Chapter 287
The next morning, the cow was still fine and packed up to go out.
She said, "I need your help with something when you come back."
"What's the matter? Tell me now."
"It's just a small thing. I need to prepare."
He was curious about what was going on, why it was so mysterious.
The nanny brought the child to her. She kissed her daughter and said, "You can drink the nanny's milk for the next two days. I will feed you in two days."
She drank alcohol yesterday.
The chestnut market was about to close, so she made chestnut cakes and lotus seed cakes in anticipation of his return. He didn't return until almost nine o'clock, and they had snacks and tea together while the rain began to fall. Two cats lay at his feet, and the child slept soundly in the cradle.
He asked her what she had talked about that morning. Wang Jiazhi told him about the woman who had been in the same ward with her when she gave birth. When she came back and gave out tips to her staff, it suddenly dawned on him that he could definitely help her redeem herself. He figured he could help her husband with the money he had used to buy her. He just happened to remember the address of their shop; it was easy to find.
"Can someone help look for her? We'll have to ask the hospital, too. Find out her name, so they don't just go to the store and get it wrong."
Influenced by stories like "Sanyan Erpai", Wang Jiazhi was always worried about making a mistake by mistake and hoped that both the hospital and the store would confirm that it was the same person.
She took out a portrait she had drawn during the day and said, "It probably looks like this."
He took it, looked at it and said, "It's very beautiful."
"So, this is such a shame. I have to follow that person for the rest of my life and I have to give birth to a son."
At this time, Wang Jiazhi suddenly asked, "Do you want a son or a daughter?"
"My daughter."
"Don't just pretend to make me happy."
"I'm serious, I always thought most boys were stupid."
Sure enough, even men think that most men are a little stupid.
Seeing that he seemed to be lost in thought, Wang Jiazhi felt that he was probably thinking of some helpless people in the past.
Seeing how carefully she instructed and even drew a portrait, he felt deeply moved. She was so meticulous and really made for a spy. But with her personality, he decided to forget it.
Wang Jiazhi took a small pink coin purse with white polka dots, resembling a pink strawberry, and stuffed it with six gold bars. She felt this was enough for the girl to redeem herself. Since she had given birth to a daughter, her in-laws would probably agree to let her take the child with her. If she couldn't find a job for a while, the remaining money would be enough for her and the child to live on.
He said, "Why don't you write her a note?"
She thought about it and decided that they were just casual acquaintances and she didn't even know the girl's name. So why should she know each other before meeting? It would be better not to write anything.
He looked at the pink, girly coin purse and thought, "I wish she could stay like a little girl like this for the rest of her life."
She said that the girl suffered a lot during childbirth. She was originally very confident in herself, but she was also scared.
He smiled and said, "Actually, I have great confidence in you."
She knew her figure was perfect for childbearing. In middle school, a girl joked, "When choosing a daughter-in-law, they'll definitely like someone like you. You can obviously give birth to a child, and most likely a son."
Because of her younger brother, she hated the word "giving birth to a son".
When I was in college, there was a boy in the class next to me. He told me he had seven sisters. His mother said, "People say there are seven fairies, and to have a daughter is to have seven daughters. The eighth is a son." The boy usually gave a very good impression. Surprisingly, his mother was a PhD who had studied abroad. He laughed and said, "That generation had no choice. They felt that having a son was a duty they had to fulfill."
At that time, an aunt said to her mother: "You are so lucky to have both a son and a daughter. The second one will be a son."
The key point of that sentence is the latter one.
In the evening, the nanny took the child away, and the two began to eat peanuts again.
After being apart for so long, she had so many things she wanted to say to him, but she didn't know which ones to pick first. She hadn't had time to sort out her thoughts these past few days, but today she finally sorted out what she wanted to share.
She nestled in his arms, listening to the sound of rain, and said, "I went to Hangzhou, and it happened to be spring when the scenery was at its most beautiful. There are no willow trees in my hometown, and the photos and illustrations I saw in books all seemed just okay. Why did Emperor Yang of Sui love willow trees so much that he gave them his surname and even planted willow trees along the canal? It turns out that the willow trees there in early spring really are like tender green gauze ribbons. When the wind blows, it's like many ribbons fluttering, which is completely different from what I see in books."
"You went to West Lake. That was when the scenery was the most beautiful. When I was in middle school, the school was very close to Leifeng Pagoda. On weekends, when I had nothing to do, I would borrow bicycles from my classmates and ride to the Broken Bridge and back. There were not many people in the morning, and the scenery and air were especially good." As he spoke, he recalled his youth, that carefree time when everything was full of longing, which seemed like a thing of his previous life.
She thought of him in his navy blue school uniform, or perhaps a white shirt, riding his bike by the West Lake, the gentle spring breeze ruffling his hair. The Bai Causeway was covered in red, pink, and snow-white peach and pear blossoms, and silken willow branches swaying in the wind, brushing his cheeks and shoulders as he passed. Peach blossom petals drifted down his head and body, dusting him all over. That young man was gone.
She thought back to herself, back in middle school, wearing a light pink or lake green shirt, a lily or white orchid in her hair, walking in the spring breeze through the tasseled trees that looked like falling snow. Or going to see the flowers with her mother, wearing a bright red dress, a kapok flower in her hair that looked like a red star, walking beneath the tall, blossoming kapok trees. There were always people turning to look at her. She was no longer the beautiful, innocent little girl. Instead, she was a withered, indescribable thing.
He asked, "Haven't you visited the ** Temple? It's very close."
She laughed and said, "I was pregnant, so I didn't go in. And my mother said that you can't make a wish lightly, because you have to go back and pay it back in the future. I don't believe it anyway. Have you been there?"
"Of course I've been there, but I've never believed in it. It was always my mother who went. When I was little, I didn't understand why Buddhism, which teaches that the four elements are empty and that we should let go of all worldly desires, would help you fulfill your wishes? Wouldn't it only make your desires grow and harder to let go? Taoism, on the other hand, teaches that everything should be left to nature, and never forces you to do anything in a certain way. After all, we're Chinese, and we understand the beauty of moderation."
Then he asked, "Why did you think of going there?"
"I want to visit your hometown. You've been to so many places. You've been to every place I've been to in my hometown, but I've never been to any place you've been to. Every time I go to a place, I wonder if you've been there too."
As he spoke, he reached for the cabinet beside the bed and took out a notebook from the drawer.
"I left a few branches of West Lake flowers for you. I wrote to you last time about two of them."
He opened it, revealing branches of peach, pear, and other flowers of varying colors, along with a few willow branches. He hadn't been back to his hometown in years. His parents were gone, and he had nothing to worry about. Even if he weren't so busy, he wouldn't want to go back. He was too embarrassed to go.
He picked up a white peach blossom and looked thoughtful.
"I see how beautiful the pastries there are, with all sorts of flowers and fruits. I'm still learning how to make them. I'll give you the ones that look good. I don't know if you'll find them tasty."
He suddenly remembered why he'd suddenly become interested in making puff pastry. It was because he'd been back home. Making pastries in front of a frying pan on a hot day didn't exhaust him. But it was very touching.
She continued, "You know what? It's so strange. I was supposed to be going somewhere, but the car took me to a very strange place. It's desolate, with several graves, like someone's ancestral graves. There's a really tall white orchid tree with so many flowers that you can smell its fragrance from the roadside. There are also two cats on the branches, the same color as the two cats at home. But I'm not scared at all." She seemed to have seen a similar scene somewhere before, but she couldn't remember where. She didn't feel scared at all, but a very peaceful feeling.
"What place is that?" He was also very curious, but there were indeed many white orchid trees in his hometown.
He was so panicked at this point that he didn't sleep for two days. The person who was following him was following him just fine, but suddenly he said he was lost and couldn't find him. It took two days for him to find him again. The person who was following him was terrified.
She added, "Originally, I wanted to go back to my hometown to visit my mother's grave, but the journey was too far, and I was worried about what might happen if I took the children with me, so I didn't go. I thought she had been gone for seven years, all alone."
"If there's a chance, I'll take you back to visit. I haven't been to my parents' place in years. I'll take the kids with me then."
None of them mentioned the most important reason, and they all felt ashamed to go back.
Wang Jiazhi actually wanted to visit Nanjing. Besides Chang'an, she wanted to visit Jinling the most, as it was so close. She especially wanted to see the Qinhuai River and the ancient city walls, as well as Taicheng, where Emperor Wu of Liang died of starvation. But she didn't go because she didn't dare.
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