The New Year’s Eve vigil was a time for the family to sit together on the heated kang bed in the main hall, snacking on homemade or supply-and-marketing-store-bought candies and sunflower seeds, and dreaming of a future when they could finally have enough to eat and wear.
Gray Wolf lay curled up on his owner’s lap, sleeping soundly, his little tail twitching now and then. Wu Tong sat squeezed in next to Wu Jun. It was getting late, and the child kept nodding off like a pecking chicken, occasionally lifting his head to ask, “Is it 12 yet? Can we set off the firecrackers now?”
Setting off firecrackers at midnight on New Year’s Eve was a village tradition. Every family would compete to see whose firecrackers were louder and lasted longer. This year, Wu Jun had bought the firecrackers from the county supply and marketing cooperative—the ones with the most pops.
He glanced at his watch. It was 11:50. Wu Jun woke the child up and brought out a bamboo pole they had prepared, securing it at the gate. By then, Wu Tong had already helped unravel the firecrackers. Wu Jun hung the coiled end of the firecrackers on the bamboo pole. As soon as the sound of firecrackers began echoing through the village, he lit the fuse at the tail end.
With a loud crackling roar, the firecrackers went off. The neighborhood children jumped and cheered with delight. Grandpa Wu and Grandma Wu leaned against each other, watching their grandson’s joyful smile.
“Happy New Year, Little Uncle Tong. The firecrackers are done. Time to sleep.”
“But I need to collect the unexploded ones, or they’ll all be gone by tomorrow,” the child said reluctantly.
“I’ll buy you more if they’re gone. Go to sleep now—if you don’t sleep, you won’t grow up.”
After saying goodnight to his grandparents, Wu Jun took his little uncle back to their room.
“Jun… do you think my brother really doesn’t want me anymore?” the child asked in a low voice, lying next to Wu Jun.
“That’s not something a little kid like you needs to worry about. Tomorrow, our Wu family elders will make your brother come to a decision. We won’t let you get the short end of the stick. And if it comes to that, you can just come live with us.” Wu Jun patted the child’s head and coaxed him to sleep.
On New Year’s Day, the first meal of the year could not involve any cutting tools. After reheating the dumplings from the day before, the family sat down to their first meal of the new year. The entire brigade had over ninety households, more than half of which were surnamed Wu. Everyone was related in some way, and paying New Year’s visits could take an entire day without finishing.
The dumplings had barely been eaten when village children began arriving to kowtow and offer New Year’s greetings to Grandpa and Grandma. Families with distant ties would hand out a few candies and sunflower seeds; closer relatives would give red envelopes with as much as two cents.
After watching wave after wave of children leave happily with their treats, Grandpa Wu said, “Jun, take out the cigarettes you bought in the county. Come with me to Shengli’s house.”
Wu Jun knew from this that it was time to deal with Wu Tong’s situation.
“Uncle, Aunt-in-law, Happy New Year—I’m here to pay my respects. Third Uncle, Second Granduncle, Happy New Year…”
As soon as he entered Uncle Shengli’s house, Wu Jun, being of a lower generation, began a long string of New Year’s greetings and cigarette offerings.
Once everyone was seated, the highest-ranking elder, Grandpa Wu, spoke: “Shanzi, you’re a good man. After your parents passed, you raised your little brother well all these years. We uncles have seen it, and we know. Yesterday, when your wife was shouting the way she did, everyone in the village said you two were being unjust. To raise a brother for so many years and then suddenly say you don’t want him—what are you thinking about this matter? All your relatives are here now. Speak your mind.”
“Granduncle, you know I’m not good with words. But little Tong is my brother. I promised Mom and Dad I would take care of him, and I will. Please believe me. It’s just that my wife suddenly got pregnant, and she’s thinking crooked for the moment. She’ll come around later.” As Wu Shan said this, every man in the room was staring at him.
“The hurtful things your wife said yesterday didn’t sound like someone just ‘thinking crooked.’ She was finally saying everything she’d been holding in for over a decade. She’s absolutely refuses to let little Tong go back to the county with you—she wants to abandon him here in the village. Even we uncles couldn’t stomach her words,” said the brigade captain, Wu Shengli, glancing at Wu Shan.
“Exactly. Your wife made it clear yesterday. If little Tong goes back to the county with you, she won’t let him have any peace. He’s only eight years old. If you take him back to the county and go to work, who knows how she’ll treat him? We uncles live far away; we can’t keep an eye on things all the time. You need to come up with a plan and settle this matter today,” said Second Uncle Wu.
“But I can’t just abandon my wife. She’s carrying my son.”
Grandpa Wu understood immediately upon hearing this that the man’s heart had changed. Now that Wu Shan had his own child, even though the baby hadn’t been born yet, the scales in his heart had already begun to tip. In the long run, this would absolutely not be good for Wu Tong.
“Back then, you inherited your father’s job. And that job was one I, an old man, helped arrange. It pays 250 yuan a year plus various ration tickets. Setting all that aside, starting now, you will give Wu Tong 10 yuan every month as child support until he turns 18. He will stay in the village, and we will look after him. Do you think that’s acceptable?” The other Wu family members nodded in agreement, saying it was only fair.
“Granduncle, a child like Wu Tong doesn’t need 10 yuan a month to live in the village. I’d rather take him back to the county to live with us,” Wu Shan said weakly.
“If you have any regard for your brotherly bond and for your parents’ memory, you will do as your granduncle says,” another elder chimed in.
“True, a child doesn’t need 10 yuan a month. But back when your parents passed away, the household hadn’t been divided. The savings they accumulated over the years are all in you and your wife’s hands. It’s been so long now that it’s hard to settle that account. But this money must be paid. Otherwise, don’t even think about keeping that job. Additionally, the house here in the village will be transferred to Wu Tong’s name. What does everyone think?”
Grandpa Wu looked around at his relatives and the younger generation, then laid out the plan he had been thinking over all night.
Apart from Wu Shan, everyone else nodded in agreement.
“As for little Tong, he’s too young to live alone. When the time comes, we’ll see which of our families he wants to stay with. Out of that 10 yuan each month, part will be used to buy grain from the village. Shengli, you will hold onto the rest for him.”
Seeing that his uncles had all agreed, Wu Shan could only grit his teeth and nod. In his heart, he still harbored the illusion that once he persuaded his wife to come around, he could bring his little brother back. His brother was so understanding—he would surely forgive him.
“Grandpa, will Aunt Shan agree to this? Giving away 10 yuan a month—it’ll be like cutting off a piece of her own flesh,” Wu Jun said, remembering how emboldened Aunt Shan had looked the day before. He didn’t think she would give in so easily.
“This is why you’re still a child. This matter doesn’t come down to whether his wife agrees or not. If she doesn’t, I can have him back here in the village working the fields. That job was originally mine to begin with. I was about to return to the village, so I gave it to your Uncle Shan’s father. Back then, little Tong had just been born and was in poor health. Living in the county made it easier to get to the hospital, and having that job meant they could afford the medical bills. I just never expected that your Aunt Shan, who always seemed so honest, would change like this overnight.”
What Grandpa Wu didn’t say was that he had also agreed to give away the job in order to have someone in the county who could gather information for him.
“Grandpa, let Little Uncle Tong live with us. We have an extra room anyway,” Wu Jun said. He thought of how he himself had been eight years old when he lost his parents, and now little Tong was eight years old and had lost the care of his brother and sister-in-law. He couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the child.
“Do you even need to say that? I already discussed it with your Uncle Shengli. From now on, he’ll hold onto the money. As for food, our family can afford one more child for the time being—especially with that iron contraption of yours. It would be enough to raise ten children. Now that everything’s settled, hurry home. Your grandmother is waiting for us.” With that, the old man didn’t wait for his grandson and headed home on his own.