Zhao Yiman’s story

At the beginning of the 20th century, under the wave of the May Fourth Movement, the reactionary and decadent feudal system was criticized and destroyed to a certain extent. However, it has not fundamentally overthrown the rule of feudal society. Especially in the vast rural areas of China, the feudal ethics, the superiority of men to women, women's chastity, and the "three obediences and four virtues" advocated under the feudal system are still seriously constraining, oppressing, and destroying China. Rural women. Zhao Yiman was born in a feudal landlord family in a remote mountain village, so she could not escape the fact that her brother, who was in charge of the family business at that time, strictly controlled her with feudal ethics like the "King of Hell", causing her to lose her freedom. The superiority of men to women has, on the one hand, caused men to be arrogant in the family, and on the other hand, it has also caused the oppression and invasion of women. On the 25th of the twelfth lunar month when Zhao Yiman was twelve years old, Zhao Yiman's father Li Hongxu passed away after falling into coma due to coughing and phlegm. According to secular rules, the eldest brother Li Xiru became the head of the family. After his father died of illness, Xiao Yiman lost his father's love, and his life at home became even more boring. Not only does the eldest brother not have the ability to practice medicine and medicine like his father, but he gambles and smokes opium all day long, and he also has to act like a parent every day. The sister-in-law is also a lazy and idle person, and the couple bickers and gets angry all the time. In this kind of family environment, Zhao Yiman suffered great frustration. When she couldn't bear it, one day she said to her eldest brother: "It's so boring to live like this. I want to go out to study!" The eldest brother just smoked. , with drooped eyelids and without bothering to raise his head, he hummed, "No, I don't have money to support you!" Zhao Yiman was already in her teens, and Li Xiru not only refused to ask her to go to school, but also asked her mother to strictly monitor her. Although the mother is kind and kind, she is constrained by feudal ideas. Since her husband is dead, "the eldest son is the father", so the son must also listen to his words. She wouldn't let Zhao Yiman go out of the hospital again. She wouldn't let Zhao Yiman catch butterflies in the grass like he did when he was a child. She couldn't go to the bamboo forest to dig young shoots. Naturally, she couldn't play with the boys. Zhao Yiman's mother followed the rules left by her elders and wanted to pierce Zhao Yiman's ears and bind her feet. According to feudal tradition, a woman's "three-inch golden lotus" is considered a kind of beauty. Zhao Yiman's mother's feet were bound by her grandmother. She wore a pair of pointed shoes and wobbled three times as she walked. It was really painful! When she was a teenager, Zhao Yiman looked both pitiful and ridiculous. One morning, her mother called Zhao Yiman to the Eight Immortals table, took Zhao Yiman's little hands and said solemnly: "Shuduan, it's time for you to bind your feet. If you don't bind your feet, your big feet will be laughed at. Even when you grow up, you will be laughed at." No one will marry you!" Upon hearing that his feet were bound, Zhao Yiman's heart tightened as if he had been stung by a bee. She had seen many women with small feet in the village. Their natural feet were twisted into "sharp peppers" by a long white cloth, and some even had their toe bones broken. With his pointed little feet, he can't stand firmly and can't walk fast. She looked down at her mother's tiny feet, which were only three to four inches tall, and felt a surge of sadness in her heart. When she was a child, she often saw her father taking it out on her mother when she didn't get her way, kicking and beating her. Her mother always fell to the ground tremblingly, and could only crawl on the ground to avoid her husband; sometimes, when the sky was cloudy and the ground was wet, her mother would If you want to pull out two green vegetables from the mountain, you have to climb. Once, she went to the fields with her mother, and it happened to be raining. Her mother slipped and fell to the ground, with mud all over her body... Thinking of this, Zhao Yiman shuddered. Deep down in her heart, she did not want to suffer like her mother! She stubbornly said to her mother: "Mom, I don't bind my feet!" "Girls have to bind their feet when they get older. This is a rule left by our ancestors!" "It's hard to walk even if your feet are bound, but I won't!" Zhao Yi Mann insisted. "You have to wrap it up even if you don't want to wrap it up!" Mother also became tough. "No, I won't!" Zhao Yiman said as he slipped out of the door from his mother's eyes. Where else could Zhao Yiman run? She carefully returned home at night. Her mother seemed to have calmed down and cooked two dishes for her with chili oil. Zhao Yiman observed his mother's face with both eyes while eating. Seeing that her mother was calm, she thought she had passed this level. However, Zhao Yiman guessed wrong. Early the next morning, my mother invited an old woman from the village to be her helper and forcibly bound her feet. The two people pushed Xiao Yiman down on the wooden bed and pressed her feet tightly. The mother pinched her toes together hard, and the old woman wrapped her feet tightly layer by layer with a piece of white coarse cloth. After each layer of wrapping, the old woman strangled her with all her strength. Zhao Yiman cried out in pain, and her tears fell straight down.

Wrapping it up, wrapping it up! Wrapping it up, wrapping it up! Layer after layer, Zhao Yiman fought and struggled desperately, and his voice became hoarse from crying, until he could no longer cry out and could no longer struggle. Both feet have also been wrapped into "sharp peppers" like my mother. When the mother was satisfied, she put two pointed shoes on her daughter's feet and said to her sternly: "From today on, you are not allowed to go out or go to the street, and no men are allowed to see you!" Zhao Yi Man looked at her bound feet and muttered, "How can you walk with feet like these!" Her mother comforted her and said, "You'll get used to it slowly. Come on! Stand up and walk around so Mom can see." What's going on?" Zhao Yiman tried to stand up slowly, but couldn't stand at all. His feet were numb and he fell down before he could take a step. She felt regretful and simply rolled on the ground, crying and throwing her two little shoes away. The mother didn't get angry. She bent down and picked up the two small shoes that she had thrown away, and tried to put them on for her. She said she didn't want to put them on, so her mother coaxed her to put them on. This time, Zhao Yiman was locked in the room, lying on the bed but was too restless to fall asleep. She looked at the hazy moonlight through the window lattice, feeling dazed. The bamboo forest all over the mountain whistled in the night wind, like waves, and her little house was like a small boat bumping on the foggy night sea. Sometimes it was pushed to the top of the waves, and sometimes it was buried in the waves. Under the valley, it seemed that it might be swallowed up by the night sea at any time. She wanted to stand up on the boat, but her little feet were so painful that she couldn't stand up. She shouted for help. No one paid any attention to her. My mother was sitting outside the door. She slept very late, but pretended not to hear.