Translated By April

Qian Gui’er’s funeral was arranged by Qian Laotai. Sang Niang spent her days weak and sickly, leaning on the bed. Qian Laotai spent her days cursing Sang Niang and Qing-ger, calling them little bitches and money-losing pests.

Sang Niang paid her no mind. Hadn’t Qian Laotai beaten and scolded her enough over the years? They had often been locked in the woodshed. That bitterly cold early spring—if it hadn’t been for Yu-ger giving her two meat buns, she wouldn’t have known how to make it through that freezing night.

Getting beaten until she had no way out and jumped into the river had only earned her a single sentence: if you want to die, don’t do it in front of others.

Compared to the beatings and scolding from before, Sang Niang now found Qian Laotai’s cursing just a bunch of toothless barking.

Many people came to help with Qian Gui’er’s funeral this time. Although he hadn’t been a decent person in the village, the village head had given them half a pig as compensation, and everyone wanted a taste of meat, so many came to help.

A few young men volunteered to dig the grave, hoping to get some meat to eat at the Qian household. When the few young men returned from digging the grave, Qian Laotai served them a pot of wild vegetable tofu. The few of them were angry and left on the spot.

Qian Laotai was sad, but she wasn’t stupid. She couldn’t bear to use that half-pig for the funeral banquet. The people who came to help were there for the pig, but Qian Laotai couldn’t bear to bring it out.

Many people didn’t want to come help. On the day of the burial, it was even more desolate—there wasn’t even anyone to carry the coffin. Qian Laotai sat in the courtyard, cursing loudly, “You heartless bastards, you won’t even help with a funeral!”

It wasn’t that people didn’t want to help. Qian Laotai couldn’t bear to let them eat her meat, nor would she spend silver. Digging a grave and carrying a coffin were laborious tasks, and some people even thought it was unlucky. After Qian Laotai acted like this, those young men were even less willing to help.

Seeing it was already past noon and the house was still empty with no one to carry the coffin, Sang Niang directly picked up a kitchen knife, went to the kitchen, and cut the half pig into pieces. Qian Laotai heard the noise and rushed over. “You little bitch, what are you doing?! Don’t touch my stuff! Get out! Out! Take your little bastard and get out!”

“It’s all your fault, Qian Gui’er died! You damn jinx!” Qian Laotai yelled and hit Sang Niang with a broom. Sang Niang pushed her over with one shove.

She finished cutting the meat, grabbed a basket, and left. She first went to the door of Wei Qingshan’s house and called out twice, “Brother Qingshan, Brother Qingshan, are you home?”

Lin Yu and Wei Qingshan came out. Sang Niang wiped her tears, pulled out a piece of meat from the bamboo basket, and said, “Brother Qingshan, there’s no one to carry Qian Gui’er’s coffin. Just treat it as doing a good deed—please lend a hand.”

The young Qing-ger tugged at Sang Niang’s clothes, his timid appearance looking very pitiful.

Wei Qingshan glanced at the woman in front of him. “We’re all neighbors, just take this meat back.”

That one glance made Sang Niang tremble a little—he knew!

Sang Niang’s face turned a bit pale. Wei Qingshan said something to Lin Yu beside him and then walked toward the house next door. Sang Niang quickly thanked him. Seeing her pitiful state, Lin Yu said, “Sang Niang, how about letting Qing-ger stay at my place?”

Sang Niang shook her head. “There’s been a recent death in the family, it’s inauspicious. Let him stay with me.”

Sang Niang carried the basket and went to other houses. She handed out a piece of meat to each household and finally gathered seven or eight young lads to carry the coffin. No matter what, at least that coffin at home was finally buried in the ground. Only then did Sang Niang let out a breath of relief. She dragged all of Qian Gui’er’s clothes and belongings into the yard and burned them.

Sang Niang did not move into the main house. She still lived with Qing-ger in the low weaving hut on the east side, but their living conditions were much better now. They had a broken bed, they had blankets, and Sang Niang even made two sets of coarse new clothes for Qing-ger.

These past few days, Wei Qingshan had been tidying up the backyard, digging up yellow clay, and buying some green bricks to build a pigsty. Since he would no longer be hunting in the deep mountains, being a butcher wasn’t bad either. He could raise some piglets at home and feed them. In the early stages, he would go out and buy pigs.

Luckily, his backyard was big enough. Lin Yu helped beside him. The two of them built six pigpens in the backyard. Raising three or four pigs in one pen wouldn’t be a problem.

“Tomorrow I’ll go to the other villages to pick out some piglets. Then we can start raising little pigs at home.”

There was a smile on Lin Yu’s face. “Mm!”

As long as the two of them managed things well, they wouldn’t have to worry about living a good life. They now had more than fifty taels of silver, which was already quite a sum for an ordinary household.

Wei Qingshan took a few eggs and went to Shi Tou’s house to borrow a cart. Buying pigs and all that is needed to use the cart. A newly built one would take about half a month to complete, so he could only borrow one to use for a while.

When Shi Tou heard that Wei Qingshan was planning to collect pigs and raise piglets, he thought it was a good idea. He had joined the wild boar hunt a few days ago. Wild boars were already so ferocious, not to mention the jackals, wolves, and tigers deep in the mountains.

Shi Tou readily lent the cart to Wei Qingshan. His family had a mule cart and didn’t use the flat cart often—it was just sitting there, so he lent it out. Besides, it was thanks to Wei Qingshan and his husband helping as matchmakers that his marriage with Dong-ger came through.

“Brother Qingshan, just use this cart, no need to make a new one. My family doesn’t need it now anyway.”

He Dongdong also chimed in beside him, “That’s right, my family doesn’t need it now. Qingshan-ge, don’t be polite, just take it and use it.”

Wei Qingshan thanked them and pushed the cart back.

Tomorrow, he would go to the Old Zhu’s family in Zhujia village to inquire and pick out a few piglets.

Since tomorrow he would be buying piglets, which was a pretty big deal, Lin Yu made dried bamboo shoot stew with meat in the evening. He also picked gourds from the vegetable garden and made a steamer full of stuffed buns using fresh, tender gourds with eggs.

Just as he finished cooking, the sound of Sang Niang’s crying and shouting came from next door. “Where did you take Qing-ger? Where did you take him? Give me back my Qing-ger!”

Sang Niang came running out in a panic and knelt with a thud, “Brother Qingshan, I beg you, please help me, Qing-ger is missing!”

Lin Yu hurried to help Sang Niang up. “Sang Niang, what happened?”

“That old hag, I don’t know where she took Qing-ger. Please help me find him, I beg you.” Sang Niang looked flustered, completely at a loss as to what to do.

“I was just cooking in the kitchen, just cooking, and Qing-ger suddenly disappeared, he disappeared.”

Wei Qingshan went next door. Lin Yu and Sang Niang quickly followed. He directly yanked Qian Laotai off the bed. “Where’s Qing-ger!”

Qian Laotai started laughing, “That little bastard, I threw him up the mountain, hahaha, I want the wild dogs, wild wolves, and tigers to tear him to pieces, tear that little bastard to pieces, hahaha, you got Qian Gui’er killed, that little bastard shouldn’t think he can live either!”

Wei Qingshan tossed Qian Laotai aside. “I’ll go get people to search the mountain.”

That mountain was so big, who knew where Qian Laotai had thrown Qing-ger, and it was getting dark. Going into the mountain recklessly and encountering wild animals would be dangerous. They had to call more people.

“Yu-ger, go help call Dazhu, Erzhu, and the others. Tell them to bring torches and machetes, the mountain is dangerous. I’ll go find others.”

“Okay!” Seeing the sky about to go dark, Lin Yu didn’t dare delay and quickly went to call for help.

Wei Qingshan also went door to door calling people. When they heard that a child from the village was missing, everyone came out without a word, holding torches.

Sang Niang was still crying at the door, while Qian Laotai stared at her viciously. “It’s all your fault Qian Gui’er died. If you hadn’t provoked him that day, would he have gone hunting wild boars? It’s all because of you! You jinx, you’re the one who killed Qian Gui’er!”

Soon, the men of the village came out holding torches. Wei Qingshan led the group into the mountain. He even brought Dahei and Baixue—his two hunting dogs, who were familiar with Qing-ger’s scent and could help.

It was already dark now, and the family’s hunting dogs had all been brought out. Lately, there had been a lot going on in the village, and Wei Qingshan was worried about Lin Yu, so he let him go to the Shi family to stay with He Dongdong.

Lin Yu obediently went to He Dongdong’s house. Shi Tou also went out to help look for people. When He Dongdong saw Lin Yu arrive, he quickly pulled him into the house. “Have you eaten? Come eat something.”

“No, I had just finished cooking when something happened next door.”

He Dongdong brought out bowls and chopsticks. Today, their household had stir-fried meat and a plate of stir-fried vegetables. Ever since he had married Shi Tou, they could have meat every few days, and their days were much better than the average household.

He Dongdong served Lin Yu some rice, and the three of them sat around the table eating. “How could Qing-ger go missing when he’s so young?”

“It was Qian Laotai who threw him up the mountain. Sang Niang was cooking and didn’t notice.”

He Dongdong let out a sound of shock. “That Qian Laotai is really too vicious. I heard she’s been cursing at Sang Niang every day recently. But what does Qian Gui’er’s death have to do with Sang Niang? It was that wild boar that injured him, and that was because he did too many bad things.”

After they finished eating, the three of them lit an oil lamp and waited for the men in the household to return. He Dongdong chatted idly with Lin Yu, “I heard Qingshan-ge is planning to raise pigs?”

“Mm, the pigpens are already built.”

“That’s good, really good. The mountains are dangerous; raising pigs is safer.”

Wei Qingshan led the people up the mountain. Sang Niang followed along and insisted on dragging Qian Laotai. “Speak, speak! Where did you throw Qing-ger?!”

Qian Laotai refused to say anything, no matter what. “That little bastard deserves to die, he deserves to die!”

She had long wanted to throw away Qing-ger, but Sang Niang had been watching closely. When they went to town, she would entrust Qing-ger to Lin Yu’s care, so Qian Laotai hadn’t found an opportunity. Today, when Sang Niang was less watchful, she tricked Qing-ger into going up the back mountain.

Sang Niang insisted on dragging Qian Laotai up the mountain. Everyone walked together holding torches, not daring to spread out too far. The mountain was dangerous at night, and people not used to going into the mountains could easily get lost.

“Qing-ger! Qing-ger!”

Everyone called out while holding torches. Sang Niang, anxious, also searched everywhere. “Qing-ger! Qing-ger! Where are you?!”

She couldn’t care about Qian Laotai anymore and only wanted to find Qing-ger quickly. Qing-ger was still so young, the sky was so dark, and there were strange cries of birds — he was definitely scared and crying.

Qian Laotai couldn’t have taken Qing-ger very far, but even the foot of the mountain was quite expansive. The area was full of wild grass and thickets, so it wasn’t easy to find someone quickly.

Before going up the mountain, Wei Qingshan had asked Sang Niang for an old piece of Qing-ger’s clothing for Dahei and Baixue to sniff, hoping the two hunting dogs could help find him. The forest was dark, and the underbrush thick — it was hard for people to find a child on their own.

Dahei and Baixue sniffed along the ground, and Wei Qingshan followed them. Suddenly, Dahei began to run, and Wei Qingshan quickly led the others in pursuit.

Dahei barked toward the bushes a few times, and a child’s crying came from within. Sang Niang rushed in without regard for the brambles scratching her face. “Qing-ger! Qing-ger!”

Qing-ger’s face was covered in mud. He sat in the underbrush bawling. “Mother, mother, it’s so dark.”

Sang Niang held Qing-ger and cried. “Don’t be scared, don’t be scared, Mother is here.”

Sang Niang held Qing-ger and kowtowed repeatedly to the villagers who helped. “Thank you, thank you.”

“Qing-ger’s mother, get up now. Go home quickly and see how Qing-ger is doing. Don’t let him be scared out of his soul.”

Only then did Sang Niang stand up holding Qing-ger. He Dazhu shouted to the surroundings, “We found the child, everyone, head back!”

Only then did everyone in the forest carry their torches and descend the mountain. Sang Niang had dragged Qian Laotai up the mountain, but since everyone had been focused on finding Qing-ger, no one had noticed Qian Laotai falling behind. When Qian Laotai noticed that Sang Niang had let go of her, she groped her way down the mountain in the dark.

On the way down the mountain, at a steep slope, they heard cries for help. “Help! Help!”

Qian Laotai had lost her footing on the steep slope in the dark and had fallen to the bottom, unable to climb back up. Although everyone hated her, a life was still a life. Two people went down and carried her up — it looked like she had broken a leg.

After Wei Qingshan returned, he hurried with Shi Tou to his house. He was afraid his little husband would worry like last time. Seeing her man return, Lin Yu and He Dongdong quickly came out to greet him. “You found Qing-ger, right?”

“We did. Sang Niang has already taken him home.” Wei Qingshan held Lin Yu’s hand. “Let’s go home too.”

Wei Qingshan brought Lin Yu home. Upon hearing that Qing-ger had been found, Lin Yu finally felt at ease. He remembered once when Sang Niang went to town, she had left Qing-ger in his care, and Qian Laotai had come over saying she would watch him instead. Thinking back now, she must have had this malicious intent even then.

Qian Laotai truly was vicious — she actually threw Qing-ger up the mountain.

After returning, Lin Yu reheated the food and served it to Wei Qingshan. From next door came the wailing of Qian Laotai, and Lin Yu felt nothing but disgust listening to it.

The next day, the whole village was talking about what had happened. Sang Niang brought Qing-ger out and went door to door with the eggs from her house, thanking each family.

The women and husbands all felt deep sympathy for Sang Niang and refused to accept her gifts. Sang Niang wiped away her tears as she cried, and when she reached Lian-ger’s house, Lian-ger also didn’t accept her eggs. Watching the backs of Sang Niang and Qing-ger as they walked away, Lian-ger sighed.

He and Shunzi had been married for so long without having a child, and yet Qian Laotai had actually been heartless enough to throw a child up the mountain.

Sang Niang brought Qing-ger to express their thanks. When they returned home, Qian Laotai was lying on the bed groaning, “Sang Niang, Sang Niang, bring me some water, bring me some water.”

Sang Niang ignored her and rummaged through the chests and boxes in the room where she slept. “Where did you hide all the family’s silver? Give it to me. That was all earned from the hard work I did weaving cloth.”

“Nonsense, what do you mean by your silver? That’s clearly my silver! Get out, get out!” Qian Laotai grabbed whatever was near and threw it at Sang Niang. Even now, she still only thought about not giving up the silver.

Sang Niang hardened her heart. This old woman was truly vicious—she had actually tried to kill her Qing-ger. And all the silver at home had been saved from her painstaking cloth weaving. The family only had two mu of dry farmland, and the grain from the fields was just enough to feed them; how could they have saved any silver otherwise?

The silver in Qian Laotai’s hands was all the money Sang Niang had painstakingly earned over the years through weaving, and it had all been taken by this old woman.

Sang Niang no longer paid her any mind. “If you won’t give it, fine. Then don’t eat or drink anything.”

Sang Niang shut the door and came out. She brought Qing-ger to the place where the two of them lived. After Qian Gui’er died, she had cleaned up the room where the loom was and lived there with Qing-ger, not coming out anymore.

Qing-ger was still young and didn’t understand what had happened at home. He only knew that no one was hitting him anymore, and his mother would buy meat for him now.

“Qing-ger, be good. Mother, mother…” Sang Niang didn’t know how to explain all of this to the child. She let out a sigh. “Qing-ger, ah.”

She was afraid that Qing-ger would be negatively influenced by her. Her Qing-ger was still young and couldn’t be led astray like this. “Qing-ger, be good. When you’re older, your mother will let you go to school.”

Sang Niang had originally planned to go to Wei Qingshan’s house early this morning to express her gratitude. But when she brought Qing-ger over, the courtyard door next door was already closed. The two of them must have gone out for something.

Wei Qingshan and Lin Yu had gone out early, pushing a cart and heading toward Zhujia village. There was a pig farm there, and Wei Qingshan wanted to buy some piglets from Old Zhu’s family in the village.

The two of them asked for directions and arrived at Old Zhu’s house. As soon as he heard they were there to buy piglets, Old Zhu led them to the pigpen. “There are still two litters now, already over a month old. Look, the boars have already been separated. Just tell me which ones you want and I’ll catch them for you.”

Lin Yu leaned over the pigpen, watching the piglets drink milk. They were chubby and white, and Lin Yu really liked them. His family was about to have piglets!

Wei Qingshan picked out eight, six boars, and two sows. Once the sows were grown by next year, he wouldn’t have to buy piglets again.

Old Zhu grabbed the piglets and stuffed them into burlap sacks. The eight piglets cost four taels of silver. Lin Yu hadn’t expected one piglet to be so expensive.

But when the two sacks of piglets were placed on the cart, Lin Yu was still very happy. The piglets inside the burlap sacks snorted and squirmed around.

On the way back, Lin Yu urged Wei Qingshan to hurry, afraid the piglets would suffocate inside the sacks.

As soon as they got home, Lin Yu quickly dumped the piglets into the pigpen. The eight piglets were a little frightened, snorting and hiding in the corner of the pig shed. Lin Yu was worried they would be cold at night and specially laid straw in the pigpen. Looking at the little pigs huddled together, Lin Yu’s face was full of joy.

“I’ll go make something for the piglets to eat.” Lin Yu hurried to the kitchen to make pig feed. When they were at Old Zhu’s house, he had already explained to Lin Yu how to take care of the piglets.

The piglets had just arrived, so it was their first day. Lin Yu lit a fire and stirred some wheat flour into a porridge. They needed to eat better these first two days, and later they could be fed bran and cornmeal and such.

Lin Yu thought of Chun-ger’s family, who made tofu, so they must have tofu dregs. “Qingshan, Qingshan, can we feed some tofu dregs to the piglets?”

Wei Qingshan nodded. “My little husband is really clever. I’ll go with the bucket and ask right now.”

Wei Qingshan carried two wooden buckets and left. These first two days, the piglets could eat flour porridge, but what about afterward? He was afraid something might go wrong if they weren’t cared for well. Feeding them tofu dregs would be good and raise them a little better.

Wei Qingshan went to Wang Er’s house to ask about tofu dregs. Lin Yu watched a group of piglets scrambling to eat. He stood outside the pigpen watching with great interest.

When Wang Er heard that Wei Qingshan had come to buy tofu dregs, he didn’t say a word and filled the buckets for him. “It’s stuff we don’t want anyway, just take it.”

Wei Qingshan insisted on paying, saying that if he didn’t, he wouldn’t come get any in the future. So Wang Er took two copper coins per bucket.

Chun-ger also came out with his belly showing. “Qingshan, is Yu-ger free these days? I’ve been saying I want Yu-ger to help make a tiger-head cap. I just got some time to go to town and bought some fabric. Help me take it to Yu-ger, will you?”

“Sure.”

Wei Qingshan also remembered this. Chun-ger had mentioned long ago that he wanted Lin Yu to help embroider some things. He put the basket in the crook of his arm and carried the two buckets of tofu dregs home.

When Wei Qingshan got back, he told Lin Yu about it. Lin Yu took the basket, and inside were some fabrics already made into little bellybands, and a piece of blue cloth that was probably meant for a swaddling wrap. The red cloth was to be made into a tiger-head cap.

Lin Yu really liked the small items. How could the little bellyband be so small? It just so happened that he hadn’t taken on any big embroidery work lately—he had just been embroidering handkerchiefs, so he had time to make the tiger-head cap and other things for Chun-ger’s child. Lin Yu’s handkerchiefs sold very well in the village. Almost every household had one, and they were hung on the bedroom wall. People said that looking at them more often would help them conceive sooner. Lin Yu didn’t believe in that, just felt that people did it for peace of mind.

Lin Yu and Wei Qingshan took care of the piglets at home, feeding them three times a day, afraid they’d go hungry. After a few days of care, the piglets had all adapted and now ran around happily in the pigpen every day.

Wei Qingshan also began preparing to buy pigs and sell pork. He couldn’t go into the deep forest often anymore, so he planned to start working as a butcher. Although it didn’t earn as much as hunting in the mountains, at least the family could eat meat at every meal.

Lin Yu packed some silver for Wei Qingshan. “Go early and come back early.”

This boar could probably be sold for six or seven, or even eight taels of silver. The small silver taels in the money box were getting fewer and fewer. They still had to buy land next year, so they had to save up quickly.

Lin Yu happily started embroidering a bellyband for Chun-ger’s baby. Things in the house were increasing bit by bit. Just from selling his handkerchiefs, he had already earned four or five taels of silver.

While Lin Yu was embroidering in the courtyard, Sang Niang went next door to Qian Laotai’s room to ask where the family’s silver had been hidden. Qian Laotai hadn’t eaten in two days and was lying in bed groaning. “It’s… It’s in the box under the bed.”

Sang Niang lay on the floor to look for it. There was nothing on the floor. She thought the old hag was lying again. But when she looked up, she saw it was stuck on the bedboard. Sang Niang quickly took down the wooden box.

She opened it and saw that there were ten taels of silver inside. This was all the money she had painstakingly saved from weaving cloth. Sang Niang looked at the silver and felt like crying. She had already made plans for Qing-ger. With this silver, she could send Qing-ger to learn embroidery. Then, when he was a bit older, she would find someone to teach him to read and let him study for a couple of years.

She had this idea a long time ago. She felt that weaving cloth was too tiring, it would be better to send Qing-ger to learn embroidery with Lin Yu. That way, he could have a skill to support himself in the future.

Qian Laotai was still calling out, “Give me a sip of water, give me a sip of water.”

Sang Niang took the silver and left. After a while, she came back with some water. “Drink it.”

She didn’t plan to do anything to Qian Laotai. After all, Qing-ger was still here. She was afraid of setting a bad example for Qing-ger. As long as Qian Laotai didn’t make trouble, she would take care of her.