After my mom climbed down from the kang, she wasn't herself anymore. At a banquet, my dad picked up a stool and tried to hit her. She immediately knocked him flat, beating him until he was sprawled on the ground, his arms and legs twitching. Grandma and my aunt teamed up to drive Mom and me out to sleep in the pigsty. Mom said nothing. She packed our things, took me by the hand, and left that very night. At two in the morning, Grandma wailed, "Damn it, the pigs have escaped! The pigs have escaped!"
