Chapter 14

Yao Shangqing was turning over the ground in the yard at home. It was spring, and getting the vegetable seed in meant there would be vegetables later on.

Yuanyuan lay in a little cradle in the yard. Chen Shaoyuan hadn't gone out to play. He was at home minding her.

Chen Shao'er and Chen Shaozhi were out.

Old Mrs. Chen was still in a good mood when she got home. She washed her hands first, then went into the yard and played with Yuanyuan a while.

"Right, leave that now. Where are your sisters-in-law?" She had been watching a while, and work was over, and there was no sign of either of them.

"The eldest's wife will be out visiting. The second's wife isn't back from work yet." Yao Shangqing put her tools down. "Ma, what are we making tonight?"

Old Mrs. Chen went to look in the pens. "Our birds are busy things. They've laid well all winter." She gathered up the day's hen and duck eggs. "I'll steam eggs for the little ones later."

Yao Shangqing said yes.

Zhao Qinhua came back with Chen Chengzhuang.

He was nearly one and not walking yet, but he had been well fed and was plump with it compared with some of the village children. She was into the yard and smelled the kitchen at once, and carried him to the kitchen door. "Steamed eggs again today, sister-in-law?"

Yao Shangqing smiled and nodded.

Zhao Qinhua pulled a face, turned round with her son and went off. She had something to take up with her mother-in-law.

Old Mrs. Chen was in the main room with Yuanyuan. The child really did get lovelier. Fair and soft, prettier than the little attendant beside the bodhisattva in the picture on the wall.

The little attendant on the wall shook his head hurriedly. No, no, don't compare me.

"Ma, there's something I want to tell you." Zhao Qinhua came in and sat down opposite her, putting her son on her lap.

Old Mrs. Chen was in reasonable spirits. "Go on. What is it?"

Zhao Qinhua hadn't noticed the baby in the cradle until her eye went over. "How did this child get to look like that?"

That was not a pleasant thing to hear. "Speak properly or keep your mouth shut."

Zhao Qinhua looked at the baby in the cradle, then at her own son, and her feelings were mixed. It didn't stop her saying her piece.

"Ma, people in the village say this child is Yu Lili's. That baby of theirs before New Year, the birth never went wrong at all. They threw her out."

Old Mrs. Chen frowned and slapped her own thigh. "Does this child look anything like those three of theirs? Talking nonsense from morning to night. Can't you use your head instead of repeating whatever you hear?"

Zhao Qinhua had no answer. She knew the child looked nothing like them, but everyone was saying it. She looked at her mother-in-law's face and didn't dare go on.

The Chens came home one after another, all but Chen Yougong. With the county job he ate there and stayed there. Meals were provided, and that saved the household a good deal.

After supper old Mrs. Chen got the cloth out of her chest. Three of them needed school bags for the autumn term, and all three had to be done. She measured against them to see how much more cloth she needed, so she could put some by in good time.

At the Zhaos' there was uproar the moment Wang Fen got home. She washed her face first and still thought she could smell it.

Zhao Wanwan had spent the afternoon in the house.

"You wretched girl. So you're back." Wang Fen was already hunting round the yard for a switch.

Zhao Wanwan put a hand over the thing in her pocket. She was still a child, she reminded herself. She needed a grown-up to go with her.

"Granny, wait. I went up the hill for those straw mushrooms. I found one. They say it's worth a lot."

Wang Fen half believed her and lowered the switch.

"Is that the truth?" She stared at her.

Zhao Wanwan took it out of her pocket and handed it over.

Wang Fen turned it over for a long time and couldn't make anything of it.

"How did you know about this? Who told you?"

Zhao Wanwan had her reason ready.

"I heard it by chance when I went with Dad to sell the chicken." She nodded hard at her own story.

Wang Fen called Zhao Fangsong out and went over it quickly. "Take this to the county tomorrow and sell it."

Zhao Fangsong still had the fright of the last time in him. "Ma, must I? If I'm caught, that's the end of us."

Wang Fen was worried as well. She was a poor peasant and wanted nothing to do with bad elements. But she wanted to try it. The money and the coupons from the chicken had been real enough.

"Go. If it comes to a decent sum, your wife's lying-in month, can't she have eggs then?"

Zhao Wanwan didn't want it done that way. "Granny, I want to go too. I found the buyer last time as well. Nobody notices a child."

Wang Fen thought about it, and nodded.

That evening, with money coming tomorrow, Wang Fen didn't pinch. She fried an egg. Not much of one, but it counted as a dish.

Zhao Wanwan had a small portion and the rest went to Yu Lili.

Zhao Qingqing swallowed and took a long drink of her wild-greens gruel. She glanced at Zhao Wanwan and in the end said nothing.

Zhao Lanlan was little. "I want some too, I want some too." She used to be close to Zhao Wanwan, but these last months it had been Zhao Qingqing who looked after her, and she was closer to her now.

"Some what? A girl, wanting to eat. Why don't you eat me and be done." Wang Fen banged her chopsticks down on the bowl.

Zhao Wanwan didn't hear a word of it. She finished her egg and then got through the thicker part of her own gruel.

Early the next morning Wang Fen warmed two flatbreads.

"Eat one." She handed the other to Zhao Wanwan. She was counting on the girl to do the work, after all. She knew well enough what her own son was like.

Zhao Fangsong and Zhao Wanwan set off for the county and got there near midday.

Zhao Wanwan remembered what the book said and found the place where Chen Xiaoyu sold things without any trouble.

Zhao Fangsong was in a dreadful state of nerves. He hadn't wanted to come at all.

"Give it to me, Dad. I'll sell it. Wait here." She knew the thing was worth a good deal, and she could keep some back.

Nothing could have suited him better. He handed it over at once.

"Be careful. Don't let anyone catch you."

Zhao Wanwan wasn't troubled in the least. She was the heroine. Nothing could go wrong. The luck would be with her.

Full of confidence, she carried it into an alley. This was the place, she was sure of it. Chen Xiaoyu had come across it by chance. The only thing was that the man making the contact wasn't the one the book described.

"Name your price for this." Outwardly she was calm. Inside she was wild with it. This was her first great sum of money, the start of being the heroine, of becoming someone who made her mark on the age.

"Take her." The moment the man had it in his hand, his face changed.