The trial practice in the past few years has made Xu Ming feel that marriage and family life are increasingly reflecting the truest side of human nature. His three-year experience as a clerk has allowed him to see all kinds of real cases, many of which are vivid stories of human tragedy and joy that cannot be found in textbooks, or even imagined. Some surprised him, some saddened, some indignant, and some haunted him.

Xu Ming can't be like his master Dongfang Siyi, who can be as calm as water in the face of all kinds of complex emotional entanglements, and he has been complained many times because he can't bear to reprimand the parties who confuse right and wrong by reversing black and white.

Xu Ming sometimes doubts his choice, doubts whether he is suitable for the job of court trial, and doubts whether he will not be able to continue to engage in trial work in the future. So much so that he once had the psychology of wanting to escape, to escape this trivial and monotonous work day after day. He felt that he was faced with all kinds of marriage cases and could no longer work and live calmly.

Whenever he encounters such an uncomfortable situation, he will fall into a kind of confusion. This is a kind of confusion about the meaning of work, a confusion about life, a confusion about social civilization and progress, and naturally also a confusion about marriage, family and love.

He doubts that he can really uphold social fairness and justice, as promised when he took the oath of employment. He doubted that his ideal of life was a vain fantasy that could never be realized, and he doubted whether social progress was just material progress, and that with the abundance of material life, spiritual life would become more and more impoverished, and moral restraint would become more and more weak. He wondered whether the instability of family and marriage would become an irreversible trend, and love could only become a beautiful yearning, but it was unattainable.

Xu Ming can't forget the embarrassing scene that happened when he was making a trial transcript, the young couple's indifferent eyes and numb expressions made him feel like falling into an ice cellar, and the conversation between the two sides in the courtroom was also unbelievable.

Before the trial, clerk Xu Ming checked the identity information of the parties as usual.

Xu Ming looked at the two parties who were sitting on one side in the courtroom, but never looked at each other, and after checking the ID cards of the two people, he asked according to the usual practice: "Plaintiff, your name, age, ethnicity, occupation, address?" ”

The woman sitting in the plaintiff's seat raised her head and said, "My name is Cao Juhua, I am twenty-nine years old this year, Han nationality, a farmer who farms the land, where do I live?" Where do you live now? Or my mother's address? The current address is No. 55, Baota Village, Wuqiao Town, and the address of my mother's home is No. 90, Zhoutou Village, Hewan Township. ”

Xu Ming turned his eyes to look at the party in the defendant's dock again: "Defendant, your name, age, ethnicity, occupation, address?" ”

The man sitting in the defendant's seat was stunned for a moment, obviously thinking about his own thoughts, and then reacted: "Ma Erwang, thirty-two years old, Han nationality, farmer, address is No. 55, Baota Village, Wuqiao Town. ”

In the courtroom, the national emblem was hung high, and Dongfang Siyi tapped the gavel on his right hand as usual, and the sound of the specific wood suddenly sounded in the space of the courtroom, crisp and heavy, short and neat.

Dongfang Siyi then announced: "Now that the trial is open, plaintiff Cao Juhua, what are the facts and reasons for your request for divorce from the defendant Ma Erwang?" ”

Plaintiff Cao Juhua glanced at the opposite side, then looked at the judge on the trial table, and hesitated: "Facts and reasons? Do you have to tell the facts and reasons? Facts and reasons are poverty, and poverty is facts and reasons. It's not ordinary poverty, it's too poor, and the poor can't live anymore. There is only one way to go, and that is divorce. ”

Dongfang Siyi looked at the plaintiff with some surprise, and then asked the defendant: "What is your opinion on what the plaintiff just said?" ”

Defendant Ma Erwang's face was a little embarrassed: "She never took into account my feelings as a man, she doesn't have the virtue of a woman, and she doesn't understand the virtue of a woman." Compared to the rich, I am very poor, but I am not like she said, there is no way to live poor. In addition to farming, I also go out to do some work, earn some money to support my family, and I can still get by. ”

Plaintiff Cao Juhua looked at the other side with disdain: "Hmph, it's really funny." What right do you have to say that I am not as virtuous as a woman? What is a woman's virtuousness? Does a woman's virtue mean that she must follow a man and suffer without regret? Is a woman's virtue that she can let a man belittle herself at will, no matter what? ”

The defendant Ma Erwang was unconvinced and accused the plaintiff Cao Juhua and said: "Don't use strong words in court, you didn't tell the truth to the judge, in fact, you are belittleing me, not that I am going to belittle you, you have reversed the facts." ”

Plaintiff Cao Juhua became even more angry: "Hmph, which one is cheap?" Don't you count in your heart? Do you have to say it? Do you want the judge to judge us? If you have to do this, I'll say it in court, are you willing? Don't regret that I didn't give you face. ”

Defendant Ma Erwang's face was pale, and his eyes were full of unwillingness: "Then you can talk about it now, let the judge judge and judge, you use my sweat towel as a sanitary napkin, am I cheaping you?" Will the judge agree? Nor would anyone think that you, a woman, would be justified in doing this. ”

Plaintiff Cao Juhua sneered and asked: "You are reluctant to buy me toilet paper and sanitary napkins, aren't you cheapening me?" Instead, I belittled you? You didn't make it clear before the judge. I only said what is good for you and can help you, not how many sins I have suffered, and not how much I have suffered with you. Are you still a man? ”

"The little shop in the village doesn't sell the stuff you said you said at all." The man's tone softened a little, as if he knew he had no suitable reason.

The woman had no intention of giving in: "I asked you to buy some by the way when you were working in the town, did you buy it?" Do you have it in mind? ”

The man lowered his head and was silent for a moment, this was a simple question that he couldn't avoid: "I didn't buy it, it's not that I don't want to buy it for you, to be honest, that thing is really too expensive, it's not worth buying." The income from my part-time job for a day is only enough to buy a few packs of paper, and I can't afford it even if I think about it. ”

"That's right, because in your eyes, I'm not worth those few toilet papers and pads. Is this a couple? If you raise a chicken, you have to feed it a few handfuls of rice every day, and if you raise a dog, you have to give it a few bones every day. You don't care about the woman you live with, is this what a man does? Can you be considered a man? Can I continue to live like this with you? Tell me for yourself, isn't this poor? What does it mean to be poor? I'm already poor to the heart! Poor to the bone! Poor couldn't be poorer. The woman's words came to the point, and the series of questions were like sharp blades, ruthlessly cutting through the last trace of shame that the man wanted to hide.

Xu Ming lowered his head and made notes mechanically, never wanting to read it anymore, nor did he want to read it, or it could be said that he didn't dare to look at the couple directly. He didn't think that in the middle of nowhere, in such a poor situation in the remote countryside, can you blame that young woman? Her little remaining feminine dignity has been squeezed out of space by a life of poverty, in the face of such poverty, can you persuade them that husband and wife should get along with each other?

And the man who bowed his head and said nothing, his poverty was not simply material poverty, this kind of poverty was relatively easy to change, especially in such an era, absolute poverty may be becoming a thing of the past. And his poverty is in his heart, as the plaintiff Cao Juhua feels, it is a kind of spiritual poverty, it is a kind of poverty that is poor to the heart, and poor to the bones. This kind of poverty is the real poverty, and even if you have more material things, it will be like living in a desert, an extreme spiritual poverty, a desert of emotional death.

The trial ended in the indifferent confrontation between the plaintiff Cao Juhua and the defendant Ma Erwang, Dongfang Siyi calmly glanced at the young man and woman, who did not use their hands to create wealth in their lives, but deprived each other of the minimum dignity with their hands, and he once again sounded the gavel: "The court is closed now." ”

In the face of such extreme spiritual poverty, morality has become pale and powerless, and who wants to struggle in vain in the mud of hopelessness? Nobody wants to do that, neither do them, you can't ask them to stay in that quagmire, you don't have the right to make that choice for them, and the more they struggle in the quagmire, the deeper the resentment will become.

When they get the judgment granting the divorce, there is no trace of nostalgia on the faces of both parties, and some are just relaxed after liberation, which is a helpless choice. When they find that they can no longer find the most basic life and dignity to support each other, saving themselves by ending this hopeless marriage has become their only right choice, and it is also the best choice for them.

This couple, mired in material and spiritual poverty, seems to be outcasts from the increasingly rich material world, not only are they not working together to change the basic material base, but they also have no more spiritual needs. For them, spiritual needs are illusory and unrealistic, a castle in the air, a flower in a mirror, and a moon in the water.

In this case, the role of material foundations in family and marriage is magnified to the top, allowing you to unwittingly touch the point of your soul that supports goodness, and make you ignore or simply ignore everything else in life. For them, spiritual life is a luxury that is far beyond their reach, so they also lose what little spiritual food they have in the first place, and they become hungry poor people in the spiritual world.

When the last shred of dignity is destroyed, the fragile bond that makes up this family and marriage collapses in that instant. The male protagonist is not a cowherd, and the female protagonist is not a weaver girl. They don't have any magic power to change their fate, they are just ordinary women who can survive by eating the fireworks of the world. Living in this world, they have the right to continue to find their own earthly fireworks and spiritual home.

In this case, Xu Ming felt a kind of powerlessness. He felt that what the master and himself had to do and could do was only to untie the invisible rope that bound the young couple. Liberation is salvation, nothing more, there is no alternative.

If the old man of the moon holds a pair of men and women together with a red thread, then the poverty and wealth of the material, the perseverance and loss of the spirit, and the goodness and despicability of human nature are the two ends of this red rope. They are opponents who pull each other, and they will tear this red rope apart at any time, and the decisive victory is not only the material they have, but also the spirit they have.

(Next Episode: Chapter 81: The Need for Emotion)