By midday, the dust had barely settled from Jiang Yue’s departure before Madam Liu’s voice began to grate through the air.
Madam Cai was still bedridden, and Jiang Youshan had yet to return, leaving Madam Liu with no one to complain to. In the backyard, two pigs in the pen were squealing for their feed, yet not one of the three daughters-in-law had moved a muscle to tend to them.
Madam Li was the first to deflect. “This has always been the eldest sister-in-law’s job. How would I know the first thing about tending to them?”
Madam Qian chimed in next, leaning against a post. “Mother, little Chang’an is fussing so much I can’t leave his side for a second.”
Madam Fan, not to be outdone, clutched her stomach and put on her best impression of a woman in labor pains.
Losing her patience, Madam Liu planted her hands on her hips and unleashed a torrent of scolding. She pointed a finger at Madam Li, ordering her to feed the livestock, and told Madam Qian to get to the garden to weed and water.
Madam Fan managed to escape the heavy labor thanks to her “condition,” but the reprieve came with a catch: any money she made from her embroidery from now on had to be handed over to the family fund.
Easier said than done, Fan thought bitterly. If I give the money to Mother, she’ll just turn around and spend every copper on Fourth Uncle.
The resentment simmered. They all knew who to blame for this sudden workload: that little sister-in-law of theirs. If she hadn’t cracked the eldest sister-in-law’s head open, they wouldn’t be stuck doing these “crude” chores.
Madam Li grew more furious the more she thought about it. She stormed into the backyard, the rhythmic thwack-thwack of her cleaver against the pig fodder sounding more like an execution than a meal prep. Inside the house, Madam Cai heard the commotion and struggled to get up to help, but Jiang Xue held her down firmly until she gave up.
By late afternoon, Madam Qian was exhausted from hauling bucket after bucket of water. As she struggled back with her final load, her eyes nearly popped out of her head. There were Jiang Ming and his sisters, returning home—and they were absolutely loaded.
Jiang Ming was practically draped in rabbits. It looked like he’d stumbled into a whole colony. Surely, a haul like that had to be split with the main house?
“Jiang Ming, your luck is looking up today!” Madam Qian called out, her eyes fixed greedily on the meat. When the boy didn’t bother to answer, she dropped her bucket and scrambled to the front yard to spread the news.
Jiang Youshan arrived a moment later. Remembering his children’s warnings, he tried to sneak in through the back gate. But the moment the hinges creaked, Madam Liu and the rest of the main house contingent came charging into the backyard like a raiding party.
“Mother, I…” Instinctively, Jiang Youshan’s hand moved toward his robe to pull out his earnings.
Jiang Xue was faster. She jumped in front of her father, blocking his path. “Dad! My brother and sister caught those rabbits, and now they’re trying to steal them!”
Her voice was so piercing that Jiang Youshan’s hand froze mid-air. The shout cleared the fog in his mind. If his children were brave enough to protect their catch, he had to protect his earnings. This money was for his eldest daughter’s physician, not for the family pot.
He rubbed his ear, wincing. Since when did his second daughter have the lungs of a town crier?
Jiang Yue hid a small smile. Jiang Xue hadn’t just been yelling at her father; she had aimed that shout directly over the compound wall. By now, every neighbor on the block knew exactly what was happening.
Jiang Ming tugged on his father’s sleeve. “Dad, Mom is hurt. Go see her.”
The mention of his wife broke Jiang Youshan’s hesitation. “I’ll go check on your mother,” he muttered, turning his back on the crowd and ducking into the old house.
Madam Liu was fuming. She usually had Youshan under her thumb, but these children were leading him astray. She glanced at the rabbits, then at Jiang Yue’s cold, menacing expression, and decided to pivot.
“Don’t you dare eat those rabbits!” Madam Liu barked. “Sell them all and give the money to your father to save up.”
She couldn’t let these “white-eyed wolves” run the household. If she couldn’t have the meat, she’d make sure the cash went to Youshan. Once the kids were out of the way, she knew she could wheedle the coins out of him eventually.
Jiang Yue watched them with growing annoyance. She hadn’t even found the time to settle scores for the previous day, and here they were, trying to snatch things again. Without a word, her face a mask of indifference, she reached out and grabbed a thick wooden stake leaning against the wall.
She gave the staff a casual twirl, the wood whistling through the air. With a sudden, sharp movement, she slammed the end of it into the dirt. Before anyone could blink, she delivered a lightning-fast kick to the upright wood.
CRACK.
The thick stake snapped in two like a dry twig.
The group from the main house froze. The sight of five fat rabbits had made them forget just how terrifying Jiang Yue could be. They all took a collective step back.
The wood was as thick as a man’s arm. If that kick had landed on a human ribcage…
The color drained from Madam Liu’s face. The bravado they had arrived with vanished instantly. With sour expressions and hushed voices, the group beat a hasty retreat.
Dinner at the main house that night was a dismal affair. Madam Li’s cooking was uninspired, and the mood was even worse. Madam Qian couldn’t help but grumble as she stared at her watery porridge.
“Mother, if the eldest branch hadn’t started cooking for themselves, we’d be eating meat every night.”
Madam Liu snapped. Did this woman really have the nerve to blame her for the split? She turned and glared at her daughter-in-law. “You glutton! If you’re so desperate for meat, why don’t you go start your own kitchen too!”
Madam Qian opened her mouth to argue, but for once, she found she had nothing left to say.
Madam Fan sneered inwardly. Third Sister-in-law really is a brainless one, she thought, watching Madam Qian’s futile grumbling. Meanwhile, she noticed young Jiang Changping from the third branch, his eyes darting around as if hatching a plan of his own.
Back in the old house, Madam Cai had long since woken up and was listening to Jiang Xue recount the afternoon’s excitement.
Jiang Youshan paced the room, caught between worrying about his daughter’s reputation and cursing his own inability to protect his family. “Why didn’t anyone come find me?” he asked, his voice heavy with guilt.
Jiang Yue didn’t mince words, poking right at her father’s weak spot. “What would have been the use of getting you?”
Youshan sighed, the weight of his children’s low opinion pressing down on him. “Useless as I may be, I’m still your father. I have to protect you.”
Jiang Yue didn’t doubt his sincerity. Even the mildest man had a breaking point, a line in the sand. She just wondered where his was—was it his wife and children, or something else?
Jiang Ming gave a wry twitch of his lips and changed the subject. “Dad, you’re taking the rabbits to sell tomorrow. If Grandmother asks for the money, are you going to give it to her?” The children remained bitter over how Madam Liu had shielded Jiang Youfang after she’d injured their mother; they had even stopped calling her “Grandmother” in private.
Jiang Youshan shook his head firmly. He reached into his robe, pulled out ten copper coins, and pressed them into his wife’s hand. “Keep this, Cai’er. Save it up until we have enough for a proper doctor.”
Tears welled in Madam Cai’s eyes. “I’m fine. I just need a few days of rest. Don’t waste it on a doctor; keep it for the children.”
“Mother, you have to go to the big pharmacy in the county,” Jiang Ming insisted. “We’ll sell the rabbits, and the first thing we’ll do is buy you a few courses of medicine.”
Little Jiang Lei’s eyes grew red. “Mom, rest. Take medicine.” The doctor’s grim warnings were still fresh in all the children’s minds.
Jiang Yue, however, shook her head. A few rabbits wouldn’t even come close to covering the cost of real medicine. “We aren’t selling them,” she declared. “We eat the meat. We only sell the pelts.”
Jiang Ming and Jiang Xue looked at her, bewildered. “But then, Mother’s medicine…”
Madam Cai cut in. “I’m not sick! We’ll do as Yue’er says. Stew the rabbits so your sister can recover her strength.” In her mind, her daughter’s health was the priority; she knew her own body well enough to know she could hold on for a few more years—just long enough to see the children grown.
Jiang Yue pointed to the bow hanging on the wall. “Prepare two days’ worth of rations. I’m going hunting tomorrow.”
Two days of rations? That meant she was heading into the deep mountains.
Jiang Xue jumped up in alarm. “Sister, you can’t go!”
“Don’t listen to that Luo Douzi!” Jiang Ming added frantically. “He’s just spinning tall tales to trick you!”
Jiang Lei, on the other hand, puffed out his chest with a fearless look. “I’ll go with Big Sister! I’ll protect her!”
Jiang Youshan rushed to his daughter’s side. “Yue’er, there’s at least ten days of work left at the village chief’s house. Leave the money-making to me. There aren’t even paths in the deep forest—what if you get lost?”
Madam Cai began to weep, blaming herself. If she weren’t so frail, her eldest daughter wouldn’t feel the need to risk her life in the wilderness.
As the family crowded around her, arguing back and forth while her mother sobbed, Jiang Yue’s patience finally snapped. “Quiet, all of you! My head hurts!”
The two adults and three children fell silent instantly. They watched her rub her temples, her face a mask of genuine irritation, and their worry shifted to a different kind of panic.
In the past, Jiang Yue had never complained of pain, no matter how badly she was bruised. Even after she’d started speaking again, she’d remained stoic. For her to admit to a headache was terrifying.
“Quiet, quiet,” Jiang Ming whispered urgently to the others.
“Sister,” Jiang Xue asked tentatively, “are you hungry?”
Madam Cai wiped her tears, her voice trembling. “Youshan… what if it’s a relapse? Should we call the doctor?”
Jiang Youshan didn’t wait to be told twice; he turned to head for the door.
Only little Jiang Lei seemed to be on his sister’s wavelength. “Big Sister wants to go hunting, and because you won’t let her, that’s why her head hurts.”
Jiang Yue felt a flicker of amusement. Out of three siblings, there was always at least one who understood her. She kept her expression flat. “Cook. Prepare the rations.”
The family dared not argue further. Jiang Youshan busied himself with slaughtering the birds and skinning the rabbits, Jiang Ming and Jiang Lei went to gather firewood, and Jiang Xue started boiling the taro.
Using wood ash, Jiang Yue began to cure the rabbit pelts. She knew that if the main house found out she was gone, the pelts wouldn’t be safe; she had to find a way to sell them before she set off.
That evening, two of the five rabbits were stewed with the gray birds for a grand dinner. The remaining three were roasted until dry to serve as Jiang Yue’s trail rations. In the summer heat, jerky was the only way to make the meat last.
The family of the first branch ate until their bellies were round, sipping every last drop of the savory broth. They fell into a deep, satisfied sleep—so deep, in fact, that no one heard a sound when Jiang Yue slipped out in the middle of the night to “deal with” Jiang Changli from the second branch and Jiang Changping from the third.