Chapter 9

Wu Li and Yunyu were playmates when they were young, and had each other’s phone number. They chatted occasionally when they were studying, and had met once during Chinese New Year, but they have not contacted each other lately. Seeing Yunyu at this time, Wu Li was very happy. He parked the battery operated car on the side of the road and said to Wu Dashan, “Dad, you ride the bike back first. I want to chat with Yunyu for a bit.”

Wu Li was tall and thin, with single eyelids and a handsome appearance. His eyes were a little short-sighted, and had on a pair of glasses. He had a face that reflected good wealth and health (T/N: Fortune telling involves reading the face so based on his face, Yunyu could see that his life would be filled with wealth and health).

Yunyu tugged her earlobe uncomfortably. She had the habit of reading people’s faces when she met them for the first time.

Wu Dashan did not speak nor did he look at Yunyu. He took the battery operated bike from his son and rode away.

Wu Li walked up to Yunyu and laughed, “Don’t know how my dad hurt his head, but I took him to the town’s hospital to get it bandaged. Why are you back? Didn’t you just graduate? Did you find a job?” Yunyu and him were different. She was a student from a major college in the Imperial Capital and had a bright future (T/N: the author actually used 211重点学院 which means 211 key learning institute. So, I got curious and googled what 211 was and found out it was a government initiated project to raise the research standards of high-level universities that was later abolished. Only 116 universities qualified for this project so I assume that the university that Yunyu was in was quite exclusive).

Yunyu smiled and said, “I came back to see my mother and I’m not in a hurry to work.”

“Yunyu, I’m sorry.” Wu Li pushed down the glasses on the bridge of his nose, feeling a little embarrassed, “It’s all my dad’s fault. Is Mother Yun alright? My mother and I are trying to persuade my dad. We will definitely not snacth the land from your family. Don’t worry, Yunyu.”

Yunyu did not want to give the land to Wu Dashan, and said sincerely, “Wu Li, I went to see the land and I liked it very much. I told Uncle Wu that the two of us would change the land, and that I would go back to persuade my mother. That land is actually a good place.” A light breeze blew by and the bamboo forest beside them rustled. The breeze blew Yunyu’s hair and a strand stuck to her white tender cheeks. Wu Li blushed and did not speak. He felt that Yunyu looked better than when she came back for the New Year.

The two stood by the bamboo forest and chatted in low voices.

Wu Dashan rode the battery operated bike home, and Aunt Tian asked him, “What’s the matter with your injury? Why didn’t Wu Li come back? Didn’t you two go to the hospital together?”

Wu Dashan parked the bike, “That boy Wu Li met Yunyu and they’re talking by the gate.”

“Then, how were you wounded? Did you fight with someone? How old are you? When you knocked Xiuzhen down a few days ago, I was embarrassed for you. You can’t rob someone else of that paddy field.” Aunt Tian babbled, “You have lost much blood from your wound. I’ll go buy some pork liver and make some soup for you at night.” (T/N: Pork liver is said to help produce red blood cells)

“That girl in the Yun’s family is a bit abnormal (T/N: 邪门 Xiémén – weird/ evil/ spooky/ wicked).” Wu Dashan suddenly said.

Aunt Tian did not understand, “What are you talking about old man?”

Wu Dashan shook his head and said no more.

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Yun Yu and Wu Li chatted for a while and then went home.

As soon as Yunyu entered the yard, she could smell the strong aroma of chicken soup. Grandma Yun was squatting in the yard washing the thorn shoots. This was a kind of wild vegetable. The taste was very good — crispy, refreshing and a little sweet. If one sold it in town, they can get dozens of dollars a pound, but these vegetables can only be eaten these past two months (T/N: meaning its seasonal). Many people like to go to the mountains to pick them. Grandma Yun must have looked for that small handful for a long time.

Thorn Sprouts (刺嫩芽)

“Xiao Yu’er, you’ve returned. Go into the house and take a rest.” Grandma Yun smiled kindly, “I went to the mountains to find a few thorn sprouts. I’ll blanch them in water later, and mix them with sesame oil. The taste will be very good.”

Yunyu went over and squatted next to Grandma Yun to help with the vegetables. She said tentatively, “Grandma, I just went to take a look at those two fields. The one at the foot of the mountain is quite good. Why don’t our family take that piece of land instead?”

Grandma Yun placed the washed thorn sprouts on a plate and helplessly said, “There are many stones in that field, and if any kind of grain is planted, the harvest would not be good. Xiao Yu’er you should not be fooled.”

Yunyu could only explain honestly, “Grandma ,I went to see it just now. The feng shui nearby is very good. The land is not used for growing food but it can be used for other things in the future. I’ll mom that our family agree to exchange the fields with Wu Dashan.”

” Xiao Yu’er, don’t worry about this. We will definitely not agree to change the land. Our Yun family is not so easy to bully.” Grandma Yun actually had a stubborn temper.

Yunyu thought about it and decided to tell the truth, “Grandma, the field is behind Heqing Mountain. There are twists and turns in the mountains. You can clearly see Heqing Lake in the distance. It is a good feng shui location. Compared to the fields by the lake, these three acres of paddy fields are better.”

Grandma Yun stopped her work and looked at her granddaughter in surprise.

“Grandma,” Yunyu did not plan to hide it, “Actually, I did not tell you but I learned a lot from Old Man Hu when I was a child. I know fortune-telling and feng shui.” Since she did not plan on hiding it, her excuse can only be the Old Man Hu who lived in the village some time ago. Everyone knew that he was a fortune-teller for a living, and he was a lonely old man. When she was a child, she often ran to the old man’s house. Hence, it was a reasonably believable reason.

Grandma Yun was silent. She knew about the Old Man Hu in the village. But when it came to fortune telling and feng shui, she did not know whether or not to believe them.

The children in the village always liked to run to Old Man Hu’s house, and Old Man Hu enjoyed telling them about the Book of Changes and whatnot (T/N: 易经 yì jīng – The Book of Changes is a philosophy book of some kind). The adults did not care much for it and felt that it was something people used to deceive others. Now that Xiao Yu’er said that she understood these, it was a little hard for Grandma Yun to accept it. She felt that Xiao Yu’er was messing around.

In fact, that piece of land was not very important. Their family had more than ten acres of fields which consisted of seven or eight acres of good paddy fields and these were enough. But a man can live a breath, and a tree can live a bark (T/N: 人活一口气，树活一张皮 Rén huó yī kǒuqì, shù huó yī zhāng pí – The 气 (qì) here refers to the backbone of a living person and is saying that it is as important as the bark to a tree. This means that only with backbone can a person live with dignity and be truly alive). One still needed to fight for this breath.

Yun Yu knew that Grandma Yun did not believe her, hence she said softly, “Grandma, you had two calamities in your life, the water calamity at the age of five and a serious illness at the age of sixty-two. After you survive these two calamities, you will be healthy and live a long, smooth life.”

There were many disasters, big and small, in one’s life. Big disasters usually refer to those that result in near deaths while small disasters, such as the bloody disaster experienced by Wu Dashan that day, are aplenty too. However, this is not set in stone. Just like the appearance of a person, there may be variables (T/N: For example, if Wu Dashan listened to Yunyu, Yunyu’s advice would be the variable that would allow the darkness on his face to dissipate, changing his “appearance/face” and hence his fortune).

Grandma Yun shuddered and looked at Yun Yu in shock with complicated eyes.

When she was five years old, she did fall into the water and almost drowned. Later, she was rescued by a passer-by who pressed her chest for a long time before managing to push out the water in her lungs, saving her life. She was afraid that the elders in the family would reprimand her hence she did not dare mention the incident of falling into the water. Probably because the experience was very uncomfortable, she subconsciously did not want to mention it. Hence, she never told anyone, not even her deceased husband. But now that she heard it from Xiao Yu’er, how could she not be shocked? .

As for the serious illness of the 62 years old, she was admitted to the ICU two years ago. After returning, she recovered slowly for half a year.

Grandma Yun could not have imagined that Xiao Yu’er really understood this, and she seemed to be very good at it. She instinctively felt that it was a bit strange that Xiao Yu’er understood this, but she couldn’t quite put her fingers on it.

After thinking about it, Grandma Yun could only sigh, “Okay, I’ll go tell your mother. We’ll take the land at the foot of the mountain.”

“Thank you, Grandma, ” Yun Yu naturally hugged Grandma Yun.

Grandma Yun put down the dishes in her hand first, before going into the house to discuss with her daughter-in-law, and also to talk about Yunyu’s fortune-telling skills.

Feng Xiuzhen was a little develished, and she was completely speechless. In the end, Grandma Yun persuaded her, “Xiao Yu’er must have kept this matter from us because she was afraid that we would think too much. So, why don’t we just consider it as Xiao Yuer’s personal hobby? You can see that Xiao Yu’er’s grades in school are also very good. This has not delayed her in her studies and she even graduated from a famous school. As parents, we still need to support her. It doesn’t matter if we get these few acres of paddy fields. Why don’t we listen to Xiao Yu’er and go for the dry land at the foot of the mountain. If we can’t grow anything, we just sprinkle some bean seeds and let it grow on its own. Simply cultivating the land is good enough.”

Feng Xiuzhen could not help laughing, “Mom, the field doesn’t matter, I’m just a little surprised. I really didn’t expect…”

Grandma Yun did not speak. She was also very surprised.

In the end, the two agreed to change the land with the Wu family. Feng Xiuzhen couldn’t move because of her injured leg, and Grandma Yun’s signature had the same authority.

It was better for them to settle this matter in the village as soon as possible, and also to cross-check with the higher authorities (T/N: erm… I guess the author meant to say that they should settle the matter within the village and make sure the records align with the government’s records since the land was given to them). Grandma Yun went to Wu house to find Wu Dashan and went to the village committee to put her thumbprint on it.

When she got home, Yunyu had already washed and cut all the vegetables. She wanted to cook by herself, but she was a little worried as she was cooking for the first time. So, she could only wait for Grandma Yun to come back to cook.

Dinner was claypot chicken soup, cold thorn sprouts, stir-fried beef with green peppers, braised eggplant, and scrambled eggs with loofah. The eggs and chicken soup were all from chickens raised at home. Grandma Yun loved cleanliness. The chickens are raised outside. The chicken coop was a small shed outside and was cleaned every day. The vegetables grown without pesticides do not look good, but they still taste good.

Claypot chicken soup (陶罐煲的鸡汤)， cold thorn sprouts (凉拌刺嫩芽)，stir-fried beef with green peppers (青椒炒牛肉), braised eggplant (焖茄子)，and scrambled eggs with loofah (丝瓜炒蛋)

Yunyu ate two bowls of rice. She was still growing and her daily practice also consumed a lot of energy hence it was normal for her to eat more.

After eating, she took the initiative to wash the dishes, clean the kitchen, and fill up the water tank in the kitchen. When Grandma Yun was not paying attention, she secretly poured a generous amount of spiritual spring water into the well in the yard. That was the water that her family drank. So she definitely was not stingy.

After the sky darkened, the whole Heqing Village seemed extraordinarily peaceful. Yunyu found that she liked that kind of tranquility very much. Her whole body and mind felt very comfortable.

She stayed in the yard for a while, before getting up to pour a basin of hot water. She added some water from the spiritual spring and went into the house to wipe Feng Xiuzhen’s body.

“Mom, I’ll massage your legs later. The doctor said it is good to lighty massage your legs.”

Feng Xiuzhen smiled and said, “Thank you.”

When she saw Feng Xiuzhen’s left leg, Yun Yu felt a little unsettled. Her calf had already shrunken. Fortunately, there was no need for an amputation after the car accident. The truck driver was working under a logistic company and his family was also poor, hence, he did not pay much as compensation. Her right leg was also fractured because of Wu Dashan’s push, and needed to be put in a cast. Yunyu soaked the towel in hot water, squeezed out the excess water and applied it to Mother Yun’s left leg. She gently massaged the leg through the towel, and did it for half an hour until the water in the basin cooled off.

Yunyu looked up and saw Feng Xiuzhen’s eyes were red.

“My little girl has grown up,” Feng Xiuzhen choked.

Yunyu accompanied Grandma Yun and Mother Yun to watch TV for a while before returning to her room to rest.

Her room was cleaned, and the quilt was soft and fluffy. She drank some spiritual spring water and fell asleep. The moonlight poured in from the window, basking her in a faint golden light.

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After Yunyu left, Ge Qing was the only one left in the university dormitory.

In fact, she could have moved out of the dormitory earlier, but she insisted on living in the dormitory because Chen Shi An, a senior who was in grad school. He was a good-natured person with a good family background. Many girls liked him, and she was no exception. From the moment she saw Chen Shi An in her freshman year, she had liked him for four years, but Chen Shi An had no impression of her.

The person he liked was Yunyu.

Ge Qing had seen Chen Shi An leaning in and talking to Yunyu softly several times. His gaze could not be faked. Ge Qing could see that Chen Shi An liked Yunyu.

Yunyu did not know, maybe she did, but she did not say anything. She was always in the classroom, library or at her part-time job.

The more Ge Qing liked Chen Shi An, the more she hated Yunyu in her heart, so much so that she later drugged Yunyu to destroy her innocence.

Ge Qing did not regret it. She even viciously hoped that Chen Shi An would know about it, but she did not receive the photos and videos of Yunyu being pinned under the man, so she could not tell Chen Shi An about it herself.

Ge Qing did not know why but lately while living in the dormitory, she had been having frequent nightmares. Due to her bad mental state, she could not pass the interview with several companies. She believed that there was something wrong with the dormitory, otherwise why else would she have nightmares every day.

She lived in the university and could secretly peek at Chen Shi An every day, which was why she insisted on living in the dormitory until they closed for the holidays.

When the school notified that the dormitories would be locked, Ge Qing moved back home. Her home was within the imperial capital, but it was more towards the outskirts of the city. The home was an old house and her parents were just ordinary people. Her mother had retired and her father was still working as an office worker. Ge Qing also had a younger brother at home.

The house prices in Beijing were expensive, but the unit was owned by Father Ge. The area was not large, but it was alright for the family of four.

When Ge Qing dragged her luggage back, Mother Ge was startled, “Qingqing, what’s wrong with you? How did you get so thin?”

Her face was simply unsightly.

Ge Qing said impatiently, “Mom, I just came back and am very tired. Don’t ask so many questions. I want to sleep for a while.” She had not rested well for more than half a month.

She threw her things to the side and went into her room, slamming the door shut. Then, she lay on the bed and did not move.

When she finally fell asleep, she was haunted by nightmares. Ge Qing fely an eerie chill, as if there was something hanging around. She screamed and woke up. The sound insulation of the room was not good, so Mother Ge hurried in when she heard her yell.

“Qingqing, what’s wrong?” Ge Qing burst into tears. She did not understand what was going on.

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Yunyu woke up early the next morning. Heqing Village was completely silent at night without the hustle and bustle of the city. Yunyu did not like electronic devices, mainly because she still rejected these things in her heart, and had yet to grow accustomed to them.

She felt that it was strange and miraculous to see people moving about in a small mobile phone, TV, and computer.

She woke up early but Grandma Yun woke up earlier than her and was already cooking breakfast in the kitchen.

After washing up, Yunyu went over to help.

“Grandma, what delicious food are you making?”

Grandma Yun smiled and said, “I made some noodles yesterday. This morning I went to the vegetable garden to cut some leeks and made leek and boiled egg buns. I also made some plain porridge and there are some salted duck eggs that I made a few days ago to go with it. Go out and have some fun first. The food will be done in a bit.”

Yun Yu did not go out, and stood beside Grandma Yun instead, “Grandma, I have nothing to do after breakfast dinner, so I’ll help you later.”

She did not know much about farm work, but she knew that summer was basically a busy season for farming, and Mother Yun had injured her legs, so Grandma Yun was the only one left to do the farm work.

Grandma Yun said, “I’ll go around the fields later to do some weeding. I’ll also take a look at your eldest grandfather’s peach orchard.”

Eldest Grandfather was the elder brother of Grandpa Yun who came to Heqing Village with Grandpa Yun back then. His wife was barren and passed away more than ten years ago. Grandpa never remarried. He lived alone nearby. He had some paddy fields and two acres of peach orchard. Before Eldest Grandfather’s death, he moved his household registration to the Yun family. After his death, two acres of peach orchards and three acres of farmland were left to Yunyu’s family.

When Eldest Grandfather was seriously ill, Feng Xiuzhen took care of him and was the one who sent him away.

Eldest Grandfather had no children, and always regarded Yunyu and her siblings as his grandchildren.