Daily life of farming and supporting a family on the ancient Loess Plateau

As soon as the funeral was over, Liu Hong's in-laws started making all sorts of trouble, demanding not only the five taels of silver, but also brazenly moving into Liu Hong's mud-brick house.

The two said that although they had separated their households, Liu Hong's husband was still their own son, and as elders, they had to guard the house for their deceased son, afraid that outsiders would take it over. In reality, they just didn't want Liu Hong, this "outsider," to take over the house.

Liu Hong did try to resist, but in this era where filial piety was the foundation of governance, her parents-in-law had a natural advantage in seniority. Whether in the village or at the government office, if she, as a daughter-in-law, said anything bad about her parents-in-law, she would be considered extremely disrespectful.

Even the village elders who were trying to reason with her shook their heads and told her to be tolerant, not to disobey her elders, and to serve her in-laws well.

But the house that she and her husband worked so hard to build was just taken over like this. How can she tolerate it and how can she serve them?

Even if some villagers couldn't stand it and stood up to say a few words of justice, they didn't want to say much or interfere because it was a family matter.

So she could only watch helplessly as her in-laws, along with her mentally challenged brother-in-law, moved into the three main rooms that she and her husband had painstakingly built, shovel by shovel and brick by brick. The beams, purlins, and rafters were all cut down from the ditch by her and her husband, carried back one by one by their shoulders and hauled back by cart.

But now, she has no share in the house they worked so hard to build. She and her daughter can only squeeze into a small, hot, and cramped annex next to the kitchen on the east side, near the main gate.

That wasn't all. Liu Hong's in-laws, together with Liu Hong's husband's elder and second elder brothers, forcibly seized the land that had been allocated to Liu Hong's family earlier, saying that she was a widow with a daughter and would not be part of their family sooner or later, and that they were afraid it would benefit someone else.

At that time, in order to protect these lands, she was pulled by the hair and forced to the ground by two women, but in the end she still couldn't protect them, and the lands were all taken over by Liu Hong's eldest and second eldest brothers.

Originally, when Liu Hong's in-laws were arguing about the five taels of silver, Liu Lü advised Liu Hong to give up the silver and leave the family. At that time, Liu Hong was reluctant to give up the life she and her husband had worked so hard to save, saying that she wanted to raise her daughter for her husband. In the end, the house and land were taken away.

Liu Lu had previously stood up for her sister and even argued with Liu Hong's in-laws, but she was powerless and her sister was stubborn and insisted on protecting her home and daughter, so nothing came of it.

However, when Liu Lu visited again last month, Liu Hong panicked and said she wanted to run away with her daughter. It turned out that her in-laws wanted her to remarry her mentally challenged brother-in-law.

Actually, her brother-in-law was a good child, but when he was seven or eight years old, he fell ill. He was burning up with fever, vomiting constantly and complaining of headaches. It took all the family's money to save him, but he ended up becoming mentally disabled.

Although her brother-in-law was usually dull-witted, sometimes crying and sometimes laughing, and his speech was not fluent, and he would occasionally go crazy, hitting and cursing people randomly, she had never heard of him having any improper relations with women since she entered the family.

But ever since her in-laws decided to have her marry her brother-in-law, they have been constantly instigating him to harass her, knocking on her window and kicking her door in the middle of the night. No matter how much Liu Hong pleaded in a low voice or shouted curses, she did everything she could to humiliate him, but to no avail. Her brother-in-law continued to harass her every night.

These days, she doesn't dare close her eyes or take off her clothes at night. She can only doze off lightly. As soon as there is the slightest noise at the door, she will jump off the kang (a heated brick bed) to grab the doorstop stick and prepare to fight back.

Despite her upright conduct, widows are often the subject of gossip. There were always some gossipy women and talkative old men in the village who loved to stir up trouble. In a short time, rumors spread throughout the village not only about her and her brother-in-law, but also about her and her father-in-law.

Liu Hong felt that if she stayed in this house any longer, she would either die or go insane.

She originally wanted to run away with her daughter, but Liu Lu advised her to break off ties with the family openly and honestly to avoid further trouble.

After several visits and negotiations by Liu Lü, the matter was roughly settled. Liu Hong's parents-in-law demanded two loads of new wheat and two taels of silver from Liu Lü, enough for the dowry for Liu Hong's brother-in-law's wedding, in exchange for letting Liu Hong return home. However, they stipulated that Liu Hong could only travel alone and could not take her daughter, saying that Liu Hong's daughter belonged to their family.

So today, Liu Lü is bringing people to pick up his sister Liu Hong from her husband's family home.

When the group first entered Liu Hongpo's village.

Grandma Liu Hong was yelling and cursing in the yard: "My family has had the worst luck in eight lifetimes to marry such a jinx! Not only did you kill your husband, but you're also useless at having children. You can eat as much as two people, and you can eat eight bowls of rice in one meal! We finally managed to raise this lazy little girl, who is lazy in everything. What can she do? We might as well sell her to someone as a child bride and save the family some food!"

Liu Hong hugged her daughter, who was sitting on a stool winding thread, and said, "Mom, Zhuan Di hasn't been feeling well lately; his back keeps hurting. Can't I help him with any chores?"

Grandma Liu gritted her teeth and said angrily, "What kind of waist does a little girl have? So delicate, a maid's life with a princess's heart. Don't you know what kind of family you come from? Even wealthy families wouldn't dare to be as lazy and good-for-nothing as you two! Luckily, my husband and I are here to look after this house, otherwise, all the good things my child has earned with her life would have been trampled away by you, you spendthrift woman, every few days!"

Liu Hong retorted, raising her neck and saying, "I didn't do anything! How did it become your kid's alone? Since you say it's your kid's, shouldn't it be left for my younger brother?"

Liu Hong's daughter whispered to her brother, "Mom, I can finish winding all these threads, so don't argue with Grandma."

Liu Hong tenderly stroked her daughter's head and said, "We weren't lucky enough to protect your father. Now, your mother is useless too; she can't protect our home. Sigh—"

At this moment, Liu Hong's brother-in-law suddenly ran out of the side room. For some unknown reason, he grabbed Liu Hong from behind and hugged her around the waist. Liu Hong struggled and shouted, "Let me go! Let me go! You beast!"

The younger brother was also frightened and cried as he grabbed his uncle's clothes, shouting, "Let go of my mother! Let go of my mother!"

Liu Hong's brother-in-law kicked Zhuan Di away, continued to hug Liu Hong, his eyes bloodshot, and grinned lewdly.

The younger brother was in pain and lay on the ground crying loudly.

When Liu Hong saw her daughter being kicked down, she hurriedly tried to pull her up, but she couldn't break free from her brother-in-law. In a fit of anger, she stomped hard on her brother-in-law's foot.

Liu Hong's brother-in-law felt pain in his foot, and his grip loosened slightly. Taking advantage of this, Liu Hong broke free, quickly picked up half a brick from under the eaves, held it high in her hand, and shouted, "You beast, come any closer and try! Believe me or not, I'll smash you to death with this brick!"

"You dare?" Grandma Liu Hong shouted.

“If he dares to come up, I’ll smash his head down! Come and try me if you don’t believe me!” Liu Hong shouted, gripping the brick tightly.