting worse and worse. Her belly is not visible now, but she is afraid that it will get bigger in the coming months and she will not be able to hide it, so she is becoming more and more anxious.

Every time she did farm work outside, she was very careful, afraid that others would take a second look at her belly.

When she heard others discussing family planning, she hurried away, not wanting to listen.

She avoided it and numbed herself, as if she didn't know about family planning.

Another month has passed.

A family with a different surname moved in behind the yard. Most people in this village were surnamed Zhang, but this family was surnamed Liu. They suddenly moved here with their wives and children.

In fact, there are some xenophobic people in every village, but this family brought two boys about seven or eight years old, and the man looked like someone who was not to be trifled with.

The woman in this family was good at currying favor, and soon she gained a foothold in the village.

They often invited women from the village to their homes to eat fruits they grew themselves and play cards.

The woman also got to know the situation in the village and roughly realized that the family in front of her (Yang Yu's family) was not welcome in the village and was the target of bullying.

He also followed the crowd and looked down on Yang Yu.

Yang Yu himself is proud and straightforward. He can't stand those who flatter him, nor does he bother to deal with them.

She is not a sweet talker, and because of Zhang Erfa, others think she is easy to bully. In addition, she cannot give birth to a son, so she is looked down upon.

However, even if others look down on her, she will not lower herself to please them. She will just stay away from them with disdain.

But sometimes, you can't avoid conflict just by staying away.

It is the rainy season and it has been raining for several days in a row. At this time of year, every household stays at home.

However, the family behind seemed to have some women at home, making it very lively regardless of whether it was sunny or rainy.

When it wasn't raining, we would just sit in her yard, eat, play cards, and chat in groups of three or four.

When it rains, they move to the main room because it is close. Whenever Yang Yu is at home, he can hear all kinds of noise coming from the back.

The rain was getting heavier. The kitchen backed onto their yard. Yang Yu sat on a long wooden bench in the kitchen, lighting the stove.

The firewood placed along the wall became soaked little by little until it could no longer burn when placed in the earthen stove.

Looking at the mud wall soaked at the edge of the corner, Yang Yu asked Zhang Erfa to go to the gutter behind to see if the water gutter was blocked by something.

Every house here has a gutter to divert water from the roof to the flat ground in front when it rains.

This way the house won't be soaked by water, but since that family came in later, Yang Yu found that the corners of the kitchen would get wet almost every time it rained.

If left unattended, the corners of the walls will be corroded over time. Once the corners are unstable, the walls will collapse, let alone mud houses like theirs.

This was not the first time it was soaked. Because Yang Yu was not feeling well, he had to call Zhang Erfa to go and take a look.

Zhang Erfa thought it was too troublesome, especially on rainy days, he didn't want to check. On rainy days, he just wanted to lie on a chair and watch the rain.

Unable to bear Yang Yu's nagging, he went to see it with an umbrella, cursing, and came back after a few minutes.

When Yang Yu asked him what was going on, he perfunctorily said, "What could be the situation? It rains and everything gets wet. There's nothing to check."

Yang Yu didn't trust him. Seeing that the rain was getting heavier and heavier, and the wet area in the corner of the wall was getting larger and larger, Yang Yu didn't care about anything else. He picked up the umbrella at the door and went out to check in the heavy rain.

When Yang Yu saw that the narrow gutter was blocked with broken fruit peels and a pile of messy garbage, his face darkened.

These garbages are almost blocking the gutters, no wonder the rainwater is flowing onto the walls.

You can tell with your eyes closed that it must be the family behind that is using their own gutter as a garbage dump.

Zhang Erfa obviously saw it and knew what was going on, but he chose to ignore it and not care about it.

He really doesn't want to cause trouble or look for trouble. Even if others cause trouble for him, he can just pretend not to see it and smile. As long as the sky doesn't fall and others don't throw shit in his face, he can remain indifferent.

Yang Yu thought that this man was full of anger and was extremely cowardly. When faced with problems, he would hide in his shell like a turtle and would not come out.

She had no choice but to force it.