The next morning, by ten o'clock, Zhan still hadn't woken up from his sleep. From Lina to Aunt Fin, no one woke him because they all knew he hadn't slept well the night before. From dawn until that time, the people who had come into Lina's room to offer condolences over what happened were more than ten, because the news had completely spread throughout the town.
Aunt Fin looked at Lina after one of their neighbors who had come to offer condolences left. Annoyed, she said, "Please stop entertaining them, sister. Show them you don't even know why they came to offer you condolences. Honestly, this is pure arrogance."
Lina said, "Well, what do you want me to do, Fin? You see, we have a lot of respect for them-that's why they keep coming. Every single one you see entering this room-we have a lot of respect for her. I won't be disrespectful to them or anything. The one who spread the news in town is the chief hypocrite, not the one coming to offer condolences. And I see that Zhan isn't dead from a broken marriage."
Aunt Fin stood up and said, "I have never seen anyone offering condolences for a marriage death except in this town. And this is nothing but a style of gossip and hypocrisy."
Then she left the room to check the hot water she had put on the fire. Lina looked at Zhan, who had turned his back to them and was sleeping. She reached out and touched him, then said in a low voice, "Are you still sleeping, Zhan?"
Zhan turned, rubbing his eyes, then sat up. Lina looked at him and said, "You didn't eat well last night. Go wash your face and eat breakfast. Here, rice cakes were brought for you earlier-don't let them get cold."
Zhan put on his jacket, then got down from the bed. He went to his trunk, which he had brought back from America, knelt down, opened it, and took out his shower gel, sponge, toothpaste, and brush. Lina just watched him until she stood up to leave the room.
Lina said, "Since you're going to bathe, tell Fin to pour the hot water for you. She's outside."
Zhan said, "Okay, Ayi."
Then he left the room. Lina watched him go. Zhan didn't even look at where his mother's co-wives were sitting, with their bodies huddled together like people gossiping. He waited for Aunt Fin to pour the hot water into a bucket and add cold water, then she carried it to the bathroom for him. After he entered the bath, Aunt Fin put another pot of water on the fire and returned to Lina's room.
Zubei clicked her tongue, smiling, and looked at Antu Mama, saying, "Well, now, who are they showing pride to?"
Antu Mama burst out laughing and said, "If you asked me, who'll i ask? Aren't you the one who doubted the shaman's words when he said this fragile marriage would end in one month? Well, you've seen that beauty has paid for the soap. Now stop saying you've lost your money. You're so anxious the day we went to Zhan's house-you saw a big house, he went into one room to another, and you thought he lived happily there. As for me, I was watching the pupil of his eyes-I knew he was not happy in that house. I didn't see any sign of peace because I saw him in a panic."
Antu Mama released a sigh, held her cheek, and said, "Ohhh...now no studying in America, no husband-only just divorce. This is a huge loss, Antu. This is the fullness of hunger's day. We've seen gain, we've seen loss. Where will Lina put her mind to be happy?"
Zubei Mama said, "You see, Yiming just kick him out with just the clothes on his body? He didn't even bring a handbag to put his phone in. That's how he took him. And you see, not even a pinch was given to him."
They both burst into laughter, giggling.
Antu Mama said, "He come back and continue the grinding that was abandoned, because as for Fin herself, may Heaven make the short time she came back and stayed with him not consume her capital. Right in front of us, they were grinding bean flour and mixing potash and scooper to take to Zhan-only for him to be kicked out. This evening, I'll even join in to grind some bean flour for myself because I see they made a lot."
She finished speaking, laughing.
Zubei Mama said, "Honestly, even if I become naked, I would prefer that than Lina to be happy with her children. If you have forgotten the kind of favoritism Aiyin showed us after he married her, I have not forgotten. We all became useless in this house. He sees no one but Lina-ever since she entered this house with their secret.
Besides, if not our eyes have been opened....Aiyin would have divorced us long ago before he got the fracture of fortune. Even the furniture's items he bought for her-I had to go around to the market to ask; they told me hers were all more expensive than ours. And her children are the beloved children. As for that Zhan, we have suffered all kinds of sadness becouse of him, Antu. Aiyin even take her to honeymoon. As for us, we've never leave China, and even then, he made us look like nobodies."
Antu Mama released a sigh and said, "Stop reminding me of this bitterness, Zubei. Besides, we are standing now on a different matter, not this one. We too charmed Aiyin with the help of Shaman spells. But the wretched one Lina didn't have the heart to go back to her hometown when her husband started being ignorance in this house. If Heaven wills, now she and Zhan will start seeing disaster for herself and her descendants-no happiness or joy ever again for them. Even for those two twin children, we should start mentioning their names to spiritualies now before time runs out, because I see the kind of good blood they have. Wherever they go, they get dotted."
Nenne's entrance into the compound made them fall silent. They all greeted her, and she answered without looking at them, heading to Lina's room with her plastic bag in hand. They all clicked their tongues and watched her until she entered the room.
Lina and Aunt Fin greeted Nenne after she entered the room. Nenne responded after putting down her plastic bag and said, "Where is Zhan?"
Aunt Fin said, "He's gone to bathe."
Nenne said, "Well, that's good. He should stop crying because a bastard has ruined him. He'll just continue with his own business as if nothing happened. Whether it's marriage to that extraordinary man or divorce from him, it's all the same. And we forced him into it-he didn't want him, honestly. Now, besides me and you, who knows he did a spectacular marriage that anyone else would come out wanting him? Besides gossip-it's given the people of neighborhood a show. I'll just tell Aiyin, 'I will sell this house and my house, and we'll move to more rich neighborhood."
She sat down and opened the bag she had brought, saying, "Here. I went to the market and bought good under wears for him-and I made him porridge so he can drink it and forget what's bothering him. Divorce....it's not the end of life. We've all been divorced at some point. Aiyin's father-how many divorces didn't he give me? Until we had only one rope left between us, then we settled down and stayed until death parted us."
A woman greeted at the door of Lina's room. Lina responded. The woman entered, adjusting her shawl. Seeing Nenne, she knelt all the way down to greet her. Nenne responded while covering the porridge she had brought for Zhan so the woman wouldn't scatter the porridge with her shawl.
After the woman greeted Lina, she said, "So what happened is true, Zhan's mother?"
Nenne turned and looked at her, saying, "What happened?"
The woman bowed her head uncomfortably and said, "The death of Zhan's marriage, Nenne."
Nenne stood up and said, "We belong to Heaven and to Heaven we return. The death of whose marriage, Zhan's? Where did you hear that Zhan's marriage died? I am ruined. So you women of neighborhood won't change your habit of gossiping? From you to the one who told you, you're just worthless bastards. Get up and leave us alone. You'll see the death of marriage in your own room or your children's room. Listen to me, you hypocrite. The matter Zhan's marriage is ours...leave us alone."
The woman quickly left the room, put on her shoes, and left the doorway in shame.
Nenne, breathing heavily, looked at Lina and said, "And you, don't you have a voice? Didn't you think you were announcing that Zhan was divorced?"
Aunt Fin clicked her tongue and said, "Where are we, Nenne? We just saw people coming to us since dawn, saying they came to offer condolences. Who released the news? They are the biggest hypocrites."
Nenne wiped the sweat from her forehead and said, "Antu and Zubei, then. No one else could have released this news besides them."
With that, she left the room. By the time she came out, Antu Mama and Zubei had already quickly gone into their rooms after hearing what Nenne did to the woman who left the house. Nenne stood in the middle of the courtyard and forgot nothing she wanted to say to them. Insults-they received them until they thanked Heaven.
Heaven was enough-she also threw baskets at them. Finally, she said, "And if Aiyin returns home this evening and doesn't take action to expose the household secrets you've been spreading, honestly, he'll have to choose between me or you. If I have to live with scheming hypocrites, I might as well say goodbye to the world for Aiyin-and he won't say goodbye to me. Well, that Zhan has found his supporter to the point that he got married and left. And you and your children-you're pouring them out like auction goods, no shame? I told Aiyin that if he won't give them out as charity, then stop showing them as my grandchildren because I feel ashamed.
Or I'll gather myself and leave him to you if he won't arrange a solution for your worthless children. Now, if you see Lubei and Lanbei, you'd say they gave birth to me. And besides, they don't spend the day in this house-I don't know where they go. A person could come in a hundred times and not see them twice, are you too sending them to be an escorts?."
Zhan came out of the bathroom holding his shower gel and headed to Lina's room. Nenne followed behind him, saying, "You've come out, Zhan. Let's go to the porridge over there-I made it for you."
Only when they entered the room did Zhan greet Nenne. Nenne responded, saying, "Don't let what that bastard did bother you, you hear? Heaven watches over us and has freed you from him without any harm. Besides, I was told his mother practices spells. You see, having children with such people is terrifying. Don't put anything in your mind. The separation is the best thing for you-I was told that."
Zhan sat on the edge of Lina's bed applying his cream. Nenne looked at Lina and said, "And you-anyone who came to offer condolences, if you didn't chase them away. Heaven is enough for you. If one person comes and you close your eyes and chase them away, they'll go back and inform the others. Then no one will come to you again. As for me, you see, I'm leaving to find something to eat during the day." Then she left the room.
:
:
Zhan was sitting on a low stool with a holy book in front of him, reading silently to himself, when Yu-Bin entered Lina's room with a greeting. Zhan closed the book, lifted his head, and looked at him, smiling. He felt like all his worries were gone at the sight of Yu-Bin.
Yu-Bin put down his backbag, sat on the edge of the mattress in the room, and looked at Zhan quietly. For a moment, he couldn't say anything to him. Zhan moved the holy book aside toward Aunt Fin, then stood up, went close to Yu-Bin, sat down, and looked at him too, his smile still not fading.
He said, "I miss you so much Bin."
Tears fell from Yu-Bin's eyes because he just couldn't hold them back. Zhan lowered his eyes to the ground. Then tears appeared in his eyes as well. He had refrained from crying since yesterday in front of his father, and after he came in and lay down, he hadn't let himself cry again, even though his heart had been hurting him nearly all day and night.
Yu-Bin embraced him and said, "It's fine, Zhan. May Heaven reward you for what has happened to you."
Zhan just nodded at him.
Yu-Bin wiped his eyes because he saw that his own crying was making Zhan cry. Yu-Bin lifted his head and looked at him, saying, "Where's Aunty?"
Zhan said, "She went to offer condolences-there was a death earlier in the neighborhood."
Yu-Bin said, "May Heaven have mercy on the departed."
Zhan said, "So be it. And how is your mother?"
Yu-Bin said, "They're all fine. She said to greet you. After we finished talking the other day, she asked me to call you for her. I tried calling Aunt Fin's phone again, but it was off."
Zhan said, "Yes, there's no credit on it. She gave it to someone to take and add credit."
Yu-Bin fell silent. He didn't want to say anything to Zhan that would cause him more pain in his heart. But nevertheless, he calmly said, "What happened?"
Zhan opened his big eyes and said, "He just told me he was done with me."
Yu-Bin felt sad that he hadn't given any comfort to him. He wasn't crying because of the sadness of the divorce Yiming had given Zhan. No-the sadness was that he had turned his friend to him as a divorcee, disvirging. That was the great sadness and disappointment that had made him even shed tears. At his home, he had cried because he felt the pain of it so deeply.
Zhan looked at where Aunt Fin had placed the envelope that Yiming's family's driver had brought and said, "The divorced document he sent is over there."
Yu-Bin turned and looked at the envelope. He stood up, picked it up, came back, sat down, and pulled out the paper inside. Zhan just watched him because even he hadn't looked at what was written on the paper. From Aunt Fin to Lina, no one had told him it was registered. Yesterday, when Nenne was making a commotion in the courtyard after the paper was brought, Zhan had been lying down and hadn't known what was happening because the things bothering him were different.
Yu-Bin looked at Zhan quickly and said, "On the paper, it's legally registered."
Zhan took the paper slowly and looked at it. After a few seconds, he looked at Yu-Bin and said, "This isn't even possible, i didn't go to the court."
Yu-Bin frowned and said, "Do we care? Isn't he the one who sent it to us? You see, we will use this to work with. Because if you had said it was not registered, my heart would have sunk badly because the wretched man could come back and say, 'I want you back,' and we'd be in trouble. But since there's a paper written with Court stamp on it, it's done. Praise be."
Zhan just looked at Yu-Bin.
Yu-Bin put the paper down and looked back at him. Then quietly, Yu-Bin said, "I don't understand you, Zhan. Are you sad about the divorce Yiming gave you? Have you given up on living forever with him? Please let me know first so I will watch my words."
Zhan gave a sad smile and said, "Every day is different....insults, humiliation, loss of dignity, living with hunger..."
He couldn't continue and burst into intense crying, shaking his head.
Yu-Bin embraced him and said, "May Heaven reward you. May Heaven reward you quickly. If Heaven wills, he will see his end before long. If Heaven wills, your karma will torment him until the end of his life. No matter how poorly your home is, you won't be beaten, let alone insulted or humiliated, or left hungry by mother or father. In this world, may Heaven show Yiming his limits. He turned you into a punching bag at home. Look how thin you've become-your cheekbones have sunken as if you're not yourself. Look how you've completely lost your mind. Honestly, your karma will never leave Yiming alone. Calm your mind and remove any worry from your heart. Take this as the destiny of your life."
Zhan just nodded at him as hot tears fell from his eyes. Yu-Bin kept giving him words of encouragement and calming his mind, until Zhan felt very cool in his heart. He felt relief from the things that had piled up in his mind since yesterday.
Then Lina and Aunt Fin returned and found them like that. Lina put down the bean flour porridge she had bought from the neighbor, knowing that Zhan liked bean flour porridge. Zhan ended up eating a lot of bean flour porridge with Yu-Bin. He hadn't been able to eat anything all day-even the porridge Nenne brought him, he could only eat a little. But now he ate the bean flour porridge heartily.
Around six in the evening, Yu-Bin left the house, with the relief that he had consoled his friend-since he had even seen Zhan laughing before he left.
Yu-Bin just pulled out his phone and dialed the number of Zhan's housemate, whom he hadn't spoken to since I-Bo told him what Zhan had done to him and A-Bo.
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