Chapter 009: “I Want to Go Back to the Modern World”

Sitting in their main hall, Mama Gu Hua’e was still crying.

Little brother Xiaohua leaned against Mama, gently patting her back.

Papa Wang Peigen sighed. “There are only a few vials of Dolantin left at the clinic. I’ll have to figure out a way to get some more from the county hospital tomorrow.”

“Aren’t those injections addictive? Can’t we not give them to her?” Grandma Wang asked.

“This illness doesn’t hurt much at the beginning, but the pain becomes unbearable later on. Without Dolantin, she won’t be able to stand it,” Papa explained. “The hospital was supposed to prescribe some for us to take home, but we fled so fast, we didn’t bring any medicine. I’ll have to come up with something.”

“There probably won’t be much of that stuff in the county either, right?” Mama asked between sobs.

“I’ll search around. I’ll also ask the barefoot doctors in other villages. If that doesn’t work, I’ll go to Sucheng and look for a few old acquaintances from our re-education days to see if they can get any.”

“I’ll go to Chefang tomorrow and see if I can buy some water chestnuts. Eels are probably impossible to find now, but I have to get her at least some water chestnuts.” As she spoke, Gu Hua’e couldn’t hold it in and started sobbing again.

Chefang was a nearby town known for water chestnuts.

“What a tragedy. How could she catch a disease like this? Good people don’t get good endings,” Grandma Wang sighed. “You can try Chefang, but water chestnuts are from before New Year. It’s past Qingming now—might be hard to find. Anyway, you all probably didn’t sleep well last night. Rest early. You’ll have a lot on your plate.”

She stood up and waved to Xiaomei. “Let’s go. Time to sleep.”

Lying in bed, Xiaomei cautiously asked, “Grandma, is Grandma Gu going to die?”

Hearing her granddaughter sniffle, Grandma Wang sighed deeply. “Life and death are fate. But your grandma has suffered too much—it’s worse than death.”

“Grandma, I want to go to the modern world again tomorrow. I saw water chestnuts at the market there. I want to use the money that nice lady gave me to buy some water chestnuts, maybe even eels. And it’s more developed there, right? Maybe there’s medicine that can cure Grandma.” As she said this, Xiaomei started feeling hopeful.

Grandma Wang was touched by her granddaughter’s filial heart, but she was also scared.

Honestly, she hadn’t planned to let Xiaomei go back. It was too unbelievable.

She worried Xiaomei would run into bad people—get tricked, hurt, or even trafficked.

Most terrifying of all, what if Xiaomei went and couldn’t come back?

If they hadn’t been so busy today, she would’ve uprooted those four rose saplings already.

Now, hearing Xiaomei mumble in her sleep and thinking of her sick in-law, she wanted to fulfill the child’s wish so she wouldn’t have any regrets.

Thinking of how clever Xiaomei was—observant since young, well-liked by all—she figured she probably wouldn’t be bullied over there.

As for traffickers… from Xiaomei’s description, that place was full of rich people and stores overflowing with goods. Probably no traffickers there.

Sigh. Thinking about it positively or negatively makes all the difference. All she could do now was chant, Amitabha.

“Tell me again about that world?” she asked.

So Xiaomei described everything she saw and experienced in that other place again. Grandma Wang kept interrupting her with questions. Some Xiaomei could answer, some she couldn’t.

Despite her smarts, she was still only a nine-year-old girl.

Xiaomei talked until she was exhausted and unknowingly fell asleep. What she didn’t know was that Grandma Wang barely slept at all that night.

At the sound of roosters crowing, Xiaomei woke up. She had gone to bed late, so she was sluggish this morning.

But remembering her important task today, she perked right up, leapt from bed, dressed, and ran outside.

Grandma hadn’t said whether she was allowed to go or not, so Xiaomei decided to try persuading her again—with some extra charm.

In the kitchen, Grandma and Mama were making breakfast.

Grandma glanced at Xiaomei and said to her daughter-in-law, “Bring a bowl of congee for your mother later. I also fried an egg—make sure she eats something. You go to work today. I’ll head to town and see if anyone’s heading to Chefang. Maybe I can find some water chestnuts.”

Xiaomei’s eyes lit up—this meant Grandma was letting her go!

She happily grabbed her toiletries and skipped under the eaves to brush her teeth.

Grandma smiled faintly at her, then frowned again.

After breakfast, everyone except little Xiaohua, who was still sleeping, started their day. Gu Hua’e and Wang Peigen took food to visit Grandma Gu. Xiaomei checked that the rose bushes were still there and obediently sat on the bed, waiting for Grandma.

After a while, Grandma Wang came in with a bundle and sat beside Xiaomei. Smiling, she said, “To honor my good granddaughter’s filial piety, I’ll let you go this time. Go find Aunt Zhou and give her these eggs to thank her for the money and food she gave you.”

She opened the bundle, revealing two plastic lunch boxes with five fresh eggs each. “These eggs are from our hens. They’re fresh. Tell her it’s from us and she must accept. And return her empty boxes.”

“Also, be clever. Try to figure out if that place is really Sucheng. If not, then where? If yes, what year is it? Is there a Guanqian Street? Where exactly does Aunt Zhou live? What are prices like at the market?”

She sighed. “Remember as much as you can. And besides Aunt Zhou, don’t talk to strangers or eat anything they give you. If anything feels off, go to Aunt Zhou immediately. Before you enter or exit through the roses, check that no one’s around. Never let anyone know where you came from. Understand?”

Xiaomei nodded. “Got it.”

“Go change your clothes, and wear the best-fitting shoes. If someone asks where you’re from, say you came to the hospital with your parents to visit Grandma and ran away when things felt strange. Don’t worry about the stuff you brought. Got it?”

“Got it!” Xiaomei nodded firmly and put on her newest, most fashionable outfit.

Fully dressed, she followed Grandma to the backyard. At her soft count of “1, 2, 3,” she disappeared.

Grandma Wang nearly collapsed from shock, but steadied herself and walked back into the house.

She brought out a stool and started weeding the backyard.

The weeds hadn’t grown much yet, and Xiaomei’s mom was diligent, so the yard was already quite clean.

Grandma Wang just slowly picked at the grass. Passersby greeted her, saying things like, “Auntie, you’re up early weeding? So hardworking. These veggies in the back are going to be too much to eat soon!”

Grandma knew exactly what they meant. She had never done farm work, and it was her daughter-in-law who started this yard garden. Today was a special case.

She couldn’t control other people’s words and didn’t care to explain. She just weeded slowly and responded with short pleasantries.

When little Xiaohua called for Grandma, she got up and went outside, locking the backyard gate behind her.

The living room had a window facing the backyard.

Grandma kept watch over both the backyard and her grandson eating breakfast.

Then she took scissors and a basket and brought him outside.

There was a patch of Indian aster (malantou) in the yard—perfect for harvesting this time of year. Grandma handed him the tools. “Stay here and clip the greens. Later I’ll take you to visit Grandma.”

Seven-year-old Xiaohua had been using scissors to pick malantou for years, so she wasn’t worried.

“Grandma is going to visit Great-Grandpa’s house in Hebei real quick. Be good and wait here. Don’t let anyone in.”

She locked the gate and hurried off.

Xiaohua didn’t fuss. To him, the backyard was his own “herb garden” where he could play all day.