IM300KYAT Chapter 2

[chapter tittle entering 进门 (jìn mén) means to join one’s husband’s household upon marriage]

Qu Qing was a famous prodigal scumbag in Huajia Village.

The Huajia village was basically full of people surnamed Hua, and the Qu Qing family was a foreigner. It was said that their ancestors were also rich, but later because of the influence of the war, the family fell. Many years ago, his parents moved here with him, bought five acres of paddy fields, five acres of dry land, and built a few good green brick houses. They could be regarded as settled here and the life was considered prosperous. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for his parents to pass away. Qu Qing, who was not controlled by anyone, began to lose his family’s wealth.

First, he was coaxed to gamble and he lost a lot of land one after another. In the end, even his house was coaxed into exchanging money for gambling. Now he was so poor that he moved to the most dilapidated thatched house at the edge of the village. There was only one mu¹ equals 666 ⅔ m²  of paddy field and two mu of dry land left. It was unknown whether he had no time to sell it yet or that he knew he must never lose the land again.

It was said that he often hung out with local ruffians and gangsters, and he did a lot of things like stealing chickens and dogs. He had land in his family but he was too lazy to plant it. The people in the village all scolded him, and thinking of the fields he had lost, they were distressed. The people in the village resolutely refused to interact with him and whoever met him on the road must go around.

These were all what Hua Gou heard from others. In fact, he only met Qu Qing a few times from a distance, and he didn’t pay attention to this prodigal scumbag. He never thought that his life would one day be tied to him.

That day he finished his work in the field, he took Mao home from the ridge of the field. When he passed a tree in the shade, the sound of teasing came from behind him without warning. At that time, he didn’t know that the object of the other party’s molestation was himself, because he was not only a ger, but also ugly. People often avoided him in disgust when they saw him, and never wanted to take a second look. As for those who have bad thoughts, they wouldn’t pay attention to him at all.

Until a person came up and pulled his arm, he subconsciously turned his head, the person behind him turned pale in shock when he saw his face. Hurriedly letting go, with a look of disgust, said loudly, “How ugly, what a bad luck! Stay away from me²老子 (laozi), arrogant way to say ‘me’. gentleman doesn’t use this rude word! !”

Gou knew he was ugly, but he hated it when people said it in front of him, so he scolded back fiercely.

He had a strong personality, obviously he was the one who was bullied since he was a child, but he never knew how to be subdued. He scolded back and he didn’t know how to tolerate others at all. At that time, if Qu Qing beat him, it probably wouldn’t be strange, but fortunately his face saved him from trouble.

Gou’s tough temper made him not easy to get along with people. It was also rumored in the neighborhood that he was an ugly person who made troubles, and any bad words could be used on him, saying that he was ugly, lazy, bad, and pungent. Some people even said that he would never be able to marry in his life.

In fact, few people knew that although he was pungent to the outside world, he was actually very obedient and sensible at home, also very diligent. From childhood to adulthood, he had only one thing against the elders in the family, that was his temperament and how his acnes ruined his appearance that ruined his marriage prospect.

He really never got married.

A girl from a normal family could marry at the age of sixteen, and the same is true for a ger. If he dragged it later, he would grow old, even until he was eighteen the marriage was not settled. His appearance was also getting worse.

He could only work hard to survive, hoping that one day he could save little money and go out on his own. He had never expected to marry.

It was an accident that day, but people in the village saw Qu Qing pulling his hand. When they got back, they added more details and said that Qu Qing had tarnished his innocence. They said it vividly, more than what he himself knew.

A few days later, when his mother heard about the rumors, not only did she not scold him, but she also showed a look of surprise. That night, she kindly asked him to take a bath with hot water, and for the first time, she personally used the hot water to wipe Mao’s face with a clean face kerchief. She tied a red hairband on him before dawn the next day and sent him to Qu Qing’s empty house. Because there were works left at home, she left him first.

Poor families couldn’t have enough to eat. Besides, he was just a ger, and he has lost his reputation. No one comes to propose marriage.³ 三媒六聘 (ān méi liù pìn) lit three letters and six etiquettes. The “Three Letters” include the Betrothal Letter, Gift Letter and Wedding Letter. The six etiquettes include the proposal, birthday matching, the betrothal gifts, the wedding gifts, wedding date, and the wedding ceremony.) Whether he wanted it or not, this ‘marriage’ was a done deal. Doing this, his family had done their best. He understood, so he didn’t have any dissatisfaction or complaint. If he wanted to blame, he could only blame his bad fate. He was born into such a poor world.

He took Mao and sat awkwardly in front of the threshold of Qu Qing’s house, feeling uneasy, confused and afraid. Until later when the sun gradually rose, the drunk Qu Qing appeared, and he was shocked when he saw the Hua Gou. After hearing him stammering out his purpose, Qu Qing even scolded him for his ‘wishful thinking’! In the end, he almost kicked him out by pushing and shoving. Even Mao was implicated  and kicked twice.

At that time, he had no hope. The so-called ‘husband’s family’ didn’t want him. He had no choice but to take Mao back. But in fact, he knew in his heart that it was impossible for the family to accommodate him.

The world was so big, there were tens of millions of lights. But none of them belonged to him anymore.

Holding the last glimmer of hope, he caught up with his mother who hadn’t gotten home yet. When he saw her bad expression, he was thinking, could it be that his way out was really just to take Mao and jump off the cliff behind the mountain?

When he was sent again to the door of Qu Qing’s house by her mother again, he tightened his hold on Mao’s hand, thinking that maybe jumping off a cliff wasn’t the worst option. It was better than staying outside at night and being eaten raw by wolves, tigers, and leopards.

Qu Qing ignored him and went straight in. This time, perhaps because his mother was there, he didn’t scold him. This was probably his last dignity before he died.

Just as he was thinking about his death, Qu Qing spoke up, neither jumping up and cursing in disgust, nor telling him to go away, but just calling him and Mao: “Come in.”

It was really a very flat tone, just like a farmer saying that it would rain tomorrow. He couldn’t hear the dissatisfaction and resistance of a person who was about to raise two more people. In this poor place, those who could eat enough to eat were considered wealthy. Even none of him and his siblings knew the feeling of full stomach as they grew up. His own mother even hated him for taking an extra bite of food, not to mention other people’s homes. No one would accept strangers snatching their few rations for nothing.

So Gou thought, the sentence “come in” just now was probably an auditory hallucination. Maybe it was God who gave him at least a slightly happy illusion before he died. He didn’t even dare to raise his head, fearing that he would see the disgusted look on the face of the person opposite, breaking this only beautiful illusion.

Closing the door, he took Mao and left.

After Qu Qing finished speaking, he saw that the two men, one big and one small, were still standing there without any reaction. He thought it was because he spoke in a low voice and they didn’t hear him, so he amplified his voice a little, speaking louder. Seeing them being afraid, he searched for words in his stomach, trying to make his tone less aggressive: “You guys… close the door behind you when you come in later.”

Gou was a little confused, probably only heard him being told to close the door, so he reached out and closed the door from the outside in a daze. He shut himself outside without any sense of disobedience.

It wasn’t until Mao pulled his sleeve and pointed inside that he realized that what he had just heard seemed to be asking himself to go in?

The moment Qu Qing saw the door closed, he was stunned for a moment. He stretched out his hand helplessly to cover half of his face, sighing in his heart: This person was too stupid.

He walked over to see what was going on with the two people outside, but as soon as he reached the gate, the gate was pushed open from the outside with a slam, bumping into Qu Qing, who cried out in pain and covered his forehead. Squatting down on the ground, he gritted his teeth and sighed in his heart: This ancient person was really powerful.

Gou panicked all at once. Mao grasped his trouser legs in fear and hid behind him. Pressing his eyes tightly, his small body trembled faintly. After Qu Qing squatted down, his eyes caught a glimpse of the child’s movements and found that his movements were painfully proficient.

“Ah… ah, sorry… sorry! I, I, no, I didn’t do it on purpose… you… you…believe me.” He looked at Qu Qing and explained in panic, thinking that he had finally managed to get in here but the door of his house was about to be destroyed by his own rough push. After gaining hope, he lost hope, which made people even more frightened. Thinking of death, his teeth chattered uncontrollably, and he couldn’t speak a complete sentence. His face flushed red with anxiety.

Qu Qing saw that he had only been brushed a little, but he frightened the big and small people. There was an indescribable feeling in my heart.

He endured the pain that had not completely dissipated, stood up pretending to look normal, and comforted the two of them without hesitation: “It’s all right, it’s just a light graze, don’t…”

He wanted to say not to be afraid, but as soon as the words came to his lips, he felt weird so he changed his words: “Don’t be like this. Come in quickly! There are many things to do. Don’t delay.”

Gou felt that Qu Qing’s voice was unbelievably gentle. In his memory, even when he had no pimples on his face, no one had ever treated him in such a friendly tone, as if… he were treating himself as an equal.

Even Mao looked at Qu Qing with one eye open, his small eyes couldn’t hide his surprise. When Qu Qing looked over at him, he hid behind Gou again in fear.

Gou quietly raised his head and found that Qu Qing was looking at him seriously. He immediately blushed and subconsciously raised his sleeves to block his ugly face.

He seemed to suddenly understand something. In the past, when others said he was ugly, he was at best feeling irritated and didn’t bother about dressing up or covering up at all. He still raised his chest confidently and pointed it out casually that he never felt what was wrong with being ugly. Others scolded him for not having the slightest sense of shame, he could still smile and say to others, “I just don’t have any sense of shame, what’s the problem?”

But at this moment, when facing those serious and gentle eyes, there was a sense of shame in his heart.

For the first time in his life, he didn’t want someone to see his ugly face.

The first person in the world to treat him gently.