The woman’s face showed a momentary paleness, but she still insisted on urging Mandu Ratu to pull the two apart.
Mandu Ratu’s figure appeared somewhat frail compared to the two grappling individuals. He didn’t rudely intervene when the two were in the midst of their heated conflict. Instead, he cautiously approached, ready to separate them if things escalated dangerously. It was only when household servants hurried over that the entangled trio was finally separated.
Bahu was pulled away by two male servants, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. As he passed by the woman who was about to enter the house, he hoarsely asked, “Are you going to wait until he beats you to death before you’re willing to leave him?”
“My father only gets violent when he’s drunk; he’s usually good to me,” the woman’s gaze flickered. When her eyes met Bahu’s intense gaze, she involuntarily lowered her voice.
“Fine, I’ll come to see you off when you’re dead,” Bahu sneered in frustration. He knew he was a scoundrel, fully aware that she wouldn’t have the heart to leave that wretched man. Despite seeing her being beaten, he couldn’t help but support her.
The woman’s face reddened upon hearing his words. She hesitatedly explained, “He knows it’s wrong to hit me when he’s drunk, but he can’t control himself. Every time he sobers up, he regrets it and even slaps himself. He knows he’s wrong, and I can’t just hold onto this mistake. I’m not a flawless person either, and he’s generally tolerant of me.”
“Bahu, I know you harbor resentment towards him. One reason is because you’re young and hot-headed, and another is that you’re not married yet. When you do get married, you’ll understand that two people living together can’t always be smooth sailing. It requires mutual compromise and understanding,” the woman spoke more confidently, squinting as she asked, “Do you have a girl in mind? When will you bring her home for me to see?”
Bahu clenched his fists, lacking the strength to say anything more.
Yinshi stared in amazement at this mother-in-law of hers. Even after being beaten like this, she still cared about her son’s marriage. It was unclear if she was heartless or had a broad mind.
Bahu left, and the tense atmosphere in the room immediately eased. The servants quickly cleaned up the broken furniture and left in haste. Sandan hesitated for a moment, then with a stern face, she walked into the felt-covered tent and asked, “Big brother, are you okay?” Her big brother couldn’t handle fights; every time he intervened, he ended up getting accidentally injured.
“He’s fine, always rushing in to help others,” Angqin said, limping over to a chair. He noticed the woman walking with a limp and finally understood why Bahu targeted his leg.
“I acted recklessly again last night, Arun, I’m sorry for letting you down.” Angqin stood up, dragging one leg, and proficiently knelt down, slapping himself a few times. “I’m not human. I hit my own wife; I deserve to die…”
“Stop it, enough,” the woman sighed wearily. “Don’t drink anymore. Last night, San’er went to pull you away, and you kicked him against the wall. He couldn’t get up at the time.” This was also why she couldn’t bring herself to leave him. When he was drunk, he hit anyone, not just her, and he didn’t recognize anyone. Moreover, he suffered too.
“And Agula? Is he okay?” Angqin immediately asked with concern.
“My third brother has gone back to the tent,” Sandan said, looking at the felt-covered tent where only the three of them remained. Thinking about her elder brother, she quickly added, “My elder brother brought a girl back, claiming she’s his fiancée. You two tidy up and come out to meet her. After witnessing today’s chaos, it’s uncertain if she’ll agree to marry into our family.”
“It’s all that little bastard Bahu’s fault,” Angqin grumbled with frustration. Every time he thought about it, it angered him. He should have killed him five or six years ago when he wasn’t yet a threat.
Mandu Ratu was not at home at this moment. He had left with Yin Shi when Angqin knelt down to apologize. Catching her conflicted expression, he smiled wryly, “If you had seen this scene before we got married, you probably wouldn’t have married me, right?”
Yinshi glanced at him without denying it.
“What’s going on in your family? It seems like there’s a long-standing grudge,” he asked.
“It’s just as you see. When my father gets drunk, he acts like a beast, beating his wife and children. Before I turned seven, he was quite good. He didn’t take concubines and avoided trouble, staying at home to take care of me and my second brother. At that time, many women envied my mother. But when Agula, my third brother, was born, he developed an addiction to alcohol. When he gets drunk, he turns into a monster, causing trouble. My two uncles often came to beat him for this, but he didn’t change his ways. Apologizing a thousand or ten thousand times didn’t make a difference; he kept drinking.” Mandu Ratu kicked a cow bone on the ground, speaking with an indifferent tone. “I endured seven years of beatings before I couldn’t take it anymore and ran away. I went to the capital first, then sold cattle and sheep, following a caravan to Dakang. Bahu had a tougher spirit than me. When I left, he was twelve years old, and he always protected our mother. Even after breaking his head, he still protected that foolish woman who was easily fooled. It wasn’t until he was fourteen that he took a knife and cut our father’s right arm twice. The next day, he was kicked out of the house, but luckily, our mother still had a conscience and gave him all the hundreds of cattle she brought as dowry.”
At this point, Mandu Ratu’s lips revealed a hint of a sarcastic smile. “Those hundreds of cattle also tied Bahu down. Even though he was driven out of the house, he still had her on his mind. Whenever he heard the news of her being beaten, sooner or later, he would come back and give our father a beating.”
Yinshi didn’t know what to say for a moment, remained silent for a while, and asked, “Why didn’t your two uncles take your mother away and remarry?”
“My father would cry and apologize, and my mother would fall for his act. She’d take off but then come back. My two uncles had long given up on her,” Mandu Ratu explained.
“Uh… The second uncle seems quite filial.” Based on her observations today, among the four siblings of Anzhi, only Bahu’s anger appeared most sincere.
“Don’t judge him by his rough appearance and the way he brandishes a knife like a bandit ready to slaughter a family. It’s all forced out of him. He used to be sensitive and filial when he was a child, even soft-hearted,” Mandu Ratu thought for a moment. “You can see it later. Bahu looks eight-tenths like my father, probably the reason why he’s most favored by my mother.”
“Anyway, it’s all a cycle of cause and effect. Bahu got my mother’s favor, and he couldn’t bear to abandon her, regardless of her actions. His current cold and annoying personality also has my mother’s influence,” Mandu Ratu sighed, waving his hand. “Don’t bother with the mess in my family. Pretend you don’t know, we won’t be coming back often in the future.”
“Okay.” Yinshi undoubtedly had the intention of establishing a good relationship with her in-laws during this visit. Still, her main concern was to ensure that Anzhi had a family to return to in the northern desert.
However, neither of them anticipated that when they went back and revealed that they were already married after Mandu Ratu took the surname and changed his name to the son-in-law, the man who had been beaten to the ground earlier would react strongly enough to lock them up.
It was a miscalculation, and Mandu Ratu regretted it. He forgot that Bahu had already left, and without Bahu around, no one dared to confront his father head-on.
Bahu, with a frosty expression, rode away on his horse, directionless across the grassland. He had encountered this situation not once, not twice, but numerous times before. However, the outcome was always the same. His mother refused to repent and insisted on staying by that man’s side.
In the evening, Mi Niang sat on the ox cart heading back, her eyes vacant as she gazed at the sky filled with the glow of the setting sun. The light and airy clouds turned into a shade of orange, resembling the flames in the stove, cooking a pot of fragrant chicken soup.
“Uncle Zhaolu, you have so many cattle and sheep, why not raise some chickens and ducks? With water and grass, they’ll grow well if you let them roam freely,” Mi Naing touched her cheek. Unable to afford to eat meat every day, if there were chicken eggs, she could make a bowl of egg custard in the morning to nourish her body.
“There are many eagles on the grassland. Before the chicks grow up, they all end up in the eagles’ stomachs,” Zhaolu was about to mention wild chickens on the grassland when he saw a man and a horse slowly appear in his field of vision.
“Master, you’re back?” Zhaolu couldn’t help but glance at him, noticing the bluish-purple at the corners of his mouth, the scratches on his cheekbones, and his disheveled hair.
“Yeah, I’ll be on watch tonight. Tell people not to come,” there were many bags of wool piled on the ox cart. When they passed the back of the cart, Bahu saw there was still a person on it.
Mi Niang, surprised, swept her eyes over his face. She noticed a few missing buttons on his robe, and the open collar revealed the honey-colored chest muscles.
Bahu didn’t expect to encounter her. For the first time, he felt an awkward and uneasy feeling. Suppressing his embarrassment, he remained silent, lowering his head as if he hadn’t seen her and urging the horse to quickly leave.
Only when he had run far enough did he couldn’t help but curse, “Damn it.”
After missing him, Mi Niang kept staring at the galloping horse, curiously asking Zhaolu, “Did the master go to fight with enemies? Wasn’t he supposed to go to Xushui to see his parents?”
“He indeed went to fight with his father. It’s not an exaggeration to call them enemies,” Zhaolu calmly said. “The master hasn’t been to Xushui for a while, and we’ve been betting on whether his father has quit drinking.”
