After that, An Mother made An Weimin her sole emotional anchor.
Wherever An Weimin went, he had to tell her.
Sometimes, if An Weimin stayed out playing with his friends too long, she would even go looking for him based on what he had told her.
Once she found him, she would not scold An Weimin for losing track of time playing. Instead, she scolded the people playing with him.
After this happened enough times, fewer and fewer people in the village were willing to play with An Weimin.
Once he grew up, he wasted no time signing up for military recruitment.
Two other villagers around his age were selected along with him.
But because of An Mother, neither of them was particularly close to An Weimin.
Later, when they reached the army, the three were assigned to different places, making it even less possible for them to look out for one another.
After two years in the army, he finally gave in to An Mother's pleading and took leave to visit home.
The moment he returned, An Mother arranged a matchmaking meeting with a niece from a distant relative's family on her side.
Once again, he could not withstand his mother's tearful pleas, and he changed his mind and agreed to marry the woman.
He had played the dutiful son, but that poor woman was left in the village, working like an ox or a horse to serve the ill-tempered An Mother.
With An Mother's endless demands, even the other villagers could not help sympathizing with her.
When she died from complications in childbirth, the villagers even felt that, in a way, she had finally been freed.
An Weimin had returned this time at An Mother's urging as well. He ran into the Brigade Leader as soon as he