Stone Meilan’s Divorce
He looked at his mother’s flushed face, a little unclear whether she was speaking in anger or truly meant to divorce.
“Mom, why bother?”
Li Cici lowered his voice: “Divorce is even more shameful. If you get divorced, our Li family will fall apart. Then everyone will poke fun at us behind our backs. Where in the countryside does divorce happen? Is that something decent people do?”
“Dad made a mistake, but is it really worth divorcing over? Before, didn’t the Dongtou Village chief also flirt with the young wife from the neighboring Liu family? His wife didn’t divorce him! Mom, if everyone else can tolerate things, why can’t you?”
Sometimes Li Cici really found it hard to understand women. Women were such emotional creatures, always blowing small matters out of proportion, causing everyone misery. Even those half-buried in the ground would have been disturbed by all this fuss. Why must they be so restless? Couldn’t they just endure a bit, make do, and preserve a happy and respectable family for us younger ones?
One person wasn’t enough to make his point; Li Cici needed backup. He turned to Li Fufu and asked, “Brother, do you want Mom to divorce Dad?”
“Of course not.” Li Fufu finally spoke up, saying, “Mom, Dad already knows he was wrong. Just forgive him, okay? I’ll keep an eye on him. If Dad cheats again, I’ll even pull his pants down for him.”
Li Cici gained Li Fufu’s support, his voice louder than before, carrying a hint of reproach: “Mom, look, we both want to protect this family, but you? You just want to tear it apart!”
“Mom! How can you be so unreasonable? Dad already admitted his mistake, why hold on to it?”
“True couples should tolerate each other, right?”
As he spoke, Li Cici had already opened the door, revealing the faces of the gathered crowd outside.
His words reached Stone Meilan’s ears, making her frown bitterly. In her past life, this son had stood by his father’s side and said those words.
Not a bit changed.
In any life, men gathering together will instinctively protect each other no matter the fault, silently agreeing to cover for one another.
“Just admitting a mistake is enough? One apology solves everything? Is your father’s apology really that great?” Stone Meilan grabbed a sturdy rural rattan broomstick and swung it heavily at Li Cici, shouting, “If you want to get along with your father, then you both can leave! Don’t call that Wang Yulian ‘Mom’ anymore!”
The thick rattan whip stirred up a gust of wind as it struck toward Li Cici’s face. He screamed and stumbled back, quickly running out of the courtyard.
Li Fufu was also chased out right after.
At first, Li Jianye felt guilty—he really had done wrong—but seeing Stone Meilan driving out her own sons made him angry too.
“Stone Meilan! Have you had enough? Just because I cheated, does that mean you did nothing wrong?” Li Jianye shouted boldly, “If you weren’t like this, how could I have cheated? Do you ever behave like a woman? You pick fights with everyone, why can’t you reflect on yourself? I’m telling you, I’m sick of you! My cheating today is all your fault!”
Stone Meilan slammed the door hard and shouted back, “Then fine! Divorce! Go live with someone else!”
“Fine! Divorce!” Li Jianye, half out of shame and half out of anger, shouted back, “This house is built on my land; if we divorce, you have to leave!”
“Leave? I built this house too! If we divorce, I want half! Old Master Li, didn’t you say you’d arbitrate for me? Come on! Decide what happens to this family!”
Stone Meilan kicked the door open and shouted toward the group outside and Old Master Li about property matters just as Lin Xinran ran into Li Laoda’s courtyard.
Li Laoda’s courtyard was now almost empty; all the men had left, leaving only the women inside.
The real commotion was in the back west room.
Earlier, Li Laotai had been pushed by her own son, and Zhao Erjie had been shoved by her little uncle. They were angry but didn’t take revenge on Li Jianye; instead, they directed their anger at Wang Yulian.
If it weren’t for Wang Yulian, how would they have been beaten?
They couldn’t hit Li Jianye, so could they not hit Wang Yulian?
Led by Li Laotai and Zhao Erjie, they intended to tie Wang Yulian to a tree for public humiliation, punishing her for seducing Li Jianye and causing their beatings, venting their anger this way.
Others watched the spectacle, occasionally shouting criticisms.
“Serves her right!”
“Don’t think Zhao Erjie usually doesn’t get along with Stone Meilan; she sure is putting in effort now.”
“Of course, they’re sisters-in-law.”
Wang was dragged out from the cramped back west room and pulled into the kitchen.
No matter how Wang Yulian screamed and kicked, they did not stop; they felt a grim satisfaction.
At this moment, each of them became a judge, wielding power they once dared not claim, the weak wielding knives against the weaker, deriving pleasure from dominance. This illusion of happiness intoxicated their nerves—who told Wang Yulian to seduce Li Jianye!
“Who told you to seduce my son!” The rattan broomstick struck viciously across Wang Yulian’s chest.
Wang Yulian clutched the blanket tightly, refusing to let go even when knocked to the ground. She kept shouting, “I didn’t seduce him! He likes me! We both like each other!”
She felt wronged, angry, and unwilling to give up. Clearly, they were mutual.
At this moment, Lin Xinran ran into the back kitchen.
Hu Honghua’s attitude unsettled her; maybe it was the mother-daughter connection—she hadn’t seen her mother in the crowd and felt a surge of unease.
Her panic grew, her fear intensified, and she ran faster.
Until now, she had no idea what was going on. When she suddenly ran into the cramped kitchen, she was caught off guard by the sight of a group of people stripping her mother naked and beating her down!
Under the pale white fluorescent light, in the dim back kitchen, two women—her mother pinned underneath.
Lin Xinran let out a sharp scream.
No child could bear to see their mother humiliated. It’s a biological instinct; even the vilest person would instinctively protect their mother. Anyone who could see their mother stripped and beaten and remain unmoved was likely no longer human.
Lin Xinran felt her head suddenly go hot, buzzing in her ears; the surrounding noise faded into incomprehensibility. A surge of immense rage rose to her head, and she couldn’t form coherent words. When anger reaches a certain peak, people lose control.
She grabbed a knife from the kitchen countertop—a sharp butcher’s knife, still stained with bits of meat—and screamed as she charged toward Zhao Erjie and Li Laotai.
Hatred, hatred, hatred! The sudden onslaught of negative emotions overwhelmed Lin Xinran. At that moment, she was ready to take everyone down with her.
The crowd scattered with a “boom,” dodging and fleeing. No one held onto Wang Yulian anymore; she collapsed weakly to the ground.
“How dare you hit my mom!” Lin Xinran roared as she lunged at the crowd.
The crowd shrieked and fled in the cramped space, Zhao Erjie and Li Laotai the fastest.
Though they had just beaten Wang Yulian fiercely, once faced with Lin Xinran wielding a knife, they immediately cowered—after all, no one wants to lose their life!
What? You say mother and daughter together? Then you come on, get me first!
But no one advanced. Everyone’s instinct to bully the weak was at its peak. Once one person fled, the rest hurried away too. Zhao Erjie and Li Laotai almost reached the main hall’s door—their experience told them when to run.
Lin Xinran, still fueled by rage, chased and slashed everyone. Two elder women who lagged behind got slashed shallowly. The chaos sounded like a slaughterhouse, scaring everyone else into panicked escape.
This is why children are so important in the countryside. When things reached this extent with Wang the widow, even Li Jianye momentarily forgot about Lin Xinran, but the child truly sided with her mother!
“Your mom’s a tramp; how can we not hit her?”
As the old saying goes, losing doesn’t mean losing face. Safe at the door, Zhao Erjie yelled into the kitchen: “Your mom cheated with Li Jianye; how come we can’t hit her? We could kill her and it’d still be light punishment! Do you know who she is? She’s ruined our Li family’s reputation! Look at what she did!”
After shouting, Zhao Erjie ran off, afraid Lin Xinran might catch her.
But Lin Xinran did not follow.
She stood stunned in the kitchen, right hand holding the knife dripping blood, blankly turning to look at her mother.
Wang Yulian had just gotten up from the ground, disheveled, wrapping the blanket around herself, barely covering her body. Her clothes had been scattered somewhere in the chaos.
She could only cover herself with the blanket.
When Wang Yulian saw her daughter turn around and look at her, her swollen face blushed again. She feared her daughter would say harsh words and didn’t dare to look at her.
Wang Yulian wasn’t afraid of Stone Meilan, Zhao Erjie, or Li Laotai, but she was afraid of Lin Xinran.
She feared her daughter would lash out at her as those others did. If her daughter did that, she probably wouldn’t survive.
But her daughter did not.
Lin Xinran stared at her mother for several seconds, seeing the bruises on her face and wounds on her body, then suddenly clenched the knife tightly.
“Mom.” After the overwhelming anger, her voice trembled slightly as she strained to say, “I don’t believe them. Let’s go home.”
At that moment, Wang Yulian finally found an anchoring boat in this absurd land.
“Mom, let’s go.” Lin Xinran stepped forward, taking her mother’s hand. “I’ll take you away.”
They would walk out of this house, facing everyone’s gazes, but not afraid.
Because sooner or later, they had to leave.
Wang Yulian held Lin Xinran’s hand tightly and followed her out.
Li Laoda’s courtyard still had many women. Two had been slightly injured by Lin Xinran’s knife and were being bandaged by Dr. Qian, while the others blocked the yard, nursing wounds and guarding inside.
They buzzed around like flies, watching to see if they could “eat” this pile of shit.
When Lin Xinran came out with the knife, they shut their mouths, only staring at mother and daughter. The two injured scurried even farther away.
Lin Xinran silently clenched the knife.
Anyone daring to approach would be cut.
No one dared advance before absolute force, just smirks and sideways glances, fixated on the widow cloaked in a blanket.
These women didn’t dare fight anymore but wouldn’t let their mouths rest, whining sarcastic remarks.
“Li Jianye ran back to apologize to Stone Meilan.”
“That’s fine; it’s his own wife. The tramp outside doesn’t matter—just a fling.”
“Tsk tsk tsk.”
“Aww, what rotten luck; the back west room of the Li family’s house is ruined.”
The sharp words passed through the ears, but Wang Yulian ignored them, stepping quietly behind her daughter and leaving.
Lin Xinran held the kitchen knife, protecting the blanket-wrapped widow, stumbling out of Li Laoda’s courtyard.
Outside the courtyard was Li Laier’s yard. The widow peeked inside, glancing at Li Laier’s house.
The door was open, and it seemed a quarrel was underway.
Wang Yulian couldn’t tell for sure, but it sounded like people trying to mediate—Stone Meilan wanted a divorce, and everyone was trying to persuade her not to, saying it wasn’t worth it, the family should stay united.
Wang Yulian bit her lip hard.
Passing Li Laier’s house led to the widow’s home.
Opening the door ended a nightmare. Wang Yulian felt a faint spark of life.
She was still alive.
“Mom, how are you? Mom!” Lin Xinran helped her sit on the kang bed and said, “I’ll get your medicine box.”
Moments later, Lin Xinran rummaged through the cabinet and brought back the medicine box, only to find Wang Yulian sitting dumbly, clutching the blanket.
As Lin Xinran opened the medicine box, Wang Yulian seemed to regain awareness. After a long pause, she suddenly said, “I’m sorry, Mom, I lied to you.”
Lin Xinran was stunned, looking at her mother’s bruised face and tangled hair, asking, “Mom, what lie?”
“The money I gave you for work wasn’t from your father,” Wang Yulian’s eyes were hollow, as if still trapped in the fear and humiliation of being beaten, her voice faint and drifting like it might be blown away by the wind.
“Your father went back to Beijing and never sent me money again.”
“I did find you a job but had no money.”
“He’s the one who can give me money.”
Who “he” was didn’t need to be asked.
“Mom, I’m sorry.” Wang Yulian murmured, “Mom’s sorry.”
This rotten life could have ended in Li Laoda’s courtyard and it wouldn’t have mattered much. But what about her daughter?
Just thinking of her daughter made Wang Yulian’s heart feel as if soaked in chili water, shrinking smaller and smaller until she could hardly breathe.
At first, she only wanted a little money, but somehow, she kept asking for more and more until it overwhelmed her. Those burdens slipped from her arms, dropping on her feet, the pain nearly unbearable.
Lin Xinran picked a medicine bottle from the box.
The box was an ordinary rusty tin, holding common medicine—mostly cold medicine and wound ointments.
She wanted to find ointment for her mother’s wounds.
Holding the medicine, she stared for a while, then suddenly said, “This isn’t the right one.”
Turning, she rummaged again, and suddenly said, “Mom, I don’t blame you.”
She was facing away from her mother while digging through the box, so Wang Yulian didn’t see the tears trickling down her daughter’s face. Her father, who had once despised her for her poor studies and left the village with the air of abandonment, would never care for her or help her find work.
Dad wouldn’t come back, so Mom had to find another way.
Mom didn’t really like Teacher Li; Mom was with him for money, or perhaps, Mom was with him for her sake.
They had no land, no male heirs. Lin Xinran didn’t study well and was disappointing. Mom couldn’t do hard labor, life was tough, and there was no way to get better jobs for her. Like two weeds, Mom chose to root in the mud to let her daughter bloom, carrying her upward.
Mom cheated with a married man to make sure her daughter lived well.
So Lin Xinran knew all this but wouldn’t blame her mother. She only blamed herself for not being serious enough, feeling humiliated for her mother and worthless at the same time. @InfiniteGoodWorks, all found at Jinjiang Literature City
Mother and daughter were a natural alliance, loving and warming each other, willing to forgive everything and shoulder each other’s sins. Men might betray and abandon their mothers for various interests, but women silently bore their mother’s fate.
And this fate was usually damp, cold, with constant rain hanging overhead, day and night. Tears would breed twisted hatred in their eyes, forcing them toward death. Yet a mother’s love made them keep living, a constant tug between life and death, lips tasting blood foam but still surviving.
Trapped in still water, a mother’s love was a boat, rowing with broken oars again and again to save her.
So everyone could curse her mother, but she couldn’t.
“A child doesn’t despise a mother’s flaws,” that’s why.
Tears fell down her face, soaking the back of her hand. Lin Xinran wiped her tears roughly and twisted open the medicine bottle, swallowing her tears back.
Finally, she found the ointment.
Lin Xinran turned back, applied the medicine to her mother’s wounds with a cotton swab, saying, “Mom, it’s okay. Didn’t we get jobs in the town? We won’t come back here anymore.”
Seeing her daughter’s face, Wang Yulian took a deep breath.
Yes, they had a place to go.
Leaving this old place behind, they had a new home.
But Wang Yulian wasn’t willing to leave just like that.
After despair, anger, and shame, a wave of resentment welled up inside her.
Why was she the only one beaten?
Why was only she punished?
Why was Li Jianye fine and now supposed to reconcile with Stone Meilan?
Why was she the one cut off from him?
She hated it.
Hated falling into the mire while Li Jianye had a second chance. Hated the entire village for tormenting her. Hated Zhao Erjie for trapping her on the bed. Hated Stone Meilan—why could Stone Meilan act so high and mighty? Her husband was stolen, yet she wasn’t sad, nor shed a single tear?
Stone Meilan’s lightness crushed her, making her feel small and vile, breeding infinite jealousy.
She had never endured such humiliation or been beaten like this. Crushed into dust, she refused to leave quietly. She wanted to rise again.