frightfiction Chapter 9 Big Movie
Chapter 9 Big Movie
Wu Sanbao told Zhang Cuihua about what she had overheard while peeking over the wall about Yang Yuqiu harvesting corn. At first, Zhang Cuihua heard it all, but then it spread from one person to another, and the whole village knew about Yuqiu being put in a sack.
The news spread to the surrounding villages as well; this is what they mean by "good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels a thousand miles!"
Even toddlers who can talk know about the Yang family girl putting a large sack on her head! It's because the children overheard their own parents gossiping about other people's affairs without any attempt to hide it from them.
While playing in the yard, Wu Sanbao's two sons were having fun with burlap sacks! The two rascals' play caused a fight.
Xiao Dong is six years old. "Let's play with sacks, it'll be a lot of fun."
Da Dong, who is eight years old, said, "I don't want to play with that. It's all dirty and broken."
"Brother, do you want to play? Mom and Dad said that the Yang sisters are the ones adults play the game of tossing sacks together, why don't we kids play it?"
“Xiao Dong plays with burlap sacks, but we don’t have any big burlap sacks at home. Every time Mom goes to the cornfield to pick corn, she has to borrow one from someone else.”
"Oh, then I'll ask Mom to borrow a big burlap sack from someone else's house for us to play with."
Xiao Dong ran excitedly to the kitchen, sweeping with a broom in one hand. Wu Sanbao stood in front of him and said, "Mom, go borrow another big sack. We'll go with you to collect corn cobs. After you've used them, we can play a game of tossing the sacks together."
"You two go inside and play. What are you doing playing with sacks? Playing with sacks is for adults, it has nothing to do with you kids."
"Ah! Mom, why can adults play this game but we kids can't? Waaah! I want to play this game, I want to..." Xiao Dong started throwing a tantrum.
"It's all your fault for talking about other people's parents' dirty business in front of the children." The man cursed and pushed open the wooden door before leaving.
Wu Sanbao angrily pushed open the door and followed closely behind, forcefully raising his hand and throwing the broom at him. "You still have the nerve to tell me what to do? Mind your own business. You always run to Widow Li's house at the west end of the village. Do you think I can't control you? I'll go to the Civil Affairs Bureau with you to get a divorce tomorrow."
The broom fell at the gate, and the only response she received was the receding figure of her husband walking towards Xitu Road, his silhouette growing smaller and smaller.
Wu Sanbao then left the courtyard.
"Mom, I'm not playing with the sack trap anymore, where are you going?"
"You two wait at home, I'll go borrow some sacks for you to play with."
"Okay, Mom, we're not going anywhere. We'll wait for you to come back." The two children went inside and slammed the door shut.
She hurried to the front door and almost tripped over the large broom she had thrown. Then, in a fit of anger, she raised her foot to kick the broom, but her foot missed and hit the thick wooden pillar of the door frame instead.
"Ouch! That hurts so much. What bad luck! When you're in a bad mood, even drinking cold water can cause problems!"
She gritted her teeth, and the pain in her toes lessened. Without looking back, she walked straight towards the back of the village.
She walked along a wide dirt road, then turned into a farmhouse courtyard in the north of the village.
Wu Sanbao entered the four mud-brick houses, and soon came out with a large burlap sack in her hand, beaming. Then she walked straight towards a cornfield in the west of the village.
A mother and son stood in front of the farmhouse courtyard. The middle-aged rural woman watched Wu Sanbao walk west along the road, carrying her family's large sack. She sneered and swallowed hard. "Pah! What a scoundrel! Using the sack as an excuse, he's clearly here to gossip."
"They probably just collect corn cobs to feed the pigs."
"You're so honest. She went to the cornfield west of the village to pick up the corn cobs that the villagers had left behind, saying she was going to feed them to her sow. I think it was for people to eat. People don't even have enough to eat, so why would she care about the sow? It's necessary for her to borrow a sack. The real story is that your girlfriend Yuqiu was covered in a sack. I think the whole village is talking about this because she spread it."
"Mom, don't believe what she said. What does it mean that Yuqiu was put in a big sack by her sister? Small temples have big winds. What is not a big deal can be blown out of proportion."
"Haven't you heard the rumors circulating in the village these past few days? Yuqiu and her cousin Li Feng went to the western fields to harvest corn and got their sacks put on them, and so on. Didn't you hear about it too?"
"Mom, I only heard about this from you. Wasn't it Yuhan who put the sack on? Maybe she was worried about getting wet in the rain and catching a cold. Everyone has blown this little thing out of proportion."
"What do you mean 'expanded'? Did you let some obscure girl into the house?" With that, the woman forcefully pulled open the door and entered the house.
"Mom, listen to me..." the boy followed closely behind!
Residents in the east of the village
An hour later, Wu Sanbao, carrying a sack of corn cobs on one shoulder, slowly walked from the dirt road in the west of the village into his own earthen courtyard.
She put down the sack of corn, panting, and poured out the corn cobs to dry. After they were dry, she went to the village's flour mill to grind them into cornmeal and make corn cakes to eat.
After emptying the sack, she was about to take it back to the Zou family when, while folding the sack in half, she inadvertently discovered two small, bowl-sized characters written in black ink in a corner: "Zou Jun".
Magnifying the movie in front of the brigade gate
In the evening, in the village's west brigade office, Captain Wang announced over two large tin loudspeakers, "Attention all members! Tonight, there will be a widescreen movie in the square in front of the brigade. The movie is called (The Corner Forgotten by Love). After dinner, please bring your stools and come to watch the movie."
Open-air movies were very popular in those days. All the villagers were overjoyed when they heard from the loudspeaker that a movie would be shown that night. Every household hurriedly finished their dinner and went to the brigade to watch the open-air movie.
The Yang family compound was no exception. The family had just finished dinner when Yang Yuhan asked Liu Shulan, who was washing dishes at the stove, if she wanted to go to the movies. Liu Shulan shook her head and said she wouldn't go. She said she had to finish cleaning up and was in a hurry to make thick cotton-padded clothes and trousers for her family.
With the harsh winter fast approaching, the entire family of over ten people depended on her for making these clothes. Each person needed two sets of thin clothes and two sets of thick clothes.
Wear thin cotton-padded clothes when it's not too cold, and save the thick ones for the coldest days of winter.
As for whether Diao Yanshou was genuinely clumsy or pretending, she said she couldn't do needlework. She could barely manage to cook, with her sisters-in-law taking turns in the kitchen each week in the compound.
Sisters Yuhan and Yuqiu carried together a wooden bench that could only seat two people. The bench was made by their father, carpenter Yang Zhannan. Then they hurried off to the village committee to watch a movie.
After walking for a few minutes, the two arrived at the square in front of the village's western brigade. The square was already filled with villagers from the village and neighboring villages to the north and south, each finding their own spot, some sitting in front and some standing behind.
Seeing that the best spots were already taken, the two sisters had no choice but to place the wooden bench in front of the screen.
The movie started playing as soon as the two sisters sat down. The projectionist stood on a slightly higher wooden stool and kept moving the two large wheels that played the movie.
The white screen began to display the theme song and images of a color movie, "The Corner Forgotten by Love." It really did sound intoxicating and mesmerizing to young people!
To those from later generations, the film's theme song was outdated, but it still sounded very moving. She turned her head and looked at the audience around her, who were listening intently.
She gave a mischievous smile and noticed that her third sister, Yuqiu, was looking up, completely absorbed in watching an old movie, which was actually her new film. There was a string of tears in the corner of her eye!
Suddenly, she noticed two figures behind the movie screen looking at the opposite side of the screen! It wasn't anything unusual, but standing behind the screen to watch a movie meant the view wasn't very clear, and it was quiet and peaceful there was no one around!
She recognized the two figures; the tall one resembled her third uncle's cousin, Yang Zhi, and the short one resembled Liu Ying's third sister.
The movie has already been released, and the Wu family, who live at the east end of the village, are still busy.
After the Wu family finished dinner, she didn't care where her husband was. He took Da Dong and Xiao Dong, along with two small wooden stools, to the movie theater.
"Mom, we haven't fed our sow yet. Let's feed her before we go to the movies."
"Alright, I won't feed it anymore. It won't starve if it misses a meal. When your dad gets home, just tell him you fed it."
"Mom, I won't lie to Dad. The teacher said that lying is not good behavior."
“If you’re not lying, then you should feed the pigs. You’re a teenager, can’t you feed pigs? You shouldn’t go to the movies.” After saying that, Wu Sanbao pulled his two sons and walked towards the gate.
"I'll feed it, I'll feed it. I'm waiting for the sow to give birth to piglets to sell and pay for my tuition. Humph! You're in such a hurry to watch the movie. I'm not going to watch the movie, I haven't done the homework the teacher assigned yet." Da Ya pouted and went to fetch pig feed to feed the sow.
Just as the mother and her two companions reached the front gate, Xiao Dong suddenly turned and ran back into the yard.
"Why did Xiao Dong run back to the yard? Hurry up, the movie has started, and there are no front-row seats left."
"Mom, I'm going to get the large sack of marijuana."
A moment later, Xiao Dong ran out carrying the large sack that Wu Sanbao had borrowed.
"What are you doing with that sack? Why would you bring a sack to the movies? Hurry up and take it over there."
Xiao Dong chuckled and then ran ahead.
"Xiao Dong, slow down, don't fall."
"Thud." It would have been better if Wu Sanbao hadn't said anything; the reminder actually made him fall. Then, he burst into tears.
"Give me the sack." Da Dong tried to grab it.
"What are you robbing? We'll return it to them later," Wu Sanbao scolded.
"I just won't give it to you." After saying that, Xiao Dong stopped crying and hurriedly stood up to continue carrying the large sack straight to the Xitu Road Brigade.
When the three women arrived at the dirt road at the west end of the village, they could see a color film playing on the wide screen erected high in front of the brigade's gate.
"Hurry up, you two! The movie's starting, and all the good seats are gone. It's all your fault for being naughty."
Wu Sanbao hurriedly urged her two sons on. She looked around and finally found a small wooden stool in the middle that was just big enough for the three of them to sit down.
Da Dong and Xiao Dong watched a movie for a while, then sat on their respective small wooden stools and started to play around, putting the large burlap sacks they had brought over each other's heads.
As they were putting the sacks on each other's heads, the two kids started arguing and started putting large sacks over each other's heads.
The two boys were arguing loudly, which occasionally attracted the attention of villagers watching the movie nearby. They would turn around to look at the two kids' strange behavior, then smirk and turn back to continue watching the movie.
"Da Dong, take the sack off Xiao Dong's head. He insists on wearing a sack even though he doesn't want to watch the movie. Didn't you see everyone smiling at us? You're disturbing other people's movie viewing. I won't be responsible if they beat you up later."
Wu Sanbao angrily tried to scare them into letting go, then turned around and continued watching his favorite movie.
"Ah!" The two brothers immediately stopped and looked around at the people. Sure enough, several people were staring at them. Da Dong was a little deflated and immediately took the large sack off Xiao Dong's head and put it in his own hand. The nearby onlookers turned their heads back to watch the movie.
"When Mom and everyone else are watching the movie intently, I'll put the mask on your head."
"Brother, shouldn't I be the one putting the cap on your head? You've already put it on mine, it has to be fair."
Wu Sanbao kept his eyes glued to the movie screen, and while looking straight ahead at a 180-degree angle, he caught a glimpse of his two sons' actions and chuckled to himself. He gave the two little rascals a scare, and they behaved themselves.
The movie had been playing for a while when Yu Yanli and Zou Jun, who was carrying two small wooden stools, hurriedly walked from their homes to the brigade square.
While complaining about her son Zou Jun, Yu Yanli looked around for a place to sit down.
"At home, you always nag me about wanting to come to the movies alone instead of with me. You just want to go see Yuqiu with you. Even though you're engaged, you can't watch movies together. People will laugh at you. Besides, it's not even certain whether our family will marry her or not."
"Mom, what are you saying? We're getting married soon, and you're still saying this?"
"You have to check a girl's character before you get married."
"Mom will give you a small stool. Find a seat in the middle and I'll stand at the back."
"You're not allowed to go to the back. You need to find Yuqiu, right?"
The two had walked to the center of the crowd watching the movie as they spoke.
Before Yu Yanli could get a reply to her question, she suddenly saw the shorter man in the middle tearing at the large sack that was over his head, trying to remove it, while the taller man was pressing the sack down with both hands.
The film's light was very bright, and what surprised her even more was that there were two large, black characters, "Zou Jun," clearly visible on the burlap sack.
She suddenly understood, and immediately stepped forward, reaching out a large hand to forcefully remove the large burlap sack covering the small man's head.
Zou Jun seemed to have noticed the situation as well and followed suit.
Yu Yanli removed the sack and indeed saw Wu Sanbao and her two sons, Da Dong and Xiao Dong.
She angrily threw the sack into Zou Jun's arms, then glared at Wu Sanbao and cursed, "You're shameless! Letting your two sons play with sacks?" With that, she pulled Zou Jun and walked out.
Yang Yuhan noticed that the two shadows on the back of the movie screen looked a lot like her cousin Yang Zhi and another person she knew well. Curious, she walked over to them from under the movie screen.
The moviegoers were focused on the film and weren't curious about her actions, which is a common occurrence at movie theaters.
As she walked over, the tall woman seemed to become alert and ran towards the front of the movie screen, while the short woman, seeing her approaching, hid in the opposite direction.
Yu Han ignored the short man, who was unrelated to her, and followed closely in the direction the tall man had run. Suddenly, the scene before her eyes stunned her and made her stop in her tracks.
Just a few steps from the edge of the movie theater, Yu Yanli and her son Zou Jun were startled when a figure darted up behind Zou Jun and snatched the large sack from his hand!
The mother and son were bewildered, wondering who had snatched the large sack. Suddenly, someone in the movie-watching crowd started shouting and making a scene.
The mother and son turned around and quickly went over to see what was going on. Sure enough, Wu Sanbao was in the middle, and they saw that his entire upper body was covered by a large sack.
Wu Sanbao was suffocating with a large sack covering her upper body and head, making whimpering sounds. She tried to remove the sack with both hands. She was about 1.5 meters tall, and since she was sitting on a wooden stool, it shortened the length of her upper body even more. The sack was large enough to cover her upper body.
As she struggled, her two sons also tried to help remove the large sack that was over her head.
As the movie was about to start, several audience members came over to help. There were more than a dozen people, adults and children, trying to remove the sack, but strangely enough, they couldn't get it off.