1940s: I supported my wife and sister-in-law by hunting.

He reached out and knocked on the courtyard gate.

Widow Liu was stirring cornmeal porridge in her house when she heard someone knocking on the door. Her heart skipped a beat, wondering who would come to their house so late at night.

He wiped his hands on the rag.

He came out of the house and tentatively asked, "Who is it? It's so late. Come back during the day if you need anything."

"it's me."

Upon hearing the commotion, Widow Liu immediately knew who it was. She hurriedly tidied her somewhat frizzy hair, licked her dry, chapped lips, dusted herself off, and quickly pulled open the door latch.

Looking back, she pulled him into the house.

"Why are you here? You just came yesterday, are you thinking of coming again?"

Chen Gaoshan put his arm around her waist and found the place with ease. He lowered his head and smelled the pleasant milky scent on her body.

"I'm giving you that little bit of meat to eat. You're breastfeeding now, and you can't go without milk. Besides, it's not just for Da Ya's food."

Liu Chuncao's neck was very itchy from his teasing, but she wasn't embarrassed at all. She had earned this with her body, so she felt perfectly justified in taking it.

"Brother Gaoshan, you're such a good person. I was right to give you this. As long as you don't let me and Daya go hungry, come over if you want to drink. I like you because you're reliable, capable, and energetic."

Look at what a kind woman she is, a woman who needs help so much. How could he just watch her suffer? He couldn't bear it.

"Sister-in-law Chuncao is already thinking about men after just one night?"

"I just miss you. You're more reliable than any of the men in the village. What are you standing there for? Come inside, it's so cold outside."

Chen Gaoshan had just placed the two wolf legs on the cutting board in the outer room when someone came up behind him.

"What did you eat? You're getting all excited. Just stand still, I'll help you."

He carried Liu Chuncao into the inner room, and his hands wandered into her cotton-padded coat.

With his other hand he pressed down on her head, and after a while, Widow Liu began to cough violently. He quickly went to the outer room and scooped some water from the vat.

Widow Liu leaned over the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and rinsed her mouth with cold water several times, finally managing to suppress her cough.

"You rascal, are you just going to let yourself be so cruel to me? Do Xinghua and Lianhua always indulge you like this at home?"

Chen Gaoshan looked down at her large, watery eyes, reached out and patted her back to help her catch her breath.

"You are you, and they are they, you are different. What they can do, you can naturally do too; but the things they are too shy to do or can't do, only you are willing to do for me. Tell me, how important you are to me."

He bent down, ran his thumb across her lips, and planted a big kiss on her cheek.

They pulled the person up from the ground and carried them to the kang (a heated brick bed).

Widow Liu wrapped her arms around his waist.

"I knew they were all well-behaved wives from respectable families, and they were shy, unlike me who didn't have so many concerns. I don't want anything else, as long as you keep me in your heart and remember my mother and me, that's enough."

"Next time you come, don't knock on the door directly. It's not good if someone sees you. Just meow like a cat near my window. If I hear you, I'll quietly come out and open the door for you."

As she spoke, she reached out and fastened Chen Gaoshan's belt.

"Okay, I'll remember that. I'll be going now."

After Chuncao saw Chen Gaoshan off, she turned around and locked the courtyard gate. When she looked up, she saw a figure groping its way out of the house.

It was her blind mother-in-law.

The old woman, leaning on a smooth wooden stick, slowly moved towards the door, feeling her way along the mud wall.

Chuncao's heart skipped a beat. Had she made too much noise and her mother-in-law heard her?

The old lady headed in her direction.

"Chuncao, come to my room, I have something on my mind to tell you."

Everyone says the old lady is blind, but she's blind in spirit, especially her nose, which is very sensitive.

She had just smelled the bloody smell of meat.

These two widows and orphans were so poor that they couldn't even afford a decent meal, let alone meat.

These days, every household is short of oil and fat, and life is tough. Nobody would give them meat for no reason.

As the old saying goes, old people are shrewd and clever. The old lady thought about it for a moment and understood the whole story.

She understood in her heart that her daughter-in-law had become a widow at a young age, keeping the family together and taking care of her, a blind old woman, for a year, which was already quite good.

These days, life is tough for widows.

Chuncao's father-in-law died young, and the old lady herself had endured the hardships of being a widow, raising her son Gouzi alone. Finally, her son got married, and she thought the hard times were over and she could enjoy a few days of peace and happiness, but then her son died young.

She had long anticipated that this day would come sooner or later, just like herself and Old Liu at the village entrance back then. They were both unfortunate women who just wanted to find someone to rely on and make a living.

Chuncao tiptoed forward, took the old lady's arm, and slowly walked into the east room.

She helped her mother-in-law to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).

"Mother, I... I didn't mean to, please let me explain."

The old lady went completely blind last year after crying day and night until her tears ran dry when her son passed away.

She stretched out her withered, bony hand and grasped Chuncao's hand. Smelling the scent emanating from her, she understood everything.

The old lady didn't get angry or question her; she just gently patted her hand.

"Chuncao, let's be honest with each other and have a heart-to-heart talk."

Chuncao's nose tingled, and she almost burst into tears.

"Mmm." She helped the old lady sit on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), and then sat down next to the kang herself.

"You slept with Chen Gaoshan."

Chuncao looked at her blind mother-in-law and was completely dumbfounded.

She thought her mother-in-law would scold her or kick her out, but she didn't expect her mother-in-law to have this kind of attitude.

"Mother, I have no choice. I'm just a woman; I really can't support this family anymore. Won't you stop me?"

Dog's mother's blind eyes were tightly closed, and the expression on her face was even more unsightly than crying.

"How can we stop her? Mother also endured being a widow at a young age."

"When Gouzi's father passed away, I was only twenty-four years old. I have personally experienced and tasted all the hardships you have gone through. The life of a widow is not easy."

Widow Liu felt a lump in her throat and her nose sting; tears welled up in her eyes.

After so much grievance, torment, the disdain of others, and the gossip behind my back, finally someone understands.

Gouzi's mother stroked Chuncao's hand, patting the back of her hand gently, as if comforting her frightened daughter-in-law, or as if comforting herself when she was desperate years ago.

"In this world, women are the most bullied, especially those who have lost their husbands and have no one to rely on."

"When we women get to this point, reputation and face are all empty words, just talk for the living. Having enough to eat, raising the children, and surviving—that's what really matters. Without men to support the family, we women aren't even considered human in this world..."

Chuncao cried so hard her shoulders trembled uncontrollably.

"Mother, back then, you raised Da Ya's father all by yourself..."

Dog's mother wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes with her sleeve.

"Why do you think Old Liu from the village entrance would suddenly take his dog to learn carpentry? What widow doesn't have her share of gossip and troubles? The old saying that there's always gossip around a widow's house is not just a made-up story."

"I know Chen's second son. He's not a bad person. He's young, strong, and tall. He's also a skilled hunter. With him, at least the three of us can have food to eat and won't starve. That meat we just had, was it him who brought it?"

After hearing about her mother-in-law's past, Widow Liu felt much better. At least there was someone in the family who understood her. Who would want to lie down and beg for food if it weren't for the need to earn a living?

She wiped away her tears and nodded in agreement.

"Yes, it's wolf meat brought from the mountains."

Dog's mother gripped her hand tightly.

"Chuncao, I don't ask anything of you. I won't interfere with or stop you from doing whatever you want in the future. But you must never forget that you, Gouzi, and Daya are still together. No matter what, you must raise the child well and make sure that Gouzi's efforts to catch fish for you and protect you two back then were not in vain."

Upon hearing her mother-in-law mention her deceased husband, Gouzi...

"Mother, don't worry! No matter how much suffering I endure in the future, I will raise Daya to adulthood. When she grows up, I will find her a good family. I hope she won't end up like us, marrying short-lived men and spending her whole life as a widow!"

As soon as they finished speaking, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law could no longer hold back and hugged each other.

After crying for an unknown amount of time, the sound of her daughter Daya crying suddenly came from the west room.

Chuncao hurried to the west room to coax Daya, who had just woken up.

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