Chapter 115: Unstained (Subscribe!)
After being ruthlessly abandoned by Zhao Shimei, Jiang Feng's hard days were not over yet.

That year, after returning to Wutong Village from the capital Yanjing with a divorce agreement and 600 yuan, Jiang Feng's father, who already had high blood pressure and various old age diseases, became so depressed and angry that he fell ill and stayed in bed for more than two years. Not only did he drain the family's assets, but he also passed away.

After Jiang Feng's father died, Jiang Feng, a mute, took her two-year-old daughter Chu Jian to make a living in Wutong Village. At that time, most rural areas across China had implemented the household contract responsibility system, and the mother and daughter could live a poor life by growing crops.

It was not until 85 that someone in the village saw that Jiang Feng, an orphan and a widow, was having a hard time, and that a mute like her could not take care of the big problem, so they introduced her to Chu Dapeng, who lived in the slums of Hongshan Lane.

Chu Dapeng was a second-rate old bachelor who was in his thirties and still hadn't found a wife. But Jiang Feng's situation at that time was even worse. She was mute, divorced, and from a poor family. She brought her only-year-old daughter to Chu Jian. You have to know that in the old society, divorced women had a bad reputation, so it was already very good that someone was willing to marry her, and the other party was a city dweller who was envied by farmers in that era.

After they got married, Jiang Feng followed Chu Dapeng's arrangement. Chu Dapeng decided to sell her family's only ancestral house and a pig, and moved to Hongshan Lane to live with Chu Dapeng. Perhaps before Jiang Feng made this decision, Chu Dapeng confused her mind, thinking that she had found a down-to-earth and reliable man, and her miserable life could be turned over from then on.

After moving to Hongshan Lane, the two spent some time leisurely. Jiang Feng did some needlework and took care of the children at home, while Chu Dapeng worked as a laborer in a cement factory. Although they lived in poverty, they were able to run the family well.

Maybe all men are like this. When they first get married, they have a sense of responsibility and commitment, and consciously or unconsciously suppress their previous bad habits. In Jiangchuan area, after their children get married, the elders in the family will say an old saying: Now that you have a family, you should be sensible.

In that era, according to the conventional thinking of most Chinese people, the dividing line between boys and men is not age, but marriage. Before marriage, it is understandable that you fool around outside, but after marriage, you should be sensible and take on the responsibility of being the head of the family. Therefore, many men are lazy before marriage, and are good at eating, drinking, whoring and gambling. After marriage, they immediately change into new people and change all their previous bad habits. Of course, after that sweet honeymoon period, when the novelty is gone, many men will relapse into bad habits.

Chu Dapeng is such a person.

Less than a year after getting married, Chu Dapeng started to become lazy. He worked in the cement factory for three days and rested for two days. He was lazy and ate at every meal. He drank at every meal and got drunk. He abused Jiang Fenghe and Chu Jian. He did not give up his bad habit of gambling, and it even got worse. Whenever he had some money, he would go to the nearby mahjong hall to gamble and lost all the family fortune.

In 1988, when Chu Dapeng's second daughter Chu Xin was one year old, she had a bacterial infection that caused meningitis and high fever. The family could not afford Chu Xin's medical treatment, which delayed the treatment and caused irreversible damage to her brain, commonly known as a brain burn.

At that time, Chu Jian was already 11 years old and sensible.

She still remembers the incident vividly.

Sitting on the grass, she told Zhang Yunqi, "I remember that night, Chu Xin, who had a recurring fever, suddenly became mentally sluggish, her body hunched like a shrimp, very stiff, and she kept vomiting. But the family had no money to treat her illness. What little money we had was spent on drinking and playing cards by my stepfather. In the early morning of the day when my sister fell ill, he went out to drink and play cards. My mother, who was illiterate and mute, didn't know what to do, so she ran outside to look for him. By the time she dragged him back to the health center for examination, it was too late."

Zhang Yunqi was silent for a moment, then said, "If you have the chance, would you be willing to take your mother and sister away from him?"

Chu Jian smiled faintly on his pale face: "Actually, I have thought so since I was old enough to understand. I hope I can work harder, get into college, make money to take my mom and sister away, escape from this home, escape from Chu Dapeng. He is a nightmare to me, Yunqi, do you know why I am always the first one to go to school and the last one to leave the classroom? Because since I was in the second grade of junior high school, Chu Dapeng has been touching me and entering my room without clothes."

"I dare not tell my mother about this. I am afraid that she will collapse. I can only go to her house as little as possible to prevent him from succeeding and touching me." At this point, Chu Jian took out a switchblade from his pocket and said quietly: "Every time I go home from school, I will prepare this for myself."

Zhang Yunqi turned his head and looked at her. He had never thought that this girl who was so popular in school would live under such a dirty, violent and perverted clutches. In addition to her peaceful studies, she also faced the test of life and death every day.

Life has imposed too many hardships on this girl, but she has never mentioned it to anyone, even today. If I hadn't seen it myself, I'm afraid I would never know it. Perhaps no one knows that this girl who has emerged from the mud and is untainted looks delicate and slender on the outside, but is so stubborn in her heart.

At this moment, when she was revealing her heart, the clear little face she had just seen was filled with indescribable fatigue. She looked up at the starry sky, with fluorescence in her eyes, and suddenly said: "Yunqi, can I lend you my shoulder?"

"Ok?"

"I am a bit tired."

Zhang Yunqi reached out and held Chu Jian in his arms.

Chu Jian buried her head in his chest and tears suddenly flowed out.

"Yunqi, do you know? Ever since I was old enough to understand, I have said to myself every day: Chujian, you must be strong. Maybe the days are hard, maybe life is unfortunate, but your struggles are invisible and understandable. So, you don't need to be afraid. If you travel through thousands of mountains and rivers, you will find that people who have a lot of things in this world may not live well. Poor people in this world can also be kind and happy. There is no need to be afraid of the hardships and loneliness that life brings you. You should be stronger."

By then, it was already very late at night.

The surroundings were very quiet. The moon was high in the sky, and there were stars in the night sky. On the green grass, Zhang Yunqi held the slender and soft girl in his arms. After a long time, he reached out and wiped away the tears on her little face. He smiled and said, "It's okay. Chu Jian, you must believe me, everything will be fine."

The girl rested her head on his chest, listening to his strong heartbeat and smelling his faint scent. Her emotions seemed to slowly stabilize and she uttered a soft "hmm".

Zhang Yunqi added: "Chu Jian, let's put aside the unpleasant things for now. Just like you said, poor people in this world can also be kind and have happiness. There is no need to be afraid of difficulties. And have you forgotten that today is a very important day?"

Chu Jian was stunned: "What important day?"

Zhang Yunqi reached into his pocket and took out a white Aihua Walkman and a pair of headphones. He put one of the earbuds into his own ear and handed the other to Chu Jian.

After a moment of hesitation, Chu Jian took the earplugs and put them on.

Zhang Yunqi pressed the player of his Walkman, and then a cheerful and pleasant birthday song sounded: "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..."

(End of this chapter)