She still hadn’t checked how much that stack of cash actually contained. Would it be enough to buy a house elsewhere and transfer her household registration? If there was extra, would it be enough to buy a shop unit?
With a shop, she could take Xiaoxi and do some kind of small business. As long as there was no rent, whatever profit she made—big or small—was still profit. That would allow her more time and energy to be with Xiaoxi.
If she didn’t want to do business later, she could rent the shop out. Since ancient times, nobody ever regretted buying a shop property.
But if she brought Zhao Bei along, she’d be caring for two children. From a rational, realistic perspective, two children would completely tie her down. Xiaoxi could at least be in kindergarten during the day, but Xiaobei would need her constant attention around the clock. A baby that age needed feeding every three or four hours at night, a diaper change each time. She would essentially have no time or energy for anything else.
Even if that stack of cash, best-case scenario, held ten thousand yuan, it wouldn’t last if they lived off their savings. Far more likely, there would be only a few thousand, maybe just one or two thousand.
Truthfully, she didn’t expect that bundle of money to amount to much. If she was broke, she planned to sell the things she had dug up.
Xu Huiqing had a rough idea of what was inside that jar. In her previous life, while bragging at the dinner table, Father Zhao had told her: over twenty Silver Dollars, eleven ancient coins, some gemstones pried from gold and silver jewelry, and three seals.
Whether the three seals had been sold or not, she wasn’t entirely sure. In his old age, Father Zhao loved to brag, his stories inconsistent and self-contradictory. She often let it go in one ear and out the other, ignoring him. Occasionally, when truly exasperated, she would snap at him: “Last time you said you sold two seals. Now you’re saying you gave Zongbao two seals. Exactly how many seals do you have?”
As he aged, Father Zhao depended on Xu Huiqing to care for him at home. Even if he didn’t need her hands-on, with his son gone year-round, grandchildren in school, and a wife as illiterate as they came, he didn’t even know how to take a taxi outside. With Xu Huiqing at home, if something happened to him, she could at least make a phone call for an ambulance. So in his elder years, he maintained a fairly good temper toward Xu Huiqing. Snapped at, he would just chuckle, “It’s been too long, can’t remember clearly!”
Xu Huiqing, furious about his blatant favoritism toward sons and his declaration that the family property wouldn’t have a single cent for Xiaoxi, spat out: “You can’t even remember three seals clearly. What can you remember clearly?”
Old Zhao just laughed good-naturedly, “I’m old! An old man can’t remember, all right!”
But he had shown her several Silver Dollars coins. Not given—just shown, to show off.
As for those gemstones pried from various pieces of gold and silver jewelry… after she had methodically dispatched Old Man Zhao and Old Lady Zhao to the afterlife, those gemstones had fallen into her hands.
Originally, she had planned to leave those gemstones for Xiaoxi… The thought sent another sharp, piercing pang straight through her heart.
Because she hadn’t slept well, dark circles hung heavily under her eyes the next day.
With irrefutable evidence of murder, which Father Zhao himself admitted, his verdict was the swiftest, and his execution followed quickly. Along with him, the Little Red Guards who had fled to the neighboring city and later turned into human traffickers were also given death sentences. Because, on top of the two skeletons in the privy by the city gate, their confessions led investigators to yet another set of remains in the reed marsh by Bamboo River. Over their six or seven years of trafficking, children and women had died at their hands.
After Father Zhao was shot, none of the Zhao sisters dared to retrieve his body. In the end, Third Sister Zhao quietly fetched his ashes. The sisters buried him in the backyard of the Zhao Family Old House, erecting a small grave mound.
In her previous life, this very spot was where Zhao Zongbao later built his dance hall. This was the dance floor.
The Zhao sisters didn’t dare mention they had brought Old Man Zhao’s remains back. After Zhao Zongbao, Mother Zhao, and Second Sister Zhao’s sentences were announced, the sisters went to visit them.
Mother Zhao’s mouth was full of foul curses, vilifying Xu Huiqing and Second Sister Zhao, cursing all her daughters.
Zhao Zongbao’s leg, having had treatment delayed and certainly not properly treated once he was at the County Public Security Bureau, had been simply bandaged—just enough not to die. It still hadn’t healed.
He was completely dejected now, the old arrogance in his eyes festered into dark malignancy. “Where’s Xu Huiqing?” he asked his sisters.
Eldest Sister Zhao, who bore Xu Huiqing the most hostility and deepest hatred among them all, loudly declared: “Her? She ran off!”
A dense, impenetrable gloom filled Zhao Zongbao’s eyes. He seemed momentarily stunned, as if his mind hadn’t caught up. “Ran off where?”
Third Sister Zhao, who was more fair-minded, countered, “Don’t listen to Big Sister’s nonsense. Why would Huiqing run off for no reason? She hasn’t run off.” Pausing, she added, “She did say she wants to divorce you, but she’s still at the house now.” With some confused complaining, she said, “Honestly, your lives were so good. What were you thinking, selling Xiaoxi? Huiqing was a teacher, eating the state’s rice. The family had a shopfront. You all were living the high life!”
Eldest Sister Zhao’s voice got louder the older she got. “It’s all that idiot’s fault! Mom’s too old to look after Xiaoxi and Xu Huiqing. She sent Xiaoxi to Second Sister’s place for a couple of days, and what does that idiot do? Sells her! If she didn’t want to help, she could’ve sent the kid to me. I only have Zelong, and my mother-in-law looks after him. I have nothing but free time—could I not look after Xiaoxi?”
Eldest Sister Zhao’s father-in-law was the brigade director, so their household was under strict family planning. As brigade director, he had to set an example. Thus, his eldest daughter-in-law—Eldest Sister Zhao—had been sterilized right after bearing her first son, and had no more children.
Her mother-in-law treasured the grandson like a precious jewel, afraid of melting him in her mouth or shattering him in her palm. Normally, she wouldn’t even let Eldest Sister Zhao touch the boy.
Fourth Sister Zhao, as usual, was the invisible woman in the family, standing silently behind the others.
Fifth Sister Zhao, driven by her own private agenda, instead tried to console Zhao Zongbao. “If she wants a divorce, let her. Things are what they are now. You can’t live together anyway. You’ll be out in a year. With your talents and those three shopfronts of our family, what kind of woman can’t you marry? There will be plenty of seventeen or eighteen-year-old girls lining up to marry you. As for her, a woman with two kids and no job anymore, who else would want her except some old widower?”
Fifth Sister Zhao thought this would surely convince Zhao Zongbao to agree quickly to the divorce. To her surprise, he remained deathly silent.
Becoming anxious, Fifth Sister Zhao was about to speak again when Eldest Sister Zhao cut in impatiently: “If she wants to leave, let her leave! A cursed star of misfortune! Our family would be so much better off right now if it weren’t for her! And look at this mess—a perfectly good family shattered! Even if she didn’t leave, I’d drive her out!”
Zhao Zongbao suddenly exploded in fury, screaming at Eldest Sister Zhao: “What business is any of this of yours?!” He jabbed an accusatory finger at the Zhao sisters. “If it weren’t for you lot, forever running back to your maiden home to stir up trouble, how could Huiqing possibly have reported us?! You’re the ones who wrecked my family!”
Eldest Sister Zhao flared up instantly. “What do we have to do with it? Did we force her to call the police?!”
Third Sister Zhao and Fourth Sister Zhao also felt deeply wronged. “Don’t you pin this on me! I didn’t do anything! Was I wrong to look after my maiden family?!”
Fifth Sister Zhao was just as indignant. “Blame Mom and Dad! Blame that fool Zhao Daidi! If that moron didn’t have a broken brain, would any of this have happened?!”
They were all thoroughly aggrieved!
In their hearts, they blamed Father and Mother Zhao too, but they dared not say it aloud.
Fifth Sister Zhao cut things short impatiently. “Alright, enough. I’ll take care of Keke. You’re only in for a year, right? You’ll be out in a year!” Pausing, she added, “Here’s what I’m thinking: I’ll bring Keke home and register him under Shengyi’s and my name first. I only have Panpan as the first child, so by policy, I can still register another. When you get out, if you want another kid, you can have one!”
Fifth Sister Zhao’s husband was Liu Shengyi, and her daughter, Liu Panpan. The girl’s name was originally supposed to be Liu Pan’er—Pan’er, roughly meaning “Hope for a Son,” just like the name Zhaodi meant “Beckoning a Brother.”
When Liu Panpan started primary school, the teacher asked her name. In the local dialect, “Pan’er” and “Panpan’er” sounded similar. The enrolling teacher simply wrote her name as “Liu Panpan.”
Zhao Zongbao had no emotional attachment, not just toward his daughter Zhao Xi, but also toward this newborn son he hadn’t even held yet. He waved dismissively. “Whatever.” Then he said, “Tell Xu Huiqing to come see me.”
He was indifferent to his children, but he did not want to part with Xu Huiqing.
From the moment Xu Huiqing first came to town for junior high school, he had set his sights on her. No girl in the whole town was prettier—gentle, refined, and book-smart too.
The moment she graduated junior high, he had sent Father and Mother Zhao to propose.
Seven years ago, when monthly wages were just sixty or seventy yuan, he had offered the Xu family a bride price of one thousand yuan plus the “Three Wheels and One Sound.”
Xu Huiqing never knew about this. She was too young back then. Grandpa Xu insisted she continue schooling, to get into a technical secondary school.
Around here, girls with good grades all went to technical secondary school. Graduating meant guaranteed job assignment!
Father Xu and Mother Xu never mentioned it to Xu Huiqing. They only told the Zhao family that Huiqing was still too young and would keep studying.
Father and Mother Zhao themselves were unwilling to spend that much money on a village girl. During that time, they introduced countless girls from the town and countryside to him, but Zhao Zongbao refused every single one. He actually waited for Xu Huiqing for three full years!
“I don’t agree.” The rage that had blazed in his eyes suddenly receded like the tide, leaving only blank emptiness. “I don’t agree to a divorce.”