Chapter 3: Secrets of the Zhen Family

Chapter 3: Secrets of the Zhen Family

The dense shade of green trees makes the summer days seem longer,

Pavilions and towers reflect in the pond.

The crystal curtain stirs as a gentle breeze rises,

The trellis of roses fills the courtyard with fragrance.

As the breeze moves across the lush green rice fields on a summer afternoon, it’s the time when people feel most drowsy and sleepy.

In Dashan Village, Xiema Town, at the village entrance under a century-old honey locust tree, a group of villagers, lounging around bare-chested and with their pants rolled up, squinted and smiled in that simple, country way as Zhen Baobao, basket of vegetables in hand, walked briskly past them.

"Zhen Baobao, busy with what? Heading to town still?" A middle-aged woman, seemingly in her forties, with a sallow complexion and sturdy build, greeted her with a smile.

Zhen Baobao actually didn’t want to pay attention to this group of notoriously idle men and women in the village. It was broad daylight, and they liked to gather at the village entrance, gossiping about every passerby. But she knew if she dared to ignore them today, by tomorrow the whole village would be spreading rumors about her being too proud because she was a doctor, and that she was living like a widow.

"Oh, Sister Hehua, is that you?" Zhen Baobao pretended to just notice them, her eyes half-closed as if exhausted and drowsy. "Why aren’t you resting at home? We’re out of vinegar and salt at home, so I’m heading to the supply cooperative. With all the weeds in the fields these days, my father mentioned they’ll be organizing people to clear the weeds soon, so there won’t be time to go to the market."

"It’s too hot to stay inside," Sister Hehua laughed. "Only your mountain is cool."

"Haha," Zhen Baobao laughed heartily upon hearing this, "Our mountain is indeed a good place to escape the summer heat. If you like it, ask Brother Dasheng to find a spot on the mountain to build a house."

"No time for that," Sister Hehua waved her hands quickly. "At this time of year, it's either wild boars or wolves; only the bold ones like us dare to live on the mountain. It’s getting late, you should hurry to the market. The sun will still be high when you return; maybe you can rest for a bit."

"Alright, you all chat," Zhen Baobao said with a smile, greeting everyone before striding away.

There were about a dozen villages near and far around Xiema Town, but Dashan Village was the closest. It only took about ten minutes to walk there. Therefore, people in the village didn’t specifically need to go in the morning to buy things. Nowadays, everyone bought from the supply cooperative, unless you needed to sell something in high demand, anytime was fine.

Once Zhen Baobao had walked a short distance away, the group started talking in hushed voices again, their eagerness palpable.

"Heard the news? The Zhen family’s ‘unique’ one gave birth," Sister Hehua said in a low voice.

"Gave birth, really? What did she have?"

"Could still be ‘unique,’ haha."

"That’s pretty harsh. I heard from Liu Xiangcui that it was triplets—two grandsons and a granddaughter."

"Cough cough cough, what, you say triplets and two boys?"

"That’s right."

"Tsk tsk, how is the Zhen family so lucky? Having someone who’s ‘unique’ that can even have children. The previous generation, Zhen Guohua wasn’t very capable and only had one son, who ran away. But now, his daughter is remarkable, giving birth to two grandsons. And now, in one go, someone not fully male or female gives birth to two sons?" A sallow, skinny woman in her fifties said with some jealousy.

After she finished, a few villagers gave her sideways glances, their expressions clearly showing disdain. But the woman, oblivious to their looks, wore a proud expression.

"I think we should talk less about them in the future. They are doctors, a profession blessed by heaven for good deeds. We can only envy them. Looks like the Zhen family is going to do well," an emaciated old man, probably in his fifties or sixties, said with an air of wisdom while fanning himself with a straw-woven fan.

As soon as he said this, those with more thoughts guessed something and hurriedly stretched their necks to gather around. "Uncle Seven, did you hear something?"

"Yeah, Seventh Uncle. You’re the capable one in our village; you can’t keep things from us. We’re all from the same village."

The old man, being questioned, tilted his mouth, giving everyone a sideways glance, his pretentious demeanor quite imposing.

"What is there to say? There’s nothing to say right now."

"Hehe, Seventh Uncle, we wouldn’t snitch on you."

"Exactly, we're not heartless people. Besides, hasn't that guy fallen from power? I bet no one would bother with a report now."

The old man perked up at the thought that no one would care about a report now, his dim eyes suddenly brightening, though he still pretended for a while before saying, "Sigh, it's nothing much. When the second chair was born, there was a great disaster, right? His father, Wang Yuanbing, who ran away, kept saying the child was a harbinger of doom, all sorts of bad things, and even wanted to throw him into a ditch."

"Kids born in those times had hard lives; that's true enough."

"Indeed, if it weren't for the mountains behind us with plenty of trees, we'd have been like everyone else, eating bark and all."

"..."

"But the blind old man on the neighboring mountain didn't say that," the old man continued. "He said the child had a good fate, a son of heaven, born with yin and yang, both male and female qualities, which is a perfect match. He said things would get better and better. At the time, Wang Yuanbing wanted to throw the baby off a cliff, but the blind man came down the mountain to stop him."

"Heavens, this story..."

"I know that blind old man. They say he was incredibly accurate in his predictions back when there was no turmoil. Whatever he said always came true."

"Pity, he starved to death eventually."

"Not exactly. It's said he predicted that the world would be in chaos and that he wouldn't live long, so he died."

"I heard that in the old days, great monks and Taoists could predict their own deaths."

"Oh, speaking of Wang Yuanbing, do you know what kind of person he was? If it weren't for Zhen Girl finding him attractive, he wouldn't have survived to run away."

"I heard he was from a landlord family."

"Right, if he hadn't run, the Zhen family would have been in trouble."

"Hmph, do you have any evidence? The Party says everything needs proof. Just hearing the name Wang Yuanbing, who would dare call him a reactionary landlord?"

"……That's true, I had also heard Wang Yuanbing say that his father was a high-ranking officer during the war and was eventually killed by the Japanese."

"Well, what Old Seventh said might actually be true." An old lady with a weathered face and strong build, who was busy pulling at a shoe sole in her hand, chimed in. "You young ones don't know, but when Wang Yuanbing first arrived, many girls in the village were smitten with him. It was said that his family had him educated, and he even attended university. But he had nothing except himself. Only Zhen family's girl had the idea to take him in, and Guohua couldn't control her, so he was allowed into the family.

But this guy became quite a handful later on, doing nothing all day but reading a book like a scholar from ancient times.

Even then, he was quite a troublemaker, making the entire Zhen family suffer. One day he wanted meat, the next day chicken. He acted like a young master from a rich family. It was said that he insisted on naming their four children after ancient beauties. Tsk tsk tsk!

It was somewhat foreseeable that Wang Yuanbing would try to run away in the end. Not long after the Zhen family's second child was born, he wanted to leave, but he took the Zhen family's cow and didn't get far before falling off and breaking his leg, so he couldn't leave.

After that, they had Feiyan. Not long after Feiyan was born, the village had good harvests for a few years, and the country rewarded us. Guohua also received a ration ticket for participating in a medical relief effort in the town and bought the family's bicycle.

With the bicycle, Wang Yuanbing got the idea to run again. That time, he rode the bicycle and almost reached the outskirts of the county town, but he ended up falling and breaking his leg again, becoming a cripple. He didn't run successfully that time either.

After that, he behaved himself for two years. When the third and fourth children were born, things had already started, and for some reason, he snapped. In the end, during a movie screening in our village, he took twenty yuan from the Zhen family without asking and ran away. Now that Old Seventh brings it up, I feel like the Zhen family might really be protected by some deity. Otherwise, how could Wang Yuanbing never successfully run away before? And when he finally did, he didn't take anything valuable from the Zhen family.

'Twenty yuan isn't something?' someone objected.

'Is twenty yuan even worth mentioning compared to a cow or a bike?' The old woman sneered.

Indeed, after hearing Dog's Mother say this, many villagers shuddered. Thinking back on Wang Yuanbing's strange behavior, it's possible that he couldn't run the first two times because he took valuable items from the Zhen family, and their ancestors weren't happy. But the last time, he only caused the Zhen family to lose twenty yuan.

To others, twenty yuan might seem like a lot, but the Zhen family, being doctors and with Guohua as the village head, weren’t short on cash.

The crowd fell silent for a moment, the weight of the old lady's words sinking in. Although it's now encouraged not to be superstitious, rural and mountain people still believed in such things to some extent. In this era, there were too many deserted and wild places, and unexplainable things would occasionally happen. Fortunately, as long as they weren't reported, Zhen Guohua would turn a blind eye and let things slide.

'With the upcoming one-child policy, where each family will only be allowed one child, how should we deal with a case of having three at once?' After a while, a man in his twenties or thirties, who looked rather unattractive, asked cautiously in a low voice.

Just having been unsettled by the Zhen family's story, some of the older villagers inevitably felt uneasy. Sure, most folks here aren’t book-smart, but that doesn’t mean they’re clueless."

As soon as the man spoke, several people turned to look. One of them, holding a Yantai pot, immediately sneered, "Hey, Ergouzi, you just can't stand seeing others do well, can you? Stop talking nonsense. The government says one child per family; if you're so capable, find yourself a wife and have her give birth. If she can have ten or eight at once, the government won’t even bother you—they might even reward you."

"Haha, exactly, who can have ten or eight kids at once?!"

"Haha, having ten or eight at once? That’s what pigs do. Your family doesn’t even have the luck for twins. Zhen Mier probably got that from Wang Yuabing's side."

"Hey, Ergouzi, why don’t you go over to the Zhen family? Maybe you can become a stepdad."

The ugly man Ergouzi was instantly enraged by these remarks. Without thinking, he cursed, "Go to hell! Even if I never marry, I wouldn’t touch a second-hand woman. Disgusting."

"Hehe, like you could get anywhere near her. If you even try, our village head, Zhen Guohua, will break your legs with a pole."

Ergouzi glared at the villagers who were laughing at him. He knew they all looked down on him because he was ugly and poor. Almost thirty and still no wife? But it was wrong for them to compare him to a second-hand woman. What did Zhen Mier have besides her looks? How could she compare to him, a real man? He could ruin her reputation in no time, and she’d end up jumping into the river herself.

"Don’t you all want to see me, Ergouzi, make a fool of myself?" he thought bitterly. "A second-hand woman thinks she can compare with me? Zhen Guohua may be the village head, but so what? He doesn’t even have a son. Just wait, I’ll show you all a good show."