Chapter 8

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The deep autumn air in the northeast was turning very cold, he couldn’t even open his mouth while sitting in the carriage. The cold wind kept blowing on Zhang Guo Fu’s thin jacket. He shivered and wrapped his jacket tighter around him as he hurried the carriage along. Not one tree could be seen along both sides of the road, as no one had planted any in recent years. Looking around, except for the fields where the crops have been harvested, the only other plant nearby was yellowing grass. Besides this one carriage, no other people could be spotted.

There was one other person in the carriage: a middle-aged man wearing some patched up clothing. He was a doctor and the main purpose for this rushed horse-carriage trip. The coat that Guo Fu brought from home was wrapped around him.

“Guo Fu ah, rest assure—this place is close to your pimple.

(Ok, really weird translation, but it is a literal translation haha. Guessing from context, I am assuming the doctor is talking about someone close to Guo Fu who may be known for their ugly appearance or someone who is really close to him and he uses a pet name. Maybe the younger brother mentioned after?)

How did your younger brother get into an accident? Just recently I heard he got married and even had a kid, and since young he’s always been strong and healthy, who could possibly bully him?”

The middle-aged man was named Zhou Zhong Sheng. All the villagers around the countryside don’t even remember him name, but they all refer to him as Dr. Zhou. Usually, when anyone in the countryside is sick, they will look for him. His medical skills were good and only he would be sent to the countryside to attend to patients in the countryside.

Zhang Guo Fu sighed and said: “My little brother never provokes others. Today, a few sneaky people from Shanglin Village somehow got into the backyard and attacked our chickens. Fortunately, my father heard the commotion and went outside, otherwise all the chickens would have all died. These unruly people, our family relies on these dozen or so chickens to lay eggs in exchange for soy sauce and vinegar. We lost four chickens, our mother was so angry she didn’t want to get up. Those chickens are my mother’s lifeline, she’s closer to them than her children. Our younger brother got angry and went to Shanglin Village to get an explanation. Afterwards, we don’t know how it started but a fight began. Someone hit the back of his head with a shovel and he fainted immediately after. Now those perpetrators are still in the militia (their form of police at that time). When we carried him back home, he was still unconscious and when our sister-in-law saw that she also fainted and had a premature birth. Right now, the situation is still unclear. Our mother is worried and wants you to go back as soon as possible to save their lives.”

Dr. Zhou nods his head: “Now that you’re talking about that family from Shanglin Village, they are pretty infamous right now. They are so poor even rats and mice don’t go near them. They sneak around and steal chickens from time to time. Daughters from other families are not willing to marry the sons from this family. This time they will most likely be locked in for a few days and punished to go to the village to dig a river embankment. Your brother fought for nothing, the most they can do is give some apologies as a way to give your family some face.”

After speaking, he arrived at the village in no time. The Zhang family lived in the east end of the village near Beishan. You can also enter in from a side road to avoid walking a whole circle from the village entrance. Their village had a good name called Goddess Village. After liberation though, the People’s Commune demanded that superstitions be destroyed. That’s why, afterwards, the village chief noticed that many villager’s last name was Zhang and named the village Zhang Family Village.

Zhang Family Village’s geography and land placement was not bad. It was located around twenty miles from the countryside, and if you head north for half an hour you can arrive at the county seat. Behind the village were two connected mountains.

One of the mountains is behind the Zhang family’s house called Beishan Mountain. There is also another one facing the northwest side and is also known as the legendary Daqing Mountain. According to the older generation, this is a sacred mountain.

During the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a Taoist temple on the mountainside. Back then, villagers would go up to the mountain to occasionally hunt, and they could see the Taoist priests when they harvest fruit in autumn.

Afterwards, the world gradually became less peaceful and the Taoist priests were declining in numbers. The last time anyone saw a priest was just before the liberation when chaos-causing people swept across the whole countryside.

During this time, the villagers could only head to the mountains to find refuge, even when knowing there were wild beasts. However, the wild beasts were still a better option than the people sweeping across the countryside and causing havoc. It was also the priests who came out to help the villagers when they came across some wild beasts and forced them to another part of the mountains. It was through their help that the villagers were able to pass their days on the mountains.

After the country was liberated, the priests gradually disappeared and the Taoist temple became a ruined and abandoned building. The country was short of resources post-liberation and many villagers and families suffered from a large population with insufficient labor problems. Faced with very little options, the villagers had to go up the mountain to find food again. Occasionally, people would be met with some annoying trouble-makers or sometimes hear the cry of a wolf. People also started to gradually avoid going to the depths of the Daqing Mountain.

During the Autumn harvest, villagers would gather and pick wild fruits and mountain products, but they would only pick from Beishan mountain and the outskirts of Daqing—no further than that.

The Zhang family lived at the foot of the Beishan mountain where there was a rarely seen blue brick and stone roofed house. This area was well protected and there were no fears of wildebeests coming down from the mountain. This was also where the Zhang family established their home. Beishan mountain, except wild chickens and rabbits, had no scary wildebeests—that’s why over the years the surrounding area was taken over by people moving into the area.

Just as the horse-carriage stopped, you could hear the messy noises from inside. Dr. Zhou quickly stepped down from the carriage and headed to the house.

“Dr. Zhou is here, quickly let him see Xiaowu (little five—the fifth sibling). Xiaowu just woke up and threw up. Dr. Zhou please take a look at him, this child keeps wanting to see his wife. His wife is delivering their baby in the delivery room.” The hostess of the Zhang family, Mother Zhang—Huang Da Niu, hurriedly pulled her younger son to the side while shouting.

Zhang Guo Qing loudly yelled: “Jiao Jiao, can you hear my voice? It’s me Guo Qing, you must give birth to our child safely. Don’t worry about anything, just safely give birth and we can talk afterwards. Mother let me go in. My wife is inside and I’m worried.”

Huang Da Niu angrily said: “You kid, don’t make trouble. You’re also a sick patient ah. You want to go into the delivery room and help, which family’s sons would actually go into the delivery room ah? Quickly go lie down and I will call you after your wife gives birth.”

“Wife, can you hear my voice? Jiao Jiao you must hold on ah, I’m just outside your door waiting for you.” Zhang Guo Qing hurriedly spoke—even forgetting to use the olden day version of the pronoun “I”.* But no one noticed this slip up. Occasionally the couple would flip the pronouns by accident. Who would have predicted that Xiaowu’s wife would be negatively stimulated and have a premature birth. Fortunately the expected delivery date was also within these few days.

Dr. Zhou measured Zhang Guo Qing’s pulse, and asked if he felt dizzy just now. He also took a look at the injury on the back of his head and told Huang Da Niu: “No problem, this kid is very healthy. These next few days he should rest more and not rush to work, let his body have a rest. If he still throws up within the next two, then you should come find me again.”

Mother Zhang’s happiness was blooming, one must know that she cares for this little son the most. When she was a little younger, this son would be fed by his now-deceased grandmother and every time gradnmother fed him a bite of food he would sneakily feed one to his mother too. Such a small person, but he already knew how to help his mother have a better relationship with his grandmother.

After he grew up, he would do all the heavy work and any tiring work he would never leave for his mother to do. During the holidays, all the red packets, fruits, and candies he received would all be secretly given to his mother.

This youngest son was even more caring than the two daughters in the family. Fortunately his head was fine, if not she would’ve gone to Shanglin Village to seek a life in return.

There were three sons in the family, including Zhang Guo Qing. The eldest son was too honest, he married a very honest wife too. The second son was full of himself, he married a wife who attracts trouble. This time, Xiaowu went to Shanglin Village and the second son didn’t even go along. The eldest son wasn’t at home, otherwise, without being urged to, he would’ve appeared whenever something good happened. Now, who knows where he’s run off to?

When a war starts, the strongest pair is between a father and son. When fighting against a tiger, the strongest pair is between blood brothers. If the blood brothers didn’t even help at this time, when can Xiaowu ever ask them for help? Ahh~ no use talking about it, son and daughters are all a debt. (Chinese people usually believe that having to take care of problematic children or something difficult is a debt they incurred from their past lives)

Anyway, she has already discussed with the father of the house—they are planning to live with the eldest son soon. After this year ends, they will split the family up. The two eldest sons will move out so as to prevent less arguments. There is a saying that goes: the further the more aromatic, even closer and it will become smelly. (The further away they are the better the relationships, any closer and problems will occur). Being separated is also good. When the time comes, she can secretly give more money to Xiaowu, this way she won’t worry about Xiaowu. She and her husband will stay with the eldest son and help with his work, so his burdens won’t be too heavy. As for the second son, they already helped him get married, what else could the elderly couple give him? He shouldn’t assume that the elderly couple doesn’t know about the money he obtains from woodworking, but secretly refuses to share with the family. The two other sons always shares the money earned from working with the family.

Translated 7/23/20