A Youthful Desire (Life in the Countryside with My Stepmother)

As far back as I can remember, my dad was a scoundrel. He loved to drink and was often dead drunk. When he was drunk, he would strip my mom naked, hang her up, and beat her mercilessly. I was very young then, and I was always terrified, hiding in my room and crying secretly. Eventually, my mom couldn’t bear the torment any longer and went insane. She ran off with some random man. I was six years old that year. Even the kids my age didn’t call me Wu Qing; they called me “Motherless Qing,” a scar on my heart.