“What’s wrong? Huang Meili is a ticking time bomb! If she really spills the whole story, we’re finished!”
Zhou Dana’s brows drew tightly together. “That foul mouth of Huang Meili’s!”
He shot Shi Yanhua a sidelong glance and continued, “But don’t worry. She wouldn’t dare.”
“It’s better to be safe than sorry. I’m not afraid of her—I’m afraid Jinzhu will get dragged into this!”
“Then what do you want to do?”
“I want to transfer him to a school in the city!”
Zhou Dana suddenly turned to look at her. “A city school?”
“Yeah. I have a distant aunt’s husband who teaches in the city. We can get him transferred if we spend a little money.”
Although Huang Meili had backed down verbally just now, Zhou Dana was still uneasy. He was afraid she might truly be driven into a corner and do something reckless.
“That could work, but Jinzhu’s doing well here. Will he be willing to go? Besides, it isn’t easy for him to come home every Sunday.”
“He won’t have to come home on Sundays. We’ll go visit him!”
“Fine. Let me think about it first.”
“No one else can know about this—not a word.”
Zhou Dana said nothing. He simply lifted his leg and walked away.
Shi Yanhua watched his retreating back, the corners of her mouth curling into a cold smile.
“Jinzhu is my son. Why should he call Wang Jinzhi ‘Mom’?
“And Huang Meili—put away those little schemes of yours while you still can! You’re no match for me!”
Meanwhile, Huang Meili stormed home. She picked up a broken piece of mirror and looked at her neck, which was still red.
“Zhou Dana, Shi Yanhua—if you really push me too far, there’s nothing I won’t do!”
All of a sudden, Zhou Dana’s words—“I’ll make sure you can never speak again!”—exploded in her ears once more. Huang Meili shuddered violently and broke into a cold sweat.
Looking as though her soul had left her body, she collapsed limply into a chair in the main room and stared without blinking at the doorway.
“Ma, why are you back?”
Out in the fields, Zhou Zhimin had been so focused on hoeing that he hadn’t noticed Huang Meili’s disappearance for quite some time. When he finally turned around and saw that she was gone, he quickly sent Zhou Xiaomei home to check on her.
Huang Meili ignored Zhou Xiaomei, not even blinking.
“Ma!” Zhou Xiaomei approached and called out again, raising her voice.
Only then did Huang Meili come back to herself. She cursed, “You little wretch, are you trying to summon my soul?”
“Pa told me to come check on you.”
“Check on what? What’s there to check?”
After being yelled at, Zhou Xiaomei’s voice grew timid. She muttered softly, “To see what you were doing at home…”
“What could I be doing? Hurry back to the fields! And tell that useless father of yours that they’re collecting the fine for having an extra child again. Tell him to go find some money!”
When Zhou Xiaomei returned to the fields, she repeated Huang Meili’s words to Zhou Zhimin word for word. His brows knitted even more tightly.
Back then, in their determination to have a son, they had violated the birth policy and had another child. Zhou Xiaomei was an unregistered child. She hadn’t been allocated any farmland, and they still had to pay a fine every year.
Every time a fine was due, they had to sell grain to scrape the money together. The previous year had brought drought and a poor harvest. They barely had enough to eat—where would they find extra grain to sell?
After thinking it over, he decided to go to Zhou Zhiguo’s house and borrow some money to get through this crisis.
At noon, after returning from the fields, he went straight to Zhou Zhiguo’s home.
“Big Brother, I want to borrow some money to pay the fine for having an extra child.”
Zhou Zhiguo had just squatted down by the doorway when Zhou Zhimin arrived.
“I don’t have any money.” Zhou Zhiguo didn’t hesitate for even a moment. Those were the only two words he gave him.
He wasn’t truly penniless. But the little money he had was being saved to arrange Zhou Xiaowei’s engagement and wedding. If he lent it to Zhou Zhimin, it would be like throwing meat buns at a dog—gone for good.
Unable to save face, Zhou Zhimin lowered himself and pleaded, “Big Brother, I promise I’ll pay you back as soon as the wheat is harvested! Huang Meili forced me to borrow the money. If I can’t get any, she’ll make a scene and have outsiders laughing at us.”
They were brothers from the same mother, after all. Seeing Zhou Zhimin’s miserable expression, Zhou Zhiguo’s heart softened. He turned around, rummaged in the cabinet, and handed him twenty yuan.
He couldn’t help adding, “Take good care of the crops. A good harvest is worth more than anything!”
Meanwhile, Aunt Zhou and Chuntao were carrying the two babies toward Qingshan Street. They didn’t reach the photo studio until late morning.
The two babies were plump and healthy. After carrying them for seven or eight li, both women’s arms were sore and numb, and their clothes were soaked through with sweat.
“Take a hundred-day photo of my two babies!” Aunt Zhou said, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
The proprietress took one look at the children, and her eyes crinkled into a smile.
“Oh my, aren’t these two little ones adorable? Are they twins—a boy and a girl?”
Aunt Zhou beamed with pride. “They are! A boy and a girl!”
“You’re truly blessed. One birth and you have both a son and a daughter!”
The proprietress’s gaze shifted to Chuntao’s fair, rosy face.
“You must be the babies’ mother, right? They’re such handsome little things. They take after you!”
Chuntao smiled shyly and gave a gentle nod.
“Come on, hold one in each arm. I’ll take a picture of the three of you first, then we’ll take one with Grandma, too!”
Chuntao held one baby in each arm and obediently faced the camera.
“All right, smile!”
After taking a picture of Chuntao and the two babies, Aunt Zhou and Chuntao each held one child for another photo. Then they took a picture of the babies together, followed by one individual portrait of each baby. Altogether, they had four photos taken.
By the time they walked out of the photo studio, the sun was already high overhead, and the heat was sweltering.
“Let’s have a bowl of tofu pudding before we go back,” Aunt Zhou suggested. “We can rest our feet, too.”
The two of them found a food stall by the roadside. They each had a bowl of tofu pudding and two steamed buns, then sat there to rest for a while before setting off for home.
They hadn’t even reached the southern end of the street when Chuntao heard someone calling her from behind.
“Auntie! Sister Chuntao!”
They both turned around and saw Zuo Jinhui. She was dressed as smartly and stylishly as ever, her face glowing with happiness.
“Sister Zuo, is that you?” Chuntao greeted her with a smile.
Zuo Jinhui had met Aunt Zhou in Dongshan before. Knowing that she was Wu Mingwei’s cousin, Aunt Zhou smiled and nodded.
“Hello, Auntie.”
“Girl, when you came to Dongshan last time, you left without eating anything. I still feel bad about it…”
“Auntie, there’ll be plenty of chances in the future. One of these days I’ll come visit you at home, and I’ll definitely stay for a meal.”
As she spoke, she moved closer and looked back and forth between the two babies’ faces.
“My cousin told me that Brother Zhijun had twins—a boy and a girl. I’m so happy for him. These two babies are absolutely precious. They’re even prettier than the ones in paintings!”
As she spoke, she reached out her arms.
“Auntie, let me hold one!”
The babies had just finished feeding and hadn’t yet peed or soiled themselves. How could Aunt Zhou dare let her hold one?
“Little babies have accidents all the time. What if one of them wets your clothes?”
Standing and talking under the blazing sun was unbearably hot, so Aunt Zhou said, “Girl, come visit us at home when you have time. We need to hurry back now. You go on about your business.”
But Zuo Jinhui refused to give up.
“It’s all right. Little babies are like that. Come on, let me hold one.”
Seeing how determined she was, Aunt Zhou handed Jianshe to her.
“Sweet little darling, what’s his name?” Zuo Jinhui asked, gazing at Jianshe’s chubby, sturdy little face. She couldn’t help thinking of her own son, and her eyes grew hot.
“His name is Jianshe,” Aunt Zhou replied.
Zuo Jinhui forced down the pain in her heart and squeezed out a smile.
“Jianshe is a good name. Who came up with it?”
“His father.”
She then looked at the baby in Chuntao’s arms.
“And this one?”
“Nuannuan,” Chuntao answered softly.
“Jianshe and Nuannuan. Those are lovely names…”
Thinking of Zhou Zhijun’s coldness toward her, Zuo Jinhui felt even more wretched.
Suddenly, a warm stream trickled down from her chest—
She looked down and saw that Jianshe had wet himself all over her. His dacron shirt was soaked through, with water still dripping from the hem.
The smile on Zuo Jinhui’s face froze instantly. The trace of resentment in her heart suddenly twisted into an indescribable hatred.
