Married to a Disabled Man in the 70's

After the trial, Su Jiaojiao and Song Qinghan returned to the village first.

They hadn’t decided whether they’d move to the city or stay here yet. The only thing that had been confirmed was Song Yu’an’s permanent departure from his non-biological family.

When they came back, they immediately caused a sensation in the village. Waves of people came, curiously asking what they saw in the city and how the matter was settled.

After learning about the Song parents’ sentence, many people patted their chests in fear.

An old lady who was very mean to her granddaughters frowned, “How is this possible? They didn’t kill anyone, just swapped two children. Didn’t they both grow up healthily?”

For the uneducated and legally illiterate old lady, human relationships were the most important. [1]

But after listening to her, many people shook their heads, “However, they broke the law!”

Song Qinghan nodded and said patiently, “Everyone is born as an independent individual. When they swapped Song Yu’an and I, that was kidnapping. The law doesn’t care about whether or not we grew up fine after. They kidnapped a child! It’s not like in ancient times; human traffickers must be punished.

“Yes, they’re human traffickers!”

“They deserved it! They stole and abused someone’s child. How don’t they have nightmares at night?”

The old lady pursed her lips guiltily and waved her hand unhappily, “You’re scaring me!”

Then, the old lady ran away.

An aunt said hesitantly, “Two years ago, their eldest granddaughter fell in a river and hasn’t been seen since. Could she been sold?”

“She was a good girl. She took care of her younger brothers while pulling weeds and feeding the pigs. She ate very little, and had a thin face.”

“I think she was in her late teens back then?”

Everyone sighed, and their moods fell.

Unexpectedly, the Song parents being sent to jail had a beneficial effect. As they were residents of Taohua village [2], this was big news. Now, everyone knew human trafficking was illegal.

As more people learnt about this, many people went to the public security bureau to report kidnappings every day. Many girls who had been sold by their families also chose to sue them.

*****

Song Huaijin and Ji Ya were very open parents. Of course, this might be because they weren’t very close to Song Qinghan. They also felt a lot of guilt towards him.

Both of them felt guilty for not being able to protect him when he was younger.

They wanted to make it up to him.

As the director of a brick factory in the 70s, Song Huaijin was a very influential person.

Su Jiaojiao was an easily satisfied person, but when she saw the beautiful house in front of her, she felt greed bubble up in her heart.

They were bona fide rich people. Although she had seen the Song family members in suits before, this still came as a shock to her.

The room decor was also tasteful, albeit a little old-fashioned. There were flowers on both sides of the room. There was gas, a freezer, a washing machine, and electric lightbulbs illuminating everything.

There was also a light blue sofa, a pearwood coffee table, and even a clean restroom.

Su Jiaojiao almost cried when she saw this.

She has missed having a restroom for a long time! [3]

However, she calmed down after that. After all, it wasn’t like she hadn’t seen these before.

Song Qinghan found it a bit novel but also calmed down quickly. He was only a little curious at best.

It was roughly noon when they came over, and their neighbours were about to have a nap outside.[4] One of the women there asked, “Ji Ya, who are these?”

With this sentence, the others also looked over.

Both of the unfamiliar faces looked competent. The man was handsome and the woman beautiful. They were also wearing good clothes.

Song Jinhua and Ji Ya were very important people in this community. Everyone wanted to have a good relationship with them. If there was a vacancy in the brick factory, their relatives might be able to become employees there.

Therefore, everyone was curious about the Song family but didn’t dare to learn about it in detail.

Those unfamiliar young faces came here without a gift in hand but were treated so enthusiastically by them. Ji Ya, who always felt arrogant, was even smiling.

This made people really confused.

Ji Ya smiled and responded calmly, “It’s my son Song Qinghan and daughter-in-law Su Jiaojiao. They’re coming back home, and aren’t guests.”

Everyone was dumbfounded. “What?”

Ji Ya nodded, did not speak any more, and led the two into the house.

Their neighbours were left looking at each other blankly.

One person said, “Wasn’t her son Song Yu’an? Although he wasn’t a good person, we watched him grew up.”

Another person was puzzled, “Now that I think of it, I haven’t seen him in a long time.”

“I don’t know. There’ve been people coming and going from their house these few days. Something big must’ve happened. Do you think they adopted him because Song Yu’an was so…?”

The woman who spoke first whispered, “Don’t you think this young man looks more like them than Song Yu’an?”

Everyone burst into gossip immediately, each thinking something different. The news spread throughout their community.

Armos D. Platypus: Don’t live in China in the 70s. Nice toilets didn’t exist yet.

PS: I am both the translator and the one who makes these little footnotes and comments. Because I’m pretty sure my name isn’t ‘Translator-san’, but people keep calling me this. (sarcasm)

[1] That sentence was a little confusing. She abused her granddaughters, what do you mean ‘human relations’?

[2] So that’s where they live!

[3] As I said…nice toilets didn’t exist yet.

[4] Actual Chinese custom. Sadly, not one I’ve ever experienced.