Chapter 87: Farewell

Today was Ping’an’s “three-day bath” celebration. After breakfast, Mother Zhang, as usual, prepared all the items requested by the midwife: a new comb, new soap, new towel, navel pin, warming pot, new wooden tray, thick cloth, pastries, tea leaves, copper tea tray, scallions, ginger slices, mugwort leaves, locust branches, hand warmer, raw and cooked eggs, a mallet, and so on.

She also dyed some longans, lychees, raw peanuts, and chestnuts red with red paper. Many of these items she’d already prepared before her grandson was born, so she was quite familiar with the process and handled it all skillfully.

Early that morning, Granny Zhou arrived at the Zhang household alone, bringing two old hens and some handmade baby clothes and shoes. After exchanging a few words with her old in-law, Grandpa Lin, she went to the west wing to visit Zhou Jiao.

When Lin Lishan and her daughter saw the old lady, both had tears in their eyes. Granny Zhou had worked so hard to raise Jiaojiao, and Lin Lishan felt deep respect and guilt toward her mother-in-law.

Granny Zhou smiled at the mother and daughter, gently stroked little Ping’an, and said, “You shouldn’t cry during your confinement. Today is a happy day for our baby—you should be smiling. Now that I see you two together, the stone in my heart has finally dropped. Shanshan, you’ve suffered all these years, tossed about by our family’s troubles. The Zhou family owes you. Treat Jiaojiao well—she’s a filial child. If she hadn’t been forced, she would never have fallen out with them. She’s always kept things bottled up inside, just like her father, never telling outsiders. She’s endured so much these years, all because that old man was muddle-headed. From now on, don’t bother with Zhou family matters. Whoever comes to you, just ignore them. Live your own life well.”

Zhou Jiao pulled Granny Zhou to sit down and said, “Grandma, I just feel sorry for you. You raised me, and I haven’t even had a chance to repay you, but I keep worrying you. If you ever have any wishes, just tell me and I’ll make sure to do it. And about the box you sent over—I’ve told my mother about it. She should know that I have a good grandmother.”

Sitting on the kang, Granny Zhou was silent for a while. She sighed, looked at the mother and daughter, hesitated, then said, “There’s nothing for you to feel sorry about. As long as you’re happy, that’s all I want. It’s good you told your mother, but that box isn’t from me. When I met your grandfather, I was already at rock bottom—how could I have such nice things? You saw the deed, right? I couldn’t possibly buy you a house so far away. That box was always yours. When you were little, I didn’t dare give it to you for fear of trouble. Someone secretly gave it to me, specifically asking me to pass it on to you.

All these years, I’ve been anxious, not daring to tell anyone. Now that you’re both here, I wanted to explain. I’m afraid I don’t have much time left, and if I don’t say anything, no one will know. Just think—who would give you a house and valuable jewelry for no reason?

I was so worried, I never dared breathe a word. You two should pretend this never happened and hide the box well. I don’t know what kind of trouble happened, and your grandfather was never contacted. Don’t tell anyone about this—never. Just thinking about it makes my heart ache. Jiaojiao, your father would never do anything bad. He’s my son—I know his character. Ask your mother—if he were a bad man, would she have waited all these years?”

With tears in her eyes, Lin Lishan hugged the old lady and whispered, “Mom, don’t worry, everything’s fine now. Her father isn’t a bad man—he’s a hero of this country. He went on a mission. He’ll be back soon. Even my father didn’t know he and my eldest brother were on a mission. Now they’re coming home. Mom, he’s really coming home.”

Granny Zhou covered her eyes with her trembling hands. After a long while, she slowly moved them away, and silent tears streamed down her face—tears of both sorrow and joy. She didn’t make a sound, just let the tears flow.

“Good, good, good. My son is coming home. I’ve hoped for this for so many years, worried for so many years. As long as he’s back, that’s all that matters.”

Lin Lishan got up and wiped the tears from the old lady’s face with a towel. She understood how she felt—when she first got the news, she’d hidden in her room and cried and laughed for a whole day, worrying her father so much that he stayed with her all day.

“Mom, don’t get too excited. Hardly anyone knows about this yet, so you have to keep it secret. He should be back before the New Year. When he’s back, I’ll go with him to visit you. We all have to stay happy and wait for his return.”

“Yes, I know. I won’t tell anyone. If others find out, it could put him in danger. Shanshan, you good child, you’ve finally made it through. You were only eighteen when you married in, and you never had a few good years before the family fell apart. Yet you still waited for him all these years. Now it’s all right. I can rest easy now, even if I leave this world.” Granny Zhou hugged Lin Lishan and patted her back.

Lin Lishan, delighted, said to Granny Zhou, “Mom, don’t say such unlucky things. You have to live a long life and watch little Ping’an grow up, get married, and have children. You don’t know—on the day Jiaojiao’s pregnancy news reached the capital, that afternoon we received word from the authorities that her father and uncle were alive. The whole family says this child is a lucky star.”

Relatives and friends arrived one after another. Close relatives brought gifts for Zhou Jiao—oil cakes, eggs, brown sugar, as well as clothes, shoes, and socks for Ping’an.

By noon, the weather had warmed up and the “three-day bath” ceremony began. Everyone gathered in the main hall, and Mother Zhang even lit the stove.

The main tool for the ceremony was a large basin, and the midwife presided. Today was a big day for her—everything in the tray would be hers.

Hot water boiled with locust branches and mugwort was poured into the basin. Grandpa Lin led the way, adding a ladle of clean water. Paper money and certificates were placed on the tea tray, and Lin Lishan added silver dollars, copper coins, and paper notes. The relatives and friends present each took turns adding paper money, certificates, copper coins, peanuts, eggs, dates, longans, chestnuts, and so on to the basin—this was called “adding to the basin.”

If you added clean water, the midwife would say, “May your life flow like running water, may you be clever and quick-witted.”

If you added dates, longans, chestnuts, or other auspicious fruits, she’d say, “Dates for early sons, may you have noble children; longans for success, may you win top honors three times in a row.”

The relatives and friends watching burst into laughter at her words.

After “adding to the basin,” the midwife picked up the prepared mallet and stirred the basin, reciting, “Stir once, stir twice, stir three times—big brother leads little brother to run. Seventies, eighties, tousled hair, mischievous kids, come one, come all!”

Only then did the baby’s bath begin. Ping’an, chilled by the air, cried loudly, which worried Zhang Guoqing standing nearby. But everyone thought it was not only not a bad omen, but actually lucky—this was called “resounding basin.”

As the midwife bathed the baby, she quietly muttered blessings, though no one else could hear what she said, mindful of things best left unsaid.

After the bath, Ping’an was wrapped in a red quilt. The midwife gently tapped him three times with a scallion, saying, “One tap for cleverness (since ‘cong’—clever—sounds like ‘scallion’ in Chinese), two taps for wit.”

Then she told the baby’s father, Zhang Guoqing, to throw the scallion onto the roof. Before he left, he quickly had someone take the baby back inside—it was cold outside.

With the ceremony over, it was time for the “three-day noodles.” The women from the main and third branches of the Zhang family had come at dawn to help prepare the dough, just waiting for the ceremony to end to serve everyone.

By noon, the noodles were ready, served in bowls with bone broth, topped with slices of pork belly and a sprinkle of scallions—delicious and fragrant. The bowls were carried to the main hall. Luckily, Zhang Guoqing had brought back plenty of meat the day before, so everyone could eat their fill, their lips glistening with oil. All agreed that the Zhang family was truly generous—the noodles were hearty and plentiful.

When the children asked for seconds, the adults tried to stop them, but Mother Zhang wasn’t stingy—she had all the noodles cooked and served until there was nothing left.

In the main hall, the women ate and chatted loudly, talking about happenings in their own villages, distant relatives, and their daily lives. The children counted the candies in their pockets, happily eating the noodles fed to them by the adults. The older kids, having finished their noodles, ran outside with their candies, full of joy."