Siheyuan: Married a female spy at the beginning of 1944

The hands that have worked for many years can be seen at a glance.

The joints are thick, the palms are heavy and gravelly.

Cai Guiqin's hands are even rougher than He Daqing's.

Although He Daqing's hands were a bit rough, his hand shape was still good and not deformed.

As for Li Wanqiu, her hands are even more delicate and beautiful.

Li Wanqiu held Cai Guiqin's hand and felt a little distressed.

"Sister Cai, you have suffered so much."

Cai Guiqin sighed.

"Alas, if I were to talk about the suffering I have endured, it would take me three days and three nights to finish.

When I was 7 years old, my family owed money to the landlord.

Since I had no money to pay back, the landlord asked me to pay off the debt.

When I arrived at the landlord's house, there was endless work to do as soon as I opened my eyes every day.

Doing laundry, cleaning the yard, scrubbing furniture, and helping in the kitchen.

Other jobs are okay and anyone can do them at a young age, but washing clothes is really too difficult.

It’s not so bad when the weather is warm, but the most difficult thing to endure is winter.

In winter, when I wash clothes with cold water, my hands become so cold that I can hardly feel them.

Let’s not even mention that terrible sin.

When I get older, I will go to the fields and work like a laborer.

From morning to night every day, never resting.

At that time, I envied the landlord's donkey.

Because donkeys are not like us, they just eat, sleep and work.

And even if it is a donkey, it needs to be given some food in addition to the grass.

But what about us?

During festivals and holidays, we can eat some leftovers from the landlords’ homes, and we should be grateful to the landlords.”

Li Wanqiu felt a little uncomfortable when she heard this.

Because their family is also one of the landlords.

They also have servants who work for them.

As for how these servants lived, she actually had no idea.

She just heard from the servants that having food and clothes in their home was much better than living outside.

So she thought that even if she was a servant, she could still live a good life.

"Sister Cai? Are servants' lives so hard? But I, I, I heard that some servants live a pretty good life.

Even better than the lives of many workers and farmers."

When Cai Guiqin heard this, she laughed at herself somewhat self-deprecatingly.

"Yes, I thought so at first. I saw the servants in the landlord's house living well.

I also thought that if I could work hard and gain the appreciation of the landlord, I could also become a manager.

You can eat and drink your fill without having to work hard.

But what is the truth?

There are seven or eight people like me in the landlord's family, but only one of them can be appreciated by the landlord.

Moreover, this person was brought from the landlord's mother's home.

People like us have no chance or possibility of becoming managers."

Li Wanqiu thought about it in light of her own family situation and found that it was indeed the case.

Her mother was a concubine and had no status.

She is not even as good as the mother-in-law who manages her father's wife.

Moreover, that mother-in-law was brought from home by her father's wife, and was a caring person who took care of her since she was a child.

"Then, is there no other way out? Even if you become a servant, life may be harder, but at least you will have food and shelter.

Don’t worry about your life.”

Li Wanqiu subconsciously wanted to defend her family.

I want to tell Cai Guiqin that there are good people among landlords and gentry.

Even the poor landlords have a conscience. If there were no landlords, you might become the same as those homeless people.

Cai Guiqin pulled her hand out of Li Wanqiu's hand, and then held Li Wanqiu's hand back.

"Sister Wanqiu, you must have been born in a wealthy family. Look at your hands, so delicate. I have never seen such beautiful hands since I can remember.

Even the landlord's wife I serve doesn't have hands as delicate and smooth as yours.

I think your family conditions must be much better than that of the landlord I serve.

But, are the servants in your family all doing well?"

Li Wanqiu tried to pull her hand back uncomfortably, but failed.

"Sister Cai, my family is relatively well-off, but I am not welcomed at home.

My mother is a concubine and is usually no different from a servant.

My status in the family is only slightly higher than that of a servant, and I don't usually have to do any rough work.

But I still often do some sewing, mending and washing work.

It’s just that my mother would buy me some hand oil, and I would also buy some after I started working.”

Li Wanqiu became less and less confident as she spoke.

Yes, her life was not easy, but compared with Cai Guiqin, she was living in heaven.

Most of the low-level people she had come into contact with before were her own servants.

She thought she understood the suffering of the lower classes.

When I go out, I see many people who are poorly clothed and hungry.

But sometimes she also thought that these people were displaced because of laziness and war, just as her father said.

After joining the Military Control Commission, she also asked these questions.

The answer given by the Military Intelligence Bureau at the time was that it was because of Japan's invasion of China and the Labor Party's rebellion.

It is precisely because of these two reasons that years of war have been triggered.

This is why so many people have no food to eat and starve to death on the roadside.

Seeing Li Wanqiu's apologetic look, Cai Guiqin smiled with relief.

She touched Li Wanqiu's head.

“Alas, sister Wanqiu, you are a good person, kind-hearted and compassionate.

Seeing you like this, I can imagine that your parents must be good people too.

They should treat their servants better and not beat or abuse them at will.

Not like the landlord who bought me.

They simply don't treat me as a human being.

When I was 14 years old, the landlord took a fancy to me.

At the beginning I was very happy and hoped that the landlord would take me as his concubine, so that my life might be better.

Now it seems that I was really naive back then.

After the landlord coaxed me with his sweet words, he never mentioned taking a concubine again.

After the novelty wore off, he treated me even more like a worn-out shoe.

Even though I was pregnant with his child, he didn't care.

When the landlady found out that I was pregnant, she had someone hit my stomach hard, causing me to have a miscarriage.

From then on, not only did the landlord bully me at will, but even his son would call me to his room from time to time.

Thinking back to those days, I feel like dying.”

Li Wanqiu was so shocked that she couldn't close her mouth.

She really couldn't imagine that there were such people.

No matter what, Cai Guiqin was pregnant with his child and she didn't care at all.

What’s even more outrageous is that these two men would actually treat a woman like this.

This is simply not treating Cai Guiqin as a human being.

Seeing Cai Guiqin's angry and regretful expression, and her eyes full of rage and indomitable spirit.

She really wanted to know what Cai Guiqin had gone through that made her become what she is today.