Chapter 3

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Chapter 3: The Bracelet

It was already past noon, and the sun was high in the sky, but because the well had been dug deep, nothing could be seen from the bottom of the well. It was only illuminated by an oil lamp brought down the well. In the flickering light, it was hard to discern the resolve on Zhang Xiaohua’s face. After pondering for a moment, he raised his shovel and began digging in a particular direction. ‘Clang, clang…’, the sound echoed continuously. He tried several directions, but the result was the same each time. How could it be ah, it seemed they had reached the end of the road.

Zhang Xiaohua almost wanted to give up. Maybe it was best to climb back up for now and widen the well later to reassess. But his mother hadn’t brought the food over yet, so why not dig a bit more from below while waiting? With these thoughts in mind, Zhang Xiaohua didn’t stop, he continued digging from where he stood, waist-deep in the well.

While digging, Zhang Xiaohua suddenly heard another ‘Bang’. Zhang Xiaohua couldn’t help but feel alarmed, was it another stone? But then, the next shovel hit yielded no sound. Zhang Xiaohua felt puzzled, but he didn’t dwell on it, perhaps it was just another small pebble. As long it wasn’t a big rock, it was fine.

After digging forward for about a step’s distance, Zhang Xiaohua tried to dig further down, hoping not to hear the dreaded sound again. However, to his disappointment, there was no significant relief. Beneath this step in the same direction, there was still the same stone.

Just as Zhang Xiaohua was about to take a break and change direction, Zhang Xiaolong’s voice came from above. “Xiaohua, come up and eat. Mom has brought the food over.” Zhang Xiaohua was pulled up by his older brother from the well. Seeing Xiaohua’s expression, Zhang Xiaolong didn’t ask any more questions. He simply gave him the food, watching him wolf it down.

Then he comforted Xiaohua, saying: “It’s okay, Xiaohua. So this place won’t work, let’s try another location. The hillside is so vast, there must be somewhere suitable for digging a well.”

After finishing his meal, Xiaohua’s complexion visibly improved, and he was no longer gloomy. Watching the well diggers heading back into the well, he smiled at Zhang Xiaolong. “I got it, big brother. I’ll go up to check the fields, I’ll be back in a while.” Xiaolong patted Xiaohua’s shoulder without saying anything and walked away with an empty bamboo basket.

Zhang Xiaohua carried his hoe and walked up the hill to his decent plot of land. He placed the hoe aside and sat at the edge, looking helplessly at the dry patch of earth that couldn’t be watered, wondering if he would have to fetch water from the river in the future. As his eyes fell on the hoe, he noticed a clump of mud on its surface, probably brought up from digging in the well earlier.

Zhang Xiaohua tried to scrape the clump of mud off the hoe with his foot, but it wouldn’t budge, he then picked up the hoe and cleared the mud with his hands, revealing a round object firmly attached to it.

Tilting his head in thought, Zhang Xiaohua realized that the “bang” sound from earlier when he was digging in the well might have been caused by the hoe hitting this circular object. No wonder there was no more sound afterward, it was because this object got stuck on the hoe.

Zhang Xiaohua tried to remove the circular object from the hoe using branches to pry and stones to gently tap but to no avail. Perhaps hitting it firmly against a stone might work, but there was a risk of breaking it, and he couldn’t possibly bring this thing down the well to dig soil. Zhang Xiaohua felt a little helpless once more.

Finally, Zhang Xiaohua summoned his courage and, with half his strength, lifted the hoe and gave it a firm knock against a stone’s edge. There was a loud “clang”, but the circular object neither broke nor came off the hoe. Zhang Xiaohua persisted, exerting all his strength and knocking several more times until he finally managed to dislodge it. Surprisingly, the mysterious circular object remained intact, indicating its sturdy construction.

Zhang Xiaohua picked up the circular object and wiped off the dirt with his clothes. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a bracelet, about two fingers wide, jet dark and smooth, without any patterns, and made of an unknown material. Zhang Xiaohua was about to examine it further when he heard Zhang Xiaolong’s excited voice from below the slope: “Xiaohua, come quickly, come quickly, there’s hope!”

Zhang Xiaohua, upon hearing this, jumped up with joy. Without further ado, he tucked the found bracelet into his pocket, not paying much attention to it, and grabbed the hoe before swiftly descending the slope. He didn’t even notice the light floating sensation he felt when holding the bracelet just now.

When Zhang Xiaohua reached the bottom of the slope, he saw the smiling faces of Zhang Xiaolong and Zhang Xiaohu, as well as the slightly troubled expression on Zhang Cai’s face. Upon hearing Zhang Xiaolong’s explanation, Zhang Xiaohua learned that the bottom of the well was not just a layer of rock, and the stone wasn’t too large either. All they needed to do was to widen the mouth of the well to remove the stone, however, the required widening distance was at least three steps.

With the widened mouth of the well, the amount of soil to be excavated increased, inevitably prolonging the time and requiring more compensation. However, it was fortunate that they didn’t have to relocate and start the well from scratch, they also didn’t need to carry water for irrigating the field, which was a positive outcome. While the three children were so happy, Zhang Cai was the only one silently worrying. He hoped that they wouldn’t encounter such stones again in the future. If it happened a few more times, they might have to abandon the well altogether.

The afternoon’s tasks were relatively straightforward. The well diggers measured the well mouth again based on the size of the stone, planning how to expand it and dig new soil. After this minor setback, everyone resumed work in an orderly manner.

After returning home at night, after dinner, and before going to bed on the kang, Zhang Xiaohua did not even think about the bracelet in his pocket. It wasn’t until he was undressing that it fell out, prompting him to remember it. However, being too exhausted from the day’s work, he didn’t dwell on it much. He simply stuffed it under his pillow and fell into a deep sleep.

In the quiet of the night, everything in the Zhang family’s home remained as usual. The oil lamp had long been extinguished, and the wind continued to sway the fence gates back and forth. The dry grass on the mud walls fluttered weakly in the breeze. Only the moonlight from above streamed through the window, casting its glow upon the old table and bedding. Each person had entered the realm of dreams, and in the silent night, the only sound was the intermittent snoring.

The only thing that was different was Zhang Xiaohua, or rather, Zhang Xiaohua’s dream! His dream was no longer filled with the pork belly from before but with a myriad of shimmering lights! It was like it was breathing rhythmically, a sparkling and pulsating radiance with each inhale and exhale.

The next morning, as the first rays of the rising sun illuminated Zhang Xiaohua’s face, he opened his eyes. Looking around in confusion, he didn’t see any shimmering objects, realizing that it was all just a dream. He shook his head in self-deprecation and prepared to go back to sleep. However, at this moment, he realized while listening to the snoring of his two brothers that he seemed to be unable to fall asleep. Feeling wide awake and full of energy, he reluctantly got up and dressed, starting his day.

As Zhang Xiaohua walked into the courtyard, he saw his mother cooking at the stove in the yard. He headed to the corner of the wall, where the water well was, intending to wash his face. Guo Sufei, seeing Zhang Xiaohua come out, was surprised. “Xiaohua, why are you up so early? You worked so hard yesterday, you should sleep a little longer today. There’s still time to go to work.”

Zhang Xiaohua said as he fetched water: “I’m not sleepy anymore, Mother. And look, I’ve rested enough. I feel full of energy now. With one swing of the shovel, I can break that rock into pieces.” As he spoke, he set the water basin down and even mimicked the action of digging with a shovel.

Guo Sufei smiled and said: “Good boy, Xiaohua. You’ve grown up, just like your father, becoming the backbone of the family.”

Zhang Xiaohua blushed and said: “Mom, I’m already so big, don’t call me ‘good boy’ anymore, it sounds so childish.”

Amid the conversation, Zhang Cai returned from outside, holding a bundle of vegetables. “Who’s grown up? Xiaohua, why are you up so early? Aren’t you going to sleep a little longer?” Then he handed the vegetables to Zhang Xiaohua’s mother and said: “The weeds in the vegetable garden have started growing, we need to pull them out when we have time. We’ve been too busy with the well these days, but we can’t let our vegetables go to waste.”

Guo Sufei took the vegetables and said: “Isn’t this about your son? He got up so early today for the first time. He will be a good hand at work in the future.”

Guo Sufei then proceeded to prepare the meal for the entire family, and Zhang Cai also entered the house. Zhang Xiaohua finished washing his face and, with nothing else to do, walked out of the courtyard.

Although it was still early and winter was approaching, farmers were always busy. In the village, many people were already on the move. Some were herding ducks and geese towards the river, others were collecting grass from the riverbank to feed the chickens and pigs, while some had shouldered their hoes and were getting ready to work in the fields.

Walking along the village path, Zhang Xiaohua felt different today, although he couldn’t quite pinpoint why. He just sensed an unusual vigor within himself, as if he had an inexhaustible supply of energy and every part of his body was filled with strength. However, he didn’t dwell on it much, attributing it to having a good night’s sleep. When Zhang Xiaohua returned home, he found everyone already having their meal, so he also ate in a hurry and then went to dig the well with his father and older brothers.

In the following days, things proceeded smoothly. The well’s opening was enlarged, and the stone was gradually excavated from the bottom of the well. The well now also grew deeper with each passing day. The stone they unearthed appeared smooth and cool to the touch, so Zhang Xiaohua asked his two brothers to move it to the shade of a tree in the field, intending to use it as a resting bed during breaks from work in the hot summer. As for the bracelet, Zhang Xiaohua tossed it behind his mind, placing it under his pillow, completely forgetting about it, as his dreams had been replaced by twinkling visions, but he remained unaware of it.

A few more days passed, but there was still no water coming out of the well. At this time, Zhang Cai was starting to worry. Winter was about to arrive, and even though the well wouldn’t freeze at the bottom, the digging process wouldn’t be as smooth. That night, after the family had finished eating, they gathered together to talk about the field. Zhang Cai frowned as he discussed with Guo Sufei that if there was no water coming out of the well in a few days, they would probably stop and wait for the beginning of spring. At this time, Guo Sufei said:

“Dear, did you know that Mr. Wu’s family in the neighboring village also bought a piece of land on the south hillside?”

Zhang Cai said, “I didn’t know, but I did hear that they’re also digging a well on the south hillside.”

Guo Sufei: “It’s that well, it was dug by Mr. Wu’s family, just like us, for irrigating the fields. Today, when I went to the riverbank to pull weeds for the chickens, I bumped into Guo Quan at the village entrance. Her sister-in-law is married to Mr. Wu’s brother, so guess what she told me?””

“What did she say? Could it be that the well has started producing water?” Zhang Cai asked in surprise. “Didn’t they start later than us? It’s producing water already?”

“You’re only concerned about it producing water quickly, but it was even more surprising than that!” Guo Sufei said nonchalantly.

“What? What is it?” Not only was Zhang Cai intrigued, but the curiosity of the three Zhang brothers was also piqued.

“They dug the well and unearthed a small worn-out box!” Guo Sufei continued. “When they dug it out from the well, the box was broken by the shovel, revealing what was inside. Although it was covered in mud, you could still see pearl agate inside! How come we didn’t have such good luck, we dug even earlier than them but only found a bed-sized lousy stone.”

As the family lamented over the good fortune of the Wu family, Zhang Xiaohua suddenly remembered the item he had also dug out of the well. Excitedly, he exclaimed: “Dad, Mom, I’ve also dug out a treasure from the well.” Prompted by his family’s urging and eager gazes, he retrieved the forgotten bracelet from beneath the bedding.

Zhang took it over and carefully examined it under the oil lamp. It was a jet-dark, flat object made of some unknown material. Calling it a bracelet was not quite appropriate; it was more like an iron ring. Unable to discern its origin, he handed it to Guo Sufei. Guo Sufei took it, weighed it in her hand, ran her fingers over it for a while, and said: “It’s so light, doesn’t seem like it’s made of jade, and there are no patterns on it. I guess it’s not any kind of jewelry, it looks more like some child’s toy. Xiaohua, you can keep it to play with.” Zhang Xiaohua took it without much interest, passing it to his two brothers to see, as if not digging out a pearl agate was his fault.

The bracelet made a round in the hands of the two brothers and then was passed back to Zhang Xiaohua. It seemed that nobody was particularly interested in this ugly little thing, so Xiaohua could only put it back in his pocket.

Guo Sufei continued: “Ah, if it were a nice piece of jewelry, we might consider keeping it and using it as part of the dowry when your eldest brother starts arranging his marriage in spring.”

This sparked the emotions of the whole family once again. With spring approaching, Zhang Xiaolong would soon turn twenty, and it was high time for him to find a girl and settle down. Each family member began discussing potential matches for Zhang Xiaolong based on their impressions one by one. As the oil lamp extinguished, everyone still had much to say, but they retired to bed in preparation for the well-digging and farm work ahead the next day.

Before going to sleep, Zhang Xiaohua took out the bracelet from his pocket, intending to put it back under the bedding again. However, he had a change of heart. The Wus found a treasure from the ground, and this bracelet of mine is also a treasure. I must keep it safe and sound. But where should he put it? After thinking for a moment, he decided to slide the bracelet onto his wrist. It fit perfectly, snug against his skin. He waved his arm, and the bracelet didn’t slide up or down. Zhang Xiaohua felt secretly pleased, it was as if the bracelet had been tailor-made just for him.

Until he drifted into deep sleep, he never wondered that if the bracelet fit his wrist so snugly, without any gaps, how had he managed to slide it over his hand in the first place? Not to mention, his nightly dream of marbled pork belly had vanished, replaced only by endless twinkling lights in his mind.