When Physician Gu arrived, Old Man Jiang and his three sons were pacing anxiously in the back courtyard. The moment they spotted him, they hurriedly ushered him inside.
Physician Gu took Jiang Youshan’s pulse with his right hand while stroking his beard with his left. “There is nothing physically wrong with the Eldest Son’s internal organs,” he noted, puzzled.
He motioned for the men in the room to flip Jiang Youshan over, then began a firm succession of presses along his lower back.
“Does it hurt here?”
“Yes,” Youshan groaned.
“Here?”
“It hurts there, too.”
“What about here?”
“No pain.”
“No sensation at all?” Physician Gu applied more pressure.
“No… I can’t feel a thing.”
Physician Gu pulled Youshan’s tunic back down and turned to Old Man Jiang. “What exactly happened?”
Old Man Jiang didn’t dare hide the truth, though he downplayed it. He claimed the siblings had been squabbling and Youshan had simply taken an awkward tumble.
“Physician Gu, what’s wrong with me? Why can’t I move my legs?” Youshan asked, twisting his head back from where he lay prone on the bed.
Physician Gu’s expression grew solemn. “It appears you have damaged your lumbar spine.”
“How do we fix it?”
The physician shook his head. “Injuries to the spine are not easily mended.”
Old Man Jiang cut in, his voice thick with worry. “Then what medicine should we give him?”
Physician Gu waved his hand dismissively and sat back down by the bedside. “Medicine won’t help. I have a set of massage techniques; you all should learn them and massage him daily. Perhaps, in time, he might regain some sensation.”
Jiang Yue watched the physician’s movements with unwavering focus. Once he finished, she mimicked the technique and asked, “Is it like this?”
Physician Gu nodded.
Old Man Jiang, losing patience, blurted out, “But when will he be able to stand up?”
Physician Gu sighed, deciding to speak plainly. “A spinal injury of this nature means he is paralyzed. To think of him walking again… it will be difficult.” With that, he didn’t even ask for payment. He shouldered his medical bag and walked away, shaking his head. Life was about to become very bitter for the Jiang family’s eldest branch.
Jiang Youshan slammed his fist against the bed. “I’m paralyzed? Just like that? I’ll never walk again?”
Old Man Jiang opened his mouth to speak, but no words of comfort came out. He simply turned and left the room.
“Oh, husband!” Madam Cai collapsed by the bed, weeping. How was their family supposed to survive now?
Jiang Ming clenched his fists, his eyes rimmed with red as he tried to soothe his parents. “I’m still here. Father, Mother, please don’t lose heart.”
Jiang Xue and Jiang Lei’s eyes were also swollen from crying. Their mother had only just gotten her medicine—how could their father be paralyzed now?
“Sister, shouldn’t we take Father to the county seat to see another doctor?” Jiang Lei asked.
Jiang Yue didn’t have the heart to refuse. “We’ll go tomorrow!” She turned to her mother. “Mom, stop crying. Go make some food for Father.” Hearing this, Madam Cai wiped her tears and stood up. “You’re right. I’ll go cook for you all right now.”
With the man of the house down, she couldn’t afford to break. Seeing the bowl of herbal medicine she’d been given earlier was still warm, she downed it in one gulp. She had to stay strong to hold this family together.
A flicker of guilt touched Jiang Yue’s heart. Was using my own father for a ‘bitter flesh’ ruse going too far?
She quickly shook the thought away. Better a sharp, short pain than a lifetime of misery. If this family didn’t break away from the main household now, there would be no end to their troubles.
Having made up her mind, she called out to Jiang Ming and Jiang Xue as she headed for the front courtyard.
“Eldest Sister, what are we doing in the front?”
“Getting money!”
“Will she actually give it to us?”
“If she doesn’t, we demand a family separation.”
Jiang Ming blinked, a realization dawning on him. His father was no longer a source of labor; the old woman would surely want to kick them out now.
“Sister, what do you want me to do?”
“Just cry. Cry as hard as you can!”
Without realizing it, the adults and children of the eldest branch had begun to follow Jiang Yue’s lead, looking to her for the final word on everything.
The three children marched toward the front courtyard like a small army. Inside the main house, the family was mid-meal, and Old Lady Liu’s voice could be heard shrilly scolding Madam Qian for serving undercooked rice.
Instead of going inside, Jiang Ming dropped to his knees right in the center of the yard. “Grandfather! Grandmother! Father is paralyzed! We must take him to the county seat for treatment!”
Old Man Jiang emerged first, his gaze lowered. “It isn’t that I don’t want to help, but the physician said his legs are beyond repair.”
“We have to try the county seat at least! What if they can cure him?”
Old Lady Liu shoved the door curtain aside and stepped out. “Try what? Even if they ‘cure’ him, he’ll do nothing but shuffle around. He won’t be able to do a lick of work.” She was privately seething; the eldest branch’s primary source of labor was now a useless waste of space.
Jiang Xue began to sob loudly. “Please, Grandmother, save Father! If it weren’t for Auntie, Father wouldn’t be paralyzed!”
Liu’s temper flared. “What does this have to do with your aunt? Your father just has bad luck. He’s destined to be a cripple!”
“What will we do if he’s paralyzed?” Jiang Xue wailed, her voice rising to a piercing volume. “We’re going to starve! If Auntie hadn’t hit him, he wouldn’t have fallen. You have to fix his legs…”
Sure enough, Jiang Xue’s racket drew attention. A head popped up over the fence from the neighboring yard—it was Mother Han, perched on a ladder.
“I say, Old Lady Liu,” Mother Han called out, “first your daughter breaks her sister-in-law’s head, and now she’s paralyzed her own brother? That girl is a regular terror!”
Liu turned on her neighbor, spitting venom. “Mind your own business, you old crow! Go back to your hole and stay there!”
Mother Han let out a cackling laugh. “Oh, I’m quite comfortable up here. The view is lovely.”
Ignoring her, Liu turned back to the children, her face darkened. “We’ve already been eating separately. I haven’t seen a copper of your father’s earnings lately.”
“Grandfather,” Jiang Ming wept, “we only eat separately. We haven’t officially split the family yet.”
Liu seized the opening. “The split is nothing more than a formality now. Youtian! Go fetch the village head and the clan elders. We’re splitting the family tonight.” She didn’t want to wait another second; Youshan was broken, and she wanted the entire eldest branch out of her sight.
Old Man Jiang frowned, pulling his wife aside. “The boy just got paralyzed. Is this really the time to talk about splitting?”
Liu jerked her arm away. “If we don’t, are you going to spend every cent we have filling the bottomless pit of the eldest branch?”
“It looks terrible to do it now,” he muttered, his face deeply lined.
“When does it ever look good?” she hissed. “Don’t forget, our fourth son has his autumn exams coming up. We need every coin for his connections!”
If Jiang Youfang was the apple of Liu’s eye, then the fourth son, Jiang Youguang, was Old Man Jiang’s very soul. All his dreams of prestige rested on the boy becoming a scholar. After years of failing, word had it that their in-laws had secured a connection with the county examiner. This was his year.
Hardening his heart, the old man waved a hand at his son. “Go. Tell them we wish to discuss the separation. It’s late, so ask them to come tomorrow.”
Jiang Yue pulled her siblings to their feet and led them back to the rear courtyard. She wanted to see exactly what scraps Old Lady Liu intended to leave them.
After a meager dinner, Jiang Yue took some strips of cloth to cover her nose and mouth. She gripped a small blade and headed toward the outhouse.
“Where are you going, Sister?” Jiang Ming asked.
“To get revenge,” she replied simply.
Jiang Ming watched her disappear into the shadows of the latrine. She stayed there for a long time before emerging and calmly walking back. Revenge? he wondered. She just went to the bathroom and came back.
A few moments later, he understood.
As she did every evening, Jiang Youfang headed to the back courtyard with her mother to use the latrine. Youfang stepped inside while Liu paused to glance at the pigs in the pen. Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream pierced the air.
“AAAHHH—!”
The scream came from deep within the outhouse. Jiang Youfang had fallen straight into the pit!
“Fang! Don’t move! Mother is coming!”
Liu rushed inside to find her daughter submerged, struggling in the filth with only her head visible, screaming for help. Within minutes, the entire main house had scrambled to the scene.
“Don’t just stand there!” Liu shrieked at Jiang Youtian. “Get your sister out!”
Youtian found a long pole and shoved it down. He and Jiang Youcai strained together, finally hauling the dripping, foul-smelling girl onto solid ground.
“Mother… I smell so bad!” Youfang wailed, collapsing into a fit of tears.
Liu pointed a trembling finger at the two daughters-in-law. “What are you staring at? Go boil water! Now!”
As the frantic crowd hurried away, surrounding the wretched Youfang, Jiang Xue couldn’t contain herself. She burst into a fit of giggles. “Serves her right! Let’s see who’ll marry a bride who fell into a vat of filth!”
Madam Cai tapped her daughter’s head. “Hush. Don’t let a word of this out. If her reputation is ruined, it will drag yours and your sister’s down with it.”
Jiang Xue stuck her tongue out. Her mother always found a way to make things about their marriage prospects.
That night, the shouting and scrubbing in the front courtyard didn’t stop until long past midnight.