Explore Chapter 6 of "生死场" with the original Chinese text, English translation, detailed Chinese vocabulary explanations, and audio of the Chinese original. Listen and improve your reading skills.
Returning to her room, she lowered the curtains and bed curtains. She could no longer sit steadily. She rolled up the mat and crawled on the straw. When the midwife arrived and first saw the room, she turned her head away. She said, "I've never seen, in a big household like yours, giving birth on straw. 'Pressing firewood, pressing firewood, you won't prosper.'"
After dusk, candlelight flickered in the room. The woman was about to give birth. She moaned softly for a while. The midwife and an old neighbor woman supported her. They helped her sit up and move slightly on the kang. But the sinful child would not come out. As midnight passed and the rooster crowed outside, the woman suddenly turned pale with pain, then yellow. The whole family grew restless. They began preparing burial clothes for her. In the terrifying candlelight, they searched for garments. The shadow of death stirred the entire household.
The naked woman could not crawl at all. She could no longer struggle for life or death in that final moment. Dawn gradually broke. Terror seemed like a zombie, stretching straight into the house.
Fifth Aunt, hearing news of her sister, came and inquired, "Won't you drink some water? Since when has she been like this?"
She could no longer sit still. She suffered torment. The midwife changed her wet upper garment. When the door creaked, she panicked again, as if going mad. She was not allowed to make a sound. The suffering woman, if there were a hole nearby, she would jump into it. If there were poison, she would swallow it. She hated everything. She wanted to kick over the windowsill. She wished to break her own legs. It was as if entering a steamer, her whole body about to be torn apart by the heat!
After some time, her legs trembled pitifully. Like a sick horse, she collapsed. The midwife looked somewhat alarmed. She said, "The daughter-in-law might cause trouble. Go find another old woman!"
Meanwhile, the child was delivered, but died immediately. The servant dragged the mother to her feet. Instantly, the child fell onto the kang, making a sound like something thrown onto it. The woman lay in a pool of blood, her body soaked in blood.
In April, birds were also hatching chicks! Often, one could see little sparrows with yellow beaks flying down. They hopped under the eaves to peck at food. The ranks of piglets grew fatter. Only the women in the village summer grew thinner and poorer, like plowing horses.
Punishment was imminent upon Jinzhi, making her short stature mismatched with such a large belly. Jinzhi did not yet look like a woman. She was still like a little girl, but her belly had swollen! Soon to be a mother! The punishment of women was about to seize her.
Moreover, she had been married for less than four months. Yet she was gradually learning to curse her husband. She gradually felt that men were cold and harsh beings! Just like other village women.
Sitting on the sandy bank of the river, Jinzhi was washing clothes. The red sun slanted its rays on the water. The reflections of the woods on the opposite shore blurred with the red waves!
Chengye was behind, standing at a distance. "It's getting dark! You're washing clothes, lazy wife. What were you doing during the day?"
Before dawn, Jinzhi groped to put on her clothes. In the kitchen, this small woman with a big belly started steaming up the kitchen. When the sun rose, the workers hoeing the fields returned with hoes on their shoulders. The main room was crowded with dark heads. The sounds of swallowing rice and soup rang out disorderly.
At noon, she cooked again. In the evening, she cooked. Jinzhi was overly fatigued! Her legs ached as if broken. As darkness fell, she lay down to rest for a moment. In her daze, she sat up, knowing Chengye had returned. Struggling to open her sleepy eyes, she asked, "Just back?"
Immediately, like disaster, pain followed pleasure. Jinzhi could not cook. The village midwife came! She sat in the corner of the kang with a pained expression. She was undergoing punishment. Old Mother Wang came to help her deliver the child. Old Mother Wang shook her experienced head. "Dangerous. Last night, you must have been restless. Young and knowing nothing, with a big belly, you're not allowed to do that. It's easy to lose your life!"
Oxen or horses, unknowingly, were busy cultivating their own pain. During cool nights, one could hear strange sounds from the horse or ox shed. Perhaps an ox was fighting for its mate, crashing out of the shed. The wooden pole was knocked down. Chengye, in a frenzy, picked up a rake and fiercely beat the mad ox. Then it was peacefully driven back into the shed.