The struggle for imperial power has lasted for many years, and in order to ascend the throne, the princes have performed scenes of fathers and sons turning against each other and brothers becoming enemies. No one in the Liang Kingdom cared about the suffering of all living beings, the world was in chaos, demons were rampant, and the people wailed.

……

There are only 100 villagers in Fengtou Village, Deyang County, Zhanzhou, because of its remote location, the county magistrate's feet have never set foot on the land here, so Fengtou Village has become a zone in the county.

Zhao Yu, the village chief who has passed the age of sixties, has practiced martial arts, it is said that the talisman is very powerful, but no one has seen it, he has a straight personality, he is bold, so he is respected, the prestige is very high, since he served as the village chief for more than 20 years, the villagers live and work in peace and contentment, and there has been no major incident in the village.

But five years ago, villager Gao Liang brought back a woman from the next village to become a relative, and the peaceful days of the Gao family are gone, and even the village is gradually no longer peaceful.

In the early morning of early spring, before the dawn, Aunt Wang, the daughter-in-law of the village chief who went out to buy vegetables, suddenly ran back to her yard in a hurry with empty lanzi, and shouted to Zhao Yu, who was practicing in the courtyard:

"Old man, go to the Gao family and take a look, that woman in the Gao family is going crazy again."

Zhao Yu was not in a hurry, and only then did he open his eyes and ask, "That mother-in-law of the Gao family is beating the child again?" ”

Aunt Wang threw down the basket in her hand, pinched Zhao Yu's arm, and said hurriedly: "Ouch, you better hurry up, I'm afraid I'm going to die if I'm late." ”

The two trotted all the way to Gao's house in the east of the village.

To say that the male owner of the Gao family, Gao Liang, is an honest man, was originally a blacksmith in the village, and the first wife has two sons, the eldest is called Gao Yuan, now eleven years old, the second is called Gao Le, seven years old, the eldest is steady, the second is lively, originally a harmonious family of four, but unfortunately the creation makes people, three years ago, Gao Liang's daughter-in-law died of illness, in order to have someone to take care of his two young children, Gao Liang married Jiang Lan, a girl from the next village, as his second wife.

At first, this Jiang Lan was not bad for the child, but then she became pregnant, Gao Liang wanted to make more money, so she went to a big blacksmith shop in the county town to work for people, who knows, he just walked on the front foot, Jiang Lan suddenly miscarried, the reason is that when Gao Le, who was just four years old, was chasing and playing with the puppy, the puppy rushed to the feet of Jiang Lan who was walking in the yard, Jiang Lan didn't pay attention, and was tripped by the dog, and fell hard.

The baby in her belly was gone, and she fell and killed the puppy. Since then, Jiang Lan has changed her face to the two children, beating and scolding has become commonplace, and then she has never been pregnant, and the imbalance in her heart has made her even worse over the years, and it is completely insignificant to beat the child, and after Gao Liang learned about it, he felt that he owed her, although he was dissatisfied, it was inconvenient to say anything.

Gao Liang is not worried about the two children, so he will go home every six months and hand over the little hard-earned money to Jiang Lan, hoping that she can treat the children better for the sake of him and money. In order to earn more money, he didn't live at home for a few days before leaving.

Although the villagers all know about Jiang Lan's beating of the children, they can't bear to see the old injuries on the two children before they heal and add new injuries, but after all, it is a family matter, and it is not good to say anything.

From afar, Zhao Yu and his wife heard Jiang Lan's sharp scolding from the courtyard of the Gao family, and many villagers were already surrounded outside the door.

Seeing the two of them coming, someone greeted him and said urgently: "Village chief, come and persuade you, Gao Liang's daughter-in-law will kill the child, if you are one step late, I am afraid that the child will die." ”

Aunt Wang hurriedly said, "You guys go in quickly." ”

The man stomped his foot anxiously: "The door is closed, we can't get in." ”

Hearing this, Zhao Yu knew that something was wrong, and without saying a word, he stepped forward and kicked open the courtyard door, and rushed in first, and everyone followed, hula and swarmed in.

But in the courtyard, Jiang Lan was holding a thick wooden stick and viciously smashed it on the head and body of a boy lying on the ground, and the boy curled up on the ground, holding his head without saying a word.

Zhao Yu grabbed the wooden stick in her hand, his eyes widened angrily, and he shouted, "You stop me!" He's just a child, how much enmity do you have with him, and you want to beat him to death? ”

Jiang Lan roared viciously: "He is my son, I can beat him as much as I want, it's your business?" What are you doing in my yard? Get out of here! ”

Zhao Yu clutched the wooden stick tightly and didn't let go, and said angrily: "Even if it's your child, you can't beat him like this, it will kill you, do you know?" There's still a royal law here, right? If you beat him again, believe it or not, I'll send you to the yamen?! ”

Jiang Lan glared at him fiercely, suddenly raised her leg and kicked the child on the ground hard, then she "snorted" heavily, threw the wooden stick, turned her head and went back to the house angrily, and closed the door with a "bang".

Everyone turned the child on the ground over with all hands and feet, only to see him, skinny, his face was covered with blood, his hands and legs, as long as he could see with the naked eye, were stained with blood, and he could hardly see a person's appearance, a pair of big eyes with tears, and a row of bloody tooth marks on his lower lip, which he had obviously bitten out by himself.

Aunt Wang was distressed, her eyes turned red instantly, and she asked, "Gao Yuan, are you okay?" ”

Gao Yuan lay on the ground, raised his hand and wiped the blood on his face, but the blood was smeared again, which made it even more miserable.

Looking at this bloody face, Aunt Wang's back was cold, tears couldn't help but fall, and she said softly:

"Silly boy, you know that she is ruthless, then don't provoke her, look at what you did, my aunt will take you to Lang Zhong to see, right?"

Gao Yuan shook his head weakly and slightly.

Some villagers said indignantly: "This Jiang Lan is too disagreeable, what kind of ability is it to bully a child, what kind of sin did the old Gao family create, why did he marry such a vicious woman." ”

"That is, if she is her own child, she is willing to give up this dead hand? It's just mad. ”

"Humph! This is called the present world, so she can't have children. ”

"After living together for so many years, even a stone has to be warmed, why is this person's heart so vicious?"

"Torturing two children like this is really a loss of conscience, and sooner or later there will be retribution."

Aunt Wang asked softly, "Gao Yuan, where is your brother?" ”

Hearing this, a trace of anxiety flashed in the boy's eyes, he did not speak, supported the ground with both hands, got up with difficulty, staggered to the well in the courtyard, carried the bucket, and fetched water from the well.

He put down the bucket and shook his head vigorously like a dog, the water droplets on his hair splashed instantly, he raised his hand and brushed his hair wildly, wiped his face, turned to the worried villagers and saluted with his fists, then turned around, staggered to the front of the hall, gently pushed the door open and walked in, when he turned back and closed the door, he looked at the people standing in the courtyard, his eyes flashed with gratitude, and then the door slowly closed.

Aunt Wang raised her hand to wipe her tears, and said helplessly: "Alas, these two children have suffered, how can I live such a life." ”

An elderly lady asked Zhao Yu: "Village chief, you said, Jiang Lan won't beat the child anymore, right?" ”

"If you hit her again, send her to the county yamen, is there really no royal law?!" Some gritted their teeth and were indignant.

"These two children are really miserable, their mother is gone, and now they are being bullied like this by their stepmother."

It was difficult for the Qing officials to cut off family affairs, Lao Zhao sighed and waved at the villagers: "Let's go, let's go back." ”

With that, he shook his head, put his hands behind his back, and walked out of the courtyard......

In the hall, Jiang Lan sat on a stool at the table, her cheeks puffed out and her face full of anger.

Gao Yuan staggered over, knelt down in front of her, and said:

"Mother, please let my brother go, he's still young."

"Put? You said let it go? What are you? Why should I listen to you? Jiang Lan glared at him viciously.

Gao Yuan straightened his back and said, "You said that as long as I was beaten, I would let my brother go." ”

There was a crisp sound of "pop", Jiang Lan slapped him heavily, and scolded: "It's your two nemesis that I can't give birth to a child, it's already my mercy if I don't kill you, last time he put senna in my tea, causing me to pull my stomach for a day, and the day before yesterday, someone put a locust in my pants, do you dare to say that he didn't do it?" This time, I'll settle the old accounts and the new accounts together, and ask me to let him go, don't dream! If you talk about it again, I'll even lock you up with you, and you won't let me get out and make breakfast!" ”

A trace of blood flowed from Gao Yuan's mouth, and now he was covered with wounds, he opened his mouth, and wanted to beg her again, but when he raised his eyes and saw her fierce face, he immediately swallowed the words that came to his mouth.

He stood up, opened the door and walked out, and Jiang Lan's scolding voice came from behind him:

"It's good to be able to raise you, and dare to put forward conditions to me, how long has your father not come back? The money is almost gone, so the old lady can't eat the meat, and if he doesn't come back, you all go to the mountains to dig wild vegetables......"

Takahara didn't say anything and went straight to the kitchen.

Since Jiang Lan's miscarriage, she has sprinkled her anger on the two brothers, and her younger brother Gao Le, who has a lot of ideas, always secretly blocks her, once she finds out, she can't escape a beating, she will be locked in the firewood room for eight out of ten days, sometimes she is not allowed to eat, and Gao Yuan is often beaten because he protects his younger brother.

Takahara cooks two meals a day, one for breakfast and one for dinner. The rest of the time, he had to go to the fields to work, plant vegetables, pick up dung, apply fertilizer, and water. Today, before making breakfast, he begged Jiang Lan to release his younger brother who had been locked up all night, and his request undoubtedly ushered in another violent beating.

At this moment, there are only two white radishes and a small handful of green vegetables in the kitchen, all of which are grown in her own field and on the plateau, and Jiang Lan never works in the field. And Takahara can't remember how long he hadn't eaten meat, and he almost forgot what it tasted like.

Bringing firewood, skillfully washing rice, washing vegetables, the knife of pure iron is heavy and sharp, he put the thick white radish on the cutting board, but the radish turned into the fierce face of his stepmother Jiang Lan, he was expressionless, two angry eyes shot out of a pair of big eyes, slowly lifted the knife, raised it above his head, and then cut it off with a knife......