One day, Mary secretly pulled me into the house, acting mysterious.
"Alice, go get Alita's wedding clothes and shoes for me, and remember not to let anyone see you!"
Mary put the wedding dress I brought back into the box and took out the red dress she had prepared earlier.
Then she embedded many sharp pebbles into the soles of the wedding shoes.
Mary said, "Wearing these, Alita won't be able to escape on the wedding day. After all, she is going to stay at home after her wedding, so it's okay if her feet bleed a little!"
I knew what she meant.
After getting married, Alita would have to keep giving birth to children for our family until she gave birth to a son.
Some women realized this before they got married and ran away.
So the people in my hometown came up with this method. Even if those women tried to escape, they would be covered in blood, and the pain on the soles of their feet would slow them down and make them be caught again.
But here, many women gave birth to seven or eight children before they gave birth to a son. If they couldn't give birth to a son, they had to continue giving birth unless they died.
I had seen those women wailing in pain when giving birth.