Chapter 44: Husband and Wife Open Their Hearts (Part 1)

“No, back then even a single blade of grass was precious. You only got straw sandals in winter, and that was considered lucky. Many adults had never worn shoes, let alone kids. Even now, you can see some families in the village whose children still go barefoot. You haven’t really wandered around the village much—your playmates all come from better-off families. The poorer kids don’t have time to mess around with you; they have to help out in the fields. In our village, there are several families who take turns wearing the same cotton-padded jacket when they go out in winter. That friend of yours, Gouzi—his uncle’s cousin next door is already 25 but too poor to get married. They used his 15-year-old sister in a marriage exchange to get him a wife. That little sister, though she’s 15, looks at most 12. She was married off to a 30-year-old widower. On her wedding day, she had to borrow clothes from our house.

Our village is actually considered well-off. When winter comes and you don’t see a soul outside, it’s because no one has enough clothes to wear. Cotton jackets require ration coupons for both fabric and cotton. Most girls don’t even have cotton jackets—at best, they wear patched-up padded jackets, stuffed with old cotton and bits of straw. The worst off are places like Xialin Village and Chenjia Village—they can’t even pay their grain taxes, always in arrears every year. Where would they get money or coupons? They can’t even feed themselves. There are so many bachelors in those two villages that they’re almost at the point of sharing wives. Of course, in the new society, no one dares do that openly. No one wants to marry girls from those villages, and no girl dares marry into them either. If you marry in, you have to support your own family; if you marry out, you don’t even know if you’ll be safe. So what do they do? They do marriage exchanges.”

After Er (the second brother) finished, he kept laughing and looked at Xiao Wu (the fifth brother), who was also laughing. Their laughter made Zhang Guoqing’s scalp tingle. “Dad, look at Second Brother—he’s laughing so hard it’s making my skin crawl.”

“Dad, look at him, still clueless. One day he’ll get ambushed and won’t even know why,” Second Brother said with a meaningful grin. “Do you know why yesterday, when you went to Xialin Village and got into a fight, nobody stepped in to break it up? You used to be the king of the kids around here.”

Zhang Guoqing wasn’t stupid—his eyes darted. “Damn, so that’s why someone dared to ambush me? They’re just jealous of me, aren’t they? Jiao Jiao is the wife I raised since we were little—what business is it of theirs?”

Father Zhang patted him on the head. “Silly boy, what do you mean your childhood wife? If you go off to join the army, that little wife of yours will fly away. Why don’t you let your second brother tell you about the rumors going around about the Zhou family?”

Second Brother cleared his throat. “Ever since Zhou Xiaozheng—your father-in-law—married General Lin’s daughter, Old Man Zhou hasn’t worked in the fields. With their salaries, the whole family only has the eldest son working, earning six work points a day. The Zhou family married Huang Zhaodi from the Huang family. Thanks to their daughter’s good looks, the Huang family’s conditions are now even better than city folks, even though no one works in the city. They used to be so poor they couldn’t even afford to eat. Now their grandson has married into a good family. After Jiao Jiao’s two cousins got married, their wives’ families also became better off. And Jiao Jiao’s eldest cousin, Zhou Xue, married Wang Youlin from the Wang family, bringing a huge dowry with her.

Now, people are saying the Zhou family has lifted five families out of poverty, all thanks to the second branch. One Zhou Jiao is supporting five villages in the township. Ha! Want to know which five families? Let me tell you: the Huang family (Huang Zhaodi’s), the Li family (Zhou Liru’s), the two cousins’ wives’ families, and Zhou Xue’s Wang family.

A lot of people are watching the Lin family to see how they’ll react—everyone’s waiting for the drama. The main thing is, the Zhou family is just too arrogant. Do you know what Zhou Xue says outside? She says, ‘Our family lacks everything except money and coupons. My little aunt treats me better than a daughter. If we hadn’t stayed here, we’d have gone to Beijing. Who wants to stay in this godforsaken place? If my grandpa stamps his foot in Beijing, the whole city would shake three times.’”

Zhang Guoqing’s face turned dark, veins bulging, teeth clenched. Eldest and second brother were startled. “Xiao Wu, don’t get mad. No one’s saying anything bad about our family. Everyone knows we’re doing well. Besides, with Jiao Jiao’s dowry moved over, the Zhou family’s already become a laughingstock.”

“I’m fine. But if I don’t do something, people will think I’m a coward. Since those people have no shame, let’s just rip the mask off. Dad, I wasn’t home today—did anyone come looking for you?”

Father Zhang scratched his head. “I wasn’t home all afternoon. No one came by in the evening either.”

Eldest brother chimed in, confused, “Someone did come looking for you—two people, in fact. You weren’t home, so I told them to come back tomorrow. One was Big Sis’s father-in-law, and the other was our uncle. Both said they had something to discuss.”

Zhang Guoqing looked at his father. “Dad, I want to break off this engagement for good. Otherwise, it’ll just bring more trouble. Did you hear what they’re saying? ‘If my grandpa stamps his foot in Beijing, the whole city will shake three times.’ If rumors like that keep spreading, people will think Jiao Jiao said it. That’s just asking for trouble.”

Father Zhang glanced at his other two sons, then back at him, took a sip of wine, and said, “Don’t rush. Calm down and think it through before you act. And think about Jiao Jiao—after all, she’s still a Zhou.”

Second Brother looked at their father, then at Xiao Wu. “Dad, are you hiding something from us? Why not just tell everyone?”

“It’s better you don’t know for now. In a few days, everything will come to light. There’s no point talking about it now. The key is to make these rumors as big and as beneficial as possible, so that if something happens later, no one can blame our family for not stepping in.

All those things belong to Jiao Jiao, but the Zhou family hid them from her. Didn’t the post office require signatures? Jiao Jiao didn’t know, but Xiao Wu found out. This morning at the Zhou house, Xiao Wu exposed everything, so now things are out in the open. Old Man Zhou wants someone to put in a good word—otherwise, why would your brother-in-law’s father and your uncle come looking for me today?”

“You mean, all those watches, clothes, and dowries were sent to Jiao Jiao by the Lin family, but the Zhou family hid them from her? Jiao Jiao didn’t know, but Xiao Wu found out at the post office? Now that the Zhou family knows Jiao Jiao is aware, they’re afraid the couple will tell the Lin family?” Second Brother couldn’t believe it—how shameless could they be?

Eldest brother finally understood. “So the Zhou family can’t bear to part with the stuff, but they’re afraid Xiao Wu will tell the Lin family, so they’re sending people to plead?”

Father Zhang nodded but didn’t say more, afraid he’d let something slip. He couldn’t reveal anything before the Lin family arrived. Looking at Xiao Wu, he wasn’t worried at all. His own son was playing a much bigger game.

“Dad, I’ve made up my mind. This has to be made public. Jiao Jiao’s still in confinement, so it’d be best if she could come forward herself, but there’s no time for that. Everything’s happening at once.

Originally, if Jiao Jiao could just go to the Wang family and slap Zhou Xue in front of everyone, then explain everything, the news would spread and we could push things along. But now, if we stir things up before the baby’s even had its third-day bath, people will wonder why we didn’t say anything sooner. We’ll lose some sympathy that way.

Second Brother, I need Second Sister-in-law’s help. She has friends in the village who can spread the word, and I’ll get my buddies in the county to help too. It might affect Second Sister-in-law’s reputation, though—what do you think? Is it okay?”

Second Brother nodded. “It’s fine. It’s the truth, and it won’t hurt your sister-in-law’s reputation. She and Jiao Jiao are family. Just tell me what you want, and I’ll let her know so she can start spreading the word tomorrow.”"