Chapter 4
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Chapter 4: New Year
The following days of the Zhang family revolved around digging the well. Fortunately, on the sixth day, the long-awaited water finally emerged, marking the completion of the daunting before the onset of winter and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. While Zhang Cai was busy settling the wages of the well-diggers and Zhang Xiaolong and his brothers were busy repairing the small road from the field to the well, dark winter clouds loomed overhead. Tiny snowflakes began to fall, heralding the arrival of winter.
The first snow has fallen, accompanied by even colder winds, signaling that the New Year was not far away.
This year, Zhang Cai was very satisfied. He added another plot of land to the family and drilled a well. With proper care, this plot of land would not fear drought in the future and would become the main source of food for the family.
Therefore, as the New Year approached, he instructed Guo Sufei to prepare more New Year goods so that the family could have a good New Year celebration. His mother-in-law was getting older, and celebrating every New Year was becoming more important. In the past few days, his mother-in-law’s health had deteriorated further, with half of the day spent lying in bed, not knowing if she would be able to live another New Year. Thinking about his own parents and his elderly father-in-law, he couldn’t help but feel anxious, eagerly hoping for a fulfilling New Year.
A farmer’s New Year goods were easy to obtain, with the so-called abundance mainly referring to a variety of items, although the quantity was limited. In terms of variety, most of them are mountain goods that were dried in the sun on weekdays, with only a few items purchased by Zhang Cai from a distant market. Due to his mother-in-law’s condition, Zhang Cai bought some food this year that they hadn’t seen before, which made Zhang Xiaolong and his brothers eager to taste them early in the New Year.
Besides attending New Year preparations, Guo Sufei spent more time visiting familiar relatives in the village and sometimes even went to nearby villages to inquire. Her primary concern remained her eldest son’s marriage. However, judging by her sometimes gloomy and sometimes joyful expressions, it seemed that things were not progressing as smoothly as she had hoped.
Time passed swiftly as the Zhang family busied themselves with various tasks, and finally, the New Year arrived before they knew it.
On the day before the New Year, while the family gathered around the stove discussing the upcoming year’s harvest, the situation in the fields, and Zhang Xiaolong’s future bride, they suddenly heard noisy shouting outside the village. The chaos outside stirred everyone into a frenzy. “Could it be robbers coming to loot the village?” Zhang Cai immediately thought to himself.
However, it shouldn’t be, due to the small size of Guo Village and the Guo family being just a small family, the nearby bandits, who ruled the mountains, never bothered with this remote place. There was no reason for them to come today. Although he thought this way, Zhang Cai didn’t dare to be careless. He called his three children and armed himself with a hoe and other iron tools before cautiously stepping out of the house.
The Zhang family’s fence was only half-height, so one could easily see the situation in the village. Many people were gathered, talking excitedly, while others were running around. Despite the sense of panic on everyone’s faces, Zhang Cai could still detect a hint of relief and even schadenfreude. Zhang Cai found this quite strange, so he instructed his three children to return home and put away the ‘weapons’ before he went out to gather information. Naturally, Zhang Xiaolong and his brothers didn’t want to stay idle, so they wandered out, mingling with other young people their age.
The village was bustling with people, grouped in twos and threes, either standing or sitting, all discussing the same thing. Zhang Cai walked over to a group of old men who were smoking and talking loudly. Among them, he spotted Blacksmith Liu, whom he was quite familiar with. He patted him on the shoulder and said:
“Old Liu, what’s going on? Why is it so chaotic here?” Blacksmith Liu was smoking silently. When he saw it was Zhang Cai who was asking, he tapped his smoking pipe on the ground, refilled it with fresh tobacco from his pouch, lit it carefully, and took a deep drag before speaking solemnly.
“Old Pal, do you know about One Eye, the bandit who controls the western side of Cui Mountain, eighty li north of our village, right?”
Zhang Cai said: “Of course, One Eye is the biggest bandit within a radius of a hundred li from here, how could I not know? But they’ve always been active in the wealthy areas to the north, why did they end up here? ”
Blacksmith Liu took another puff of his pipe before responding. “Yeah, do you remember a while back when Mr.Wu from Xin Village dug a well and found a box of treasure?”
Zhang Cai suddenly realized: “Could it be that they…”
Zhang Cai stopped asking further, already knowing the reason for this matter. Riches should not be exposed, ah. With such a huge and conspicuous external wealth being targeted by bandits, what good outcome could there be?
Butcher Guo was next to them, and seeing Zhang Cai’s silence, he squeezed over and said mysteriously: “That’s not all, Mr.Wu initially harbored false hopes and denied everything, but that One-Eye bandit drove Mr.Wu’s family of dozens of people to the ancestral, had his men ransack their house from top to bottom, and eventually found a pile of treasure in the vegetable cellar and at the bottom of the well. Enraged by Mr. Wu’s deception, the One-Eye bandit set fire to Mr.Wu’s ancestral hall, and dozens of people were burned alive, not a single one escaped. Fortunately, Xin Village is only slightly better than us, they were all poor, so One-Eye didn’t cause too much trouble for them. When those bandits left, they even warned the villagers to be careful and not report to the officials, or else they would make everyone in Xin VIllage accompany the deceased.”
Blacksmith Liu said: “Fortune and misfortune can change overnight. Just a few days ago, they thought they had struck it rich, but now their entire family was wiped out. How tragic~”
Butcher Guo continued: “Fortunately, it’s not a total wipeout. Mr. Wu’s sister-in-law, who visited our village yesterday to see her parents, didn’t go back today and narrowly escaped. Just now, someone brought the news, and she found out. She sent someone to on her family. Moreover, according to the informant, the bandits took a woman on horseback when they left. Her face couldn’t be seen clearly, but it was likely Mr. Wu’s daughter. She might have been targeted by the bandits and taken up the mountain, possibly as a bandit’s wife.”
Zhang Xiaohua and his two brothers had been standing behind their father all along. Hearing the villagers’ account, an inexplicable chill ran through their hearts. Although they had heard stories of the cruelty of bandits before, it had always seemed distant. Now, it was happening right in their midst. They had known Mr. Wu personally, and he even taught Zhang Xiaohua a few characters when he was younger. Now, he was gone, turned to ashes by the fire. Even though he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, it filled him with sadness and fear.
Zhang Xiaohua unconsciously rubbed the bracelet on his left wrist and thought to himself: “Thankfully, what I dug up wasn’t any real treasure. Even if it were, I would never tell anyone to avoid bringing disaster upon me and my family.” The bloody truth of ‘treasuring a jade ring becomes a crime’ had deeply engraved itself on the young man’s mind.
The three brothers told Zhang Cai that they wanted to go to Xin Village to see what was happening, but Zhang Cai didn’t agree. After all, the New Year was just around the corner, and encountering such a bloody scene would undoubtedly bring bad luck for the coming year. Moreover, the Wu family in Xin Village was now nothing but a charred ruin, a horrifying sight that instilled fear in anyone who saw it. It was likely that government officials had already arrived there, and going there might only invite more trouble.
As they spoke, the people in the village dispersed. After all, other people’s lives were over, and everyone had their own lives to lead. Even farmers understood the principle of everyone sweeping the snow in front of their own footsteps first. With the sky darkening and their own New Year approaching, it was time to tidy up their spirits and busy themselves with their own matters.
Zhang Cai and his three children returned home to find his mother-in-law and wife, Guo Sufei, warming themselves around the stove. He then recounted what had happened in Xin Village to them. Both women were shocked and terrified at the news, they prayed fervently, hoping that the deceased souls would reincarnate swiftly and that their own family would never encounter such a disaster. Until the sky turned pitch black and oil lamps were lit in the house, Zhang Xiaohua’s grandmother continued to mutter to herself: “Fortune and misfortune come in the blink of an eye, fortune and misfortune.”
On this New Year’s Eve, the atmosphere in Guo Village was far less lively than before. Under the cover of night, only children playing with lanterns could be seen, oblivious to the dangers of the world, indulging in their innocent nature.
Most of the households in the village were like Zhang Cai’s family, after finishing their sumptuous New Year’s Eve dinner and tidying up the toils of the past year, amidst the hopeful anticipation for a sweet and happy new year, there lingered a tinge of gloom in their hearts. Reflecting on Mr. Wu’s misfortune and contemplating the harsh realities of this dog-eat-dog world, it was inevitable for thoughts of being “fish on a plate” to arise. Gazing upon the vast world, they couldn’t help but wonder how to protect the security of their own families.
The New Year’s Eve, which should have been lively and bustling, passed quietly. It’s unknown if others in the village dreamed of happiness, joy, or harvest and sweetness, but all Zhang Xiaohua had in his dreams was twinkling lights, a light that seemed to have a hint of clarity.
In rural areas, New Year’s celebrations were quite simple. Apart from exchanging New Year’s greetings, there was only the market gathering in Lu Town in the distance. Starting from the third day of the New Year, a bustling market springs up in Lu Town, attracting people from all surrounding villages. Everyone wears new clothes and brings their families along with money pouches filled, to experience the festive atmosphere of the New Year.
Of Zhang Cai’s family, Guo Sufei had to stay home to care for Zhang Xiaohua’s grandmother, so Zhang Cai brought his three children to the market in Lu Town.
Lu Town was located to the south of Guo Village, about thirty li away.[TL_Note: 1 li=500 meters so 30 li= 15 kilometers]
The streets of Lu Town were not many, and on ordinary days, there’s not much excitement for people to share on weekdays. It was not easy to catch up with a New Year’s gathering, where everyone brings out all the energy they’ve accumulated for a year and squeezes out the streets of Lu Town to a climax.
This a north-south oriented street, relatively wide, and it appeared to be the main street of Lu Town. There were many shops on both sides of the street, regardless of the nature of their business, all thriving with their large door wide open, welcoming a constant flow of people in and out. Shop assistants stood both inside and outside the shops, greeting passing customers. Additionally, many street vendors had set up their stalls along the street, loudly calling out to attract the bustling crowds passing by.
On ordinary days, if the shop assistants saw someone blocking the entrance, they would certainly urge them to move aside. But today is an exception. Everyone was out looking for opportunities, hoping for a prosperous start to the new year. No one wants to spoil the festive mood, so they greet each other warmly, exchanging well-wishes for good luck and fortune.
With the influx of people, the already narrow streets became even more crowded. Amidst the hustle and bustle, Zhang Xiaohua, accompanying his father and older brothers to the market, found it hard to focus his attention on any particular direction.
