Sold into a ghost marriage? Four-year-old and his thuggish father go on a killing spree.

"Mom, I've never asked you for anything in my life."

When the door to the main room was pushed open from the outside, the kerosene lamp on the stove flickered.

The wick hissed and emitted a plume of black smoke.

Gu Yanqiu stood at the entrance of the main room.

His cotton-padded coat was covered with yellow dust and night dew.

His eyes were bloodshot – he had walked thirty miles of mountain road without taking a single rest.

Niannian was placed behind him.

The little girl, wrapped in her father's cotton-padded coat, stood inside the doorway, only half of her head showing.

Wang Guifang was awakened by the sound of the door creaking on the kang (a heated brick bed) in the main room.

She sat up, propping herself up on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), half of her hair disheveled.

Under the light, that wrinkled face looked like a crumpled old cotton cloth.

"Second brother? You, why are you back—wasn't it the training course—?"

"Mom. Tell someone to get up."

Gu Yanqiu's voice was unusually flat.

There was no anger.

There were no questions asked.

It's that kind of tone—extremely calm.

It is ten times more terrifying than rage.

Wang Guifang was stunned.

"Who are you calling—"

"Yanchun. Xiufen. Father."

He counted them one by one.

"Shout it out. Tonight—let's get to the bottom of this."

-

When Sun Xiufen was woken up, her expression changed three times.

Wrapped in a cotton-padded coat, she followed Gu Yanchun into the main room, her eyes first glancing at Niannian—and seeing the girl standing there unharmed, her pupils contracted sharply.

Niannian glanced back at her.

There was no dodge.

Gu Yanchun, wearing thick cotton-padded trousers and with her hair still uncombed, stood against the wall with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

His face wore the aloof expression typical of a militia captain—

It was more like he was there to hear a report than to be questioned by his younger brother.

Gu Dehou was the last to come in.

The old man, leaning on his pipe, sat on a low stool near the door.

He didn't say a word.

The tobacco pipe rested on his knee.

My eyelids are drooping, so I can't see what's under my eyes.

Everyone's here.

Gu Yanqiu walked to the middle of the main room.

Facing Wang Guifang on the kang (a heated brick bed).

"Mom, I told you, I've never asked you for anything in my life."

His voice was not high.

But each word echoed as it struck the blue brick floor.

"I accept that you favor my eldest brother."

"I accept that you don't provide me with good food or clothing."

"I accept that my wife is gone, and you didn't even offer a word of comfort."

He paused for a moment.

"But you're going to sell my daughter—"

"I don't acknowledge it."

The last three words were like three iron nails driven into the crossbeam of the main room.

-

Wang Guifang reacted faster than Nian Nian had expected.

"Who said I was going to sell her?" the old woman wailed immediately, her voice high-pitched and shrill. "I was just finding her a good family—second son, don't you even know your own circumstances! A grown man who can't even support his daughter, while the Li family has eight acres of land—"

"The Li family."

Gu Yanqiu accepted the two words.

"The Li family in Wangjiagou. The couple has no children."

He read these messages aloud one by one—exactly the same as the ones Nian Nian had engraved on the aluminum lunchbox.

Wang Guifang opened her mouth slightly, but didn't have time to respond.

"Give me twenty yuan," Gu Yanqiu continued.

Wang Guifang's face tightened.

"The matchmaker's surname is Li. She'll come to pick up the person the day after tomorrow."

I couldn't hold it in any longer.

"How—how did you know—"

Gu Yanqiu did not answer.

He turned around and stretched out his hand towards the door.

Niannian stepped forward.

He pulled the aluminum lunchbox out of the pocket of his cotton-padded coat.

Turn it over.

It was handed out.

The engravings on the bottom of the lunchbox are crooked and uneven, but every stroke is clear.

date.

price.

The matchmaker's mark.

"Sell".

"Nian Nian".

On the day he was plotted to be sold, a four-and-a-half-year-old child used an iron nail to carve evidence onto an aluminum lunchbox.

The main room was silent for three seconds.

-

Gu Yanchun spoke first.

"Second brother, don't listen to the kid's nonsense—when did Mom say she was going to sell anything? Maybe she was just visiting—"

"Yan Chun".

Gu Yanqiu turned his head and looked at his elder brother.

"Shut up."

Gu Yanchun's face twitched. As a militia captain, he was publicly told to "shut up" by his own brother—he couldn't save face.

But he met Gu Yanqiu's gaze—

Those bloodshot eyes didn't hold the anger between brothers.

It was a father's murderous intent.

Gu Yanchun swallowed the rest of his sentence.

Sun Xiufen stood behind him, her lips trembling, without uttering a sound—she had only one thought in her mind: why wasn't that little girl sold?

Wang Guifang started crying on the kang (a heated brick bed).

It wasn't crying out of fear.

It's that kind of wailing, "I've been disobeyed!" and "My life is so miserable!"

"What use are you all to me! None of you are filial at all—I'm only doing this for the good of the family—that girl is just a burden to the family—"

"mom."

Gu Yanqiu's voice suddenly softened.

It's abnormally mild.

"Do you know what crime human trafficking is?"

Wang Guifang's howling stopped abruptly, as if someone had choked her.

"Report to the commune—it's not about being penalized with work points."

Gu Yanqiu spoke slowly and deliberately.

"It's about going to jail."

The atmosphere in the main room instantly froze.

-

"Knock knock knock—"

knocking.

Everyone was stunned. In the middle of the night—

The door opened.

Cheng Tiezhu stood outside.

He was wearing a cotton overcoat and his cotton shoes were covered in mud.

Behind him was Granny Wang.

"Uncle Tiezhu?" Gu Yanqiu was taken aback.

"Aunt Wang heard the commotion here and came to find me in the middle of the night," Cheng Tiezhu said in a deep voice.

He glanced around the room—Wang Guifang sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), her face filled with terror. Gu Yanchun stood by the wall with his arms crossed, his face ashen. Sun Xiufen huddled in a corner. Gu Dehou sat on a low stool, his pipe creaking in his hand.

"What happened?"

Gu Yanqiu handed over the aluminum lunchbox.

Cheng Tiezhu glanced down.

His brows were furrowed into a tight knot.

He raised his head.

Their gazes were like two awls, piercing straight into Wang Guifang's face.

"Wang Guifang".

He no longer calls her "sister-in-law" or "auntie." He calls her by her first name.

"Last time you stole something, I said 'next time.' This time—you better explain yourself."

Wang Guifang's mouth opened and then closed.

Like a fish being pulled out of the water.

Cheng Tiezhu gripped the aluminum lunchbox tightly in his hand, his voice as cold as the mountain wind in the first month of the lunar calendar—

"If verified—report it to the commune and handle it as child trafficking."

As soon as the word "buy and sell" left her lips, Wang Guifang felt as if her bones had been removed—she leaned back against the wall.

That era.

Buying and selling people.

Go to jail.

Wang Guifang never stepped inside the commune's gate in her entire life.

Going to jail—she didn't even dare to think about it.

"I didn't!" Her voice trembled with tears. "I was just saying it offhand—I didn't agree to her—"

Cheng Tiezhu did not respond to that sentence.

He turned to Niannian.

"Niannian. Did you hear that with your own ears?"

"I heard it with my own ears." Niannian's voice was hoarse, but steady. "Grandma asked, 'How much?' The matchmaker said, 'Twenty yuan.' Grandma said, 'Only twenty.'"

Sentence by sentence, time, place, people, and prices—more clearly recorded than when the commune's security guards took statements.

Cheng Tiezhu glanced at Wang Guifang.

What does the phrase "only twenty" signify?

This shows that it wasn't just "talking off the cuff," but rather that he felt it wasn't enough.

They think it's not enough, so they want to sell it.

They were just haggling.

Wang Guifang's explanation fell apart on its own.

-

The main room remained silent for a long time.

The last person to speak was Gu Yanqiu.

"Uncle Tiezhu".

"Um."

"I don't plan to register with the commune."

Wang Guifang suddenly raised her head.

Sun Xiufen's eyes flickered—a glimmer of hope.

But Gu Yanqiu's next words shattered that last glimmer of hope.

"From today onwards—I'm dividing the family property."

Three words.

Separation of family property.

Wang Guifang's face turned pale.

Gu Yanchun lowered his arm from his chest.

Sun Xiufen's lips twitched slightly.

Even Cheng Tiezhu glanced at Gu Yanqiu.

In the countryside in 1964, dividing a family property was a more serious matter than arguing, fighting, or even suing the commune.

Separating from the family means drawing a clear line from now on. Each goes their own way. Life and death are no longer intertwined.

It was the most decisive strike.

All eyes in the main room were on Gu Yanqiu's face.

There was no hesitation on his face.

Not a single bit.

"Uncle Tiezhu, you make the decision."

Cheng Tiezhu gave Gu Yanqiu a deep look.

He glanced again at Nian Nian standing behind him.

The four-and-a-half-year-old girl's frostbite marks on her face hadn't faded yet.

One of his shoes was torn, and his foot was wrapped in a bloodstained strip of cloth.

But her eyes—in the light of the kerosene lamp—shone like two nails.

Cheng Tiezhu nodded.

"OK."

After saying that word, he turned and walked out.

I stopped at the door.

He didn't turn around.

He left behind a sentence—

"Tomorrow. At the brigade headquarters. Call everyone who's supposed to come."

The footsteps disappeared into the night.

In the main room—no one spoke.

But each person's face tells a different story.

Wang Guifang – It is fear.

Gu Yanchun—is calculating.

Sun Xiufen – is filled with resentment and malice.

Gu Dehou —

The old man remained seated on the low stool.

He had gripped the end of the tobacco pipe so tightly that it left a deep fingerprint.

His lips moved slightly.

No one could hear what he said.

But Nian Nian saw it—

Grandpa's eyes reddened for a moment.

It was only a fleeting moment of fame.

Then it was covered up by wrinkles and cigarette ash.