Chapter 9

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Father Zhang grabbed Dr. Zhou and led him to the main room, walking while saying: “mother of our children go tell eldest daughter-in-law to make a dish or two—I’ll be accompanying Dr. Zhou for a drink.”

Dr. Zhou quickly refused, how could he not notice that the family would be busy with a newborn on their hands? He knew that they most likely wanted him to stay in case any accident occurred after the birth of the baby. Well, since he was here anyways he might as well chat for a little bit.

Father Zhang ignored his words, seeing as it was rare for someone to accompany him to drink and as he hadn’t had a drink in the last few days, he was itching to drink with Dr. Zhou. The whole family was waiting for an opportunity like this, as Father Zhang could use some alcohol to calm his heart down after these past few days of worrying and finally he could do so now with Dr. Zhou.

But not too long after, the two drank until they became tipsy. Father Zhang quietly asked: “Brother Zhou, look at your vast range of knowledge, who, within these miles of countryside, hasn’t been helped by you? Have you recently heard anything about the institution of new policies?”

Dr. Zhou took a sip of alcohol and ate a mouthful of peanuts and spoke: “There is no new policy, it’s still the same one, the cadres in the village are very anxious—I heard that the people from up top have issued tasks that must be carried out.”

The two old men in the main room chatted while snacking……………………………………………………

Outside the west wing, Zhang Guo Qing leaned against the wall. He was clearly holding his wife right before he died, but in the end he was able to open his eyes with difficulty to see that his wife was still in his arms. But at that time, he was still in shock and when Jiao Jiao regained her consciousness—without having some time to say a few words to him, she was surrounded by the midwife and others. However, looking at Jiao Jiao’s expression, she should’ve realized that he was him and she was her?

His wife was still his wife here, even the belly was so big, but who could explain things to him? His wife was even skinnier than the time when she was in college, and she was wearing patched-up clothes. Her face was also pale and sallow, and she was so skinny—making his heart ache for her. Since their first meeting, he has been working hard in order to feed her well and was finally able to hear her stomach problems, and now what was this situation?

As soon as he woke up, Zhou Jiao had to give birth. The women surrounded them and quickly took her from his arms and without waiting for him to respond, had already lifted her to the delivery room in the west wing. After he finally got over the pain in his head, it took a while before he was able to grasp the idea that he, his wife, and their child had transmigrated. But even if they didn’t transmigrate, Jiao Jiao would still need to give birth.

His wife was already screaming in pain and the worst part was that there were no hospitals around, who could have imagined they’d be sent back to 1957? Just imagining the days ahead…sigh, fortunately or not at least this body was part of a family of poor farmers for eight generations. The only thing they can do is take things step by step.

Zhang Guo Qing was restless and couldn’t stand still so he walked to the window, he was afraid his wife couldn’t react in time to the changes that happened to them and would faint. He was afraid she didn’t know he was there with her, so he loudly shouted: “Jiao Jiao, I’m just outside waiting for you. We promised that if we give birth to a son first, we’ll have a princess next. You can’t leave me by myself, I won’t be able to live without you.”

Mother Zhang quickly covered his mouth, she quietly scolded him: “Do you want to die? Right now superstitions have been banned. The People of the Nation are our leaders right now, what little princess ah, you must not let others hear you.”

“Mother, I understand, I won’t say it again, I was nervous and spoke nonsense.” (Here Zhang Guo Qing is using formal traditional speech by calling his mother niang and addressing himself as yim).

“Even if you’re nervous you can’t say things like this, fortunately the people who heard you aren’t many, otherwise it will be very troublesome. Don’t be anxious, giving birth isn’t something that happens very quickly—you’ll probably still need to wait at least two more hours.”

“Mother ah~ two more hours, I can’t wait that long, please think of something.”

“This child, are you stupid? The process needs to be fast too, but the baby will come out when it will. Jiao Jiao ah, don’t scream ah, save some energy for when you will need it.”

The Zhou Jiao, lying on the bed* in the west wing, only wanted to smile. She figured out that Zhang Guo Qing and she had transmigrated, but somehow nothing between them really changed except for their ages- nothing else changed. But one things for sure, this body of Zhou Jiao’s has never heard the words of a princess from the mouth of Zhang Guo Qing before—it was always about a son. *(Traditionally known as a kang, which is a bed usually made of soil or brick and heated underneath with coal)

There was a sudden pain coming from her stomach, it took a while before the pain slowly ebbed away. She resisted the urge to scream, worried that her husband would be anxious. She took a deep breath and said: “Brother*, don’t worry. Wait until the baby is out and then we can see each other.” *(Brother or ge is also an affectionate nickname for older men in Chinese)

“Hehe, wife, I’ll be waiting under the window for you. If you need anything, don’t worry and shout for me.” This time Zhang Guo Qing was rest assured. His Jiao Jiao called him brother, he understood that he and his wife both had mutual understanding of what has happened. This is good.

In another wing of the house, Zhang Guo Qing’s aunts and uncles listened with happiness. This young couple was very interesting. Listening to them give birth was the same as listening to Chinese opera. The young couple was feeling very anxious.

The eldest uncle Zhang Dafa had judgmental eyes as he thought that Zhang Guo Qing must have lost his mind, the wife was just giving birth but he was screaming and making a scene. The eldest aunt (Zhang Dafa’s wife) looked on with anger in her eyes, this damn old man—she gave birth to four children but she never saw him with once with a look of worry or heartache for her. Just wait until they go back home, she’ll “talk” it out with him, but for now she’ll save some face for him.

Zhang Guo Qing’s father, Zhang Dayou, stood up, greeted all the guests, and then ushered them to the main room to sit. Just in time for them to all have a drink together.

Mother Zhang was busy ordering her eldest daughter-in-law, Zhang Cuilan, to pour tea for the guests. Her heart was still worried for the young daughter-in-law giving birth. She thought that Zhang Guo Qing must be lying to her by saying the baby was a boy. When she asked Zhang Guo Qing, he said with certainty that it was a boy. This was only because, before they transmigrated, they had taken an ultrasound exam and determined that the baby was a boy, but to be honest he wasn’t sure if that had changed after the transmigration.

This young daughter-in-law was good in all aspects except for her weak body, but who would have thought Xiao Wu* would be so enamored with her, wouldn’t marry anyone else but her. Pray the heavens that the baby will be a boy, then her Xiao Wu can have descendants carry his last name. In the end she couldn’t resist and went back to the west wing to keep her son company. *(Zhang Guo Qing’s pet name in the family since he is the fifth child--wu as in the number five).

Then she spotted the wife of the second son, peeking out from the kitchen to observe the fun. “Second daughter-in-law, hurry and cook up some noodles and boil some eggs for Jiao Jiao to eat so she can gain back some of her energy.”

The second daughter-in-law, Lin Juhua, nods her head, turns around, and pouts her lips and thinks to herself: “why didn’t I see you that worried when I was giving birth? This is being biased, on one hand asking her to cook a bowl of noodles, on the other hand asking her to boil some hot water. Just watch, if that baby is a good-for-nothing girl—let’s see how she’ll act later.”

Zhang Guo Qing glanced at his second sister-in-law and didn’t say anything. From the original body’s memories, his second sister-in-law was a real “nice” lady, a very good match with his second brother. Both of them were selfish to the core. It was also this brother that, no matter life or death, had to marry this woman from the Shanglin Village. His second brother’s mother-in-law had four daughters and one precious but ugly son, Lin Baozhu, and his second sister-in-law was the third child. According to his mother, this sister-in-law required a huge sum of money before agreeing to marry into the Zhang family. Married for four years and had one son and one daughter. The couple treated their daughter as a waste of money, if they weren’t yelling at her they would be hitting her. It was only in front of Mother Zhang would they be more lenient. The son was spoiled and took on a haughty attitude and would bully the eldest brother’s second and third child.

In private, they would earn money from part-time work, but would never contribute any of their money towards the family expenses. But the eldest brother’s four children, even if they get more food they would still blame other people for not providing enough food. If it wasn’t for eldest brother’s wife and her kindness, there would be a lot more chaos around the house.

The eldest brother, besides doing casual work, would also work as a plasterer and would make substantial income—all would be given towards family expenses. In addition, the eldest daughter-in-law’s family was a good family. They lived closer to the city and her two brothers would eat public meals*, it was just this sister-in-law that didn’t’.

*(I’m assuming by public meals they mean they get their money from working for the public and therefore that money is used for their meals. Maybe they’re government workers…?)

Translated 7/31/20