我的太外婆生於1902年。她是長女，但名叫張二奴——第二個女孩。她的爹娘希望送子娘娘以為這戶人家已有兩個女兒，會心生同情並儘快賜給他們一個兒子。這計謀果然有效。兩年後，二奴的娘生了兒子。二奴的爹娘感謝她招來兒子，決定將他們的女兒在家裡養到十七歲。通常十七歲大的女子能得到較多聘禮，但別人只花了五塊銀洋、一罈酒與三碗豬肉麵線就把二奴買走了。
她爹是個賭鬼，早就到處找人娶二奴以還清他的賭債。他的婆娘是有名的潑婦，把來說媒的都趕跑了。絕望之下，他把自己婆娘給賣了，得了150塊銀洋，頭一天晚上就又在賭窟裡輸光了。回家的路上，他碰到方秀才，一個鄰村的鴉片鬼。方秀才剛把女兒嫁出去，現在正要上鴉片窟。二奴的爹要借錢。方秀才告訴他說自己還完債後身上只剩五塊銀洋，而他想抽幾口煙想得緊，此外，經驗告訴他別借錢給賭鬼。二奴的爹把他拉回來說他有個十七歲的女兒，與方家二十歲的公子很配。於是他們上館子，喝了一罈米酒，吃了三碗麵線，講好條件。第二天，二奴離開賭鬼的家，進入鴉片鬼的家。
我太外婆生了八個小孩，全是女的。三個沒夭折，其他全被她婆婆溺殺了。正因她不能為丈夫傳宗接代，終其一生她都覺得自卑，對於丈夫動不動就打罵她也沒有怨言。她相信她前世一定造了孽，所以現在受到懲罰。
My Taiwaipo, my maternal great grandma, was born in 1902. She was the first child, but named Zhang Ernu--the second girl. Her parents hoped that the goddess of birth, hearing that this family already had two daughters, might feel sorry for them and send them a son as soon as possible. The trick worked. Two years later, Er Nu's mother gave birth to a son. As the parents were grateful to Er Nu for bringing an heir to their family, they allowed the daughter to live with them until she was seventeen. Usually a seventeen-year-old girl could get a much bigger betrothal, but Ernu was sold for only five silver yuan, a pot of wine and three bowls of pork noodles.
Her father, a gambling addict, had been searching for a husband for Ernu to get some cash to pay off his debts. His wife, a well-known shrew, managed to ruin all the deals. In his dispair, he sold his wife for a hundred and fifty silver yuan and lost it all in the gambling den the same night. On his way home, he met Scholar Fan, an opium addict from the nieghborhood village. He had just married off his daughter the day before and was now on his way to the opium den. Ernu's father wanted a loan. Scholar Fan told him that he had only five yuan left after paying off his debt, and he needed a few puffs really badly; besides, experiences taught him never to lend money to a gambler. Ernu's father pulled him back and said he had a seventeen-year- old daughter, a perfect match for Fan's twenty-year-old son. So they went to a restaurant, drank a pot of rice wine, ate three bowls of noodles, and made a deal. The next day, Ernu left a gambler's house and entered a drug addict's family.
My great grandma gave birth to eight children, all girls. Three survived, and the rest were all drowned by her mother-in-law. Because she didn't bring a son to carry her husband's name, she felt inferior all her life, and never complained about her husband's daily fists and insults. She believed that she must have done something horrible in her previous life, and was now being punished.
我太外婆的母親有兩個名字，張青梅和吳荷花。她五歲被賣到吳家當童養媳時，她婆婆給她改名荷花，表示擁有她的身子與靈魂，但婆婆只用自己兒子的名字叫她「三毛那口子」。她還重新纏了荷花的腳。荷花在她村裡是有名的小腳，因為她的腳從三歲開始纏起。但她婆婆嫌這雙腳太大而且纏得形狀不好。當她硬是將荷花的腳趾扳正，再重新往腳拱的更裡面折的時候，荷花不但不准痛叫出聲，還得微笑並練習用更尊敬、感恩與充滿感情的聲音對婆婆喊「娘」。「有像俺這樣的婆婆是妳的福份」，她對荷花說。「俺在妳這個年紀進吳家時，俺的婆婆把俺每根腳趾掐碎了重綁俺的腳，還叫俺從早到晚跪在院子學著喊娘。」結果荷花經歷了她婆婆當童養媳時所承受的老規矩︰清早起來開始磨黍麥、紡織、縫補、喂豬喂雞、煮飯燒菜直到午夜才能就寢。十一歲時，她被叫去與丈夫同睡。十八歲時，她初經來潮並在次年懷了頭胎。
她有了個兒子後，開始對婆婆頂嘴。漸漸地，丈夫打她，她就還手。她又年輕又結實，從不怕生活中的爭鬥，所以她總是贏家。她丈夫賣了地去還賭債而且很少回家。荷花為了撫養兒子，紡織衣物那到市集上賣，還為村人刺繡嫁衣和喪服。一天她丈夫回家。荷花緊鎖大門嘲笑他︰
「你回來幹嘛﹖能賣的全賣了，只剩下三口人嗷嗷待哺。你敢動俺的孩子，俺就宰了你。喔對呦，你可以把俺給賣了，要是你有種的話。」
她還不曉得她丈夫被賭債逼急了，已經把她賣給六條漢子，他們是表兄弟。他們住在一處山村，沒人討得起老婆。於是他們湊了150塊銀洋準備買個女人傳宗接代。荷花的丈夫警告他們說他婆娘是隻母大蟲，可得留神會大打出手。這些漢子揮著繩子與牛軛說道︰
「啥婆娘﹖你拿了咱們的錢。現在她是咱們的。就算她是凶神惡煞，咱們也有法子對付她。快給咱們帶路。」
據說，荷花，也就是我的曾祖母，抓花了四張臉，弄斷了三隻指頭，挖出了兩個眼珠還咬掉了一人的鼻子，最後給綁了起來，像條母野豬似的被抬進山區。從此後再也沒有她的消息。
The mother of my great grandma had two names, Zhang Ching Mei and Wu Hehua. When she was sold to the Wu family as a daughter-in-law-to-be at five, her mother renamed her Ching Mei into Hehua, to claim her body and soul, but she called her only by her son's name, "San Mao's so and so." She also rebound the girl's feet. Hehua was known for her small lotus feet in her own village, since her feet had been bound at the age of three. But her mother-in-law claimed they were too big and badly shaped. When she pulled Hehua's toes straight by force then bent further towards the arches, Hehua was not only forbidden to cry in pain, but had to smile and practice how to say "mom" in the most respectful, grateful, and affectionate tone. "You're lucky to have such a kind-hearted mother-in-law like me," she told Hehua. "When I came to the Wu family at your age, my mother-in-law broke every toe to reshape my feet, then ordered me to kneel in the yard to practice how to say mama from morning till night." So Hehua went through exactly the same routines as her mother-in-law did when she was a child daughter-in- law: getting up at dawn to grind corn and wheat, weaving, sewing, feeding pigs and chickens, cooking, and going to bed after midnight. At eleven, she was ordered to sleep in her husband's room. At eighteen, she had her first menstruation and her first baby the next year.
After she had a son, she began talking back to her mother-in-law. Gradually, she hit back when her husband tried to beat her up. She was young and strong, and ready to risk her life in the fight, so she always won. Her husband sold his land to pay off his gambling debt and barely came home. Hehua raised her children by weaving cloth and selling it at the fairs, and sewing wedding dresses and gravecloths for the villagers. One day her husband came home. Hehua locked the door and mocked,
"What are you doing here? Nothing left to sell, except for the three mouths waiting to be fed. If you touch my kids, I'll kill you. Oh yes, you can sell me, if you have the guts."
She didn't relaize that her husband, cornered by his debts, had already sold her to six men, who were brothers and cousins. They lived in a mountain village and no one could afford a wife for himself. So they collected 150 silver yuan and bought a woman to bear children and carry on the family name. Hehua's husband warned them that his wife was known as a tigress, that they should be prepared for a good fight. The men waved their ropes and yokes, and said,
"What wife? You've taken our money. Now she's ours. Even if she's a monster, we know how to handle her. Show us the way.*#34
It was said that Hehua, mother of my great grandma, scratched four faces, broke three fingers, dug out two eyes, and bit off one nose before she was tied up and carried into the mountain like a captivated wild sow. She was never seen or heard from again.
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