The doctors finished their shifts, and those who were engaged in training gradually dispersed. Those who came from afar returned to their dormitories, and those who lived nearby went home.
Feng Qingxue took a familiar route back to the Municipal Committee Courtyard.
Since the Municipal Committee Courtyard used to be a capitalist’s mansion, the surrounding area was naturally full of old houses and lanes.
As she passed an alleyway, approaching the courtyard, suddenly she heard someone shouting and cursing from a yard behind the Municipal Committee Courtyard.
Cheng Baoguo’s family lived in a decent servants’ quarters located at the back of the mansion. Usually, they would use the back door to get in and out. Therefore, Feng Qingxue also preferred the back door over the main entrance, which was too far from their living quarters.
"You are nothing more than an old whore, filthy and vulgar, bedding a different man every night, opening your legs for anyone who comes along. Since the liberation, since the birth of the new China, you’ve taken on the guise of a virtuous woman - but no matter what, you remain a whore! Who allowed you to give my son food to eat? I’m afraid you’ll poison my son! Even if he starves, he will not eat anything from a whore like you!"
Along with the shouting and cursing, there came the sound of two slaps.
As the sound of the slaps fell, the cries of a child followed: "I’m hungry! I’m hungry!"
"Even if you starve, you’re not allowed to eat, understand? If you take anything from that old whore again, I’ll break your hand and smash your mouth!"
"I’m hungry! I’m hungry! I want to eat! I want to eat!" The voice was delicate, that of a little girl - "Mother, you gave the cornbread to my older brother and left me with only water, but I can’t fill my stomach with water. I’m hungry too, I also want to eat cornbread!"
Her words were answered with several slaps, her cries gradually softening, her sobs punctuated with hiccups, until finally, they were no longer audible.
Feng Qingxue relayed the incident to Mother Cheng and Wang Cuilan, and Cuilan, cradling Xibao, sighed heavily. "I know who they are. The one shouting is Wang Erniu, and the one being shouted at is Chen Xueniang. Chen Xueniang was the top courtesan in the brothel before the liberation. She was sold to the brothel by her parents when she was a child. Thanks to her beautiful looks and the brothel Madam’s careful grooming, she grew up to be a stunning beauty and enjoyed great fame, with many high-ranking clients. After the liberation, the state confiscated all brothels, allowing these women to reintegrate into society and even organized jobs for them. However, many of them still held onto their old habits, making them hard to manage. After years of constant education, they finally began to work honestly and earn money, and started getting married under the state’s arrangement."
They were all pitiful women, liberated by the state, freed from their miserable lives.
Chen Xueniang was one of the most enthusiastic about this change. She worked hard, was eager to discard the bad habits she developed as a prostitute, and now works as a female laborer in a textile factory. However, she refused to accept a marriage arranged by the state, and remained single to this day.
She was once a top courtesan, kept by gentry and warlords, and even after her reformation, she was often criticized and ridiculed.
Wang Erniu’s husband was a miner who often did heavy work underground. They unfortunately shared a courtyard with Chen Xueniang, and Wang Erniu always feared that Chen would seduce her husband. Wang Erniu nagged and complained daily, while Chen Xueniang ignored her. Unexpectedly, Chen took pity on Wang Erniu’s daughter, who couldn’t afford to eat, and secretly gave her a piece of cornbread, which Wang Erniu discovered.
Infuriated, Wang Erniu beat her own daughter, Xiaoyan, who developed a high fever that night and was delirious.
Terrified, Wang Erniu held Xiaoyan and knocked on Cheng Baoguo’s door late at night.
Mother Cheng and Wang Cuilan, along with Feng Qingxue, had met their neighbors and so they were well aware that the man who saved Cheng’s father was attending the medical training and was living with his child in their house.
Please bear with me for balancing two books at the same time. Once "Divine Calculation" is completed, I will increase the updates for this one, o(╥﹏╥)o.