When Xu Huiqing awoke, she thought she was back in reality, but the clamor around her told her she was still in a dream—a dream set not long after she’d given birth to her son.
In her real-world experience of this dream, her postpartum recovery had been swift, with no major hemorrhage. But here in the dream, she was weak to the extreme, blood rushing from her body in a torrent. She truly felt she might die from blood loss.
She thought, Maybe dying like this wouldn’t be so bad.
But instantly, she knew she couldn’t die. Even if this was a dream, her daughter in the dream was still waiting for her to find her.
In the real world, it took her nearly four years to locate her daughter. But in this dream, she already knew where her daughter was. She didn’t need that much time. She also knew her daughter hadn’t been abducted and trafficked by a stranger. Her daughter had been sold—collaboratively—by her dear father-in-law, her mother-in-law, and her two older sisters-in-law. And her husband had known, yet kept it from her, all because he wanted a son. He stood by and watched as she exhausted herself, heart and soul, futilely searching for their daughter.
The family who bought her daughter lived in the mountains. She only later learned the truth from Third Sister Zhao. Because she was so devoted to and loved Xiaoxi so much, the Zhao Family wanted her to pour all her energy and time into her son. For just five yuan, they sold Xiaoxi.
Mountain villages were even more entrenched in son preference than the outside world. Normally, no one there would buy a daughter. But that couple had been childless for years and were unwilling to raise a local boy, fearing the birth parents would come back to fight for him when he grew up. Second Sister Zhao got wind of this and persuaded Father Zhao and Mother Zhao to sell Xiaoxi into the mountains, solely to serve as a “Zhaodi”—a daughter to beckon a son.
Yes, that mountain couple didn’t buy Xiaoxi because they actually wanted a daughter, or loved little girls. They bought her purely to attract a younger brother. A fortune-teller had declared they were fated to be sonless and needed to adopt a girl destined for many brothers to summon a son for them. They even changed Xiaoxi’s name to Zhaodi—”Beckon a Brother.”
The reason they chose Xiaoxi was simple: Mother Xu had many sons.
Unlike Mother Zhao, who birthed five daughters before finally getting her precious son, Zhao Zongbao, in her forties, Mother Xu had three sons first, and only then gave birth to her single daughter, Xu Huiqing.
Otherwise, how could a country girl like Xu Huiqing ever have had the chance to attend university?
She was the first college student in her village, and the village’s first female college student!
When Mother Zhao paid a high bride price to secure her as a daughter-in-law, besides valuing her status as a college graduate, the most important reason was Mother Xu’s many sons. This, they assumed, meant Xu Huiqing would be just as fertile and easy to deliver a son.
As expected, Xu Huiqing became pregnant soon after marriage, had a daughter, and the second pregnancy turned out to be a son without even needing an ultrasound.
When that mountain couple heard the girl’s mother had indeed birthed a son for her second child, they were overjoyed and paid the money without hesitation.
She later learned that when Xiaoxi was first bought back, the couple treated her reasonably well. Xiaoxi was too young to do much. But once the wife finally got pregnant, Xiaoxi became the couple’s purchased servant and punching bag, subjected to beatings and scoldings at their whim.
Every time Xu Huiqing thought of the suffering Xiaoxi endured in those years, she felt as if her heart was being sliced by a knife. Her hatred was so potent she wanted to kill, and her chest ached so fiercely she could barely breathe.
After buying the plain congee for Xu Huiqing, Mother Zhao only grew angrier the more she thought about it!
The hospital cafeteria used blue-rimmed ceramic bowls that had no lids. Staring at the white congee in her hands, she spitefully spat a loud “Ptui! Ptui!” into it, sending gobs of her saliva into the congee. Only then did she feel some satisfaction, and she carried the bowl upstairs.
Upon reaching the maternity ward, she sauntered in with a cocky, slant-eyed look, placed the congee on a table inside, and raised her voice: “Don’t you go saying I, your mother-in-law, am mistreating you! You just gave birth, so you can’t handle greasy food yet. The kitchen only had congee left. Have a few mouthfuls to fill your belly, and once we’re home, I’ll slaughter a chicken and make you some fish!”
She deliberately raised her volume, emphasizing the words “slaughter a chicken and make fish.”
This was a water town; fish was an indispensable dish on every family’s table.
To further display what a good mother-in-law she was, she even carried the congee from the long table over to Xu Huiqing. Scooping up a spoonful of the white congee, she lifted it toward Xu Huiqing’s mouth, ready to feed her.
The others in the ward did change their opinion of her somewhat at this gesture, thinking the mother-in-law wasn’t so harsh after all.
Even Zhao Zongbao thought his mother was an honest, timid soul. Though she loved to wail and cry, her treatment of his wife was beyond reproach.
What they didn’t know was that this was the city’s Women and Children’s Hospital. Nearly all the patients were new mothers and infants. For ease of treatment, the obstetrics department was separated from the other pediatric units. All the rooms in this row on the second floor housed postpartum mothers, newborns, and the family members caring for them.
Just as Mother Zhao held the spoonful of congee to Xu Huiqing’s lips, a woman carrying an aluminum lunch box passed by the room. Catching sight of Mother Zhao, she froze, then immediately rushed in, crying, “Hey! Hey! Hey!” She hurried to Xu Huiqing’s side to warn her: “Stop, stop! Don’t eat that congee! I was just downstairs getting food in the cafeteria and saw this old woman spit in that congee! I saw it, got my food, and chased right after her. Thought she belonged to some other ward, but then I just glanced in and saw her—it’s this old woman!”
She pointed a finger directly at Mother Zhao’s nose.
The neighboring city was a prefecture-level municipality, famous as an industrial center. Most of the women in the city were factory workers. Even those from the hardships of the sixties, seventies, and eighties, the factory workers differed greatly from rural farm women in appearance, skin texture, and overall demeanor, let alone their spirit.
Country folk still preferred giving birth at home, or at a town hospital, or at worst, their own county hospital. They rarely came to city hospitals. In the common perception, the better the hospital, the higher the medical fees.
Thus, the postpartum mothers in the city Women and Children’s Hospital were mostly locals from the city proper or the surrounding suburban areas. Someone from the countryside like Mother Zhao was a rarity.
Her dark, rough face made her instantly recognizable to the woman who’d followed her from the cafeteria. There was no chance of a mistake.
That was why, just as she passed the room and took a glance inside, she recognized Mother Zhao immediately. She rushed in to warn Xu Huiqing, terrified Xu Huiqing would be taken advantage of.
While many shared rooms couldn’t escape mother-in-law and daughter-in-law conflicts, few were so malicious as to spit into the bowl of a woman who had just given birth.
The woman who’d chased after her had been shocked at the sight while getting chicken soup in the cafeteria. Ignoring the scalding aluminum lunch box, she’d padded it with her clothes and rushed straight upstairs.
Not only was the woman who witnessed the act stunned, but the family members in the maternity ward looking after the new mothers and babies were also shocked upon hearing there was spit in the congee. Even mothers-in-law who had their own quarrels with their daughters-in-law could never have imagined such wickedness!
The daughter-in-law had just given them a chubby grandson, was still being treated for a major hemorrhage, had nearly lost her life, and just after waking up, her mother-in-law spat into her congee!
How utterly despicable! How vicious!
Everyone stared at Mother Zhao with expressions of utter disbelief.
Under so many scrutinizing eyes, Mother Zhao’s face flushed crimson. She waved her hands frantically, saying, “I didn’t, I didn’t…” Seeing her denial was failing, she slapped her thigh and burst into howls: “Oh, my mother! Why is my life so bitter! Is this what I get for coming to the hospital to care for my daughter-in-law during her confinement? Who says I spat in her congee? Who knows where this girl dragged this old hag from to frame me? They’re trying to slander me to death!”
In truth, Mother Zhao wasn’t in good health. For one, she was old. In an era where the average lifespan was fifty or sixty, she’d had Zhao Zongbao at forty and was now over sixty, with more than half her hair turned white. Second, she was born in the most impoverished, bitter times. Starved as a child, she never built a good constitution. Growing up, her menstrual cycle was irregular, sometimes not coming for three to five months. Then came the continuous, back-to-back births of daughters without proper postpartum rest.
On the surface, she looked fine, but internally, she had many underlying health issues. She frequently suffered from dizziness, headaches, and blackouts. She was as sickly and frail as the legendary Xizi, surpassing even her. She was so thin her cheeks were sunken, the bones beneath her skin starkly visible.
As she now stretched her voice into long, pitiful wails, she looked exceedingly gaunt, frail, and pitiful.
And from the perspective of her own upbringing, she was indeed a pitiful, wretched soul!
During the years Xu Huiqing was her daughter-in-law, she was often emotionally blackmailed by this very posture. Almost everyone who met her would say things like, “Your poor mother-in-law! Who knows how much she suffered in her youth? She was still working in the fields when she was about to give birth, and had to go herd cattle just three days after the baby came!”
“You must be kinder to your mother-in-law, be filial to her, understand?”
Whenever her sisters-in-law spoke of Mother Zhao, they always talked about how much their mother suffered in her youth, how inhuman their own grandmother was, how she tormented their mother. Every time the subject came up, they would gnash their teeth in hatred for their deceased grandmother.
They were exceptionally filial towards Mother Zhao. Whenever anything happened, even before Mother Zhao could say a word, they would already be charging to the front lines. This wasn’t just something they did after they married, focusing it on her; it was how they had always protected Mother Zhao since childhood.
Mother Zhao wept pathetically, her tears genuine. The moment she thought about the sufferings of her life, the tears streamed down uncontrollably.
But no matter how pitifully she cried, the people in the room hadn’t forgotten what she’d just done.
A woman who was a backbone of the Women’s Federation at the City Machinery Factory stepped forward and said, “Don’t think you’re in the right just because you can cry. Your daughter-in-law just woke up, she hasn’t even said a word yet! All of us here are watching! You say she found someone to frame you? You old lady, being bad is one thing, but to blatantly lie with open eyes? I see it’s not your daughter-in-law framing you, but you, old lady, whose heart has gone bad, wanting to torment your daughter-in-law!”
Another woman, holding a child, came forward and pointed at Mother Zhao: “Look how wicked your heart is! Your daughter-in-law just gave birth, hasn’t had a drop of rice water for two days. Instead of bringing her some soup, you spit in her congee!”
“Exactly! When I saw that plain congee earlier, I wanted to say something but held back. Which family gives a daughter-in-law who just gave birth just plain congee? Aren’t we supposed to be giving them soft-boiled eggs, chicken soup, fish soup? To get the milk flowing, doesn’t she need something with a little fat? Even twenty years ago, during the hardest times, a woman who gave birth still got some egg drop soup to drink!”
“Even if you don’t care about your daughter-in-law, you should think of your grandson! How pitiful is a child whose mother has no milk? Can plain congee produce breast milk?”
Living by the Yangtze River, the local belief was that new mothers should eat plenty of fish and drink fish soup. Most family members in the maternity ward brought crucian carp and tofu soup for the mothers. Fish was plentiful locally and cheap, and tofu cost barely two mao; everyone could afford it.
Even the meanest households wouldn’t skimp on a daughter-in-law’s food during her confinement month, especially after she’d given birth to a son.
Everyone chimed in, one after another, directing their criticism at Mother Zhao. No one noticed Xu Huiqing, lying on the hospital bed, her breathing becoming rapid, her body trembling slightly.
Mother Zhao, who’d been wailing loudly, found she could no longer cry. She simply covered her face, sobbing and shedding tears, looking utterly pitiful. Sure enough, other mothers-in-law present, seeing her pathetic state, felt a sense of empathy and sympathy. One said, “Ah, say a little less, all of you. Every family has its own difficulties. Who can truly say what goes on in someone else’s home? I think this poor older sister is a pitiful person too.”
“Exactly. Perhaps that lady was mistaken? This congee looks fine to me; where’s the spit?”
“Who doesn’t spray a little spit when they talk? Just speaking like we are now, some saliva gets in the congee. Spit isn’t poisonous. If someone really had a vicious heart, they’d put in rat poison!”
One person even went to persuade Xu Huiqing, who lay on the bed with her eyes closed, trembling all over, barely able to breathe: “Your mother-in-law has had it hard too, don’t you be too…”
At that moment, the City Machinery Factory Women’s Director, whose attention had now shifted to Xu Huiqing, suddenly noticed something was wrong. Pulling back Xu Huiqing’s thin blanket, she immediately cried out in alarm: “Heavens above! Go get a doctor, quickly! She… she looks like she’s having a seizure! Has that mother-in-law of hers angered her into this state? Go get a doctor now!”