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The death of a soulful hair salon girl
By Fu Jianfeng (southweekend)
Updated: 2005-10-20 08:57
Most of them could afford only gifts of 1 or 2 RMB, very few over 5 RMB and
only one 20 RMB (from a village cadre to whom they were related). So this
banquet was a money loser. Worse yet, part of the loan was high-interest. Chen
Xiaolin said: "I'd have to repay it quickly even if I have to sell blood."
According to his family income, it would take 15 years to repay the 30,000 RMB
if they don't eat or drink.
The hair salon
where Gou used to work has since been closed by the police.
[southcn.com] |
So their hope was put upon
labor work. Chen Xiaolin's younger brother went to work as a security guard in
Beijing. His father, who is Gou Li's father-in-law, went to carry rocks at a
Shaanxi quarry mine for 30 RMB per day. In Chen Xiaolin's memory, his father's
face was filled with lines, he looked like he was 60 to 70 years old when he was
only 50 or so and he only weighs about 40 kilograms at a height of 1.6 meters.
With a physical built like that, he still had to carry rocks that weight
several hundred kilograms. When his father came home, his back was all rough.
Gou Li cried several times to Chen Xiaolin: "When can we let dad and mom enjoy
life a little bit? Dad is wasting his life away for the money."
Gou Li's father died young, and so she treated her father-in-law like her own
father. One time, she found out that he slept in the street under someone's
eaves in order to save a couple of dollars, she cried abundantly. "She was a
good-hearted person who loved dad dearly . At the time, she kept telling me to
go work and make money," said Chen Xiaolin.
But the Chen parents did not want them to go work immediately . They wanted
them to stay home and make a baby. Those days were the happiest in Gou Li's
life. In the cave that measured less than 10 square meters, she posted a baby
picture. When she got pregnant, she stood on the tall yellow earth and tended
the sheep, saying, "Husband, do you know what is the happiest moment in a
woman's life?" Chen Xiaolin did not know. She smile and said, "When she is
pregnant!"
But fate did not favor this family. On a night last July, Gou Li miscarried.
Her mother-in-law cried, but Gou Li told her while crying herself: "Mom, I am
still young. I will give you another good baby. I will not let you down."
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