Chapter 11: The Past of the Zhou Family

After the whole family finished dinner, Zhang Guoqing felt completely exhausted, his body barely able to hold up. He said a few words to everyone, then returned to his room and finally fell asleep at ease beside Zhou Jiao.

Zhou Jiao was awakened by the sound of the baby crying. Still groggy, she looked around at the unfamiliar room. It took her a while to remember that they had traveled through time, and that she had given birth to a son. Glancing at Zhang Guoqing lying to her right, she smiled.

Mother Zhang, holding the baby, saw that Zhou Jiao was awake. “Jiaojiao, don’t move, just lie down for now. I’ll put the baby next to you. Let Xiao Wu sleep—his head injury hasn’t healed yet, and he’s been out in the cold all day. I’ll go get you something to eat, and tonight I’ll take care of you and the baby. Just the two of us women can handle it.”

Zhou Jiao was delighted to hear Mother Zhang’s words, sensing the deep affection in her tone. Thinking back on her memories of Mother Zhang, Zhou Jiao truly regarded her as her own mother.

Mother Zhang was indeed partial to her youngest son. Normally, she would have let him sleep in the main room for comfort. But since Zhou Jiao had just given birth, and Zhang Guoqing needed to go to her family’s house early the next morning to deliver the good news, she had no choice but to arrange for the two women to care for the baby. Seeing that even with all the commotion, he hadn’t woken up, she silently cursed those troublemakers from Lin Village—forgetting that they hadn’t fared well either, each of them beaten black and blue, with two even suffering broken bones and being detained by the militia.

Zhou Jiao chuckled softly, “Mom, it’s all thanks to you. Otherwise, the two of us wouldn’t know how to take care of the baby. Look at how tiny he is—we’re even scared to hold him. Mom, look at this little thing, all red like a baby monkey. He’s so funny-looking. Will he be able to find a wife when he grows up?”

Mother Zhang pretended to swat Zhou Jiao’s arm, laughing, “You silly girl! Babies grow fast. This little guy was born weighing over six jin—nice and sturdy. He’s sure to be handsome. Don’t worry. Tomorrow, when Xiao Wu goes to your family to share the good news, is there anything else he should say?”

Hearing Mother Zhang mention her own family, Zhou Jiao was momentarily at a loss, quickly searching her memories.

Her original identity was a bit awkward. How to put it—she had grown up with her grandmother, as her father had died in battle shortly after she was born.

Her grandmother was the only daughter of an imperial physician’s family in Beijing, born into wealth and raised in comfort, her hands never touching rough work. She was betrothed from a young age to a well-matched family, a renowned scholarly household. But on the very day she married, before she could even consummate the marriage, the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing. The Japanese, accusing her husband’s family of harboring Boxers, arrested all the men and massacred the entire household.

Her grandmother and her maid managed to escape by disguising themselves and sneaking out through the kitchen during the chaos, returning to her natal family. But her parents, fearing implication and with the city in turmoil, quickly gathered their valuables and, along with the housekeeper and maid, fled south to a rural estate, living in hiding and relying on the family’s medical skills and what little they had brought.

After a few years, her great-grandparents passed away, leaving the housekeeper and maid to care for her grandmother, whose life had become increasingly difficult. By chance, she reunited with her childhood sweetheart—Zhou Jiao’s grandfather—who had been the only survivor of his family, rescued by the Boxers. When he returned to look for his family, everyone was gone, and even the house in the city was abandoned. Seeking revenge, he joined the army.

The couple then followed the army through many twists and turns, eventually joining the People’s Army. The housekeeper retired locally, and the maid married. With no other attachments, the couple remained on the front lines, and as their children grew, they returned with Zhou Jiao’s uncle, aunt, and father to the Zhou family’s ancestral village in the Northeast. Zhou Jiao’s grandfather still hoped that some family members might have survived and would return to pay respects at the ancestral graves.

Later, the youngest son—Zhou Jiao’s father—secretly enlisted in the army, where he met and fell in love with Zhou Jiao’s mother, Lin Lishan, a member of the army’s performing troupe. Two years after their marriage, Zhou Jiao was born. Not long after, her father, without telling her mother—who was still in confinement—left a letter and, together with Lin Lishan’s eldest brother, joined a secret mission. Both died in action, leaving no remains behind. Lin Lishan was devastated, unable to care for her newborn daughter, so Zhou Jiao’s grandparents rushed from the army to bring her home and raise her.

Lin Lishan never remarried, always saying, “If dead, I want to see the body; if alive, I want to see the person.” She believed they were still alive somewhere and would return someday, refusing to accept reality. For reasons unknown, apart from sending child support every year, she never returned home, not even for Zhou Jiao’s wedding.

In Zhou Jiao’s memories, aside from photos, she had never seen her mother. She heard that her mother was still single, rejecting many marriage proposals. Her grandparents always comforted her, saying her mother loved her, but just couldn’t accept her husband’s death and needed time. Still, Zhou Jiao resented her mother deep down.

As a child, her friends could act spoiled with their mothers, but aside from her grandparents’ affection, Zhou Jiao had to be wary of her aunt’s attitude. Her aunt, Chen Zhaodi, enjoyed the money and supplies sent by the Lin family, but secretly envied and resented her widowed sister-in-law. Lin Lishan’s high status and beauty made her aunt feel both inferior and proud, leading her to mistreat Zhou Jiao when the grandparents weren’t looking. The things sent by her mother’s family were always given to her cousin first, and the money was used for the whole household.

When Zhou Jiao finally turned ten and understood the ways of the world, she said she wanted to find her mother. The only time she called, her mother spoke coldly, saying she was busy performing and had no time to see her, telling her to stay home and be filial to her grandparents. Zhou Jiao, in tears, was heartbroken. From then on, she never mentioned her mother again, leaving her letters unopened and unanswered, as if by ignoring them she wouldn’t miss her.

Zhoujia Village and Zhangjia Village were neighboring villages, separated by a river and connected by a stone bridge. Zhoujia Village was closer to the mountains. Zhou Jiao’s grandfather was a veteran revolutionary, and her grandmother had been a military doctor in her youth. The couple was highly respected in the area.

Zhou Jiao was a beautiful girl, and it was said that her maternal grandparents were both soldiers, as were her uncles and her mother. In those days, being a soldier was highly regarded. Aside from workers, soldiers received government rations for food, clothing, and housing, a monthly salary, and military scrip that could be used nationwide, with priority access at supply stores.

Except for her father, who died unexpectedly, no one knew that since Zhou Jiao could remember, aside from receiving clothes and money from her maternal grandparents, she had never seen them. They claimed to love her, but never took her to live with them.

Occasionally, she would overhear her aunt muttering, saying things like her eldest uncle died alongside Zhang’s father, her second uncle was stationed elsewhere, her grandfather was too important to visit old comrades, and her grandmother was seriously ill again. “That sister-in-law is really strange—so beautiful, yet she won’t remarry or raise her daughter, just leaves her behind. Yes, just leaves her.”"