The bride wanted to complain to Aunt Zhou to gain sympathy, but Aunt Zhou told the bride about the history of the Zhou family's suffering. Although the Zhou family has been poor for generations, there are people who are poorer than the Zhou family. The groom's grandmother, Wu Shi, was a child daughter-in-law who came to Magpie Village, Calamus Township, where Zhou's family was located, from another poorer family at a very young age. Wu really hopes that her mother-in-law will send her to a wealthy family to be a child daughter-in-law, but the wealthy family does not worry about marrying a daughter-in-law, who wants her. Because Magpie Village is also very poor, the grandfather of the Zhou family was afraid that his son would not be able to marry a wife in the future, so he went to other places to bring the Wu family as a child daughter-in-law. Anyway, Wu's mother-in-law and father-in-law's family are very poor, and this is also a good match, so she has no choice but to admit it.

Wu's husband, Zhou Ye, was still very young at that time, a little boy with a runny nose, running around in open crotch pants and barefoot all day long. When Wu came to Zhou's house, Zhou Ye was very happy, and circled around her all day long, asking where did this little sister come from? Others said that this was your mother's little sister for you, but he didn't believe it. For him, the Wu family is a little angel who fell from the sky, specially descending to play with him. When Wu was homesick, Zhou Ye kept teasing her and coaxing her. Zhou Ye, like Wu's own brother, takes care of her carefully all the time, afraid that she will return to her mother's house if she is unhappy one day. If he has anything to eat, give it to her first. His own sister asked him for it, but he didn't give it, which caused his own sister to be jealous, and the Wu family was bullied a lot. As he grew older, everyone in the village laughed at Zhou Ye for having a wife. At that time, Wu didn't know what a husband and wife were, and they didn't know what it meant to be a husband and wife. She and Zhou Ye seemed to listen to the adults teasing them incomprehensibly, they just played with themselves, ate their own, and lived their childhood happily.

At that time, not long after the end of the Xinhai Revolution, girls in the countryside still had the habit of binding their feet. Zhou Ye has a younger sister, she has a pair of small and delicate little feet, and when she plays with Wu, she runs faster than anyone else. In their carefree childhood, they went to the hillside to pick wildflowers, went to the fields to catch insects, and climbed big trees to dig birds' nests like boys. When the adults in the village saw Sister Zhou, they shook their heads and said, "Poor good feet, they will soon be wrapped in shreds!" ”

"I don't want to bind my feet! I don't want to bind my feet! Zhou Ye's sister said to her mother, Mrs. Zhou, when she came home. Mrs. Zhou never mentioned the matter of binding her feet at that time, but unfortunately she was poked out by other big tongues in the village. Mrs. Zhou comforted Sister Zhou with kind words: "Okay, good, I won't wrap your feet." After a while, when Zhou Mei almost forgot about the foot-binding, Mrs. Zhou coaxed Zhou Mei around the corner and said: "Good boy, if you wrap your feet, you will look good, and others will like it." ”

Zhou Mei said: "I saw your feet, they are too ugly, like ghost claws!" I resolutely do not bind my feet! If you're a good mother, don't let me bind my feet! ”

"My good boy, Mommy is here to wrap your feet. You see that all the girls in the village who are older than you are bound to their feet, only you are lagging behind, and everyone in the village is criticizing your mother! If you don't bind your feet, you won't be able to marry in the future, who would want a girl with big feet! Mrs. Zhou said. Zhou Mei cried and made a fuss and resolutely resisted, but she couldn't resist the ancient feudal ideas that Mrs. Zhou had already soaked into the bone marrow, so she had to let those little feet be destroyed. When Zhou Mei was binding her feet, Wu heard a terrible cry outside her room. Later, Wu saw that her feet were wrapped in a very hard cloth, and bright red blood seeped out of the footcloth, and later, her feet were deformed, and she lost many pleasures in picking wild flowers and catching insects.

After Zhou Mei's feet were wrapped, Mrs. Zhou had a sense of accomplishment and wanted to wrap Wu's feet again. Wu also desperately opposed, and then hid. Wu returned to her mother's house, and her mother said to her: "Child, your future home will be in Magpie Village, you have to listen to your mother-in-law!" Mrs. Zhou found Wu's mother-in-law and brought Wu back, and then Wu was forcibly bound to his feet. At that time, the old people in the village said that there was a dynasty called the Ming Dynasty in the past, and there was a founding emperor, and the queen of the family did not bind her feet, she was the queen of the big-footed horse. Mrs. Zhou, you have been devastated by foot binding, why do you still destroy the Wu family?

Mrs. Zhou twisted Wu's four toes, except for the big toe, toward the center of her foot, and then wrapped her foot tightly with a cloth. As soon as Wu's foot hit the ground, it was very painful. At that time, it was said that the "Xinhai Revolution" had already happened, to liberate all women in the country, and to require women to no longer bind their feet. What a great man's decision! But far water could not quench the thirst of the near, and the great man's decision did not work at all in the small village of Magpie Village. The great man's decision failed to save Zhou Mei's feet, and her feet are now a standard three-inch golden lotus!

The person who saved Wu's foot was another old lady in the village. They said to Mrs. Zhou: "If you wrap your daughter's feet, you won't worry that your daughter won't be able to get married, so don't wrap your daughter-in-law's feet anymore, anyway, your daughter-in-law is already married, and it's useless to wrap it, and it will affect your work in the future." "Thank you so much to these old ladies, Wu's feet were wrapped for a few days before they were released. Wu's feet are not completely deformed, and he is very dexterous in work and walking. Wu is very glad that she has a pair of big feet, and her big feet can be basically preserved because she is a child daughter-in-law. Because she is a child daughter-in-law, Zhou Ye will no longer choose other girls, so she doesn't have to bind her feet to compete with other girls. Zhou Ye doesn't dislike Wu's big feet at all, because she can play with him everywhere, and can still pick wildflowers, catch small insects, and climb big trees to dig birds' nests together. When Wu and Zhou Mei were still young, they and Zhou Ye often ate and slept together without the slightest scruples. When Wu and Zhou Mei grew up, Zhou Ye obviously kept a corresponding distance from them. Later, Mrs. Zhou found that the time was ripe, so she held a wedding banquet for Zhou Ye and Wu, and Wu became the official daughter-in-law of Magpie Village.

After saying this, Aunt Zhou said to the bride: "We women are really miserable. Wu has been a child daughter-in-law since she was a child and married to the Zhou family, this is her life, she has already admitted it. Kid, you admit it! ”

The bride begged again: "Auntie, you see that our women are so miserable, you can let me go!" ”

Aunt Zhou said: "I didn't want to marry into the Zhou family at that time, and I was also forced. Then, Aunt Zhou told the bride about her history. Aunt Zhou was in another village in Calamus Township at the time, Aunt Zhou's father was a gambler, not doing his job, after the death of the old father, he soon lost the family property left by the old father, and owed a lot of gambling debts. Debt collectors often come to collect debts, and Aunt Zhou's father had to hide outside and dare not go home. Later, the Zhou family came to propose marriage, gave Aunt Zhou's father a large sum of money, let him pay off the gambling debts and the balance, and married Aunt Zhou to the Zhou family in Magpie Village, and became the official daughter-in-law of the Zhou family. Aunt Zhou had a childhood sweetheart at that time, and they had made a private lifelong agreement. However, after all, she couldn't resist her parents' orders, and according to the matchmaker's words, Aunt Zhou was married to the Zhou family by her father, and she got used to it as time went by.

"I didn't want to marry into the Zhou family at that time, and after a long time, I am not used to it now. Kid, you admit it! Aunt Zhou continued to persuade.

"Auntie, although your mother-in-law Wu is a child daughter-in-law, this is also allowed by society at that time. Although you don't want to marry here, after all, it is legal to have your parents in charge. I was sold here by human traffickers, all of this is illegal, auntie, just let me go! The bride said.

"I don't dare let you go, kid. I let you go, and the old man will beat me to death. Also, in order to buy you, all the money in our family was spent. How do you make our family live? Aunt Zhou said. Then, Aunt Zhou and the bride both cried in the firewood room. "What a sin!" Aunt Zhou slapped the branches in the firewood room with both hands.

Hu Kehao heard this outside the firewood room, and his heart was really mixed. Could it be that the deformed marital status of the three generations of the Zhou family is inherited from generation to generation? Soon, Old Man Zhou returned home and said to Aunt Zhou: "It's not good, my son's life was kicked by that female goblin." The doctor said that he had a broken heel and needed surgery, and that we had to rush for money. ”