The Quagmire of Desire: From Gambling Addict and Village Flower to Movie Queen

The bonfire burned late into the night. After Liu Meiling was dragged into Erniu's room, laughter and cries of pain continued intermittently for more than half an hour.

Sun Xiaoyan was pinned down on the tattered quilt by Erniu's brother, Gou Dan. Listening to those sounds, her eyes were fixed on the dark roof beams, and her mind was blank.

Later, the noise stopped, the door opened, and Liu Meiling was thrown out, lying naked on the muddy ground in the yard, where she didn't move for a long time.

Sun Xiaoyan got up, went out and dragged her back to the woodshed. The two of them collapsed on the haystack, neither of them saying a word.

The next morning, the old woman threw in two more pieces of coarse cloth clothing, her tone a little better than the day before: "Put these on and get to work."

Sun Xiaoyan and Liu Meiling struggled to their feet, put on their clothes, and without even combing their hair, went to the yard to chop firewood and boil water.

Erniu squatted on the threshold, smoking his pipe. He glanced at them, said nothing, and didn't mention the wedding ceremony again.

And so life went on.

One month, two months, three months.

Life moves slowly in the mountains, so slowly that you forget what day of the week it is.

Sun Xiaoyan gets up before dawn every day to feed the chickens, chop firewood, and then start a fire to cook.

Liu Meiling was in charge of sweeping, washing dishes, and doing laundry. After lunch, the two of them carried hoes to the field at the foot of the mountain to weed. They didn't return until sunset, and they were so tired that they could hardly straighten their backs.

There's no escaping the work at night either.

Erniu and Gou Dan took turns, sometimes together, pinning the two of them down on the tattered blankets and tormenting them.

Sun Xiaoyan had long since become numb, and she endured it with her eyes closed, as if she were completing a task.

Liu Meiling would sometimes call out twice, and sometimes she would remain silent. After she finished, she would turn over and go to sleep.

At lunchtime, the old lady sat on the doorstep picking vegetables. Seeing that the two people were working much more efficiently, she nodded and said, "These two are alright."

Sun Xiaoyan didn't reply, and instead lowered her head to add firewood to the stove.

Liu Meiling squatted against the wall, holding a bowl of porridge, her eyes fixed on the clouds over the distant mountains, lost in thought.

In the afternoon, the two of them carried hoes to the field at the foot of the mountain to weed.

The plot of land at the foot of the mountain is not large, with a few rows of beans and a few rows of sweet potatoes.

Sun Xiaoyan squatted on the ground pulling weeds, her hands getting cut by the grass leaves, but she didn't care.

Liu Meiling was hoeing the soil next to her, the hoe making a clanging sound as it hit the stones.

A person walked over from the other side of the field; it was Chen Xiaodie from the family at the foot of the mountain.

Chen Xiaodie was wearing a coarse cloth jacket, her hair was tied up with a rope, her face was covered in mud, and she was carrying a basket in her hand.

She walked over, squatted down, took a handful of wild vegetables from the basket and threw them into the crate, saying in a low voice, "I know that lady very well."

Sun Xiaoyan was stunned for a moment before realizing who she was talking about.

I haven't seen the middle-aged woman who was holding the child before, and I don't know where she went.

Chen Xiaodie put down the basket, glanced around to make sure no one was in the distance, and lowered her voice: "I went to her house to borrow salt the day before yesterday and saw her holding her child and walking around in the yard. She had a long scar on her face."

Sun Xiaoyan's hand trembled, and she snapped a blade of grass in two.

Liu Meiling turned her head: "What happened?"

"I don't know." Chen Xiaodie lowered her head, her voice even softer, "But she's different from before."

Just as Sun Xiaoyan was about to ask more questions, Gou Dan came over carrying a hoe and shouted from afar, "What are you dawdling for! Have you finished working in the fields?"

The three men immediately dispersed, each bowing their heads to hoe the soil.

That evening, the three of them went to a small courtyard at the foot of the mountain to play cards.

The courtyard was small, with a broken table, a few benches, and several men squatting nearby smoking pipes. On the table was a mahjong set with a missing corner.

Sun Xiaoyan sat down and drew cards, a cigarette dangling from her lips but not smoking it, her eyes fixed on the cards.

Sitting next to him was a dark-skinned man, burly in build, with a smiling gaze.

He glanced at the cards in front of Sun Xiaoyan, stubbed out his cigarette, and reached under the table to pinch her thigh.

Sun Xiaoyan didn't dodge or even look at the person; she continued to draw cards from her hand.

The man chuckled and said, "If I win this round, you have to buy me a drink."

Sun Xiaoyan said, "You win first, then we'll talk."

Halfway through the game, the man's hand came again, first resting on her thigh, then slowly reaching inside.

Sun Xiaoyan felt the rough fingers rubbing against her inner thigh, which was both painful and itchy.

She shifted her legs, but the man didn't let go, chuckling as he haphazardly dug his fingers under the fabric.

She gritted her teeth and remained silent, then threw down the card in her hand: "Two of Bamboo!"

The man laughed even harder, and his fingers probed a little further inside.

Just as Sun Xiaoyan was about to push him away, Liu Meiling shouted, "I won!" She pushed the cards over and reached for the change on the table.

The man quickly withdrew his hand to take the money. Taking advantage of this moment, Sun Xiaoyan stood up, said she was going to the toilet, and left the courtyard.

Another old man squatting in the yard saw her come out and spat on the ground: "You're quitting halfway through the game? Can't accept defeat?"

Sun Xiaoyan ignored him, walked to the wall, squatted down, looked at the ground, stood up again, patted the mud off her hands, and returned to the card table.

When the game ended, I received my change, which amounted to a total of eight yuan.

Sun Xiaoyan folded the eight yuan, stuffed it into her pocket, and walked back with Liu Meiling.

The path was dark, with only a few lights in the distance.

The two walked side by side, neither of them speaking.

"Xiaodie is right," Liu Meiling suddenly said, "we still have to run."

Sun Xiaoyan didn't reply, her feet trembling on the pebbles, which hurt the soles of her feet.

That afternoon, three people squatted down to urinate.

The bean trellis is blocking the view, so it's not very clear from the outside.

Sun Xiaoyan squatted down and urinated on the soil, wetting the area.

Chen Xiaodie squatted down next to her, the sound of her urinating softly. Suddenly, she lowered her voice and said, "I still have to go see that older sister."

Sun Xiaoyan's hand trembled, and she urinated on the back of her foot.

Chen Xiaodie fastened her pants, glanced into the distance, and lowered her voice even further: "My older sister was also abducted. I know she'd be willing to help."

Liu Meiling squatted on the other side, her eyes darting around: "How do we get her to talk?"

"She has a child," Chen Xiaodie said, "but she also wants to leave. I know she's been looking for an opportunity, but no one has been there to lend a hand."

Sun Xiaoyan didn't say anything. She fastened her pants and stood up, looking at the distant mountains. She didn't know what was beyond the mountains.

The next day, the three of them went to the eldest sister's house with a basket of eggs under the pretext of learning needlework.

My eldest sister's house is located in the back of the village. It's a mud-brick house with a small yard. In one corner, there's a pile of firewood and a few broken clay pots.

When the three of them arrived at the door, the eldest sister was sitting on a low stool in the yard embroidering insoles. Her needle and thread flew quickly, and she had already finished most of a pattern.

She heard footsteps, looked up, saw three people, and paused in her needlework.

"Auntie, we want to learn embroidery," Chen Xiaodie said with a smile, waving the eggs in her hand. "We brought some eggs with us."

The older woman looked at them, her gaze sweeping over their clothes, then lowered her head and stuck the needle into the insole again: "My skills are rough, I can't teach you."

"Sister, you're joking," Liu Meiling said, carrying a basket into the yard. She squatted down in front of her sister and put the eggs on the ground. "We just want to learn some needlework so we can sew a pair of insoles for Erniu."

The older sister didn't reply, and continued pricking the needles even faster.

Sun Xiaoyan squatted at the doorway but did not go in.

After a long while, the eldest sister suddenly spoke, her voice so low it was almost inaudible: "You think you can run away?"

All three of them were taken aback.

The eldest sister looked up, her wrinkles appearing particularly deep in the midday sun, and her eyes were slightly red.

"I was tricked into coming here too," she said, plunging the needle into her hand again. "It's been thirteen years."

Chen Xiaodie put down her basket and squatted down in front of her eldest sister: "Eldest sister, then you..."

"You can't escape." The older woman interrupted her, the needle in her hand digging into the insole. "I have a child. I can run away, but I can't run away from my child. You don't have children, so you still have a chance."

All three of them fell silent.

The eldest sister raised her head, glanced at them, and for the first time, her eyes lit up: "But the village chief's son just came back. That kid is in college and has never liked this village since he was a child."

Sun Xiaoyan's heart tightened: "The village chief's son?"

"His name is Chen Hao," the older sister said, stopping the needle in her hand. "He used to curse his father as a child, and he almost never came back after he went to high school. This time he suddenly came back to the village, saying he was doing research and writing a paper."

She pricked the insole with the needle: "He once said privately, 'I'll settle accounts here sooner or later,' and even gave me a..."

"What did I give you?" Liu Meiling pressed.

The older sister bit her lip, pulled a neatly folded piece of paper from her pocket, and handed it to Chen Xiaodie: "It has a phone number and address on it. He said that if you can really escape, use this address."

Chen Xiaodie opened the note, on which was written a string of numbers and an address in ballpoint pen, the handwriting very fresh.

The eldest sister took out a small bag from the kitchen and handed it to the three of them: "This is herbal medicine. Boil it in water and drink it; it can prevent pregnancy. Don't get pregnant, or you'll never be able to leave."

Sun Xiaoyan took the small bag, her hands trembling slightly, and stuffed it into her pocket.

When the three of them returned to Erniu's house, it was almost dark.

Sun Xiaoyan placed the packet of herbs under her pillow, gently pressed it with her hand, and felt her heart beating rapidly.

Three days later, the three men deliberately drew water from the well at the village entrance and encountered a young man.

The man was tall and thin, wearing glasses, a blue shirt, and dark trousers. He was clean and tidy, and didn't look like a villager at all.

He was squatting by the well washing his face when he heard footsteps. He looked up, his eyes clear, and fell on the three people.

Liu Meiling walked over with the bucket, deliberately dropping it into the well, and exclaimed, "Ah! The bucket fell! Can you help me?"

The young man stood up, glanced at the well opening, and said, "I'll retrieve it."

He used a well rope to scoop the bucket up and handed it to Liu Meiling.

Liu Meiling took the bucket and smiled, "Are you the village chief's son?"

The young man paused for a moment, then nodded: "My name is Chen Hao."

Chen Xiaodie stepped forward and lowered her voice: "We want to go home."

Chen Hao glanced at the three people, then scanned the surroundings and lowered his voice: "Wait for my news."

His voice was very low, almost inaudible: "I've already called the police. I'm back to keep them calm."

Sun Xiaoyan's heart was pounding, and she almost dropped the bucket in her hand.

Chen Hao looked at them and asked, "Are all of you willing to testify?"

"I'm willing," Liu Meiling said.

Chen Xiaodie also said, "I'm willing."

Sun Xiaoyan nodded.

Chen Hao glanced at the two old men walking towards him from a distance, straightened up, and said in a normal voice, "The well water is quite clear. I'll fetch water again tomorrow."

Two old men approached, glanced at the group, and asked, "Do you know each other?"

"I don't know him," Chen Hao smiled. "We bumped into each other while I was getting water."

The three of them carried the buckets back, and Sun Xiaoyan's steps were lighter.

Back at Erniu's house, she poured water into the water tank, her hands still trembling.

Liu Meiling squatted at the kitchen door, a smile appearing on her face for the first time.

Sun Xiaoyan stood in the courtyard, looking at the mountains on the horizon that were gradually getting dark, thinking about what Chen Hao had just said.

"Wait for my news."

She took a breath and thought, perhaps there is still hope.