Chapter Twenty-Five: Cruel Punishment

  This must be the Li Si Niang that Zhou Shi mentioned. Is she really that scary? Otherwise, why would even Zhī Er have a ghost-seeing expression on his face?

  "Mrs. Li Si." Lian Man'er thought to herself and then called out, pulling Lian Zhi'er aside to make way.

  Li Si's grandmother nodded her head, seemingly satisfied with Lian Man Er's understanding of etiquette.

  "This must be the second and third young ladies, haven't seen them for a long time, they've become quite elegant." Li Si's wife said as she looked at their feet, her face showing some disapproval.

  "Fourth Granny, hurry up and go inside, my mother is waiting. Our family's affairs all rely on Fourth Granny." He Shi urged Li Fourth Granny to walk into the house.

  Lian Zhi'er hastily pulled Lian Man'r as they jogged back to the west wing.

  "Sister, why are you so scared?" asked Lian Man Er.

  "She also said that you were more afraid of her than I was back then." Lianzhi patted his chest, "Oh, you must have forgotten."

  "Is Grandma Li scary?" asked Lian Mian'er again.

  "It seems you've really forgotten, two years ago the girl from the east of the village, Hong Xia, was crippled by Li Si's wife, and nearly lost her life." Lian Zhier seemed to have thought of something terrifying, and shuddered.

  "Isn't foot binding very common?"

  "Mrs. Li is not easy to deal with, especially when it comes to children of this age," said Lianzhier.

  "Sister, you don't want to bind your feet either." Lian Man'er then smiled.

  "When I was young...I didn't bind my feet, now I'm used to it, don't want to suffer that torture, it's fine like this. In the future, if we have to work hard, then we'll just work hard." Lianzhi said. She thought of Lianer's behavior earlier in the upper room and asked, "Lianer, do you want to bind your feet?"

  Lian Wan'er saw no outsiders and didn't hide from Lian Zhier either.

  "I don't want to wrap. I was thinking, grandma looks down on me, if I show that I don't want to wrap, what can grandma do?" said Lian Man Er.

  "Man Er, you've become so skilled!" Lian Zhi Er laughed and said.

  The two sisters sat on the kang and talked.

  "...Hua'er sister and Duo'er, both started wrapping at the age of five. Ya'er is still wrapped now, and even called Lisi grandmother, it's going to be a suffering." said Lianzhier.

  Lian Man'er thought for a moment, she had never seen how feet were wrapped before, and she was curious to take a look.

  "Man Er, do you want to go see? I advise you not to go." Lian Zhi Er said, seeing through Lian Man Er's thoughts.

  "Just take a look." Lian Zhier was interrupted, and Lian Man'er said straightforwardly.

  "Branches and vines, come burn fire." He's voice came from outside.

  "We're not going." Lian Man'er pulled at Lian Zhi'er, He Shi herself was lazy and always tried to push off her own work onto others. The several half-grown children in the second house only came back home for meals, almost never staying at home, and didn't do any work either. He Shi also said that Lian Niao'er was too young and wouldn't let her do any work, but loved ordering around her and Lian Zhi'er, as well as Zhang Shi from the third house and Lian Ye'er.

  "...wrap your sister's feet, and let your mother tell you to make fire." He didn't hear any response, so he walked over to the west wing.

  "I'm coming right away." Lian Zhier responded loudly towards the outside, then turned back to smile at Lian Man'er and said, "Let her be lazy, there's just that little bit of work, I'll go, Man'er you stay in the house."

  Lian Wan'er also smiled. Lian Zhi'er and Zhang Shi were similar, both diligent and good-natured. Speaking of which, she always felt that the adults and children in the fourth house were all so disappointing, making her feel frustrated. However, if she had to choose, she would still prefer this house.

  "I'll go too," said Lian Mianer, getting down from the kang, "just right to take a look"

  The two sisters chatted and laughed as they came up to the upper room.

  "Boil a pot of water, it's for soaking your feet."

  He said, glancing at Lian Man'er and Lian Zhi'er's big feet, then looking at his own family's Lian You'er who was preparing to bind her feet, feeling a sense of superiority.

  "Second Aunt, you go back and keep company with Yu'er, I'll take care of boiling the water," said Lianzhier.

  Mr. He nodded in satisfaction and went into the house.

  Lian Yuer was living under the stove, Lian Man poured a ladle of water from the water tank into the pot, and then used a brush to scrub the large iron pot again, making sure it was thoroughly clean before pouring out the dirty water, and then scooped up a full pot of water in the pot, only then did she cover the lid.

  "Sister, I'll get you a stool." Lian Man'er saw Lian Zhi'er squatting by the fire and walked into the east room to get a stool for her. Of course, she also wanted to take a peek at how Lian Nian'er was wrapping her feet.

  In the east room, on the kang bed, a kang table was placed, on which a needlework basket was placed, with needles and threads inside, a large bundle of cotton wool, a box of alum, and six blue cloth strips were hung on the edge of the basket, each about 8 or 9 feet long, starched and neat.

  Li Si's grandma, Zhou Shi, Li Si's grandma, Gu Shi, Lian Hua and Lian Duo sat in a semicircle on the kang, He Shi was carrying Lian Ya to the kang, took off her shoes and socks, and put her in front of Li Si's grandma.

  Lian'ou'er's feet were also the same as He Shi's, very wide and fat. Li Si's grandmother picked up Lian'ou'er's foot and looked at it repeatedly, then measured it with her hand.

  "How old is Bud now?" asked Mrs. Li Si.

  "In April this year, I will be nine years old." said Zhou Shi.

  "It's too late now," said Mrs. Li Si.

  "Otherwise, I wouldn't have invited you here." He Shi smiled and said, "Two years ago, Hong Xia was only eleven years old, but her feet were bound so tightly that everyone praised them, saying they looked like they had been bound since she was a few years old."

  Mrs. Li's face twitched, and Lianmeng thought that should be a smile.

  "That was a lot of work." Li Si's grandmother said with some pride.

  "Yuer's feet still need Fourth Granny to worry about." Zhou Shi was also very polite to Li Fourth Granny.

  "I'm telling the truth, although Niu'er is only nine years old, her foot is too fat and wide, even bigger than Hongxia's when she was eleven, it's not easy to bind." said Li Si's wife.

  Zhou looked at He with some dissatisfaction, and even Yu'er's feet were as long as He's.

  "Are you going to wrap a general one or a handsome one?" asked Li Si's wife.

  "It's really handsome." said Zhou and He in unison.

  Li Si's grandmother took out two pairs of bow shoes from her bosom and placed them on the kang table. The two pairs of shoes, one pair was a bit larger, and the other pair was smaller, with the smaller one being only slightly larger than Lian Man'er's hand.

  "This is the shoe I prepared for Yaer, are you satisfied or not?"

  The Zhous passed the small shoes around and admired them, clearly very satisfied.

  "This is even more delicate than a flower's tiny foot." He's overjoyed.

  Lian Wan'er looked at Lian Yu'er's feet, then looked at the pair of bow shoes. She couldn't see any possibility that would allow Lian Yu'er's feet to fit into such shoes. Even if the two shoes were added together, it was still very difficult.

  "There's a general way of wrapping, and a refined way of wrapping." Mrs. Li Si saw that everyone was satisfied, and then said, "I didn't expect your family's sprout to have grown so big already, that refined way of wrapping might be a bit difficult."

  "As long as I can wrap it up like this little foot, the sprout will be grateful to Fourth Granny for life, and I'll also believe in Fourth Granny. Fourth Granny, how about adding another catty of eggs?" said Zhou Shi ruthlessly.

  Mrs. Li's face twitched again.

  "I have a way, as long as you can also bear to do it, this bitter taste will definitely be eaten." Li Si's grandmother said, glancing at Lian Miao.

  Lian'ou'er sat there, dazed and confused, and suddenly shivered.

  "It's all up to Fourth Granny to manage." said Madame Zhou.

  He nodded, "Our Xiaoyu is not afraid of hardship. Right, Xiaoyu?"

  Lian'ou'er looked up at He Shi without saying a word.

  "Yā ér, what did I tell you just now?" He Shi pinched Lian Yā ér.

  Lian'ou'er nodded, "I... I'm not afraid of hardship."

  Li Si's grandmother picked up Lian Yu'er's foot again to measure, and suddenly Lian Man'er felt that Lian Yu'er sitting there was like a fish on the chopping board. And Li Si's grandmother was holding a knife, looking for a place to cut. Lian Man'er felt a chill and quickly took the stool and walked out.

  "Man Er, is the water boiling yet?" asked Madame Zhou.

  "It'll be fine soon," said Lian Man Er.

  Lian Yuer and Lian Maner brought a basin of hot water into the house, placing it on the kang. Li Siniang stretched out her hand to test the temperature of the water, nodded, and then He Shi put Lian Ya'er's two feet into the basin.

  Lian'ou felt the water was a bit hot and wanted to pull back, but was stopped by Li Siniang with one glance.

  "With water at this temperature, make the next tub a bit hotter. Wash thoroughly and soak well, you need to change the water three times." said Mrs. Li.

  Li Si's grandmother took out two bamboo slips from her bosom and said to Zhou Shi, "The sprout's foot needs to be wrapped tightly, but we still need one more thing."

  "Fourth grandma says."

  "Does your family have any broken porcelain pieces? Smash them into smaller pieces and bring half a bowl of them," said Li Si's grandmother.

  "Want broken porcelain?" Gu was taken aback, his gaze at Li Siniang filled with admiration.

  "It seems that the young lady is sensible." said Mrs. Li Si.

  "I've only heard of it, never seen anyone do it before. The Fourth Granny is truly skilled." said Gu Shi.

  Wrapping feet still uses broken porcelain pieces, what's it for, even vines don't understand.

  "Behind the backyard peach tree is buried a broken bowl. Lian Mian'er, go and smash half of the ceramic pieces to bring them over." Zhou Shi said to Lian Mian'er.

  "Nai, I'll go, Man'er doesn't have enough strength." Lian Zhier said.

  "After all, the little girls at home are weak, it's better to find someone with more strength, and smash them into smaller pieces... just like this." Li Si's grandmother stretched out her pinky finger and compared it to the tip of her fingernail, "just this small."

  "Second sister-in-law, you go and pound, let the branches and vines wash the sprouts' feet." said Zhou Shi.

  "Ah." Mrs. He responded with a single word and left, for her daughter's sake, she was unusually diligent.

  After a while, Mrs. He brought in half a bowl of broken porcelain pieces and let Li Si's wife take a look. Li Si's wife nodded, indicating that it was okay.

  Changing to the third basin of water, Mrs. Li rolled up her sleeves and personally gave Lian Yu'er a foot massage. It's not accurate to say that she washed his feet; rather, she massaged them, using quite a bit of strength.

  Lian'ou'er cried out in pain.

  "This little pain can't be endured, what will you do later?" scolded Li Si's grandmother.

  Lian'ou'er pitifully looked around and didn't see anyone protecting her, so she could only grit her teeth and endure.

  Finally, Mrs. Li Si touched Lian Yu'er's feet all over and felt that they had all softened, so she let Lian Yu'er wipe her feet dry. Then she put the blue cloth strip into the water basin to wet it, and then sprinkled the broken porcelain pieces in the bowl onto one side of the cloth strip. The cloth strip was washed with rice paste, which became sticky when wet, so the broken porcelain pieces all stuck to the cloth strip.

  "I'll start wrapping now, you all come over and help hold her down, don't let her move around." Old Lady Li Si instructed.

  Was it necessary to use such a cloth strip to wrap Lian Niu'er's feet? Lian Man'er was stunned.

  Lian Tiao'er hastily carried the water basin, gave Lian Man'er a signal with her eyes, and the two sisters quickly walked out. As soon as they left the house, Lian Ya'er let out a miserable cry. Lian Man'er thought for a moment, but couldn't help pushing open the door curtain to look inside.

  Inside the house, it was a scene of cruel torture...

  There will be two more updates later.