pdf-ebookys Chapter 100 Dream
Chapter 100 Dream
My cousin-in-law and Zhiqiang chatted happily and relaxedly along the way. We got off the train at Shimen Railway Station before dark.
It was already dusk when we arrived at his house. My second cousin was both surprised and delighted by our arrival, asking us all sorts of questions, and we had endless topics to discuss.
She has three children. Her eldest daughter is a year older than me and got married and moved to Handan a few years ago. Her son is also married and lives in another house, while her youngest daughter is studying away from home.
We talked until after midnight that night before going to sleep.
The next morning after breakfast, we were going to my second sister's house in Liuzhuangtuo. No matter what we said, my cousin's husband and cousin wouldn't let us leave: "You've come all this way to my house, you can't just stay one night and leave. There are pig butchers in the village, I'll go buy some pork hock later." My brother-in-law said, picking up the bag of nets, "Let's go to the big pit in the west of the village to set the nets and catch fish."
Arriving at the foot of Zhuangxi Mountain, they found the pit to be quite large. The two of them used ropes to lower and raise the net.
After waiting a while with no movement, and considering it was April and a bit warm down the mountain, I said to Zhiqiang, "Shall we go up the mountain and take a look?"
My second cousin's husband immediately chimed in, "That's right! You guys go up to the top of the mountain and enjoy the view, I'll stay here and keep watch."
We turned and headed up the mountain. The apple orchard's leaves were lush and green, and small fruits were already visible, which was very pleasing to the eye. The mountain wasn't very high to begin with, so we let our spirits soar as we ran towards the summit.
Standing atop the mountain and gazing in all directions, he felt a sense of wonder. Having grown up on the plains, Zhiqiang had never experienced the feeling of climbing to a high place and looking out into the distance before, and today's sight filled him with exhilaration.
I looked north and saw five mountain rings. We were at the southeastern end, and to the north, there were still a few trees with red flowers blooming, which seemed rare.
I said to Zhiqiang, "These are the Five Mountain Circles, and the rows of houses are the Five Villages, which is my hometown. The blue expanse below the mountain is the Lizhuangtuo Reservoir. The deep ravine and dense forest behind this mountain is called Xianglin Temple. I went there to work with the school. Our school also went to the pine forest on the east mountain to catch pine caterpillars."
A gentle breeze caressed my face atop the mountain, cool and pleasant. Zhiqiang: "I can never get enough of the mountains of my hometown, nor the villages of my hometown."
He said the two lines in the lyrics were quite apt.
Zhiqiang: "Let's watch for a while and then go downstairs. Don't keep my brother-in-law waiting."
We went down the mountain. I asked my cousin-in-law, "Did they catch any fish?"
My cousin's husband: "If we don't see any movement, let's haul in the net and head back. It's almost noon."
As they talked, the two pulled the net up. The cousin's husband was very unwilling: "Why didn't you catch any? Is this net not working? Last time our village XX came, he caught several big fish. If it doesn't work, we'll come again tomorrow and try to catch all the fish."
As we walked, my cousin-in-law said, "Things are much better here now. Everyone is doing well. They're free to choose what to plant and what kind of work to do. Every family has to pay a lot for this orchard."
Upon returning to the village, he handed the net to Zhiqiang: "Take this, I'm going to check on the pig slaughterhouse."
"No need! It's alright." We said, and he quickly walked away.
We walked back along the same route, and at the intersection, we saw him waiting for us with a large piece of pork ribs in his hand: "I wanted to buy pork hock, but they were sold out, so I bought a piece of pork rib to stew at home."
"I'm sorry to have you spend money," I said.
Di Zhandong: "You still have to eat even if you don't come, right?"
As soon as we entered the back gate after getting off the road, my cousin's husband called out, "Old lady! Go and call your son and his family over!" My second cousin came out and said, "Old man, why didn't you bring half a pig? You only bought a piece of spare rib?"
My cousin's husband: "That's why I told you to go and call Mintou's family over!"
My second cousin put on her coat and went outside.
Before long, Mintou and his second cousin returned. Mintou hadn't changed much; he still had a big head and a bright, angular mouth. He had just grown up since he was a child, and you could recognize him at a glance.
It stayed with us for the afternoon after lunch.
That evening, it was just my second cousin and her husband, Zhiqiang, and me again. Mentioning the past, my cousin's husband said sadly, "My aunt, she never had a good life. She left us so young, leaving you poor little ones behind..."
After a pause, she continued, "My aunt was a child bride..."
My heart stirred with a deep, stabbing pain. I had heard the term "child bride" before, back when I was in school in my hometown, in stories denouncing the evils of the old society and the rampant abuse of girls by feudal forces. It was a synonym for the abused. Now, someone was using this term to describe my mother, which was truly unbearable and felt like a thorn in my side.
I used to only know that my mother was mistreated and had no status at home. Now I realize there's a historical reason behind this. A strange mix of grief, indignation, and helplessness welled up inside me.
Fortunately, our generation was born in the new society and grew up under the red flag.
This matter weighed heavily on my mind, and I remained silent, feeling extremely heavy-hearted.
On the third day, we said goodbye to my cousin and her husband, as we were going to visit my second sister in Liuzhuangtuo, and then my eldest sister's house in Diaoyutai. They were still reluctant to let us go: "Don't go back from there, come back here before you leave!"
No matter how far we walked, my second cousin was still calling out.
"Go back, brother-in-law, don't see me off."
"I'll see you off, in case you get lost."
"It's alright, we scouted the path before we went up the mountain last time, don't worry!" My second cousin's husband didn't go back until he saw us out of the village.
We stayed at my second sister's house for two nights. My second sister's husband and Zhiqiang met for the first time and hit it off immediately. They couldn't persuade us to stay, so they took us to my eldest sister's house in Diaoyutai.
Diaoyutai Village is located in a mountainous area, mostly on hillsides, where production relies entirely on manual labor. Male labor is particularly needed. This family, wanting a son, had six daughters, but were prevented from having more children due to the "one-child policy."
Despite her poor health, my eldest sister still had to go check on the fields down the mountain. When we arrived, we went with her to the "Shaguiyu" gully to see the apricots and pull weeds from the rice fields.
She was already panting heavily as she walked along the rugged road.
When we arrived at her field, the eldest sister sat under an apricot tree to catch her breath for a while. Pointing to a cluster of yellowing apricots, she said, "These are called Jie apricots, which ripen to the yellow tips during the Grain in Ear season."
He picked one and said, "These apricots are the first to fall, but they're too sour. Try one."
I took it and held it under my nose to smell it.
I said to my older sister, "Today is my birthday, we should go back now."
Eldest sister: "Oh—, is today your birthday? How many months ago is it, sometime in April?"
I said, "April 17th."
Eldest sister: "Oh—right! Your birthday is April 17th. Why don't you stay a few days? What are you busy with?"
I built a house and told my older sister about my idea of opening a shop.
She said, "Then I won't keep you any longer. When I get back, I'll go to Guoqing's house to buy two jin of meat, and we'll make dumplings. You can leave tomorrow."
Around 11 a.m., my eldest sister's husband returned from the fields with his sixth daughter. The sixth daughter, Yanwei, a thirteen-year-old girl, wore a purple cotton blouse, her hair in two buns, a basket slung over her left arm. She staggered, tossed the basket onto the courtyard floor, went inside, lay down on the kang (heated brick bed), and exclaimed, "So comfortable!"
The older sister said, "Whether it's better to go to school or to work in the fields, if you're forced to go to school, you won't study."
Yanwei just rested quietly without saying a word. In the afternoon, she went to turn over the sweet potato vines with her father again.
After they left, we talked about Yanwei again. The eldest sister said, "When she was in junior high, she would play with a few girls and not pay attention in class. After a while, she couldn't keep up and stopped going. When she stopped going, I made her go to work in the fields. We don't support idlers."
I said, "What can she do at such a young age?"
Eldest sister: "She'll do whatever we tell her to do. It's her fault for not going to school. Her fourth sister said, 'If we keep exhausting her, she's so young. I'll talk to her classmates and let her go to junior high in Mujing this fall!' I haven't even told her yet. Let her experience what it's like to work in the fields, and see if she'll still know how to study when she goes to school!"
Me: "Oh, that's for the best."
The next day, we went back to Gaogezhuang to visit my cousin and her husband, and took the bus from there on the way.
My cousin's husband was still very happy to see us. He said, "The fish here are wary of strangers. After you left, I went back and caught a big fish, weighing several pounds. I was afraid it wouldn't keep. So I stewed it and put it in the cellar." He then went to get a ladder, went to the vicinity of the yard wall, moved the cellar opening, lowered the ladder, and climbed down. He continued, "My cellar is great, warm in winter and cool in summer. I saved you a big piece so you can see and taste how well your second cousin's husband stews fish."
He brought the plate up, I took the plate, and he casually closed the cellar door.
It was already afternoon when we arrived at Shimen Railway Station. Only one slow train remained heading northeast, departing around 3 PM. We bought tickets and rushed on, figuring we'd see where we were going. Around dusk, the train reached its final stop, "Shanhaiguan." We had no choice but to get off, buy more tickets, and continue our journey. Tickets before midnight were sold out, but we managed to get two tickets for the express train passing through Shanhaiguan at 12:40 AM. Well, it was better than waiting all night. We'd get off at Jinhai the next morning; for two young people like us, waiting half the night at the station was nothing.
After putting away our tickets, we wandered around outside the station for a while, ate at a dumpling restaurant, and then returned to the waiting room around 8 o'clock.
I sat in the middle seat, watching the pedestrians come and go. Around ten o'clock, I crossed my arms, lowered my head, and dozed off.
······
In a daze—
I think I turned to Zhiqiang and asked, "How was your trip to Guanzhong?"
Zhiqiang: "It's great. If it weren't for some family matters, I would have liked to stay a few more days."
Me: "You haven't had enough! We'll come back another time."
Zhiqiang: "When will there be another chance?"
Me: "My second sister's eldest nephew, Xinhui, is getting married. He's our only nephew, and we've all agreed that we absolutely have to go to Xinhui's wedding, no matter how busy we are, we'll put our work aside."
My second sister also said that she wasn't too busy at that time...
Zhiqiang: "It's been a while? How old is Xinhui anyway!"
Me: "No, it's about when it's time to get married. Xinhui is seventeen or eighteen, a few years isn't that fast? Xinhui is so good-looking, and her family is well-off, there are plenty of people eager to marry her. My second sister's child is good-looking and capable, her sister Xinmin, wasn't she just twenty when her in-laws asked someone to arrange a marriage for her? They keep asking people to propose, you can't be reluctant, you can't offend people over this. It's the same with Xinhui, they've already asked the matchmaker, but my second sister doesn't agree, saying the child is too young!"
"Excuse me, could you hold the child for a moment? His mother is behind me with luggage. I'll go find her and be right back." An elderly man with white hair and a youthful face, dressed in a Taoist robe, stood in front of me, holding the child in his hands.
Me: "Oh—okay." I reached out and took the child from me.
The old man put the child down and turned to leave.
I watched the direction he went, waiting for him to come in from there.
"Attention passengers who have purchased tickets for train number 95 from Tianjin to Dalian, boarding is now open. Please prepare to board." The announcement was made during ticket inspection.
I stood up with my child in my arms, went to the door and looked outside, but I couldn't see the old man or the woman with the backpack and luggage.
Passengers with tickets began to gather towards the ticket gate. We were getting anxious.
"What should we do?" I asked Zhiqiang.
Zhiqiang: "Wait a minute, let's hurry."
Ticket checking began, and people at the front of the line walked through the ticket gate one after another. We looked around and saw the guardhouse, so we headed towards it.
I pushed the door to the guardhouse; it was closed. I looked out the window and saw no one inside.
Most passengers passed through the ticket gate.
"Those who haven't had their tickets checked yet, hurry up and get your tickets checked!" the ticket inspector shouted.
I hesitated at the ticket gate. "Hurry up, the train is about to leave!" The female ticket inspector nudged me.
We boarded the train with trepidation, glancing out the window. We settled the child in the seat and tidied him up. Just then, the little red blanket swaddled the child began to emit a soft, gentle glow, accompanied by a faint, pleasant fragrance.
Zhiqiang and I were both astonished, unsure of what to do—
······
The loudspeaker announced the start of ticket checking, and I looked up at the clock with a start. It was 11:50—they were only just beginning to check tickets.
I followed the ticket check line into the platform, boarded the train, and watched the scenery outside the train move backward. Looking out the window, I kept reliving the dream I had just had.
Not long after I got home, I became pregnant, and ten months later, I gave birth to a boy.