Back to the 60s: The Struggle Career of a Charmed Wife
Chapter 1380: Bittersweet Memories 5

Chapter 1380: Chapter 1380: Bittersweet Memories 5

Feng Qingxue saw that the woman was disheveled and filthy, with bones like sticks, looking older than herself by appearance, but she knew she took better care of herself, and many who looked about the same age were actually younger than she was, so she couldn’t quite determine the woman’s age, just felt pity for her. She rummaged through her handbag, took out a canning jar, and poured some water from her military canteen to give to her.

The limping woman was choking badly and, seeing the water, thanked her, took it, and drained it in one gulp.

"Thank you, thank you!" The limping woman returned the canning jar to Feng Qingxue, stuffing the last piece of coarse cornbread into her mouth, she was immensely grateful to Qingxue, "Thank you, elder sister."

Feng Qingxue squatted beside her, "What’s your name? Why are you out begging? Does nobody take care of you?"

In the countryside, it was somewhat easier to beg to get by, with nobody to intervene, while in the city, it was relatively stricter. Begging was seen to tarnish the nation’s image, and adults found begging were usually sent back to their hometowns after their background was checked.

A flash of fear crossed the limping woman’s eyes, "I escaped, escaping means I can live, going back means certain death."

"What happened?" Feng Qingxue and the middle-aged woman asked in unison.

Tears streamed down the limping woman’s face, as she choked up: "Ma’am, elder sister, my name is Liu Guixiang, I am twenty-eight years old, and my life has been so hard. But no matter how hard, I’m not afraid, it’s death that I fear! When I was sixteen or seventeen, my parents traded me for fifty catties of dried sweet potatoes. The man I married was all right at first, but he changed after I had two daughters. He was obsessed with having a son and killed both girls. When I was pregnant with the third, he hung me up and beat me until I miscarried, it was a boy. After that, he treated me a bit better because he wanted a son from me, but then I had another girl, and he broke my leg, refused to treat it, which left me crippled, and that girl starved to death too. He still wanted to beat me, and I couldn’t take it anymore, so I escaped."

Feng Qingxue frowned, and the middle-aged woman sighed, "Preferring sons to daughters causes such harm! Women can hold up half the sky; how can there still be people clinging to outdated feudal thinking? So where will you go now that you have escaped?"

Liu Guixiang murmured, "Anywhere is fine, at least I won’t have to suffer beatings."

"What about your parents’ home?" asked the middle-aged woman.

Feng Qingxue didn’t ask this question, knowing that since Liu Guixiang didn’t choose to go back to her parents, it meant they were not supportive, they wouldn’t welcome her.

Indeed, Liu Guixiang answered: "When I was beaten beyond recognition, I went to my parents for help, but they turned a blind eye and even advised me to go back and try to have a son, to live well with my husband. You don’t know how cold my heart was; I should have realized they wouldn’t have any mercy on me, otherwise, they wouldn’t have sold me for fifty catties of dried sweet potatoes. After I escaped, I never thought of going back to them, because they would surely send me back."

Having said that, she got up and bowed deeply to the middle-aged woman and Feng Qingxue, "I must go now, the further away, the better, so they can’t catch me. Thank you for your kindness, good people will be rewarded, and you will surely have good karma!"

The middle-aged woman sighed and said nothing more.

Feng Qingxue thought for a moment, caught up with Liu Guixiang, and gave her ten yuan and a few kilos of Grain Tickets, "You can’t go on like this. Find a place with honest folk to settle down, say you came out to beg because of famine from some mountain ravine, and you can’t remember where your hometown is. Also, give yourself a new name."

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