frightfiction Chapter 664 Dawn (70)
Chapter 664 Dawn (70)
Xiangjia Village.
At 4:50 a.m., the rooster in the chicken coop on the right side of the yard crowed loudly right on time.
In the small room separated by a wall, Yan Yuxi was startled awake. She didn't open her eyes, but frowned and pulled the blanket around herself even tighter.
A minute later, a knocking sound came from the wall next to the bed.
Yan Yuxi didn't want to pay attention, but the knocking became faster and louder, making it impossible for her to fall asleep.
Finally, she could only irritably throw off the covers and, as she got out of bed, she kicked an iron basin piled up under the bed. Frustrated, she kicked the iron basin away.
The iron basin flew two meters and landed on the ground with a jarring clang in the quiet morning light.
Immediately, Xu Yingxia's angry curses came from next door: "You little bitch, are you trying to get yourself killed! What are you doing, acting all horny so early in the morning!"
Her response was the sound of Yan Yuxi slamming the door shut as she left.
Stepping out of the house, Yan Yuxi couldn't help but shiver.
As autumn deepens, the temperature in Yuncheng is slightly cool, and the ginkgo trees on both sides of the road are turning golden. When an autumn wind blows, the ginkgo leaves fall down, spreading autumn colors all over the ground, which is incredibly poetic and atmospheric.
But in this poor little mountain village, it was so cold that you could breathe out white vapor when you opened your mouth, and a thin layer of ice had formed on the water vat that had been left out in the open overnight.
Yan Yuxi squatted under the tap in the yard, washing her face with water so cold it made her teeth chatter.
She had just washed her face when a cold wind blew by, and she felt the water on her face being quickly dried, leaving her skin feeling tight, dry, itchy, and even slightly painful.
Yan Yuxi touched her roughened face and the thought of buying a moisturizing cream resurfaced.
But she touched the last hundred yuan hidden in her bra, her only lifeline, and couldn't afford to waste it on such a trivial matter.
Having abandoned that idea, Yan Yuxi went into the kitchen and started a fire to cook.
This is her fifth month in Xiangjia Village.
When she broke ties with Chu Huian and was kicked out of the Yan family, she couldn't even take her cell phone with her except for the clothes she was wearing and the five hundred yuan in cash in her pocket.
Dragged out of the villa area by Xu Yingxia, Yan Yuxi originally did not intend to go with her, but she had no relatives or friends in the city, and all her "connections" in this city depended on Yan Yi and Chu Huian.
When her identity was no longer that of the Yan family's daughter, her "connections" ceased to exist.
Five hundred yuan was not enough for her to survive in Yuncheng.
If she insists on staying here, the fact that she is "a girl," "thirteen years old," and "somewhat attractive" is enough to make her a target for people with ill intentions, who will devour her until there is nothing left but bones.
With the intention of using Xiangjia Village as a temporary stop, Yan Yuxi reluctantly followed Xu Yingxia home.
Xu Yingxia brought back a fair-skinned and beautiful girl from the big city—this news spread like wildfire in Xiangjia Village, and for two or three days, groups of villagers kept "passing by" Xu Yingxia's house.
When Yan Yuxi first arrived, although she was not used to the dry toilets in the countryside where you could see maggots when you looked down, could not accept the simple bathrooms enclosed by colorful tarpaulins, and disliked Xu Yingxia's habit of only taking a bath once every four or five days, Xu Yingxia did indulge her at first.
Every morning, I boiled eggs for her, and she ate the meat and vegetables on the table. I boiled water for her to bathe every day. Knowing that she was not used to the food here, I even took a two or three-hour bus ride to the town market and carried back two boxes of milk to supplement her nutrition.
Although the Xiang family was poor and dilapidated, Xu Yingxia's indulgence and flattery were something Yan Yuxi had never experienced in the Yan family. During that time, she comforted herself by thinking that staying in the Xiang family was not too bad.
Yan Yuxi plans to stay in Xiangjia Village until she is sixteen, finishes junior high school, and then go out to work.
Even if the Yan family doesn't want her, in this era full of opportunities, she is confident that she can live a good life through her own abilities.
But as time went by, the novelty of bringing her biological daughter home faded, and Xu Yingxia began to criticize Yan Yuxi's every move.
They complained that she was lazy, never lifted a finger to do housework, and never even swept the floor.
People say she's aloof; she doesn't even greet relatives when they come to her house, practically wearing her disdain for country folk on her sleeve.
He complained that she spent money too much, having spent over 700 yuan of her money in just one month...
Yan Yuxi let it go in one ear and out the other, not taking it to heart at all.
Sometimes, when Xu Yingxia's nagging annoyed her, she would sarcastically retort.
If the contradictions are not resolved, they will accumulate.
In the second month after Yan Yuxi came to the Xiang family, it was the height of summer. Xu Yingxia, who had worked in the fields all day, returned home in the evening. Exhausted and covered in sweat, she opened the door and met Yan Yuxi, who had just woken up.
The marks left on Yan Yuxi's face by the bamboo mat contrasted sharply with the cold pots and stoves in the kitchen. Perhaps she was too tired, or perhaps she had been harboring resentment for a long time, but Xu Yingxia suddenly exploded. She threw down the hoe on her shoulder and pointed at Yan Yuxi, cursing loudly.
The vulgarity of the language used was something Yan Yuxi had never heard of in her more than ten years of life, and she was so disgusted by the insults that her face turned extremely pale.
Xu Yingxia lost her temper and began to "set rules" for Yan Yuxi - she had to sweep the floor in the morning, wash the dishes after meals, feed the chickens and pigs in the evening, and not stay idle at home during the day, but go to the fields with her to do some farm work that she could manage.
Yan Yuxi refused.
In her opinion, it was already an honor for the family that she could go home with Xu Yingxia, an old woman from the countryside. How could Xu Yingxia have the nerve to ask her, a young lady who grew up in the city, to do chores?
Because Yan Yuxi refused, Xu Yingxia didn't let her eat that night and moved all the edible things in the house to her room, intending to starve her and put an end to her arrogance.
Yan Yuxi was so hungry that she tossed and turned until late at night before finally falling asleep.
Xu Yingxia's actions not only failed to subdue Yan Yuxi, but also provoked her rebellious nature, and she began to ignore Xu Yingxia.
No matter what Xu Yingxia said, she pretended not to hear it and spent most of her time lying in bed.
Seeing her rebellious nature, Xu Yingxia decided to subdue her and starved her for three days.
On the fourth day of hunger, while Xu Yingxia was out doing farm work, Yan Yuxi broke into her room and stole a few bottles of milk and two pieces of peach shortbread to eat.
Xu Yingxia's ruthlessness made Yan Yuxi realize that her biological mother was no pushover, and Xiangjia Village was not a place she could stay for long.
She planned to run away and find an orphanage in an unfamiliar city to be adopted.
She needs to grow up safely before she's qualified to talk about "the future".
Yan Yuxi devised a detailed escape plan, including the route and method to leave Xiangjia Village, and how to take a bus after arriving in the county town.
She spent two days figuring out where Xu Yingxia hid her money, and one morning when Xu Yingxia went out to do farm work, she ran off with all her savings, a total of 3,600 yuan.
With the money in her pocket, Yan Yuxi secretly left Xiangjia Village.
However, there is only one main road leading from Xiangjia Village to the county town, and it is also the only road where one can catch a ride. Yan Yuxi dares not take the mountain road, fearing that she will get lost or encounter wild animals.
Less than twenty minutes after she stepped onto the main road, she met an uncle from the village.
Seeing that Yan Yuxi looked strange, the uncle had someone notify Xu Yingxia.
Yan Yuxi hadn't even left Xiangjia Village when she was caught by Xu Yingxia, who rushed over after hearing the news.
Xu Yingxia found 3,600 yuan on Yan Yuxi. Enraged, she grabbed Yan Yuxi's ear and whipped her with a stick as thick as an arm, making her scream in pain.
Yan Yuxi was dragged home and locked up by Xu Yingxia.
This incident caused Yan Yuxi and Xu Yingxia to completely break off their relationship.
Xu Yingxia stopped pretending and revealed her true colors to Yan Yuxi—she only gave Yan Yuxi one meal a day, often beat and cursed her, and threatened to sell her to the next village for a dowry after she turned fifteen.
Yan Yuxi was frightened.
After being detained for a week, she chose to compromise and apologize to Xu Yingxia.
Xu Yingxia then released her. From then on, Yan Yuxi began to follow Xu Yingxia to feed pigs and chickens, and learn to do housework and farm work.
Farming is hard work. Facing the yellow earth and turning to the sky, Yan Yuxi felt like she was going to melt on the ground every day.
She used a brief moment of weakness to lower Xu Yingxia's guard, and then carried out her second escape a month later.
This time she didn't steal any money; Xu Yingxia hid it. Instead of taking the main road, she got lost on the mountain path and fell, scraping her calf until it bled profusely.
When Xu Yingxia discovered that Yan Yuxi was missing, she mobilized the entire village to search for her on the mountain overnight. In the middle of the night, they found Yan Yuxi behind a rock.
Xu Yingxia carried the frail Yan Yuxi like a chick and said to the villagers who came to help search for her, "This is my daughter. Everyone, come and get to know her. If you find that she has run away, help me notify my people and I will give you a reward of twenty yuan."
These words, accompanied by the beams of a dozen flashlights shining on Yan Yuxi's face, extinguished her desire to escape again.
Once again, Xu Yingxia dragged her home and whipped her with a rattan cane until her body was covered in fine, bloody cuts. Yan Yuxi curled up in a corner, feeling that she was no different from the girls who had been trafficked to the mountains.
After two failed attempts to escape, Yan Yuxi dared not run again.
But she simply couldn't bear Xu Yingxia's mistreatment and the poverty and hardship of life in Xiangjia Village. She had to eat and live poorly, do farm work every day, and endure Xu Yingxia's insults. It was worse than death for her.
She had another idea—since Xu Yingxia wouldn't let her leave, why not just kill her?
When the soybeans in the field ripened, Xu Yingxia shelled them and would climb a ladder every day to carry the soybeans spread on a winnowing basket to the roof to dry.
Yan Yuxi seized this opportunity and tampered with the wooden ladder.
When Xu Yingxia climbed the ladder again to dry soybeans, she fell off the broken ladder.
But Yan Yuxi miscalculated. Xu Yingxia did not fall to her death by landing on the back of her head as she had imagined. Instead, she landed on her back first and fractured her lumbar vertebrae.
The moment Xu Yingxia fell off the ladder, she clearly saw the neat cut where the ladder broke and realized that Yan Yuxi was behind it.
Before being taken to the hospital by her neighbors, she had someone notify her family in the next village, instructing her younger brother, who had come to visit, to keep a close eye on Yan Yuxi and prevent her from escaping.
Xu Yingxia knew that if she were to become disabled, the only person who could take care of her would be Yan Yuxi.
If Yan Yuxi runs away, she will have no one to take care of her, and her remaining life will be extremely miserable.
As it turned out, Xu Yingxia was prescient; the lumbar vertebral fracture damaged her nerves, leaving her paralyzed on one side.
After spending a month in the hospital, Xu Yingxia was sent back to Xiangjia Village to recuperate.
Yan Yuxi became the sole breadwinner of the family. Every day, she not only had to do housework and farm work, but also take care of Xu Yingxia's bodily needs, clean her up, and bathe her.
The villagers of Xiangjia Village, knowing about Xu Yingxia's family situation, spontaneously became her eyes and ears, keeping an eye on Yan Yuxi to prevent her from escaping.
……
"You bitch, how long are you going to dawdle? Get over here right now, I need to pee!"
Xu Yingxia's sharp curses pulled Yan Yuxi back to reality. She looked away from the flickering flames in the kitchen stove and listened to Xu Yingxia's incessant cursing next door, telling herself to endure it a little longer.
Xu Yingxia is so disabled that she doesn't have many years left to live. As long as I can survive until she dies, I can leave this hellish place.
With this psychological comfort, Yan Yuxi took several deep breaths to calm herself down before getting up and going into Xu Yingxia's room.