While Bai Muban and Mrs. Zhen were looking after Little Fuyuan inside the house, they had no idea that the entire God Tree Village was already in an uproar.
In winter, there was no farm work to be done, so the villagers spent their time idling at home to escape the cold. The news of Bai Muban and Mrs. Zhen having a daughter ignited the villagers’ passion for gossip. People flocked out of their homes, excitedly spreading the word to one another.
“The Lao Bai family finally got a baby girl!”
“Really?”
“Of course! This morning, the village chief’s grandson saw Dazhuang’s father and mother holding a baby girl.”
“Oh my! That wasn’t easy. The iron tree has finally blossomed.”
“You bet. To have a child at Mrs. Zhen’s age—it’s like an old clam producing a pearl.”
…
As for the Lao Bai family, they were incredibly famous in God Tree Village.
This was because the family was a magnet for sons.
Starting from Bai Muban’s great-grandfather, any woman who married into the Bai family produced nothing but boys, without exception.
This made other people in the village who couldn’t have sons green with envy. Whenever a household in the village welcomed a new bride, they would bow toward the Bai house, praying that the bride would carry a boy.
On the other hand, the Lao Bai family was poor.
Not just ordinary poor.
It could be described as “four bare walls” poor.
The kind of poor where you counted every grain of rice before putting it in the pot.
Old Mrs. Bai often lamented that the family was so poor they had nothing left but a pack of boys.
At this moment, as Bai Dazhuang, Bai Zhaomei, and the others walked down the road carrying spears and nets, they immediately drew the attention of the entire village. A crowd followed them like a pack of reporters at a press conference.
“Dazhuang, did your mother really bring you a younger sister?” An auntie tore open the first seam of gossip.
“Could that be a lie?” Bai Dazhuang replied, his face beaming with joy.
He continued walking forward.
“Dazhuang, did your mother really give birth to a daughter?”
“She did.”
After walking a bit further.
“Dazhuang…”
“Village Chief, please stop asking. My mother gave me a sister!” Bai Zhaomei raised his spear and took the initiative to answer for his elder brother.
“Stinky brat, your name wasn’t called ‘Zhaomei’ (Inviting a Sister) for nothing. You’ve finally welcomed a sister!” The village chief patted Bai Zhaomei’s head.
And so, every few steps, the Bai brothers were stopped by villagers asking the same question, all the way to the village entrance.
Under a thousand-year-old ancient tree at the village entrance sat a group of women basking in the sun.
Seeing Bai Dazhuang and the others pass by, they waved in unison, their eyes sparkling with the light of gossip.
Even though they all knew for certain that the Bai family had a daughter, they still wanted to hear it from the parties involved.
“Bai Dazhuang, where are you taking the boys?”
“Going to the river to catch fish.” Bai Dazhuang thought to himself that finally, someone wasn’t asking about his mother giving birth.
But before he could take two steps—
“Did your family really add a sister?”
Well, it was the same question again.
“We really did add a sister,” Bai Dazhuang said, stopping in his tracks.
“Your mother is truly impressive, managing to have a daughter at her age,” someone said.
“The impressive one is Uncle Bai; he’s more effective than the young men. That stamina…” someone said, covering their mouth with an ambiguous smile.
“That’s right, Dazhuang might not even be a match for his father.”
Bai Dazhuang’s face turned a shade of red. These aunties and older women were too crude, blathering about anything; the conversation quickly veered off track.
Fortunately, the topic shifted soon enough.
“Dazhuang, is your family about to strike it rich?” one auntie asked mysteriously.
This question left Bai Dazhuang bewildered. His family was dirt poor, with no sign of wealth whatsoever.
“Is this daughter of the Lao Bai family really going to be ‘noble beyond words’?”
“It’s hard to say.”
“Oh my, ‘noble beyond words’… what kind of person is that? In storybooks, that’s used to describe Princesses and Empresses.”
“Can a Princess or Empress really come out of our poor backwater village? You’re dreaming!”
“Don’t be so quick to disbelieve. I heard the current Empress Dowager came from a peasant family.”
The main force of God Tree Village’s gossip squad began talking all at once.
Bai Dazhuang didn’t react at first, but as they spoke more and more outrageously—moving from “nobility” to Princesses, Empresses, and even the Empress Dowager—he began to understand.
Everyone was clearly referring to the words the limping Daoist priest had said to his father under this very tree years ago.
Things like how a noble girl would descend upon their home, or how this girl would bring overflowing wealth to the Lao Bai family.
“Aunties, you can’t just talk nonsense. My sister is just a little village girl. Whether our family is wealthy or not has nothing to do with her, and certainly won’t involve Princesses or Empresses,” Bai Dazhuang said, somewhat displeased.
His sister had just been born, and the village was already spreading such things.
The topics of “Princesses” and “Empresses” were too sensitive. If it spread, even the County Magistrate might come to investigate, thinking their family was trying to force a connection with the imperial court, which could lead to charges of disrespect.
It didn’t matter if they suffered, but his sister couldn’t.
After saying his piece, Bai Dazhuang led Bai Zhaomei, Dalang, and Sanlang away, leaving the group of women under the tree to continue their gossip.
“The Lao Bai family just added a slip of a girl; how did she become ‘noble beyond words’?” a young bride who had just married into God Tree Village last year asked.
She didn’t believe a little girl could be that precious.
Since ancient times, she had never heard of anyone being this happy about a daughter.
With the Lao Bai family being so poor, even if a Golden Phoenix landed there, could they even hold onto it?
“Then you wouldn’t understand, would you?” The Village Chief’s wife slapped her thigh and lowered her voice, injecting an air of mystery into the gossip scene.
The crowd stopped discussing and leaned in to listen. The Village Chief’s wife was very satisfied with their reaction. Most people had only heard rumors, but she had been there on the front lines back then. When the limping priest spoke to Bai Muban, she was right there beside them cracking melon seeds.
“Many years ago, a limping Daoist priest came to our God Tree Village. Right under this tree, he told fortunes, and not a single one was inaccurate…”
The Village Chief’s wife recalled the grand occasion.
She had been the first in line, mainly wanting to know if her family would produce a high-ranking official. The limping priest had indicated that the peak of the Zhao family’s political luck was the Village Chief.
The thought of it still made her chest tight.
“Tell us quickly, Auntie Zhao!”
Several young wives and girls stared expectantly at her, urging her on.
The Village Chief’s wife enjoyed the satisfaction of being at the center of attention.
She waved her hand and continued: “The limping priest said that for generations, the Lao Bai family hadn’t produced a girl because they were bottling up the essence of heaven and earth. How could one be born easily? But once she was, she would be a girl ‘noble beyond words.’ That girl would bring rolling riches and supreme honor to the family…”
The Village Chief’s wife spoke with great flourish, turning all her own exaggerated thoughts into the words of the limping priest.
Tsk tsk, she decided right then to maintain good relations with the Lao Bai family. If she really was a Golden Phoenix, it would be nice to take shelter under her wings. Seeing Xie Chuntao emerge from Old Mrs. Xia’s house carrying a scoop of millet, she hurried home, planning to send a bag of flour to the Lao Bai family—oh, and there was a piece of pork at home; she’d bring that along too.
“That limping priest was just talking nonsense,” the young bride still didn’t believe it.
Other young wives chimed in; they had only heard of sons bringing honor to the ancestors, never a daughter bringing glory to the family name. Even women in operas who became Empresses or Princesses relied on their maternal families and husbands.
In any case, they didn’t want daughters. Daughters were “money-losing goods.” It was better to be like the Lao Bai family of the past, with a nest full of boys.
…
Bai Dazhuang arrived at the riverside with Bai Zhaomei and the others.
“Big Brother, I heard the villagers say before that once we had a sister, we’d strike it rich. Is it true or false?” Bai Zhaomei, being young, asked his eldest brother.
He hoped the rumors were true. If the family really got rich, he would eat five big steamed buns every meal, dipping them in brown sugar. The mere thought of it was delicious.
Hearing his brother’s question, Bai Dazhuang thought for a moment and said seriously: “How can you believe such things? Take Scholar An from the neighboring village—the fortune teller said he would pass the provincial exam, become an official, and get rich. What happened? He went mad when the results were posted. Forget about a position; he’s still wandering around insane.”
Bai Zhaomei had seen Scholar An, his hair disheveled and his body stinking, muttering “I passed, I passed” to himself.
“Scholars are all quite miserable, just like Second Brother,” Bai Zhaomei’s thoughts drifted from Scholar An to his own second brother.
“Your second brother isn’t mad; he just didn’t pass the provincial exam,” Bai Dazhuang corrected him.
“Still miserable. Marrying someone like Second Sister-in-law…” Bai Zhaomei shot a quick glance at Bai the Second’s son, Sanlang.
“Enough! Is that something you should be saying?”
His second brother was an adult and a scholar; he knew more than all of them. As the eldest brother, Bai Dazhuang’s principle was not to involve himself in his brother’s private affairs.
“So, just listen to those fortune-telling words and leave it at that; don’t take them as truth. Our sister is our sister, the treasure of our whole family.” Bai Dazhuang brought the topic back, assuming the air of an elder brother. “Regardless of whether she brings wealth to the family, we must dote on her.”
Bai Zhaomei nodded repeatedly, indicating he would listen to his brother.
Bai Dazhuang then sternly warned his son Dalang and his nephew Sanlang not to participate in the rumors about their little aunt. The two children raised their hands, promising not only to stay out of it but to stop others if they heard them.
The four Bai males soon reached the river.
A thick layer of ice had formed on the riverbed, and both banks were covered in white snow. Withered reeds shook in the cold wind.
Bai Dazhuang felt that following his grandmother’s instructions had been a bit rash.
In such cold weather with such thick ice on the river, where would there be any fish?
Furthermore, for the Lao Bai family—whether it was bad luck or something else—every family in the village had managed to catch fish in the river at some point, except for them. They always returned empty-handed.