Chapter 233: The Maternal Family

When Yan Yu woke up, she didn’t see her father. A glance around showed Sanbao was gone too—she knew then that her father must have gone out of the village.

Just after breakfast, Madam Qi Da arrived.

“Last night, my fifth came home and went straight to ask Mother how much dowry money is typically prepared for a marriage here in Guanzhou. He even asked if there were any decent girls over on the west or north side of the village. Mother thought he had someone in mind and questioned him thoroughly, only to find out he was thinking about his fourth brother. My fourth was so embarrassed—kept punching him the whole time.”

Madam Qi Da, mimicking Li Xuemei, sat cross-legged on the heated kang.

And truth be told, with the kang connected to the stove and breakfast freshly cooked, the warmth rose straight through—cozy and toasty, just the way it should be.

Li Xuemei said, “Your fourth should be starting to look for someone too. Any girls he’s taken a liking to?”

“We originally planned to find a girl from Da’an Village. Our two villages have ties, and while we might not be well-off here, we’re all decent, upright families. The folks in Da’an were actually willing to marry their daughters here. There are quite a few women in our village whose maiden homes are in Da’an.

But you know our family’s situation, sister. Where the fourth and fifth work…

Just mentioning it puts people off. The same goes for nearby villages. So Mother gave up and thought we’d try asking further afield.

But then it just kept getting pushed back. And now, who would’ve thought—we’ve all moved from Qishan to Guanzhou.”

There was a trace of sigh in Madam Qi Da’s voice.

Li Xuemei perked up. The three of them knew nothing of the body’s past. Everything had to be figured out piece by piece.

They had wondered before—Yan Family’s two sons had no elders, but Daya and Heng’er surely had a maternal family. And what about her? Where was her own family? How many people? What was their situation?

But they had no one to ask. It wasn’t appropriate to pry with outsiders, so they’d kept those questions to themselves.

“There really are a lot of wives from Da’an Village here,” Li Xuemei followed along.

“Exactly—Cui Family’s daughter-in-law, Luo the village chief’s second daughter-in-law, someone from the Wang family, and the Hu family too… even Old Song’s third son-in-law is from Da’an,” said Madam Qi Da.

Li Xuemei thought, That really is a lot. No wonder those families are close—their wives are all from the same village.

“Da’an’s doing better than we are. That third son-in-law of the Song family… what made him come here?” Li Xuemei trailed off deliberately.

“A stepmother came in and couldn’t tolerate the children from the first wife, so she found ways to drive them out…” Madam Qi Da caught herself mid-sentence, smacked her own mouth, and gave Li Xuemei a nervous look. “Sister, listen to me—I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by that…”

“It’s fine. Every family has its own struggles,” Li Xuemei said. So I had a stepmother too?

“I wonder how they’re doing now?” she asked vaguely.

Sure enough, Madam Qi Da picked up the thread. “What else could it be? Probably the same as us—fleeing famine. But sister, don’t be too sad. Look at Yan Lao’er—he used to be wild, but now he’s changed. He cares for you, treats you well. What do we women want in this life anyway, if not someone who knows when we’re cold or hot?

Let me be honest—your uncle wasn’t exactly a good man, and your step-aunt didn’t treat you well either. Living under the same roof, and he pretended not to see? Blaming everything on the women just isn’t right. You probably won’t see them again. Sigh. But if you’re really still thinking about them, ask the Cui family. One of her sisters married into Xiao Li Village…”

So my maternal home is in Xiao Li Village, thought Li Xuemei. It wasn’t a stepmother—it was a step-aunt. And she didn’t treat me well. If I was living at my uncle’s house, then my birth parents must already be gone.

I wonder if I have any siblings.

After a while, Madam Qi Da circled back to the original topic. “I think Mother still has her heart set on our cousin’s daughter from the maternal side. That poor girl—she’s her only living relative. Mother wants to keep it in the family, marry her in. The cousin’s willing, and our fourth and fifth boys are both decent. But the older cousin—he thinks we’re too poor. He’s afraid his sister will suffer if she marries into our family…

Now that we’ve got some hope in our lives, I was thinking… maybe we can ask Yan Lao’er and Qi brothers to keep an eye out when they go out—see if any folks from Da’an made it here to Guanzhou.”

“I don’t mind helping ask around, it’s just… would they really come?”

“I’m not sure either. When we were leaving, the Village Chief wouldn’t let us tell anyone. Only on the last day did he finally allow people to go out and send word. We did say we were heading to Guanzhou, but who knows where they ended up.”

“Maybe the Prefectural City—that’s closer,” said Li Xuemei. “Or maybe they went south?”

“No matter where they are, so long as they’re still alive…” Madam Qi Da’s voice faltered.

After she left, Li Xuemei thought for a moment and headed to the back of the village to find Madam Cui.

When Madam Cui saw her, she called out warmly, “Come in, come in! Up on the kang—it’s still warm, I haven’t taken the fire out of the stove yet!”

Li Xuemei didn’t stand on ceremony. She kicked off her shoes and sat right down on the edge of the kang.

“Try this—my two boys picked them in the mountains,” Madam Cui said, bringing over a handful of freshly washed berries.

“Heixingxing?” Li Xuemei blurted out.

“Yes, that’s what they’re called. Master Lu and the others say so too. But my husband gave them some other name—something with ‘dragon’ in it.

But look at them—what part of this looks like a dragon? I say they’re definitely heixingxing—round, black, like little stars.” Madam Cui spoke with certainty.

Li Xuemei smiled and picked one up, popping it into her mouth. One bite and the familiar burst of juice greeted her tongue.

“Delicious.” It was the taste of childhood.

“There’s more—take some home for the little ones to try,” Madam Cui said enthusiastically.

Li Xuemei murmured her thanks and didn’t refuse.

She told Madam Cui about Madam Qi Da’s hope of finding someone, and said, “It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack, but it’s still something to hold on to. I was thinking, maybe we can ask around the village and help folks keep an ear out too.”

According to what Xiao Er’s eldest uncle said, once we’ve officially registered here, we’ll still need to send documents back to our place of origin. Given how things are in Crouching Tiger right now, it’ll probably be a while. But maybe that’s a blessing in disguise—by the time people from our side head over, we should be able to get a clear picture of the situation over there. As long as our people are still alive, whether they stayed in the original village or settled elsewhere, at least we’ll have some idea where to look for them in the future.”

Madam Cui’s tears fell as soon as she heard this.

“Isn’t that the truth? They say a married daughter is like water splashed out—you belong to your husband’s family once you’re married. But in the end, we’re still flesh that fell from our mother’s womb. How could we not worry about our natal family? I don’t know about other families, but mine—mine definitely headed for Guanzhou. Sister, you have no idea what’s been going on in my heart—thinking about them all day until it hurts, and then stitching the pieces back together again by myself. The road here was so hard, especially when we passed through Leshan Prefecture…

Wuwuwu! I just regret it so much—why did I insist on having them come to Guanzhou? I don’t even know how they’re doing now. I don’t dare imagine it… wuwuwu…”

(End of Chapter)