“She’s born! She doesn’t have a handle! Hahaha! I finally have a granddaughter!”
Old Lady Shen cherishedly held the baby girl newly born from her youngest daughter-in-law’s belly, shouting loudly with joy.
She and Old Man Shen had given birth to four sons, and those four sons in turn had given her ten grandsons.
For all these years, she had dreamed of having a sweet, soft little granddaughter!
Now, she finally had one!
Hearing Old Lady Shen’s words, the other three daughters-in-law who had been helping deliver youngest brother’s wife Gu Hanmei’s baby were all shocked.
Because none of them expected that their fourth brother’s wife could actually give birth to a daughter!
One had to know that looking back through the Shen family tree for nine generations, no one had ever given birth to a daughter!
The three of them couldn’t resist crowding around Old Lady Shen, wanting to see if it was true or if Old Lady Shen had simply gone mad from wanting a granddaughter.
Seeing her three daughters-in-law crowding over, Old Lady Shen couldn’t help but frown and say, “Step back, step back! What are you all crowding over for? If you scare my precious granddaughter, see how I punish you!”
“You three only know how to bear sons. After all these years, only youngest brother’s wife has a belly that delivers, bearing me a granddaughter!”
Eldest daughter-in-law: “…”
Second daughter-in-law: “…”
Third daughter-in-law: “…”
If these words were heard by those in the village who couldn’t bear sons, their eyes would surely turn red with envy!
After all, who didn’t want to give birth to more sons and grandsons? That was the only way to show a family was thriving, so they wouldn’t be bullied by families with many sons!
However, the Shen family had far too many males and not a single baby girl.
Rarity made a thing precious; the less they had, the more they craved it.
Old Man Shen and Old Lady Shen had gone mad with desire for a granddaughter.
Moreover, long ago, a destitute Taoist priest passed by the Shen family home, and Old Man Shen gave him a bowl of water.
The priest read the Shen family’s fortune for free, saying the Shen family was strong in Yang and weak in Yin, destined to have many sons but no daughters, declining generation after generation.
However, once a daughter was born to their Shen family, their luck would begin to turn around.
Because that baby girl carried good fortune and was the reincarnation of a lucky star from the heavens. As long as they treated this baby girl well, the Shen family would become prosperous and wealthy once again!
Although the Shen family’s several daughters-in-law did not believe these words, they all tried with all their might to give birth to a daughter.
Because Old Lady Shen and Old Man Shen had once declared that whoever could bear them a granddaughter would be rewarded with ten taels of silver!
That was ten taels of silver!
Thinking of this, Xie Chunlan and the others looked with a bit of envy and jealousy at their sister-in-law Gu Hanmei, who was lying on the bed having just given birth.
Old Lady Shen did not notice the expressions on her daughters-in-law’s faces, as all her attention was on her newly born little granddaughter.
She carefully wrapped the fair and tender precious granddaughter in a swaddle made of soft cotton cloth, looked at her eldest daughter-in-law, and said, “Go to town and buy two pig’s trotters to stew into soup, so youngest brother’s wife can produce milk.”
Next, Old Lady Shen looked at her second daughter-in-law and said, “Go to the fields and tell your father and the others that Hanmei has added a granddaughter to our Shen family!”
Finally, Old Lady Shen looked at her third daughter-in-law and said, “Go to the village chief’s house and buy a little goat milk. Youngest brother’s wife just gave birth and might not have milk yet. My precious granddaughter must not go hungry!”
The eldest and second daughters-in-law immediately went to carry out Old Lady Shen’s orders, but only the third daughter-in-law said with a face full of reluctance, “Mother, it won’t hurt a newborn baby to go hungry for a bit. Why spend silver to buy goat milk?”
Hearing this, Old Lady Shen glared at her third daughter-in-law in anger and said, “Is it spending your silver? If you don’t go right now, don’t eat today either. Starve for all I care!”
Only then did the third daughter-in-law mutter under her breath, turning around to buy the goat milk.
…
When Old Man Shen heard from his second daughter-in-law that his youngest daughter-in-law had given him a little granddaughter, he instantly couldn’t care less about harvesting the rice in the fields. Holding his sickle, he sprinted back home.
The rest of the Shen family rushed home just as frantically as Old Man Shen.
Especially the fourth Shen son, Shen Gui. As he ran, he couldn’t help but chuckle foolishly, saying, “A daughter… I actually have a daughter!”
Even the villagers who heard the news had faces full of disbelief.
The youngest daughter-in-law of the Shen family gave birth to a little girl? For real?
Time flew by like a shuttle.
In the blink of an eye, Old Man Shen and Old Lady Shen’s precious granddaughter, Shen Xihe, was already three years old.
Over these three years, the Shen family had indeed grown richer year by year.
Old Man Shen and Old Lady Shen originally had minor physical ailments; after all, they had suffered too much when they were young, and they were getting old.
However, ever since Shen Xihe was born, those minor ailments on Old Man Shen and Old Lady Shen miraculously healed without any medicine.
Because of this, Old Man Shen and Old Lady Shen believed even more that their little granddaughter was a little treasure of good fortune!
The rest of the Shen family also “soaked up” the good fortune from little Xihe.
Shen Qiang the eldest, Shen Zhuang the second, Shen Fu the third, and Shen Gui the fourth—the four of them worked in the fields every day and discovered that their rice had been growing better than anyone else’s for the past three years.
Furthermore, the fields required little effort to maintain and barely grew wild weeds. When harvesting the paddy, the yield was also higher than that of other people’s fields.
After holding little Xihe, eldest daughter-in-law Xie Chunlan went to the shop in the county town to sell handiwork. The shopkeeper lady accepted her embroidery and asked Xie Chunlan to provide twelve hand-embroidered handkerchiefs every month at ten wen each, which totaled one hundred and twenty wen for twelve handkerchiefs!
Second daughter-in-law Xia Xinhua was in poor health and could not do embroidery for long periods. Yet, after holding little Xihe, she also found a job copying books in the county town, earning seventy to eighty wen a month.
Third daughter-in-law Wang Juhua could have gone to cook at the town academy for a monthly wage of fifty wen as well.
However, Wang Juhua found it too tiring and was unwilling to do it.
Fourth daughter-in-law, who was little Xihe’s biological mother Gu Hanmei, became a trusted steward to the county magistrate’s wife.
This was because when Gu Hanmei was carrying little Xihe to the river to wash clothes, she saved the magistrate’s wife who had accidentally fallen into the water.
Knowing that Gu Hanmei was literate and good at accounting, the magistrate’s wife asked Gu Hanmei to help manage her dowry manor next to Luhua Village, paying her two taels of silver a month!
And because almost all the adults in the Shen family could make money, little Xihe’s ten older brothers all had the money to attend school.
However, today was little Xihe’s third birthday, so her ten older brothers had all taken a leave of absence and did not go to school today.
They sat surrounding little Xihe, watching her sit on a small wooden stool, obediently nibbling on a meat bun in her hands.
Seeing this heartwarming scene, the Shen family couldn’t help but smile knowingly, casually chatting about things happening in nearby villages.
Thinking of the news he heard from the villagers yesterday, Shen the third couldn’t help speaking up, “I heard that a huge flood hit the neighboring county.”
Hearing this, his wife Wang Juhua said indifferently, “What the hell does a flood in the neighboring county have to do with us?” It wasn’t like a flood hit them here anyway.
Hearing these words, little Xihe looked at the dragonflies flying low and the ants crawling around on the ground. She suddenly grabbed the hands of Old Man Shen and Old Lady Shen, pointing toward Huaihua Mountain south of the village: “Grandpa, Grandma, go up the mountain!”