Chapter 5 Section 1
Cheng Chou wanted to hand over the letter to the old woman, but she sat on the ground and wept quietly.
Although there are few people on this road, occasionally a few pedestrians will pass by, and everyone who walks past will inevitably glance at them twice.
Cheng Zhou saw that comforting her was ineffective, so he stretched out his hand to help the old woman up, but she seemed to have lost all her strength and couldn't get up on her own.
Cheng Zhou had no choice but to sit down beside the old woman, at least this way it wouldn't look like he was bullying an elderly person.
Hongye also sat down on his father's leg, leaning against his father's chest and looking at the old woman with a tilted head.
After about ten or so minutes, the old woman took out her handkerchief and wiped away her tears, hoarsely saying: "I've made a fool of myself. I really didn't think I'd be able to see..."
The old woman's eyes fell on the paper crane in Cheng Chou's hand, her expression filled with nostalgia, sorrow, and a hint of bewilderment.
Chengzhou handed the letter to her, and the old woman clenched her handkerchief tightly, not extending her hand to take it until after a while.
Chengzhou and Hongye looked up together to see the old woman's side, just as the old woman's fingers had just touched the letter, a handsome man wearing an old-fashioned flight attendant uniform appeared beside the old woman.
The handsome young attendant looked at the old woman with a gentle expression, his eyes filled with excitement and deep guilt. He wanted to reach out and stroke her white hair, but his fingers passed through her hair as if it were empty air.
The old woman's eyes welled up with tears again, and her withered hands stroked the middle part of the paper crane back and forth.
“…It was him, only he would fold paper cranes like that, his hands were so skilled, whatever he did looked good, even sewing and needlework were better than mine, unlike me who's always clumsy.” The old woman suddenly burst into tears and laughed, her face even revealing a few hints of the shyness and sweetness of a young girl.
"He's been fond of trains since he was a kid, and always told me that when he grew up, he wanted to be a locomotive driver." The old woman saw that Cheng Zai and his son didn't understand, so she smiled and explained: "A locomotive driver is what we used to call a train conductor. However, due to certain circumstances, he wasn't able to become one, but instead became a train inspector."
The old woman sank into her memories once again.
Cheng Zhou wondered if his task was considered complete. Could he leave? But looking at the old woman's current state, he didn't have the nerve to leave immediately.
"...I was two years older than him, and my family background wasn't good either. At that time, his family and friends didn't agree with us being together, but he kept secretly coming to find me. My family didn't agree either, and my dad wanted to marry me off to someone else to solve our family's difficulties at the time. I was already 19 years old then, while he was only 17."
The old woman stroked the paper crane stained with blood, her expression dazed.
"I refused, so I ran away from home. Only he knew where I was, and he often came to see me. That period of time was the happiest for me, but he came too many times, which drew attention from his family members. They suspected that he might be seeing me, so they lied to him, telling him that our families had agreed on us being together. He believed it and wanted to take me back home, but I refused, so he brought both families to find me..."
Cheng Zhou saw the handsome train conductor kneeling beside the old woman, his expression sorrowful as he apologized to her.
"I was forcibly taken back home by my family, and he tried to save me but was also tied up by his family. His family thought he was possessed by a ghost, so they used their connections to force him into the army. In the end, he sent me a paper crane letter through someone, asking me to wait for him, saying that after he finished his military service, he would marry me."
The old woman's eyes welled up with tears again, "But I didn't wait, soon after he enlisted, my family tied me up, stuffed my mouth and married me off to the person they chose. This is now unimaginable, but at that time..."
Chengzhou wanted to comfort her, but didn't know how to comfort her.
The old woman didn't want his comfort either; she just wanted someone to talk to.
"The second day after marrying that man, he finally loosened the ropes on my body and took out the cloth from my mouth. I lay in bed for a long time, and as soon as I could move, I bumped into the wall. Later, my mother came to see me, she knelt on the ground and begged me, asking me to live a good life with that man, saying that only then could my two brothers marry daughters from good families, and our family could avoid disaster. She also said that if I tried to die again, she would follow suit."
The handsome man seemed to have heard such a thing for the first time, he looked extremely surprised and angry.
The old woman wiped away her tears and sneered, "So I started living with that person. At the time, I also thought that since things had already gotten to this point, even if Xiaodan came back, he wouldn't be able to marry me again. So I might as well just live honestly with that person, at least that would make my family feel a bit better. But...my husband was self-abasing and had severe paranoia, not only did he often lock me in the house, but also..."
"Ah——! How could this be!" The handsome train conductor suddenly covered his head and let out a painful roar.
Unfortunately, the old woman could neither see him nor hear him.
Chengzhou didn't know whether he should tell the old woman that her little Dan was right next to her.
"At that time, I was often beaten until my body was covered in bruises. The most severe beating left me bedridden for half a month. His family would initially speak up for me, but after more than a year of marriage without any signs of pregnancy, they stopped speaking up for me. I thought about taking my own life every day, but my husband knew what I was thinking and was afraid that if I really died, he would be left with no face. So he often had my mom come to see me and threatened her."
The handsome train conductor shouted painfully at the old woman: "Why didn't you tell me these things back then? If you had told me earlier..."
The old woman looked at the paper crane, "So, I spent three years, and after three years Xiao Dan came back. He grew up well, had been in the army, although he didn't become a big shot, but became a train conductor. That job was respectable in our time and place, many families wanted to marry their daughters off to him. But he came to find me, asking if I still wanted to be with him. I didn't want to burden him, also felt that I wasn't worthy of him, so said no, but he didn't give up, often sneaking around to find me... my heart moved, I still wanted to be with him."
The old woman suddenly smiled at Cheng Chou with great embarrassment, "Do you think I'm this old hag..."
"No, no, no, pursuing love is everyone's freedom, and at that time you didn't willingly marry that person either. I, I can understand you."
The old woman said with even more embarrassment: "Thank you for your understanding, but my behavior was really not good. In our time, women like me would be drowned in a pond in at least 8 or 9 out of 10 cases."
Cheng Zhou hastily changed the subject, "Then later... were you and that train conductor together?"
The old woman neither nodded nor shook her head, she remained silent for a while before saying: "I escaped. On the day when my husband and his family relaxed their vigilance against me, I didn't bring anything with me, just wearing clothes and shoes, I escaped from that house. With Xiao Dan's help, I took the train and fled to this city. When I arrived in this city, I thought I had finally escaped from hell and could live a happy life with Xiao Dan from then on, but..."
The handsome train conductor held the old woman in his arms, his head buried in her shoulder, as if recalling memories and also as if confessing.
"But I found myself pregnant." The old woman said with a tone of mockery.
Cheng Zhou didn't ask the old woman whose child it was, one reason being that it wasn't easy to bring up the topic, and another being that he could guess from the old woman's expression that the child definitely wouldn't be the train conductor's.
"I didn't hide it from Xiao Dan, after I found out I was pregnant, I told him the truth. Xiao Dan was heartbroken for a while, and later discussed with me about aborting the child, I agreed." The old woman fell silent again.
"We didn't dare go to the hospital, and at that time there were no underground doctors either. Even if we had found one, we wouldn't have been able to find it. We could only look for those abortion prescriptions. Fortunately, Xiao Dan met many people on the train, so he got the prescription and even prepared all the medicine. I drank that bowl of medicine that night without any hesitation."
Cheng Chou saw the train conductor start apologizing to the old woman again.
The old woman no longer shed tears, but the painful expression did not decrease in the slightest. "I had a big hemorrhage and almost died, but the child still didn't come out, he just stuck to me like that. I wanted to try again, but Xiaodan didn't agree. Later, my belly slowly grew bigger, and I could feel that at that time, Xiaodan's gaze towards me became more and more painful and complicated. He started to become busy, and sometimes I could only see him once a month."
"Sorry, sorry......" The handsome man muttered repeatedly.
"Just two months before the child was born, I had a big fight with him." The old woman smiled, "Xiao Dan has a good temper, actually that day it was basically me who was arguing with him, I asked him if he had already started to think of me as a burden, if he regretted it, I told him to get out, but after yelling I realized that my food and clothing depended on Xiao Dan, so I cried again."
The old woman covered half of her face with one hand and muttered: "Xiao Dan comforted me, saying that everything would be fine after the child was born. I ridiculed him, saying that I knew he had already regretted it, and asked him to make a decision before coming back next time, but I was also afraid that he would tell me in person, so I asked him to write his thoughts in a letter when he came back."
The old woman bowed her head and gently stroked the paper crane, "Is it brave to face everything, take me back to the village and divorce that person, then marry me and be together openly from now on; or is it just separating from me. I forced him to make a choice. He agreed, saying he would consider it seriously, and then he left..."
Cheng Zhou's heart was heavy.
"He left, but didn't say when he would come back. In my heart, I actually didn't want to be apart from him. I was afraid that he would really choose to break up with me and never come back, so every day I dressed up and went to the train station to wait for him... And now it's been like this until today."
The old woman smiled bitterly, stroking her temples. "At first, I was afraid he really intended to give up on me. After waiting for a month and still not seeing him, I argued with myself. Actually, at that time, I knew clearly in my heart that Xiaodan could no longer bear me and had given up on me, but I just didn't want to accept this answer. I told myself that I must wait for him to come back."
Cheng Zhou looked at the train conductor and saw that he had already cried like a child.
"You probably won't believe it, but I gave birth to a child on the train station platform." The old woman's laughter was full of self-mockery.
"I was sent to the hospital by people at the train station, and for a period of time after that, I basically had no memory. Later, others told me that during that period, I was completely out of it. It's not clear if it was one of Xiaodan's colleagues who recognized me, but my family and husband found me at the hospital. As soon as the man arrived at the hospital, he grabbed my hair and started hitting me. He hit me, and my dad slapped me too, saying I had brought shame to our family and that I should have died earlier!"
Cheng Zhou sighed deeply.
"It was the hospital staff who saved me, pulling apart that furious man and my father. At first, he said he would take me back to the village and teach me a lesson, but the doctor disagreed and called the police. He's a coward, as soon as he saw the police, he backed down and changed his tune, saying he wanted a divorce and yelling at my family to return the betrothal gifts. My family refused, and they caused a big scene right there in the hospital."
The old woman leaned against the iron netting, unaware of the man beside her holding her hand in an extremely humble posture.
"I couldn't take it anymore, at that time my mind was also unclear, I hugged the child and wanted to jump off the building. As a result, I was held back by the doctor, and the child was snatched from my arms. Then the doctor told the man and my family members that I could no longer withstand stimulation, saying that I had already gone mad. The man heard that I had gone crazy, immediately stopped talking about taking me back, only shouting to divorce."
The old woman suddenly looked at the red leaf in Cheng Zhou's arms and smiled kindly, "Child, don't be afraid, my madness has been cured. I left the asylum thirty years ago."
Her gaze returned from behind her.
"Have you been sent to a mental hospital?" Cheng Zhou was shocked.
Someone passed by them and stopped in front of them.
The old woman nodded and said calmly, "I was in the mental hospital for ten years. My child was taken back home by my parents. As he grew up, he looked more and more like my ex-husband. My ex-husband wanted to take him back, but my family didn't agree. They said they could have the child, but they had to pay for his upbringing. The amount my family asked for was too much for them to afford. Coincidentally, that man's new wife also gave birth to a son, and this matter was dropped."
Chengzhou was just about to ask her who she was living with now, whether it was with her son or not, when he suddenly heard a cold laugh beside him.
Chengzhou turned his head and saw a man in his early fifties with a half-old face.
That person disapprovingly said to Cheng Chou: "How can you talk to this crazy old woman for so long? I saw you two talking together upstairs earlier, and I thought you were asking her for directions. I advise you to stay away from her, she looks normal but is actually quite terrifying when she goes mad. The things she says, the people around here have heard them countless times. This shameless old woman keeps telling others about her romantic past, trying to get their sympathy. Her son and granddaughter don't even want to deal with her."
The middle-aged man said, shaking his head, "You see you're still carrying a child, aren't you afraid she'll go crazy and hurt your kid? Hurry up and leave, oh no, look at her face! It's already starting to change!"
Chengzhou turned back and suddenly found that the old woman who looked extremely normal and sad just now had an eerie and abnormal expression!
The author has something to say: Thank you for your support, cute owners!
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