Chapter 5: Men Are All Gluttons for Punishment

If her son and daughter-in-law were to be intimate on the kang, and her simple-minded eldest son were to catch a glimpse, he would surely try to mimic them. That would throw everything into chaos.

Her eldest son, Chen Jiangchao, had been slow since birth; aside from eating, sleeping, and his parents, he knew nothing else. Since his father passed away early, he had always slept on the same large kang as her.

Fan Lihua hurried to close the door and dragged her eldest son toward the south room. As she passed the small space partitioned off from the kitchen, she stole a glance through the window. It was pitch black inside; her youngest son must have gone out wandering again.

A heavy snow had fallen two days ago, and with the freezing weather, she worried he might get into trouble. With the Lunar New Year approaching, she just wanted everything to be peaceful.

"Mom, hold me."

Chen Jiangchao opened his arms, looming over his thin mother like a giant bird of prey. He was tall with regular features; looking at him, one wouldn't immediately guess he was simple-minded. Fan Lihua had once believed that since his appearance didn't betray his condition, finding him a wife shouldn't be difficult as long as the bride price was right. People in Xiao-wu Village knew their family's secrets, but those in other villages did not. As long as she taught her son to just smile and stay silent during the matchmaking, and once the bride was brought home and the deed was done, no one could say she had swindled anyone.

His first wife had been a spinster from another village, but unfortunately, the girl had run back to her parents the very next day. When the village cadres came to make trouble, it had made Fan Lihua infamous. She hadn't gotten a cent of the bride price back and had even been forced to pay two hundred yuan in compensation.

Recalling that event from ten years ago, Fan Lihua sighed. If only she had taught her simple son about the ways of men and women, he wouldn't have been so clueless on his wedding night, which was the only reason the bride had dared to leave with her virtue intact.

"Here, hold this."

Fan Lihua grabbed a buckwheat pillow and stuffed it into Chen Jiangchao’s arms. He hugged it, chuckling, and buried his face in it, babbling unintelligibly.

Once her eldest son was settled, Fan Lihua tiptoed to the door of Chen Yunchao and Li Taohua’s bedroom. Glancing back at the south room to ensure it was locked, she pressed her ear against the door.

When her second son had married, she had decorated the room as a bridal chamber and listened at the door that night, too. It had been deathly quiet. She felt her second son was too refined and his wife too passive. The next day, she had hinted that he shouldn't be so gentle—that he needed to show some masculine vigor.

Back then, the room had been so quiet she could have heard a pin drop. Fearing he knew she had been eavesdropping, she had retreated to her own room, ears pricked for any sound. Her second son was fastidious; if they had been intimate, he surely would have gotten up to wash. But dawn came, and there was still no sound from the outer room.

Three days into their marriage, the bridal chamber remained as still as a stagnant pool.

Three years had passed, and Li Taohua had yet to conceive. At first, Fan Lihua blamed her son for not spending enough time at home or failing to be affectionate. But as time wore on and the neighbors gossiped that Li Taohua was "barren," she began to suspect the true intentions behind the village head giving his daughter to her family, and she grew to despise her daughter-in-law even more.

Unable to hear anything, she squinted through the door crack. Suddenly, the door swung open. Fan Lihua jumped, but before she could stand, Li Taohua brushed past her.

"Where are you going?"

A gust of cold air rushed in. Fan Lihua hurried to pull the door, calling out to her daughter-in-law's retreating back. Li Tian'er—for that was who she was—didn't look back or reply, leaving the courtyard and heading straight toward her parents' home.

When a young wife was angry, she had nowhere else to go but her maiden home. Assuming they had fought, Fan Lihua turned and walked to the room. She found Chen Yunchao sitting on the kang, looking dazed, as if he had lost his soul.

"Yunchao, what's gotten into you?" Fan Lihua reached out to tug at his undershirt.

Chen Yunchao seemed to snap back to reality, brushing her hand away and shaking his head.

"Speak up! I assume your wife went back to her parents. She ignored me when I spoke to her—she never used to dare. Now that you're back, she's suddenly so assertive? What’s going on between you two?"

Chen Yunchao’s clothes were disheveled, his pale face flushed with embarrassment, his breathing ragged. It didn't look like they had just argued; it looked like he had exerted himself. Perhaps, since he was rarely home, he had been too rough, and she had run off because she couldn't handle it.

Fan Lihua knew her daughter-in-law; she was the type who wouldn't make a sound even under torture. She was likely just as mute in bed. That must be why she hadn't heard anything.

"Don't rush to get her. Her parents will surely send her back. I bet she'll be home by dinner," Fan Lihua said with a knowing smile.

Suddenly, Chen Yunchao got off the kang, grabbed his clothes, threw on his padded coat, and headed for the door. Fan Lihua grabbed his coat, refusing to let him leave.

His wife was trying to divorce him; she had gone home to work on her parents. His mother was still foolishly thinking she had the girl under her thumb. Desperate, Chen Yunchao lunged forward, sending his mother stumbling, and broke free, charging out of the courtyard.

He wouldn't let a woman he didn't care for belong to anyone else.

He took a shortcut, his feet sinking into the snow, the crunching sound echoing in his ears. "Li Taohua, stop right there!"

Seeing the blue floral jacket, Chen Yunchao lifted his chin and shouted. Li Tian'er stopped.

Back on the kang, when Chen Yunchao had pulled back the quilt, she had sat up, snatched it back, and collapsed toward the pillow. Seeing this, he had stripped off his clothes, intending to crawl under the covers.

Men were just so pathetic; when she was kind and proper, he didn't appreciate it. But when she ignored him, he was eager to press his hot face against her cold shoulder.

As soon as Chen Yunchao’s feet touched the quilt, Li Tian'er had flipped over and pinned him down. She wanted to give this man, who had subjected his wife to three years of cold violence, a piece of her mind, then leave him behind with style, letting him regret losing her as he watched her at her absolute best.