Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Moving All the Grain, Forcing the Adulterer to Reveal Himself Zhang Qibao did not enter the Magical Space right away. In this life, he would not reveal any of his secrets to Lu Wanwan. The house, the money, and his job—in short, every benefit Lu Wanwan could get her hands on—he would hide away securely. And then there were his sisters. The moment Zhang Qibao thought of them, he suddenly grew anxious. His Eldest Sister and Second Sister, along with their children, had all died during this famine. It seemed to have been around this time. He had to make a trip to Eldest Sister's and Second Sister's homes as soon as possible. Don't panic. Don't panic. Zhang Qibao kept warning himself. After being given another chance at life, he absolutely could not panic. He began calculating everything, as though making a list. First, he had to put away all the grain and property in the house. He would not let Lu Wanwan and those four children eat even a single grain of rice. Without food, Lu Wanwan and that adulterer would never sit around and wait for death. Whoever became anxious, whoever brought food, whoever jumped out and made a scene—that person would be the adulterer. Second, he had to save Eldest Sister and Second Sister. The matter of the adulterer could wait for the right moment. He needed to find out who it was. But his two sisters' lives could not wait. Third, he had to endure it. He could not fall out with them yet. He had to make both Lu Wanwan and the adulterer lower their guard. Fourth, he absolutely could not leave Xiao Zhenbei alone with Lu Wanwan. Lu Wanwan was the kind of person who acted without saying anything, especially after he had forced her to feed Xiao Zhenbei that day. If Lu Wanwan were left alone with Xiao Zhenbei, she definitely would not let him have an easy time. A dog that bites does not bark. Lu Wanwan was precisely that kind of dog—one that did not bark, but only bit. That woman truly dared to starve Xiao Zhenbei to death right under his nose, then quietly wait for him, Zhang Qibao, to make a scene while putting on an innocent act. Zhang Qibao went over every matter in his mind again and again. Only after Zhang Zhenbei had finished drinking from both of Lu Wanwan's breasts and fallen peacefully asleep in her arms did Zhang Qibao carefully take the child back to his side. Eldest Sister's family lived in Wang Family Village in the neighboring county, a four-hour journey by car. But there were no cars now, and it was raining heavily. Zhang Qibao did not know whether he could make it there. Still, he had to give it a try. Calmly and quickly, Zhang Qibao walked to the wall and picked up the large back basket he had woven that year. He carefully spread the little cotton quilt Third Sister had made for Zhang Zhenbei inside the basket, then cautiously placed Zhang Zhenbei inside and hoisted it onto his back. Zhang Qibao adjusted the basket carefully behind him and walked out with the bamboo basket on his back. Once he was outside and had confirmed that there was no one around, Zhang Qibao focused his thoughts. As expected, he flashed into a vast space. Inside was a tiny, miniature version of Zhang Zhenbei, sleeping soundly like a function button on a phone. Zhang Qibao's heart melted at the sight. Unable to resist, he tapped it once. The little red light on the Zhang Zhenbei button lit up. [Welcome to Zhang Zhenbei's Spirit Spring Space...] A babyish mechanical voice rang out. Zhang Qibao was instantly drawn into another interface. There was a well. The water inside was crystal clear, but there was very little of it. A tiny wooden ladle sat beside the well. Zhang Qibao picked up the ladle and took a drink. The water was wonderfully cool, sweet, and refreshing. A large black box labeled “Production” stood nearby, its top covered with the supplies he had just been rewarded for saving the baby. The well and the box stood side by side. Behind them stretched a vast expanse of bare earth. The instant Zhang Qibao saw the land, his mind buzzed. “Land is the only thing in the world that is truly valuable! It is the only enduring thing in this world, the only thing worth sweating for, fighting for, and even sacrificing one's life for.” In his previous life, in order to please Lu Wanwan, Zhang Qibao had pretended to be cultured and read some foreign classics. The passage that had left the deepest impression on him and shocked him the most was this one from Gone with the Wind. What importance did love and romance have? What mattered was land. What mattered was staying alive. Zhang Qibao eagerly left the Magical Space and rushed straight to the kitchen. Their family had a traditional hanging grain basket! To keep mice from stealing the grain, they hung a large basket from the roof beam and filled it with all kinds of seeds. Zhang Qibao skillfully found the hemp rope hanging down from the beam and pulled it down, just as he had countless times in his childhood. The bamboo basket filled with grain seeds descended steadily into his arms. Mung beans, red beans, corn, wheat, and, incredibly, even some sesame seeds. Zhang Qibao put the basket into the Magical Space, then stored all the edible grain in the house there as well. He walked to a corner of the northeastern wall and skillfully felt around the earthen bricks with his hand. When he found a raised section, he exerted his strength and removed one entire brick. Behind it was a small, square compartment containing the family's land deed, house deed, and some papers left behind by his parents. At the very back, inside a red paper packet, was all of Zhang Qibao's accumulated wealth over the years: 2,400 yuan in cash. Zhang Qibao put everything into the Magical Space. He looked up at the house. This was the Zhang Family's ancestral home. Once he fell out with Lu Wanwan, he would no longer be able to stay in the village. He could pass the ancestral home on to his younger male cousin. In his previous life, after moving to the provincial capital with Lu Wanwan and their five children, it had always been his younger cousin who helped look after the ancestral home. After his younger cousin passed away, his cousin's son would put up Spring Festival couplets on the ancestral home every year. In his previous life, every member of the Zhang family had done everything they could for Zhang Qibao, the only male descendant of Zhang Zishan's family. After preparing everything, Zhang Qibao turned to leave. The kitchen floor was covered in water. When he lowered his head, he saw a large clump of floating pumpkin pulp, its surface packed with plump, pale-yellow pumpkin seeds. As though he had found a treasure, Zhang Qibao picked it up. He was immensely grateful for Lu Wanwan's laziness—so lazy that she never cleaned the kitchen. In the July summer of southern Ji, that laziness had left behind such precious seeds. Zhang Qibao swept his legs back and forth through the water, as though wading across one hopeful little river after another and searching for treasures sunken on the riverbeds. Before long, he scavenged a large peach pit that had been left behind at some unknown time and gnawed clean. Zhang Qibao imagined one large pumpkin after another growing, then pictured plump, round peaches, and felt utterly satisfied. In this era, to simmer a pot of soft, fragrant pumpkin millet porridge and then eat a fresh, juicy, radiant peach— What unimaginable luxury. Zhang Qibao quickly waded to the kitchen entrance. He looked left and right and, seeing that Lu Wanwan and the four children had not come out, immediately locked the kitchen door. He flashed into the Magical Space with a thought. This time, he also brought Zhang Zhenbei, who was sleeping in his swaddling clothes, inside with him. Although Zhang Qibao was the youngest in his family, he was used to farm work. In no time, he had planted all the grain. He deliberately planted the peach pit and all the pumpkin seeds beside the Spirit Spring. As for Zhang Zhenbei, he placed him directly on the earth. Let him absorb some earthly energy. That would help him grow. After leaving the Magical Space, Zhang Qibao covered the empty bamboo basket on his back with a white plastic fertilizer sack to avoid attracting attention. Once everything was ready, night had fallen outside, while the rain had eased considerably. Zhang Qibao took off his tattered cloth shirt, bared his upper body, and headed out. There was hardly anyone on the road. The heavy rain had continued for more than ten days. Many households had very little grain left. Anyone who could lie on a bed was lying on a bed, conserving both their strength and their food. If Zhang Qibao had not eaten the relief grain Eldest Sister had brought, his entire family would already have been lying in bed, unable to get up. Thinking of Eldest Sister, Zhang Qibao quickened his pace. He absolutely would not let the two little nieces in Eldest Sister's family starve to death. As long as the two little girls did not die, Eldest Sister's Husband would not lose control, kill Eldest Sister, and then take his own life. By the time night fell, Zhang Qibao had covered less than a third of the journey. His legs had been soaked in water for so long that they had begun to weaken. His feet grew heavier with every step, and his knees had gone cold and stiff. Taking off his shirt had at least stopped it from clinging to him, but now he was freezing to death. He flashed into the Magical Space and saw that Xiao Zhenbei had woken up. First, he used Spirit Spring Water to mix formula for Xiao Zhenbei and fed the little darling until he was full. Then he hurriedly put on a thick cotton-padded coat, flashed back out of the Magical Space, and continued toward Eldest Sister's home. The night deepened. There was no sound anywhere around them, only the soft patter of rain and the splashing noise of Zhang Qibao wading through the water, one deep step and one shallow step. Some kinds of pain could only be understood once they had been suffered personally. In this life, Zhang Qibao had walked the very road Eldest Sister had walked and only then realized how painful it was. In weather like this, walking for nearly an entire day and night with one's legs immersed in rainwater, the cold night rain was like an icy ghost with eyes, drilling thread by thread into the gaps between one's bones. That wetness, that cold—it was enough to take a person's life. In his previous life, he had only thought that Eldest Sister ought to bring him relief grain. After all, she was his Eldest Sister. He had never once thought about how Eldest Sister—a thin, frail woman—had managed to carry grain through freezing rain like this all the way to his door. Zhang Qibao's entire body ached. He wanted to stop, and his weakened legs wanted to collapse to their knees, but he gritted his teeth and continued inching forward step by step. The heavy rain blanketed the entire world, including Wang Family Village beneath that same sky. Wang Jianguo sat on the earthen kang, leaning helplessly against the wall. Ever since Zhang Dapan had braved the wind and rain and waded through waist-high water to send the last of the grain in their home back to her mother's family, Wang Jianguo had not said a single word to Zhang Dapan. The regret had gnawed him to the bone. It was a despair so complete that there was not even another word worth saying. The greatest mistake Wang Jianguo had made in his life was marrying a woman like Zhang Dapan. His two daughters lay on the kang. The elder was fourteen, while the younger was only three. Covered by a thin quilt, they were so thin and flat that they barely looked human. There was not a trace of color in either child's face. Their lips were cracked and bluish, and a dull, gray deathly air hung over them. The family had been out of grain for two days. Since last night, neither child had opened her eyes again. Wang Jianguo reached out once more to feel beneath their noses. Their breathing was so weak it was barely there. Wang Jianguo knew that the two children would not survive until tomorrow. He forced himself to get up. He was not short, but he had grown frighteningly thin, like a dried bamboo stalk, without a trace of flesh. Beneath the skin was nothing but long, narrow bones. His loose clothes hung from his body, and his thin frame swayed as though a gust of wind could knock him down. Holding on to the wall, Wang Jianguo moved inch by inch toward the kitchen. He was going to get the cleaver. The journey was only a few meters, yet by the time Wang Jianguo made it back to the kang, his entire body was drenched in cold sweat. His stomach cramped repeatedly, and he lay face down on the kang to recover for quite some time. Then he used the cleaver to make a cut across his wrist. Blood slowly flowed out, and he urgently held the bleeding wrist to his younger daughter's mouth. Her mouth moved, and she swallowed twice almost instinctively. Wang Jianguo let out a huge sigh of relief. When the younger daughter's mouth stopped moving, Wang Jianguo used the cleaver to deepen the cut, then fed his blood to his elder daughter. The elder daughter was already completely unconscious. Wang Jianguo could only pry open her mouth and force the blood down her throat. Wang Jianguo knew that this could not truly save his two daughters. But he was their father. As long as he was still alive, he was willing to carve away his own flesh and blood to feed his children. He did not spare Zhang Dapan, huddled in the corner of the kang, a single glance. His children could clearly have lived. Their family had clearly possessed relief grain that could have saved their lives. It was Zhang Dapan who had taken all the relief grain and brought death to his children. The night was dark and heavy. Wang Jianguo thought that if his two daughters died tomorrow, then Zhang Dapan's death would come as well. His daughters were dead, and he would not go on living alone. Before he died, he would chop Zhang Dapan to pieces and avenge his two daughters.