"": 200,
"": "",
"": "Everyone in the village had been drawn away, leaving the village road unusually quiet.
Only when Luo Bin reached the center of the village did he spot Zhang Qiuxi beneath an old locust tree, curled up with her arms around her legs, crying incessantly.
Many wooden prayer plaques and strips of red cloth hung from the tree.
One strip of red cloth had actually been tied into a noose.
Soon, Zhang Qiuxi stood and walked shakily toward it.
She suddenly froze.
She stared blankly straight ahead.
Covering her mouth, she began crying again.
"Don't... don't give him back to him..."
She recognized Luo Bin as the man she had seen on the road.
She had no idea what had happened after she ran away.
"Your face may be ugly, but at least you have a human heart," Luo Bin said.
"At least you thought about the child's future." A sigh of emotion colored his voice.
Zhang Qiuxi cried harder, choking on her sobs.
The swaddled baby turned his head and stared. He was too young to understand anything. His lips puckered, and he began crying too.
Zhang Qiuxi looked utterly heartbroken. She stumbled forward and took the child into her arms again, then turned slightly aside and loosened her clothes to nurse him.
"Don't go back."
"Your man can no longer perform as a man. He won't hurt anyone that way again."
"Those children are his. As long as he's alive, he'll have to look after them. Even if he can't, this world still has some basic decency. They won't be left to starve. Someone will take them in."
"You thought of your children, but they never took a single step toward you. Not everyone born unfortunate has the ability to understand and love others.