Accidentally-Born_C06

Chapter 6

After having a bowl of fragrant chicken noodle soup, the two little boys quickly grew fond of the Li family. They called Grandma Li, who had a sharp tongue but a soft heart, “Grandma” over and over. Grandma Li, after enjoying some time with the boys, sent Ming Nan to take them to play. Ming Nan and Ming Bei were both outgoing and soon became as close as real brothers with Ming Shu and Ming Xin, who had grown up together.

Ming Bei eagerly talked about all the things he’d done climbing mountains and crossing rivers, and Ming Shu listened with great interest. The four-year-old Ming Xin, lacking much guile, blurted out, “Mom says Grandma’s house is poor, and there’s nothing fun to do.”

“Bullshit!” Ming Bei rolled his eyes. “I’m telling you, we have everything at our house. Even though it’s cold now, sometimes we can catch wild chickens and rabbits up in the mountains. Didn’t you just eat two pieces of chicken?”

Though wild chicken wasn’t easy to chew, the broth was delicious. Ming Xin, who hadn’t had chicken in a long time, licked his lips and smiled innocently. “Chicken tastes good!”

Ming Bei patted Ming Xin’s head and couldn’t help but laugh. “What do you guys do for fun in Ice City?”

Ming Xin tilted his head, thought for a long time, but couldn’t think of anything, so he shook his head honestly. Ming Shu, being a bit older, had more experience with fun things. “It’s fun to go ice fishing on the Songhua River, but it’s too far from my house, and Mom doesn’t let us go.”

“So what? There’s a Yungui River right in front of my house. This month, my brother and I caught a bunch of fish there. I’ll take you there tomorrow,” Ming Bei declared confidently, patting his chest.

Ming Shu and Ming Xin nodded repeatedly. Ming Bei continued, “I’ve got something even more fun.” Seeing their curious gazes, Ming Bei proudly puffed up his little chest. “My mom just gave me a little sister!”

“Wow…” Ming Shu and Ming Xin looked at Ming Bei with admiration. “Auntie is amazing. We don’t have a little sister at our house.”

He peeked inside and saw the adults sitting in the western room talking. He waved to the two new brothers. “I’ll take you to see my sister.”

The four little boys quietly tiptoed to the door of the east room. Ming Bei carefully opened the door and peeked inside. Just then, Zhenzhen had finished eating and was energetically moving her little hands and feet.

Actually, when Li Mulin and the others had returned home, Wang Sufen had already heard the noise. However, at that time, Zhenzhen was asleep while nursing, and Wang Sufen didn’t want to wake her, so she stayed still.

But the talking outside was too loud, and Zhenzhen eventually woke up. Seeing that she wasn’t crying or fussing and was happily playing, Wang Sufen decided to change her clothes and take her outside to meet people. Just as she finished changing and unlocked the door, the little boys came in.

“Mom, this is Ming Shu and Ming Xin from Fourth Uncle’s house. They want to see the little sister,” Ming Nan and Ming Bei said, pulling the two boys inside, and greeted Wang Sufen with smiles.

“She’s so pretty,” Wang Sufen said as she heard Grandma Li cursing from the western room. She immediately led the boys into the room. “Quick, go sit on the kang¹. Your little sister just woke up.” She placed Zhenzhen on the bedding.

Ming Shu quickly took off his slippers and climbed onto the kang to see Zhenzhen, while Ming Xin, still a little shy, stood at the bottom of the kang, unwilling to get on. But before long, the three older boys had surrounded Zhenzhen tightly, and he couldn’t see anything. Anxious, he forgot his shyness, took off his slippers, climbed onto the kang, and squeezed between Ming Nan and Ming Bei.

Because babies grow quickly, and Zhenzhen couldn’t crawl or sit yet, Grandma Li hadn’t made her any new clothes. She just found a couple of old clothes that Ming Nan wore when he was younger, slightly altered, and put them on Zhenzhen.

The fire stove in the kang kept burning all day, and with the fire wall on the west side, the room was very warm. Zhenzhen only wore a thin shirt, but she still felt a little hot lying on the kang. Ming Xin curiously studied this soft and fair little baby, unable to resist touching her little hand and grinning at Wang Sufen. “She’s really cute.”

“She is!” Ming Bei said proudly, puffing out his chest. “My sister’s name is Zhenzhen, and that character is so hard to write. My dad says when she’s in school and has to write her name, she’s definitely going to cry.”

Ming Shu, who was already in second grade, was shocked. “Why did they give her such a hard name? Doesn’t Second Uncle like his little sister?”

“It’s because it sounds nice, and she’s easy to take care of,” Ming Nan said, lying on the kang with his legs swinging in the air. He glanced at Ming Shu and added, “My dad and my grandma both really love my sister. Grandma says Zhenzhen is the only girl in our family in five generations.”

Ming Shu and Ming Xin didn’t fully understand what Ming Nan meant, but it didn’t stop them from expressing their admiration. “That’s amazing. My mom can’t even have a little sister.”

Ming Bei proudly raised his little head, and anyone who didn’t know might think he was being praised. Although Zhenzhen understood the words, she was still under a month old and couldn’t speak. She could only babble a few sounds to express her enthusiasm.

Ming Shu looked at Zhenzhen’s big, dark eyes and found her very cute. He tried to recall what Ming Xin had been like when he was little, vaguely remembering that he hadn’t been as well-behaved. “Ming Xin wasn’t as good as her when he was a baby. He only cried and peed all the time. It wasn’t fun at all.”

“My sister doesn’t cry,” Ming Bei immediately said. “Every time she sees me, she smiles. Grandma says when she grows her teeth, I’ll be the one to catch fish for her and give her rabbits and pine nuts. By then, she’ll love me the most.”

Zhenzhen couldn’t help but roll her eyes internally: Silly boy, Grandma’s just trying to get you to do work.

When Ming Bei saw Zhenzhen smile, he immediately became happy. He turned to Wang Sufen and asked, “Mom, did you see? She smiled at me. Doesn’t that mean she likes me the most?”

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Wang Sufen eagerly agreed, not forgetting to dig a hole for her silly son. “When you catch fish, hunt rabbits, and gather pine nuts for your sister, she’ll like you even more.”

Ming Bei panicked. “Mom, why’d you say that in front of my third brother? What if he knows and tries to compete with me?”

Ming Nan rolled his eyes deeply, suppressing his urge to comment, and forced a friendly smile. “What kind of older brother would compete with a younger brother? I won’t fight you for her love. By the way, when we collect firewood next autumn, you have to work harder. What if our little sister freezes?”

Seeing Ming Bei look at Ming Nan with gratitude, Wang Sufen couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

While the atmosphere in the east room was warm and full of love, the mood in the western room was a bit awkward. Zhang Chunhua, thinking of herself as a city person, looked down on places like Beicha. When she married Li Mulin, it was mainly because his family was far away, and he had several older brothers, so there wouldn’t be much burden for her in terms of supporting them in their old age.

Zhang Chunhua’s mother had been injured while giving birth to her, and after that, due to the war, she was constantly hiding and didn’t take proper care of her postnatal recovery. After that, she was never able to have another child. Zhang’s family only had Zhang Chunhua, so her parents planned to find a son-in-law to take care of them in their old age.

In this era, there were many families who couldn’t even afford food. Though Zhang’s family wasn’t wealthy, they were at least from the city, and her father worked at the electric power bureau, so they could easily support their family of three. Zhang Chunhua didn’t have a job, but her standards for finding a husband were very high—she found the rural men too simple, and even some of the city men she considered weren’t handsome enough.

At that time, Li Mulin had just arrived in Ice City and happened to catch the recruitment of the Electric Power Bureau. Having studied for a few years and being young and strong with quick hands and feet, Li Mulin was successfully recruited as an apprentice by the Electric Power Bureau and was assigned to Zhang Fu as his mentor.

Li Mulin was quick-witted. When he couldn’t learn the professional skills at work, he would help out at Zhang’s house during breaks and ask his mentor for more instruction. Over time, Zhang Chunhua grew fond of Li Mulin. When Zhang Fu found out, he tested Li Mulin’s intentions, but Li Mulin resolutely refused to agree to the idea of marrying into the family.

At first, Zhang Fu wanted to let the matter go, but Zhang Chunhua had set her heart on Li Mulin and was determined to marry him. Zhang Fu considered that Li Mulin was far from home and was working alone in Ice City, essentially in a situation similar to that of a son-in-law. So, he gritted his teeth and agreed.

In the beginning, Li Mulin thought he should return home to discuss the marriage with his parents, and then have them come over to propose. But the Zhang family secretly hoped Li Mulin would change his surname, unwilling to let him return home at this time. Seeing Li Mulin insist on taking leave to go back home, Zhang Fu came up with a trick, convincing Li Mulin that taking leave now would affect his future promotion, and it would be better to get married first and go back during the New Year, which would be just the same.

The wage difference between an apprentice and a full-time worker was more than three times, and Li Mulin hesitated for a long time. In the end, he couldn’t resist the higher salary after being promoted and wrote a letter to his family, ending up marrying in a hasty and confused manner.

Before marriage, Li Mulin lived in a single dormitory, but after getting married, he couldn’t immediately apply for a new house. The Zhang family quickly took advantage of the opportunity and had the couple move back in, hoping to gradually solidify the son-in-law status.

In the year of their marriage, after Li Mulin successfully became a full-time employee, he planned to bring his wife home to meet his parents during the New Year. But at that time, Zhang Chunhua was pregnant and severely ill with morning sickness, so Li Mulin couldn’t bring his wife back home. The next year, when the child was born, Zhang Chunhua again cited the baby’s fragility as a reason to delay. When the child was four years old and strong enough, Li Mulin thought it should be time to go home, but Zhang Chunhua was pregnant again…

Had it not been for Li Mulin fearing the neighbors would gossip or his relatives would mock him, he would have already gone back home for the New Year. This year, when Ming Shu was older and Zhang Chunhua wasn’t pregnant, they finally managed to go back home for the New Year.

Although Zhang Chunhua came back, she was very unwilling and had a long face the whole way. Privately, she badmouthed Li Mulin’s family to their two children, hoping the kids would grow distant from Li’s family so that Li Mulin would never want to return home.

However, unexpectedly, after Zhang Chunhua secretly taught them for ten days, a bowl of chicken noodle soup and a newborn daughter from Li’s family made their two sons forget everything she had taught them.

Seeing Li Mulin being scolded by Grandma Li until his face was red and sometimes even hit with a cane, Zhang Chunhua felt uneasy and subconsciously wanted to rely on her sons for support. It was only then she realized, after the meal, that she hadn’t seen her sons around.

“Hahaha…” The joyful laughter of Ming Shu and Ming Xin came from the next room. Zhang Chunhua was utterly frustrated: “Ungrateful children, what did I teach them for? Have they forgotten everything?!”

Grandma Li scolded Li Mulin to her heart’s content, then pulled out a pipe from her waist, stuffed some tobacco leaves inside, and lit it, taking deep puffs of smoke. Grandma Li was a very shrewd old lady. Although she knew that her son hadn’t returned home for many years because of his wife’s influence, in her heart, a wife was a daughter raised by someone else’s family, someone she couldn’t really control—she only cared about her own son.

After a few puffs of smoke, Grandma Li felt her anger subside. Hearing the children playing and laughing next door, she said to Li Mulin: “On the eighth of December, your second brother had a daughter. They named her Zhenzhen.”

Li Mulin immediately smiled and said, “Second brother is really lucky. Mom, have you told the relatives at home?”

“They all know by now.” Grandma Li smiled widely as she talked about Zhenzhen: “Your aunt and the others are all envious, and your third aunt even said she’d bring her little daughter-in-law to our house in the spring to hold Zhenzhen, hoping it will bring them good luck and help them have a daughter too.”

Zhang Chunhua, who thought that having two sons made her particularly important, felt bitter in her heart. She couldn’t help but murmur, “What’s so good about a little girl? In the future, she’ll still have to marry into someone else’s family.”

Grandma Li glanced at her and, noticing her attitude, quickly retorted with her sharp tongue: “Girls are sweet and affectionate, but boys are far more useful.” With that, she grabbed a cane and gave Li Mulin’s backside two swats: “What’s so good about having sons? When they grow up, they leave home. He hasn’t come back in ten years, but a daughter will always be there to take care of you.”

Li Mulin stood obediently beside the bed, trying to please Grandma Li, but suddenly got beaten for no reason and nearly cried. Zhang Chunhua watched as Li Mulin winced from the pain and felt a mix of helplessness and frustration. The presence of a mother-in-law who could still scold and beat him after a meal was really terrifying.

Note:
—A kang (炕) is a traditional heated platform or bed used in northern China, made of bricks or stones. It is heated by a stove, providing warmth during cold winters and often serving as a place to sleep, eat, or gather.