Chapter 6: Naming

The next day.

The news that the Tan family had given birth to twins spread like wildfire throughout Fengping Village.

Some said they were lucky, while others claimed they had brought suffering upon themselves, living a life of hardship.

The Tan family was used to hearing gossip and paid no attention to it. What was strange, however, was that no one seemed to care about the fact that the second son was no longer stupid.

Tan Yiliang and Tan Erqian set off early in the morning to sell eggs in the county town. Selling eggs as village children was never an easy task; after guarding their stand all morning, they barely saw anyone buy.

By noon, they happened to run into two officials. For some unknown reason, the officials, as if under a spell, bought all the eggs they were holding, paying them a whole two hundred wen.

The two children weren’t greedy. They only took forty wen and bought half a jin of red sugar before heading back to the village.

Red sugar was a rare commodity, and Tan Yiliang carefully tucked it into his chest, hurrying home.

On the way, a few boys from the village saw them and couldn’t help but tease.

“Tan Erqian the fool! Your mother gave birth to two, isn’t that something!”

“An old clam produces pearls, two at once. If you have that kind of skill, why don’t you go check the pigpen!”

“Yeah, hahaha!”

Tan Yiliang was furious when he heard this. He stamped his foot, ready to retort.

But Tan Erqian pulled him back and shouted, “Big Brother, don’t mind them! Let’s hurry home and tell Mother there are wild fruits to eat half a mile ahead!”

Tan Yiliang, still confused, saw his younger brother’s eyes darting around and instantly understood. “Right, right, exactly!”

With that, he quickly followed Tan Erqian as they hurried back.

When the boys heard about the wild fruits, they didn’t wait a moment longer. They immediately rushed forward toward the half-mile mark.

They scrambled and fought, but before they could find the wild fruits, they all fell into a mud pit.

The pit was filled with accumulated dry cow dung, and the stench was unbearable.

It was hard to say whether it was just their bad luck.

What had been a clear, sunny day suddenly turned into a torrential downpour.

The cow dung became soggy, flooding the pit and submerging the group of boys.

Gurgle, gurgle.

A group of boys were blowing bubbles in the cow dung, utterly embarrassed.

It wasn’t long before they all began to wail and cry.

Their cries echoed through half the sky.

At the Tan family’s home.

Tan Yiliang and Tan Erqian had just managed to get home before the rain started. Holding the red sugar, they entered the house and shouted, “Father! Mother! We bought it! We bought it!”

“Bought it back? So soon?” Old Tan  was holding the baby girl and trying to comfort her.

Tan Erqian followed them inside. “That’s right, we were lucky today, sold the eggs for forty wen.”

With that, he placed the remaining twenty wen on the table.

Old Tan looked at the coins and let out a sigh of relief. “Now, your third brother’s medicine money is finally covered.”

Tan Yiliang entered the house, scooped up a ladle of water from the water jar, and drank it in large gulps. He then looked up and asked, “Father, when are we going to bring Third Brother back?”

Old Tan carefully placed the sleeping baby girl on the couch. “No rush, now that we have money, go, take the coins to Dr. Li and let your third brother stay there for a bit longer.”

Tan Yiliang felt a sense of disappointment but picked up the copper coins again and replied, “Yes, Father.”

The third child of the Tan family was the most handsome among the brothers.

His skin was as white as a freshly hatched egg, and his eyes were as bright as stars in the night sky.

Although he was born into a poor farming family, there was an air of nobility about him.

Looking around, not just in Fengping Village but even in Pingyang County, there were few who could compare to Old Tan’s third son.

Unfortunately, the Tan family wasn’t blessed with good luck. A few years ago, this child fell seriously ill, and now he was hanging on to life with the help of Dr. Li’s medicine.

Thankfully, Dr. Li was a kind man, treating it as a good deed, and only charged a little less than a tael of silver each year.

When Tan’s Wife thought about how her third son’s face was always full of worry, she glanced down at the two little babies on the bed and asked Old Tan, “What should we name these two children?”

Old Tan, lighting the stove with some straw, cracked three eggs into the pot and replied, “What else can we name them? Just follow the order of the older brothers—call them Tan Liujin”.

“Sounds good,” Tan’s Wife adjusted the blanket over the baby girl. “But what about our girl? We can’t just name her Tan Qijjin or Tan Bajin, can we?”

Old Tan paused for a moment and added a spoonful of red sugar to the pot. “You’re right. So, what should we name her?”

Although neither of them had much formal education, they were both literate.

After some thought, Old Tan stirred the spoon and smiled. “Wife, it’s July right now, and our daughter is the seventh in line. How about we name her Tan Qiyue (Qi-Seven, Yue- Moon)?”

“Tan Qiyue?” Tan’s Wife muttered softly, her furrowed brow relaxing. “Sounds good. Let’s call her that for now.”

With that, she gently poked at the baby’s chubby face, smiling as she said, “Qiyue, our little Qiyue.”