Father Tang had known this plan was risky, but Second Brother Tang had said it was fine—worst case, he'd just come back. That morning, after he left, Father Tang paced restlessly outside the woodshed. Inside, Tang Daniang huddled in the straw pile, silent, her eyes hollow and lifeless.
She knew—her last chance to escape was gone.
She'd thought about running away instead of enlisting, of course she had. But she had no money, no way to find work in town, and she was a girl—where could she run? A man with no money could sleep on the streets, but could she?
Her father had said the day after tomorrow was an auspicious day—he would be sending her to the fool's house.
At the thought, tears streamed down Tang Daniang's cheeks, unstoppable. She remembered the fool's violent rages and shuddered uncontrollably.
Suddenly, a commotion broke out outside the door. Tang Daniang heard it but paid it no mind. Then the woodshed door was kicked open with a bang.
A small figure appeared in the doorway—the little topknot jutting straight up toward the sky was unmistakable.
It was the young master who'd cheered her on that day.
"Big sister..." Guaizai ran over and helped her up from the straw pile.
She'd been locked in there for days, eating, drinking, and relieving herself all in the same cramped space—the chamber pot still sat in the corner. Naturally, she reeked.
But Guaizai didn't flinch.
Tang Daniang's eyes instantly turned red. She couldn't speak—she just grabbed Guaizai's small wrist and held on so tightly it hurt.
Second Brother Tang was detained for impersonating his sister. Father Tang and Mother Tang broke down wailing, shouting that this couldn't be—their daughter and second son weren't going to be soldiers anymore—they had no right to just take people like that!
Guaizai glanced at the imperial guards. They understood, and the swords at their waists came out again.
Father Tang and Mother Tang fell silent instantly.
Guaizai clasped his little hands behind his back. The villagers who had gathered to watch tried to speak up for the Tang family, but Guaizai shot them a look and cut in first: "Do you all still want to use chemical fertilizer in the future?"
They understood.
If you do—keep your mouths shut.
If you don't—go ahead and speak.
Though everyone felt sorry for Father Tang and Mother Tang—seeing them cry so pitifully was truly heartbreaking—this wasn't their own family's business. Besides, everyone was still thinking about buying chemical fertilizer this year! So they all fell silent at once.
Father Tang wept, "Young Master, you can't do this! Please spare my daughter and my second son!"
Those words could easily be misunderstood—as if Guaizai had taken someone by force.
Guaizai glared at Father Tang and said, "This conscription is voluntary registration. But once you're drafted, it's not a matter of coming and going as you please. You want your second son to go in your daughter's place? Do you see these two big eyes of mine? Do you see them?"
Father Tang quickly nodded, "I see them, I see them."
"You see them and still dare to play tricks on Guaizai? You think Guaizai is blind? These eyes have been refined in Taishang Laojun's alchemy furnace—do you even know that? You dare to fool Guaizai? I'll have someone beat your butt!"
[Taishang Laojun's furnace = Taoist god's magic oven that makes immortality pills. The Monkey King (in Journey to the West) was trapped inside for 49 days, survived, and gained fiery golden eyes that see through tricks.]
Father Tang was terrified: "I know, I know! I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare again!"
Guaizai turned to Tang Daniang: "Big Sister, do you still want to join the army?"
Before Tang Daniang could speak, Mother Tang called out to her first: "Daniang, are you really going? Can you truly bear to leave your father and mother? We raised you all these years—do you have no conscience? You ungrateful wretch!"
The villagers had kept quiet for the sake of getting fertilizer, but now they looked at Tang Daniang and felt she wasn't that kind of person.
They all came from the same village—everyone knew what kind of person Tang Daniang was. She was polite and hardworking, handling all the chores inside and outside the house. How could she be an ungrateful wretch?
Besides, a girl going off to join the army did seem a bit improper to most people. But people tend to sympathize with the weaker party. Now, seeing Mother Tang and Father Tang kneeling on the ground, trembling and crying, faces full of tears as they begged, they turned to look at Tang Daniang with reproach in their eyes, feeling she was terribly unfilial.
Tang Daniang didn't hesitate: "I'm going. I don't want to be beaten to death."
What? Beaten to death by whom?
The village chief pressed for details: "Daniang, what do you mean by that?"
"My father wants to marry me off to the fool in Dalu Village, to be his wife, in exchange for the fool's sister to marry my eldest brother."
The fool in Dalu Village was famous far and wide—everyone knew about him. Nobody remembered his real name anymore; everyone just called him "the fool," even his own father did.
Villagers kept their distance—he was known for being violent.
If it were any ordinary simpleton, marrying into that family would just mean a hard life, nothing more.
But this one was different.
Now they understood. With just a few words from Tang Daniang, everyone got it.
They'd all been thinking: Tang Daniang was usually such a good girl, so why would she do something like this now? Her parents were crying and begging her not to go, yet she insisted on going. Raising a child isn't easy, and disobeying your parents is unfilial. Just a moment ago, everyone thought she was out of line, and deep down they felt she was no good—if she didn't even care about her parents, how could she talk about defending the country? How could the young master possibly recruit someone like her? But now they realized—if she didn't go, she'd be as good as dead.
The Tangs were too cruel. Favoring sons was one thing, but this? She was still their flesh and blood.
There were plenty of poor men in the village who couldn't find wives, and exchange marriages weren't unheard of. But the fool from Dalu Village—that was a completely different story!
Who had ever gone through with that?
No one.
Because nobody wanted to push their own child into a fire pit and have the whole village gossip about them behind their backs.
The villagers thought it was a good move for her—at least leaving home would give her a real chance to survive.
This wasn't Tang Daniang's fault.
A few women sighed and said, "Daniang, take good care of yourself out there."
Guaizai led Tang Daniang away.
By this time, a total of one hundred and twenty-two gers and women had been conscripted across all of Hezhou.
Though there was plenty of grumbling outside, Fang Zichen still went through with the conscription.
Unprecedented? So be it.
If someone came to register and was turned away just for being a woman or a ger, that was discrimination—and then he would be no different from any other man in this era.
Zhao Ger had been busy these past few days and had no idea that his son and husband had pulled off such a big move.
No wonder that when he came back from the factory the other day, the villagers had been giving him strange looks—as if they wanted to say something but held back.
Now that he knew, Zhao Ger didn't object.
He understood what Fang Zichen was thinking: there was nothing a man could do that a woman or a ger couldn't. As long as there was determination, gender wasn't an issue at all.
But...
He'd visited the training grounds once. The training was tough. Though he didn't want to admit it, women and gers were generally physically weaker than men.
"I'm afraid they won't be able to handle it—they'll wear themselves out," Zhao Ger said.
Fang Zichen replied, "We need to come up with a proper plan. Their training will naturally have to be different from the men's."
"Oh?"
"They'll still do physical training, of course, but I want them to spend more time learning from Physician Li," Fang Zichen explained.
No comments:
Post a Comment