When Xu Huiqing woke up, she thought she was back in reality, but the noisy voices around her told her she was still in the dream, in the dream where she had just given birth to her son not long ago.
In the real world’s dream, she recovered quickly after giving birth, with no major bleeding, but in this dream she was weak to the extreme, blood flowing endlessly beneath her, making her think she might just die of blood loss like this.
She thought, maybe it’s better to just die.
But in an instant, she felt she couldn’t die—after all, even if it was just a dream, her daughter in the dream was still waiting for her to find her.
In the real world, it took her nearly four years to find her daughter, but in the dream, she already knew where her daughter was.
She didn’t need to search so tirelessly, as she knew her daughter wasn’t kidnapped or trafficked but sold by her father-in-law, mother-in-law, and sisters-in-law. Her husband, aware of this, hid it from her to have a son, letting her exhaust herself looking for her daughter.
***
The family who bought her daughter lived in the Mountain Household. Later, she learned from Third Aunt that the Zhao Family, because she loved and cared too much for Xiaoxi, wanted her to devote more attention and time to her son, so for only five yuan, they sold Xiaoxi.
Life in the mountains was even more patriarchal than outside. Normally, no one would buy a daughter, but that couple had been childless for years. They were worried that if they raised a child, the birth parents would come to fight for her, so when Second Aunt heard about this, she persuaded Zhao Father and Zhao Mother to sell Xiaoxi into the mountains, all for Recruiting Daughter.
Yes, the couple in the mountains didn’t buy Xiaoxi because they really wanted a daughter or liked girls—it was purely for the Recruiting Daughter Tradition, because a fortune-teller said they were fated to have no children, and needed to adopt a girl with many siblings to bring them children.
They even changed Xiaoxi’s name to Recruiting Daughter.
The reason they chose Xiaoxi was simple: Xu Mother had many children.
Unlike Zhao Mother, who gave birth to five daughters and finally had her precious son Zhao Zongbao after forty, Xu Mother gave birth to four sons before finally having Xu Huiqing as her only daughter.
Otherwise, how could Xu Huiqing, a rural girl, have had the chance to go to college?
She was the first college student in their village, and the first female college student too!
Back then, Zhao Mother spent a lot of money to marry her as a daughter-in-law, not just because of her college status, but mainly because Xu Mother had many sons, so it was assumed Xu Huiqing would also be fertile.
As expected, soon after Xu Huiqing got married, she became pregnant. The first child was a daughter, and without even checking for the second pregnancy, it turned out to be a son.
When that family heard the mother’s second child was indeed a son, they were overjoyed and paid up quickly.
She later found out that when Xiaoxi was first brought to them, that couple treated her decently—Xiaoxi was very young and couldn’t do much. But once the wife became pregnant, Xiaoxi became the family’s little maid and punching bag, beaten and scolded at every turn.
Every time she thought of the suffering Xiaoxi endured over those years, Xu Huiqing felt as if her heart was being sliced by knives, filled with murderous hatred, her chest aching so much she could barely breathe.
Zhao Mother became angrier the more she thought after buying Xu Huiqing porridge!
By chance, the hospital cafeteria used blue-rimmed ceramic bowls without lids. Gazing at the white porridge in her hand, she spitefully spat into it twice, then, feeling unburdened, carried the bowl upstairs.
Arriving at the maternity ward, with her brows raised, she set the white porridge on the table, raised her voice and said, “Don’t you say I’m a bad mother-in-law. You’ve just given birth, you can’t eat greasy food. There’s only porridge in the kitchen, have some to fill your stomach. Once you get home, I’ll kill a chicken and make fish for you!”
She deliberately raised her voice, emphasizing the part about killing chicken and making fish.
Here in the water town, fish was an essential dish on every family’s table.
To show herself as a good mother-in-law, she even brought the white porridge from the long table right to Xu Huiqing, scooped some with a spoon, and brought it to Xu Huiqing’s mouth to feed her.
Sure enough, everyone in the ward changed their opinion of her, thinking this mother-in-law wasn’t so mean after all.
Even Zhao Zongbao felt his mother was honest and meek. Though she was a bit prone to crying, she never treated her daughter-in-law badly.
But what they didn’t know was that this hospital was actually the Women’s and Children’s Hospital. The patients here were almost all mothers and infants, and for convenience, the obstetrics ward was separated from the other pediatric wards. The entire row on the second floor was filled with mothers and newborns, and their families.
As Zhao Mother brought the spoonful of porridge to Xu Huiqing’s mouth, someone carrying an aluminum lunchbox passed by the ward, spotted Zhao Mother, froze in shock, and burst in, shouting, “Hey, hey, hey!”
She rushed to Xu Huiqing and said, “Hey, hey, hey, you can’t eat this porridge! I saw this old lady spit into it downstairs in the cafeteria! I grabbed my food and hurried after her, thinking she was from another ward, but when I came in, I saw it was her—this old lady!”
She pointed at Zhao Mother’s nose.
***
The neighboring City, being a prefecture-level city and a famous industrial center, meant most women in the City were workers. Even in the 60s and 70s, though life was hard, those working in factories looked and acted quite differently from rural women, whether in appearance, skin, or spirit.
Rural women still preferred to give birth at home or at the town hospital, or at the very least the County Hospital. Few would go to the City hospital, as everyone knew the better the hospital, the more expensive the medical fees.
That’s why most women giving birth at the City Maternity and Child Hospital were from the City or the surrounding Suburban Districts. There were very few rural women like Zhao Mother.
Her dark, rough appearance made her instantly recognizable to the other women who had just gotten food from the cafeteria.
That’s why, as soon as she glanced into the ward, she recognized Zhao Mother and hurried in to report to Xu Huiqing, afraid she’d be taken advantage of.
Though many who lived together couldn’t avoid mother-in-law and daughter-in-law conflicts, few were so vicious as to spit into the porridge of a woman who had just given birth.
The woman who ran in had been getting chicken soup in the cafeteria below when she saw that scene. She was so shocked, she didn’t care about the hot aluminum lunchbox, just wrapped it with her clothes and hurried upstairs.
Not only was the woman who chased after her stunned, but when she entered the ward and told Xu Huiqing about the spit in the porridge, all the family members caring for the mothers and newborns were shocked too. Even those who had their own conflicts with their mothers-in-law never imagined someone could be so vicious!
The daughter-in-law had just given them a big, healthy grandson, was still being treated for massive bleeding, nearly died, just woke up, and her mother-in-law spat into her porridge!
How mean? How malicious?
Every single one of them stared at Zhao Mother in disbelief.
Under so many gazes, Zhao Mother’s face turned bright red. She waved her hands repeatedly, saying,
“It wasn’t me, I didn’t do it…”
Unable to explain, she slapped her thigh and wailed,
“Oh my heavens! Why is my life so hard!
“I come to the hospital to take care of my daughter-in-law during her confinement and get accused!
Who spit in her porridge? I don’t even know where this girl found this old hag, trying to frame me to death!”
In truth, Zhao Mother’s health wasn’t great. First, she was old—in an era where people generally lived only into their fifties or sixties, she had Zhao Zongbao at forty, and was now over sixty, half her hair white.
Second, she was born in the hardest, poorest times, often going hungry as a child, never properly nourished, and as an adult, her periods were irregular, sometimes only once every three to five months. Then she had daughter after daughter, never recovering properly after childbirth.
She looked fine on the outside, but actually had a lot of underlying health issues—frequent dizziness, headaches, blackouts, her body as frail as Xizi, and her cheeks sunken so much her cheekbones stood out.
Now, as she wailed and wiped her tears, she looked especially thin and pitiful.
Looking at her life, she really was a pitiful, ill-fated woman!
During the years Xu Huiqing was her daughter-in-law, she’d often used this posture to emotionally manipulate others. Almost everyone who met her would say, “Your mother-in-law is so pitiful. Who knows how much she suffered when she was young—almost gave birth in the fields, and three days after giving birth had to go herd cattle!”
“You should treat your mother-in-law better, be filial, okay?”
Whenever her sisters-in-law talked about Zhao Mother, they’d mention how much hardship their mother endured when young, how terrible their grandmother was, and every time, they’d gnash their teeth in hatred at their late grandmother.
They were especially filial to Zhao Mother, always rushing to her aid even before she asked. This wasn’t something that started after they married, nor was it just aimed at Xu Huiqing—it had been that way since they were children, always protecting Zhao Mother.
Zhao Mother cried pitifully, and her tears were real—whenever she thought of her own suffering, she couldn’t stop the tears.
But no matter how pitiful her crying, no one in the ward forgot what she’d just done.
“Don’t think that just because you’re crying, you’re in the right.
Your daughter-in-law just woke up and hasn’t even spoken, and we all saw what happened.
You say she found someone to frame you,
but you’re not just a bad person—you’re lying with your eyes open.
I don’t think it’s your daughter-in-law framing you,
it’s you being malicious, trying to torment her!”
Another woman holding a child walked over, pointing at Zhao Mother, saying, “How bad is your heart? Your daughter-in-law just gave birth, hasn’t eaten a grain of rice in two days, and instead of giving her soup, you spit in her porridge!”
“That’s right, when I saw the white porridge, I wanted to say something but held back. Which daughter-in-law just after giving birth doesn’t get soft-boiled eggs, chicken soup, fish soup? To help with milk, shouldn’t she eat something with oil? Even twenty years ago, when things were hardest, after giving birth the daughter-in-law at least got an egg drop soup!”
“Even if you don’t care about your daughter-in-law, think about your eldest grandson. If the mother has no milk, how pitiful for the child? Can porridge help produce milk?”
Here, because it’s near the Changjiang, people generally believe new mothers should eat more fish and drink fish soup.
Most families in the maternity ward brought crucian carp tofu soup for the mothers. Fish was cheap and plentiful, tofu cost less than twenty cents, and every household could afford it.
Even the meanest family wouldn’t skimp on food for a daughter-in-law during her confinement—especially if she’d given birth to a son.
Everyone took turns criticizing Zhao Mother, and no one noticed Xu Huiqing, lying on the bed, breathing rapidly, her body trembling slightly.
Zhao Mother, who had been wailing loudly, couldn’t keep crying. She just covered her face and sobbed, looking so pitiful that some of the other mothers-in-law even started to empathize and pity her, saying, “Hey, you all should say less. Every family has its own difficulties. Who can really judge another’s family affairs? I think this elder sister is pitiful too.”
“That’s right, maybe this big sister made a mistake. I think the porridge looks fine—where’s the spit?”
“Who talks without spitting a little? Even as we’re talking, some spit must’ve gotten into the porridge. Spit’s not poisonous. If someone was truly cruel, they’d put rat poison in it!”
Some even went to comfort Xu Huiqing, who lay on the bed, eyes closed, trembling and unable to breathe, “Your mother-in-law isn’t having it easy either”
At that moment, among the onlookers who’d turned their attention to Xu Huiqing, the woman from the Mechanical Factory suddenly noticed something was wrong.
She pulled back the thin blanket on Xu Huiqing and shouted, “Oh my heavens! Go get the doctor! She… she looks like she’s having a seizure! Did her mother-in-law make her so angry she had an episode? Hurry, go get the doctor!”