Chapter 51: This Is So Embarrassing

“What? Leaving the house with nothing?” Nie Sun was a bit bewildered.

“Xiao Liu, can you explain more clearly?” Village Chief Zhao also frowned and asked.

Zhao Dongkui wanted to help explain, but he was quickly pulled aside. The reason was simple: everyone knew Zhao Dongkui’s eloquence was nowhere near as good as Liu Xing’s. If he made a slip of the tongue and turned a good thing into a bad one, it would hardly be worth the trouble.

Liu Xing smiled and explained, “If she hadn’t been sent away empty-handed, then why, when my sister and her in-laws split the family, did she end up without even a single tool for plowing the fields? Why didn’t she have a single pot or bowl to cook with? Why was there not even the most basic guarantee for her daily life?”

He fired off three questions in a row.

Nie Sun was left at a loss for words. Village Chief Zhao was even more astonished. When he came to his senses, he turned to Zhao Dongkui and asked, “When your parents divided the family with you, did they really give you nothing at all?”

“Yes,” Zhao Dongkui lowered his head.

“Not even a plow for working the fields, or an iron pot for cooking?” Village Chief Zhao still couldn’t believe it. His face shifted as he asked again.

In fact, before the liberation, Old House Village was called Zhao Family Village, named so because everyone there shared the Zhao surname. Even now, on the road at the eastern end of the village, there still stood a well-preserved Zhao family ancestral hall. If any of the old generation living in the ancestral hall were still alive, then whenever a Zhao family wanted to split the family, marry off a daughter, or handle any matter related to the family name, it had to be approved by the elders.

If someone acted recklessly, as Zhao Dongkui’s parents had—dividing the family without giving the younger generation any means to live—they would have been driven out of Zhao Family Village under clan rules long ago. Although Zhao Family Village had lost its former glory, its basic family-splitting rules still had to be observed. Otherwise, what neighboring village would dare marry off their daughters here? That was why Village Chief Zhao was so incredulous and asked again for confirmation.

“If they had given us anything, would my wife’s family have come here today, carrying baskets, leading cattle, and bringing pots, pans, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and other essentials?” replied Zhao Dongkui, face clouded with embarrassment.

“Well now! Zhao Geng really doesn’t care about my authority as village chief!” Finally unable to hold back, Village Chief Zhao rolled up his sleeves, his face ashen as he turned to Nie Sun. “Come on, let’s go to Zhao Geng’s house and ask what he’s really thinking. If he doesn’t recognize Dongkui as his son, why bother having him in the first place!”

Zhao Geng was Zhao Dongkui’s father and Liu Dongju’s father-in-law—a man known for little but smoking dry tobacco, an introverted and unassuming fellow.

“What a disgrace to our Old House Village!” Nie Sun was equally furious. After patting Zhao Dongkui’s shoulder, he hurried off with the village chief.

Zhao Dongkui wanted to call them back for lunch, but he couldn’t find the words. After all, he hoped the village chief and Team Leader Nie would help him get justice. If he held them back for a meal and delayed the matter, that would be the last thing he wanted.

Liu Dazhao, however, was worried that the village chief and Nie Sun wouldn’t really hold Zhao Geng accountable. Frowning, he took a puff on his cigarette and asked Liu Xing, “Is there really any point in complaining to the village chief like this? What if he already knew about it and was just putting on a show for us?”

Village officials, village officials—nine out of ten are corrupt. The tenth one is just lazy. That’s a joke people in the countryside made about village officials decades later; it shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Back in the 1980s, village officials actually ran things and were even less likely to be corrupt. The countryside was simply too poor—there was nothing for them to be corrupt about. Their values were simple and upright; they cherished their reputations far more than any material gain.

As for Zhao Ji, the village chief of Old House Village in the 1980s, though not corrupt, Liu Dazhao doubted he would risk offending the Zhao Geng family over such a trivial matter. That was why he asked.

Liu Xing smiled and replied, “Village Chief Zhao wouldn’t do that. They know what’s at stake. Did you think those two packs of Changsha cigarettes were given for nothing? At the very least, they have to go to the Zhao house and get to the bottom of things. Otherwise, what I plan to do next will make them regret ever meeting me.”

In the 1980s, the thing a village feared most wasn’t famine or bare feet, but an ever-growing number of bachelors—ending up as a village with no descendants. What Zhao Geng’s family was doing was leading the village straight down that path. If word got out, who would ever dare marry their daughter here? Likely no one.

This was precisely what Liu Xing was counting on. He didn’t believe the village chief could ignore it; in fact, he feared it deeply. That was why he had his brother-in-law invite the village chief and Team Leader Nie over.

“Liu Xing, don’t do anything rash!” Zhao Dongkui, sensing something amiss in Liu Xing’s tone, grew anxious.

“Can’t you show a little backbone? Only if this blows up will you and Dongju have a foothold in Old House Village. Otherwise, your mother and brother will keep finding ways to bully you.” Liu Dazhao tapped Zhao Dongkui’s forehead. “I must have been blind back then, letting Dongju marry you. I never imagined you’d be such a pushover.”

“I… I…” Zhao Dongkui stammered, unable to get a word out.

“All right, Dad! Don’t speak to my brother-in-law like that. He has his own difficulties.” Liu Xing sighed. “Put yourself in his shoes—if I were your son, and one day you and Mom did the same to me, what would I do?”

“Well…” For a moment, Liu Dazhao had no answer. Liu Xing was right—if he and his wife ever treated him that way, what would Liu Xing do? Stand up and fight, no matter the consequences? Though it would never happen in his own family, this made him realize that right now Zhao Dongkui was actually the one suffering the most. If he were unfilial, things would never have come to this.

Seeing that his father was listening, Liu Xing added, “Every family has its own troubles, and even an upright official finds it hard to settle domestic disputes. All we need to do is make sure my sister and brother-in-law can live well. The rest isn’t worth worrying about.”

“That’s true.” Liu Dazhao nodded slowly. Life is brief; we come and go in a flash, just a few decades. If you insist on settling every score, you’d never survive.

“So what should we do now?” Now that Liu Xing had convinced even his father-in-law, Zhao Dongkui breathed a sigh of relief and asked.

“Wait. If you’re not busy, help out in the kitchen. I think Village Chief Zhao and Team Leader Nie will be back, and they might stay for lunch. There could be a surprise.” Liu Xing smiled and patted Zhao Dongkui’s shoulder.

“All right! All right!” Zhao Dongkui hurried off to the kitchen.

Liu Dazhao stopped interfering and, grabbing his hoe, went back to digging up turf along the field ridge.

Liu Xing didn’t stay idle either. He gathered Guazi and Little Dot. Seeing the loquats on the tree in the backyard ripening in April, he let his sister in the kitchen know and then climbed up like a little monkey.

Guazi and Little Dot looked up eagerly. To them, these April loquats were a rare treat—delicious and sweet.

Liu Dongju, afraid her brother would fall, rushed out of the kitchen when she heard the commotion. “Be careful up there, don’t fall!”

“I won’t! The loquat tree isn’t tall at all, it’s safe. Don’t you remember when we were kids, picking mulberries from that big tree outside Wang Li’s house? Now that was dangerous!” Liu Xing replied as he ate the fruit, laughing.

Seeing Guazi and Little Dot drooling, he quickly picked a handful and tossed them down.

Liu Dongju couldn’t help but laugh at his words. Back then, she and Liu Xing really were like little monkeys. Wherever there were wild fruits in Xiao Shi Village, you’d find them. Mulberries were nothing—they’d picked even more dangerous ones. Looking back, it seemed as if it all happened just yesterday.

“Huh?” Suddenly, Liu Dongju froze. Then she called out to Liu Dazhao, who was working by the fields, “Dad! Stop, quick! Why are you digging up turf on someone else’s field ridge? That’s not our land—the other two are ours!”

Startled, Liu Dazhao immediately shouldered his hoe and hurried back, his face a picture of embarrassment. Liu Dongju burst out laughing, tears streaming down her face.

Liu Xing couldn’t help but laugh too. No wonder he’d seen a villager watching his father so intently earlier—the man must have been amused to see someone digging turf for him. He was probably hiding at home, secretly laughing.

“What’s so funny? It’s all your fault!” Liu Dazhao barked, but soon he was laughing too. He realized just how silly he’d been—like a big oaf. If word got out, his reputation would be ruined. But he didn’t mind. In this life, who hasn’t done something embarrassing once or twice?