Although she had “confessed honestly” to her uncle early on, Hu Honghua still felt guilty as she sneaked out of the house.
Unlike Bai Tian’s lively, bustling village full of energy, the village at night was unusually quiet.
The rooftops were swallowed by darkness, giving off a strangely eerie vibe.
Occasionally, a cat’s meow or a dog’s bark from the street corner made Hu Honghua’s back break out in a cold sweat.
Every household was asleep; only those up to no good would be out at this hour.
After leaving her own house, Hu Honghua hugged the mud wall as she walked, trembling with fear of disturbing a dog or running into someone.
Even though she wasn’t having an affair, she felt guiltier than those who were! Each step made her legs weak and unsteady.
Her timing was lucky.
Just as she reached the courtyard wall of Xiao Li’s house, she saw Li Jianye climbing over the wall.
Li Jianye was frail and not a man of labor.
The courtyard walls had been built extremely high, so he was clumsy at climbing.
His legs kicked in the air like a dog held by the scruff of its neck, with only his two legs flailing.
After struggling for a long time, Li Jianye finally made it over.
——
That night.
In the summer evening, the village’s grass rustled with insects and frogs calling continuously.
Moonlight overhead cast a cold, shimmering glow on the plants.
Light and shadow fell between the trees, and the damp dew clung to the tips of the grass.
As he walked past, a comfortable chill brushed his ankles.
At the moment he stepped outside, a breeze blew in, carrying the scent of freedom.
Tonight was as beautiful as a dream draped in lush emerald.
He overcame every hardship, flying like a fledgling swallow into this dream, finally stepping out of the old cage he’d been trapped in for years.
The darkness was too thick for him to see the bench beneath his feet clearly.
One misstep, a “plop” sound, and Li Jianye fell hard to the ground.
The noise wasn’t loud, but it still woke Wang Yulian.
She opened her eyes and looked up at the empty beams overhead, thinking, Could it be Li Jianye climbed over after all?
Is he crazy? Coming to look for trouble at night? Her daughter was still in the next room!
Frowning, Wang Yulian sat up.
The Wang family’s house was modest, with a small courtyard and a simple living room in the middle flanked by the kitchen—this was the typical layout of most village homes.
Wang Yulian used to sleep in the east room with her husband, while her daughter slept in the west room.
After her husband left, she slept alone in the east room.
Hearing the noise, she slowly climbed up, threw on a coat, slipped on her shoes, and stepped outside.
She quietly pushed open the wooden door, when a figure wrapped in the cool night breeze suddenly threw himself onto her, holding her tightly and excitedly shouting, “Yulian, I’m here! I got the money!”
Only then did Wang Yulian recognize it was Li Jianye.
His white shirt was stained with dirt, his golden-rimmed glasses crooked on his face.
His refined, scholarly face was flushed bright red.
He came rushing over, breathing heavily like a dog panting in summer heat, puffing warm breaths on Wang Yulian’s face.
She felt a little uncomfortable, but in the next moment, she forgot about it.
“Got the money?” she asked. “How much did you get?”
Wang Yulian knew Li Jianye was from the wealthiest family in the entire Li family village, but she still couldn’t imagine he had so much money.
She had just said she wanted it, and he immediately brought it to her.
“Two hundred yuan.” Li Jianye’s voice trembled as he said, “I brought it to you overnight, so you won’t delay work with the kids.”
When Wang Yulian heard “two hundred yuan,” a joy she couldn’t express welled up in her chest.
It was as if the ruined bricks of her life had been rebuilt, and even Li Jianye looked especially appealing.
She no longer cared about “being seen coming so late at night,” even taking the initiative to pull Li Jianye inside the east room.
Once inside, Li Jianye took out the money and handed it to her.
Wang Yulian counted it carefully, then cautiously took out an iron box from the cabinet and put the money inside.
Then, she embraced Li Jianye and kissed him first.
When it comes to love, city girls talk about poetry and movies and spout those vague, sour words, but rural women don’t play those games.
They have the simplest way to judge—by how much money he gives.
A man’s sincerity is written in the money. As long as he gives enough, that’s love.
And a woman’s response to a man is just as simple: if you love me, I love you; I love you, so I’m yours.
With love burning fiercely between a man and woman alone, a single spark quickly set fire.
They fell messily onto the big kang (heated brick bed).
At the critical moment, Wang Yulian regained some sense and grabbed his hand, saying, “Let’s go to the storage room in the back kitchen.”
It was far from the west room and wouldn’t be heard by her daughter.
They touched and held each other, stumbling to the storage room.
This was the most beautiful storage room Li Jianye had ever seen in his life.
It was also the first time Li Jianye fully immersed himself in the dream of the night.
He paid no heed to propriety or shame, wishing he could kneel and lick every inch of the storage room.
He was so excited that he didn’t notice two women following his footsteps, entering Wang’s courtyard together.
After meeting, Hu Honghua and Shi Meilan sneaked around the back door, trailing Li Jianye into the widow Wang’s yard.
The two women secretly peered through the window.
Seeing the two embracing inside, Hu Honghua covered her face with her hand, and Shi Meilan clenched her fists.
When they saw the pair enter the storage room, Shi Meilan suddenly stood up with a “scram.”
It was Hu Honghua’s first time catching an affair; she didn’t know what to do. Seeing Shi Aunt stand up, she hurriedly got up too, nervously thinking about the next step.
Dark night, howling wind—catching someone in bed during an affair!
She had heard about this!
There had been such incidents in the village before. Usually, a crowd would swarm in, beating the adulterous husband and wife; everyone could come out to watch the spectacle.
So was she supposed to beat the adulterous husband or the adulterous wife?
She wasn’t sure she could win!
But even if she lost, she couldn’t back down!
As the old saying goes, “Since you’re already here, win or lose, you have to fight!”
At that moment, Shi Meilan had already stood and quietly opened the door of the widow Wang’s house.
She turned to see her unworthy daughter-in-law trembling on the spot, gnashing her teeth and standing frozen, not doing anything!
Angry, Shi Meilan waved her hand and mouthed, “Follow!”
Hu Honghua steeled herself and followed.
Follow, follow, follow! If it came down to it, just rip off their clothes and run!
Hu Honghua was weak, pitiful, helpless, and tearful but obedient.
When Shi Meilan gave the order, even knowing she couldn’t win, she would go up.
But unexpectedly, after entering, Shi Meilan didn’t rush to the storage room.
Instead, she headed straight for the east wing, secretly opening the money box Wang Yulian had hidden earlier and took out the two hundred yuan.
Then, Shi Meilan slipped something else inside the box before putting it back and started to leave.
Hu Honghua watched in stunned silence.
“Auntie—what about catching the adulterers?”
Shi Meilan completely ignored that matter. Having died once, she knew money was the most important.
She could always find ways to deal with men later, but if she didn’t take the money now, she’d never get another chance!
After taking the money, she pulled Hu Honghua and left, returning the same way to the Li family courtyard.
Holding the money tightly, Shi Meilan said to Hu Honghua as they left the house and sent her off, “Tomorrow we’ll go to the town. There’s a factory there with good jobs. This two hundred yuan—we’ll use it to get good jobs.”
Shi Meilan was completely done with the men of the Li family.
Neither her husband nor her son was any good.
She no longer planned to serve them, but if she left the Li family, she might lose everything.
The countryside was like this: women were born worthless.
They could only serve men. Even if they were in charge, they were men’s invisible slaves. The house land was never in her name—she couldn’t snatch it.
She had always thought women couldn’t live without men.
But later, seeing Wang Yulian find a job and live well, even that broken shoe could manage fine.
Why couldn’t she?
She wanted a better life!
As for that dead man Li Jianye, let Wang Yulian have him. She found him disgusting and would never fight Wang Yulian for him.
If she fought at all, it would be for the money!
Thinking this, Shi Meilan squeezed the money in her hand and felt a little better.
Hu Honghua stared blankly. “We?”
“Yes, we,” Shi Meilan turned back to look at Hu Honghua.
Moonlight bathed Shi Meilan’s bright, dignified round face. When she looked at Hu Honghua, her upturned phoenix eyes seemed to gleam with a cold light. She was so gentle that she no longer seemed like Auntie Shi.
She looked like a mother.
“Today, you help me, and I’ll help you. Families like the Lis aren’t right for you. You can’t stay. If I leave, you definitely can’t stay either. Serving men is no match for going out and finding a good job for yourself.” Shi Meilan said to Hu Honghua, “This is the right path.”
This was also why Shi Meilan wanted to bring Hu Honghua along this time.
They had stolen the money back together, so they would share the benefits.
Hu Honghua had saved her before, so from now on, any good thing would include Hu Honghua.
Last life, Wang Yulian had the good luck to take her and her daughter.
This life, she would take Hu Honghua and snatch it back!
This money had originally mostly come from the Hu family—it should belong to old Hu’s side.
“Then, what about catching the adulterers?” Hu Honghua didn’t know about things outside the village. Her uncle was busy and never took her out. She didn’t know what a factory was or what work entailed and couldn’t understand the advantage. She just asked puzzledly, “Aren’t we catching them?”
She had been fighting for nothing.
“We are.” Shi Meilan had already reached the village road and lowered her voice. “We’ll catch them later. But don’t tell anyone about tonight.”
Hu Honghua shut her mouth tightly and nodded firmly.
After they parted, Shi Meilan returned to the Li house, hid the money, and slept soundly in the east room.
——
Meanwhile, Li Jianye and Wang Yulian had shamelessly carried on in the next room for half the night.
Finally, Li Jianye’s legs trembling, climbed back over the wall to the Li family and collapsed onto his bed in the west room.
He slept straight until the next morning and even missed the morning reading!
Alas! What a serious delay!
The pleasures of last night were already beyond savoring. The dull life was back in full force. Li Jianye hurried out of bed in a flurry and ran outside.
In the main hall, he saw Shi Meilan dressed and ready to leave.
“Where are you going? What did you cook in the morning? I want to take some with me.”
Without turning her head, Shi Meilan tossed out, “I’m going to town. No time to cook for you.”
Li Jianye stared at Shi Meilan’s back in surprise.
What’s going on? Shi Meilan used to fuss over his eating and sleeping.
If his white shirt had a crease, she’d ask about it for half the day. But today, she just gave up and let go?