Chapter 4 Calculation
The north wind whipped up fine snow that lashed against the windowpane, and Lin Erniu's rough fingers unconsciously rubbed the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).
Suddenly, the tattered blue cloth curtain was lifted, and Fu Bao, wrapped in a cotton-padded coat, rolled in like a snowball, her little face red from the cold.
Liu was squatting in front of the stove adding firewood, the sparks crackling and flickering in the dim mud-brick house.
"You must be freezing!" Lin Erniu shuffled off the kang (heated brick bed) in his straw sandals, but his eyes were fixed on the rough porcelain bowl in his daughter's hand.
Fu Bao stamped her feet to shake off the chill, and hurriedly gulped down half a bowl of cold water before speaking: "Fifth Sister is delirious with fever, and Sixth Brother is coughing so hard he's about to vomit his lungs out. The doctor said they both caught a cold, and Fifth Sister probably bumped into something; she doesn't even recognize her own mother..."
Liu paused in stirring the stove, the warmth of the firewood wafting through the room and slightly dispelling Lin Fubao's chill.
She caught a glimpse of the barely suppressed joy on her husband's face, and bent down to stuff another handful of wheat straw into the stove.
The flames leaped up, making the gleam in Lin Erniu's eyes shine even brighter.
—That day, before dawn, he had just finished picking wild vegetables and was coming down the mountain when he saw Lin Changning picking wild vegetables on the riverbank.
On a whim, he had his daughter take some fresh icy grass he had picked from the foot of the mountain and use it to trick the girl. Sure enough, the girl fell for the trick and stepped onto the ice, sinking in.
And it just so happened that he ran into the Lin family's son coming home; it was practically a stroke of luck for him.
Now that two of them have fallen ill, and Lin Daniu's body hasn't even been sent home yet, with these two sickly children weighing on the family, they're bound to be short of money. He'll have Changqing pull some strings and lower the price, and Lin Daniu's dozens of acres of prime land will be his!
The most interesting thing is that Wu Niang bumped into something and forgot who she was. She didn't even recognize her own mother, so she probably wouldn't remember that it was Fu Bao who instigated her that day.
Thinking of this, Lin Erniu couldn't help but laugh.
The wick of the oil lamp burst out with a flame, and Lin Changqing's blue-gray jacket was still covered in yellow mud at the hem.
Lin Changxiao, standing behind him, resembled half an iron tower. His sturdy arms were wrapped in a coarse cloth shirt, making the already cramped mud-brick house appear even more confined.
Lin Changqing had a refined and upright appearance, his hair was neatly combed, and his eyes were clear. He had a scholarly air about him as he moved. Hearing the noise inside the house, he frowned immediately: "Father, I have already been to the village head's house. If Auntie sells the land, she will inform me immediately."
Seemingly remembering something, Lin Changqing looked at his father with disapproval: "Don't go too far, Father. I am a scholar, and scholars value their reputation. It's not exactly honorable to scheme against my widow's land..."
"You bastard!" Lin Erniu grabbed a ceramic bowl from the kang table and smashed it on the rammed earth floor. The broken pieces of porcelain grazed Lin Changxiao's trouser leg as they flew by.
Liu hurriedly pulled Fu Bao towards the kitchen, and the little girl's sugar dumpling fell into the ashes with a thud.
Lin Changqing's thin face was divided into light and shadow by the flickering lamplight: "Father, the village head asked about the changes in my uncle's family today, and the look in his eyes..."
His uncle's family took over their military service, and eventually the story reached the school, and many people's views of him changed.
They are in the wrong in this matter, and now his father is plotting to seize his uncle's family's land...
His fingers, tucked into his sleeves, trembled slightly. The words Zhao Zhongren had spoken during the day, stroking his goatee, "A family that accumulates good deeds will surely have abundant blessings," suddenly resounded in his ears.
"You've gone astray from studying!" Lin Erniu's temples throbbed with veins, and his fingers, as thin as withered tree branches, almost poked his eldest son's nose.
"The night before your grandfather passed away, your uncle received an extra ten acres of fertile land!!! Why didn't anyone say it was kind back then?? If it weren't for me, your father, using money to cover your uncle's military service, I wonder what you would have done to get into school!"
A spark flew from the stove, illuminating the bloodshot whites of his eyes. "Do you think tuition fees fall from the sky? That your brother's dowry grows on trees? These past few years have been bad enough; if I don't plan ahead, our whole family will starve!"
Lin Changxiao suddenly said in a muffled voice, "The other day I went to town to deliver firewood and overheard the clerk at the grain shop gossiping that there were bandits in the north..."
The burly young man rubbed his chapped hands, the scabs on his thumbs turning a dark red under the oil lamp. "I really can't go back to my uncle's house..."
"Shut up!" Lin Erniu grabbed a broom and started hitting Lin Changxiao on the head and face. Lin Changxiao neither dodged nor flinched, letting the dry branch hit his shoulder.
Suddenly, Liu lifted the curtain and came in, the earthenware bowl in her hand steaming: "Father, have some ginger soup to soothe your nerves."
The trembling rim spilled brownish-yellow soup, which seeped into the kang mat, leaving dark stains.
Lin Changqing stared at the water stain, vaguely seeing ripples spreading beneath the ice.
That day, he returned from the private school carrying his book box and bumped into Fu Bao running towards the riverbank with a handful of amaranth.
The indigo hem of a garment that flashed through the withered reeds suddenly became clear in my memory—it was clearly the old coat that my father often wore.
"Father," he said, his Adam's apple bobbing, his scholarly voice tinged with a hint of grime.
"The county school instructor, Wang, values filial piety and brotherly love most highly, and regarding these matters..."
He was interrupted by a cold laugh before he could finish speaking.
Lin Erniu pulled a cloth bundle from deep inside the kang cabinet. Wrapped in the oil-stained coarse cloth was a copy of "Lu Zi Family Instructions": "The dead cannot speak. As for your uncle's family, Fifth Aunt and Sixth Brother were born with health problems and may not survive this cold. When the bad news of your uncle's cousins comes back, they may not survive..."
A sudden gust of cold wind burst open the windowpane, swirling snowflakes that extinguished the oil lamp.
The sound of a porcelain jar shattering echoed in the darkness, followed by Fu Bao's piercing scream from the kitchen.
"My dear girl, are you alright?" Liu's eyesight deteriorates at night.
I accidentally broke the earthenware jar used for pickling sauerkraut, which startled Fu Bao.
Hearing the sound, Lin Changqing groped in the dark to help his mother who had fallen to the ground. His fingertips touched something cold—by the light of the snow, he could see that it was half a rough jade pendant engraved with the character "Chang," which was clearly the one that his eldest son wore before going to war.
After thinking of something, Lin Changqing closed his eyes and sighed.
The deed is done, so there's nothing left to do but grit your teeth and move forward.
"Fuya, come here to your big brother, let me tidy up."
"Go and invite the village shaman, Wang, from the east side of the village tomorrow morning."
The sound of Lin Erniu striking his flint and steel pierced the darkness.
"It is said that Lady Chang is a jinx to her husband and children, and that she should sell her land to ward off bad luck."
The newly lit lamp wick burst forth with a ghostly blue flame, illuminating half of his face, making him resemble a grotesque clay sculpture of a demon in a temple.
Lin Changxiao suddenly looked up, his tone questioning, "Father?"
Lin Erniu, panting heavily, seemed to be angry again: "Just go when I tell you to! Why are you asking so many questions!"
Lin Changxiao hesitated for a moment: "Dad, I can get married a little later. Just let my older brother study as much as he can. I'm not in a hurry. Could you..."
The moment the slap rang out, a burst of sparks erupted from the stove.
Lin Changxiao tilted his head, and five red marks quickly appeared on his left cheek.
"You unfilial brats! I've done all this for you! If you think I'm cruel, go to the yamen and sue me on behalf of your uncle!! How could I have given birth to such idiots!!"
Lin Erniu picked up the broom and was about to strike again, but the dry branch was intercepted in mid-air by a hand like an iron clamp.
Lin Changxiao clenched his fists, and tiny wood shavings fluttered from between his fingers: "Father, things aren't as bad at home as you say. Why make things so difficult? My aunt's family only has two widowed sisters-in-law and Fifth Sister and Sixth Brother left. Both of them are sickly and are grandchildren of Grandpa and Grandma. Why do this?"
"This is outrageous!" Lin Erniu grabbed a pottery jar and smashed it at his second son's forehead, but at the last moment, Liu grabbed him tightly around the waist.
Warm blood flowed down the woman's loose hair and into her collar. She trembled, unable to make a sound, and could only cover her head and desperately stuff Fu Bao into the kang cabinet.
A shard of pottery grazed Lin Changxiao's brow bone, and beads of blood rolled into his eyes, staining the whole world crimson.
"Are you going or not? If you don't go, I'll pretend I don't have a son like you!"
A cold wind swept in, carrying withered grass, and the oil lamp flickered on and off.
The fierce look on Lin Erniu's face suddenly froze. He saw a red rope sticking out from under his second son's blood-stained clothes.
—It was clearly a gift from a girl from a neighboring village during last year's Qixi Festival. That girl was Changxiao's sweetheart, and he inquired about her; the betrothal gift alone was twenty taels of silver.
The year was bad, and Changqing still needed to study. After deducting the cost of his eldest son's exams and the cost of his studies, the family couldn't come up with twenty taels of silver even after emptying their pockets.
The distant sound of the night watchman's clapper mingled with the intermittent whimpers of wild dogs.
Lin Changxiao wiped the blood from his eyes: "Son, go."
"After we harvest the land and sell the grain this year, we should be able to save up about thirty taels of silver. Then, your father will go to the Sun family in the east to propose marriage for you. Be good, do you think your father and mother would ever harm you..."
"Um"
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