The two houses were not far apart. Li Baoying heard every word, and so did several neighbors sunning themselves in the courtyard. They laughed until they were bent double, all agreeing that Li Baoying had raised a good son.
Li Baoying picked up a kitchen knife and waited behind the courtyard gate. As soon as Zhang Jinlin opened the door, he bumped right into his mother standing guard with the blade. He immediately lost his nerve.
"Mom, I’m home."
Li Baoying pointed the knife at him and asked, "Did you get your revenge?"
"Yeah, I did. Wang Yuhang’s grandma said she’s going to deal with them."
"Is that so? And what if she doesn't?"
"She wouldn't..."
"If she doesn't, are you waiting for me to go out and chop people with a knife? Do you think I'm that fierce?"
Zhang Jinlin’s little face turned pale instantly. "No... no, I was just... I was scaring them."
A stepmother eavesdropping!
"Zhang Jinlin, you’ve grown bold, haven’t you? At your age, you’re already spouting lies? If you do this again, this knife isn't going to chop anyone else but you!"
"Did you hear me?"
Li Baoying brandished the kitchen knife in a chopping motion.
Zhang Jinlin ducked his head and nodded repeatedly. "I heard you, Mom! Don’t chop me, I won’t spout nonsense again!"
He wasn't her biological son, so the stepmother was more than capable of chopping him. Zhang Jinlin sighed inwardly. Once Old Lady Wang finished dealing with the Wang Da family, he would go for a stroll and see who he really looked like.
That afternoon, another heated argument broke out at the Wang house. Old Lady Wang claimed Liu Cui had cursed her as an "old hag," while Liu Cui insisted she hadn't.
Old Lady Wang argued that Zhang Jinlin had come to report it, and he’d been so vivid in his recounting that it couldn't be a lie. Liu Cui must have cursed her. Just because she’d given birth to a grandson didn’t mean she could run her mouth and insult her elders. The old couple were still the heads of the household, and they could just divide the family and leave them with nothing.
Liu Cui wondered for a moment if she had actually cursed anyone, but then decided it didn’t matter; she just had to stick to the story that the kid was lying.
Old Lady Wang wouldn't hear it. She stood in her courtyard and rattled off her eldest daughter-in-law's many sins—her laziness, her mean-spiritedness, and her habit of stealing things for her maiden family—until her throat was parched.
Finally, exhausted, she relayed Zhang Jinlin’s words: if Liu Cui and her husband made any more trouble, Li Baoying would come with a knife to chop them up, so they had better behave themselves and value their lives!
Liu Cui had never seen her mother-in-law this angry. She wanted to argue back but knew she couldn't win. After hearing the warning, she was so furious her teeth itched; she felt like biting someone. But she knew Li Baoying’s temperament well—there was a real chance she would come over and chop off one of her fingers.
"Damn brat. I can't touch you now, but in a few years, when my son Yuhang grows up, we'll collect this debt with interest." She glanced at her son, who was huddled in his grandfather’s arms with a runny nose, and made a silent vow.
The bad company Zhang Jinlin had kept in his previous life was quietly changing shape in this one.
Two days later, all five hens began laying eggs. Li Baoying happily made a meal of vegetable and egg dumplings for the family. From then on, they would have five eggs a day; one would go to the eldest son, and the rest could be sold for over twenty cents.
Ten days meant over two yuan, and a month meant over six yuan. This was no small income. If she saved it bit by bit, she could afford long-term medicine even if her eldest son fell ill. The medicine sold in the village wasn't expensive, but she didn't know how effective it was. If she saved enough, she planned to take the child to the big hospital in the county seat.
Li Baoying was full of drive and began taking on odd jobs assigned by the village brigade, bringing Xiaohua along with her.
Only the eldest and the third son were left at home. The eldest usually sat there reading, not saying a word. The third son, having finished feeding the chickens, remembered his plan to find his birth mother and wandered toward the gate. He poked his head out to look around, and seeing that Liu Cui’s family wasn't nearby, he slipped out nimbly.
Zhang Jinlin would turn eight by the lunar calendar after the New Year. He had lived in this village for eight years and knew the roads well.
Most people in the village were surnamed Zhang; the other surnames were people who had moved in from elsewhere—outsiders. As he walked, he kept his little head turning. He figured most people wouldn't want their child to change their surname, so his birth mother should also be a Zhang. Since they were all named Zhang, he could go door to door and rule them out.
First, the house at the corner belonged to Zhang Shun. Their daughter was only ten, meaning she had been two years old eight years ago, so they were ruled out.
Wait, what about his wife?
The families lived close by; it would be easy to abandon a child and even easier to keep an eye on them. Zhang Jinlin stood there and thought for a moment: if Zhang Shun’s wife had given birth to a boy eight years ago, why would she throw him away? Did she only want a daughter? Did she already have a son and a daughter and think that was enough?
As he pondered, Zhang Shun’s eldest son walked out of the courtyard. Zhang Xiangwei saw him standing at the gate, squinted, and asked, "What are you doing standing in front of my house?"
Zhang Xiangwei was three years older than Zhang Jinlin, and because the Zhang Shun family was well-off, he was much larger, which put significant pressure on Zhang Jinlin.
Zhang Jinlin stepped back and said, "Nothing, just looking around."
Zhang Xiangwei looked at his own courtyard from his spot, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Annoyed, he said, "What's there to look at? Get lost!"
Zhang Xiangwei’s temper was very much like his father’s—self-important and unwilling to deal with anyone. However, Zhang Xiangwei would only make it through middle school before dropping out. The reason was simply that he couldn't pass the exams; it had nothing to do with money.
Startled by Zhang Xiangwei’s outburst, Zhang Jinlin stepped back again. If his theory was correct, Zhang Xiangwei was his own older brother. But his brother had such a terrible temper; would he hate him for competing for the family inheritance and try to kill him?
Another person walked out of the courtyard—it was Zhang Shun’s wife. She had heard her son shouting and couldn't help but come out to check. Unlike Zhang Shun and Zhang Xiangwei, she had a good temper and could talk to anyone.
"Xiangwei, what are you shouting about?"
Her voice preceded her. Zhang Jinlin looked up to see Zhang Shun’s wife smiling at him warmly. Her complexion was rosy, unlike his stepmother’s pale face, and she looked quite a bit like him.
"Jinlin? Don't mind him, your brother Xiangwei has a mule-headed temper. Just like his dad, he doesn't know how to be polite. Why don't you come in and sit for a while?"
Zhang Shun’s wife offered a polite invitation to smooth over the awkwardness. It wasn't good for neighbors to have bad blood, and she found this boy, Zhang Jinlin, quite amusing.
Zhang Jinlin’s expression shifted. He felt his theory was probably close to the truth. Otherwise, why would Zhang Shun’s wife tell him to call Xiangwei "brother" and invite him into her home? It was because he was her child—Zhang Xiangwei’s younger brother—and this was his home, too.
But nothing was certain. If the Zhang Shun family hadn't acknowledged him, there might be another reason, and he needed to get to the bottom of it.
"Auntie, do you only have two children?" Zhang Jinlin asked timidly.
Zhang Xiangwei didn't like the sound of that. "Little brat, what are you saying? Aside from me and my sister, what other children would my mom have?"
"No, I mean, eight years ago, did you... did you ever lose a child?"
Zhang Jinlin immediately explained, observing Zhang Shun’s wife’s expression closely as he spoke.