funbook-pk Chapter 106 The Escape of Kotoha
Chapter 106 The Escape of Kotoha
"Qinye, hurry up and get to work!"
An old woman with a mean face stared menacingly at a beautiful, gentle woman in a green dress, showing no regard for her as an equal.
The woman in the green dress had black hair and green eyes. She looked haggard, with a sallow and thin face. She responded timidly.
The old woman, holding a bottle of wine she had just bought, squeezed past Qin Ye, muttering, "What a lazybones! Doesn't he see the sun is high in the sky and he's still not cooking? As a wife, he doesn't even serve his husband!"
Qinye remained silent, simply cooking obediently in the kitchen without arguing.
Although she only took short breaks between tasks.
Based on her past experience, if she argued back, she would either be verbally abused by her mother-in-law or beaten by her husband. It would be better to do nothing, endure it, and suffer less physical and mental torment.
Qinye rolled up her sleeves, revealing her arms covered in old wounds, and began washing rice and starting a fire to cook.
It's winter now, and the river water is extremely cold, so Qinye's hands have already developed a lot of frostbite.
The food still needs to be cooked.
Despite the pain, numbness, and itching, Qin Ye barely managed to wash the rice before starting a fire to cook.
At this moment, her mother-in-law walked in, sat down to the side, and watched Qin Ye cook. Food was precious, and she couldn't let this little slut steal any!
After cooking, I went to call my husband, who was still unconscious from a hangover from the previous night, to eat.
The husband, who was woken up, had red and swollen eyes, was yawning, and felt dizzy and nauseous.
"Get out!" The husband, still hungover, had no appetite and cursed before collapsing into bed.
Qin Ye was used to it. She knew her husband wouldn't eat, but she still had to call him. Otherwise, he would use that as an excuse to beat and scold her when he recovered.
Having lived with this wicked mother and son, Kotoha has mastered many skills.
Qin Ye braved the wind and snow and silently returned to her room. She first walked back and forth in the room with the dry, hard quilt in her arms until her body gradually felt warmer. Then she quickly walked to the bedside, picked up the white and tender baby in the swaddling clothes, and showed a cautious smile.
The mother-in-law values her grandson quite a bit and isn't stingy with her money.
Inosuke was well taken care of.
This is something Kotoha is fortunate about.
Inosuke was the pillar of his spirit that supported him in living in this hellish home.
If it weren't for Inosuke's birth, Kotoha doesn't know if she could have persevered.
Kotoha sang to Inosuke while breastfeeding him.
She was just an illiterate commoner who could only sing songs she heard and then make up her own lyrics to coax the baby.
There are no outstanding lyrics or gorgeous singing, only a mother's deep love for her child.
"ゆびきりげんまん~"
"うそついたら~"
"はりせんぽんのます~"
After Inosuke was fed, his grandmother's voice came from inside.
"Qinye, hurry and chop some firewood! We're running out of firewood!"
Qin Ye walked out silently. Her mother-in-law was standing outside her room, probably having been secretly watching her. Sure enough, as soon as she relaxed, she was called to do chores.
The mother-in-law muttered, "We can't afford to lose money."
In her mother-in-law's opinion, letting Qinye rest was a waste of money!
A few years ago, during a famine, Qinye's parents, brothers, and sisters all starved to death. As a single woman, she naturally couldn't survive and had no choice but to get married.
So the mother-in-law spent money to buy the woman back to be her son's wife.
If this woman hadn't been so beautiful, and her son hadn't fallen for her at first sight, her mother-in-law wouldn't have been willing to spend so much money to marry her.
Therefore, her mother-in-law had always disliked Qinye and treated her badly.
Qinye silently went out to chop firewood in the wind and snow.
It's alright, as long as Inosuke is there, she can keep going. Kotoha exhaled a breath of hot air and continued chopping wood.
Half an hour later, Qin Ye carried a full basket of firewood down the mountain and returned home.
As soon as she got near her home, Kotoha heard the baby crying.
Qin Ye's expression changed, and she dropped the firewood basket and rushed into the house.
The door to the room where her violent, alcoholic husband was located was wide open.
Kotoha's heart tightened, and she hurriedly headed towards Inosuke's room.
Upon entering, she saw her husband, who reeked of alcohol, grabbing Inosuke by one leg and roughly swinging him around while cursing angrily.
"Little brat, what are you yelling about!"
The sight made Qin Ye's heart skip a beat.
Fortunately, this scoundrel remembered that this was his son, and he just shook him roughly instead of throwing the child against the wall like he did with Qinye.
Kotoha stepped forward and took her son from her husband's arms, then gently coaxed Inosuke to sleep.
Kotoha's husband was definitely not a good person, nor did he look like one. (Luckily, Inosuke looks like his mother.)
He was an alcoholic and unhealthy man. His pale, sunken eyes gleamed with a fierce light, and his disheveled hair obscured his violent and crazed eyes.
The noisy toy in my hand was snatched away, and I had nowhere to vent my frustration.
Isn't there another sandbag here?
Qinye's husband coldly grabbed Qinye's hair, ignoring his own child, and slammed Qinye's head against the wall.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
It was also accompanied by a lot of foul language and insults.
The old woman remained calm as she worked on the clothes in the next room, her aged arms holding the needle and thread without trembling.
It was just a joke, nothing to take seriously.
"what!!!"
That's his son's scream!
The old woman immediately stood up, then snapped in her back with a crack. After letting out a scream just like her son, she managed to straighten up and stagger out the door.
"That bitch Kotoha ran away!"
His son clutched his arm, which bore deep bite marks left by Qin Ye and had a small piece of flesh missing.
The mother-in-law was furious. She rushed to bandage her son's wounds and then called her friends to search for Qin Ye's whereabouts.
"She can't run far in a snowy weather!"
"Catch her!"
*
faster!
Faster!
A woman carrying an infant ran through the wind and snow, her figure obscured by the shadowy snowflakes, her footprints hidden by the swirling snow.
But where can they run off to?
Qinye didn't know either.
She never went out.
Her world consisted only of that village in the mountains, and the farthest she had ever traveled in her life was to the neighboring village.
This act of defying and running away from home was Kotoha's greatest act of courage.
But what to do next was beyond the comprehension of an ignorant village woman like her.
Where would anyone accept a woman like her who ran away from home?
People will only think that this woman is unfaithful, a lewd woman, and that she helped her husband catch a woman like her.
Oh, right, the temple.
Surely a kind place like a temple would accept her?
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
Kotoha must be exceptionally gifted to give birth to a son like Inosuke; not everyone can successfully escape with an infant while being chased in the snow.