They Say I Can Curse People (10)

Chapter 41

Once a crack opens in a dam, the flood cannot be stopped. Chang Fang’s Third Aunt, Zhang Chunxue, began pouring out all the messy affairs of her family.

Mainly, she usually had no one to talk to about these things.

Who could she talk to in her daily life? She had no sisters, only three brothers. Could she tell them, “I think our parents like you more and don’t like me”?

The girls she grew up with in the village had all married into different villages. She only saw them once or twice a year, and when they met, they wouldn’t talk about such depressing matters.

On her husband’s side, there was even less of an audience. Her own children weren’t close to her. She knew why; she had a bad temper and was always finding fault with them. She didn’t know why herself. In truth, she wanted to get along with her children, but she couldn’t control her temper.

Now, she had met a police officer from the city who was willing to listen, and more importantly, someone who was on her side. She felt an overwhelming urge to pour out a lifetime’s worth of bitterness.

“My younger brother has been a wicked one since he was a boy. He’s the youngest in the family, and as the saying goes, ‘parents love the youngest.’ My mother doted on him most. My two older brothers were naturally unhappy about it and would hit him in private. He would then tell Mom that I was the one who hit him, which led to me getting beaten. Later, when he grew up and wanted to marry, Mom came to me to borrow money. When he had a daughter, he sent her to me to raise…”

As she spoke, she flashed a small, apologetic smile. “Look at me, I’m already in my forties and I’m still talking about this. You must think I’m very strange, Officer, holding a grudge against a junior like Chang Fang over these things…”

“You aren’t strange. You’re just hurting,” Yun Song said, putting herself in the woman’s shoes and sighing. “On one hand, you feel Chang Fang is very much like you were as a child, and you really want to help her. On the other hand, she is your brother’s child. The more you help, the more your brother gets to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor. It’s only natural to have these feelings.”

“That’s exactly it! That’s exactly it!” Zhang Chunxue said excitedly.

“Is there anyone else in their family who can be reasoned with?”

“My sister-in-law is no good either. Don’t be fooled by her honest appearance; she’s actually a muddled person. She’s one of three sisters with no brothers. Her mother died giving birth to her, and her older sisters raised her. Yet, when she wanted to have a son, she sent her own daughters to her sisters’ houses to let them continue helping with the upbringing. She and my brother are truly a perfect match of a lid for a pot¹.”

“With their personalities, is there any way to get them to register the Hukou for Chang Fang and Huanhuan?”

“Definitely not.” Zhang Chunxue knew her maiden family all too well. “Officer, you’ve lived on the streets of Tonglin Town for a while, but you don’t understand those of us in the mountains well enough. If Chang Fang and Huanhuan get their Hukou, and the child she’s carrying now turns out to be a son, they’ll have to pay at least a thousand yuan in fines. Even if it’s a girl, it’s the same amount. How could they ever agree to that?”

A thousand… for people in the mountains, that was indeed no small sum.

“In our parts, people with a bit of a conscience will register their daughter’s Hukou at a relative’s house. Those without a conscience simply don’t give their daughters a Hukou at all…”

“Then what about schooling?”

“Girls study in the village schools. Those places aren’t that strict. You just send the child in and pay for the books. But they can’t take the entrance exam for junior high. Not that girls like that could get into high school anyway. Once they finish primary school and can read a few words, they hang around for a couple of years until they can be married off. Once married, the husband’s family helps with the Hukou. And then, the husband’s family holds that over her head for the rest of her life.” She had seen this happen several times.

And Chang Fang was currently on that very path.

Yun Song felt a headache coming on just listening to it. How could people live such bitter lives?

As a city police officer, the problems Yun Song handled most were either night market brawls, family disputes, or neighborly quarrels.

At this moment, she was facing a vast and complex social issue of the rural countryside.

She hadn’t been trained for this; she hadn’t experienced it.

Several plans flashed through Yun Song’s mind, but none of them seemed viable.

“How about… I just take the two sisters back and raise them myself,” Zhang Chunxue suggested.

This… people believed the police could catch murderers and thieves, but when it came to family matters, the traditional mindset in a place like Tonglin Town still held: even an upright official finds it hard to settle family disputes.

Yun Song thought for a moment and said, “I will definitely see this through to the end. I’ll go to them for mediation again. After two attempts, this case will go to court.”

“The court…” For a woman who had never been to the city, the concept of a court was beyond her imagination.

Yun Song continued, “When the time comes, we will set up a Mobile Court² on the junior high school playground. We can let the villagers come and watch the lawsuit.”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chunxue understood immediately. Wasn’t this… just like setting up a stage for a play? Except in a play, Judge Bao³‘s sentencing was fake, and now they were going to do it for real?

Just thinking about it made her feel it would be quite a spectacle. She wanted to join in the excitement; she had never seen such a scene in her life.

“Can everyone come to watch then?” Zhang Chunxue asked.

“Everyone can come.” Having the villagers watch the spectacle was also a way to promote legal awareness.

Yun Song had anticipated this reaction.

Ever since the second case, she had wanted to do this.

The public security organs, the procuratorate, and the courts were too far from here, and the villagers lacked a sense of the rule of law. Yun Song had been wondering if she could apply for the court to come to the countryside.

To be honest, given the gossip-loving nature of Tonglin Town, holding a Mobile Court in town for a few days would likely draw as much enthusiasm as a movie screening.

“Chang Fang’s mother is pregnant, so I won’t be dealing with her anymore. I’ll only look for her husband from now on,” Yun Song said. “When you go back, see if you can spread this news.”

During her previous visits, Yun Song had never encountered Chang Fang’s father.

Zhang Chunxue processed this. The police officer wanted her to go to her brother and deliver this bad news?

Fine by her.

“No problem.”

Zhang Chunxue kept thinking about it, and her pace quickened significantly on the walk back.

On the road, she ran into her two children. They were out gathering firewood.

Unlike her own lack of sibling affection, her two children were not close to her, but they had a good relationship with each other and often worked together.

Zhang Chunxue saw her two children from a distance. Seeing them digging for wild vegetables on someone else’s hillside made her feel a surge of irritation.

This anger came from nowhere, but she simply felt uncomfortable and wanted to scold them.

Especially since the two kids were pretending not to see her, slipping away into the forest in a flash.

She grew even angrier, but she had things to do, so she decided not to make a scene for now. She would deal with it when she got home.

She soon arrived at her parents’ home. The moment her mother saw her, she frowned and said, “Look who’s here, such a rare guest. Our little temple is too small to house such a great Buddha⁴.”

Zhang Chunxue looked at her mother. Seeing her mother frown at her for no reason, her first reaction wasn’t anger; instead, she thought of how she treated her own children.

She had spent her whole life wondering about one question: why did her mother hate her so much?

She had done nothing wrong, yet her mother still hated her. She thought of her own two children.

“Mom, why do you hate me so much?”

People in Tonglin Town rarely told their children whether they liked them or not. A parent’s love was placed in the daily meals, in the lunches packed for school. Sometimes, when the half-grown children went into the mountains with the older kids to gather wood, the parents would specifically go to meet them on their way home.

Zhang Chunxue had never experienced that.

The Old Lady froze for a moment, as if she had never considered the question. Perhaps to her, it wasn’t even a question. She immediately said angrily, “What nonsense are you talking? When did I ever not like you!”

Zhang Chunxue looked at her. She hadn’t expected her mother to say that.

“It’s not that you don’t like me. You hate me, do you know that? I remember every time you glared at me as if you wanted to cut me with your eyes. I remember every time you called my brothers aside to secretly give them roasted meat, not allowing me to say a word about it.”

The Old Lady grew even more furious. She acted as if she were the one in the right, as if her daughter’s accusations were unreasonable and unfilial⁵.

Standing there, Zhang Chunxue still felt a lingering sense of pity for her mother, but she asked anyway.

“Mom, I couldn’t figure out why before. Was it just because I’m a daughter? Today, when I saw my own children, I suddenly understood. I don’t actually hate my kids; I hate that they carry the things I saw when I was little.”

“Mom, I remember when we were young, you told stories about your own mother. I want to ask you, are you hating me, or are you hating that daughter who wasn’t a son, and so could only watch as her mother was forced to remarry?”

She thought her mother would break down, that she wouldn’t be able to bear it.

Instead, her elderly mother jumped up in a rage. She began looking for a stick to beat her while listing every fault she had ever had since childhood.

“You ask me why I don’t like you? What is there to like about you? You’ve been lazy and gluttonous since you were small, and you have a terrible temper! You’re completely useless, why should I like you!” she shouted, trying to strike Zhang Chunxue.

Zhang Chunxue thought of the resentment she felt toward her own children and asked once more: “Mom, just answer me. Do you hate me, or do you hate yourself?”

“I just hate you, you jinx!”

Forget it.

Zhang Chunxue thought that perhaps she had been mistaken. However, it was enough that she had figured herself out. She would go back and scold her two children less.

“Then let this jinx tell you one more unlucky thing,” Zhang Chunxue said. “The police said that if you don’t give Chang Fang and Huanhuan their Hukou, a judge from the city will come to settle the case. All of Tonglin Town will be there to watch the spectacle. And when that happens, my brother will be the one to take the fall.”

Zhang Chunxue turned and left as soon as she finished speaking.

The Old Lady watched her daughter leave, continuing to curse and swear where she stood.

But with some things, once a crack is opened, nothing can hold back the flood.

That night, the Old Lady’s chest began to ache. She started pressuring her pregnant daughter-in-law again to hurry up and give birth to a son.

But this time, it didn’t help.

She still felt miserable, her chest still tight with pain.

She didn’t understand why she felt so wretched; she just felt like she couldn’t catch her breath.

She didn’t take her daughter’s words seriously. She still believed she was right.

That was just how things were. If she hadn’t been a girl, her mother wouldn’t have remarried.

She had to have a son. Only with a son could one avoid being bullied⁶. No, she needed a grandson too. She had to have a grandson. She reaffirmed to herself once more that she had done nothing wrong.

But the next day, she fell ill. After the chest pain came an inability to eat. She groaned and moaned incessantly, as if she needed to keep making noise every single moment.

No matter how much she refused to admit it out loud, the bubble she had lived in – the belief that everything would be fine as long as she had a son – had finally been burst.

Translator’s Notes