Chapter 33

Wang Xiang came through with the hot tea.

"Drink it while it's hot, Brother Chen." She put it on the table, smiling.

Chen Yougong got up quickly and took it in both hands. "Thank you, sister." Then he set the bowl down and brought the bag out. "My mother put this together. A solstice present. Nothing much."

Zhou Jiefang had thought there were dumplings inside, and hadn't expected a gift. He could hardly take things from the man. He had already been done a very large favour.

Wang Xiang looked at her husband and waved it off quickly. "We can't take that. Brother Chen's already helped us so much."

Chen Yougong pushed the bag straight into Zhou Jiefang's arms. "I didn't bring this over meaning to take it home again. If you won't have it, how am I going to have the face to ask you for help another time?"

With it put like that, Zhou Jiefang couldn't go on refusing. He took it and handed it to Wang Xiang.

"All right. I've taken it."

Chen Yougong explained about the dumplings, and that was that. Same as before, Zhou Jiefang would wait for him in the usual place.

That said, Chen Yougong didn't think he should stay, and went home.

Zhou Jiefang saw him to the gate, shut it and came back in.

Wang Xiang was in the main room looking at what was inside, and when she got it out she stared. Eggs, and a length of cloth. Not a big piece, but good enough.

"Isn't this too much?"

Zhou Jiefang glanced at it and shook his head. "It's all right. Brother Chen's a man who can do things. If I don't take it he'll be shy of asking me for help."

Wang Xiang put the things away. "He's a good man. He stands by people. I heard about all that at the time. When he married her the talk went round the villages for miles. Who'd have thought they'd be doing so well now."

Zhou Jiefang nodded. "They would. Good people get their turn."

---

By the time Chen Yougong got home, the dumplings were nearly done. The meat ones were finished and the chive and egg were close.

"Put this lot out by the window to freeze, and we'll take them to her parents tonight." Old Mrs. Chen set some aside, meat ones and chive and egg both.

Lunch at the Chens was dumplings.

Chen Yougong saw the folding was nearly finished and started the fire and put the water on, so that when the dumplings were ready the water was boiling.

Yao Shangqing dropped them in one by one. The first pot was all meat ones. The chive ones couldn't go in with the meat, since they didn't want the same time.

Old Mrs. Chen and Li Yue'e cleared the board between them. Chen Yougang came in from outside. He had gone off a bit early that morning, since Yue Chuan had people digging a ditch over there and he wanted a few more work points.

"I thought you weren't coming back today." Chen Yougang washed his hands in the kitchen.

Chen Yougong looked at the fire under the pot, saw it was about right and stood up.

"The county work's eased off for a while. I'll be at home now till New Year."

Chen Yougang thought that was good. Off for months at a time like that. Being home was better. At least they could all sit down together every day.

"I'll come and dig the ditch with you this afternoon." Chen Yougong had got out where he had been and wanted to go along. Whatever could be earned was worth earning.

Chen Yougang shook his head. "How long is it since you had a rest? You're finally back. Take this afternoon off and we'll talk about work tomorrow."

Old Mrs. Chen was watching the pot. The children had all worn themselves out outside.

Li Yue'e saw the snow all over them and took a towel and beat each of them down with it.

"Snowing, and still outside playing. Get those clothes wet and there's nothing to change into."

They all took it meekly and nobody dared answer back.

Yao Shangqing set the washed bowls out in a row.

Chen Shaoyuan leaned over the pot. The dumplings in there were round and fat and looked very good.

Old Mrs. Chen ladled the first pot out, put more wood under, and started the second. The second was nearly all chive and egg, which took less time.

"There's plenty today. Everyone eat till you're full." She waved them over to come and take their bowls. Nobody had to wait for anyone. They could carry them off and eat.

Chen Yougang was worn out. He picked up a bowl and started straight in. Northern dumplings come out with the broth, and he drank a mouthful of that first and felt the warmth go all through him. Then he bit slowly into a dumpling. They really were well stuffed, and one bite of it was wonderful.

"That's good. That's very good." Chen Yougang said it and then didn't stop eating.

Chen Yougong was the same. He took his bowl and squatted in the kitchen doorway. Heavy snow outside, a bowl of steaming dumplings in his hands. Life tasted good whichever way you turned it.

Chen Shaoyuan and the others had half bowls, with not much broth, set out on the board. They weren't allowed to carry them, in case they got scalded.

Yuanyuan couldn't manage chopsticks yet, so Yao Shangqing fed her, and the whole family ate in the kitchen.

When the second pot came out they all took more and finished that too. One bowl of dumplings was left in the pot.

The Chens had eaten their fill and were warm through. Yao Shangqing and Li Yue'e cleared the kitchen and went back to their own rooms. With heavy snow outside, a sleep at noon and up again in the afternoon was just the thing.

Chen Yougang slept an hour and a half and was getting up for work when Yue Chuan put out word over the loudspeaker. The snow was too heavy. Nobody need come.

So the Chens stayed in and rested.

---

Zhao Qinhua's house had chive dumplings at noon too, only with one egg in, which came to nothing much. Nearly every family grew chives in the vegetable plot. You could cut them and they came again, which made them worth the ground.

Zhao Wanwan was in a very good mood. In the book it was on a snowy winter solstice that the heroine fell and hit her head on the ground, and that was how she came back. The heroine coming back meant the luck that belonged to her was switched on at last, and only then could Zhao Wanwan take it off her.

Zhao Qinhua looked at the kitchen and saw there wasn't much firewood. She had meant to gather some today, and then it snowed. But if she didn't get any today there would be nothing to burn tomorrow.

"You two go and get firewood in a bit." Zhao Qinhua said it from the kitchen door.

Chen Dayu was washing the bowls. They had made dumplings at noon too, but they were poor things with no taste to them. At least they had filled her. And the snow outside was so heavy that they had called the work off. Were they really to go for firewood in that?

"Ma, couldn't we go tomorrow? The snow hasn't even stopped."

Zhao Qinhua was in a bad mood to begin with, and stared her down. "If we don't gather it, what do we eat tomorrow? Do you want to go hungry?"

Chen Xiaoyu didn't want to go either, but she said nothing.

"Ma, why don't I borrow some from Granny's? When the snow stops, Xiaoyu and I will gather some and give it back." Chen Dayu really didn't want to go. It would be freezing out there at this hour.

The one thing Zhao Qinhua could not stand was a child answering back. "Keep yapping at me. I said go, so you go. Do you think you're Chen Yuanyuan? Are you fit to be set beside her? Have a look at whether you were born to it."

Chen Xiaoyu heard that and privately agreed. It was true. Nobody was born as lucky as Chen Yuanyuan.

Chen Dayu saw she wasn't going to win and said no more, and went on washing up quietly.

Once her daughters had stopped answering back, Zhao Qinhua was satisfied and turned back into her room.

Chen Dayu and Chen Xiaoyu finished the kitchen and dragged it out a while longer, and in the end there was nothing for it. They put the baskets on their backs and went out.

---

On a winter evening the dark comes quickly.

When the time came, Chen Yougong set off with the dumplings, frozen hard.

Zhou Jiefang was waiting in the usual place.

The two of them talked low on the road, the same as before.

"I've had that cowshed strengthened, and put plenty up against the wind and snow. And the pair of them have seemed in good spirits lately." Zhou Jiefang told him how things were.

Chen Yougong thanked him. They walked fairly fast. The snow had slackened a good deal, and would likely stop some time this evening.

At the cowshed Chen Yougong went in alone.

Yao Zhizhao had a newspaper in his hand, one Brigade Leader Zhou had brought over last time. They were all old ones. There was nothing else to do.

"What are you doing here? It's snowing." Zhou Xingyue saw her son-in-law and looked past him, and didn't see her daughter. That was a disappointment, though not a bad one.

Yao Zhizhao stood up. "Has something happened?"

Chen Yougong smiled and waved it off. "Nothing's happened. It's the solstice, isn't it. We made dumplings at home. I traded for meat coupons this time and bought a good lot of meat. These are from this noon, frozen outside all afternoon, and I've brought them over. There are some chive and egg ones in there too. I didn't dare bring too many. You can have a meal tonight and another in the morning."

Yao Zhizhao took them. He had forgotten it was the solstice. All these years here, and this was the first time he had eaten dumplings.

"Thank your mother for me. It's good of her to think of us."

Zhou Xingyue heard what her son-in-law said. There was meat in the house, so they were doing well, and that settled her. The son-in-law was dutiful and his mother was a good woman. Her daughter had landed among good people.

"I won't stay, Dad, Ma. It's snowing and it'll only get worse to walk in. Get some on to boil while they're fresh. The broth will warm you and you'll sleep better." Chen Yougong smiled through his instructions one by one.

Yao Zhizhao was fifty-five this year. He hadn't shed a tear when his own son reported him. A sentence or two of this from his son-in-law and it was hard to bear.

Chen Yougong finished and went out, and away with Zhou Jiefang.

Yao Zhizhao looked at the dumplings on the table and then at his wife.

"Boil some water. Let's put these on. It's a kindness, and it's a long time since we had any." He took his glasses off and wiped the corner of his eye.

Zhou Xingyue said yes, found a small pot, set it on its frame and started the fire. The firewood was stacked in the corner of the shed.

"What's this?" She picked it up off the floor. It looked like a pouch.

Yao Zhizhao took it over near the kerosene lamp. It was a small pouch right enough. "It'll have fallen out of our son-in-law's pocket. Put it away and give it back next time he comes."

Zhou Xingyue took it back and looked more closely. There was a character on it, 沅. "This'll be their little girl's. Look, it's got the Yuan on it. Didn't they say she was called Yuanyuan?" Their son-in-law had made a point of telling them, the time before last.

Yao Zhizhao came and looked again. "So it is. I wonder if the two of us will ever set eyes on these grandchildren."

Zhou Xingyue wiped the little pouch clean and put it carefully away. "That day will come. You have to believe that."

Yao Zhizhao was in better spirits by then and looked at her. "Winter's round again. I'm afraid of your leg hurting you. It's miserable when it starts."

Zhou Xingyue shook her head. "It's nothing. You put up with it and it passes. Whatever you do, don't tell our son-in-law. There's no knowing what it costs him to get here even once. If he knew he'd go looking for medicine, and then there'd be nothing but trouble."

Yao Zhizhao knew she was right.

When they had talked they put the dumplings on, counting them out, and when they came up they ate them hot, broth and all, and were warm through.

---

When Chen Yougong got home he found the lamps all lit.

"What's happened?"

Yao Shangqing was at the gate in a state, and only came to herself when she saw him.

"Dayu and Xiaoyu can't be found. Ma's beside herself. Second brother's gone out looking. You go too, quickly."

Chen Yougong frowned. "How can they be lost? They were at home at noon."

Yao Shangqing told him the short of it.

Chen Yougong heard that in weather like this the children had been sent out for firewood, and his fist closed. This was no moment to lose his temper. He said nothing at all and turned and went out to look.

Old Mrs. Chen couldn't sit still in the main room. It was fully dark and two little girls still weren't home, and there was no knowing what had happened to them. Yuanyuan had gone to sleep very early today, so she couldn't ask her either. All she could do was pray.

The earth god heard what the animals on the hill sent back and stroked his beard. This was no great matter. A wave of his hand would fix where they were. He thought about it and decided to give the Chens a clue, so the children were found soon. The world chosen for Little Eight's trial was too tangled altogether. Here was another one who had come back. Still, it was all fate, and heaven ordered it. A small earth god could not go guessing at that.

The ginseng spirit beside him had got wine from somewhere, took a mouthful and went red in the face. "You wait till Little Eight comes back through her trial. She'll have this shabby little palace of yours down."

The earth god coughed twice and put on a calm face. There was no call to say the true thing out loud.

---

Chen Yougang found them first. Dayu was pulling Xiaoyu along the way home, and Xiaoyu had already passed out.

"Dayu, what's happened?" He took Xiaoyu off her and got her on his back.

Chen Dayu had somebody there at last, and burst out crying.

"Uncle. Uncle, I was so frightened. Xiaoyu fell down and she won't wake up. It's so cold and I can't carry her."

It was the first time Chen Yougang had cursed his eldest brother blind in his own head.

"All right, Dayu, stop crying. Your uncle's here. I'll get you both home."

Chen Dayu couldn't stop at all. She had been terrified.

Chen Yougong came along the same way and saw his second brother with Xiaoyu on his back. "Well? Is she all right?"

Chen Yougang's face was grim. "Home first."

Chen Yougong nodded. "Dayu, come on, up you get. Your uncle will carry you. We'll be home quicker that way."

Chen Dayu wanted to say no. She didn't want him carrying her, she was too heavy. In the end she was overruled and up she went.

The two men carried the two children home over the uneven ground. They didn't even take them next door, they carried them straight into the inner room and put them on old Mrs. Chen's bed.

Yao Shangqing had a big pot of hot water going, waiting for them.

Li Yue'e helped get the wet clothes off both children, soaked their feet in hot water and boiled ginger broth. Chen Dayu drank hers first and came round, and they found clean clothes and changed her.

Chen Yougong didn't stop either. He went off into the village for Doctor Zheng from up the way. Before Liberation he had been a barefoot doctor, and afterwards he had been properly trained, and he was the doctor in Baijia Village. Anyone in the village with a headache or a fever went to him.

Chen Dayu saw old Mrs. Chen and went straight into her arms, crying and talking at once. "Granny, Xiaoyu hit her head and then she wouldn't wake up, and I was cold and tired and I hadn't the strength to pull her."

Zhao Qinhua and Chen Youliang came over then and stood in the doorway of the main room without a word.

Zhao Qinhua couldn't see what the fuss was. When she was small she had worked the fields in the rain. A bit of snow and a trip out for firewood and they had to make a drama of it.

Old Mrs. Chen patted the child's shoulder gently, holding her anger down. She truly had not thought it would come to this.

"I'll say this to the pair of you. If anything happens to Xiaoyu, I'm not finished with you."

Zhao Qinhua pursed her lips, folded her arms and leaned on the doorframe. She glanced up at Chen Youliang and said nothing. She had never won a quarrel with her mother-in-law, and she didn't think she had done anything so very bad.

Chen Youliang took a step or two to the inner doorway and looked at his two daughters on the bed. "Ma, isn't this a lot of fuss over nothing? What child has never had a fall?"

Hearing her husband, Zhao Qinhua got her word in too. "Youliang's right. Whose children are kept as soft as the third brother's? Anyone who didn't know would take them for town children."

Yao Shangqing was standing right there and would not have it. "Now that's not right, sister. Everyone aches over their own. Town child, country child, aren't they all children? And I've never seen any parents use their own daughters like this. A stepmother wouldn't do worse."

Zhao Qinhua had never been answered back by Yao Shangqing like that, and it stopped her where she stood. Splitting the house had changed things after all.

Chen Yougong came in then at a rush with Doctor Zheng.

"Uncle Zheng, I'm sorry to drag you out." He brought him in.

Doctor Zheng got his breath. He had trotted the whole way and it had told on him.

Old Mrs. Chen got up off the bed quickly to make room.

The room went quiet and they all watched the child, holding their breath.

Doctor Zheng looked her over and felt her pulse.

"There's nothing much wrong with her, sister. She'll have hit her head, and it's very cold out. Warm her up, boil some ginger broth and get it down her to drive the chill off."

Only when she heard that did old Mrs. Chen's mind rest.

Chen Yougong saw him to the gate and pushed fifty cents into his hand and five eggs besides. A call didn't cost that much, but the weather was bad and the man had been made to come out, which was a great deal to ask.

Doctor Zheng was happy enough. He hadn't lost on the trip. He gave several more instructions before he turned to go.

Li Yue'e had the ginger broth ready and handed it to old Mrs. Chen, and the two of them got it into Chen Xiaoyu.

Chen Yougong sat down in the main room. He had been running back and forth all evening, and Yao Shangqing poured him a cup of the ginger broth as well. A cold would do nobody any good.

"Cough. Cough." The hot taste caught in Chen Xiaoyu's throat. She woke to find her granny and her second aunt holding her and feeding her something.

Li Yue'e saw her wake and smiled. "Ma, she's awake."

So did old Mrs. Chen, and her heart came all the way down.

"Well? Is anything still hurting?" she asked at once.

Chen Dayu leaned in over her and took her sister's hand.

Chen Xiaoyu's head was still fogged. Hadn't she died? How was she back?

"I, Granny…" Chen Xiaoyu held on to her and tried the word out.

Old Mrs. Chen said yes and patted her shoulder and told her to take her time.

Only then did Chen Xiaoyu look slowly round the room. It was the old house. She was very small. And she remembered this. It was the winter solstice, in heavy snow, and she had gone with her elder sister for firewood and banged her head, and her second and third uncles had found them.