Chapter 2

Chen Yougong didn't answer his eldest at all. He carried the baby straight into his own room.

He was the third son. There were two brothers above him. The eldest's family had the east room, the second's the west, and he had the north one. His mother slept in the inner part of the main room. The household looked big, but there weren't many real workers in it. Only the three brothers could earn full work points. The old people held that splitting a household split its luck, so for all the daily scraping, they had never split.

"Wife. Look what I've brought home." Chen Yougong had two years of school as a boy and a quick head on him. Before all the trouble he had been a carpenter and could put together a bit of furniture. That wasn't encouraged now, so he took small jobs instead, nothing that needed coupons, and earned an egg here and there for the children.

Yao Shangqing heard her husband come in and hurried out. He had been gone a long while and she had started to worry.

"What is it?"

He came over with the baby and pulled the cloth back, grinning at her like a fool. "Look. I picked her up at the side of the road."

Yao Shangqing's eyes went wide. She put a hand over her mouth. "You, you're not joking? Whose is she?"

Chen Shaoyuan had been at his father's heels the whole time. He wasn't tall enough to see, and the kerosene lamp wasn't bright. "Dad, Dad, let me see what it is."

Chen Yougong waved him off. "What are you shouting for? Get into bed. Both your brothers are asleep and you're still milling about. Did you have too much supper?"

Chen Shaoyuan pulled a face. His dad was the one who called him out to open the gate. Fine, he wouldn't look. Nothing so wonderful about it. He gave a huff and took himself back to the inner room. The three boys shared one bed.

Two sentences and Chen Yougong had got rid of his son.

Yao Shangqing took the baby carefully. She looked newborn. The little padded quilt around her was in rags and the wadding inside had gone stiff. Yao Shangqing had three children of her own and couldn't stand to see a child suffer.

"Quick, get one of the small quilts out of the big chest and we'll change her. It's freezing out there. Who leaves a baby in the road?"

Chen Yougong opened the chest and pulled out several. "Which one?"

She pointed at the old one on the left. Old cloth was softer, better for a baby.

He brought it over.

She changed the baby into it, slow and careful.

"It's a girl. I thought so. Nothing like those grubby boys when they were born. Look how fair and soft she is."

With the quilt changed, Yao Shangqing looked down and found that the baby seemed to smile up at her. Nothing could have been sweeter. Her heart went soft all at once, and she turned to her husband.

"Somebody didn't want her. I want to keep her." There was hope in her voice.

Chen Yougong saw that his wife wanted the child, which was exactly what he wanted himself. They weren't married for nothing. "Same as me. We've only got the three boys, and your health took a knock. I've been wanting a daughter. Girls stay close to you. She'll be the one who keeps us warm when we're old."

Part of why Yao Shangqing had taken to Chen Yougong in the first place was this. She had grown up in the capital, her parents both professors, and she had the best schooling there was. If things hadn't gone the way they did she would never have crossed paths with a man like him. He had little learning, but he was good, and not narrow or stuffy. He was quick, he was dutiful to his mother, and he was kind to her. If she married him at first to get her parents looked after, she had learned by living with him how good he was. A hard life was all right as long as her heart wasn't bitter. She wanted the years to pass quietly.

"But how are we going to tell your mother?"

That was the difficulty. His father had died when he was small and his mother had brought the three of them up on her own. Because of his wife's background she had never warmed to her.

"Don't worry. Leave it with me. I'll talk to her tomorrow."

Yao Shangqing held his hand tight. "You've had a lot to carry."

Chen Yougong's dark face went red, not that anyone could tell. "It's nothing. I'm the one who's sorry. I haven't given you a good life."

She shook her head.

"You name her, then. Once she's got a name from this house she belongs to it, and nobody can take her." Chen Yougong looked down at the little girl in his wife's arms.

She had named all three of her sons. This was the first time she had named a girl. She looked at the round little face. "There's an old line about the sweet herbs on the Yuan and the orchids on the Li. It stands for a person of clean character. Yuanyuan, then. Chen Yuanyuan."

Chen Yougong had no idea what any of that meant. It sounded good to him. "Right, Yuanyuan it is. Hey now, Dad's little girl."

Yao Shangqing smiled a small smile down at her, and the baby, who had been quiet all this time, suddenly started to cry.

"She's hungry. That'll be it. Quick, get the malted milk out of the locked cupboard and mix her some."

Whatever Yao Shangqing said, Chen Yougong did.

The Chens had one thermos flask and it lived in old Mrs. Chen's room. Nobody touched it lightly. Even a chipped teapot was enough to break your heart.

Yao Shangqing walked the baby and hushed her. It was lucky she was small, and a girl, so the crying had no force in it, and the door was shut. Otherwise the sisters-in-law would have heard.

Chen Yougong couldn't bear the sight of her crying.

"Wait. I'll go and get the flask from Ma."

He threw a coat over his shoulders and went out. Winter had only just come in and there was nothing to burn in any of the rooms. The cold bit.

"Ma. Ma, are you asleep?" Chen Yougong knocked lightly at the main-room door and listened.

In the east room, the eldest Chen and his wife had already lain down.

Zhao Qinhua heard the knocking, sat half up, and put her head to the window to listen.

"What are you doing? Aren't you cold? You've pulled the whole quilt off me." Chen Youliang had been sound asleep and felt the draught down his back.

Zhao Qinhua came back to herself and pursed her lips. She patted his back. "All you do is sleep. Didn't you hear it? Third brother's knocking at your mother's door. He'll be after something good."

Chen Youliang frowned. He had no wish to talk to her. What would his mother have? "That's enough. Stop making things up. My mother's got nothing."

Zhao Qinhua knew he never listened to a word of it, so she said no more and lay down. "I'll tell you this much. In that big chest in your mother's room there's sponge cake and malted milk. I asked her for a bit for our son last time and she wouldn't give it. She won't be handing it to third brother's brats, will she? Our Zhuangzhuang is five months old, and look how big that lot are."

Chen Youliang had spent the day digging tree roots out for the village and was worn through. He wanted sleep, not her talk. He was asleep already, and soon he was snoring.

Zhao Qinhua heard the snoring from the man lying with his back to her, gave him a shove and huffed. Whatever third brother was after, she would be asking about it in the morning.

Old Mrs. Chen's name was Wang Zhi. She had been widowed young and the years had been hard, but she had raised three sons and married all three off, and now she had a houseful of children and grandchildren. She was sitting up in bed sewing when the knock came, so she pulled a coat on and got down.

"It's late. What's the matter?"

Chen Yougong gave a laugh first. "Ma. Still up at this hour?"

She looked him over. He was her son. One glance and she knew there was something. She thought about where he had been that day, and frowned. "Has something happened at her family's?"

Chen Yougong shook his head quickly.

"No, nothing like that. It's this, Ma. I wanted to borrow the flask. For a bit of hot water."

She gave him a sideways glare. "Wait there. I'll fetch it."

He nodded and thanked her, thinking all the while that the business with the child couldn't be kept quiet. Tomorrow the whole family would be there and it would be hard to say in front of them. Better to say it now and give his mother time to sit with it. Her mouth was sharp, but her heart was good. So he stopped standing in the doorway, stepped inside and shut the door behind him.

She turned with the flask and found him in the room. She handed it over. "There. Take it and go."

Chen Yougong rubbed his nose with one hand and took the flask with the other. He weighed it up again and again, then said it anyway.

"Ma, guess what I found on my way back just now."

Of the three, this one really was her favourite. The eldest was too simple, not a bad man, just simple. The second was too slippery and she expected nothing from him. The third was the most like her. He could bend when he had to, he could talk, and he had life in him.

"If you've got something to say, say it. I'm not in the mood for guessing."

Chen Yougong laughed, awkward. "Well, Ma. Coming round the corner by our gate I saw a baby lying there all wrapped up, so I brought her home."

When he had finished, her face changed on the spot. "You what? What did you bring her back for? To keep her? Who do you think you are, Chen Yougong? I'm telling you now, no. We're not keeping that child. Where's the grain in this house to feed another one?"

He had known how his mother would take it. He hadn't expected it to be this bad. "Ma, Ma, keep your voice down. If my brothers' wives hear, we'll never hear the end of it."

She took a deep breath, furious, and what came out was level enough. She didn't tell him to put the child straight back out. "Tomorrow you take her to the brigade leader. Whoever threw her away can come and claim her."

"Ma, she's a girl. Easy to raise. And I can take on more carpentry. My work points and the bits on the side are enough to feed her. Or Shangqing and I will eat a little less."

Chen Yougong knew where his mother's soft spot was, and he never missed it.