Chapter 21

Yuanyuan was especially hungry today. She didn't know why. She looked at the steamed egg and couldn't stop swallowing.

Old Mrs. Chen had noticed, of course. She held the bowl with a cloth, took a spoon and fed her, blowing on each spoonful.

Yuanyuan pushed her granny's hand back at first, wanting her to eat it. Old Mrs. Chen wouldn't have touched a bit of it. She said a few times that she didn't care for eggs, and talked her out of it.

Yuanyuan ate with great enjoyment. By the time the egg was gone the noodles were ready, hand-rolled and boiled hard in the big pot, and they had taken up plenty of flavour.

She had eaten a whole egg first, though, so she managed a third of the noodles and then wouldn't have any more.

"Had enough? Does anything hurt, Yuanyuan?" Old Mrs. Chen crouched in front of her and asked it with great fondness.

Yuanyuan nodded her head and patted her round little stomach.

Only then was old Mrs. Chen easy about it.

The morning's upset in the Chen house passed off like that. Breakfast over, it was back out to the fields. The autumn sowing had to be caught, and the wheat put in.

"Dayu, Shaoyuan, Chengcai, the three of you are cutting pig grass on the hill today." Old Mrs. Chen bellowed it from the gate on her way out. She had named Chengcai specially. Juanjuan was small but she worked. Chengcai took after his father, slippery, and the moment there was work he made himself scarce.

Chen Chengcai had meant to slide off and play after his food. He and Ertiao had arranged to dig a pit in the little wood to the west, and now he was caught.

The three of them set off with baskets on their backs.

Chen Shao'er was five and didn't need watching. Chen Shaozhi was just past two, but he was no trouble. He would play with a toy by himself for ages.

Chen Xiaoyu and Chen Juanjuan were at the gate pulling up foxtail grass and wild flowers to make a little garland.

Chen Yuanyuan trailed behind them, watching.

"Aah, ow, it hurts."

It made Chen Xiaoyu jump. She put down what she was holding and ran.

Chen Juanjuan went after her. Chen Yuanyuan couldn't run as fast as the two of them and came along a step at a time behind.

In the yard Chen Xiaoyu found that Chen Chengzhuang had climbed up on a half-height stone block and come off it.

Chen Yuanyuan was nearly back into the yard when somebody caught her from behind.

"Aah, aah." She made a few noises and then felt herself set down. She turned to look, and stepped back without thinking. She could feel clearly how people felt about her, the way she could with her aunt in this house, who didn't like her. This person was the same, and worse. She was fierce, and her eyes were full of ill will.

Zhao Wanwan had been watching for a long while. She had been sent for firewood today, which gave her the chance to slip over here.

"So you're the one they threw away." There was a weight in how she said it. She hadn't expected the child to be doing so well. She had assumed she was dead. But the person she had come to see wasn't this one, who hardly mattered. She had come to see Chen Xiaoyu.

Chen Yuanyuan didn't follow the words, but she could tell they weren't kind ones. She closed her small fists and let out a great wail.

Chen Shao'er was inside writing characters. The moment he heard his sister he came tearing out.

So did Chen Xiaoyu. In the rush she had forgotten Yuanyuan. She stood Chen Chengzhuang on his feet and ran out too.

The force of Chen Yuanyuan's crying startled Zhao Wanwan, who turned and ran. Luckily there were thick trees along there, and she slipped behind one. She did get her look at Chen Xiaoyu, who seemed exactly as before, nothing wrong with her. So she would wait. Once the heroine came back, that was when she could take her luck. She laid her plans as she went, and glanced in passing at the howling little girl. Cannon fodder, that was all.

Chen Yuanyuan stopped the instant the woman was gone, and smacked her lips. She couldn't talk, but she could cry loudly, so bad people didn't frighten her.

Chen Shao'er took her by the arm and looked her over head to foot, and only when he found nothing wrong was he easy.

"What were you crying for? You frightened the life out of me." He pinched her little nose.

Chen Xiaoyu could breathe again as well.

Chen Yuanyuan wanted to explain that somebody with ill will had grabbed her, and there was no way to do it. She couldn't get a single word out. So she sighed and laid her head on Chen Shao'er's shoulder.

The sight of her made Chen Shao'er laugh out loud.

When the autumn sowing finished, the village school started again and the Chen house was short of a few children.

By December, Chen Yuanyuan was one year old.

The year turned. In 1970 the Zhaos' precious daughter-in-law finally gave birth.

Wang Fen's eyes nearly disappeared with delight. She had her precious grandson at last. The Zhao line wasn't ending with them.

First thing the next morning she went to the co-op shop and spent every sweet coupon she had saved in one go. She was going to show everyone in the village who had looked down on the Zhaos.

New Year had only just gone, every household was lively, and people stood about with their hands tucked in, talking.

Along came Wang Fen with her sweets.

"Here, auntie, have a sweet, something nice, and a share of our good fortune."

"And you, sister, go on. I got them at the co-op first thing. Lucky things, these."

...

"Oh, congratulations to you. A great fat grandson this time. We'll take a share of your luck."

Nobody who took a sweet could bear to eat it. They went into pockets to take home for the children. Sweets were a fine thing in those days, which showed how pleased Wang Fen really was.

Wang Fen handed sweets round the whole circle and got her praise, and the knot that had been in her chest came loose.

Then she turned and somebody walked into her.

Chen Yuanyuan could run now and talk, not in whole sentences and not clearly, but she was very pleased with herself about it. She went down hard on her bottom and didn't cry or make a fuss. She pushed herself up off the ground and remembered to brush her clothes down. It was all Chen Chengzhuang's fault for jumping out at her with something.

Wang Fen was rather taken aback. Whose little girl was this? Had the luck of Baijia Village turned this good? Was she a town child, somebody back visiting relatives? Look at those two red bunches in her hair, and that soft face with the colour in it, and those bright clear eyes.

Somebody nearby saw Wang Fen standing there and told her, meaning well. "That's the third Chen son's daughter. Isn't she lovely?"

That stopped Wang Fen completely. This was the one she had thrown out? It wasn't that she hadn't known. She had simply never given it a thought. A girl, and what would a girl grow into? She had three at home. She had even been quietly pleased about it. The Chens were fools, raising someone else's child, and if that old woman ever learned it was her granddaughter she would be sick with it.