"What's wrong?"
Chuntao's wrist was gripped tightly by him, her face flushed red with anxiety. "Let go!"
"Who is it in the middle of the night?" Following closely, the door to the east room creaked open, and Auntie Zhou came out with a coat draped over her shoulders.
"M-my sow is about to give birth, but she can't get them out!"
Chuntao's voice trembled. "Brother Zhijun, could you help me fetch Old Man Han? He knows how to deliver piglets!"
Before Zhou Zhijun could reply, Auntie Zhou grew anxious upon hearing this. "That's four or five miles away. By the time you bring him here, the sow and the piglets will probably be done for!"
She turned to look at Zhou Zhijun. "Didn't you see your grandpa deliver piglets when you were little? Just do what your grandpa did—use your hands to pull the piglets out!"
Zhou Zhijun certainly remembered. He had just turned twelve that year when their old sow was farrowing. She had struggled for several hours without delivering.
In the end, his grandpa rolled up his sleeves, disinfected his hands with white liquor, and forcefully pulled the piglets out one by one.
There were twelve piglets in that litter. Unfortunately, two suffocated, but the remaining ten were lively and energetic.
"Let's go!" Zhou Zhijun didn't hesitate. As he spoke, he took a few strides into Chuntao's yard.
Wang Xiaohong, still half-asleep, also got up when she heard the noise. With half-open eyes, she walked over to the pigpen.
Seeing Auntie Zhou, she mumbled, "Great-aunt! I'll help too!"
Auntie Zhou, however, grabbed her, frowning. "Go back to your room and sleep. Your Uncle Zhijun and I can handle this!"
How could a young unmarried girl like Wang Xiaohong watch a sow giving birth?
Zhou Zhijun first found a bar of soap, drew some cold water into a basin, and scrubbed his hands repeatedly before entering the pigpen.
He rolled up his sleeves and, following the memory of his grandpa, carefully pulled the little piglets out of the sow's belly one by one.
There were eight piglets in total. When first pulled out, they were limp and covered in bloody mucus.
Two of them had purple skin, their mouths slightly open, barely breathing.
"Hurry! Scoop the muck out of the piglets' mouths!"
As Auntie Zhou spoke, she reached out and picked up one of the suffocating piglets, using a clean coarse cloth to carefully wipe away the mucus from its mouth and body.
Chuntao mimicked Auntie Zhou's actions, frantically picking up another piglet and gently scooping the mucus from its mouth with her fingers.
The remaining piglets were also cleaned up by the two women in turn and placed on clean wheat straw.
Zhou Zhijun lit some dried mugwort and placed it next to the piglets. He also took a handful and set it near the sow's hindquarters to smoke.
This was a method passed down from the older generation; it dispelled the cold and helped soothe the sow.
Once the piglets were settled, Chuntao told Auntie Zhou to go back to sleep. "Godmother, you are getting on in years and shouldn't stay up. I can handle things here."
She turned and went to the kitchen, ladling out the boiled rice water from the pot and pouring it into the pig trough to feed the sow.
After tossing and turning for most of the night, the sow was thoroughly exhausted. She lay on the ground panting for a long while before slowly propping herself up to eat.
After the sow had eaten her fill, Zhou Zhijun carried the piglets over to her one by one so they could nurse.
The two purple piglets gradually steadied their breathing, but their bodies were still weaker than the others, and they couldn't even stand properly.
Zhou Zhijun simply grabbed one in each hand and guided their little mouths to the sow's teats.
As if by instinct, the two piglets nudged around, latched onto the teats, and began gulping down the milk.
Zhou Zhijun kept holding them like that, afraid they would be pushed away by the sturdier piglets.
Chuntao stood nearby, watching the seven or eight soft little creatures gathered around the sow, gulping down milk. The heart that had been in her throat all night finally settled.
She looked up to thank Zhou Zhijun, just as he suddenly raised his head. In the moment their eyes met, for some unknown reason, Chuntao's face instantly flushed red all the way to her ears.
She quickly turned and hurried toward the kitchen, her steps a bit flustered, muttering, "I-I'm going to fetch water!"
The roosters had crowed several times, and the sky was just beginning to lighten. This was the time when many people gathered at the well to fetch water.
But Chuntao didn't care about that. She grabbed her carrying pole and two water buckets and headed out the door.
The well had always been a gathering place for women and a "news station" for spreading all kinds of gossip.
When the women met, there was always endless chatter. They talked about everyone's business—whose wife was lazy, whose husband was capable—they could never get enough of it.
Liu Cuilan catching someone in the act and Zhou Ergan walking upside down had become the new hot topics.
As the women waited to fetch water, they gossiped back and forth.
Seeing Chuntao approaching with her buckets, several women immediately gathered around her.
One woman raised her voice and said, "You are just too honest! If it were me, I would definitely teach that Liu Cuilan a good lesson!"
"Teach her how?" Wang Chunxiao, who had just arrived with her water buckets, chimed in. "Liu Cuilan is as tough as a cow. You can't out-curse her, and you can't out-fight her!"
Another woman chimed in, her face full of indignation, "There's just no reasoning with Liu Cuilan!"
"Have you made any enemies? Someone tipped Liu Cuilan off with false information!" a woman suddenly leaned in and said to Chuntao.
Chuntao didn't want to talk about it. Whenever it was brought up, she felt her whole body tense with lingering fear.
She didn't reply, just kept her head down and lowered her bucket into the well.
"Hey! Have you all heard? A few days ago, the southern woman of Zhou Ergan had a miscarriage!" Right in the middle of talking about Chuntao, Auntie Li from the west end of the village suddenly lowered her voice and interjected mysteriously.
"What? the southern woman was pregnant? Zhou Ergan is over fifty, he really still has it!"
"How did she miscarry? Was she beaten by Zhou Ergan?"
Auntie Li looked around again, her voice dropping even lower. "It was their own doing! For the first three months of a woman's pregnancy, the seed hasn't taken root yet, how could they do that kind of thing?"
Hearing this, the crowd had complex expressions on their faces and started discussing the matter. Their words grew increasingly explicit, making Chuntao's small face burn with heat.
She quickly filled her two buckets, hoisted them onto her carrying pole, and headed home.
From behind her came the women's laughter, and someone deliberately raised her voice, "Hey, tell me, Zhou Ergan is over fifty, how is he fiercer than a young lad?"
"How do you know young lads aren't fierce?"
"Isn't Jieshi a young lad? He's been back for over half a year, taking medicine and all, and she still isn't pregnant. Is he fierce?"
Chuntao's footsteps faltered, her heart feeling as if pricked by a needle. A wave of grievance uncontrollably welled up in her eyes.
Chuntao carried the water into the courtyard, her footsteps light, afraid of startling the newly settled sow and piglets.
Zhou Zhijun was squatting in the kitchen smoking. Hearing the noise, he looked up, his gaze falling on Chuntao's reddened eyes.
He frowned. "What's wrong? Are those busybodies gossiping again?"
Chuntao said nothing, just setting down the buckets, preparing to lift them and pour the water into the vat.
Zhou Zhijun knocked the ash out of his pipe bowl, stood up, and walked over to her. Chuntao quickly stepped aside to avoid him.
Zhou Zhijun said in a deep voice, "From now on, if anyone gossips about you, just talk right back at them. With me here, what are you afraid of?"
Seeing her remain silent, Zhou Zhijun's Adam's apple bobbed. He bent down and leaned close to her ear. "Even the pigs have had their piglets. When are you going to give me a baby?"
