TDU Chapter 383
Chapter 383 Outcast of the Times
"Say, Laidi…" he slowly crouched down, the odor from his body pressing close to me. "Since you was a young’un, I always figured you was a looker. Who’d’ve thought you’d hit thirty-five and still nobody’s taken ya?"
"Wha—"
"Yer mama done told me, you got somethin’ wrong in that head o’ yours." He grinned, exposing a mouth full of yellowed teeth, exhaling an unbearable stench. "If ya mind yerself, laozi won’t lay a hand on ya. Otherwise, I’ll be showin’ up every dang day ‘til I break ya into obed’ence."
‘Break… into obedience…?’
I could hardly imagine such a thing happening in modern society. In my ten years as a lawyer, I’d faced threats and even house arrest, but no one had ever dared to lay a hand on me so brazenly.
"L–Listen to me first…" I clutched my stomach as I continued, "There’s nothing wrong with my brain… No matter how much money you gave my family, if you let me go, I’ll pay you back double. You won’t lose a penny. I can even give you an IOU first…"
"Pay me back?" Butcher Ma reached out and tilted my chin upward in an obscene manner. "You’re my woman now. We’re husband and wife. Yer money’s my money, what’s there to pay back?"
"That’s…not correct," I tried to keep my voice steady. "M–Marriage between two people requires a certificate… If you really want me as your woman, we should go to the town hall and get one. Otherwise, no one would even know we’re married, right?"
Butcher Ma was silent for a long moment, then twisted his face into a grotesque smile.
"You really are plumb crazy," he sneered. "I hired me a matchmaker and even handed yer folks a bride price. Matchmaker agreed, yer parents agreed, so why the hell wouldn’t you? Didn’t ya go off to university, get yerself an education? Don’t the sayin’ go, {the command of the parents and the good offices of a go-between*}, huh?"
(TLN: 父母之命 媒妁之言 - the archaic way of contracting a marriage (in former times), basically all marriages in ancient China were arranged by parents with the help of matchmakers. The children are expected to obey.)
The command of the parents and the good offices of a go-between?
I felt it was utterly ridiculous. What year was it now?
Had I somehow traveled back to ancient times?
I didn’t know whether that was good or bad, but the pace of modern development had been so fast.
It created a stark divide between generations: those who could keep up with the times were growing better and better, while those left behind were forever trapped in the past.
I remembered how, as a child, even phoning someone meant going to the village’s only commune, while as an adult, with a phone small as my palm, I could remunerate any type of outstanding payment with a single {swipe}.
And yet, in the same province today, people could hear capitalist marketing slogans like, {If you love her, give her autumn’s first cup of milk tea}, and at the same time encounter the bizarre ancient ideology of {the command of the parents and the good offices of a go-between}. The pace of modern life was simply too fast, some people refused to keep up and were abandoned in dark corners.
"You took my money, so fer this life, yer laozi’s now," he said, pinching my face. "Usually it’s them obedient sixteen- or seventeen-year-old gals worth a hundred thousand. So don’t go actin’ shameless."
Truth be told, I was utterly terrified.
From his perspective, there was no way he would yield.
As a infamous hoodlum in the village, if anyone had truly been willing to throw their daughter into the tiger’s jaws, he wouldn’t still be a bachelor in his fifties.
Now he had spent money to {purchase} me, and he had no intention of returning me.
How could I possibly escape?
His strength far surpassed mine. The only good news was that he hadn’t raped me—but it was only a matter of time.
"Then how about this…" I gritted my teeth. "I have a lot of friends in Chengdu. If anyone finds out I didn’t come back, they’ll call the police. You could at least let me check in with them… at least let someone know I got married, right?"
"You’re really, really sick in the head..." Butcher Ma slowly sneered with contempt in his eyes. "Laozi’ll say it again, we’re already man and wife. You’re my woman, got it? Who the hell calls the cops over a weddin’? Who goes reportin’ a marriage to the police?"
"Man and wife?" I couldn’t hold it in anymore. His logic was airtight from his own perspective, there was no reasoning with him. "Don’t you understand what I’m saying? I’m not crazy! I just don’t want to get married in this village. Is that a crime? Is ‘not wanting to marry’ an illness?!"
Butcher Ma sighed, the stench from his mouth overwhelming. "You don’t wanna marry in the village, so you’re fixin’ to do it in the city instead? What’s so dang great about the city, huh? You think the fellas there are any more dependable? Everybody knows all y’all do is point fingers and gripe in the city, sounds like a miserable way to live. From here on out, ain’t no need to be suin’ nobody. I give ya meat, you give me babies. I swear I won’t go lookin’ for no other woman."
Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous!
What was that just now?
A confession? A proposal?
‘I give ya meat, you give me babies’?
What kind of absurd person could say something like this?
He was completely mad.
Should I continue to struggle, the situation could take a dangerous turn. Since I had already expressed my rejection, it seemed wiser now to yield temporarily and ensure my safety.
"But… who locks up the bride they’re marrying?" I said, my voice trembling. "Let’s talk outside. As long as you don’t keep me here, I’ll agree to anything, okay?"
I thought I had just made the humblest request possible, but as soon as I finished speaking, a slap landed across my face.
{Smack}!
His hand seemed smeared with lard, greasy and foul.
"Ya think I’m stupid? That’s what all them purchas’ed city gals say! Ya think I’d believe that?!" Butcher Ma hollered. "Just wait! I’ll starve ya for five days, then ya’ll be beggin’ to be my woman."
What?
He stood up, about to leave, but I blocked his path.
"If you don’t give me food and water, in this weather, I won’t survive three days, let alone five," I tried to reason from his perspective. "You want me to be your woman, no? You can’t let me die. If I die, your hundred thousand will be wasted."
He snorted coldly. "If pigs don’t kick the bucket from five days o’ hunger, how in tarnation could you?"
"I’m human, not an animal," I said, shivering, covering my face. "At least give me some water. I haven’t had any in a long time."
He thought for a moment, then pushed me to the ground with great force and left, locking the door behind him again.
I realized how dangerous the situation was. This man believed I was no different from a pig.
He could really let me starve to death here.
What I hadn’t expected was that a few minutes later, a bottle of mineral water was tossed through the window on the wall, along with a bag of bread that would expire in a day.
I examined the bottle cap and bread packaging carefully. Both were unopened, it should be fine.
If Butcher Ma truly were so meticulous as to poison both water and food, I would have no choice but to concede defeat.
I finished the bottled water and bread, feeling slightly better, but how was I supposed to get out of this tiny six-square-meter room?
How long would I be trapped here?
Wait… Xiao Sun?
I suddenly thought of Xiao Sun. It was already nighttime. By now, he should have realized in the morning that I’d gone missing. Would he realize I was in danger?
No… it was hard to say.
To him, this was just my hometown. There was no way he could have guessed that I had been sold by my own parents to a butcher.
He also could never have imagined that Zhang Chenze, who charged a minimum of twenty thousand yuan to handle a lawsuit in Chengdu, had been {sold} for a steep price of one hundred thousand.
TL Note: Rant goes here ( •̯́ ₃ •̯̀)
