Old Lady Li was carried away to be buried amidst the wailing of horns and drums. She remained unaware of how grand her funeral had been, nor did she know that the villagers had each contributed fifty yuan before bringing their entire families to feast, leaving satisfied and praising Old Lady Li for her good fortune, the quality of the banquet, and the filial piety of her children.
It was fortunate she did not know; if she had, she would have been angered back to life. She had been detested while alive, yet in death, she had attained such glory, with her son hosting a grand banquet for the whole village!
She felt as though she had been sleeping for a long time. In her muddled state, she felt someone take her hand. She opened her eyes to see Zhang Jintian guiding her as they drifted slowly through the sky.
Zhang Jintian was dressed in white, looking transcendental and ethereal, like a celestial being. When he turned his head to smile, the very world seemed to lose its color.
Li Baoying shook her head. An illusion—it must be an illusion!
She was dead, and Jintian had died long ago!
"Mom! Why are you sitting there sleeping? I’m off to school!"
Amidst her confusion, Li Baoying suddenly heard her eldest son’s voice. She opened her eyes in bewilderment, only to see a familiar figure disappearing through the doorway. It was her Jintian.
"Mom, I’m full too. I’m off to school."
This was the voice of her youngest son, Zhang Jinlin.
She turned her head to see her youngest son, wearing patched clothes and carrying a small schoolbag, skipping as he headed outside.
At the dining table, aside from her, there were three others: her husband, Zhang Jiandan, a teenage Zhang Jinhe, and a three or four-year-old Zhang Hua.
Li Baoying’s mind went blank. What... what was happening? Wasn't she supposed to go to heaven? How could this...
The dining table was dark and worn, clearly showing its age. The house was small, built entirely of earthen walls. Wasn't this the thatched cottage they had lived in all those years ago?
"Mother of the children, what are you staring at? Hurry up and eat, then go to the fields. If we're late, our work points will be docked," her husband, Zhang Jiandan, urged, noticing she was distracted.
"And you, falling asleep while eating! Did you not sleep well last night?"
Listening to Zhang Jiandan’s grumbling, Li Baoying still found it hard to believe. She reached out and pinched her husband hard. Only when she heard him cry out in pain did she confirm that she had returned to the time when her eldest son was still alive."What are you doing! Have you lost your mind?"
"It’s nothing. I thought I was dreaming and just wanted to be sure."
"If you want to be sure, pinch yourself! Look at my arm—you’ve drawn blood!"
Zhang Jiandan dropped his bowl in annoyance and left with their second son, Zhang Jinhe.
"I’m taking Jinhe over there first. You finish your meal and bring Xiaohua along."
Once the two of them were gone, Li Baoying hurriedly stood up to check the family calendar. When she saw the date, she smiled.
Everything was fine. She had returned to the distant 1960s, the year Zhang Jintian turned fourteen. She still had a chance to start over.
Li Baoying quickly gathered her thoughts. Heaven must have felt she had suffered too much, which was why it had allowed her to be reborn.
This year, Zhang Jintian was in his second year of middle school. Zhang Jinhe, who hadn't done well in his studies, had already dropped out two years ago and spent his days working in the fields with the adults. Zhang Jinlin had just started preschool, and little Xiaohua was only four, spending her days playing in the dirt at the edge of the fields while the adults worked.
With so many mouths to feed and such high expenses, they really wouldn't have been able to afford to keep all the children in school if Zhang Jinhe hadn't dropped out.At present, only Zhang Jintian and Zhang Jinlin in the family were attending school. Xiaohua was too young to be of school age, though even if she had been, she would never have stepped foot inside a school in her previous life.
The village was poor; it was considered fortunate enough just to let the boys in the family attend school. Very few girls were sent to school—it was a waste of money.
Because she had never received an education, Xiaohua, like her father and her second brother, Zhang Jinlin, was simple-minded and knew only how to work.
"Mom, I'm finished, too," Xiaohua said, licking her bowl clean.
Li Baoying glanced at her daughter, then looked at the sweet potato and wild vegetable porridge in her own bowl and the pickled radishes on the side. She picked up her bowl and poured a little more into her daughter’s.
"Eat up!"
Xiaohua was a little happy. The porridge was too thin, and she hadn't had her fill, but seeing that there was only half a bowl left for her mother, she patted her little belly and said, "Mom, I'm full. I'm not hungry. You eat!"
Her mother still had to work to earn work points; she couldn't afford to go hungry.Li Baoying said gently, "Mom isn't hungry and can't eat that much. You have the rest for me, otherwise, it will go to waste."
Xiaohua then picked up the bowl and said, "Alright, I'll eat it. When I'm full, I'll go to the edge of the field to catch more grasshoppers. I'll roast them for you to eat later."
Li Baoying nodded and smiled. Her daughter was very sensible; whenever she worked in the fields, the girl never wandered off, preferring to catch grasshoppers at the edge of the field, stringing them onto dogtail grass stems to roast in the earthen stove and share with her brothers. In an era when meat was hard to come by, grasshoppers and cicadas tasted wonderful.
Li Baoying lowered her head to eat her porridge with some pickled vegetables. She smacked her lips, thinking that the porridge and pickles of this time were far too coarse—they really couldn't compare to the life she would have decades later. Her primary task now was to finish the day's work and go to the supply and marketing cooperative to request a few chicks to raise. By the New Year, they would be grown chickens; she could slaughter one to nourish her eldest son and keep the rest for eggs. If she fed him an egg every day, his nutrition would improve, his body would strengthen, and she refused to believe he would end up with any kind of lung disease.
Li Baoying’s task for the morning was harvesting rice. She was familiar with this work, having done it her whole life, so she picked up her sickle and got right to it.
At noon, the family gathered together again. This time, they had steamed corn buns and cabbage soup. The buns were a bit hard, so they broke them into small pieces and soaked them in the cabbage soup to soften.
Li Baoying looked closely at her eldest son, Zhang Jintian, a warmth spreading through her heart. Heaven had been kind to her, allowing her to see her eldest son once more.
"Jintian, is studying tiring? You should eat a bit more." She took another steamed bun and handed it to him.
As soon as Zhang Jinlin saw his eldest brother get an extra bun, he immediately clamored, "Mom, I'm tired too! I want an extra one too."
Food in the house was scarce. The rule was that everyone only got one bun at lunch. Now that the eldest was having two, he wanted one as well.
Zhang Jinhe glanced at his eldest brother and third brother but said nothing, continuing to eat. He wasn't in school, so who cared if he was tired? As for Zhang Xiaohua, she was small; one bun was enough for her, and she didn't need more.
Li Baoying's smile faded slightly as she said, "You can have more if you want, but only if you either rank first in your exams every time or drop out and come back to work. Which one do you choose?"
She had just returned and hadn't planned how to deal with this unfilial brat yet, but he had run right into the trap! Fine! She would give him exactly what he asked for.
Zhang Jinlin had never seen his mother look at him like this before and felt a sudden chill. He stood his ground and blustered, "I will rank first!" In his previous life, Zhang Jinlin was bright and had studied all the way to high school; he was considered an educated man in the village.
"Mom, I have enough to eat. Studying isn't as tiring as the work you do in the fields. Why don't you give this bun to Jinhe? He follows you to the fields every day and has grown so thin and dark," Zhang Jintian refused.
He looked refined and fair-skinned, his eyebrows like painted ink and his eyes like clear springs, exuding a natural air of nobility. He was very tall, just a bit thin. Looking at Zhang Jinhe, his face was tanned dark by the sun, his cheeks so thin his eyes protruded; while not ugly, he looked like a quintessential farmer.
"Big brother, why won't you give it to me? I'm thin and dark, too," Zhang Jinlin protested again. He wasn't wrong—in this family, only the eldest brother was fair; everyone else was dark.
Li Baoying hadn't intended to give it to Jinhe, hoping to save it for later, but seeing her youngest son’s reaction, she slammed the bun down next to her second son.
"Jinhe, eat this bun and work hard this afternoon."
"Jinlin, stop thinking only about your stomach! Let's talk again when you actually rank first!"
Zhang Jinlin lowered his head reluctantly, feeling that his mother was picking on him today.
Zhang Jinhe was overwhelmed by the unexpected favor. He looked at the bun, not daring to reach for it. "Mom, I don't need it. I'm full."
"I told you to eat it, so eat it! Don't talk back!" Li Baoying said impatiently.
Zhang Jinhe felt that something was wrong with his mother. Usually, there was never any extra food left for him, yet today, it had actually fallen into his hands!