Chapter 2

Iron Wang's wife lay on the edge of the bathtub, shouting her husband's name loudly amidst the wind and rain. The rainwater rushed into her mouth, and it seemed as if the heavens were commanding her to be silent.

Looking at the vast, murky waters around her, she stopped shouting and resignedly sat in the middle of the bathtub. She propped a broken umbrella on her back and held her son, who was swaddled in her arms, with one hand, while using a ladle to scoop out the rainwater with the other.

As a farmer's wife, Iron Wang's wife knew clearly what she should do at this moment. Her husband would rather drown than continue to burden the bathtub, which carried their child, who was less than five months old. No matter what, she could not let him die without an heir.

So Iron Wang's wife quickly put aside her sorrow and stretched her neck to look for a place where they could land.

Before her life was extinguished, the child could not be in danger; otherwise, her husband in the netherworld would beat her to death...

On this journey, she saw many strange sights that she had never dreamed of seeing. First, a pig was holding onto a tree trunk with its mouth. Perhaps it had held on for too long, and when a wave came, the pig fell back into the water.

Iron Wang's wife was terrified to see that the pig was trying to swim towards her bathtub. She wanted to leave but was too frightened to move her limbs.

In the flood, there were many large pieces of wood, possibly from someone's house, which struck the pig's head. The pig let out a miserable cry, struggled a few times, and was then carried away by the flood.

Iron Wang's wife swore that when she met the pig's eyes, she saw that the pig really wanted to live... very much so.

Then she saw two people lying on a beam. The beam was so thin that if one person lay on it, they could still be seen above the water, but if two people lay on it, the beam would be submerged. They could only struggle to keep their heads above water.

Because of the waves, Iron Wang's wife could see them, but they could not see her. She was shocked to see one person suddenly push the other's head underwater. She covered her mouth to stifle a scream, fearing that the person would see her. If that person could drown their companion, they would certainly become even more frenzied upon seeing her bathtub.

The result was soon clear. Iron Wang's wife saw the beam free of its burden, while the two people disappeared.

A snake, nearly ten feet long, was tightly coiled around the beam. More snakes were gathering around it, and even field mice, which normally avoided the snake, were squatting on the beam. Gradually, the beam was completely covered by snakes and mice. This could not last long, and soon more lives would disappear around the cursed beam.

A large, wet field mouse jumped into the bathtub. Iron Wang's wife was not afraid at all; she simply struck it dead with a stick. However, she did not throw the dead mouse out. As a farmer's wife, she knew that after the flood, every grain of food would be precious. Mouse meat was a delicacy, and she had eaten it before when she was driven out of the Wang family.

The baby's cry woke Iron Wang's wife from her numbness. She opened her chest and tightly wrapped the child in her full bosom. The child suckled strongly, which made her very relieved. For a while, the child had not moved.

If she had the time to look down at her child, she would have noticed that her child's beautiful little face was full of distress...

Tie Xin Yuan emptied one breast and then switched to the other to continue. He did not want to do this, but the power of instinct was strong. Whenever he felt hungry, he would naturally cry, and then a full breast would be waiting for him to suckle.

Tie Xin Yuan had good reason to be distressed. He had been lying on the Gobi Desert, looking at the stars, thinking he would go to the underworld or someplace like that. When he woke up, he found himself in another place, with the sound of heavy rain and water filling his ears. The Gobi Desert certainly did not have so much water.

After a long time of confirmation, he believed he was on a boat, a very small boat, like the wooden basins used by women picking lotus flowers in the south.

He had wanted to confirm his current safety, but when he saw his chubby little hands, he decisively gave up the idea. Now, his life depended on this woman named Wang Rou Hua.

Tie Xin Yuan learned his name from this woman. Whenever she had a moment to spare, she would chatter about her family, including this name that sounded quite nice.

From Wang Rou Hua's intermittent words, Tie Xin Yuan understood his current situation and knew that a blacksmith named Tie A Qi had pushed them out of the chaotic village, only to be swallowed by the flood.

Wang Rou Hua had sworn to the heavens many times that she would raise Tie Xin Yuan to continue the family line. Although Tie Xin Yuan knew this was to boost her own morale and give her the courage to live, and to keep her from falling asleep, these words made him decide to live with this name. The man had fulfilled his duty as a father, and the woman was trying her best as a mother. So, he had to try his best as a son. There was nothing to argue about.

If this was hell, Tie Xin Yuan thought it was not bad!

Now, being a good son meant not causing trouble for his current mother. Although he was drenched, he decided to sleep immediately, not crying or fussing, which was the best way to repay Wang Rou Hua.

Wang Rou Hua had many hopes and was already imagining what her son would look like when he got married. Looking down at their current state of having nothing, she became anxious.

A dead cow floated by from not far away. After estimating the cow's value, Wang Rou Hua felt a bit disappointed. Her family used to have a cow.

Another dead body floated by the bathtub. Wang Rou Hua was no longer very afraid of dead bodies; after floating in the water for a day and night, she had seen many.

This body was different, mainly because it had a sash with embroidered lotus flowers around its waist. Merchants used such sashes, and Wang Rou Hua boldly guessed that it was full of copper coins.

Looking at the large hole in the body's neck, Wang Rou Hua decisively used a stick to pull the body over. When the body was close, her heart beat violently. The body stared at her with its pale eyes, as if guarding its wealth.

"Already in the water, still thinking about copper coins. If you don't die, who will?" Wang Rou Hua spat to boost her courage.

Fortunately, the body was tied to a piece of wood, which prevented it from sinking to the bottom with the coins.

She struggled to untie the sash and then tightly tied it around her own waist. She had weighed it and knew it contained at least two strings of coins.

Pushing away the terrifying body, Wang Rou Hua's heart beat wildly. According to village customs, stealing from a dead body would result in public humiliation.

Iron Eighteen from the Iron family village had once stolen a jade pendant from a body he fished out of a ditch. When he tried to sell the jade, he was caught by the authorities. The old clan leader beat him with thirty bamboo rods and then paraded him through the village for a whole day.

Thinking of Iron Eighteen's fate, Wang Rou Hua was a bit worried. Iron Eighteen's fourteen-year-old son had been too ashamed to show his face and had not found a matchmaker willing to arrange a marriage for him. She did not want her son to face the same fate.

Wang Rou Hua wanted to throw away the sash but could not bear to part with the embroidered lotus flowers. Such a sash could sell for at least twenty copper coins.

"Should I throw it away or not?"

Wang Rou Hua muttered to her son, who was awake and looking at her.

Tie Xin Yuan wanted to tell his mother to throw away the sash and keep the money, but the words came out as meaningless babble.

Fortunately, Wang Rou Hua was smart and decisively threw away the sash, keeping the money. When Tie Xin Yuan saw his mother joyfully touching each coin and kissing the scattered silver pieces, his expression became blank.

He did not understand why this woman, who had just lost her husband, could be so ecstatic.

The copper coins should have inscriptions, but Tie Xin Yuan could not see what they said. However, the round shape of the coins with a square hole in the middle reassured him. It seemed he had not come to a strange place; he had seen such coins before...

At some point, the wind started, and the heavy rain turned into a gentle drizzle. The clever Wang Rou Hua even knew how to use the broken umbrella to harness the wind, making the bathtub move purposefully with the wind.

The bathtub avoided the large trees that were visible above the water, where people were climbing. Wang Rou Hua naively believed that staying in the bathtub was safer than staying on the trees with those people.

The great flood had changed many people. Neighbors who were once close could now become demons. The pig that wanted to live had taught Wang Rou Hua a lesson.

In the face of survival, all bonds of affection were like the reflection of the moon in a water jar.

On this journey, Wang Rou Hua had not encountered no one in the water.

Not to mention the entire outskirts of Tokyo being flooded, just in the Iron family village, the number of people affected was far more than a thousand.

The men had gone to the river embankment, leaving only the elderly, weak, women, and children in the village. Seven Brother, the blacksmith, had been left behind by the clan leader to make tools.

Wang Rou Hua did not dare to think about the moment when the floodwaters had rushed in...

Seven Brother had filled the raft with people. When she and her child tried to get on, no one was willing to make room. If those people had given up a little space, Seven Brother would not have died...

Therefore, Wang Rou Hua coldly watched many people being swallowed by the flood, without a trace of guilt in her heart.

Heroic deeds were for men like Seven Brother. She was a woman, a woman holding a child, and did not need to pity anyone.

Wang Rou Hua tried hard to recall the good times she had with Seven Brother, not missing a single moment. Her expression alternated between pride and sadness, as if as long as she had Seven Brother in her heart, the heavens would give her and her child a chance to survive.

Tie Xin Yuan, having had his fill of milk, idly blew bubbles.

Wang Rou Hua had plenty of milk, and he was almost full. The milk that seeped from her breasts continued to drip onto his face. It seemed he would have a strong childhood.