When looking through the files of those divorce cases that have been concluded, Dongfang Siyi remembered the sentence of the famous modern writer Zhang Ailing: "Human nature is the most interesting book, and you can't finish reading it in a lifetime." "In divorce cases, it can be said that the human nature reflected in them is the richest and the most real.

There are three different understandings of human nature in traditional Chinese concepts, either that human nature is originally good, or that human nature is originally evil, and that there is also a concept that human nature is originally not good and evil, and that one thought is good and becomes good, and one thought is evil and then evil. However, the mainstream concept believes that goodness is the fundamental thing in human nature, so the traditional Chinese enlightenment cultural textbook "Three Character Classic" opens the book and says: "At the beginning of man, nature is good." ”

Dongfang Siyi feels that he is witnessing a tragicomedy dominated by human nature every day, and the parties in some cases always have to choose between good and evil thoughts before determining their own behavior. Just as a doctor sees a patient struggling with pain every day, he also looks at those whose conscience has been found, turning back from their lost path. Every marriage and family case is a real portrayal of life, everyone is a book, and human nature is a footnote to this book.

A thin figure shook outside the door, and Dongfang Siyi knew that it must be the party named Ye Zhen, so he shouted: "Come in." "He had been waiting for her, waiting for the decree to be delivered to her for the dissolution of the non-marital cohabitation. The staff of the Women's Federation are also waiting for her, waiting for her to be safely returned to her hometown.

The figure hesitated slightly, and finally appeared at the door of Dongfang Siyi's office.

The woman in front of her was pale and bloodless, and her long yellow hair was tied back with a strip of cloth and tilted to one side at will. A half-worn floral gown was loosely draped over her body, visibly much larger than her thin body.

It was almost autumn, the weather was very cold, and the woman's clothes looked a little thin. Behind the woman was a stout man, who wanted to squeeze out a little smile on his stiff face, and after working hard for a long time, he only squeezed into a few horizontal meats.

"This is the verdict, you can sign it here." Dongfang Siyi asked Xu Ming to hand the judgment to both parties, and Xu Ming pointed to the column of the parties on the certificate of service and asked them to sign it.

Dongfang Siyi looked at Ye Zhen and said, "I have helped you contact the comrades of the Women's Federation, they have already helped you buy a ticket to go home, and will escort you home safely." If there's anything else you need help with, you can talk to them yourself. They're waiting for you in the reception room, so let the clerk take you there now. ”

Ye Zhen bowed deeply to Dongfang Siyi, and the tears in her eyes couldn't help but flow out again: "Thank you." ”

Xu Ming glanced at the stunned man standing aside, turned his head and greeted Ye Zhen and said, "Let's go, I'll send you to see the comrades of the Women's Federation." Ye Zhen followed Xu Ming out of the office. The man who was stunned on the side with the verdict glanced at Ye Zhen who walked out, and the stiff expression on his face moved unconsciously, making it difficult to tell whether he was crying or laughing.

This is a case filed by the woman to dissolve the non-marital cohabitation relationship, and the facts of the case are embarrassing and thought-provoking.

Five years ago, Ye Zhen was fifteen years old. It's also like this, it's also like this when the weather gets colder, but the autumn in the mountains is colder. After finishing primary school, her parents were reluctant to let her go to middle school outside the mountains because she had two younger brothers, and her parents wanted to save money for her younger brothers to study.

After Ye Zhen quarreled with her parents, she ran away from home angrily and followed a group of people from the village to work in a county town in a neighboring province. Before leaving, I only took a few changes of clothes. She has never been far away, she doesn't know what it means to go out to work, she doesn't know who she will meet, she doesn't know what kind of tomorrow awaits her.

Ye Zhen is not yet sixteen years old, because she is not old enough, she has not been able to get an ID card, and it is difficult to find things to do outside. Because both the boss and the contractor know that child labor is punishable. Although Ye Zhen lied that she was over eighteen years old, others refused to believe her thin appearance.

There was no way, Ye Zhen could only follow a few bricklayers from the same village, do small work to move bricks and deliver bricks, and eat first. After following others to do small work for a few days, Ye Zhen heard from the same villager who came out to work together that one of his relatives was in charge of cooking on the construction site, and he couldn't be busy alone, and he still needed a helper in the room, so he asked Ye Zhen to give it a try.

Ye Zhen was used to cooking at home, and she worked very diligently, so the person in charge of the construction site agreed. Working in the dormitory, there must be no problem with eating, and there is also a different meal from others.

It's just that the boss is in arrears of wages, and he never pays the wages on time to the people who work in the house. Ye Zhen heard from others that the salary is settled every six months. Therefore, after working for more than two months, Ye Zhen has not been able to get a penny except to fill her stomach.

Working on the construction site and coming to eat in the room, there are carpenters, bricklayers and rebar workers, when they come to eat, there are always people who will make fun of Ye Zhen and say some inconsequential things, Ye Zhen will blush when he hears it. After a long time, she became numb, knowing that these people did not have much culture, and their speech was a little vulgar, so she ignored them and passed.

There is a person who has a very large amount of food, and when no one else is around, he likes to talk to Ye Zhen intentionally or unintentionally, and from time to time he even stuffs her with an apple, an orange or something. One day, he overheard that it was Ye Zhen's birthday, and after getting off work, he went to buy a silk scarf and gave it to her quietly.

Ye Zhen has never received a birthday gift, so she has some good feelings for him. After that, he slowly became familiar with him, and he often chatted with her when he had nothing to do. Ye Zhen knew that his surname was Mai, his name was Mai Daer, he was more than ten years older than her, and he was the squad leader responsible for tying steel bars on the construction site.

Mai Da'er will help Ye Zhen do some work when he is fine, and one day, he looked at Ye Zhen seriously and said, "You just call me big brother, I will take care of you, and I won't let others bully you." In the future, if someone bullies you, you can tell me, and I will stand up for you. Ye Zhen also thought that if someone could take care of herself, of course she would be happy, and when she heard Mai Da'er say this, she regarded him as her eldest brother.

When Ye Zhen worked in the dormitory on the construction site for the third month, several major events happened on the construction site one after another. First, there was a scaffolding collapse accident, and several workers fell from the scaffolding and were injured, but fortunately there were no fatalities.

Then, because the boss deliberately cut corners during the construction process, in a joint law enforcement routine inspection organized by the government, many problems were found by the government's regulatory departments. During that inspection of the construction situation, the inspectors also brought a reporter from the newspaper, and the boss's cutting corners during the construction process was exposed by the media.

When the boss heard that he was going to be punished, he was afraid that he would be held legally responsible, so he even played hide and seek. The figure of the boss disappeared, and all kinds of work on the construction site naturally stopped. The workers were worried that they would not be paid and dispersed, and everyone said that they would not be paid and would not return to work.

Mai Da'er said to Ye Zhen: "It seems that there is no way to do it here, everyone is afraid of working in vain due to arrears of wages." I'm going back to my hometown, where we rely on the city, so it's much easier to find things to do, and it's easier to find a place to work and earn more money than here. ”

Ye Zhen asked with some suspicion: "Then why don't you look for something to do at home?" Why do you want to come here to work? Mai Daer thought for a while and explained: "At first, I didn't know, I thought I could make money here, but I didn't expect so many things to happen. It's better to go back, you will definitely earn money when you go back, and you will definitely earn more than here. ”

Mai Daer knew that Ye Zhen ran out of anger with her family, so she deliberately asked her: "Are you going back too?" ”

Ye Zhen's eyes turned red, and she remembered what she said to her mother when she ran away from home: "I just died outside and won't come back." When my mother heard her words, she felt funny and sad, thinking that Ye Zhen was just a momentary anger, so she ignored her, but she didn't expect that she really went out to work with others.

Mai Da'er saw tears rolling in Ye Zhen's eyes, so she smiled and persuaded Ye Zhen: "If you believe in the eldest brother, go back with me." I'm sure I can help you find a place to work and earn money. Once you've earned your own money, you can do whatever you want. ”

Ye Zhen's only thought was that she could go anywhere, as long as she could earn money, she just didn't want to go home. In those days, Mai Daer followed her every day, and she had no better place to go, so she nodded and agreed without thinking much when she heard him say this.

Mai Daer took Ye Zhen by train overnight, and took the train for a whole day and a night. The next night, I got off the train at a small station in the middle of nowhere. Except for a few dim street lamps on a few telephone poles on the station, it was pitch black all around. Ye Zhen didn't know where she had been, she just felt that it should be the second half of the night.

When she arrived at a place where she was unfamiliar with life, Ye Zhen could only follow Mai Da'er without saying a word. After walking for about an hour, the sky slowly brightened. She found that they had come to a river, where there was a small wharf, and on which a small wooden boat for ferrying was parked.

Mai Da'er took Ye Zhen on the boat, Ye Zhen was a little scared at that time, so she asked Mai Da'er where was she going? Mai Da'er said to her, "Don't worry, I will take care of you." I'm not a human trafficker, so you don't need to be suspicious. Although Ye Zhen had some doubts in her heart, she knew that since she was on the boat, it was useless to regret it.

Mai Daer took Ye Zhen across the river, went up to the embankment, and looked around, only to find that this is Jiangxinzhou, which is surrounded by river water. They disembarked and walked another part of the trail to a small village. Because the surroundings were covered by tall and low trees, when I entered the village, I found that there was only one family in front of and behind the village.

A hunchbacked old lady sat at the door basking in the sun, a big yellow dog squatted there with a long tongue, and when she saw Mai Da'er, she ran over, biting his trouser leg affectionately, and then ran over vigilantly, sniffing vigorously behind Ye Zhen, Ye Zhen was scared and crying at that time.

The hunchbacked old lady said in a hoarse voice: "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, you are a guest, it will not bite you." Son, take the girl into the house. When Ye Zhen looked at Mai Da'er, she found that Mai Da'er was looking at her and smiling, smiling very much.

The hunchbacked old lady looked very kind, she made the lunch, killed a chicken, and cooked several dishes. Ye Zhen was really hungry, and after eating a few big bowls of rice at noon that day, the old lady kept looking at her and laughing.

Mai Da'er drank a few large glasses of wine at noon that day, and he told Ye Zhen that the old lady was his grandmother, who was over eighty years old. In his early years, Mai Daer's father helped people run transportation on river boats, but later the boat sank, and his father has been missing since then.

Mai Daer was seven years old that year, and his younger brother Mai Erer was only three years old. A year later, Mai Da'er's mother ran away with a grass stage troupe who came to the continent to sing opera, and never came back, and it was her grandmother who raised them. A few years ago, his younger brother also went out to work, and he didn't come back for several years, and he rarely had contact with him.

Mai Da'er was so drunk that she fell asleep on the table, and the hunchbacked old lady asked Ye Zhen to sleep in Mai Da'er's brother's room. Ye Zhen also didn't close her eyes for a day and a night, and slept very deeply that night.

Ye Zhen didn't wake up until the afternoon of the next day, opened her eyes and didn't know where she was, and saw the hunchbacked old lady sitting on the edge of the bed looking at her and smiling, only then did she remember some things that had happened in the past few days. Ye Zhen was scared and regretted, and when she saw the hunchbacked old lady with a kind smile on her face, she forgot about her fear for a while.

Mai Da'er was not in the house, and the hunchbacked old lady told Ye Zhen: "Da'er went out early in the morning, he took the fishing net, and went to the river to fish." It wasn't until late evening that McDale came back with a net and a basket full of fish, big and small.

Mai Da'er seemed to be very excited, looked at Ye Zhen happily and said: "Today's luck is really good, I haven't fished for a long time, and there are at least forty or fifty catties of fish here, which is enough for us to eat together for a while." I'll make you a delicious meal later. As he spoke, he busily took a bright kitchen knife from the kitchen to cut the fish.

The dinner that day was indeed very rich, Ye Zhen didn't expect Mai Da'er to cook fish, and the fish she made was very delicious. There are also a lot of tricks, there are braised fish heads, fish fillet soup, and whole grilled fish, Ye Zhen feels that Mai Da'er is changing her way to make her happy, it is the most delicious meal Ye Zhen has ever eaten.

Mai Da'er also took Ye Zhen to play on the river embankment a few times, and told her that this place is called Jiang Xinzhou, which is a place far away from the Tiangao Emperor, and everyone usually goes out to work, and those who stay are some old people and children.

In those days, Ye Zhen forgot everything outside, and sometimes mentioned to Mai Da'er that she was going out to work, Mai Da'er always said that the matter of working should not be rushed, he was already asking where there was work to earn money, and promised to let her leave if he found something.

Ye Zhen settled down to help him do farm work in the field, and a few acres of land in Mai Da'er's house were not far from home. He told Ye Zhen that these fields should be planted with one season of rice, one season of wheat and cotton, and some peanuts a year. There are a lot of vegetables planted in the open space in front of the house and behind the house, and if the year is good, you can be self-sufficient. If the river is big and flooded, there will be no harvest, life will be difficult, and it will be difficult to earn money without going out to work.

There are quite a few houses in the McDaer family, about six or seven rooms, but they are all mud-walled thatched huts, and there is nothing that looks valuable at home. Ye Zhen was a little skeptical of what Mai Da'er said, if he could really earn money as he said, this family should not be so poor in front of him.

(Next Preview: Chapter 83: The Lost Winter Night)