When her younger brother had an accident, Zhao Pandi also grew anxious. She quickly told the children to go eat dinner at their grandparents’ house, informed her husband, and prepared to head into town.
Her husband, upon hearing his little brother-in-law was in trouble, wheeled out the bicycle and said to Zhao Pandi, “Get on, I’ll take you!”
Zhao Pandi didn’t stand on ceremony. She hopped onto the back seat, and the two of them sped off toward the town.
Things were much the same for the households of Fourth Sister Zhao and Fifth Sister Zhao.
On the road, Fifth Sister Zhao complained indignantly to her husband, Liu Shengyi, “Didn’t she go to take care of our brother’s wife during her confinement month? How could he have just fallen like that? He wasn’t out messing around at some dance hall again, was he? Did he fall at the roller skating rink?”
One had to admit, nobody knew her own brother better than a sister.
As she spoke, she fiercely pinched the soft spot on Liu Shengyi’s waist and warned him, “Let me tell you, us going to the neighboring city to help is us going to help. If you dare learn from Zongbao and go running off to dance halls or roller rinks, don’t even think about having an easy life!”
Fifth Sister Zhao and Liu Shengyi had a love marriage. Liu Shengyi fell for her at first sight and wouldn’t marry anyone else. He had a soft personality and simply adored her fiery temper. He quickly smiled and begged for mercy, “Ow, ow, go easy! I’m riding a bike here. Do you want me to drive us into a ditch? If I fall, it’s nothing, but if you fall, won’t you beat me to death!”
Only then did Fifth Sister Zhao huff twice in satisfaction, “As long as you know it!”
The phone call at Fourth Sister Zhao’s house was answered by her man.
The man she married was a bamboo weaver. He was either in the mountains cutting bamboo or at home weaving baskets, sieves, and other bamboo products. The house was constantly strewn with bamboo strips and shavings. When the call came, he was by the roadside near the Brigade Headquarters, cutting this year’s new bamboo. After hanging up, he lugged a large bundle of thin bamboo and tossed it into the large pond outside the house to soak. He said to Fourth Sister Zhao, “Youdi, your old man called. Said the little brother-in-law took a fall outside. Your mother is taking care of the sister-in-law and your older nephew all alone. She’s telling you to go to the neighboring city and check on them.”
Fourth Sister Zhao was somewhat timid, a woman of few words and little initiative. She was sitting on a low stool, her hands rapidly weaving bamboo strips. She looked up, a little lost, and asked her husband, “Should I go then?”
He took off his dirty, dark gray, tattered coat and wiped his face and neck with a towel. “Go? How could you not go?”
If she didn’t, the next time he saw his father-in-law and brother-in-law, they’d curse him to death!
Sometimes their family’s bamboo baskets and sieves were even sold on consignment at his in-laws’ shop, so she definitely had to go.
He told Fourth Sister Zhao, “Go change your clothes. You might not make it back tonight, so pack a couple of changes. I’ll take you there and drop off those bamboo baskets I’ve been weaving these past few days on the way.”
Fourth Sister Zhao always listened to her husband. She took off her apron—which she wore over her clothes and was covered in bamboo fibers and dust—went inside, slipped on a plaid jacket, grabbed two changes of clothes, and went outside. She sat on the metal toolbox beside the tractor’s cab. The four-wheeled mini-tractor sputtered and belched black smoke, rumbling all the way to Water Wharf Town.
Of the sisters, Eldest Sister Zhao had married best and lived closest to Water Wharf Town, so she arrived first.
As soon as she was at the Zhao house, she dug out the sunflower seeds, peanuts, and pecans her mother had hidden in Father and Mother Zhao’s room. She stuffed a few handfuls into her husband’s coat pocket while sitting at the table, eating and asking Father Zhao, “How did he fall anyway? What part did he hurt?”
“How should I know what part he hurt? Your mother can’t explain anything clearly!” Mother Zhao’s parents had long since passed away, and she had no brothers from her own family to rely on. Her only support was her husband’s family, so she had been submissive to them since her youth.
Eldest Sister Zhao cracked sunflower seeds between her teeth. “You at least know the general area, right? Just telling us to go there without any clear information, where are all of us supposed to stay? We can’t all just sleep in the car tonight, can we?”
Eldest Brother-in-law Zhao’s father was the Commune Director, so the family had a bit of money. Seeing that his eldest son was an idler, his father had bought him a tricycle to operate, having him ferry people around Water Wharf Town, which at least earned some income.
The tricycle was covered with a tarp canopy and had two doors made of oilcloth. If a few grown men squeezed in, four of them could sleep there.
Hearing his daughter’s words, Father Zhao knew she was angling for money from him.
Of all his sons-in-law, he valued the eldest the most. After all, whose father was the Brigade Director and whose family was the wealthiest?
He took out thirty yuan and gave it to Eldest Sister Zhao. “Here, happy now?”
Running with her husband these past few years had made Eldest Sister Zhao spend freely. She waved the thirty yuan in her hand. “What can this little money do? Do you think the neighboring city is our little town? A guesthouse there costs more than thirty yuan a night!”
Father Zhao scolded her, “Are their guesthouses made of gold? Like I’ve never been to the neighboring city! Your old man has crossed more bridges than you’ve walked roads!”
“Doesn’t Shenglong driving cost gas money?” Eldest Sister Zhao directly snatched a few more bills from Father Zhao’s hand. Counting sixty or seventy yuan, she was satisfied and tucked it into her pocket.
The money had barely warmed her pocket before her husband took ten yuan, coaxing her, “I’ll buy you some crisp candy tonight!”
Sweetly mollified, Eldest Sister Zhao gave the money to Eldest Brother-in-law Zhao.
When Third Sister Zhao, Fourth Sister Zhao, and Fifth Sister Zhao all arrived, the sisters piled into Eldest Brother-in-law Zhao’s tricycle and headed to the Sixth Hospital in the neighboring city.
After a round of examinations, Zhao Zongbao finally awoke from his initial coma.
The severe impact to his head and the pain all over his body left him dizzy and with brief amnesia. He didn’t know what had happened. Xu Huiqing had suddenly bumped into him while coming down the stairs, her head smashing into his nose. At that moment, he saw stars from the blinding pain, his vision went black, and on top of pulling all-nighters out playing for several days without much rest, his body was extremely weak. He then flipped backward, tumbling head over heels. His spine and tailbone slammed hard against the stairs, and then he somersaulted down the remaining steps, his head violently hitting the wall. He only felt a sharp pain in his head before losing consciousness. When he woke up, he was in the Traditional Chinese Medicine Surgery Department.
Zhao Zongbao’s first reaction was that Xu Huiqing had done it on purpose. He asked Mother Zhao, “Mom, where’s Huiqing?”
At this moment, Mother Zhao could care less about Xu Huiqing.
“How should I know about her? It’s that wretch who knocked you down and caused this! If anything happens to you, I’ll fight her to the death!” Mother Zhao cursed, wiping away tears.
Zhao Zongbao already had a mild concussion. Mother Zhao’s crying, piercing his ears like a devil’s shriek, made the throbbing pain pulse even worse. He couldn’t help but snap, “Shut up! Can you just stop crying? I’m not dead yet!”
Mother Zhao’s wailing immediately ceased, turning into sniffles.
The one treating his wounds was a young male doctor.
An older male doctor had examined him earlier, set the bones in his arm, and deemed the rest didn’t look serious, so he handed him off.
As he examined Zhao Zongbao’s injuries, the young doctor spoke gently, “Is that how you speak to your mother? When you fell down the stairs, the most worried person was your mother.”
Enduring the pain all over his body, Zhao Zongbao asked the doctor, “Doctor, where’s my wife? She’s still in her confinement period. I heard she fainted, how is she?”
The young Chinese medicine surgeon was very handsome, his clothes impeccably neat. He replied good-naturedly, “I heard from the nurse who brought you in that your wife is being treated over in the Maternity and Child Department. She lost consciousness, right?” As he performed bone-setting on Zhao Zongbao, he said with a faint, mild smile, “But you, you should have supported your wife during her confinement. I heard from the nurse she just had a major hemorrhage and was pulled back from death’s door, then nearly had her life taken by postpartum eclampsia. You didn’t let her stay in the hospital a few more days. Why were you in such a rush to take her home?” He sized up Zhao Zongbao’s attire and said, “Dressed as sharp and presentable as you are, you don’t look like a family that can’t afford the thirty or fifty yuan for a bed fee.”
Because he’d had a rural household registration in his early years, an era where country folk were naturally looked down upon by urbanites, Zhao Zongbao had become extremely obsessed with saving face. After his family got rich, he adorned himself in gold and silver, a gold chain around his neck. He polished the leather shoes on his feet until they gleamed, wore the trendiest floral shirts and bell-bottom pants on the market, and put so much mousse in his hair it could snap a fly’s leg.
Before Zhao Zongbao could speak, Mother Zhao couldn’t help but interject, “She already stayed for half a month, and she needs to stay longer? How much money would that cost? Out of the entire ward, she stayed the longest. Every other new mother went home ages ago. And we still have to hear complaints about this?”
She genuinely felt that no mother-in-law was more generous than her. What family would be willing to pay for a daughter-in-law to stay in the hospital for half a month? And eat half a chicken every day, too! She hadn’t even tasted a single sip of the soup!
Without realizing it, she started talking about the old days again, telling the doctor, “When I was young, I gave birth to six children. Except for when I had this youngest son of mine—that was the only full confinement month I had. Back in our day, who ever had a proper full month of rest?”
The young doctor smiled and nodded. “That’s true, those were hard times, I know. I grew up in that era too, I understand all that.”
Hearing the young doctor agree with her, Mother Zhao’s floodgates opened even wider, spilling out her grievances. “For the entire half-month she was in the hospital, eating half a chicken a day, she never even shared a chicken’s rear with me or my son! A huge bowl of chicken noodle soup, half a chicken, cleaned spotlessly clean every day!”
The young doctor said with a smile, “Half a chicken isn’t much. Many new mothers eat a whole chicken a day, it’s normal. Pregnancy and childbirth drain a woman’s energy. Without replenishing the body, how can she recover? It’s not the old days anymore.”
Hearing this, Mother Zhao’s voice rose in pitch again. “But she can’t completely disregard others, can she? Half a chicken a day, not even a sip of soup went to my son. She ate it all by herself! Whose family’s wife has a mouth this greedy? Back in our day, they would have had their mouths smashed!”
The male doctor remained cheerful. “You wanted to fight your daughter-in-law for her confinement meal? The food for confinement is all made without salt, would you have stomached it?”
Mother Zhao said loudly, “An old hen is delicious, who couldn’t eat it?” She could have polished the bones clean!
The young doctor just kept his genial smile as he treated Zhao Zongbao’s wounds, saying nothing.
It was April. By rights, this season still required a coat. But Zhao Zongbao was young and fiery, and so ostentatious he disliked wearing coats. He always wore a floral shirt. When he fell down the stairs, he had no cushioning at all. His arm directly smashed onto the stairs, breaking it, and he sustained scrapes and bruises on his legs and back.
Although he suspected Xu Huiqing had bumped into him intentionally, he dispelled the suspicion when he learned she had also fainted.
The force of Xu Huiqing’s impact was simply too great. That headbutt to his nose bridge had broken it outright.
But the doctor treating his wounds was still smiling, his movements unhurried. “Isn’t that perfectly normal? When a person faints, can they control which way they fall?” He then turned the topic to Zhao Zongbao. “You’re her husband. If you had supported her when she was coming down the stairs, would she have fallen?”
Beside him, Mother Zhao said resentfully, “If we’d known she had such a broken body, why would we have spent so much on the bride price to marry her?”
Mother Zhao truly felt she had suffered a huge loss!
Back then, they had set their sights on Xu Huiqing for two reasons. First, she was the first female college student from miles around. Second, Mother Xu was fruitful and prolific at bearing children.
She herself had given birth to five daughters in a row, and one in the middle hadn’t survived, so actually six, before she finally conceived her precious treasure, Zhao Zongbao. With the Family Planning Policy being so strict nowadays, she was terrified of ending up with a daughter-in-law who couldn’t bear a son. That’s why she’d rushed to propose to Xu Huiqing with a high bride price, afraid some other family would snatch her up first.
She could indeed bear children. Not long after marrying in, she had a girl, and the second pregnancy was soon followed by a chubby baby boy, ensuring the Zhao family had an heir. But that body of hers was so useless! A major hemorrhage, then postpartum eclampsia, and now she’d fainted!
The young doctor used birch bark splints to immobilize Zhao Zongbao’s calf, wrapping it in bandages. Unbeknownst to them, the smile had faded from his face. “Since you’ve given birth to so many sons and daughters, you should know that a woman’s body is at its weakest after giving birth, and she cannot be subjected to stress. Otherwise, why bother with the confinement month? Right?” He always spoke in a slow, measured way. His tone calm, he said, “I also asked about your wife’s postpartum eclampsia. It wasn’t pathological, but caused by stress after childbirth. You clearly knew she couldn’t handle any stress at this time, yet you kept stressing her out. Now that you’ve made her sick, you’re blaming her?”
His hand suddenly applied force, making Zhao Zongbao cry out in pain.
He then patted the bandaged wound on Zhao Zongbao’s leg. “Oh, all done.”