Chapter 4: The Scheming Old Granny

Unfortunately, there had been very little rain these past two years.

The mountain spring water trickling through the bamboo pole went drip, drip, drip, like an old man who couldn’t finish peeing.

Normally, the household collected the water in a jar.

It took three days to fill a small jar, barely enough for daily use. If they wanted to wash up, they had to fetch water from the river.

On the right side of the front yard stood a persimmon tree. In summer it provided shade; in autumn, it bore sweet persimmons. Even if they couldn’t eat them all, they could dry them into persimmon cakes. During winter, having a piece while warming by the fire brought a special kind of enjoyment.

Persimmon trees were common in the village; almost every household had one.

But the Jiang family was too poor. Last year, the persimmons they harvested were taken by the eldest and second uncles to town to sell, exchanging for some coarse rice, which barely got the Jiang family through winter.

After walking around the front yard, Jiang Fubao headed to the backyard.

The backyard was quite large. On the left was a pigpen, though no pigs were raised there. On the right were two thatched huts—one a latrine, the other a storage room containing farming tools. In the backyard garden, vegetables had just sprouted. According to memory, they were likely eggplants or similar crops.

After inspecting the Jiang household, she returned to her room, closed her eyes, and began planning for the future.

Unconsciously, she fell asleep again.

When she woke up, it was already broad daylight.

She was alone in the room. Outside the window, faint sounds of someone chopping wood with an axe could be heard: clang, clang, clang.

On the small wooden table by the bed lay a set of clean clothes—belonging to the original owner.

They were slightly large, with the cuffs and pant legs folded twice and roughly sewn with hemp thread.

Even at seven years old, they would still fit her comfortably.

Jiang Fubao picked up the clothes and studied how to put them on.

It was early spring; the cotton jacket had already been removed.

Unlike the modern custom of “cover in spring, cool in autumn,” here they preferred “chill in spring, warmth in autumn.” So over her inner garment, she wore only this thin, narrow-sleeved outer coat.

It had four or five patches—here and there—each in a different color: yellow, gray, black.

No aesthetic appeal at all.

Stepping outside, Jiang Fubao just happened to see Granny come out of the kitchen.

“Fubao, you’re awake! Good girl, you even dressed yourself today. Come, let Granny wash your face. Breakfast will be ready soon. Funny thing, though—last night the rice jar was almost empty, yet this morning it’s fuller again. And the coarse rice looks smaller, yellowish, sticky and soft… I hope it hasn’t gone bad.”

Hearing Granny speak, Jiang Fubao stiffened slightly.

But she realized she was overthinking. She was just a child; Granny wasn’t scolding her, merely muttering to herself.

Granny washed her face roughly with a coarse cloth. Jiang Fubao refused to be fed, taking the bowl and spoon herself to eat the porridge made of millet and coarse rice.

It was a strange texture, neither entirely soft nor hard, not particularly tasty, but bearable.

After breakfast, she sat in the yard, watching Granny mend clothes.

Half an hour later, Zhang Jinlan put away the needles and thread and took Jiang Fubao to the village entrance.

At the village entrance stood a centuries-old tree, evergreen through all seasons.

Regardless of spring, summer, autumn, or winter, women would sit under it, chatting about village gossip, their laughter carrying in all directions.

The villagers jokingly called it the “Long-Tongue Tree.”

Since crops hadn’t yet been sown, everyone had time on their hands.

When they arrived, only a few people were sitting under the tree, chatting.

Jiang Fubao held Granny’s hand obediently, following closely.

“Aunt Lan, come sit. Is your Fubao feeling better? You really scared me yesterday—I just came down the mountain and saw your Tongjin carrying Fubao, soaking wet, back home. Did she fall into the river?”

A young woman, seeing Zhang Jinlan, hurriedly invited her to sit.

“Oh, just mentioning this makes me so angry. Last night, our whole family went to the clan leader’s house to make a fuss. Their third girl secretly took my Fubao to the river and pushed her in! That wretched girl is truly malicious. Did my Fubao ever provoke her? Fortunately, my Tongjin had just finished chopping wood and came down the mountain in time to save Fubao, otherwise my granddaughter would have been killed.”

Hearing Granny speak, Jiang Fubao finally understood.

She realized why Granny had brought her to the village entrance so early that morning: to expose the misdeeds of Jiang’s third girl.

She liked this kind of cunning!

Having grown up in an orphanage, Jiang Fubao had never been a pushover.

She despised cowards, those who wouldn’t fight back when bullied.

What a waste of a life!

“What? Really? Third girl can be that vicious? Usually, she sees me and smiles, calling me aunt, yet secretly she would endanger a life? You really can’t judge a book by its cover—just seven years old and already so cruel. Once she grows up, how will she be? I must keep my children away from her!”

The woman was shocked.

Her house was far from the clan leader’s, so she knew nothing about last night’s events.

“I also heard some noise last night but didn’t dare ask. Jinlan, did third girl really do this?”

Another elderly woman, the same age as Zhang Jinlan, asked skeptically.

“Do you take me for a fool? You know what kind of person I am! Dare to harm my Fubao, she must measure whether she can bear the consequences! That wretched girl confessed after I scolded her a bit. At first, Chen Qiujü wouldn’t admit it, but after I yelled at her, she didn’t even make a sound! In the end, she compensated us with thirty eggs and half a tael of silver. Only then was it over. Otherwise, I would have gone to the authorities to seek justice!”

Thinking of the eggs and silver, Zhang Jinlan couldn’t help but smirk.

The household could barely keep food on the table.

Even when her granddaughter fell into the river, they couldn’t afford a doctor or proper nourishment.

The eggs and silver came at just the right time. If she hadn’t feared causing too much trouble and angering the clan leader, she would have demanded at least five taels of silver.

The clan leader cared about his reputation.

Last night, his door was tightly shut.

Naturally, many villagers were unaware of the incident.

So she came early to this tree to spread the gossip properly.

Compensation alone wasn’t enough.

She wanted Jiang’s third girl to be infamous in the village for life!

Dared to threaten her granddaughter’s life—she would make Jiang’s third girl pay for it her whole life!

Zhang Jinlan smiled with satisfaction.

She continued loudly recounting the misdeeds of Jiang’s third girl. Within half an hour, the tree was surrounded by villagers, including the notorious gossiping women of the village.

Having achieved her goal, Zhang Jinlan finally changed the topic.

“Last year we only had one rainfall, and the fields were terribly dry. If not for the river in the village, the crops might all have withered.”

She looked up at the sky.

It wasn’t yet morning.

The sun was already shining.

If summer came, how could the crops endure?

“Yes, the cold this year is abnormal. A few days ago I went to town to buy grain, and someone said Yinnan Prefecture had a snow disaster before the New Year, with many deaths.”

“Yinnan Prefecture is up north, so snow in winter is normal. But our south is unusually cold this year as well.”

“Hope spring brings more rain. Look at the river—it’s already up to my waist. What will we do?”

“Indeed, otherwise if Fubao had fallen in, there’d be no way to pull her out. The water is very shallow now.”