Chapter 1: Miaoqian Village

Chongcheng County is located in the water towns of Jiangnan, where water networks crisscross fertile land.

Ten miles west of Chongcheng County lies Miaqian Village.

A river, more than one foot wide, runs from west to east through Miaoqian Village. There is a stone bridge over the river, with stone steps extending into the water on one side. Villagers fetch water and wash clothes here, and if a boat arrives in Miaoqian Village, it docks here.

This is the village’s small dock, locally known as Hebutou.

By now, it’s already midsummer, very hot. Every evening, villagers come to the riverside by Hebutou to cool off, and some wash and bathe here.

When Jin Xiaoye brought her sons, Li Damao and Li Ermao, here, there were already quite a few people.

On the side of the stone bridge, some people have put benches together to play dice and gamble with soybeans.

Jin Xiaoye’s father-in-law is one of them. A small man, half a head shorter than Jin Xiaoye, he holds a bag of soybeans and stands out in the crowd.

Jin Xiaoye glared at her father-in-law, who was engrossed in his game, and took her two sons to the riverbank to wash up.

Today, Li Damao and Li Ermao followed her to the fields and got covered in mud, so they needed a good scrub.

“Mom, it hurts!”

“Mom, be gentle!”

“Mom, it’s itching!”

…

Jin Xiaoye scrubbed vigorously, and Li Damao and Li Ermao cried out in pain.

It wasn’t until the two little mud monkeys were cleaned up and dressed in clean shorts to play in the temple that Jin Xiaoye, exhausted, started washing clothes.

The villagers looked on with sympathy.

Some people further away from Jin Xiaoye began to whisper, “Jin Xiaoye is really unlucky. Shortly after getting married, her husband ran away.”

“Her unreliable father-in-law loves gambling more than working.”

“You can’t trust outsiders.”

“But Jin Xiaoye can’t blame anyone else. She chose that man herself.”

“She still refuses to remarry…”

Jin Xiaoye’s husband, Li Qingzhi, came to Miaoqian Village five years ago after fleeing a disaster in his hometown. It was said that his entire family perished.

At that time, the Yao River flooded, drowning countless people, and even their area suffered a loss of crops due to heavy rain… Many refugees came to their area at that time, and Li Qingzhi was one of them.

Refugees like him were usually not allowed to stay in the village since they had no money or land to offer. However, Li Qingzhi had money with him. He bought two acres of farmland in Miaoqian Village, built a small house on it, and even adopted an old bachelor, Li Laogen, from the village as his father, thus becoming a member of Miaoqian Village.

He even married the capable village girl, Jin Xiaoye.

At that time, many people envied Jin Xiaoye. Firstly, because Li Qingzhi could buy land, he must have money. Secondly, he was an educated man. Even if he couldn’t pass the imperial examinations and become an official, he could earn money by helping people in the county copy books or by being a shopkeeper.

But who would have thought that not two months after marrying Jin Xiaoye, Li Qingzhi disappeared.

There were rumors at the time that Li Qingzhi looked down on Jin Xiaoye and left her.

Since then, Jin Xiaoye went from being the envy of everyone in the village, marrying a scholar, to being a pitiful abandoned woman.

What’s worse, Jin Xiaoye was pregnant. Seven months after Li Qingzhi left, she gave birth to twin sons.

With an unreliable father-in-law, Jin Xiaoye had to take care of the children and work hard for the family’s livelihood. It was extremely difficult. While the villagers sympathized with her, they also liked to gossip about her.

But no one dared to speak such things in front of Jin Xiaoye. After all, Jin Xiaoye was a woman who could chase her own father-in-law crying and howling all over the village while holding a door latch.

The villagers feared Jin Xiaoye, but they didn’t fear her two children.

Although Li Damao and Li Ermao were twins, they didn’t look alike.

Both boys, over four years old, were skinny and dark. There were many small scratches on their faces, hands, and legs from playing, but because they were good-looking and had just been cleaned up, they looked quite adorable among the rural children like them.

The two were playing by the river when a man who had a conflict with Jin Xiaoye started spouting nonsense at them, “Damao, Ermao, when will your dad come back? Does he not want you anymore?”

The two children ignored him and continued playing with grass leaves.

The man became annoyed and spoke again, “Your mother is having an affair with Da Zhuang from the neighboring village. When she remarries, she won’t want you like your dad. By then, you’ll become unwanted wild children.”

“You’re the unwanted wild one!” Li Damao suddenly retorted.

Li Ermao was even more direct. He grabbed a clod of dirt nearby and threw it at the man’s face, then both of them ran away while yelling, “He’s hitting us!”

“Adults are bullying kids!”

The man, hit by the clod and then retaliated with a rake, became furious and chased after them, shouting, “You two untaught bastards!”

“You’re the bastard, bullying children! What kind of man are you?” Jin Xiaoye rushed over from the riverbank and stood in front of her two sons.

“Jin Xiaoye, it was your two sons who threw mud at me!”

“How could they throw mud at you when they were behaving well?” Jin Xiaoye, petite but with a loud voice, argued back.

“Untaught bastards without a father, what can’t they do? Last time they even ganged up to beat my child and steal firewood from my house!”

Jin Xiaoye retorted, “Was that your firewood? Clearly, it was your son, that little beast who doesn’t even know who his father is, who stole from my house!”

The two of them argued like this, with some people trying to calm Jin Xiaoye down and others trying to calm the man down. Jin Xiaoye’s father-in-law hid behind the crowd, too afraid to show himself.

Just then, someone suddenly shouted, “Jin Xiaoye, your husband is back!”

Both Jin Xiaoye and the people present were stunned.

The person continued, “He fainted at the village entrance! Quick, let’s get a few people to carry him home!”

Without delay, everyone rushed to the village entrance and indeed saw a man lying unconscious on the ground. Who else could it be if not Li Qingzhi?

The villagers hurriedly carried him back to Jin Xiaoye’s house, then went to check on Li Qingzhi’s condition.

Li Qingzhi, who had been away for over four years, looked like he had suffered greatly. There were many bruises and scars on his body, and he was so thin that he seemed to be just skin and bones. What’s more, some of his wounds had festered, and he had a high fever.

After taking a look, some experienced elders told Jin Xiaoye, “This man is probably beyond saving.”

Li Qingzhi lay on the bed with weak breathing, unable to wake up. With so many injuries and being in such a weakened state, he probably wouldn’t survive.

Even if he did survive… with his body so weak, he wouldn’t live long or be able to do any work.

Although Li Qingzhi was an educated man, he used to be a tall and sturdy young man. How did he become like this after just a few years?

Moreover… everyone thought he had returned to his hometown after being missing for several years, but looking at him now… could it be otherwise?

The villagers all thought Li Qingzhi couldn’t be saved, so there was no need to spend money to call a doctor. But Jin Xiaoye, after looking at the man on the bed, insisted, “He’s still alive, we have to try to save him!”

She never believed that Li Qingzhi had run away. She thought he had encountered trouble and couldn’t come back… and now that he had finally returned, he must be saved!

Gritting her teeth, Jin Xiaoye asked her father-in-law to look after the two children and set out with all her savings to the county town, planning to bring back a doctor.

Seeing this, the villagers sighed.

Jin Xiaoye was quite unlucky. After finally bringing her husband back, he was on the brink of death. Yet, she still planned to spend money to treat him.

If she spent all the family’s money on this man, Jin Xiaoye’s future would be even more difficult!

When someone in their village got sick, they all endured and managed somehow. Calling a doctor… the diagnosis fee, medicine cost, and treatment expenses combined could bankrupt a family.

But Jin Xiaoye was stubborn. She went to the county town to call a doctor for Li Qingzhi, spending all her savings. However, despite receiving treatment, Li Qingzhi remained unconscious, and his fever persisted.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye. Then, one night, Li Qingzhi suddenly stopped breathing, but after a while, his breathing resumed.