"Stop! You'll kill her!"
"You don't deserve to sit out work!" Lian Muxiang shoved Lan Yingxiang so hard the pregnant woman stumbled on the crushed earth.
"Keep your hands off her," someone shouted.
"Work first. Babies later," Lian said, voice sharp and loud enough to make passersby pause.
"She’s in labor!" a neighbor barked.
"Labor or not, everyone pulls a shift," Lian sneered. She stepped forward again, hand raised.
"Stop," Liu Qingzhong said, coming up from the salt flats with his shoulder raw and sunburned. He pushed Lian back. "You touch my wife and you answer to me."
Lian flicked her chin. "Make me."
A pile of women closed in like a wave of disapproval. Voices layered over one another.
"She shouldn't be standing in the sun."
"Bring the mat!"
"Mind your fists, Lian!"
Lian squared her shoulders. "You think she’s special?"
"You think she’s nothing," Jiang Changqing called, booming over the yard. He slapped his palm on his knee and laughed a laugh that warned trouble. "Enough. One more step and I throw you in the salt pond."
Lian’s mouth tightened. She let go of Yingxiang and spat in the dirt. "This village is for the strong."
"Then be strong enough to carry your own shame," Jiang said. The laughter around him cut Lian small. Her face went red, then pale.
"Go on," someone murmured.
Lian turned and left, shoulders stiff. Her steps were loud on the path. She did not meet
