Hongqi Street at night

(1)

In the autumn of 1983, the factory gave out a round of bonuses, and the men on Hongqi Street started pouring Sanbai into their mouths in the afternoon. It wasn't dark yet, but there were already three circles of people gathered under the locust tree at the entrance of the street. The smell of cigarettes, alcohol and freshly cooked cabbage and vermicelli mixed together, making the whole street look like a slow-boiling cauldron.

Hongqi Street is not an alley, but a section of dirt road outside the family area of ​​the factory office. There are gray brick bungalows on both sides. Each family has its own courtyard gate. There is usually only one main room and a kitchen in the courtyard gate. The man stands in front of the machine tool for eight hours during the day, and when he returns to this stretch of street less than 200 meters away at night, there are not many things he can do for fun: playing chess, bragging, listening to storytelling on the radio, and beating his wife.

This is not a curse, it is a statement. Whose daughter-in-law was slapped a few times and knelt down for half an hour, but when she was buying groceries the next day, someone still laughed and asked, "Did you clean up last night?" Being ruthless means that the man has a temper and respect; being ruthless means that he is a coward and cannot even control the people in the room. As for whether the daughter-in-law is in pain or not, and whether she is willing to do so, is not within the scope of discussion - that is a "family matter", and family matters, in Hongqi Street, are men's affairs.

Sun Guiying married into the street in autumn.

Her man's name is Zhao Tiezhu, the monitor of the machine repair class. He is 1.78 meters tall, with broad shoulders and calluses on his palms. On the day of the wedding, Aunt Wang at the street corner held an enamel jar and said to people: "Tiezhu's wife is so smart, she just doesn't know how to survive." Everyone laughed. Sun Guiying stood on the threshold of the new house, her face as hot as a newly uncovered cauldron. It was neither a smile nor a smile.

She comes from a rural area thirty miles away. Her father is an honest farmer and her mother has never spoken loudly in her life. Sun Guiying has known since she was a child that when a woman gets married, she just changes her life to another family; whether her life is good or not depends on whether the man is willing to give you food and love you on the kang - as for other things, she has never heard of it, nor has she thought about it.

On the third day after the wedding, Zhao Tiezhu came back after drinking half a catty of Baigan. He thought the porridge she served was too thin, so he threw the bowl on the ground. Sun Guiying knelt down to pick up the fragments. The back of her hand was scratched by porcelain stubble, and blood seeped out. Before she could stand up, Zhao Tiezhu's belt had already been pulled off and he hit her twice on the back.

"Who gave you leftover food? Huh? Is it easy for me to make money?"

Sun Guiying lay on the ground, not daring to cry. There were footsteps outside the courtyard gate that stopped for a moment and then slowly walked away - it was the neighbor Lao Zhou. He probably came out to urinate. Hearing the noise, he stopped and went back again. The whole street heard it, but seemed to hear nothing.

That night she did not get on the kang, but knelt on the cold tile floor in the kitchen while Zhao Tiezhu fell asleep by himself. At dawn, her eyes were swollen and she made breakfast. Zhao Tiezhu finished eating half of the steamed buns and went out to work like a normal person. Before leaving, he told her: "Find out the cotton-padded jacket at noon, it's getting cold."

Sun Guiying stood at the entrance of the courtyard, watching his back disappear at the end of the street, feeling confused. She didn't know if this was considered "living a good life", but she only knew that from that night on, she learned to smell the alcohol on Zhao Tiezhu's body before he came in, learned to fill the rice bowl, put the shoes in order, and keep her mouth shut.

Experienced wives on the street will teach newcomers: "Don't talk back. If you talk back, you'll get ten more swats. When you kneel, keep your back straight. Don't lie there like a dead fish. Men will be more angry." It was Mrs. Liu who said this. The man named Liu Mandun, Zhao Tiezhu's senior sister, was a blacksmith, and his fists were harder than iron pillars. There is an old scar on Mrs. Liu's right cheekbone. She doesn't cover it when she wears short-sleeved shirts in summer. She says she "dropped it herself." People on the street know about it and no one will point it out.

On a Saturday at the end of October, the factory got off work early. The men moved the folding tables to the middle of the street and played five-pound chess - not playing chess, but gambling. Whoever loses goes home to "take it out on his wife." This is the unwritten rule of Hongqi Street. It has been said for half a life that it is tougher than the labor discipline in the factory.

Zhao Tiezhu was unlucky that day, losing three games in a row, and his face was as dark as the bottom of a pot. Liu Mandun patted him on the shoulder and smiled: "Tie Zhu, go home and practice. Don't let people say that you are weak at the card table and you are weak at home."

The crowd booed. Sun Guiying was returning from carrying water from the public well. The pole creaked on her shoulders. When she heard laughter, her face turned pale. She quickened her pace and walked home, spilling water all the way.

When Zhao Tiezhu came in, she had already filled the water tank and was squatting on the ground to wipe the wet area just now. She didn't even look up, knowing she wouldn't be able to escape tonight.

"Come here."

Sun Guiying put down the rag and walked up to him, lowering her head. Zhao Tiezhu sat on the edge of the kang, untied his belt, folded it in half, and patted it in his palms, making a dull leather sound that was recognized by men on the street.

"Did those people on the street just look at the way you were walking carrying water?"

"No...no..."

"Lie." Zhao Tiezhu grabbed her hair and pulled her under the kang, "Liu Mandun said, you twisted your waist like in the drama, which is eye-catching. I am losing money, and you are showing off outside. You make me unable to hold my head up in front of my brothers?"

Before Sun Guiying could defend herself, the first leather belt had already fallen down and hit her thigh, causing a burning ridge to appear. She bit her lip, tasting blood. The second and third blows were on the back and buttocks. Zhao Tiezhu hit him more and more fiercely, cursing like "bitch", "shameless", and "shameless". She would memorize these words later and become numb, but that night every sentence was like a nail driven into her flesh.

The courtyard door was not closed tightly, and someone spoke outside. The voice was not loud, but clear: "The Tiezhu family has started again."

"It's normal, I'm just a loser."

"His wife is new, has she been beaten?"

"You will know after a few beatings whether it has been beaten or not."

When Sun Guiying heard these conversations, shame came up first than pain. She wanted to shout, to close the door, to run away - but she knew she couldn't. On this street, the cry of a woman in no house is a secret; and the sound of a man's belt in no house is treated as an "accident" that requires intervention.

After the beating, half of Zhao Tiezhu's anger was vented, and the rest turned into something else. He pushed her on the edge of the bed, pulled open her pants, and entered her from behind despite her refusal and pleas. Sun Guiying buried her face into the pillow and suppressed her sobs into breathy sounds. This was not sex, she knew it - this was a continuation of punishment, the face he had lost in front of his brothers, and he wanted to get it back twice as much from her.

After he was done, Zhao Tiezhu lit a cigarette, blew out smoke rings, and said in a calm tone, as if he had just repaired a screw: "Go get some hot water, I'll wash it up. Liu Mandun and the others will come tomorrow, you can cook two more dishes, don't lose my people."

Sun Guiying stood up on the edge of the Kang, her legs still shaking. She responded, walked into the kitchen, turned her back to the mirror, and saw the red marks on her back, like a piece of skin covered with writing. She suddenly remembered that before she got married, her mother held her hand and said, "When you get married, you have to be sensible."

What does it mean to be sensible? She used to think that she was diligent, obedient, and would have sons. Now she understands: being sensible in Hongqi Street also includes not running around when being beaten, not shouting when being called to bed, washing the man's socks white the next day, and bowing his head in front of the neighbors as if nothing happened last night.

At noon on Sunday, Liu Mandun and Lao Zhou came as expected. Sun Guiying was working in the kitchen wearing an apron. Mrs. Liu came in to help her choose vegetables and said in a low voice: "Don't blame Tie Zhu, this street is like this. If you are good, he will beat you lightly. If you are not good, it will be the same for any man."

Sun Guiying's hand stopped in mid-air, wanting to say something, but in the end she just nodded.

The men drank at the dinner table, but the women did not serve. They served food back and forth between the kitchen and the back room. Liu Mantun drank too much, pointed at Sun Guiying and said to Zhao Tiezhu: "Tie Zhu, I think those marks on your wife's butt are not gone yet. Don't be too heavy next time. If you break them, who will cook for you?"

Everyone laughed again. Zhao Tiezhu also laughed and served Liu Mancunman a glass of wine: "Brother Mancunman, do you feel sorry for me or your sister-in-law?"

"I feel sorry for you. As a wife, you have to know how to use it."

Sun Guiying was standing behind the door curtain holding a plate of fried cabbage. Her stomach churns when she heard these words. She remembered that when Zhao Tiezhu pressed down on her last night, in addition to pain and fear, she also had an indescribable tremor that was suppressed by shame. She hated this tremor and hated herself for actually letting out a sigh of relief at a certain moment because the man finally stopped, and even took the initiative to boil water as if he had completed the task.

That wasn't consent, she told herself repeatedly. That's not it.

But Hongqi Street does not discuss "consent". Here we only discuss whose men are smarter, whose daughters-in-law are more obedient, whose cries spread further on the autumn night, and spread to the whole street about another story of men drinking at the card table.

After the men dispersed that afternoon, Sun Guiying was washing clothes by the well. Shui Bing, with red hands, rubbed Zhao Tiezhu's work clothes hard, as if she wanted to rub something off. Sister-in-law Liu passed by and stood for a while, then sighed: "Guiying, sister, let me tell you the truth. If you want to live, don't even think about running away. A monk can't run away from the temple if you can. On your father's side, with just one word from Tie Zhu, the matchmaker can ruin your reputation in the village."

Sun Guiying didn't raise her head and just asked: "Then... how can I get beaten less?"

Mrs. Liu was silent for a moment and said: "Let him have face. He can hold his head up outside and is too lazy to touch the guy when he comes home. And -" her voice was lower, "sometimes, after he beats you, if you...don't keep crying, don't be like a dead fish. Some men want that after the beating. Just be gentle and he will lose his anger quickly."

Sun Guiying's hand stopped in the water.

This is not to teach her how to love, but to teach her how to survive the winter on a street where beating wives is entertainment. The winter in the north is long, long enough to bend a person's spine and freeze the word "unwilling" under the tongue, never to be uttered again.

At night, Zhao Tiezhu drank some more. He was not drunk, but he talked less. He was lying on the kang, and Sun Guiying blew out the lamp and spread the mattress under her feet. Since she was beaten for the first time, she had not been on the kang again unless she was called up. Zhao Tiezhu suddenly said: "Gui Ying."

She stiffened: "Yeah."

"There will be an inspection in the factory tomorrow. I'll leave early. You can iron that new jacket."

"Got it."

There was silence on the kang for a while. Zhao Tiezhu added: "Last night... I struck too hard. But don't blame me. There are rules on the street. If I lose money, if I don't fight when I go home, my brothers will laugh at me forever."

Sun Guiying opened her eyes in the darkness and did not respond.

Zhao Tiezhu turned over and seemed to be talking to himself: "You are better than the last one. The last one ran back to his parents' house after being beaten twice, which made it ugly. It's good that you didn't run away."

Pretty good.

Sun Guiying buried her face in the pillow, and finally let a little sound leak out. It was very light, like the wind blowing through the leaves of a locust tree. She didn't know if it was crying or something else. Hongqi Street outside the window became quiet, with only the whistle of the train in the distance, one long and one short, like stamping the night of this industrial city.

In this street, beating your wife is not a crime - people here don't say that - but a tacit entertainment between men. It is the price of losing cards, a tonic for face, and a more authentic pastime in winter than storytelling. What about women? Women are the props, the venue, and the person who gets up to make breakfast afterwards.

Sun Guiying slowly stopped shaking on the pillow. She thought of the scar on Mrs. Liu's cheekbones, the ribs on her back that had not yet healed, and the tone in Zhao Tiezhu's voice when he said, "It's good that you didn't run away," and she actually felt a little satisfied.

She didn't know if she would become like Mrs. Liu: teaching the new daughter-in-law at the well how to kneel, how to endure, and how to pick up a man's face after being beaten, like picking up scattered chess pieces.

She only knew that tomorrow she would have to iron her coat, carry water, and walk down the entire Hongqi Street in the eyes of her neighbors—and the next Saturday, the men would move the table to the middle of the street, play five-pound chess, some would lose, and some would go home, with their belts folded in half and clapping in their palms.

The whole street knew that voice.

It's like recognizing the night that sounds again in the autumn night and belongs here.

(2)

The old Zhou family lived next door to Zhao Tiezhu. The courtyard wall was short, only reaching the waist. The first time Sun Guiying heard Zhou Caixia cry was on the fifth day after marrying into the street - two days before Zhao Tiezhu moved the belt for the third time. At that time, she was still dazed under the new quilt, and suddenly there was a crisp slap from outside, one, two, seven or eight times in a row, with a short grunt from a woman in the middle, as if someone was grabbing her throat.

Zhao Tiezhu turned over on the kang and muttered: "Old Zhou is playing again."

Sun Guiying opened her eyes on the bunk under her feet and asked: "Play...what?"

"Hey, you don't understand." Zhao Tiezhu smiled vaguely, "Every family on this street plays differently. Tiezhu's family only fights when they lose money. Lao Zhou's family doesn't have to lose, he likes to fight."

Sun Guiying didn't ask again. The slaps stopped, replaced by Lao Zhou's harsh curses, and then there was the sound of the iron door latch, and the street returned to dead silence. She clenched her hands into the corners of the quilt, her nails turning white, but she didn't know what she should be afraid of - afraid of the next door, or afraid that one day Zhao Tiezhu would comment on her lightly like "Old Zhou is having fun again."

Lao Zhou's full name is Zhou Jianguo. He is forty-five years old. He is the deputy director of the machine repair workshop of the factory and is in charge of a tool room. He is thin, with high cheekbones but bright eyes. When he smiles, he reveals a row of smoke-yellow teeth. Zhou Caixia is ten years younger than him and is a veteran of this street. Her father used to be a janitor in the factory. She has been married to Lao Zhou for eight years and has not given birth to a son, only a girl, who is six years old this year and is called Yaya.

The women on Hongqi Street said privately that Zhou Caixia was the "most beaten" person on this street.

It was not because she could bear the beating, but because Lao Zhou beat her for many reasons - the food was salty, the food was bland, Yaya cried and quarreled, her clothes were not hung up, she said too much to a wife, and even if things were not going well in the factory, she had to "do some activities" when she got home. Exercise is a slang term on the street, which means to relax your wife's muscles and muscles, and also to relax your own muscles.

Lao Zhou also has another way of playing, which Zhao Tiezhu and the others call "setting up a banquet."

It wasn't really a banquet, but every Tuesday night, Lao Zhou set up a folding table in the courtyard, called Liu Mandun and Zhao Tiezhu, and brought along two single young workers who liked to join in the fun. They bought two bottles of loose powder and a plate of peanuts, and sat under the courtyard wall to drink. Halfway through the drink, Lao Zhou called Zhou Caixia out and lectured her in public. After training, if anyone feels that it is not interesting enough, Lao Zhou will do it; if someone gets interested, he will also come up with an idea: "Hit the legs, don't slap the face, we have to go to work tomorrow."

The first time Sun Guiying was dragged into such a scene was in mid-November.

Zhao Tiezhu came back from work that day and threw an enamel basin into her arms: "Go to Lao Zhou's house to borrow some soy sauce. Quick."

Sun Guiying took the basin and went out. It was already dark. The door of Lao Zhou's courtyard was open, the lights were bright inside, and the man's laughter was like boiling water. She stood outside the threshold, neither advancing nor retreating. Liu Mandun saw her first and whistled: "Is the little wife of Tiezhu's family here? Come in, come in, don't be restrained."

There were five or six men at one table in the courtyard. Zhou Caixia was kneeling beside the table, not on the ground, but on a bench - her face turned inward, her butt stuck out, her cotton pants lowered to the knees, revealing her two buttocks that had been beaten purple. She put her hands behind her back and tied them with a clothesline. The knot was tied by Lao Zhou, and the knot was so tight that her wrists turned blue.

The basin in Sun Guiying's hand almost fell.

Lao Zhou held the wine bowl without turning his head: "What can I borrow?"

"Soy sauce... soy sauce..."

"Get it from the kitchen yourself." Old Zhou pouted and said to Liu Mandun, "Continue, where did you say that? Yes, Zhou Caixia went to the grain store last week and talked to the young man selling grain stamps. Why are you laughing? I raised you to ogle with wild men?"

Zhou Caixia's shoulders were shaking, and her voice came out from her arms: "I don't have any... I'm just asking if the food stamps can be exchanged for tofu..."

"Still talking back?"

Lao Yiyi kicked the leg of the bench, and Zhou Caixia fell forward, hitting her forehead on the edge of the table with a thud. The men coaxed. Zhao Tiezhu and her husband were also there, sitting and smoking, and looked at Sun Guiying. There was no pain in her eyes, only a warning: Don't be troublesome, don't be embarrassed.

Sun Guiying got into the kitchen as if she was running away. The soy sauce bottle was on the stove, and her hands were shaking so much that she couldn't unscrew the lid. Lao Zhou's voice came from the back room: "Caixia, tell your brothers, where did you go wrong?"

"I...I shouldn't...talk to outsiders..."

"Louder. Let the newcomers to the Tiezhu family also listen to the rules of this street."

Zhou Caixia raised her voice, and every word seemed to be torn out: "I shouldn't laugh with the people in the grain store... I shouldn't embarrass Lao Zhou... I deserve a beating..."

"What should I do if I need a spanking?"

"...please Lao Zhou fight...please brothers watch..."

Sun Guiying's soy sauce finally flowed into the basin, black and bright, fishy and sweet. She should not have listened, but she kept her ears open. Outside, Lao Zhou asked, "Mancun, what kind of guy should I use for a woman like this?"

Liu Mandun was drunk: "The belt is too cheap for her. Use a bamboo grate, the kind used for packaging in the factory. It makes a loud sound but doesn't leave a dead mark - how can you go to work tomorrow if you leave a mark?"

Sun Guiying looked out from the kitchen window and saw Lao Zhouzhen carrying a bundle of thin bamboo slices from the tool room. He tried it in his hand and it was blown by the wind. Zhou Caixia was still kneeling, not begging for mercy, but burying her face deeper, as if she knew she couldn't escape this disaster, and just begged for it to pass quickly.

When the first bamboo grate went down, the sound was sharper and dryer than the belt. With a snap, a red edge immediately appeared on the buttocks. Zhou Caixia's back arched like a shrimp and she squeezed out a sound from her nose. The second and third blows, Lao Zhou explained while hitting, like demonstrating how to move a turning tool in a workshop: "Did you see it? It needs to be like this, do it with your wrists, don't use force. Beating your wife is like repairing a machine, you need to know how to do it."

The men nodded, commented, and gestured. A young worker asked: "Director Zhou, what should I do if my wife is beaten and runs away?"

Lao Zhou smiled: "Run? Where are you running? The registered permanent residence is in the factory, and the food stamps are in my pocket. Her father is still guarding the gate. After running away, I will lead people to catch her and beat her again in front of you. That is not entertainment, it is setting rules."

Everyone laughed again. Sun Guiying was standing under the window holding a basin, her legs were as weak as if she had just finished carrying two loads of water.

After the tenth blow, Zhou Caixia's voice changed. It was no longer just about pain, but mixed with a kind of broken breathing. Lao Zhou stopped, threw the bamboo grate on the table, and said to Zhao Tiezhu: "Tie Zhu, your wife just came here and doesn't understand. You can teach her when you get back. Women can't get used to it. If they get used to it, they will sit on your head and shit."

Zhao Tiezhu smiled apologetically: "Yes, Brother Zhou. Why don't I... teach you slowly?"

Lao Zhou waved his hand as if sending a formal message: "Okay, Caixia, thank you brothers for supervising me. Go and scoop the soy sauce for Tiezhu's wife - don't shake your hands. If you shake, you will be punished."

Zhou Caixia got down from the bench, limping into the kitchen without fully lifting her cotton pants. For the first time, Sun Guiying took a close look at the "most beaten" woman on the street: her face was pale, her temples were wet, but her eye sockets were dry and there were no tears. She took the basin from Sun Guiying's hand and filled it for her. Her movements were steady, as if she was not the one who was tied to the bamboo grate in the courtyard just now.

"First time meeting?" Zhou Caixia asked, her voice hoarse.

Sun Guiying nodded.

"Just get used to it." Zhou Caixia handed the basin back to her, twitching the corner of her mouth, not really smiling, "Don't stand in a daze at the door of the courtyard. They don't like women to daze, as if they are watching a joke. Just take it and leave."

Sun Guiying walked out and when she passed the center of the courtyard, the men were still drinking. Lao Zhou raised the bowl to her: "Ask Tiezhu for me. Tell him that if he loses money again on Saturday, he will come to me and I will lend him a bamboo grate - more respectable than a belt."

Everyone laughed. Sun Guiying lowered her head and walked out of the courtyard quickly, the light behind her burning the back of her neck, as if those eyes were still attached to her.

After returning home, Zhao Tiezhu took the soy sauce and smelled it on his nose: "Just borrow some soy sauce, why have you been away for so long?"

Sun Guiying said nothing. Zhao Tiezhu glanced at her, took her silence as obedient, and didn't ask any more questions.

At night, while Sun Guiying was lying under her feet, there was another sound from the next door - not a beating, but a low-pitched conversation between Lao Zhou and Zhou Caixia, intermittently, like wind leaking through the cracks in the wall.

"...Today...Have Yaya slept?"

"Sleep. I'll coax you for a long time."

"She didn't wake up when she hit you?"

"No."

Silence. Then Lao Zhou said: "Next time when setting up a banquet, tie the knot loosely. Today Liu Mandun said it was too tight and it doesn't look good."

Zhou Caixia said "hmm", but she couldn't tell whether it was a promise or a habit.

Sun Guiying covered her head with a quilt. She suddenly understood what Zhao Tiezhu meant when he said "each family plays the game differently" - Zhao Tiezhu beat her with the shame and anger of losing money, and the urgency of trying to make up for it in front of his brothers; Lao Zhou beat Zhou Caixia, but it was like a fixed program, with an audience, lines, props, and even "decency". One is because I lost, and the other is because I like it.

She couldn't choose either way.

Sure enough, Saturday arrived again. Zhao Tiezhu's luck was average this time, and he lost a small amount. When he returned home, his face was not too bad. He only pressed Sun Guiying on the edge of the kang and slapped her several times without touching the belt. Sun Guiying breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that this night would be lighter.

In the middle of the night, she was awakened by the noise in the middle of the street - folding tables, dice and swearing. The loser this time was Ma San, a welder from another family two doors down. Ma San was drunk and dragged his wife all the way back to the courtyard from the middle of the street, and the whole street followed. Sun Guiying counted the slaps on the other side in the darkness, one, two, and then Zhao Tiezhu turned over and muttered: "Ma San is a bitch, his hands are really dark."

"...Don't you go and take a look?" Sun Guiying herself didn't know why she asked this question.

Zhao Tiezhu was stunned, as if he heard some joke: "What are you looking at? Watching my wife get beaten? I have nothing to do?" He stretched out his hand and patted her on the head, not hard, but with a sleepy boredom, "Sleep with you. There are a lot of lively things on this street at night. You will get used to it gradually. Old Zhou's house is on Tuesday, Masan's house is on Saturday, my house - it depends on my luck. Do you count, how many days is this street quiet?"

Sun Guiying calculated in the dark. Can't figure it out. She only heard Ma San's wife's cry, which was muffled by the door, and further away, someone's radio was playing Shan Tianfang's storytelling. The storyteller's loud voice could not cover up this series of fragmentary night sounds that belonged to Hongqi Street.

At dawn, she went to the well to fetch water. Zhou Caixia was already there, the bucket was full of water, and she was applying ice to her face. There is a new fingerprint on the right side of the face, from the cheekbone to the corner of the mouth, which is purple and green.

The two looked at each other. Sun Guiying wanted to say something, but Zhou Caixia spoke first. Her voice was as calm as saying that the price of cabbage had increased today: "Old Zhou was happy last night because Ma San lost money, so he drank two more drinks. He went home to practice with me and said that Ma San's playing was too rough, which was outrageous - I had to show Ma San's daughter-in-law how to play in an organized manner."

Sun Guiying's barrel rope was tied around her shoulders, causing severe pain.

Zhou Caixia fetched the water, picked it up, and walked past Sun Guiying. She paused and only left one sentence: "You can bear it better than I thought. Tolerance is good. When you can't help it - don't help it in front of them. Go back to the house and cry again."

She's gone. Sun Guiying stood by the well and watched her figure turn into the gate of Lao Zhou's courtyard. The courtyard door is closed today, unlike the night when the banquet was set out. But Sun Guiying knew that it was the same inside and outside - this family, the family before her, and the family after her, all used wife beating as a pastime, a program, and a tacit entertainment between men on their own nights.

And she was carrying the empty bucket home. When passing by the wall of Lao Zhou's courtyard, she heard Yaya reciting multiplication tables in the back room, her milky milky sounds, one by one makes one, and two by two makes four. The sound was clean, like the only part of the street that had not been beaten with belts and bamboo grates.

Sun Guiying stopped for a step at the door of the courtyard, took a deep breath, and pushed the door open. Zhao Tiezhu is still sleeping. She lit a fire, washed rice, and pressed last night's slaps, the sound of bamboo grates next door, and the Masan family's cries into the bottom of the pot, like layers of ashes in the long northern winter.

Tuesday will come again. Will come again on Saturday. The table at Lao Zhou's house will still be set, Zhao Tiezhu's luck will change, Ma San will still drag his wife across the whole street - and the night on Hongqi Street will ring again and again, like clocks, like habits, like the most important and least worth mentioning entertainment for men on this street.

(3)

The third house to the west of the locust tree at the street corner has a courtyard door painted black, which is a bit taller than the other houses. Hu Kui lives here.

People on Hongqi Street don't call him Street Fighter - that's a word from the movie, it sounds fake. They are called "Kui Ye", or simply "Hu Tou". Hu Kui is forty-two years old, a retired soldier, and serves as the deputy section chief of the factory security department, in charge of access control and night patrol. He is big, with broad shoulders, and walks with a wind. He wears an old military medal on his chest. No one dares to ask what year it is from. He also has a family and a wife, just like other men.

Sun Guiying heard what Zhao Tiezhu said: "In this street, beating your wife is a pastime. Being beaten by a beard is a deadly pastime."

When Zhao Tiezhu said this, there was a strange respect and fear in his tone, like talking about the high-speed steel knife in the machine tool - it is not used normally, but it will cause blood when used.

Hu Tou doesn't like to set up a banquet like Lao Zhou, and he doesn't often play Wujin chess. His entertainment was even rarer: whoever he deemed "unworthy of being punished" would be dragged under the locust tree and beaten in front of everyone in the house - pulling hair, kneeling on bricks, belts, bamboo grates, admitting mistakes in public, and having to say "I deserve a beating, please beat me". The attack was as harsh as the one who beat up the wife on this street, but it fell on the man.

At the beginning of December, the factory gave out another round of welfare: two kilograms of pig head meat and a bottle of Sanbai per person. The men start drinking at noon, and there is always a table under the locust tree in the middle of the street. It was a rare day for Hu Tou to sit down and have a round with Liu Mandun, Lao Zhou, and Zhao Tiezhu. He was lucky and won five games in a row without blushing or talking much. He just held the dice in his hand like a bullet.

Ma San lost his eyes red. He had already received a beating from his wife on Saturday. He was feeling angry, so he drank three ounces more. His tongue was faster than his brain, and he grinned at his beard: "Master Kui, how many tricks do you do at home? Who hasn't heard of you on the street? Why don't you just touch the dice today to relieve your fatigue?"

It was quiet for a second under the locust tree.

Liu Mandun kicked Ma San's calf fiercely: "Did you fucking drink horse urine?"

It's too late. Hu Tou slowly put down the wine bowl and stood up. He was half a head taller than Ma San. His shadow covered him and said, "Taking trouble with my family? Okay. You are a bitch, so you will suffer first."

Ma Sanjiu was half awake and wanted to laugh and apologize, but Hu Tou had already grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him toward the middle of the street like a chicken. People all over the street poked their heads out of the courtyard gates, women holding their children, men carrying enamel jars, and no one stopped them - the last time Hu Tou stopped him was three years ago. Hu Tou pinned the man down on the well platform and beat him for half an hour. The man was later transferred to a branch factory in another place and never came back.

"Come and see." Hu Tou's voice was not loud, but he was able to suppress the situation, "Ma San said that I don't know how to relieve boredom. Today I will explain it to him - and to you too. When you go home, beat your wife how you want to, open your eyes and learn."

Ma San was forced to kneel next to the roots of the locust tree, his face pressed against the rough skin, and he was still mumbling: "Master Kui... I'm a bitch... I..."

"You have a bad mouth? Then treat your mouth first."

Hu Tou opened his bow from left to right and slapped Ma San on the face with a crisp sound, exactly like what Sun Guiying heard the night he beat Zhou Caixia. One, two, ten, twenty. Ma San's face swelled up, and blood flowed from his nose to his chin, dripping into the dust. Hu Tou showed no mercy - he really regarded Ma San as a "houseguy", not as a brother.

"Tell me, where did you go wrong?"

Ma San repeated vaguely, as if he was reciting a text: "I shouldn't... be a bitch... I shouldn't take Mr. Kui's... family troubles..."

"Louder. Let your wife hear it."

Ma San's wife was crowded in the crowd, her face was pale, and she was holding her two-year-old daughter in her arms. She heard the man yelling at the top of his lungs: "I deserve a beating! Please beat Mr. Kui! Please watch the neighbors!" This was exactly what Sun Guiying heard Zhou Caixia say at the banquet, but with a different face and a different voice.

Hu Tou took off his belt. It's not folded in half, it's a whole piece, and the metal buckle is eye-catching. He walked around behind Ma San and kicked Ma San in the waist. Ma San jumped forward, but Hu Tou stepped on the back of his neck and forced him to his knees. Hu Tou pulled off Ma San's cotton trousers and pulled his underwear down to his knees - just like he dragged Zhou Caixia when the old Zhou family set up a banquet, the movements were skillful, without lust, only humiliation.

There was a gasp in the street. The men subconsciously tightened their legs. Zhao Tiezhu stood where Sun Guiying could see him, his face was ashen, his hands were in his pockets, and his knuckles were white.

The first belt fell on Ma San's butt, making a dull sound. Ma San howled, not like a man scolding when fighting, but like a howl of pain. The second and third blows, Hu Tou said in a cold voice: "Where do you want to hit your wife? Here? Here?" The strength of a bamboo grate fell on the buttocks and thighs, "My wife is crying, you are entertaining me. I am also entertaining today - beat up a man to open your eyes."

The beating lasted until Ma San could no longer scream and could only gasp for air, and the beard stopped. He put on his belt and said to everyone around him: "Who else thinks that I don't know how to relieve boredom?"

No one answered. Lao Zhou put out his cigarette. Liu Mandun looked at the ground. Zhao Tiezhu's Adam's apple moved but he said nothing.

Hu Tou kicked Ma San: "Get up and thank my neighbor."

Ma San couldn't get up, his knees were worn out, and he couldn't pull up his pants. His wife cried and went up to help him, but Hu Tou fixed him with a look: "Let him do it by himself. After the people in the house have been beaten, they have to clean up after themselves. Don't you all follow the rules?"

Ma San's wife froze and retracted her hand. Ma San moved on the ground, pulled up his pants with shaking hands, looked at the locust tree and the crowd, lowered his head and muttered: "Thank you...Thank you Mr. Kui...Thank you neighbor..."

Hu Tou waved his hands as if to shoo away flies: "Go home. Don't be late for work tomorrow. The factory won't ask you why you are swollen."

The crowd dispersed, but slowly. Sun Guiying stood behind the gate of her courtyard, her heart pounding. For the first time, she saw a man being beaten like a wife - kneeling down, recognizing him, taking off his pants and belt, and thanking him in public. None of it was lighter because of gender, but rather heavier, because all the men on the street saw it and were silent.

When Zhao Tiezhu came back at night, he didn't drink and his face was still covered with gray from the day. Sun Guiying was serving rice with steady hands but unsteady heart. Zhao Tiezhu took two bites and suddenly said: "Did you see Hu Tou beat Ma San today?"

"...Looked at it."

"Keep your mouth clean from now on, to outsiders, especially to him." Zhao Tiezhu paused with his chopsticks and lowered his voice, "It's a rule on this street that I beat you. He beat me -"

He didn't finish. Sun Guiying raised her eyes and saw something flashing through the man's eyes. It wasn't pain, but the fear of a rabbit.

"What will happen if he beats you?" she asked, her voice low.

Zhao Tiezhu stared at her for a while, as if weighing whether he should let his wife know: "Same as today. Beat her in front of everyone in the house. In front of everyone. You have to say that she deserves a beating." He pushed his job away and added after a while, "Last winter, Lao Zhou was so tough that Hu Tou beat her on the well platform. When Lao Zhou came back, he beat Caixia as usual, even harder - for fear that people would say he was soft outside."

Sun Guiying suddenly understood the "respectability" of Lao Zhou's banquet: a man who had been beaten by a beard must go home and beat his wife in order to regain the lost face and pile it on the woman.

Two days later, the factory security department announced: To rectify the street atmosphere, gatherings of people to gamble at night were prohibited. Hu Tou and two young workers went door-to-door to inform Zhao Tiezhu's house. Zhao Tiezhu passed cigarettes and smiled, bending his waist a little more than usual. The bearded man stopped smoking and glanced at Sun Guiying, pausing for half a second as if he was looking at a piece of household items: "Tie Zhu, has your wife been beaten?"

Zhao Tiezhu was stunned for a moment and then laughed: "Jing... Jing beat me. The new guy is still teaching."

"Teach her well." Hu Tou said, "Don't be like Ma San, who is a bitch. Don't be like some people -" he glanced at Zhao Tiezhu, without naming him, "You pretend to be a man outside, but only dare to vent your anger on women when you get home. If you let me hear your wife crying until the whole street can't sleep, I'll beat you first, and then let you say you don't deserve a beating. Do you understand?"

Zhao Tiezhu's face turned red and he nodded: "I understand, Mr. Kui."

Hu Tou is gone. Sun Guiying heard the word "Kui Ye" coming out of her man's mouth in the kitchen. It was soft and sticky, like another person's tongue. She suddenly thought: Hu Tou pushed the man under the locust tree and beat him in the same way as he beat his wife on this street - anyone can become a "person in the house" at a certain moment.

A few days later, Ma San came back to work. His face was still swollen and he walked with his legs crossed. The men made fun of him, saying, "Ma San, those marks on your butt are more neat than those on your wife." Ma San laughed along with her, which was uglier than crying. Some people said privately that Ma San went home and beat his wife all night long - not to lose money, but to vent his anger, and to pass on the few belts that Hu Tou gave him to the woman.

Sun Guiying met Ma San's wife at the well. The woman's eye sockets were blue and the corners of her mouth were cracked, but it didn't look like she had cried, she looked like she had finished crying. The two of them didn't speak, just fetching water side by side. The barrel ropes swayed in the wind like thin leather straps.

Zhou Caixia later told Sun Guiying: "With Hu Tou, this street is 'peaceful'. The gentlemen know that it hurts, so they don't dare to go too crazy. But they don't dare to offend Hu Tou, and they can't afford it, and they will take it out on us when they get home - like Lao Zhou, like Ma San, like..." She didn't finish saying "your man" and just sighed, "Your man hasn't been hurt by Hu Tou's entire belt. If you have, you will understand why he is quieter and more ruthless at night."

Sun Guiying remembered Zhao Tiezhu's bent waist when Hu Tou asked him if he had been beaten before, Ma San's voice when he knelt under the locust tree and shouted "Please Kuiye to beat me", and the night when she lay down under Zhao Tiezhu's belt for the first time - it turns out that there is more than one kind of entertainment on this street: men beating women is a pastime; Hu Tou beats men, which is also a pastime. There are fewer of the latter, so they are louder, like setting off cannons during the New Year. Once they are set off, the whole street remembers them.

At night, sporadic sounds resounded on Hongqi Street: someone's wife hummed, someone's man cursed, someone's child had his mouth covered. Sun Guiying was sitting on the bunk under her feet when she heard the door of Hutou Yard slamming shut in the distance. It was as heavy as the lock of the factory security department's night patrol.

She only knew that since the day of Ma San, the men on this street would walk half a step faster when passing under the locust tree; and when women passed by, some would take a second look at the roots of the tree that had been stripped bare by kneeling, as if reading a notice:

Beating your wife is a man's entertainment.

It is a shame for a man to be beaten as his wife.

Hu Kui is the one who controls the switch between these two types of entertainment.

(4)

The people under the locust tree have dispersed, but the women have not yet dispersed. Ma San's wife dragged the empty bucket to the well and buried her head in her chest. Her two-year-old daughter was crying in her arms, sounding like she was venting her anger on her mother's behalf. Mrs. Hu stood by the derrick, not fetching water, just waiting for her - not for a moment, but since the moment Ma San knelt down under the tree.

"Stop."

Ma San's daughter-in-law stopped, and the bucket rope slipped from her shoulders and hit her feet. Mrs. Hu came closer, raised her hand and gave a slap, so loud and clear that women in the whole street heard it - it was somewhat similar to the sound of slapping a man under the locust tree just now. The daughter was so frightened that she stopped crying and only sobbed.

"Your man has a bad mouth, but your face is shining?" Mrs. Hu's voice was low, but every word was serious. "Go back and bolt the courtyard door. Don't let him disgrace this street again. Men are in charge of Mr. Kui, and women - I am in charge."

Ma San's daughter-in-law covered her face, not daring to argue. She just responded with a trembling voice: "...I know, Sister-in-law Hu..."

"It's good to know." Mrs. Hu raised her hand again, and the second slap fell on the other half of the face, which was harder than the first. "The first slap is to teach you, and the second slap is for you to remember - next time he talks meanly, you don't have to wait for Mr. Kui, I will deal with you first."

Ma San's wife knelt down, the bucket overturned, and the water dripped into the ashes. Zhou Caixia was about to speak next to her, but Mrs. Hu glanced at her. Zhou Caixia swallowed her words back and held Yaya behind her. Mrs. Liu passed by carrying a bucket, but she just nodded, called "Sister Hu" and walked away. Aunt Wang was choosing vegetables in the distance, pretending not to notice - on this street, Hu Tou was the best among men, and Hu Auntie was the same among women; if anyone messed with her, Hu Tou could take care of it herself without Hu Tou coming forward.

There were still several wives parked by the well platform, but no one dared to leave, as if they were afraid of being called out if they moved. Mrs. Hu asked Ma San's daughter-in-law to get up, fetch water herself, rinse the wet trouser legs, as if to wash away a layer of "embarrassment" for her, and pushed her again: "Take my daughter back. Don't let me hear you cry again - cry so loudly, the whole street thinks that Mr. Kui can't control it, or I can't control it."

Ma San's wife staggered away. Sun Guiying stood behind the gate of Zhao Tiezhu's courtyard, holding the clothes she had just collected in her arms, her heart tightening as she watched. Since she married into the street, she has been used to seeing men beat women, but she has never seen a woman beat a woman like this - beating her with confidence, as if it was her duty, and even putting the blame on the woman for the man.

After finishing the beating, Mrs. Hu wrung her hands, turned around, saw her, and waved: "New to the Tiezhu family? Come here."

Sun Guiying walked over, her legs weak. Mrs. Hu looked her up and down, reached out and pinched her arm, and then lifted her collar, as if inspecting goods. The nail scraped across the collarbone, not hard, but left a white mark that soon turned red.

"Have you been beaten?"

Sun Guiying's face was hot, her lips moved a few times, and she squeezed out a sentence: "...Jing..."

"What? Do you want to be beaten by an iron pillar or by me?" Mrs. Hu took her hand back and said calmly, "Whether you want to be beaten or not is not up to you. It's not up to the iron pillar. It depends on whether you know how to be a good person." She pointed at the back of Ma San's daughter-in-law who was retreating, and then pointed in the direction of the locust tree. , "Did you see? Men are embarrassed outside, and women have to understand the rules - those who understand will be beaten less, and those who don't will be beaten more. You just got married, so I won't make it difficult for you. If you don't understand, come to me; don't be like Ma San's daughter-in-law, wait until the slap hits your face before you understand."

Sun Guiying nodded, feeling like there was cotton stuffed in her throat. Mrs. Hu looked at her for the last time, as if she were registering a person, and then went back to the gate of the black courtyard. Her steps were steady and her back was straight. She was not like a "house person" as anyone said.

When Sun Guiying returned to the hospital, she threw her clothes on the rope and the knot was twisted. Zhao Tiezhu hadn't returned from the back room yet. She was making a fire to cook, but her hands were still unsteady and the edge of the pot clinked. Someone walked by outside the courtyard, spoke in a low voice, and floated in intermittently: "...Sister-in-law Hu's hands are really dark..." "...The face of Ma San's daughter-in-law..." "...The one from Tiezhu's family was also called over..."

Zhao Tiezhu came back from work and met her at the gate of the hospital and asked: "What are you doing standing here? Why is your face so pale?"

"...Sister-in-law Hu just came here."

Zhao Tiezhu said "Oh", not surprised, and just hung the tool bag on the wall: "Don't mess with her. Hu Tou beats the man, and she beats the woman - the beating method is different, but it hurts the same. You have to hide away from this couple on this street." He paused, and then added, "Sister-in-law Hu is slapping someone by the well, did you see it?"

"...I saw it."

"Remember it when you see it. Don't be like Zhou Caixia, who always wants to speak for others. In this street, women who speak for women often get beaten up more." Zhao Tiezhu washed his hands, splashing water on his cuffs, and said in a normal tone, as if to explain that there was an inspection in the factory, "Hu Tou beat Ma San during the day, and Hu Auntie beat Ma San's wife at noon - the couple is of the same mind. Don't think about what is fair or unfair, there is no such thing."

Sun Guiying put the meal on the table. Zhao Tiezhu took two bites and suddenly asked: "Sister Hu asked you if you had been beaten, what was your answer?"

"...won't answer."

Zhao Tiezhu glanced at her and didn't scold her. He just snorted: "If you don't know the answer, you are right. Living on this street, a woman cannot answer a man, and a woman cannot answer a woman. If you answer the wrong question, you will be beaten more than if you don't know the answer."

At night, while Sun Guiying was washing dishes in the kitchen, she heard Hu Tou's footsteps passing by the street corner, and heard the door of the black courtyard opening and closing. Her hands were still in the foam, and her movements paused - the scene during the day was still in front of her, the slap from Mrs. Hu was still there, and the pouting back of Ma San under the locust tree was still there, the three were stacked together, like an unopenable painting.

In the Hutou courtyard, the lights were on.

Li Xiulan - only Hu Tou and herself were still called by this name - was sweeping a peanut skin that fell before sweeping the kang. When she heard the door knock, the broom stopped and without raising her head, she placed the matchbox on the window sill, like a necessary step every night. There was half a cup of herbal tea on the table. She poured it before going out in the afternoon. Hu Tou didn't like drinking overnight tea, so she had to change it.

"Back."

Hu Tou didn't respond. He sat on the edge of the Kang, untied his shoelaces, and hit the brick floor with his heels, once, twice. The woman then raised her eyes - her brows were low, her face was narrow, and her eyes were always dark in front of a beard; but two hours ago at the well, Sun Guiying had seen what came out of the same eyes, cold and hard, making people want to hide. My family’s surname is Li, Xiulan, and the neighbors call me Mrs. Hu according to the man’s surname.

Hu Tou said: "That piece of shit Ma San is making trouble with my family."

Li Xiulan leaned the broom against the corner and went to the kitchen to get warm water: "I know. It's spread on the street. I cleaned up Ma San's wife's house at noon."

"Are you going to clean it up harshly?"

"Cruel." Li Xiulan only said one word, the rim of the basin dangled slightly between her fingers, "Let all the sisters see it."

"You know?" Hu Tou raised his head and looked over, "It's spread, and you're like this? You don't even have a soft word? I'm out there in front of others, but you know how to stage it?"

Li Xiulan stood holding the basin, and fine waves swayed from the edge of the basin: "...What do you want?"

Hu Tou sneered: "What? You are from my house, you don't understand?"

The water in the basin sloshed out and splashed her cloth shoes. She put down the basin without wiping it, then turned around to close the courtyard door - tightly and bolted it. The movements are not fast, as if leaving a little final silence for the outside world. Then she returned to the back room and stood in front of the kang. She unbuttoned her coat and untied her trousers. She folded her cotton trousers and placed them on the stool, leaving only a single layer of clothing. She turned her back to Hu Tou and knelt down.

The hand that had just slapped Ma's third daughter-in-law and examined Sun Guiying's arm by the well was now pressing on the edge of the kang, its knuckles turning white. Of course Sun Guiying couldn't see this. She only heard, from the direction of Hutouyuan, first a muffled sound - like a slap falling on flesh, heavy and solid. Then there was the sound of the belt buckle hitting the edge of the kang, once, twice, and then became closer. There was a very short moan from the woman, and she was pushed back, like a hand covering her mouth.

Zhao Tiezhu turned over on the kang and muttered: "The Hutou family... has started again."

Sun Guiying asked: "What to start?"

"What else?" Zhao Tiezhu said vaguely, "After he cleans up others outside, he has to clean up his own. Mrs. Hu has to deal with others during the day, and she also has to deal with it at night - how many people in this street are not like this? If I lose money and beat you, he will beat Mrs. Hu when he gets angry - the beating method is the same."

Sun Guiying's hands were soaked in cold water, and her knuckles turned white. She suddenly remembered that Ma San knelt under the locust tree during the day and shouted "Please Kui Ye, please give me a beating." She recalled the slap that Mrs. Hu slapped on Ma San's wife's face, and the night when she lay down under Zhao Tiezhu's belt for the first time - Hu Tou didn't stop beating his wife because he could beat a man; Hu Tou didn't stop beating his wife just because she was the king among women, and Hu Tou didn't avoid being beaten in front of Hu Tou just because she was the king among women. On the contrary, the set of bones he used outside was still used when he came home; the set of bones she put up by the well had to be dismantled piece by piece when entering the courtyard.

In Hutou Courtyard, Li Xiulan stopped barking. All that was left was the muffled sound of the belt falling on the flesh, and Hu Tou's low scolding - scolding Ma San for being a bitch, scolding Liu Mandun for not stopping him from watching the fun, scolding "the whole street is treating me like a show", and finally the scolding came to Li Xiulan: "You can't hold your breath! During the day, I was out watching people outside, and you were showing off by the well? Do you also expect me to be beaten once, so that you can please me?"

Li Xiulan rested her forehead on the edge of the kang, and her voice came out from her arms: "...No...I hope you are safe..."

"Safe?" Hu Tou slapped her back with another belt, and the ribs immediately appeared, "I set the rules under the locust tree, and I have to teach you when I get home - who is in my house? Who should kneel down? Who should be punished?"

Another belt. Li Xiulan hunched her shoulders and did not hide. She only raised her voice a little louder, as if she was carrying it to the outside world: "...I am...I am from Mr. Kui's house...I owe you a beating...Please Mr. Kui..."

"Louder."

"...I am from Mr. Kui's house...I need a beating...please give me a beating..."

Hu Tou paused. The wind outside blew through the locust trees, making a rustling sound, as if someone was leaning against the wall to listen. He pulled open the collar of her unlined garment, revealing the old scars on her shoulders and folding them into new ones. He looked at them for two seconds, then put the belt back around her waist and buckled it.

"Get up. Get some hot water and I'll wash up."

Li Xiulan stood up on the edge of the Kang, her legs were soft and she didn't let her body sway too much. When she entered the kitchen, the sound of water sounded, and the handle of the pot touched the stove with a soft sound, like a beat. Hu Tou was lying on the kang, staring at the ceiling, his chest rising and falling and slowly flattening out. He didn't have to thank his neighbors in public like Ma San - he was the boss, and he didn't even have to give an explanation after he was beaten.

Over at Sun Guiying, the sound of the belt stopped. She thought the night would end like this, and just as she stacked the bowls, she heard a short slap from the direction of Hu Touyuan, and the woman's "Ah" - very soft, like being cut off. Zhao Tiezhu said: "It's not over yet. Sometimes I still need that after the fight. You don't understand, just go to sleep."

Sun Guiying didn't understand and didn't want to understand. She blew on the stove, returned to the bunk under her feet, and pulled the corners of the quilt over her ears. The old Zhou family next door was quiet, and the Masan family was quiet too - the Masan family was probably not quiet either, but their crying was muffled by the door. The entire Hongqi Street sounded its own sound in the winter night, like machines that were not connected to each other. Only the lights in Hutou's courtyard turned yellow and went out in the middle of the night.

She closed her eyes, and in front of her eyes was still the pouting figure of Ma San under the locust tree during the day, Mrs. Hu's raised hand by the well, and the same sound behind the door at that moment - no audience, no laughter, only the bolted courtyard door, and a lamp that turned yellow into the night. She suddenly thought: Mrs. Hu beats Ma San's daughter-in-law during the day, and is beaten by Hu Tou at night. If she offends Mrs. Hu at the well one day, will Zhao Tiezhu do what Ma San did and go home and blame her?

She didn't dare to think further, so she just tucked the corners of the quilt a little tighter.

(5)

A few days after the Ma San incident, Hongqi Street entered the depths of winter. The weather was short and work ended early, so it took one trip to fetch water; a thin layer of ice formed on the well rope, which made a clanking sound when it hit the edge of the bucket.

The women gathered at the well again—Sister-in-law Liu, Zhou Caixia, Aunt Wang, and a few daughters-in-law who had just finished fetching water, banging buckets against each other and talking in low voices. Talking about vegetable prices, talking about cotton coupons issued by the factory, talking about which man lost money, there was no way around Mrs. Hu. Sun Guiying squatted beside the well rope, waiting for the bucket to fall to the bottom, her ears pricked up, not daring to interrupt. She has seen Mrs. Hu slap Ma and his three wives. She tries to stagger them every time she comes to fetch water, but there is only one well and she cannot avoid them. I came late today and bumped into this crowd of people.

"...Sister Hu's hands are so dark." Someone lowered his voice.

"Why are you black? This man is even darker." Aunt Wang answered, quickly looked around the mouth of the well, and lowered her voice, "Don't let her hear this."

Zhou Caixia clenched Yaya's hand tightly and whispered: "I won't talk too much anyway. Lao Zhou said, bearded sister-in-law, please stay away from her."

Sister-in-law Liu sighed: "Whether we want to get along or not, we have to meet each other at the well. You should learn to be kind - just accept whatever she asks you. Don't be like the little Lu family who still doesn't know the depth after half a year."

As soon as "Xiao Lu" came out of the words, Xiao Lu's wife emerged from the cracks in the crowd - holding half a bucket of water, her face was still tender, but her mouth was quick, she smiled at everyone: "What do you think of me? Why don't I know the depth? Mrs. Hu is so powerful, it's not just because of her own man..."

Before the second half of the sentence even landed, the well seemed to be pinched by someone, and it fell silent.

Mrs. Hu came late today and didn't fetch water when she arrived. She just leaned on the derrick and listened - I don't know how long she listened. She took her arm back from the derrick, slowly, as if getting up to do an errand that should have been done long ago. Before Xiao Lu's wife could react, her hair had been grabbed and she was dragged to the well platform. The bucket fell to the ground, water covered her feet, and ice particles splashed into her shoes.

"What did you just say? Loud it, so the sisters can hear it."

Xiao Lu's wife's face turned pale and her lips trembled: "I...I'm talking nonsense...Sister-in-law Hu...I..."

"Nonsense? Okay, there must be rules for talking nonsense."

Mrs. Hu opened her arms from left to right and slapped Little Lu's daughter-in-law, who turned her face away. Her nosebleed came out, stuck to the corner of her mouth, and dripped on the edge of the well platform, which was so red that it pierced her eyes. Mrs. Liu took half a step forward, then stopped. The barrel rope was tightened in her palm, leaving a deep mark. Zhou Caixia pressed Yaya into her arms and covered the child's eyes with her hands. Aunt Wang looked up at the sky, it looked like it was going to snow. Sun Guiying clenched the well rope tightly, her knuckles turned white - she had seen Mrs. Hu slapping Ma's three wives, but she had never seen what happened next, and she had never seen so many women beside the well, all of them looking like nails on the ground.

"Don't you like to say 'fight against men'?" Mrs. Hu grabbed Xiao Lu's wife's hair, lifted her face up, and showed it to everyone, "I won't fight today. Today it's just me and you, women with women."

She slapped her a few more times until Mrs. Lu couldn't stand firmly, and her knees hit the edge of the well with a thud. After Mrs. Hu had beaten her enough, she pushed her face down into the mud beside the well platform, then pulled her up and pushed her down to her knees. Her cotton pants and underwear were pulled down to her knees, exposing her white buttocks. Mrs. Lu cried loudly and begged for mercy. Mrs. Hu stepped on the back of her neck and pushed her face behind her. Mrs. Hu did not take off her pants, but only untied them a little, and sat firmly with her legs on Mrs. Lu's back, like a stool.

"Don't you think I'm taking advantage of men? Don't you know how to say that? Hear, what did I eat today? You can hear it clearly before you speak."

She leaned forward, pressed the back of Xiao Lu's wife's head, and pressed her swollen face firmly behind her buttocks. Little Lu's wife struggled, her sobs turned into retching, while Hu's wife didn't move and counted coldly: "One, two, three...have you smelled enough? Tell your sisters if you have smelled enough."

Xiao Lu's wife squeezed out broken words from her arms: "...I shouldn't...have a bad mouth...shouldn't talk about Mrs. Hu...shouldn't..."

"What shouldn't be done?"

"...Shouldn't...I can't smell it clearly...Sister-in-law Hu, please...please..."

"Excuse me?" Mrs. Hu laughed, but there was no warmth in her smile. "Excuse me, sisters, I can't remember. Do it again - where did you go wrong?"

"...I shouldn't...speak ill of Mrs. Hu...by the well...I shouldn't...be a bitch...ask Mrs. Hu...to teach me..."

Only then did Mrs. Hu let go, stood up, fastened her belt slowly, and kicked Xiao Lu's wife on the butt again: "Go home. I'll see you at the well tomorrow. If you still have the virtue, next time I'll let you put your mouth to them in front of them and smell them for half an hour. Whoever begs for mercy will accompany me."

Little Lu's daughter-in-law couldn't pull up her pants, so she climbed a few steps and was helped away by a daughter-in-law from the same hospital. Her cries were muffled in her sleeves, as if she was afraid of being called back if she made another sound. None of the women beside the well dared to move or help them—not because they didn't want to, but because they didn't dare. Mrs. Hu swept around, her eyes like whips, falling on Zhou Caixia's face, then on Mrs. Liu's face, and finally on Sun Guiying's face.

"Did you see that one from Tiezhu's family?"

Sun Guiying nodded, her throat tight. The sour smell just now wafted over a few feet away, and her stomach turned. She resisted vomiting, fearing that vomiting would be considered "disgraceful to Mrs. Hu".

Mrs. Hu came closer and pinched her chin as if weighing an object: "Keep your mouth clean. You'd better not step on your man's line and my man's line. If you step on it, Xiao Lu is like this, but it's still light." She let go of her hand and added, "If you can't stand being beaten, Tiezhu will teach you. If you can't deal with it, I'll teach you. Understand?"

Sun Guiying whispered: "...understand."

Mrs. Hu nodded with satisfaction, picked up the empty bucket she had brought late, and fetched water. Her movements were normal, as if she had just slipped on the edge of the well. The sound of water rushed past the nosebleeds on the edge of the well platform, past the mud prints, and past the dead silence just now. Then everyone slowly dispersed, and the bucket rope sounded again, but no one said anything anymore - you have to choose the time, the person to speak, and the presence or absence of Mrs. Hu.

Sister-in-law Liu walked past Sun Guiying, paused for half a second, moved her lips, and finally said nothing. She just carried the bucket away, her shoulders and back a little more bent than usual. Zhou Caixia hugged Yaya with her eyes downward, as if she was afraid that raising her eyes even an inch would cause a foul. Aunt Wang put the vegetable basket in her arms and changed hands, muttering "It's getting cold", as if she was looking for a safe word out of thin air. Sun Guiying was the last one to fill up the water. The well rope slipped in her hand, causing pain in her palm, as if to remind her: Don't forget. The water in the bucket swayed, causing her shoulder bones to ache. When passing by the gate of Hu Touhei's courtyard, it was quiet inside, as if nothing had happened; when passing by Masan's house, she heard the child crying inside the door, and she walked faster. Passing by the gate of Xiaolu's courtyard, a man could be heard scolding her: "You're such a loser, how did you become so virtuous..." She didn't dare to stop, and just tightened the barrel rope again.

Entering the hospital, Zhao Tiezhu was wiping the oil hand brought back from the machine tool. He raised his head and asked, "Why are you so slow?"

"...the well...crowded."

"Why are you squeezing? Just fetch water." Zhao Tiezhu glanced at her and didn't ask any questions. After wiping his hands, he pinched her face, not too hard. "Don't talk at night. The factory has been having a rough couple of days, so don't mess with me."

Sun Guiying said "hmm" and went into the kitchen to pour water. His hands were still shaking, and water spilled over half of the basin. She didn't tell anything about Xiao Lu's wife - why did she tell her? Let Zhao Tiezhu also comment on "Sister Hu's hands are dirty"? Or should Zhao Tiezhu say, "Don't go to the well"? There is only one well in this street, and if you have to cook food and drink water, you won’t miss a beat if you tell me.

When the meal was on the table, Zhao Tiezhu took two bites and suddenly asked: "Is Mrs. Hu at the well?"

Sun Guiying paused with her chopsticks: "...here."

"Just remember it now." Zhao Tiezhu nodded his chopsticks on the rim of the bowl, like ringing a bell, "Hu Tou Hu, Sister-in-law Hu, don't step on the two lines between men and women. If you step on it, I will beat you first, then Hu Tou will beat me, and Hu Tou will beat you again - three times, it's not worth it."

Sun Guiying lowered her head to eat, with rice stuck in her throat. Zhao Tiezhu added: "That daughter-in-law of Xiaolu's family still doesn't know how to shut up after half a year. It will happen sooner or later. Don't imitate her."

"...I don't want to learn."

"Yes." Zhao Tiezhu seemed to be relieved, but also seemed to be just casually saying, "As long as you respect Mrs. Hu. Respect is not to be afraid, but not to give her an excuse."

Sun Guiying didn't understand why she wasn't given the excuse. She only knew that the sour smell from the well just now was still in her nose. When she was washing the dishes, she opened the window to let some air in, and the cold wind came in, but it couldn't wash away the smell, as if it had already been written into her memory.

She filled the water tank, and in front of her eyes was always Xiao Lu's wife's swollen and deformed face stuck behind other people's buttocks, Mrs. Hu's cold voice counting "one, two, three", and Zhou Caixia's hand covering Yaya's eyes. She suddenly understood: Sister Hu among women and Hu Tou among men are the same kind of person - they cannot be offended, cannot be avoided, and they have to learn to retract their eyes even when they look at her; and these women beside the well, including herself, are the audience in this play, and they are also characters who may be picked up at any time next time.

It was getting dark, and Zhou Caixia walked past the courtyard wall with Yaya in her arms, her steps hurried, as if she was afraid of the dark. Sun Guiying was collecting clothes on the rope, and Zhou Caixia paused for half a second, her lips turned white, and finally she just said: "...Don't learn from Aunt Liu. Don't learn from Aunt Wang. And don't learn from me. Just do what Aunt Hu tells you to do - you can survive on this street."

Yaya asked: "Mom, why did Aunt Hu hit Aunt Lu?"

Zhou Caixia covered the child's mouth and dragged her away. Sun Guiying stood under the rope with no clothes left. Her hands were cold and her heart was even colder.

At night, sporadic sounds resounded on Hongqi Street: someone's man's curse, someone's daughter-in-law's low hum. Sun Guiying was sitting on the bunk under her feet when she heard the door of Hutou Courtyard slamming shut in the distance - Mrs. Hu had probably returned as well. She didn't know if Mrs. Hu would be as straight as she had been during the day when she came in, and whether she would kneel down in front of Hu Tou; she only knew that she would have to go to the well to fetch water tomorrow, and Mrs. Hu's words of "see you at the well tomorrow" were like a nail nailed to Xiao Lu's wife's body and her heart.

She closed her eyes and tucked the corners of the quilt tightly, as if tucking in a rule she hadn't yet understood. The wind rustled through the locust trees outside, and it sounded like a woman was whispering beside the well, or it was just the wind - she couldn't tell, and she didn't dare to tell.