Cassandra's Quest Through the Gorges Chapter 7

Cassandra Liu didn't feel left out. She didn't like this group of people in the first place. It was common for Victor Li to leave her to do his own things. She often left Victor Li to do her own experiments. The problem was not here, but that she had just temporarily forgotten the unpleasantness of the journey south and had regained some feelings for him, but he left without saying goodbye. She gave in too much and surrendered too quickly, and now she felt very uncomfortable.

Originally, by chance, she could have taken advantage of the fact that Victor Li came to pick her up in person, and pretended that the crisis hanging over their marriage had never happened. But now she had to start coldly, inch by inch, and find another time.

She pressed the elevator button like a robot, and the steel doors slid open gently as if it was waiting for her.

She thought of her life in the United States after Victor Li returned. Not to save rent, but for convenience, she moved from a two-bedroom apartment to a single room on campus, but shared the living room and kitchen. Before long, she became friends with her roommate. This roommate was a Chinese born in the United States. She studied computer science and was hired by a company before she graduated. The woman was very nice to Cassandra Liu and asked her, "Why don't you find a lover when your husband is not around?"

"This is completely impossible."

"You Chinese women have had your brains washed by men. How pitiful."

Cassandra Liu explained that she loved her husband, they had grown up together when they were young, and no one could compare to him.

That night, Cassandra Liu wanted to call her husband and tell him that she missed him. But she gave up on the idea.

The roommate told Cassandra Liu everything that was on her mind, including her interactions with men. The latest man was a colleague of hers, but she knew it would not work out with him. It was only after they became lovers that she discovered he had a wife. One day his wife came to settle a score with her, so she moved the flowerpot in front of the door and smashed the window. Later, the man came to apologize, but the roommate didn't say anything and just let him walk.

Cassandra Liu felt that this man was actually in a difficult situation as well.

The roommate said that it would be a good idea to change the windows, and that it would be time for her to have another boyfriend.

What she didn't say to her roommate was that she actually despised the casual relationship between men and women. It wasn't because of moral considerations, but because it was such unnecessary things that made upright people look mean and dirty. Therefore, she never thought that Victor Li would have an affair, let alone that she would become an abandoned wife. No, she didn't need pity, which made her laughable.

When she walked out of the elevator, Cassandra Liu had come to her senses. She had money in her hands and should now do what she needed to do.

When she opened the door to the room, she saw a bunch of yellow roses in a glass bottle on the table, half filled with water. She put down her purse. There was a small card among the roses. She took it down curiously and saw that it was from the hotel manager named Zheng. He said it was to calm Cassandra Liu down and hoped that she would take a rest and call him. He hoped to have the honor of inviting her to dinner.

The roses are very fragrant. They are the "Italian Campanile" variety. The flowers are huge and the petals are like silk, but they are real flowers. I wonder where this rare variety comes from?

Cassandra Liu felt dirty, smelly and itchy all over, and the smell of urine from the detention center clung to her skin. She went to the bathroom, took a quick shower, wiped the water from her hair with a dry towel, and combed her hair in the mirror. She came out and sat on the sofa and wanted to open her handbag. Only then did she realize that the bag was locked. Of course, it should be locked. Only then did she realize that Director Elliott had handed her a key, and indeed she had a key. She touched her trouser pocket and found the key.

It seemed that she was distracted and confused by these people who were busy with national affairs all day. As soon as the key was inserted, the lock popped open.

She opened the bag and found that it was basically empty. There was a bag with brown wrapping paper. When she opened it, there was a neat stack of fifty yuan and one hundred sheets. At first glance, I knew it was tied up in a bank. There were ten pieces of one-hundred-yuan coins next to it...this Victor Li knew how to bring more money for her.

There were also some crumpled newspapers. Maybe he grabbed a locked leather bag on the spur of the moment. Maybe Director Elliott arranged this, so the 6,000 yuan here is also misappropriated public funds?

She couldn't help but shudder. They were talking about billions and tens of billions of money along the way. No, Li Rusheng is not this kind of person. He lives in official business all day long, and I'm afraid he won't be able to use his monthly salary. He should have this small amount of savings, and he will not have anything to do with investment in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area. She worked in a laboratory while studying in the United States, and later in a research institute, where her salary was not low. But she doesn't have the habit of spending money randomly to buy brand-name goods, so she never feels short of money.

But she couldn't help but put the purse back into her bag. In a place where everyone talked about money, she didn't want to deal with money.

Cassandra Liu found red spots left by poisonous mosquito bites on her calves, arms and behind her ears, which were itchy and painful. She called and found out that there was no infirmary in this hotel, so the front desk finally sent half a bottle of iodine. She sat on the edge of the bed and rolled up her pants. The swelling on her two knees became even bigger. She carefully applied iodine and disinfected the scraped area on her wrist, then went to the mirror and wiped the back of her ears. The room suddenly smelled of iodine, but she had liked this smell since she was a child.

Looking at my watch, it's just after eight o'clock. She opened the curtains, and the surrounding mountains sank into the gloomy twilight. The lights below the mountains grew in clusters. The tourist boats on the river passed by with rows of cabins decorated with lights, and the river stretched a long strip of bright lights. Shining scale snake. The gorges and mountains in the background were dark and motionless, as if they had been deserted for the longest time. Suddenly, the two wings of the boat turned on searchlights to both sides of the river, touching the turbulent river surface. The light grazed the water waves, as if making a swishing sound.

She walked back to the bed, because with the bed in front of her, people want to lie down on it, and once they lie down, they feel tired. Many things in life happened too fast. It was rare in her life that she encountered so many confusing problems, all crowded into these few days.

Just as she was about to close her eyes, she suddenly remembered that Aunt Mabel had agreed to meet her in the evening, and she should go at least once. Besides, the money had already arrived, so she should send it over as soon as possible.

She pushed open the revolving door of the hotel, and the guard was waiting respectfully. He was dressed like a generalissimo of the Republic of China, with tassels on his epaulettes. She asked him to call a taxi. The young man scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and almost pushed the tall hat off. He said the city is not big and there don't seem to be many taxis.

Cassandra Liu could tell that this was a young man from the country who had just started working.

At this moment, a taxi slid into the driveway of the gate, and the young man stepped forward a little embarrassedly and opened the door for Cassandra Liu.

She said she was going to Anchovy Lane, and the driver repeated it in the local dialect, and Cassandra Liu also repeated it in what she thought was the most authentic Sichuan dialect. The driver probably thought that the residents here would not go to the old city at this time.

After the rain, the air was unusually fresh. Along the way, the driver didn't talk much. Taxi drivers in any city are the same. They read people's expressions and say different things to different people. Cassandra Liu still wanted to listen, so she asked in Sichuan dialect:

"What are the cadres in Liang County like?"

The driver was stunned for a while, looked around the car as usual, and then said to Cassandra Liu mysteriously: "This place has a demonic atmosphere!"

Cassandra Liu was stunned. She had never expected such an answer. The driver was a very young man, so it seemed unnecessary for him to believe this. But as soon as the driver started talking, he started to talk:

"This place is full of ghosts. People here will suffer from all kinds of disasters even if they are fine. The elderly here say this. Look at the large number of commercial houses built on this mountain. They are exactly like coffin boxes, ready-made hanging coffins!" He freed his left hand and rolled down the window, and continued: "Officials and civilians can be haunted. Poor mountains have mean people, while bad water has corrupt officials. Outsiders like you should pay attention and beware of being harmed."

Cassandra Liu was unhappy. She said: "Isn't this the most beautiful landscape in China?"

"It feels beautiful when you come to see it, but it's different when you live there."

Cassandra Liu suddenly understood that what the driver said was very real and vernacular, not mysterious at all. It turns out that her parents came here to "live", not that she came to visit, so she still doesn't understand why this Liang County has become a knot in her Mother Evelyn's heart, and she can never get over it or forget it.

On the narrow road, there was a private car with its door open. The conductor called on passers-by to get on the car, his voice as loud as a loud speaker. The car kept moving and stopping, and people would jump out at any time without waiting for the car to stop. There was a freight truck coming from the opposite direction, which looked very dangerous. However, the person who got off the car turned sideways and dodged, and walked on his own way as if nothing had happened.

She was lost in thought when the driver asked, "What's the number on Shad Lane?"

The car couldn't drive in because it was a downhill stone stairway. The driver was testing her on purpose.

She said, "Just stay here." She took out the money and got out of the car. When she was paying, she saw that the driver seemed to be laughing, and she felt a little panicked. His expression was a bit like his tone of voice, as if he was pretending to be a ghost.

Cassandra walked into the dark alley and found Aunt Mabel's house. She calmed down when she saw Aunt Mabel's face. Aunt Mabel turned her back to the dim light in the room and exclaimed: "You are here so late. Have you eaten?"

Only then did Cassandra Liu realize that she had never thought of eating something. Victor Li asked her to go have dinner by herself, but she walked out absentmindedly. When asked by Aunt Mabel, she felt very hungry.

She shook her head.

Aunt Mabel took her hand and went directly into the back room. The small wooden table from outside was moved in, and the room was slightly adjusted and cleaned. There were cups, plates, and chopsticks on the low table, and I didn't know who was waiting for the guests.

She sat down on the stool. The room still smelled of Chinese medicine, but she no longer found it unpleasant. The window was open in the room, and the river breeze was blowing. Aunt Mabel laughed and said, "I thought if you could come, you might not have eaten." She went to the kitchen, and the smell of cooking came from the pot. After a while, she brought Cassandra Liu a bowl of egg fried rice, a small plate of kimchi made by herself, and a plate of dried tofu. "Diegu went to the hospital. I thought you would come, so I asked her to go on my behalf."

"Is she feeling better?" Cassandra Liu asked.

"She said she was feeling better, but I was afraid she would have a relapse, so I asked her to take medicine."

Aunt Mabel reminded herself of these words. She went to the kitchen and picked up a square package of herbs tied with paper rope, put it into a jar, and added a tablespoon of water. Then he squatted down, shoveled wet soot to cover most of the fire, and then put the medicine jar on it. She said loudly and grandly to Cassandra Liu, "You are delicious. I will come after I wash my hands."

Cassandra Liu smiled, picked up the bowl and ate the fried rice. The simple kimchi and dried tofu were really fragrant and appetizing. She said to Aunt Mabel: "How did you know I couldn't come?"

Aunt Mabel placed a cup of Laoyin tea in front of Cassandra Liu and said, "As soon as Yueming came out, he came to me and told me everything. He wanted me to find a way to get you out and said you were a good person."

Cassandra Liu didn't expect Yue Ming to say she was nice, and she blushed for some reason.

Aunt Mabel said, "I didn't go because I knew they didn't dare to do anything to you, and I thought you must have given them a problem and deliberately refused to leave that hellish place."

"Oh," Cassandra Liu didn't expect that Yueming would come to Aunt Mabel first after leaving the detention center of the Public Security Bureau. "Didn't you complain that your son didn't tell you anything? Didn't he tell you right away?"

"He's not stupid. You see, he always does stupid things. It's all his own business. He's not stupid when it concerns other people's affairs. He probably thinks that you are my guest and we should be responsible for you, so come and tell me. "

Cassandra Liu took a sip of tea. Aunt Mabel saw a flash of doubt in her eyes and said:

"Well, I heard you mention that your husband will be here before tonight, so I asked Yue Ming to wait by the river. He knows what the speedboats at the headquarters look like."

Cassandra Liu said in surprise, "So it was Yueming who met Lusheng, and he told Lusheng about my situation?"

"No," Aunt Mabel clapped her hands and said, "There were too many people waiting for your husband. The dock was full of people from our Liang County government. Yueming was pushed away and couldn't squeeze in. He saw Director Wang was there and wanted to go up to him, but Director Wang got angry and asked the guards to arrest Yueming. I don't know why, maybe he didn't want to cause trouble at the dock, so he waved his hand and told Yueming to get out."

Cassandra Liu immediately followed up by asking, "What did Yueming say to Director Wang that made him unhappy?"

"I only said one thing: "Why didn't Mr. Li's wife come to the dock? Of course Director Wang understands, and he would never dare to hide your whereabouts from your husband. Yueming kept an eye out and went back to the gate of the old police detention center to wait. Later, when I saw your husband driving into the hospital, he rushed back and told me to reassure me. "

Cassandra Liu felt hot in her heart. "I got him involved. He was beaten by the police." She regretted it as soon as she said it.

"He deserves to be beaten, and it's a good beating. It will teach him a lesson." Aunt Mabel said this, but she took out her handkerchief to wipe the tears from her eyes. She immediately noticed Cassandra Liu's injured left wrist, grabbed it and looked at it with heartache, tears welling up again. "What are you saying? He got you into trouble! What letter did he go to deliver? Does it hurt or not? Does it matter?"

"It's okay, just a little skin breakage." Cassandra Liu asked where Yueming was now?

"He said he missed a day of work today, and he had to go back to the elementary school dormitory in the evening. His colleagues were waiting for him to come back and inquire about the situation. Then he went up to the mountain to catch up on work. He has to deliver the goods to the gift shop tomorrow."

Cassandra Liu thought for a moment. She had too many things to say and to ask. "Tell me what's really on your mind: What do the cadres here think? Yueming must have made sense for submitting his opinion."

"What's the point?" Aunt Mabel said unhappily, "We have an urban household registration, and the Yueming household registration is still here with me. I leaned back below the urban household water level. When I came to measure it, the house we lived in happened to be at the water level. It's above the line, so there's no need to demolish it. Although this place is small, there is no bathroom or even a place to take a shower, but I'm used to it and have feelings for it, so it's okay not to move. "

Cassandra Liu thought that such a beautiful new city should make everyone happy, but it was not Aunt Mabel's family's turn. She felt that this was too unfair. But Aunt Mabel didn't seem to care. She said:

"Besides, my wife and I don't have pensions, so he relies on my aunt and Yueming to earn some money during his illness. Even though the house is so beautiful on the outside, it's all rough inside. You still have to use your own money to decorate it. I'm afraid it won't be as good as The house price is so much cheaper. Anyway, we can’t afford to renovate it. I don’t know how many people have to spend money to renovate their houses. It’s good that we don’t have to worry about it.”

"Then why did Yueming go to protest?"

"Your aunt was also a cadre before, so of course she understands this. Yue Ming is used as a weapon for others, and his colleagues, primary school teachers, are all timid. They said that since Yue Ming has no interests, it is best for him to submit a letter of opinion. , he said that he would not talk about money, but would only talk about attaching importance to education, and it would be hard for others to do anything to him. "

"Why can't we tell you when it comes to money?" Cassandra Liu felt that she really didn't understand the suffering of the people.

Aunt Mabel took off her apron and sighed. "In the past, power was a scourge, but now, money is a scourge. Ordinary people can get their heads chopped off for a few hundred yuan! Cadres can get their heads chopped off for a few million. Yue Ming sticks out his head to be beaten. Is this a crime? I am worried about him every day. "

"According to you, the officials here must be corrupt?"

"It's hard to say. In the past, there were also officials who didn't like promotion. Old Chen is not like that. He is straightforward." Aunt Mabel said, "I shouldn't say where you come from and where you will go back. We have lived in Liang County all our lives and will stay here when we die. Even for major events like water storage, which only happens once in hundreds of thousands of years, ordinary people can only move a few steps back at most." Aunt Mabel's words are actually clear and well-organized. At the end, there is a summary that is concise and concise: "After all, you are different from us."

Hearing Aunt Mabel's many sarcastic words, Cassandra Liu felt friendly. She finally found the thread of the messy things. This time she had to be careful not to miss the opportunity easily. She asked curiously:

"Does Yue Ming know about my parents being here?"

Aunt Mabel didn't say anything. She went to look at the kitchen, where the door to the house had long been closed. She returned to the room, sat down and then said:

"I never mentioned your parents, not to my son, not to my current wife. For decades, I never mentioned a word to anyone. Even when Lao Chen was alive, we tried our best to keep silent."

Cassandra Liu put down the bowl and said in surprise, "Then why?"

Aunt Mabel sighed. She said, "Take your time, take your time. Eat first if you are not in a hurry to leave. We can talk after you finish eating. I don't know if I will ever see anyone from the Liu family again in this life. You came, just like your Mother Evelyn came. You came three times in the past few days, and the neighbors asked who came. I just said, 'My distant niece, too far away, I haven't contacted her.'"

She sat on the stool opposite, a little hesitant, wiping her hands on her apron.

Cassandra Liu moved the stool over and sat next to her. "Aunt Mabel, can't you even trust me?"

"Auntie is afraid that you will be unhappy."

Cassandra Liu understood that she should take the initiative to remove this obstacle.

"Aunt Mabel, I'm too tired. I want to lie down on your bed. Can you lie with me for a while?" Then he stood up and walked to the other side of the bed.

Aunt Mabel immediately waved her hand to stop her: "No, it's too dirty, too dirty, I can't let you lie down."

Without further ado, Cassandra Liu took Aunt Mabel's hand and sat down on the edge of the bed. She took off her shoes. The bed did smell, and the pillow smelled particularly strong of sweat. She simply put down the slightly dark mosquito net. Originally, only the yellow light from the outside room shone in. With the net put down, the bed became even darker. The color of the quilt and pillow could not be seen clearly. But all this was not important. Aunt Mabel had never expected that Cassandra Liu would really listen attentively, so she went to bed and propped up the pillow with the folded quilt. As soon as she lay down on this hard old wooden bed, Cassandra Liu felt much more at ease.

"Aunt Mabel, you should tell me now what you have never told anyone."

"Where are you talking?" Aunt Mabel hesitated.

"I know this matter has something to do with me. If you don't tell me, I will never know about it for the rest of my life, and no one in the Liu family will ever know about it. How about you go to Beijing and tell my Mother Evelyn? Stay here for a month ,as long as you like it."

"You are such a smart girl!" Aunt Mabel said, "I will just pour out all the water from the pot. There is only one condition: if you have anything you don't like, don't interrupt me. If you have anything to say, just ask after you hear it. Okay ?"

Cassandra Liu pressed the hand of Aunt Mabel who was lying next to her: She completely agreed to this condition.

Honglian and Zen Master Yutong

A familiar herbal smell wafted from the kitchen. Aunt Mabel said that when she was pregnant that year, she had a strong reaction, which was similar to the feeling of the herbal medicine that Aunt Die took. She was hungry all day long. She wanted to eat some meat, but she finally bought some and ate it, but she vomited it all out. She vomited almost every day, and her appetite was getting worse and worse. She felt irritated as if she was being scratched by a cat. Doctor Qi came to check and said that it was because of excessive amniotic fluid and the fetal position was not stable, so he asked her to stay in bed and rest.

But she was too busy at that time and didn't take it seriously.

They ate in the big pot in the office cafeteria, and she often went there to ask for some rice soup and brown sugar, as a special treatment for herself and her child. Fortunately, she was used to working in the fields since she was a child, and she was strong and young, so she could fall asleep as soon as she lay down. So, watching her belly grow bigger day by day, she continued to run around outside.

Her husband, Lao Chen, was even busier than her. He had to arrange the work of the newly established armed forces in the counties and districts. He had just been slightly injured in the battle to eliminate the remaining bandits the year before, but he was lucky. He had ten wounds on his body, but none of them hurt his vital parts. The wound on his arm healed quickly. It was difficult to eliminate bandits in the deep mountains and dense forests in this area, and many people died. Once the large gangs of bandits were eliminated, the suppression of counter-revolutionaries began. Bandits who had fled and hidden were captured in various places, and those who were guilty were all shot. The smell of gunpowder was still very strong.

Cassandra Liu's Mother Evelyn arrived late and did not see Lao Chen and his men go out in full force. In the middle of the night, they blocked all the docks, including several streets along the river, sealed off the houses and arrested people.

There were not many female cadres at that time, and Aunt Mabel participated as usual even though she was pregnant, and carried out the mission. Every day was a mess, with prostitutes and their clients running around. They held down the prostitutes, and the soldiers caught the clients, and only released them after registering them.

The prostitutes' reform class was difficult from the beginning. Commissioner Liu asked to find the bullies and make them the targets of prosecution. This was a small place, most of the prostitutes were clandestine prostitutes, and there were no registered formal brothels.

Aunt Mabel noticed an older woman named Hong Lian. She said she was older, in her mid-twenties, and she was called Sister Hong. She was the leader of several prostitutes. In Aunt Mabel's opinion, it was just a few young prostitutes who asked Honglian to host a partnership. Honglian is quite pretty, with an oval face, double eyelids, and a good figure. She is the most proficient female celebrity, and she is diligent and clean. Unfortunately, his life was miserable. Both his parents died. He was dissatisfied with his brother's arranged marriage and escaped from the village late at night. Unfortunately, he was abducted and sold to a boat owner, and then sold to a brothel.

Honglian told her that she had escaped from her marriage in the mountains because she had never seen her husband's family and was very scared, worried that she would marry a bad man.

Aunt Mabel also escaped from her marriage in the countryside, but she happened to run into the Communist Party’s underground guerrillas in the mountains. Although she came from the same place, she met different people and had a different fate.

Honglian repeatedly said that she was particularly afraid of the future of the reform class. She would be taken out by any man, that is, forced to marry. She felt the same as her previous fear. She said that it was not an arranged marriage, but more arranged than a family arrangement. Oops.

She persuaded Honglian that this is better than being a prostitute. You must believe in the people's government and give you a new path.

Honglian said that being a prostitute at least knows that sleeping with a man for a purpose, being forced to marry, and being slept with by this man forever has no benefits at all.

Aunt Mabel was shocked by Honglian's words. She had never thought about it from this angle. She felt that Honglian's words were not without some truth. She told Lao Chen about it at night, and Lao Chen scolded her for being brainless. Lao Chen's attitude was never that bad. He shouted "Shut up!" and smashed a bowl and slapped her, but she, a female guerrilla fighter, dodged it. It was fortunate that Lao Chen smashed the bowl. Otherwise, she would have made a political principle mistake if she had said it rashly at the meeting. Others might even suspect that she helped Honglian escape.

On the night when Honglian was captured, Aunt Mabel felt very uncomfortable in her stomach. She couldn't get out of bed because of the mission. The baby in her belly made her very tired, so she had to lie back in bed. Old Chen was very worried and didn't want to leave her, but he was a soldier, so he obeyed the order and put on his gun and left.

Unable to sleep that night, her stomach hurt intermittently, so Aunt Mabel had no choice but to call in Dr. Qi. Doctor Qi said that this was probably normal and asked her to be quiet. She just had to pay more attention in the past few days. If she felt uncomfortable, just call him.

Near dawn, Aunt Mabel fell asleep.

Early the next morning, around 6:30 to 7 o'clock, there was already an early gathering on the street, which was noisy and noisy, and from time to time there was the sound of people running in the yard. Aunt Mabel heard someone shouting, "Caught, caught."

Soon after, a female comrade from the Women's Federation came to see her. The female comrade said that they had caught the prostitute Honglian who had escaped, and the Zen Master Yutong from the temple. "That Honglian was actually having s3x with Zen Master Yutong in the temple, and we caught them alive in his bed, a pair of lovers! Our intelligence work is really amazing. Do you believe it? This has been a great lesson for me." She said excitedly, "They are being paraded outside. Let's go and take a look!"

Aunt Mabel was shocked when she heard this! Her teeth were chattering. She heard that the monk was an expert from outside the world. How could he be with Honglian and be caught together? She groaned secretly in her heart, sensing that something was wrong. There was gas in her stomach, and she stood still. She felt that the gas was turning, and suddenly a knot formed. She hugged her stomach, and it hurt so much! But she still went out holding on to the wall and followed her colleagues. The streets were crowded with people, and they kept pouring out of the streets from all over the country. That street is just twenty meters away from the yard of the Armed Forces.

She was standing on a step at the door, and the parade team just happened to come over. Four strong men were carrying a thick and long bamboo pole, on which a man and a woman were tied. They were stripped naked, and the way they were tied was very strange - in fact, in the countryside of Sichuan, if a couple was caught having an affair, if the families of both parties insisted, they would be punished in the most severe way: the two people were tied behind their backs, their arms were spread out and tied behind their backs, and their legs were also spread apart and tied behind their backs. A long pole passed through the middle of their waists, so the two people were bent over, with their stomachs sticking out, and they looked as painful as being tortured. Moreover, both of them looked frozen, their lips were pale, and their faces were black and blue. The armed men were holding guns behind them, and the people in front of them were pushing the crowd with difficulty. There were also people guarding on both sides. The two people were naked, facing the crowd on both sides of the street. They were lifted in the air, one shoulder higher than the crowd.

The monk was already quite old, with some white stubble on his bald head. He closed his eyes tightly and tilted his head, perhaps fainting. Honglian, on the other hand, held his head high, with his hair loose, some of it falling on his face, and his eyes widened.

Aunt Mabel went down a few stone steps and followed the crowd. She felt that Honglian had seen her and was being carried away, but her eyes were looking straight at her. She felt very scared, so she protected her big belly with both hands and took a few steps back, but Honglian's eyes were still looking at her, as if she wanted her to take full responsibility.

The streets were as crowded as a boiling pot of boiling water. People were shouting and yelling, and it was difficult for the security guards to clear the way. People on one side of the street were so satisfied with watching the prostitute that they would push to the other side to see the shameless monk. Those who had seen the shameless monk would still push to see the prostitute. The farmers going to the market and the citizens in the town all wanted to get in front, spit at the two of them, and throw stinky vegetables and stinky cloth shoes. Some people even hit them with sharp stones.

Aunt Mabel saw that the heads, bodies and faces of these two people were covered with spit and thick yellow phlegm, and the blood from the stones was flowing down. They looked terrible. When we squeezed into the section of street in front of the Armed Forces Department, there were even more people. Many ordinary people ran up to pinch and pinch Honglian's breasts, and grabbed the wilted thing between the monk's legs. The guards saw the situation as lawless and couldn't stop it at all, so they had no choice but to ignore it, and the people became more violent. A woman on the street actually found something like a rolling pin and poked Honglian's lower body, drawing blood, and everyone around her cheered.
 
Honglian bit her lips until they bled, but her eyes were still searching among the crowd. She finally found Aunt Mabel and stared at her without blinking. Honglian's eyes, which used to be bright and clear, now showed crazy despair, but there was no pity for help. She didn't understand why Honglian was staring at her alone. Even if she turned her head a little, she could feel the back of her head being stared at, and it was numb. There should be a lot of people Honglian knew on this street, and there were several cadres from the reform class present. Why was he staring at her? Except that she was usually kinder to Honglian than others, she was no different from others. Was this the reason? Moreover, Honglian's eyes were too weird, and they didn't change at all. He stared at her fiercely, as if he wanted to get into her stomach.

She was frightened and did not dare to meet Honglian's eyes. She turned away and walked towards the courtyard of the Armed Forces Ministry. But she felt that Honglian was still staring at her. At this moment, her stomach felt a sharp pain like a knife. Then the amniotic fluid came out, and the child kicked and scratched in her stomach. Her pants were wet, and she used her hands to When he touched it, he found that there was blood in the water, so he fainted on the steps.

The colleague carried Aunt Mabel home, and Doctor Qi also came. She didn't know what Doctor Qi was frantically preparing. The colleague rushed to call Old Chen back, saying that his wife might have a difficult delivery, and the lives of both Mother Evelyn and baby might not be saved. Aunt Mabel woke up after a long time, and when she heard it, she quickly stopped the colleague, "Just tell him."

There was a lot of commotion outside and chants were heard. It was said that a public trial was being held, and she knew that Lao Chen couldn't leave at this time. A woman suffers when she gives birth to a child. If she is lucky enough to survive, her husband will not be able to do anything about it.

But Lao Chen still rushed over. He was very anxious and squatted beside the bed and stroked her head. He was not at all careless like usual. The noise outside was louder, and she couldn't figure out what was going on. Seeing that her face was deformed in pain, Lao Chen was so anxious that he walked around the room in confusion. He impulsively grabbed her hands, put them on his chest, and told her that if anything happened between her and the child, he would not live anymore. .

When she heard this, tears flowed down her cheeks. But within a moment, Lao Chen was called away. She gritted her teeth and endured the pain. When she thought of Honglian's eyes staring at her strangely, she couldn't help but tremble all over, as if she saw Honglian standing in front of her. "Did you see it?" she asked the female colleague who was holding her legs.

"What did you see?" said the female colleague.

She took a closer look and saw that there was indeed no Honglian beside the bed. But after a while, Honglian appeared again, and she was so frightened that she fainted.

Suddenly there was gunfire, a burst of gunfire, and then a roar like a mountain and a tsunami.

She couldn't hear what they were shouting. People who executed prisoners in public always made such inexplicable shouts. Suddenly the gunfire rang out again, one after another. She felt that the gunshot was coming towards her, very close, and aimed directly at her. The gunshot was right next to her ears. There was something between her legs trying to escape. She yelled, but the thing ignored her pain. Run outside. She just couldn't get out, pushing her so hard that she couldn't breathe.

After a long while, she doubted whether she was still alive, but she heard someone calling Doctor Qi away. Doctor Qi had to tell a few words to a few female colleagues, and then left in a hurry and never came back. It was pitch black in front of her eyes, and she really didn't know where she was. It was as terrible as hell. She couldn't help shaking her head desperately, trying to get out of the terrible darkness. Finally, she stopped shouting and fainted, as if she had been shot in the head.

When she woke up, Yueming was already born. A female colleague showed her a chubby son, covered in blood, who had not yet been cleaned. The female colleague told her that Doctor Qi had said that the fetus was in an abnormal position and had been trying to turn it around, so she did not dare to leave. Without the doctor, everyone had given up hope and waited sadly for her and the child to die. Unexpectedly, the child was born naturally, and no one knew why the Mother Evelyn and child survived.

She raised her body to look for Lao Chen, but Lao Chen was not there. After a while, she ran back dripping with sweat. When she saw the Mother Evelyn and son, they didn't look as happy as she imagined.

She asked him: "What's the matter?"

He said, "I'm so sorry that I can't take care of both!" His mood changed drastically, and he hugged her and cried. "I never thought that you two are alive and well!"

But he had to go out in a hurry. He just asked a few female colleagues to help wash and tidy up, so that Aunt Mabel could have a good sleep.

Aunt Mabel had just slept for a while when her colleague brought her fermented poached eggs. She vaguely heard people around her saying that when she was about to give birth, Dr. Qi was called away because Commissioner Liu's wife also had a dystocia and was now taking the doctor with her on a ship to rush to Chongqing.

Aunt Mabel said, "In the end, you know, we, Mother Evelyn and son, both of you, Mother Evelyn and daughter, are fine. It was a false alarm, but your Mother Evelyn suffered a lot. But our suffering was even longer: Lao Chen later suffered from the organization Serious punishment: Failure to fight resolutely against the enemy and unstable stance at critical moments of the movement."

She said that Lao Chen told her later that a soldier had died on the mountain road in the middle of the night. The soldiers that Commissioner Liu pulled out were the backbone of the guard platoon, and they did not know the specific mission just like Lao Chen and his men. When they entered the mountain, the moon was covered by clouds, and it was drizzling. The mountain road was very slippery, and they could hear the howling of monkeys or other wild animals. Fortunately, Lao Chen had arranged in advance that everyone only carried pistols and traveled light.

Suddenly, the soldier at the front screamed, slipped to the ground, and then disappeared. When they shined a torch, they discovered that the road here was too narrow and there were cliffs and vines below. The soldiers talked a lot, saying that no one dared to walk on this road after four o'clock in the afternoon, and no one dared to walk on it after the sun went down. It was very dark here. Lao Chen ordered one person to go down to see how he fell and try to save him.

Commissioner Liu stared and said, "You don't know how to fight?"

Old Chen muttered that he didn't know there was a war. Regardless of Commissioner Liu's expression, he still left a soldier here to wait until dawn to see the situation. The rest continued on their way, heading straight to Shuiyue Zen Temple in Nanhua Mountain.

When they arrived at the temple, they saw the monk sitting in meditation. Commissioner Liu ordered to arrest the monk first, accusing him of harboring bandits - there were indeed bandits who had escaped to the Zen temple before. They took the monk back and went to a land temple outside the city. It was a place where Tujia people gathered and would not attract attention. Honglian had been caught there and was waiting.
 
Commissioner Liu made arrangements, asking Lao Chen and the detachment leader to handle the armed escort, to enter the city at 6:30 in the morning, and to deal with the couple like the country folks who caught them committing adultery.

Lao Chen asked, "Why?"

Commissioner Liu scolded Lao Chen, "Stupid!" and left him alone, calling the detachment leader over to arrange the situation. When he finally left, he walked up to Zen Master Yutong, looked at him, lowered his body and said something to Zen Master Yutong. Zen Master Yutong turned pale with anger and said four words to Commissioner Liu: "Defects in virtue must be repaid", and then closed his eyes.

Commissioner Liu shouted angrily: "Reactionary! Rampant!" He didn't want to say another word and left in a hurry.

Lao Chen said that before the public trial, Commissioner Liu told him that he was to preside over the execution. He felt restless and was afraid that the gun would not be accurate, because his wife was giving birth and it was difficult to deliver the baby, and both of them might die. He hoped that Commissioner Liu would send someone else to execute the execution. Commissioner Liu was really angry, but he still asked him to be responsible for guarding the venue. He ran home regardless of everything. As a result, the crowd at the venue got excited and arrested and beat the criminals again.

After the verdict was announced, the detachment commander arranged a squad of soldiers to execute them by firing squad. Honglian and Zen Master Yutong stood side by side, and Honglian was screaming "Unjust! Unjust!" The soldiers were probably distracted by the chaos around them that day, and their shooting was not accurate, so they shot Honglian and Zen Master Yutong until they were bloody. They had many holes in their bodies and fell down, but they were not dead. Their bodies covered in blood were twisting on the ground.

Commissioner Liu was so angry that he wanted to go up with his own pistol. At this time, the soldier reacted and went up to shoot again, hitting the master's head with the muzzle of the gun, smashing his head into pieces. The Zen Master Yutong's legs were still twitching, and the soldier hit him hard in the lower body, killing both of them.

Although Lao Chen knew the whole story, when he was punished, he had already suffered from months of "education meetings" and it was impossible to defend himself. However, because Commissioner Liu was good at mobilizing the masses, the flames of class struggle were strong, and his suppression of counterrevolutionaries and transformation was very impressive. The subsequent land reform and a series of other movements were carried out smoothly, and he was promoted to the province, and a group of cadres were also promoted. Lao Chen was demoted and kept at the local level. He appealed against the decision, and Aunt Mabel also helped him complain. In the end, both of them were expelled from the party and cadres, and became ordinary people for the rest of their lives.

Lao Chen died here. His grave in the back mountain actually didn't even contain ashes. She was not allowed to collect them at the time. Later, she was allowed to collect them, but they could not be found.

Mother Evelyn and Aunt Mabel

Cassandra Liu was dumbfounded and could not breathe. It turned out that she was born in such a commotion and bloodshed. Everything she didn't see, the unconscious years, are now brought back by Aunt Mabel's memories. She was speechless.

After listening for a full hour and a half, the two of them could no longer lie down and sat up. The strong smell of herbs filled the air. She thought that the potion must be bitter and astringent, and it might make her cry. The two hugged their knees, leaned their backs against the pillows, and stood the pillows upright on the headboard as a cushion, facing the same direction. Aunt Mabel did not tell the story to Cassandra Liu, and Cassandra Liu did not dare to ask a question. There were some parts that she still did not understand. Although she wanted to interrupt Aunt Mabel several times, she still held back and kept her promise.

Obviously, what Aunt Mabel said was the same thing as what her Mother Evelyn said, and there was no contradiction between the two. But the same thing, and such different observations, lead people to draw completely different conclusions. The Mother Evelyn only knew what she saw, but did not know the specific arrangements of the father. But does the Mother Evelyn really not know? Cassandra Liu thought, if he knew nothing at all, how could his Mother Evelyn and Aunt Mabel, and his father and Lao Chen never have any contact again in their lives?

Politics is ruthless. If you make a mistake, you stand against the class camp. If you have sympathy, you will undoubtedly bring disaster upon yourself. But Lao Chen "made a mistake" this time at the hands of his father. At least the matter has passed, and his father can forgive him and not punish Lao Chen. But his father didn't. His father seemed to want to forget the whole thing as soon as possible, and he didn't want to hear the word "Liang County" for the rest of his life. At least Cassandra Liu didn't hear his father say it.

When Aunt Mabel was in the most difficult time, she wrote a letter to her Mother Evelyn, but her Mother Evelyn had no intention of helping her. Perhaps her Mother Evelyn also felt that she could not sort out the history clearly, and she did not have the power or the courage to do so.

Aunt Mabel said, "We have all read the newspaper. When your father was rehabilitated and a memorial service was held, all the old comrades and subordinates from Liangxian County thought that your Mother Evelyn would write to invite us to the province. In the end, no one was invited. I used to be Her best friend, we both make maternity clothes, one for ourselves and one for each other, as well as baby clothes. We talk about everything and share all the worries together. However, from the day she gave birth to you. After leaving Liangxian, she never came back to see this place, and I knew she didn't want to have anything to do with me. "

Cassandra Liu was very confused. If this was really the case, people were too cruel to each other.

"Of course, a woman's destiny is to marry the right husband. My destiny and hers are too far apart. One is in heaven and the other is on earth." Aunt Mabel said.

It is said that most children born by caesarean section lack patience. Cassandra Liu is not like this at all. She is patient and calm. Psychology says that people have feelings in the womb, and their growth will also be affected by it. Why didn't she feel anything about what happened in 1951? Except for the strange dreams she had at night, she forced herself to forget them as soon as she woke up, but the dreams did not diminish.

Back then, she tried desperately to get out of her Mother Evelyn's belly, which almost killed her and her Mother Evelyn. In addition to her resemblance to her Mother Evelyn, she has a completely different personality from her Mother Evelyn. Even for a scientist, he is too focused and fails to see the complexity of things. Recalling a time when she was driving in the United States, she was thinking about genes again. She drove onto the opposite road and almost collided with a truck. When I returned to China and saw the pollution, I absolutely refused to drive.