Text: Xiaoning
Picture 3: Dasu Photography
When Guifen was a girl in the village, she was considered a leading figure, she was beautiful, tall and in good shape. The two long braids swayed behind her back when she walked, adding a bit of charm.
She is handy and can do all the needlework that girls should know. She also has a lot of skill in working in the fields. Other girls work seven points a day, but she can get eight points.
When Guifen was twenty, matchmakers came one after another to propose marriage, and she finally chose Yongzhi in a village not far from home.
Guifen has never read a book, but likes educated people. Yongzhi is a third-year high school student. At that time, it was not easy for children to go to high school. If the college entrance examination had not been canceled that year, they might have left far away.
Yongzhi looks ordinary, but his family is well off. His family has an ancestral secret recipe that specializes in treating gynecological diseases, and he is quite famous in the surrounding area. Because of this secret recipe, my father also learned some folk medical skills, so his family was destined to have a prosperous life.
Guifen was very satisfied with the marriage at first, and her face was always filled with happiness when she talked about it with her friends. At that time, when young people were dating, they would only see each other during the holidays, but Guifen was often called by her husband's family to improve her life. Friends are all envious of Guifen's good life, good fortune, and finding a good husband.
But about half a year after Guifen got engaged, gossip suddenly spread in the village that Guifen was getting close to Dayu from the team. In that relatively feudal era, free love was not accepted by people, especially since both Guifen and Daewoo were engaged. Such a thing would be too outrageous in the eyes of the villagers.
When the gossip first came out, no one believed it. Guifen is indeed beautiful, but she can't read a word. Daewoo is a man who has read books and is also a third-year high school student. Daewoo has always been a pretentious person, and many people seem stupid to him.
Once, because he was lazy at work and the captain told him, he actually wrote a couplet overnight, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, Filial piety, loyalty, trust, Etiquette and integrity" and posted it on the door of the captain's house.
When the team leader went to work early in the morning, he saw the couplets. As he was illiterate, he felt it was strange. He asked the accountant of the team to come and take a look, and the accountant tore them up without saying a word. Later I found out that the couplet was a curse, and when combined, it meant "shameless bastard", which made the captain very angry. From then on, everyone in the team avoided Daewoo.
People didn’t believe that Daewoo would fall in love with an illiterate like Guifen, but the gossip came from Daewoo’s aunt. His aunt said she saw the two hugging each other under the jujube tree in his backyard. I also heard them say that if the partner doesn't get married and the family doesn't agree, the two of them will elope.
Rural people are so lively, and even the slightest thing can cause quite a stir. A good relationship between two people who are already engaged is as big news as having an affair during marriage.
It didn’t take long for the two people to know about their friendship. Yongzhi's mother liked Guifen and quickly discussed with her son to find a matchmaker to get married. The matchmaker went to Guifen's family to talk about marriage, but Guifen refused, saying she was still young.
Yongzhi said to his mother: "This is obviously a refusal. If you don't want to, forget it! It's not sweet to be coercive. Let's not wait for someone to break off the engagement, otherwise it will be even more embarrassing!" The marriage ended like this.
After Daewoo’s partner found out, he also found a matchmaker and said he wanted to break off the engagement. At that time, breaking off an engagement was more troublesome than divorce now. No matter which party proposes to break off the engagement, it seems to be a slap in the face to the other party, which is very embarrassing.
Daewoo’s partner is the granddaughter of an old family friend of his grandfather. When they got married, they were mutual confidants. The two old men’s idea was to find a matchmaker just as a formality. This time the woman proposed to break off the engagement, and the old men on both sides were embarrassed and angry. Especially Grandpa Dayu, I feel sorry for my old friend. I couldn't get over this hurdle in my heart, so I got angry at home and scared my son very much.
Daewoo has always been rebellious, but he did not dare to lose his temper with his grandfather. In the big family, his grandfather has always been the authority. So, one of the two old men taught his grandson a lesson, and the other tried to persuade his granddaughter. Both sides were very strong, and the two children couldn't handle it, so they got married soon.
As soon as Daewoo got married, Guifen was dumbfounded, but she couldn't tell her the pain! I can only feel aggrieved secretly. But no matter what happened, the girls would not be left alive, and soon someone introduced her to a soldier. The brothers in the military family often live in poverty and say that their daughter-in-law is in trouble.
At this time, Guifen didn't ask for any conditions and just wanted to get married quickly so as not to have to hold her head high in the village. The two went on a blind date through photos. The young man looked very energetic in military uniform. They wrote letters several times. Guifen couldn't write, so she asked friends in the team who had attended elementary school to help answer the letters. A few months later, they got married while their partner was on family leave.
Not long after Guifen got married, her partner was demobilized and returned home. It is said that the two of them have had a very difficult life over the years. At that time, the production team was very poor. After working for a year, the two of them earned just enough work points to pay for food, and there was basically no leftover.
After the land was contracted to each household, the land was barren and the men suffered from rheumatism, so Guifen became the main labor force. They have two daughters, the eldest of whom is mentally handicapped. The man and his eldest daughter spend a lot of money every year to treat their illnesses, and their lives are even more stretched.
Guifen was afraid that people in her natal village would laugh at her, so she rarely went back after her marriage. There are no brothers in the family, her sister got married, and after her parents died, she had no contact with her natal family.
It is said that poor people have short ambitions. When Guifen couldn't bear the poverty, she actually learned to steal in the market. People in her husband's village said that she had stolen clothes, shoes and socks, and even food. I don’t know how many times I was caught and humiliated by people in two nearby markets.
It is said that one time Nian Gen Daji stole a few pairs of socks from someone else and was even touched by his ex-partner Yongzhi. At that time, Guifen was being dragged by the stall owner to take her to the police station, when Yongzhi and his wife came to the market and met. Yongzhi stepped forward to persuade the stall owner and paid the bill for Guifen. As soon as the stall owner let go, Guifen ran away without even daring to look at Yongzhi.
Yongzhi’s village was very close to Guifen’s later husband’s family. After Yongzhi and Guifen broke off their engagement, he was selected as a private teacher by the village. Later, he passed the exam and became a full-time teacher. His wife was his colleague. After Guifen learned the news, she regretted it all the time. They met by chance on the set that day, and under the same circumstances, how could she have the nerve to say a word to Yongzhi!
Nowadays, Guifen and her husband only have half a set of teeth left, and they look much older than their actual age. Both daughters are married. The eldest daughter’s husband’s family is from the same village. Her own conditions are not good, and the family she married into is also not good.
Guifen can no longer work now, so she relies on her husband’s veterans’ subsidy and her rural elderly subsidy, which costs several hundred yuan a month. In addition to daily necessities, she has to spend a lot on medical expenses, and she also has to help her eldest daughter. . The villagers said that it was quite pitiful to see Guifen living.
Let’s talk about Daewoo. Less than half a year after getting married, he found a job in the city and often didn’t go home. Not long after, he found a new love in the city and divorced his wife. The second marriage gave birth to a daughter. When the daughter was over three years old, she divorced and married another woman. He never paid child support, and when his daughter was twelve years old, he was taken to court.
It is said that he still refused to pay because he was laid off at the time and had no income. For the third wife, her parents-in-law did not agree, so the two secretly ran away to get married. From then on, the wife severed ties with her natal family. He is now over 70 years old. I heard that last year he suffered from cerebral infarction and hemiplegia.
When people in the village talk about Guifen, they always sigh! If I had married Yongzhi back then, I would have lived a worry-free life. If he had gone with Daewoo, he might not have been able to escape the fate of being abandoned. For the sake of such a carefree man, I will live without dignity for the rest of my life.
