Arrival
Seeing that her son-in-law had driven to pick her up, Jia Fanghua felt happy for her children. It seemed they were doing quite well in Beijing, and she felt reassured.
Wang Dashan handed Jia Fanghua the breakfast he had brought. “Mom, have something to eat. Lanlan asked me to bring this for you before I left—these are homemade buns from home.”
The car was heated, so the buns were still warm. Jia Fanghua ate them while watching the constant stream of traffic outside the window and the towering skyscrapers rising from the ground—things Ningzhou simply didn’t have.
As usual, Wang Dashan first took everyone to the security guard’s booth to get their passes, parked the car, and then led Jia Fanghua into the small courtyard. Li Lanlan was already up by then, and breakfast was ready. Jia Fanghua joined them for a meal.
“Mom, just stay here with us for now. You can share a room with the eldest and the second son!” The eldest and second son’s room was spacious, with two beds. Since the two boys were still young, they could share one bed for the time being, and the other bed would be for their mother.
Jia Fanghua saw that the room was quite spacious. Having a place to stay like this while away from home was already quite nice, let alone in the capital.
“Mom, why don’t you take a nap and rest a bit? The long trip must have been exhausting.”
“That’s perfect. I’m absolutely exhausted. I was so worried about thieves along the way that I barely slept a wink. I’ll take a nap then!”
Traveling in those days was truly exhausting. Jia Fanghua had thought she’d have trouble sleeping in a strange bed, but to her surprise, she fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.
Li Lanlan noticed her mother hadn’t brought much luggage—she must have left in a hurry. Fortunately, the clothes she’d bought for them at the wholesale market earlier hadn’t been mailed back yet, so she simply threw them in the washing machine, hung them out to dry, and figured they’d be dry by the afternoon.
Just as Jia Fanghua was sleeping soundly, all hell had broken loose back home.
Li Tianci had gone to Jia Fanghua’s parents’ house early that morning to pick her up. “Big Brother, Little Brother, I’m here to take Fanghua home!”
“What do you mean, take Fanghua home? She never even came over. What’s going on between the two of you?”
Ever since their younger sister married Li Tianci, she’d been beaten time and again. She was quick-witted but had a strong-willed personality—the kind of person who wouldn’t submit to authority or admit defeat.
What’s more, Li Tianci was cut from the same cloth. With two such people living together and neither willing to back down, conflict was inevitable.
Jia’s older and younger brothers often went to their younger sister’s house to help keep things under control. Every time Li Tianci laid a hand on her, they had to make a trip over. But when would this ever end? Their visits were merely a way to smooth things over—after all, they couldn’t possibly let the two of them get a divorce.
In this day and age, the younger generation might get divorced, but for the older villagers like them, there was only such a thing as widowhood—not divorce.
Not finding Jia Fanghua there, Li Tianci rode his bicycle over to Jia Dajie’s house, but she wasn’t there either. Since Jia Dajie’s house wasn’t far from her eldest daughter Li Xiaolan’s, Li Tianci went to check on her as well.
“Has your mom come over yet?”
“No, Dad. Why don’t you have something to eat first?” Li Xiaolan didn’t dare say much. In this day and age, older folks—whether they’re your parents or not—wouldn’t hesitate to hit you if you upset them. She certainly didn’t want to be beaten by her parents now that she was in her thirties.
After eating, Li Tianci felt quite puzzled. With only a few households in the area, where could she have gone? And going to his younger daughter’s house wasn’t really an option.
He was worried. The New Year was just around the corner, and there was no one to make the arrangements. It was already the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth month. When the younger generation came to pay their New Year’s respects on the first day of the New Year and found the house empty, everyone would know.
It wasn’t as if they hadn’t fought during the New Year before, but they’d always shown some restraint on New Year’s Eve and the first day of the New Year. After all, so many people were coming to pay their respects—they couldn’t very well have no one there to greet them!
He held his pipe, taking puff after puff. The smoke swirled around him, obscuring the thoughts on his face.
After clearing the dishes, Li Xiaolan sat down on the heated bed in the main room to warm up. “Dad, do you think Mom might have gone to stay with Lalan?”
The more Li Xiaolan thought about it, the more likely it seemed. After all, it wasn’t customary for families to have relatives stay over for the New Year.
Unless that person was her own mother!
Li Tianci didn’t see it that way. Jia Fanghua couldn’t read, and for a rural old woman to make her way from here to Beijing—that would be a real challenge!
He wasn’t overly worried, though. Jia Fanghua should have come back on her own this afternoon. Tomorrow was New Year’s Eve, and even if no one said anything, Jia Fanghua was so proud; she wouldn’t feel comfortable staying at someone else’s house.
He felt a twinge of regret—he shouldn’t have raised his hand. But Jia Fanghua’s words always cut right to the core. Sometimes he wondered if he’d married a wife who wasn’t so headstrong back then…
Maybe they wouldn’t be in such a mess at their age.
But if that had been the case, they wouldn’t have built up this family business. Jia Fanghua was the one in charge of everything, keeping the house and the farm in perfect order. But smart people have fiery tempers; she was stubborn and couldn’t stand being wronged.
If he’d married a dimwit, he’d probably be getting annoyed every day. But a woman who was smart, gentle-tempered, and self-centered—someone with all those qualities—would never have been available to him.
“Dad, why don’t I call Lanlan and the others to see if Mom has made it over yet?”
“Go ahead, then!”
Li Xiaolan ran to the small shop at the village entrance. It was quite crowded at the moment; the migrant workers had all returned and were basking in the sun and chatting idly outside the shop.
“Xiaolan, it’s been ages! Where did you go to work this year?”
An aunt from the Zhou family asked curiously. Li Xiaolan and her husband had suddenly left to find work in mid-July this year; everyone else had left at the beginning of the year, so they’d gone halfway through the year—surely there must be some benefit to that.
“Auntie, we went to Beijing. A relative set it up for us!”
“Was it Third Cousin’s place?” The most successful member of the Zhou family was Third Cousin, who worked for a central government agency. Word was that his parents, siblings, and the whole extended family had all moved to Beijing to live with him.
Unfortunately, the rest of the family was too distantly related to Third Cousin to benefit from his success. Still, thanks to him, the town officials treated them with respect. While they didn’t exactly get special favors, at least no one dared to bully them.
“No, it was my sister who set it up. Just washing dishes and stuff like that. We don’t have any other skills—just our physical strength.”
“How much do you make a month?”
“Not much, not much. It’s so expensive out here—I earn less than I spend. Rent, utilities, everything costs money. Even though we work at a restaurant, the food’s a bit better, but otherwise, it’s not much better than back in the village.”
As soon as Li Xiaolan finished speaking, she stepped aside and squeezed her way over to the group making phone calls.
The less she said, the more curious everyone became. “Look at Xiaolan—she used to be so dark and skinny, but after being away for half a year, she came back all plump and fair-skinned. Even if she didn’t make any money, putting on that much weight must have cost a pretty penny!”
The middle-aged woman murmured to the people around her, secretly calculating in her mind that she’d send her own child out to find a side job. If nothing else, at least they’d eat better.
In reality, Li Xiaolan wasn’t actually that fair-skinned or plump; it was just that she used to be so dark and thin. Over the past six months, she’d eaten well and her work hadn’t been strenuous, so she’d naturally put on weight, and her energy and spirit were completely different now.
There was simply no privacy in this day and age. When Li Xiaolan made a call, a crowd gathered around her. When it was her turn, she dialed the familiar number.
“Sis, it’s Li Xiaolan. Yes, could you please call my younger sister for me? Oh, thanks so much. I’m right here by the phone—just have her call me back right away.”
It cost one yuan per minute, and Li Xiaolan winced at the expense. In the blink of an eye, that one yuan was gone!
Before long, Li Lanlan called back. “Lanlan, has Mom come to your place yet?”
Although Li Xiaolan had suspected as much, she hadn’t really believed it. In those days, traveling was no easy feat; she had been terrified when she and Zhou Zhijun went to Beijing together.
“She’s here! Did Dad ask for you?”
“What? She’s really here? How did she get here?”
“She came the same way you did. What’s the matter? Don’t you believe me? Mom’s spending the New Year with me this year. Tell Dad that tickets back home are hard to come by right now—they’re practically sold out. We probably won’t be able to go back until after the 15th of the first lunar month!”
“How am I supposed to tell Dad that? He and Mom must have had another fight! Mom’s suddenly gone off to the ends of the earth, so Dad’ll probably behave himself for a while. Alright, if there’s nothing else, you go ahead and get back to work.”
Li Xiaolan paid for the phone call, bought two packs of spicy strips for the child, and took them home.
“Dad, Mom’s gone to stay with Lanlan. She probably won’t be back until after the 15th day of the first lunar month. The closer it gets to the New Year, the harder it is to get a ticket back!”
Li Tianci puffed on his pipe without saying a word. After a while, he tapped the ash from the bowl onto the opening of the heated bed, pulled back the blanket covering his legs, climbed down from the bed, put on his shoes, and prepared to head home.
“Xiaolan, you stay here. I’m going back first.”
“Dad, let me take the kids with me. Mom’s not here, so I’ll help out.”
“Zhijun, we’re spending the New Year at my mom’s this year. I’ll go check in with my dad first. You bring the two kids over later—got it?”
Li Tianci agreed. “The two little ones are still at home. I’ll take them over first. You two just pack up and come over. We’ve got everything we need at home—don’t bring too much stuff!”
Li Xiaolan and Zhou Zhijun had actually already got everything ready, but who would’ve thought something like this would happen at the last minute!
But he couldn’t refuse. Luckily, they were planning to go to Beijing after the New Year, so they hadn’t bought that much stuff. Besides, once they went to Beijing after the New Year, they’d have to ask his in-laws to watch the kids anyway, so he might as well just bring everything over.
It was already around three or four in the afternoon, and the weather had turned cold. With two little ones at home, they couldn’t manage without an adult, so Li Tianci hopped on his bike and took the two kids back first.
After Li Tianci had taken the children home, Zhou Zhijun and Li Xiaolan began packing up their New Year’s supplies.
Zhou Zhijun set aside the New Year’s gifts for his parents to take over that evening.
The next morning, a little after 11:00, everything was ready. He packed the new clothes for the two children and, at noon—the hottest part of the day—pulled a handcart, taking advantage of the lingering warmth to walk toward Yulong Village with Li Xiaolan.
Back at Li Lanlan’s place, after she had called home, Jia Fanghua had already woken up. “Mom, my sister just called to ask if you were here. Dad went to her place.”
“Just stay here and keep calm for now. Let’s get through the New Year first before worrying about anything else!”
Jia Fanghua didn’t know why she’d impulsively come here; her mind was in a complete jumble. She had nowhere to call home, yet she refused to resign herself to living in such agony day after day.
Now that she had a place where she could find some peace of mind, she was happy.
The children were also delighted to see their Grandma. They had been staying at her house for over four months this year, and since Jia Fanghua was an elder who doted on children, the kids all adored her.
With Jia Fanghua’s arrival, Li Lanlan and her husband became her assistants. She was a true self-taught master; in those days, rural meals weren’t particularly abundant.
Many spices and seasonings were in short supply, but Jia Fanghua could create delicious meals using simple ingredients.
What Li Lanlan remembers most clearly is that her mother could use seasonings to create a hot pot broth just as delicious as that of a certain famous hot pot restaurant in later years.