Venus went to bed that night before nine o’clock. She fell deep in sleep very quickly. Suddenly, she felt a pair of rough hands
were on her body, and she was wide awake.
She kicked helplessly and screamed: “Help!!” She hadn’t talked for a very long time so her voice was hoarse.
“I thought you were dumb!” The man said. He then covered Venus’s mouth with his hand. But Venus bit his hand and slapped his
face very hard.
The man’s anger flared up. He shouted: “You fucking bitch! How dare you to slap me!”
“Help!” Venus screamed. She struggled very hard, but since she couldn’t see and her brain wasn’t working properly, the man
finally got control of her and tore her clothes away.
“Damn! So beautiful! But you will be married to Gawa! What a shame!” The man said.
Venus flew into a rage. She summoned all her strength and pushed him off the bed.
“Damn!” The man fell on the ground and when he stood up again and was about to beat Venus, the door was pushed open. And
his wife appeared at the door. Her eyes were blazing with fury.
“You bloody asshole! How dare you!” His wife grabbed a broom and hit him very hard. “This woman is retarded! How can you do
this to a fool? Do you still have an ounce of integrity? Don’t you know we need to sell her?”
The man escaped. He covered his head with his hands and said: “Stop beating me! She seduced me!”
The woman was even more angry after hearing what he said. “Bullshit! She can’t even see! You think I’m stupid?” She said.
Then, the broom fell on the man’s back, and the man screamed in pain.
“Stop. Stop.” The man knelt in front of his wife and begged. His wife pointed the broom at him and said: “Don’t do this again! Or
I’ll beat the shit out of you!!”
“No, I won’t. I won’t.” The man said. He then noticed his wife was less angry, so he grabbed her arm and said: “I was wrong. I’m
so sorry. Please don’t be angry with me.”
“Don’t you touch me!” His wife pushed him away and said: “Now go away! You are disgusting me.”
The man then escaped the room.
Venus was sitting in a corner. She rolled herself into a ball and she shuddered nonstop.
The woman looked at her and she felt sorry for her. She said in a soft tone of voice: “Don’t be afraid. He is gone.”
Venus was too shocked to say anything. Her clothes were all torn. So the woman found a t-shirt for her from another room. She
said: “Put this on.”
Venus didn’t move. She stared at a direction unblinkingly even though she couldn’t see anything.
The woman heaved a sigh. “This is the only shirt we have. Put this on. The day after tomorrow, Gawa will send you some new
clothes.”
Then the woman tried to help Venus to dress. But Venus was frightened. She held the quilt even more tightly.
“What’s the matter with you? Why don’t you put it on? Fine. It’s your choice.” The woman threw the shirt in front of her, left the
room, and locked the door.
It was the next day. The woman went back to Venus’s room. But she found shockingly that Venus was still in that position. She
didn’t move at all. But she already put the shirt on. She looked at the door when she heard the crack.
“You are up so early. Get off the bed. I’ll help you to wash your face.”
Venus calmed down a lot. She let the woman help her to brush her hair and wash her face. But when she heard the man’s voice,
she was still frightened, and she moved closer to the woman for protection.
The woman felt sympathetic. But that doesn’t mean she changed her mind about selling Venus to Gawa. After all, she could
make sixty thousand by selling her.
“Just stay away! She is terrified of you!” The woman said to her husband.
The man was not in a good mood because he didn’t get what he wants last night. He said: “Why are you so nice to her?”
“Just go to work!” The woman shouted. She knew what was on her husband’s mind, and she had to make him stay away from
Venus.
The man walked away while saying: “Make some boiled meat this afternoon. I haven’t eaten boiled meat for a very long time.”
“Alright.”
That afternoon, Gawa came to the woman’s place with a box of gifts. Many people came with Gawa because they were very
curious about Venus.
The woman felt very nervous when she saw so many people coming. After all, Venus isn’t her husband’s cousin and she lied
about it. She didn’t let these people get into the house and she said: “Just go back! All of you! You will see her tomorrow because
tomorrow is the wedding day.”
She didn’t want Gawa to hold a wedding. She wanted him to keep a low-profile. But Gawa’s parents disagree. They insisted on
holding a great wedding ceremony. After all, this is a very big occasion for their son.The woman had no choice but to agree.
Gawa and his parents had already decorated their home. Gawa is 180 cm tall and he is very well-built. He looks just like
everyone else but he is a little bit retarded. And people could notice it from the way he talks.
Gawa knew he would soon be a bridegroom and he was filled with joy. When people saw him, they always say: “Gawa, you will
have a wife tomorrow. Congratulations.” And Gawa would say: “Wife...wife...” And they would say: “What a fool.”
That afternoon, Mr Zhong went to Gawa’s place to prepare the things that would be needed for tomorrow’s wedding. Two women
were picking the vegetables in the garden, and they talked vigorously about the wedding.
“People say Gawa’s wife is very beautiful. She looks like someone from the big cities.”
“Really? Gawa is so lucky.”
“But the girl is blind and retarded. I don’t think Gawa is lucky.”
“You are worrying too much. All she needs to do is to give birth to children, so that his family’s bloodline can keep going.”
“Yeah. I guess you are right. Where is she from?”
“She is from another village. Her family doesn’t want her anymore because she is retarded, so they asked her cousin to find a
husband for her.”
Mr Zhong listened to their conversation while he was making the sauce. And he learned something about this wedding.
The next day, before the sun was up, Venus was dragged out of her bed and washed and brushed. The woman dressed her in a
traditional wedding dress on which a dragon and a phoenix were embroidered. She then put powder on her face and used
lipstick on her lips.
The makeup was actually unnecessary. Venus is beautiful with or without the makeup. And she looked stunningly beautiful in
that red wedding dress.