Just as the sky began to brighten and the chickens at the entrance of the village let out their first crows, the four children of the Yuan family set out from the house, carrying burlap sacks with them. The eldest sister stayed behind at home, chopping pig feed while feeding the chickens. Watching her siblings’ retreating figures, she called out another reminder: “Don’t go into the deep river!”
Lixia followed behind the second brother and fourth brother. The moment the cloth shoes on her feet touched the muddy ground by the riverside, they sank halfway in. As she bent down to grope for river mussels, plunging her fingers into the ice-cold mud water, her fingertips grew numb from the cold. Before long, speckles of mud smudged onto her face, and her hair was dampened by the morning mist, sticking to her forehead. With great effort, she finally located a river mussel. Just as she was about to stand up, her shoe became stuck in the mud and couldn’t be pulled out. She yanked with all her might; the shoe came out, but her bare foot stepped directly into the mud. As the cold wind blew past, the chill made her shudder.
“Forget it, forget it, I’m not gathering anymore!” Lixia threw the river mussel in her hand into the basket, simply letting herself slack off. Watching the second brother and fourth brother still burying their heads in the search, she couldn’t help but mutter in her heart: She truly couldn’t handle this grueling chore of gathering river mussels. Lifting the half-filled basket of river mussels, she turned around and walked straight home, leaving behind the shouts of the fourth brother: “Fifth child, why did you slip away first?!”
When she arrived home, the eldest sister was squatting in the courtyard washing vegetables. Seeing Lixia covered in mud with grass clippings hanging from her hair, the eldest sister didn’t say much—this youngest sister was a notoriously lazy girl in the family, and cutting wild herbs for the pigs was the only chore she could actually manage. “Eldest Sister, I’m so cold. I want to wash up.” Shaking with cold, Lixia shrank her neck, her voice carrying a tremor.
The eldest sister looked up at the sky. The sun had just poked its head out and the temperature hadn’t risen yet. Pointing toward the kitchen, she said, “Go to the stove area first to light the fire, it’s a perfect chance to warm yourself up. I’ll go fetch water right away.” Hearing this, Lixia immediately slipped into the kitchen. Squatting before the stove, she added a few pieces of dry firewood into the stove hearth. The flames shot up with a “whoosh,” baking her cheeks until they were hot, and her frozen fingers finally regained some sensation.
The eldest sister lifted the water bucket and added water to the large pot. By the time the water was steaming with heat, Lixia had already warmed her entire body from the fire. Once the water was heated, Lixia gathered her clothes, took a basin to fetch the water, and went to the corner adjacent to the kitchen that was partitioned off by an earthen wall. Swiftly stripping off her clothes, she poured the water from the basin over her body, shivering from the shock of the cold. She quickly took out the soap from her system and scrubbed herself thoroughly from head to toe, terrified of leaving behind any fishy stench of mud.
Changing into thick clothes, Lixia sat by the side of the stove, cradling a roasted sweet potato in her hands. Only then did she feel like she had finally recovered her wits.
When night arrived, the entire family gathered around the courtyard again, initiating another “pearl foraging” operation. The burlap sacks on the ground were piled with the river mussels gathered today. Lixia sat beside the fourth brother holding a river mussel, but she was calculating in her heart: She had “found” three pearls yesterday, so if she found more today, it would look too fake. Today, she would just be an empty-handed fisher.
Everyone dug through one river mussel after another, and the extracted mussel meat piled into a small bowl, yet they didn’t catch even a shadow of a pearl. The second brother threw the sickle onto the ground and let out a sigh: “Looks like we have no luck today.” The fourth brother also hung his head, losing the heart to even pry open the river mussel in his hands.
Just then, the second sister, who hadn’t spoken the entire time, suddenly let out a cry: “Oh! What is this?” Pinched between her fingers was a pearl. Utilizing the light of the kerosene lamp, they could see the pearl gleaming with a faint luster; its shape was much rounder than the one the fourth brother had found yesterday, and its luster was even brighter. “There really are pearls!” Father Yuan quickly crowded over to look, the gloomy clouds on his face instantly scattering. “Good! Good! Let’s search some more!”
Over the next few days, the four siblings went to gather river mussels during the day and foraged for pearls at home at night. Lixia felt like she was about to throw up from the fishy smell of the river mussels; no matter how many times she washed her hands with soap at night, a fishy odor still lingered on her fingertips. By the very end, the entire family had foraged ten pearls in total. Among them, seven had been covertly taken out from the system by Lixia, while the other three were genuinely found inside the river mussels.
Seeing the Yuan family going to gather river mussels every day, the other households in the village followed suit. In this day and age, whether they knew about the pearls or not, as long as they saw others gathering something, they felt they were losing out if they didn’t gather it themselves. Within a few days, the river mussels in the river grew scarcer and scarcer, and the gathered river mussels became smaller and smaller. Small river mussels basically wouldn’t contain pearls. Looking at the empty burlap sacks, Father Yuan called the entire family together for a “family meeting”: “Don’t go gathering river mussels tomorrow. The mussels in the river have practically been picked clean. Going again is useless.”
Seeing that her parents were in a good mood, Lixia finally gathered her courage and spoke the plea in her heart: “Dad, Mom, after the pearls are sold, can I go to school?”
The moment these words left her mouth, the entire family was stunned. The second brother spoke first: “Fifth child, what are you going to school for?” The eldest sister also advised: “Yeah, where would the family get the money to support your schooling? Look around the village, who goes to school?” In this era, only families with good financial conditions would send their children to study, let alone a girl.
Father Yuan and Mother Yuan exchanged a glance, both feeling somewhat hesitant—if they sent Lixia to school, what about the other four children? They couldn’t very well send only one. Yet, they remembered that during this pearl foraging event, their youngest daughter’s “good fortune” had been a massive help, so for a moment, they felt too embarrassed to refuse outright. In the end, Father Yuan let out a sigh, looked at Lixia, and said, “Fifth child, wait until Dad sells the pearls tomorrow and see how much money we can bring back before we discuss it further, all right?”
Lixia quickly nodded, then said in a small voice, “Dad, when you go to sell the pearls tomorrow, take me with you, okay?” She didn’t actually want to go to the county seat very much, but she was afraid that Father Yuan was too honest and would be cheated by others, failing to secure a good price. That was why she wanted to tag along and keep an eye out.
Mother Yuan immediately refused: “Why are you going with your dad? Stay at home and help your sister with her chores!”
Father Yuan, however, remembered his youngest daughter’s “good fortune” and waved his hand: “It’s fine. If she wants to go, let her go. Perhaps she can even be of help.”
With Father Yuan agreeing, the other four children all grew anxious. The second brother was the first to shout: “Dad, I want to go too!” The fourth brother followed suit: “I want to go to the county seat to take a look too!” The second sister and eldest sister also looked at Father Yuan with glittering eyes, obviously wanting to go as well.
Looking at the clamoring children, Mother Yuan furrowed her brows. A single sentence crushed the hopes of the other four: “The fifth child can go only because her bus ride is free. All of your rides cost money! Go for what? Where does the family have spare money for your bus fares?”
The second brother and fourth brother instantly deflated, and the eldest sister and second sister also hung their heads. Looking at their disappointed expressions, Lixia felt a bit of guilt in her heart.