Heading north: A new life is about to begin.
After the New Year, Grandpa Jiang and Grandma Jiang did not go north with them. The two elders had already grown used to living there, so they could only send the couple to the train station.
Before leaving, Xie Mingtu and Su Xiaoman asked a few questions about Xie Mingtu’s maternal grandmother’s family.
“On his grandmother’s side, there’s still a third uncle and a youngest uncle. Once you get there, you’ll know. Go and meet his grandmother. She is…”
Grandpa Jiang did not quite know how to describe this in-law of his. “The two of you will understand once you meet her.”
“His grandfather has already passed away. Only his grandmother is still there. As for the others, you don’t need to pay too much attention to them.”
From Grandpa Jiang and Grandma Jiang, Xie Mingtu and Su Xiaoman learned quite a bit about the old Xie family.
Xie Yazhi’s relationship with her maiden family was only average. Her third brother, Xie Zhongqi, was a good-for-nothing wastrel. In the old days, he would have been called a dandy young master. Now, there was nothing left. The family fortune was gone, and they often had no idea where their next meal would come from. But his hand simply could not be restrained. If he had one yuan in his pocket, he could somehow spend like he had a hundred.
Their family could never save much money. Whenever they had even a little, they would spend it on food and enjoyment. They had two sons, and now that the eldest son was clamouring to get married, he finally realised that his son’s marriage required money. He asked his younger brother for it, but failed to get any, so he went to Xie Yazhi instead. Xie Yazhi scraped together some money and gave it to him.
This was also one of the reasons why that siheyuan had ended up belonging to Xie Yazhi.
“His third uncle was a teacher. He used to teach at a middle school. Now he’s lame, and I don’t know whether he still works…” Grandpa Jiang narrowed his eyes as he spoke of old matters, murmuring, “In the blink of an eye, that was almost ten years ago. Back then, during that movement, he was a teacher. The students stopped attending classes, and his leg was also… trampled broken during one incident.”
Hearing Grandpa Jiang mention those old events, Su Xiaoman could not help sighing inwardly. During those past incidents, teachers had indeed been among those who endured more pressure. Some had even been forced by students to…
She closed her eyes, unable to imagine those tragic scenes. Xie Mingtu took hold of her hand. The next second, Grandpa Jiang changed the subject.
“But it was also because Xiaotu’s third uncle loved joining in the excitement. His personality was rather lazy and scattered. He had never been very attentive to teaching, nor was he strict with students. Usually, he didn’t like disciplining them and instead got along quite well with a few of them. Originally, that matter had nothing to do with him…”
Su Xiaoman: “???!!!”
Xie Mingtu: “…”
Grandpa Jiang sighed. “A good old teacher was being criticised, and Xiaotu’s third uncle went to watch the commotion. That day, things got too chaotic and caused a stampede. His third uncle tripped on the steps and was trampled by the packed crowd of students, breaking his leg.”
“By the time he was sent to the hospital, one leg could no longer be saved.”
Su Xiaoman was speechless.
…He had gone to watch a spectacle and ended up having his leg trampled broken.
That was truly unlucky.
“When the Xie family’s circumstances became bad, the whole family went north to seek shelter with his grandmother’s maiden family. But her maiden family wasn’t doing too well either. Apart from that remaining house frame, there was nothing else left.”
“His youngest uncle was born late and never got to enjoy anything. But his nature is honest and simple. He and his wife live in a state-owned work unit, and they have two daughters. They live in housing allocated by the unit and don’t live with his third uncle.”
“His grandmother lives with his third uncle. That’s also a miserable situation. His grandmother called before and told Yazhi over the phone that her son and daughter-in-law were unfilial, that today this had made her unhappy and tomorrow that had made her unhappy. Xie Yazhi told her to move out and come here so she could look after her, but then she went silent again. In the end, she still couldn’t bear to leave those two precious grandsons of hers…”
…
Listening to Grandpa Jiang, Su Xiaoman and her husband learned a lot about the old Xie family.
They planned that once they arrived in the capital, they would simply acknowledge the relatives briefly and leave it at that. If the people were good, they would keep in touch. If they were not, then it did not matter if they did not associate with them. The two courtyards were not exactly close to each other anyway; there was still some distance between them.
They had not expected such a coincidence either. Xie Mingtu’s maternal grandmother’s family was actually in the capital. They had never heard of it before. Since neither of them knew, Su Xiaoman had assumed there was no one left on the Xie side.
Yet it turned out Xie Mingtu still had a whole string of relatives: grandmother, uncles, male cousins, female cousins.
And it was not just his family. Su Xiaoman thought of her own family and realised she also had a whole basket of relatives. In this era, family planning had not yet been implemented. Which family did not have several siblings? When gathered together, there were far too many messy, complicated relatives.
Su Xiaoman still could not recognise all of her male and female cousins. She had an eldest aunt and a younger aunt. Her family did not have a good relationship with one of her eldest aunts, and the two families rarely interacted. The cousins from that aunt’s family did not often visit their home either, and the relationship had naturally faded.
Relationships between relatives and friends were all very complicated.
On the third day of the first lunar month, Su Xiaoman and Xie Mingtu said goodbye to Grandpa and Grandma and took the train north. The two of them were covered in large and small bags. Grandpa Jiang and Grandma Jiang were still carrying two more bags in their hands, all filled with the elders’ heartfelt care.
Xie Mingtu, wearing a military greatcoat, dragged along the many bags and bundles without seeming strained at all. But his appearance was far too funny.
He was tall and long-limbed, and even wearing a green military greatcoat did not make him look bulky. His body still looked agile and upright. However, with all the large and small bags hanging from him, especially those two snakeskin sacks…
The luggage he carried was larger in volume than he was.
He looked like a travelling bag that could no longer contain anything. Because there were too many things, the zipper could not be closed, and all sorts of items were sticking out in every direction.
Su Xiaoman, wearing a hat, scarf, rabbit-fur gloves, and a padded jacket, wrapped up tightly from head to toe, breathed out a puff of air. Standing beside him, she kept looking at him and laughing.
“Do you want me to help you carry two bags?”
Xie Mingtu raised his handsome brows. “No need. Manman just needs to watch me from the side.”
Su Xiaoman glanced left and right at the passers-by, feeling a little guilty. “At least let me carry two light bags. Otherwise, people around us will say I’m mistreating my husband.”
Hearing this, Xie Mingtu actually looked rather proud. “That just means I dote on my wife.”
“Although I know it doesn’t take much effort for you, I can’t bear to watch. Give me one bag. Grandpa and Grandma gave us too many things.”
“I’m cold. Let me hold something.”
Xie Mingtu stopped and took down a small bag of food. Inside were steamed buns, mantou, and flatbreads made by Grandma Jiang, as well as some cakes and milk candies. He handed the bag to Su Xiaoman.
“Manman, hold this. Eat some if you get hungry.”
Su Xiaoman held the bag in her arms, peeled a milk candy and put it in her mouth, then peeled another and fed it to Xie Mingtu. Xie Mingtu chewed it and said, “Manman, be good. Eat it yourself.”
“I’m giving you one candy to boost your strength.”
The two of them boarded the train. They had bought two sleeper tickets, and although they had many things, there was enough space to store them. Su Xiaoman, who boarded the train on the third day of the New Year, finally experienced the 1970s Spring Festival travel rush. There were truly so many people on the train. People came and went, and her ears were filled with loud, clamorous noise.
Putting aside everything else, the loudest sounds on the train besides the vendors’ calls were the screams and shouting of all kinds of children. People in this era really could have children. There were children everywhere. Some couples brought along one, two, three, four, five children in a row. The older ones were still all right, but when the little ones gathered together, one after another, they competed to see whose voice was louder.
Three or four children in one carriage were already noisy enough, let alone ten or twenty.
Besides those running on the floor, there were also several in carrying baskets.
Even the aisles were packed full of people.
The sky outside was covered in a white mist, with no sunlight. Although it was not snowing, a savage cold wind raged outside. Sitting by the window, one could hear gust after gust of furious wind howling.
The sleeper berth where Xie Mingtu and Su Xiaoman stayed was much quieter. Su Xiaoman had chosen the lower berth, and Xie Mingtu’s was above hers. Their tickets were consecutive. After putting away the luggage, the two of them sat together on the lower berth.
Su Xiaoman leaned against Xie Mingtu. Right now, she was relying on the man beside her for warmth.
“I’ll go get hot water.” Xie Mingtu smiled and rubbed her face, then got up with the kettle to queue for hot water.
Su Xiaoman nodded and remained sitting on the hard sleeper berth, breathing warm air onto her frozen, stiff hands.
The train had not yet started moving. The windows around them were all shut, but uncovered drafts still poured into her body. Sitting on the hard, cold white cotton quilt, she could still feel a subtle chill quietly seeping through her clothes and into her back.
So cold…
When they had been hurrying along, they faced the cold wind head-on. Her exposed cheeks had been blown as cold as frost, but her body was still warm. Now, after sitting down for only a short while, her whole body had chilled along with it.
Opposite them was also a married couple, with three children, all boys. The eldest was eight years old, and the youngest looked about two or three. These children were quite obedient and quiet. The eldest looked after the youngest, while the second played by himself.
Children truly did not fear the cold. They secretly opened the window a little, letting the cold wind outside blow onto their faces as they giggled.
The couple looked to be in their thirties or forties. The man was a soldier, and the woman was a rural woman with her hair tied in a ponytail. There were a few silver strands at her temples. Seeing Su Xiaoman and her husband, she showed the common warmth of people in this era and greeted them.
“You two are newlyweds, aren’t you?”
Su Xiaoman nodded. “Yes. Big sister, are you and big brother taking the whole family north?”
“That’s right. I’m bringing the children north to accompany him in the army. My man’s rank has reached the level where he can bring his wife and children over. Little sister, your man is a soldier too, isn’t he?”
Su Xiaoman nodded.
“Then it’ll be hard on you… Ah, you were once a cultural troupe soldier?! No wonder you’re so pretty. You young couple, one handsome and one beautiful — where would we ever see people like you in the village?” The woman was startled and dramatic. Her voice pierced through the whole carriage.
She looked Su Xiaoman up and down with a very strange gaze.
“You cultural troupe soldiers are all so pretty. No wonder Cuicui worries at home all day that her man won’t be able to control himself and will fall for some other beautiful woman.”
“I never worried before, but now that I’ve seen you, I’m starting to worry.”
She quietly leaned close to Su Xiaoman and asked in a low voice, “Do you people ever mess around with men and women?”
“Do you only go to give consolation performances? You don’t do anything else?”
“That man really is your husband?”
…
Su Xiaoman felt extremely uncomfortable from her questions and no longer wanted to speak with her. Fortunately, Xie Mingtu returned at that moment. She took the hot water kettle and held it in her hands to warm them.
Seeing this, the big sister glanced at Su Xiaoman, then said to Xie Mingtu, “Your wife is so good-looking. You’d better keep a close eye on her.”
Xie Mingtu said mildly, “Big sister, your son has wet himself.”
Only then did the woman seem to come back to herself. She ran over to her youngest son and cursed loudly, “If you needed to pee, why didn’t you call someone earlier? Now your trousers are all wet…”
Xie Mingtu sat down, took off his military greatcoat, and covered Su Xiaoman with it. He used his palms to warm the back of her hands.
Su Xiaoman closed her eyes and leaned against his chest. That woman’s words just now involuntarily reminded her of what Madam Su had once said. Although the meaning was not exactly the same, both were saying that she had the face of a restless, seductive fox spirit.
A pointed chin, a face that seduced men, eyes full of teasing affection.
She had not seduced any other man. She had only seduced this one dog back home.
Forget it. There was no need to care what outsiders said. She would just take it as praise that she was beautiful. Some people wanted the face of a fox spirit and did not even have one.
Su Xiaoman lay slightly to the side with her eyes closed to rest. Xie Mingtu guarded her from beside her. Whatever she wanted to eat, he handed it to her personally, serving her like an old empress dowager.
She felt that she was not a fox spirit, but rather a bear trying to hibernate.
From time to time, Su Xiaoman could feel unfamiliar gazes on her. The woman opposite, who had brought three children, often stared at her. Who knew what she was thinking? Perhaps she found Su Xiaoman very displeasing.
When it was mealtime, Xie Mingtu went to the dining car to get hot boxed meals. The woman settled her children, then ran over to Su Xiaoman to lecture her.
“A woman should properly serve her man. You’re still young. Didn’t your family teach you?”
“How can you make a man run around for you?”
“What use is it being so pretty? You don’t know how to serve people. In the future, you’ll have to serve a man’s food, serve a man’s drink, and then serve several children with all their eating, drinking, peeing, and pooping. If you don’t learn now, what will you do later?”
“If you were in our village, you definitely wouldn’t be able to marry. You’re too unvirtuous. That young brother is so handsome; I’m afraid there would be plenty of virtuous women who want to marry him.”
After Zhang Dongchun boarded the train, it was her first time sleeping in a hard sleeper, and everything felt novel to her. The only thing she disliked was the woman sleeping in the lower berth opposite.
This woman was far too beautiful. When her own man went up to the middle berth to pretend to rest, he had still glanced at her several times. As for the children, there was no need to mention them; they kept secretly peeking at the pretty older sister opposite.
Fortunately, this woman with the face of a fox spirit was already married, and sitting beside her was a young, handsome man. After asking carefully, Zhang Dongchun found out that she had actually been a female cultural troupe soldier. Who knew whether she had hooked up with that handsome young brother beside her during a performance?
If she could hook one, would she not hook a second later?
After that, seeing the young man treat that fox-spirit woman with such consideration, lowering his head and asking after her warmly and intimately, Zhang Dongchun felt even more uncomfortable. She felt that women ought to serve men. Now that men were serving women instead, what kind of order was that?
This woman was not a good woman!
She was a vixen specialised in seducing men.
Su Xiaoman sat up and put on the appearance of a delicate little white flower as she looked at Zhang Dongchun.
“Big sister, if only I had known earlier, I should have been born into your village.”
Zhang Dongchun: “??!!!”
“My parents have always been reluctant to marry off their youngest daughter. My older brothers also said they would support me for life. If I couldn’t marry, it would be great to stay at home.”
Zhang Dongchun’s expression became very strange. “What are you saying, little girl? That’s just your parents and brothers coaxing you. How can that count?”
Su Xiaoman shook her head and said innocently, “I don’t believe that. If my man treats me badly, I’ll go back to my maiden family.”
Zhang Dongchun: “…”
“What about your parents-in-law?”
“They don’t live with us.”
Zhang Dongchun: “You—”
She still wanted to say more, but then she saw Xie Mingtu return with several boxed meals. Su Xiaoman complained softly, acting spoiled.
“Why did you only come back now?”
Her tone was soft and coquettish, exactly like a fox spirit reincarnated. It shook Zhang Dongchun’s worldview until it nearly shattered.
“Wife, I was wrong.” The handsome man smiled apologetically in a low voice.
Su Xiaoman pressed on and continued her performance, leaving the other woman speechless.
“I’m hungry. My hands are cold, and I don’t want to eat by myself. Feed me.”
The way to resist harassment from an outrageous person was to become even more outrageous than her.
Zhang Dongchun stared blankly at that tall, handsome young man. She watched as he carefully and considerately helped up the little fox-spirit demon beside him, and the couple intimately fed each other.
The woman’s voice was sweet and coy.
“Why did you order rabbit?”
“Bunnies are so cute. How can you eat bunnies…”
Xie Mingtu: “…”
—My wife is so cute!
Today, he had seen a different side of Manman!
Opposite them, Zhang Dongchun lost her appetite. She held back for a long time before finally running over to Xie Mingtu and stopping him.
“Young man, you need to properly discipline your wife. You can’t spoil her too much. Women should serve men. Their hands and feet should be diligent. Once they’re married, they need to learn how to be women.”
Xie Mingtu shook his head and said devotedly, “My wife is so beautiful. I have to keep a close eye on her and take careful care of her.”
Zhang Dongchun ground her teeth. When she had said to keep a close eye on her, that was not what she meant.
“When you chose a partner, did your parents not help you check her properly? Your wife is beautiful, yes, but to me, she doesn’t look like the type who can easily give birth to boys.”
Xie Mingtu said, “I like daughters. It would be best if they were like her.”
Zhang Dongchun said, “A daughter will marry out in the future and become a money-losing good-for-nothing who serves another family’s man.”
At this moment, Su Xiaoman could not bear it anymore. “Big sister, are you talking about yourself? A money-losing good-for-nothing who married out to serve another family’s man?”
Zhang Dongchun said proudly, “I’m the benefactor of the old Chen family. I gave birth to three precious sons, not a single money-losing daughter.”
“You should learn from me.”
“Being a benefactor means looking like you?” Su Xiaoman sized her up and revealed a doubtful expression. “You’re more than ten years older than your man, aren’t you? How many years have you worked in his family?”
Zhang Dongchun’s face stiffened. She was actually five or six years younger than her man.
Su Xiaoman looked coquettishly at Xie Mingtu, tugged his hand, and said in a soft, sugary voice, “Brother Xiaotu, I’d rather be your family’s enemy. Being a benefactor seems so tiring and bitter.”
“Manman’s body is weak. I can’t endure it.”
Xie Mingtu suppressed his laughter and played along. “Good little sister, how could I bear to let you suffer and tire yourself?”
Zhang Dongchun watched as the fox-spirit woman leaned into the man’s arms with a shy and sweet expression. No matter how many more words were in her throat, none of them could come out.
It was like having a fishbone stuck in her throat.
All the way until they got off the train, Su Xiaoman was still calling him “Brother Xiaotu” again and again.
The capital’s train station was the largest station she had seen in this era. As soon as she got off the train, the bleak, bone-piercing cold wind of the north made her shiver. It was dry and cold, with no sun, and now light snow had begun to fall again.
Although the temperature was quite low, Su Xiaoman felt that this dry cold was a little easier to bear than damp, water-laden cold wind.
She unscrewed the kettle and drank a few mouthfuls of hot water, then took the initiative to feed it to the man beside her. With several gulps, more than half the kettle was gone.
Su Xiaoman smiled and put his hat on for him.
Xie Mingtu was still carrying large and small bags all over him. After checking each one to make sure nothing had been left behind, the two of them walked out of the train station.
A brand-new future was about to begin.
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