That night, my mother washed my hair for me.

She picked the darkest and largest piece of soap and put it in the water, gently massaging my hair.

The kerosene lamp light shone on my mother's face, revealing the few traces of guilt on her face, along with a hint of love that I rarely saw.

At that time, I was incredibly naive, thinking that my mother finally saw my goodness and wanted to make it up to me.

But the reality was, her remaining trace of guilt was only because she sold my virginity for three thousand to an old bachelor.

Seeing me silent, the little guilt left on my mother's face was replaced by harshness: "Don't be ungrateful, go out and inquire, which family marries off their daughters without the parents' command!"

She rudely inserted a large red plastic flower into my hair, and that night she sent me to the home of a one-eyed lame man.

When I arrived at the man's house and saw his appearance, I gasped in shock.

His face only had one eye on the right side, one nostril, and half a mouth.

The left eye socket was bare, no nose, and the mouth was stuck together.

Uneven scars covered the man's left face.

His hair was sparse, with a few bald patches on his scalp.

As he limped towards me, I involuntarily cried out and shrank back to the corner of the kang.

Seeing my reaction, the man limped and grabbed a kang rake from inside the house, fiercely swinging it towards me.

"You wretch, you are the bride I bought for three thousand, how dare you laugh at me!"

I curled up in the corner of the kang, afraid to look at his face.

That day, the blind lame man limped onto the kang, tore my clothes to shreds.

The blind lame man pinned me down, turned my face towards him.

"You stinking woman, why cry, you'll cry later."

The dried plastic red flower on my head was flattened even more, no longer resembling a flower.

The man said he bought me for two days, paid a high price, and must have some fun.

He tied me to the kang, cruelly cutting my hair strand by strand, and shoved the kang rake and ladle into my body.

I cried out in fear, "Mom, mom, I was wrong."

But all I got in return was more cruelty.

"You're scared of me, aren't you? Didn't I ride you?"

"Bending over all day in the fields picking manure, I've been wanting to have you for a long time!"

The demonic laughter echoed, and I drifted into unconsciousness.