Accidentally-Born-C33

Chapter 33

After having a meal of pork, it was soon the eighth day of the twelfth month. Zhen Zhen recalled how last year on her birthday, she had woken up and suddenly gained a new ability. That night, she eagerly lay on the kang, falling asleep early, hoping to wake up early the next day and try out her new skill.

In this day and age, there were no entertainment activities after dark. Seeing that Zhen Zhen was tired, the family dispersed to prepare for bed. Grandma Li still stayed in the room with her eldest son, Li Muwen. Li Muwen, remembering the rice and steamed buns they had eaten earlier, couldn’t help but ask, “What was it that third brother mentioned about the seeds I sent?”

Grandma Li, lighting her pipe in the dark, took a couple of puffs before quietly replying, “A few years ago, during a round of playing cards, I picked up a lump of gold in the chaos. Two years ago, when the harvest was particularly poor, I took a risk and met a person in Yitong who had a channel to procure food. I traded the gold for a fair amount of cornmeal, cabbage, and potatoes, and even swapped some for smaller grains’ seeds. I thought I’d give planting them on the mountain a try.”

After taking another puff, Grandma Li continued, “This isn’t the right way to do things. If anyone finds out, we might get into trouble, so I quietly worked with your second uncle and his wife to handle it. I didn’t tell your third brother, and we’re using you as an excuse for outsiders.”

There were always people secretly dealing in goods, but it was rare to sell such a large amount of food. Li Muwen pondered for a moment and guessed, “It’s probably someone from a farm who’s been secretly selling it.”

“I don’t know,” Grandma Li replied. “I met him while I was visiting your second aunt in Yitong. After the exchange, I never saw him again. Zhen Zhen doesn’t like eating coarse grains, so I thought I’d try planting them. Who would’ve thought they’d grow so well?” She knocked on her pipe and asked Li Muwen, “How’s your wife and kids?”

Li Muwen lay back on the warm kang, the muscles in his waist, once injured, now relaxing from the warmth of the heated kang. He sighed in contentment. “Wenhua is a doctor in the military, always busy, only gets a few days off during the New Year. She’s from Shandong, but hasn’t been back in over twenty years. Her parents passed away a while ago, so she doesn’t have much attachment. Both the kids are in school. They look a bit like Mingnan and Mingbei.”

Grandma Li sighed, “You’re living so far away now, one in the north and one in the south. It must take about twenty days by train?”

“With transfers, it could take a month,” Li Muwen answered, his voice filled with guilt. “When I go back to the army, I’ll apply for a few months off, bring my wife and kids back to see you. You haven’t met those two boys yet.”

“If you can come back, bring them to see us,” Grandma Li said. “If you really can’t come, don’t worry too much. You’re already able to stay home for two months and celebrate New Year. That’s already good enough. We can’t cause trouble for the country.”

“I understand, Mother.” Li Muwen replied, then asked, “Have you received all the national grain tickets and money I sent over the years?”

“I’ve received them,” Grandma Li smiled. “Your fourth brother has also started sending money and grain tickets recently. During the summer, I had Mingnan send a telegram to him saying that we have enough grain tickets, and that he should send us fabric tickets and industrial tickets instead. They live in Ice City, so food is harder to get than here in Beicha. Look at our mountain, we have wild vegetables and fruits, and we can raise chickens and pigs, and even clear land to plant crops. We never run out of food.”

Li Muwen had indeed seen that the food at home was quite good, and the children were all growing strong, so he felt reassured.

After chatting for a while, mother and son went to sleep. Zhen Zhen, next door, fell into a deep sleep. A golden droplet of blood in the center of her forehead was constantly swirling, merging with the soul within her body. Not far away, in the world’s largest primitive red pine forest, wild tigers as large as the forest itself and birds as small as sparrows hid in their nests, watching the mountains below with both reverence and fear.

“cock-a-doodle-do…” As the first rays of sunlight shone upon the earth, the first rooster from the chicken coop leaped out, standing proudly beneath the window in Zhen Zhen’s room, stretching its neck and crowing.

Zhen Zhen yawned, rubbing her sleepy eyes. Suddenly, she remembered it was her birthday today. She quickly closed her eyes again, hoping to see what new abilities she had gained. In her mind, the model of the mountains, rivers, and land had expanded, no longer just a small area but including the entire red pine forest and even the whole of Yitong.

Looking at the terrain in her mind, Zhen Zhen casually selected a spot in the red pine forest. Just as she was about to move there, her vision brightened, and she found herself already standing in the middle of the forest, wearing her autumn clothes. She instinctively hugged her shoulders, shivering, a bit confused. The tiger standing in front of her looked shocked, retreating several steps before fainting.

“I want to go home,” Zhen Zhen hurriedly called out. Sure enough, her vision brightened again, and she returned to the kang. She felt her body, cold as ice, and quickly crawled under the quilt, pressing her stomach tightly against the warm kang. Only then did her frozen body start to warm up.

This was because Zhen Zhen had extraordinary abilities. If an ordinary person were standing in a thin layer of clothing in a snow-covered field at minus thirty-four degrees, they would likely freeze or get seriously ill.

Thinking about her new ability, Zhen Zhen couldn’t help but laugh. In the past, she could only separate her consciousness from her body, but now she could actually move her body as well. This skill was even better than a magic door. After thinking for a moment, she recalled the northeast tiger that had fainted from her sudden appearance. It seemed familiar. After a quick memory jog, she realized it was the same tiger she had taken the lamb from earlier.

After lying there for a while, Zhen Zhen warmed up. Grandma Li entered the room and saw her curled up under the covers. She laughed and lifted the blanket. “Get up now! Who sleeps in on their birthday? Your mother cooked you some egg noodles with leg wraps.”

Eating noodles with leg wraps was a local custom, meaning to keep the child tightly bound to ensure they would not die prematurely. In those days, growing up safely was the best wish for a child.

After dressing in her cotton coat and pants, Grandma Li helped Zhen Zhen braid two skyward pigtails with red threads. After eating a big bowl of noodles and eggs, Zhen Zhen found a chance to slip out to the yard to play.

The children in the forest were always wild, and Zhen Zhen, about to turn three, was quick on her feet and sharp-witted. Whenever she went outside to play, Grandma Li only reminded her not to wander too far and to stay away from the river.

This time, however, Zhen Zhen didn’t go far. She snuck to the back of the yard, checked to make sure no one was around, and silently chanted a phrase in her heart. When she opened her eyes again, she was deep inside the red pine forest.

The unlucky tiger that had fainted earlier was nowhere to be seen. The forest was quiet, and a roe deer happened to pass by. It immediately stopped in its tracks, staring curiously at Zhen Zhen.

Zhen Zhen waved at the roe deer, and the deer ran over to her side without thinking. Zhen Zhen hugged the silly deer’s neck and tried to climb onto its back. She gave the deer a light slap on its rear and commanded, “Run over there.” The deer took two steps, then suddenly collapsed onto the snow, turning its head and looking at Zhen Zhen with an innocent expression.

Zhen Zhen silently climbed down, looked at her chubby little short legs, and widened her eyes, “Am I that fat?” The deer looked at her, stood up, and tried to shove its head into the snow, leaving only its backside exposed.

Zhen Zhen scanned the surroundings with her mind and finally spotted the silly old tiger. She quickly controlled herself to move closer to the tiger and sat down properly on its back.

The tiger sensed the weight on its back, growled, and jumped up, ready to shake it off. Zhen Zhen placed her small hand on its head and shouted, “Calm down.”

Only then did the tiger realize that the presence on its back was extremely powerful. It immediately became submissive and lay down on the ground. Zhen Zhen smiled and patted the tiger’s head, “Good, carry me for a lap.”

The tiger felt very comfortable with Zhen Zhen’s touch. It lifted its head and rubbed against her palm, then jumped up and ran in the direction Zhen Zhen pointed.

Zhen Zhen squeezed her little short legs tightly around the tiger’s body, grasped its furry coat with both hands, and tried to control her balance. The tiger understood her intention and tried to run as smoothly as possible.

The pair, one person and one tiger, ran through the forest for a long time until Zhen Zhen became a bit tired. The tiger slowly stopped and, following Zhen Zhen’s guidance, moved to an open space.

Zhen Zhen climbed off the tiger’s back and sent her consciousness into the ground. Sure enough, she found the two large boxes she had seen as a baby. With a flick of her mind, the ground cracked open, and the two boxes emerged from beneath.

Seeing the two large copper locks on top, Zhen Zhen felt a bit helpless. She could control animals, plants, and the land, but she had no way of dealing with these metal things. Scratching her head and walking around the boxes twice, she suddenly had an idea.

A green vine emerged from the snow and extended into the lock. The vine quickly thickened and hardened, and soon, the lock’s mouth was deformed. As the gap between the lock and the box widened, more vines emerged from the ground. With a “pop,” the lock’s mouth and the large copper lock fell off the box.

Zhen Zhen was ecstatic and quickly pushed the box open, lying on the neatly arranged gold bars. It wasn’t that she was obsessed with wealth; she had truly never seen so much gold. Holding a gold bar in her hand, she raised it to her eyes and smiled with her eyes squinted, “Why does it feel so good to touch gold? Maybe I am a little obsessed with wealth.”

After feeling the gold for a while, Zhen Zhen thought for a moment. She left one bar in her coat and put the rest back. The Cultural Revolution was coming in a couple of years, and it would be safer to hide gold in the mountains for now. In ten years, she would be a teenager, and she could dig up the gold and use it as capital to start her business.

She sank the box containing the gold bars back into the ground and opened the second box. She tossed aside the first items on top and started examining the jewelry below. These pieces were probably looted by bandits in the past, and their quality varied. Some looked ordinary, while others, like the jade bracelets, had excellent clarity. They were all mixed together in the box. Zhen Zhen carefully checked all the jade and white jade jewelry, and apart from two with minor chips, most were in good condition.

She waved her hand, and nearby trees immediately sprouted leaves that fell to the ground. Zhen Zhen used the leaves to wrap the jewelry and placed it carefully in the corners of the box to prevent further damage. When she was almost done, she found a pair of silver bracelets in the box. These had not seen the light of day for many years, so their shine was dim, but the patterns were delicately carved. After some thought, Zhen Zhen decided to keep them in her pocket.

The box was once again sunk into the ground, and the surrounding earth returned to its original position. Zhen Zhen patted the tiger’s head and cheerfully said, “I’m going home now. I’ll play with you again next time.”

The tiger rubbed its head against her hand, its barbed tongue sticking out for a moment before quickly retracting, grinning at her in a silly way.

With a flash of her consciousness, Zhen Zhen returned to her backyard. She felt the gold bars and silver bracelets in her pocket and ran into the house, dragging Grandma Li towards the east room.

“What are you doing? I’m making eight-treasure porridge for you,” Grandma Li said, quickly grabbing a towel to wipe her hands and following Zhen Zhen into the room. Zhen Zhen mysteriously closed the door and locked it. She pulled the gold bars and bracelets from her pocket and placed them on the kang, looking at Grandma Li innocently, “Grandma, do you think the things I dug up from the foot of the mountain look good?”

Grandma Li was startled, and immediately bit one of the gold bars. Zhen Zhen winced in pain, “Grandma, you only have a few teeth left; if you lose more, you won’t be able to chew bones.”

Grandma Li quickly pulled the gold bar out of her mouth and wiped it on her clothes. “Did anyone see you when you dug this up?”

“No,” Zhen Zhen smiled innocently, “I went by myself, I didn’t even bring Li Mingzhong.”

Li Mingzhong, lying on the cushion, trembled instinctively from the lingering scent of the tiger on Zhen Zhen, nervously hugging his head with his front paws and remaining silent.

Grandma Li pulled out a key from her waist, opened the cupboard, and took out a cloth. She wrapped the bracelets and gold bars carefully, then locked the box again. “Let me tell you secretly, what you found is really valuable, but you can’t tell anyone, understand?”

“I understand,” Zhen Zhen nodded repeatedly, “Grandma taught me, keep quiet and make a fortune.”

“That’s right, you’ll really make a fortune now.” Grandma Li smiled and went out the door, “I’ll kill a chicken for you to eat.”

Zhen Zhen immediately hugged Grandma Li’s leg, “No, that chicken is still laying eggs.”

“We have two roosters, right? Kill one and leave the other to fertilize the eggs. In the spring, we can hatch some chicks and save on grain,” Grandma Li said, squatting by the chicken coop, thinking for a moment. “Let’s kill the one that keeps crowing all morning; it’s so noisy.”

The Red-Braised Chicken immediately ran out of the coop, stretched its neck and shouted, “It’s me, it’s me!”

Out of all the chickens in the yard, the only one that actively communicated with Zhen Zhen was this Red-Braised Chicken. It was quite amusing to chat with a chicken every day. Zhen Zhen quickly waved it off, “I like the one that crows, keep it.”

“Alright,” Grandma Li always listened to her granddaughter. “Then let’s kill the rooster?”

“Let’s wait for the New Year. Today, I want to eat braised ribs,” Zhen Zhen thought for a moment, “The kind that’s easy to gnaw on.”

“Those are called ribs,” Grandma Li explained while telling her, then picked up a slab of ribs from the snow and began chopping it into pieces on the cutting board in the yard.

When Zhen Zhen saw Grandma Li carrying a bowl of ribs into the house, the Red-Braised Chicken ran to her and protested, “My dream is to become a Red-Braised Chicken, I don’t want to be a breeder.”

Zhen Zhen looked around the yard to make sure no one was around, then gave the Red-Braised Chicken a sly look and communicated with it using her consciousness, “Did you see all those hens in the coop? They’re your wives, go on now.”

“Cluck, cluck, cluck,” the Red-Braised Chicken flapped its wings and ran quickly, “But my dream hasn’t come true yet…”

Zhen Zhen heard the clucking from the chicken coop and couldn’t help but cover her ears, “Red-Braised Chicken, you’re such a hypocrite.”