"Women stop bleeding, men sprinkle salt", rooted in rural towns for 2 years, she wrote about another life of Chinese women

In the ancient town, the writer Yi Xiaohe can be regarded as an outlier.

No one is like her, who carries a book of Yu Xiuhua's poems under her armpit when she goes out. Locals describe supermarkets that "can buy anything", in Yi Xiaohe's writing, can only cope with basic living needs: you can't buy sugar-free coffee here, only three-in-one; There is no underwear clean, and all clothes are washed on a single piece of soap; In all the township homes where the doors are open, she is the only one who has the habit of closing the doors during the day, even if the two doors inside and outside of this rental house can be torn down by one person.

Most importantly, Yi Xiaohe is always alone, neither doing housework nor bringing children, which is beyond the life experience of the locals. "There are all kinds of marriage forms in this town, but they just can't tolerate single women, divorced women, and cheating women." Yi Xiaohe wrote in the book.

Playing mahjong seems to be the "main business" of the townspeople, regardless of men, women, and children, regardless of time and occasion. Yi Xiaohe would not, so he had to refuse the warm invitation of the neighbors. The sound of mahjong rubbing on the street rose and fell one after another, but Yi Xiaohe locked himself in his room to read books and practice yoga. Such a woman, who was out of place in the town, naturally caused rumors. The version that reached Yi Xiaohe's ears was that she was the wife of a high-ranking official, rich and idle, and owned several local apartments.

"Wild" cupping © when rushing Yi Xiaohe

In 2021, writer and media personality Yi Xiaohe failed to start a business and decided to temporarily leave Shanghai and return to her hometown in Zigong, Sichuan, which also freed up a lot of time for her writing plan. The idea of writing about marginalized groups of women in townships has a long history. Over the years, as a journalist, Yi Xiaohe has traveled to Beijing, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Shanghai and other cities. The township to her is "the part that knows nothing about China."

A long time ago, Yi Xiaohe saw a report of a rural woman having difficulty giving birth, and her husband told the doctor to keep her young. In the city, she has always heard people say that Chinese women are the highest-ranking women in East Asia. There are only a few in the country, but there are countless small towns like Xianshi. She decided to take advantage of the time she was back to her hometown to see a more authentic and expansive township.

Get off at Zigong's high-speed rail station and after a ten-minute drive through large farmlands, you will reach the pier. Then the ferryman supported the long pole and took a boat to the streets of the ancient town. The ancient town is a typical hilly area, with the Puxi River winding and the streets undulating. Stepping on the cyan stone road, you can see the houses with green tile and white walls on both sides. By the wooden doors and windows, hanging dried clothes and pickles for pickling.

The ancient town is on the side of the river, and on the opposite bank is a field © of rape flowers Yi Xiaohe

This is Xianshi Town, which is classified as a tourist attraction in Zigong, Sichuan. Nestled between poverty and food and clothing, the ancient town is only a dozen kilometers from Yi Xiaohe's home, and she has only checked in once as a tourist before. The town is only three and a half streets, and locals describe it as "a match to walk around the town." But it is in this narrow space that Yi Xiaohe collides head-on with the most impactful reality.

She told a writer friend in the city about what she saw when she first arrived in Yanzhen: "I didn't expect that it was already this age, and there was such a woman, everyone in the town knew or witnessed her suffering domestic violence, but everyone seemed to be used to it, and she herself did not want to get rid of this life at all." ”

"But you wouldn't think of it, she's also the most popular matchmaker in town."

The story of any ordinary woman on the street can touch Yi Xiaohe's sensitive nerves. She didn't expect that while people were talking about women's rights in big cities, there were women who were still repeating the cycle of ancient times.

After living here for a year, she selected the stories of 12 women to write into a book. In her afterword, she writes: "Life in Salt Town is a series of tiny cracks, women desperately trying to stop the bleeding, and men sprinkling salt. ”

At the bottom end of suffering

Yi Xiaohe rents a house near the riverside pier, near the teahouse owned by the matchmaker Wang Dawei's family. When she first met her new neighbor, Wang's grandmother wore a cheongsam and a long pearl necklace. At the age of 63, her figure is still bumpy, and her "wrinkled" face can still see the Peugeot of her youth.

In Yi Xiaohe's initial impression, she was a beautiful widow. Families with marriageable men and women in the vicinity all begged her, and the vendors who occupied the vacant land in front of her house to sell goods were also polite to her.

The teahouse © in town Yi Xiaohe

Later, when she became familiar, Wang began to complain to Yi Xiaohe that her husband was a "bad debt" and "had hooked up with countless women". Neighbors also told Yi Xiaohe that Wang Dawei was chased and beaten by her husband on the street, and everyone in the town knew it.

In more than forty years of marriage, her hand was broken, and her body was covered with dark bruises for many years. In the most serious case, she was pressed to the ground by her husband, smashed her round fist on her body, kicked the man in the stomach, and then spat out a mouthful of blood. She felt the fear of imminent death.

Domestic violence began as a result of catching rape. The husband has cheated on many women, and everyone in the town knows it, but no one takes it seriously, only Wang Dawei can't bear this breath.

The unfortunate marriage was partly due to Wang's "indisputable belly" - she gave birth to only two daughters. Wang was pregnant with a son, but under the family planning policy, she was taken away four times to induce labor, each time a male baby. One of them was almost seven months old, and her little hands had grown nails, grabbing Wang's arm before she died, leaving a temperature that she would never forget for the rest of her life.

It is not that Wang Da Wei does not have the opportunity to go abroad to protect the pregnancy, but her husband is amorous on the one hand, and on the other hand, he is suspicious of being seriously ill, and he controls her very strictly, so he cannot make the trip.

A victim under the double pressure of the times and marriage has become a sinner of this family. The mother-in-law mocked her for "sitting in confinement every year" and "only knowing how to rake (soft) eggs". And the husband cheated on him, and he had a justified reason: "Find a young and beautiful mother-in-law so that she can have a son." ”

In Xianshi Town, even if they chat, women's hands are choosing vegetables, cutting turnips, and raising children, never stopping. Yi Xiaohe is the only one who can get away from such trivial matters. She wandered the streets, attending the wedding banquets of the locals and following the women to the funeral dojo. Every third, sixth and ninth lunar calendar, whenever there is time, I follow the people of the town to rush to the scene. The lady of the restaurant, the guests in the teahouse, and the women in the nail shop are all the objects she chats with.

The woman © who rushed to the scene Yi Xiaohe

In these women with different fates, Yi Xiaohe found a common denominator - "many women have been beaten by men." A man with a knife chased his wife through the street, only to be persuaded by a neighbor to stop.

Yang Blind, who said that King He's wife and wife, was also a victim of domestic violence. Yang Blind is also one of Yi Xiaohe's neighbors. Looking down from the second floor of her house, I could see the hall house of Yang Blind's house.

Here, blind people are simply called "blind" and given surnames to distinguish them. The union of two blind people should be the interdependence of vulnerable individuals. Unexpectedly, Yang Blind once inadvertently revealed to Yi Xiaohe that her husband not only abused her, but also never gave her a penny.

In a society of acquaintances such as a small town, opening one person's chatterbox will reveal the story of another. Wang and neighbors once mentioned to Yi Xiaohe that there was a high-ranking woman named Tong Hui in the town, and only one person had a particularly good relationship with her, "like a man." After spending a long time in the town, Yi Xiaohe often saw them walking side by side in the streets of the town.

They are a same-sex couple in town. Li Hongmei walked in the figure of eight, with a bunch of keys tied to her waist. She has a bold personality and can smoke a pack of cigarettes in a day. Seven or eight times because of excessive drinking, he was sent to the health center for hanging bottles.

Tong Hui was a famous beauty in town when she was young. She was born in an intellectual family, and did not look at the men in the town who gambled money, drank, and domestic violence, and under Li Hongmei's fierce pursuit, she finally decided to choose this woman who "has no bad habits".

But over time, the two slowly lived into a heterosexual couple in town. Tong Hui was cursed for persuading the other party not to drink. She once sent Yi Xiaohe a photo with marks on her neck after she was beaten. Tong Hui said that Li Hongmei had also slapped her in front of others.

Yi Xiaohe has seen photos of Li Hongmei when she was young, and in her first marriage, when she was someone's wife, she looked beautiful and sweet, with two small dimples on her face. After being with Tong Hui, she began to change into a neutral dress, wearing a top that could not be seen, and even drinking alcohol and domestic violence, all of which were the result of moving closer to the local male culture.

"Even if it is two women, because of the backward environment, feudal thinking, and narrow insight, one woman can end up like a man, and occasionally 'oppresses' another woman." This also made Yi Xiaohe realize that women here are not only a gender, but also a situation as a weak person.

In addition to women, Yi Xiaohe also pays attention to the most inconspicuous animals. She witnessed a group of children smashing an orange cat with a stone, and the cat was terrified and looked around for a place to hide. The goats outside the mutton shop just stood dumbfounded most of the time, until the day of slaughter, with the same fear and tears under their eyes. A big yellow dog rushed into the teahouse at an inopportune time, was stuck with a bench by several big men, hit the air conditioner, tables and chairs, and the floor, all splashed with blood.

In a way, animals are mirror images of people. When facing the strong, the fate of the two is not fundamentally different. She wrote in one article: "Life is crushed into dust here, most of the time without any resistance. ”

In this township of poverty, misery and marginal elements, women are at the bottom of the biosphere, the target of the weak wielding swords.

This is why Yi Xiaohe finally chose 12 women to write a book: "Vulnerable people are the best side to observe the whole society, how a society treats women, what this society is like, and the situation of women is a natural measure of a society." ”

Psychological masseur

Wang always likes to talk about gods and Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and karma, and every time he lowers his voice, as if some mysterious power is around. Once, she mentioned to Yi Xiaohe the local "special god" fairy mother, "looking for her in all four miles and eight towns".

Yi Xiaohe was interested and asked Lady Wang to take her to meet Xian Po. On August 16, 2021, the two people got up at five o'clock, and before the sky was clear, they had to rush out. This is also the arrangement of Wang's eldest wife, "Xian Po's business is particularly good, if you don't go early, you may not be able to see it, or you will have to queue for a long time." ”

When I arrived at Xian Po's house, several "two-wheeled" and private cars were already parked in front of the door. Turn left through the hall and you will find the room where the fairy woman is. The curtain was lifted only a small corner, letting in a faint light. The dimly lit hut is filled with wooden benches, specially prepared for those who usually wait in line. On the innermost side, there is a large bed of fairy mothers.

A corner of © Xian Po's house Yi Xiaohe

Yi Xiaohe sat down and waited for a while, and a middle-aged woman with short hair with a ruddy face walked in at the door. This fairy woman looked no different from the ordinary peasant women in the town, with a loud voice and a hearty voice. Seeing that there were already four or five villagers waiting in the room, she first sat on the bed, chatted with the villagers about home, and then suddenly lay down on the bed, her tone became serious, and asked the person, "Who is the last name?" ”

The villagers reported their names one by one, unreservedly told their privacy, and then begged Xian Po to resolve it. Some people have strange diseases, or they have cancer, and some people have not been resting well recently and have many dreams. Health and marriage are mostly the most basic demands in life. No one at the scene bothered about "high-level" troubles such as prospects, careers, and financial fortunes.

Yi Xiaohe found that compared with ordinary villagers, Xian Po was better at observing words and colors. When it was Yi Xiaohe's turn, Wang Da Wei came up and introduced Xian Po: "She is from Shanghai. Even without reminding, Xian Po could probably see that Yi Xiaohe's skin was whiter than other villagers, and there were no traces of years of physical work on his body.

Xian Po calculated that Yi Xiaohe was a "technical talent", "Wherever you go to a factory, someone will rush to ask for it." ”

The main skill of Xian Po is "Yin Xia". She chanted words in her mouth, summoned the soul upper body, and spoke to the people of the village in the tone of the other party's dead relatives. Xian Po is like a "psychological masseur" for the townspeople, allowing the villagers to see the light that shines through life. Whenever they encounter a problem that cannot be solved, they will find Xian Po, which has developed into the most prosperous business in each village.

"She told them in the voice of their relatives underground: There are still people in this world who remember them, and everything will be fine." Yi Xiaohe said: "People are people above, they are 'underground' people. ”

The people in the town used to burn incense and worship Buddha © Yi Xiaohe

Different people believe in different fairy mothers. A mother in a town finds a fairy woman who says her daughter had gone to the 32nd floor in a daze and was ready to jump. Thinking that the girl had "hit something unclean," she asked the girl's family to burn paper on the north side of the house at eight o'clock in the evening, scolding and walking back. When the child comes home, he sprinkles rice on her back.

Unbeknownst to the mother, her daughter dropped out of vocational high school and entered a gray industry at the age of 14, helping her boyfriend manage the team of sisters (underage ladies) at KTV. It was a world of lies, violence, and even drugs. "Unclean things" are actually girls suffering from depression.

Here, in particular, people believe in fate and are accustomed to passively accepting the arrangements of fate. Among the people Yi Xiaohe has dealt with, the one who makes her feel the most distressed is Liang Xiaoqing, the owner of the nail shop. She is a post-85 generation, and when she was in the first grade of primary school, she was suddenly stopped by her grandfather. As a feng shui master, Grandpa concluded that "the Liang family is destined to be unable to get out of a single reader, so don't waste that money." Liang Xiaoqing is intelligent and savvy. By studying textbooks at home, other children can solve math problems that only she can solve. But the hope of a child getting out of town by reading is so easily and forever erased.

What is difficult to shake in reality can only be delivered to miracles. The time when Princess Wang was beaten to vomit blood, she took advantage of her husband's distraction, endured the pain and stood up, and ran out in one breath, not looking for someone to ask for help, nor running away, but rushing to Guanyin Pavilion to kneel down and cry. She thought of her two daughters, who could not die yet, so she had to ask the bodhisattva for help. Yi Xiaohe began to understand the grand wives: "If there is not even these, what will happen to their lives?" ”

History of ordinary people

After Yi Xiaohe lived in the ancient town for three or four months, even people in the distant village knew that a writer came from Xianshi Town.

A woman from a neighboring village added Yi Xiaohe's WeChat, and just passed the friend verification, sent dozens of 60-second voices. Later, she also took the initiative to find Yi Xiaohe's home and asked Yi Xiaohe: "My story is very exciting, do you want to write it?" ”

There have been rumors in town that she had abducted her nephew. For this reason, the child's family turned against her, and when walking on the street, they would also spit on her. Years later, the child was found, and the rumors were dispelled. But she didn't wait for an apology. The woman felt even more angry, and talked about her grievances whenever people talked about it, but no one cared at all.

"Everyone's life is so heavy, what to do if you pay money to your children next month, what to do if the elderly get sick, what to do if you get sick in the future... Where else is there to look at other people's lives? Yi Xiaohe said. Acquaintances, even if they all live on the same street, do not have much time to look at each other and listen.

These ordinary people's desire to talk is beyond Yi Xiaohe's imagination. Grandma Wang said that the biggest wish in this life is that after a hundred years of her, someone can write something for her and let others know what kind of person she is.

The title "eldest concubine" is like a kind of seal, indicating that a woman survived the age of 40 and has since blurred her gender and face. When Wang Dawei was still a crown flower, she stood out, as long as she changed into a clean skirt, she was the conspicuous one in the crowd. She likes to dance, has taught rural young people, and always attracts the gaze of the opposite sex.

At the door © of Wang Dawei's teahouse Yi Xiaohe

Wang Dabi plays short videos, loves to use beauty filters, and has thousands of works left on singing software. She forwards it to her circle of friends and likes to flip it one by one for others to see.

When her brother's family was in difficulty, she secretly helped her two nephews and offered the eldest to a high school. He couldn't get out of the haze of domestic violence, but as long as he saw someone quarrelling, even passers-by who couldn't fight with eight poles, he would put down the way he was living, run over and persuade: "It's not easy to have a house..." Once, Lady Wang saw a woman being chased and beaten by her husband, and the man was holding a pig-killing knife in his hand, and she dared to run to pull a fight.

"She is an out-and-out good person, a cowardly good person, but no one knows or records," Yi Xiaohe said, "Others only know that she is very guilty (pitiful), was subjected to domestic violence, and her husband cheated on her, should a woman's life be just like this?" ”

Yi Xiaohe searched for local chronicles or books related to the ancient town, and in the few books, there was no record of any women except for the story of a martyr virgin.

Ancient town residence © Yi Xiaohe

Listening to the stories of the women, Yi Xiaohe had a sour nose several times. After many years in the industry, she is still easily moved by the stories of "little people". At the beginning, she was a well-known sports journalist in China, and she came into contact with sports stars like Yao Ming.

"For example, to interview Yao Ming, as long as he appears in public, I have to follow him every second and observe all his details." Yi Xiaohe began to reflect, "Did you eat a sandwich today, (this detail) is actually what if you don't write it?" For this person, there is no impact. The only thing that has had an impact is that there is less so-called 'exclusivity' in the newspaper. ”

The faces of the town's women are pieced together into a group portrait, a group of ordinary women who have been ignored for a long time, uncared for, and finally can't keep their names. The significance of paying attention to small people is far greater than interviewing stars, and Yi Xiaohe decided to write the book "Salt Town" to "give a witness to the women on the street".

Once, Yi Xiaohe joked with historian Luo Xin in a WeChat group: "Many of you historians record 'Qin Wuyang's thirteen-year-old murder' (the content of the "History"), and I am interested in the fate of the 'person' who was killed, what is his name, whether he has a family, and whether he has a dream." ”

Nala in the ancient town

One afternoon, Chen Xiu'e, a single mother, braved the heavy rain to come to her door, saying that she had repented and that there was no need to write down her story, and later changed her words, hoping not to use her real name.

Chen Xiu'e (like the 12 women in "Salt Town", nearly half of them are pseudonyms) first met Yi Xiaohe, who accompanied her on a blind date at Wang's teahouse, visited her home, and bought snacks for her children. After six months of acquaintance, Chen Xiu'e still has doubts about the writer friend in front of her: "In my life, I have suffered too many losses and been deceived too much... It's hard for me to believe people I know well. ”

Chen Xiu'e should have been the kind of person who had the most hope of getting out of the town. She has a talent for writing, has received perfect marks in high school and published works in Juvenile Literature. The high school she attended is one of the best middle schools in Zigong City, and it is basically safe to be admitted to an undergraduate university.

She also had dreams of becoming a writer, but she heard that "being a writer is a poor person", and considering that her family was poor, she gave up early.

The turning point in her life happened when she was 17 years old. After her mother died of cancer, Chen Xiu'e's grades plummeted, and she was only admitted to the University of Electronic Science and Technology in Guangzhou. She only read for one semester in Guangzhou, met her boyfriend who was dating online, dropped out of school, went to her boyfriend's hometown of Yibin, Sichuan, got married and had children. After the joy of the newlywed faded, men began to gamble day and night. Even when the father-in-law was dying, the husband was at the card table.

When Yi Xiaohe met Chen Xiu'e, she had been divorced for 6 years, took two children, and found a job as a kindergarten teacher in the town, receiving a salary of more than 1,000 yuan a month. Life was tight and simple. She wakes up every morning, feeds chickens and rabbits, does housework, goes to kindergarten, and after work comes home to help with her children's homework, it's time to go to bed.

In the hilly ancient town with a radius of several miles, Chen Xiu'e's life slowly shrank. Apart from a few colleagues in kindergarten, she had no more friends. Some of the classmates in the school period can no longer remember.

Getting out of a small town is never easy, and Yi Xiaohe has faced a similar situation. For children in small places, it is difficult for most people to become "small-town problem makers". Good grades are admitted to secondary school, ordinary points to go to technical schools, in order to end their studies early, work to earn money. Around them, no one can offer any new model of life. When I graduated from junior high school, the teacher asked in the class, how many people want to go to university? In the classroom, three or four arms were sparsely raised. Among them is the "scumbag" Yi Xiaohe who is seriously biased. Surprised by this result, she looked at the classmate at the top of the class and thought, why didn't he raise his hand?

"If my dad hadn't told me I had to go to college, I wouldn't have been so determined." Yi Xiaohe said. But fathers with this kind of awareness were rare at the time.

Yi Xiaohe on the ferry © boat of the Puxi River Yi Xiaohe

After graduating from college, like Chen Xiu'e, Yi Xiaohe also followed her then boyfriend to his city. She described her inferiority and cowardice at that time. Can't find a job, "not financially independent, not spiritually independent." My biggest wish is to marry my boyfriend and live a small life."

An unexpected turning point was that the man's family did not like her, thinking that Yi Xiaohe at that time was poor, fat, and not good-looking. The boyfriend also couldn't bear the pressure and was forced to go on a blind date. At that time, Yi Xiaohe happened to see a job advertisement from abroad, and she successfully applied for the job, and finally salvaged herself from the darkest life.

This misguided exodus is unexplainable how much luck was accounted for. "If you choose a little bit wrong, it will definitely not be me now."

Not everyone can be as lucky as Yi Xiaohe. There is no shortage of "incomplete runaways" in the town. The family and motherhood became the anchor claws that fixed the women on the Puxi River. In the life of Liang Xiaoqing, the owner of the nail shop, there have been two opportunities to run away.

Liang Xiaoqing © Yi Xiaohe

Once when Liang Xiaoqing was just an adult. She worked in a factory in Fushun, Zigong, and had the conditions to apply for a dormitory. But Liang Xiaoqing did not dare to leave, she was afraid that as soon as she left, there would be no one to protect her mother, who would be abused by her father at any time.

Another time, in 2018, in order to improve the makeup business, Liang Xiaoqing went to Beijing to participate in a large-scale beauty party. Before leaving, the teacher kept her, "Stay in Beijing, don't go back to the town, there is no development there." But at that time, Liang Xiaoqing was already a mother of two children. At the age of 18, she married a man who had little in common and was not motivated.

These women who have walked out of the small town and come back again have the same characteristic: the sense of autonomy and self-awareness that grow in them will be slowly worn out, which is the shaping effect of a strong local culture. "The 'new' part that had grown was quickly extinguished." Yi Xiaohe said.

In "Salt Town", Yi Xiaohe also admits that the further you read, the newer the age. The fate of women is also freed from that airtight sense of suffocation. They are more and more likely to leave, and the times give more and more opportunities. She is more about the women who failed to escape, whose stories have been unknown and whose wounds have not healed.

These failed women later became mothers, staying where they were, lifting up the next generation. In a way, the urge to run away never dissipated. After becoming friends with Yi Xiaohe, Liang Xiaoqing told her daughter: "Look how good (Aunt Yi) is, when you grow up in the future, don't be like your mother, get married so early, and you will have more choices in the future." ”

Another woman in the book decided to send her child to Chongqing for junior high school, with a tuition fee of 16,000 a semester and at least 2,000 or 3,000 living expenses a month. Others can't understand, why do you have to get to study abroad? Only she knew, "I just can't let my children stay in this town, I have to go further." ”

Written by丨Chen Xiaoyan Editor丨Zhang Rui Produced丨Tencent News Gu Yu Studio

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