The village chief had no choice but to persuade the simple-minded Sugen, telling him that he was only taking Axiang to the mune for a short while and that they would return very soon. But Sugen didn’t believe it and kept clinging to Axiang, not letting her go.
Then Axiang herself tried to persuade Sugen, but he wouldn’t listen either. Sometimes people with inplete minds have stronger intuition; he sensed that Axiang was in danger and held tightly onto her hand.
In the end, Axiang had no choice but to take Sugen with her.
…
Xia Dabao heard about Axiang being taken to the mune for a struggle session while she was cutting grass. As soon as she heard, she left her bamboo basket behind, threw down her sickle and ran towards the mune.
This was also a major event that had happened in more than a decade, so all the villagers were rushing toward the mune. It was quickly overcrowded, and Xia Dabao struggled to squeeze in.
Inside the mune, Axiang knelt before the ancestral spirit tablets, while the village chief, Aunt Zhao, Zhao Datu, and others stood in front of her.
The village chief started by reading the village rules, citing ancient sayings about how a woman should follow ’the three obediences and four virtues’ and how Axiang had mitted the ’seven outs’. Either she must reform and start afresh or accept punishment and then be divorced.
Zhao Datu looked at Axiang kneeling on the ground, clenched his fists, thinking that she must be very scared at this moment. If he pushed her hard enough, she would surely and obediently return to the Zhao Family. So, he reminded her, “Axiang, just e back, don’t be foolish anymore. You won’t be able to withstand the severe punishment over the next few days.”
Axiang didn’t even glance at Zhao Datu; she only looked at the village chief, “Chief, I’d rather be divorced and accept the punishment. No matter what, I am definitely not going back to the Zhao Family.”
The onlooking villagers, upon hearing Axiang speak out, whispered among themselves, “Who would’ve thought Axiang to be so resolute and unbending?”
“It seems the play that Dabao and the others put on was true. Who would want to end up like this unless life was too hard to bear?”
“Let’s just wait and see. I bet she doesn’t know what pain is until the whip actually hits her.”
“…”
The village chief looked at Axiang helplessly, “Axiang, do you realize that if you are divorced, you’ll have to endure whipping here for seven consecutive days, forty-nine lashes each time, to punish you for the seven faults you’ve mitted?”
Axiang clenched her teeth, “I, Axiang, haven’t done anything wrong. I was naive and believed Zhao Datu’s seductions, which led to my disgrace. After marrying into his family, I toiled every day but never heard a kind word. I’m not at fault, I just want to leave the Zhao Family. But if the price of leaving the Zhao Family is a beating, then I have nothing to plain about. Go ahead, Chief!”
“Axiang!”
“Axiang!”
“Sister Axiang!”
Zhao Datu, Xia Dabao, and Sugen all shouted out at the same time.
In a rush of desperation, Xia Dabao didn’t know how to help Axiang. Her mother had said that some beliefs are deeply ingrained; you can’t change their minds, not even good people like the village chief who have their own prejudices, let alone the other villagers. She had no confidence in convincing the village chief not to go through with it.
Zhao Datu felt pletely disheartened, never expecting Axiang would rather die than return home with him; it seemed all his efforts had been futile.
And Sugen, seeing one of the brawny men about to bring the whip down, didn’t care for anything else but threw himself over Axiang’s back and shielded her tightly.
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