RBI1960 Chapter 12

Life had been hard in recent years, and traditional customs like the “three-day bath” and “full-month celebration” for newborns had gradually faded from memory. At most, families who still cared a bit might invite a few relatives over for a small gathering—but with more people came more mouths to feed, and no household had the extra grain to spare.

Jiang Yiliu was the only grandson in the main branch of the Jiang family. The three-day bath had already been skipped, but Jiang Cheng still wanted to celebrate for his grandson’s first full month. It didn’t need to be anything grand—just a small gathering with close family.

Not long ago, Old Man Jiang had just received a government subsidy, and their household grain stores were enough to scrape by. Plus, the production team was about to distribute food soon. After carefully doing the math, Granny Miao realized they had just enough grain to host the celebration. Besides, relatives wouldn’t come empty-handed—even a few eggs would count as a small gain.

Gu Dongmei’s father had passed away early, and she was raised by her widowed mother, Zhao Hong. She had two older brothers and one older sister. For a widow to raise four children safely, marry off her daughters, and find wives for her sons—only Zhao Hong herself knew the hardships she endured.

When Zhao Hong’s husband died, the kids were still little, and she was still young herself. A few local bullies would come around looking for trouble. Not only did her in-laws not help her, they even tried to kick her out to seize the house her husband had left behind. Zhao Hong held her ground through it all and developed a tough, sharp-tongued personality.

Of her four children, Zhao Hong loved her youngest daughter, Gu Dongmei, the most. The girl was born without a father and had never had an easy day in her life. Zhao Hong tried to do everything for her, which ended up making Dongmei too soft-hearted. By the time Zhao Hong realized her daughter needed more spine, it was already too late.

When Zhao Hong heard that her daughter had finally given birth to a son, she was overjoyed. That old hag from the Jiang family had always looked down on Dongmei for not bearing a boy—well, now she had no more excuses.

In the countryside, not having a son really was a big deal. Zhao Hong had always wanted to stand up for her daughter, but without a grandson, she didn’t have the confidence. As soon as the news reached their village, Daqian Village, she wanted to visit. But at the time, she was busy earning work points, and the village was far from Qingshan—just going there and back would take a whole day.

Qingshan Village wasn’t easy to get to. It was practically cut off from the rest of the world. To reach it, one had to go through a narrow, muddy mountain path. Even tractors had trouble making it in. Only seasoned drivers could navigate a donkey cart in and out. If all else failed, walking was an option—but it would take an hour or two.

Ironically, this geographical isolation meant Qingshan was spared from much of the chaos during the recent political unrest. The Red Guards didn’t want to suffer climbing into such a remote place to stir up trouble.

Luckily, Zhao Hong caught a ride with Qingshan’s village leader, Mo Dashuan, who had just returned from a county meeting. If not for him, she and her second son, Gu Xiashi, would’ve had a tough time lugging all their bags into the village.

As soon as she heard the commotion, Granny Miao came out to greet them. When she saw her in-law and Mo Dashuan walking toward the yard, and spotted the large bundles in their hands, she couldn’t help but beam with joy.

She exchanged a few pleasantries with Zhao Hong and greeted Mo Dashuan, “Captain Mo, why don’t you stay for lunch?”

This was the custom in the countryside—whenever something joyful happened, you invited the village captain or secretary for a meal.

Mo Dashuan waved it off. “Thanks, but my wife already has lunch ready. Another time, I’ll have a few drinks with Uncle Jiang.” He politely excused himself and left after dropping them off.

Granny Miao didn’t insist. She pulled Zhao Hong into the house.

“Shi Tou still hasn’t found a girl, has he?” she asked, referring to Gu Xiashi, Zhao Hong’s second son, who had come with her. Everyone called him “Shi Tou” (Stone).

Zhao Hong rolled her eyes. “With his lazy, good-for-nothing ways, what decent girl would marry him?”

Despite her harsh words, Zhao Hong worried the most about her son and her youngest daughter. But now that Dongmei had given birth to a son, she could finally rest a little easier.

Gu Xiashi had a clever look about him, though he wasn’t very tall—about five feet seven. He was skinny, but in that era, few people had any meat on their bones. He scratched his nose awkwardly, a little embarrassed at being scolded in front of others.

“Here, in-law, I brought our food rations for today. And these eggs and salted fish—they’re all for Dongmei to help her recover,” Zhao Hong said, opening her bundle and taking out the items.

The fish she brought were sea fish. Since they didn’t live near the coast, the only way to get fish was from the river, but after the famine years, the rivers had been fished clean. Only recently had a few fish reappeared, and they were still hard to catch.

Jiang Dahai had wanted to catch a fish to make soup for his wife, but all he got were a few finger-sized baby fish. Not even enough to taste—when added to the soup, they didn’t even bring a hint of fishy flavor.

“These were sent by Dongmei’s third sister,” Zhao Hong explained. Gu Dongmei’s third sister, Gu Qiuju, had married far away and usually only kept in touch through letters. After hearing that her younger sister had given birth, she specially sent over these goods—besides the salted fish and dried fish, there were also a few sheets of seaweed. Just tear off a piece, soak it in soup, sprinkle some scallions—unbelievably tasty.

Zhao Hong hadn’t told anyone about these gifts. She was afraid her eldest daughter-in-law would hoard them, so she simply brought only her younger son with her and slipped out early before anyone else in the house was awake.

Her eldest daughter-in-law was probably still smirking, thinking she’d saved herself from giving a gift.

“In-law, you’re too kind! I’ll cook one of these fish right now. Dongmei and the baby are in the room. Go on in with Shi Tou,” Granny Miao said, grinning from ear to ear as she carried the items into the kitchen.

Jiang Yiliu had already heard his grandma and uncle’s voices. He stared eagerly at the grass curtain at the door, waiting for them to come in.

Besides his little aunt, the only close elders he had here were the two of them.

The Gu family’s situation was far worse than the Jiangs. After all, Zhao Hong was just one woman. No matter how capable, she could only do so much. When her eldest son Gu Chunhui got married, it was only because the house left behind by Old Gu was big enough—otherwise ,no one would’ve wanted to marry into such a poor family.

The Gu family never split up. Zhao Hong lived with her eldest son’s family and her unmarried second son. It worked for a while, but over time, tensions rose.

Her eldest daughter-in-law had only given birth to one son, but she was already scheming to take over the family house. She kept finding fault with Gu Xiashi, trying to drive him out.

Gu Chunhui was a coward who feared his wife. He always played dumb while his wife ran roughshod over the household. If not for Zhao Hong’s strong will, her daughter-in-law would have turned the place upside down long ago.

Zhao Hong had worried over her children all her life, and even in old age, she had to endure her daughter-in-law’s attitude. When Jiang Yiliu was fourteen, she got into an argument with her eldest aunt and was shoved by Niu Fang. She hit her head and became paralyzed—such a strong woman, now bedridden and incontinent.

Gu Chunhui, the fool, even begged his mother to forgive the woman who crippled her—just for the sake of his son’s future. That was the final straw. Zhao Hong had the family thrown out. The house deed was in her name, and in that moment, she saw everything.

No matter how much Niu Fang screamed, when Zhao Hong reached for the phone to call the police, she fled in disgrace.

Luckily, her second son was filial and didn’t mind taking care of his disabled mother. But Zhao Hong herself couldn’t let go. She thought that as long as she was alive, he’d never be able to marry. One day, while no one was watching, she drank pesticide and died. By the time Gu Xiashi got home, her body was already cold.

After Zhao Hong’s death, Niu Fang even came back with people to cause a scene, saying the house should be partly hers. Gu Xiashi gathered some tough guys and drove her out. He nearly strangled her in the process.

From that day on, the younger siblings cut ties with the eldest brother’s family. Gu Xiashi never married, living in the old house alone. Aside from looking after a few nieces, he went nowhere.

Jiang Yiliu knew her second uncle wasn’t an ordinary man. In her past life, the reason she was able to go abroad, besides her little aunt’s help, was thanks to the box of antiques Gu Xiashi had left behind.

No one expected him to have the guts to hide so many “counter-revolutionary” relics during the chaos of those years.

In her new life, Jiang Yiliu swore never to let the tragedies of the past repeat. Good people deserve a happy ending. As for those who did wrong, if they dared to do it again, they should suffer the consequences.

“Grandma!” she called out.

That day, Big Sis and Second Sis didn’t take the younger girls out. They stayed home to keep their baby brother company. The third girl lit up when she saw Grandma—whenever she came, there were always goodies to be had.

“My little sweet tooth!” Zhao Hong laughed, scooping up her granddaughter. From her sleeve, she pulled out a carefully wrapped handkerchief. Inside were several colorful candies, looking like little marbles.

The third girl clapped with joy. Kids loved sweets, and candy was so rare back then. Even white sugar from the supply store was precious, let alone fancy fruit candies like these.

She picked the smallest one, carefully bit off a piece, and popped it into her mouth. Her eyes squinted with delight. Then she held out the rest to Grandma.

“Grandma’s teeth are nearly gone—I can’t eat sweets anymore.” Zhao Hong smiled, turning her head away. She wasn’t even fifty yet, and her teeth were still fine—she just didn’t want to waste any.

Gu Dongmei and Gu Xiashi also laughed and politely declined. The third girl tilted her head and placed the rest of the candy into the enamel cup on the table.

“Big Sis says Fourth Sis is still little and can’t eat hard stuff. I’ll melt it in hot water so she can have some too,” she said solemnly.

Fourth Sis cooperated with a loud “Ah!” of approval.

The rest of the candies were carefully hidden away by the third girl to share with her older sisters when they returned.

It was just a handful of cheap hard candies, but Jiang Yiliu felt a pang in her heart. She thought of all the sweets stored in her dimensional space and wondered when she’d find the right time to take them out.