Second Daughter was startled. She stared at her mother, then rushed over and shouted, ‘Ma, what’s wrong? What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy I’m cured?’ She shook her mother’s arm with both hands, until her mother almost toppled over. Upon hearing the ruckus, her neighbours came rushing over, as did people who were merely walking down the street. Soon, a large crowd was standing in the courtyard, and they all asked, ‘What’s wrong?’ Second Daughter replied, ‘When she saw I was cured, my mother started crying. And she cried so hard it seemed as though she were made of tears.’ One villager tried to comfort Fourth Wife You, saying, ‘It is a miracle your daughter’s illness has been cured. Why would you cry over a miracle?’ Another said, ‘Don’t pressure her. Let her cry it out. She is crying from delight that her daughter is cured. Those are tears of happiness.’ So the villagers stopped trying to restrain her, and assumed she would eventually stop on her own. But she continued crying harder than ever, as long as the endless road through the fields. Eventually, the villagers got fed up, and one man said, ‘How are you still crying? What is there to cry about? Why don’t we buy some more of the medicine your daughter took, and cure your other three children as well?’
With this, the man walked away.
Fourth Wife You stared silently at the man’s departing shadow. She had a peaceful expression, beneath which there was a sudden burst of excitement. She looked out at her daughter’s neighbours and said, ‘You can all leave now. I won’t cry anymore. The You family has been saved.’ After the villagers all left, her excitement gradually faded and was replaced by a layer of pale determination, as though she were wearing a metal mask. She said, ‘Second Daughter, come here to mother.’ Then she squeezed her daughter’s hand, pulled and stretched her arms, and peeled back her eyelids. She waved her hand in front of her daughter’s face and saw that her large black eyes spun to follow her hand. Eventually, she asked,
‘Do you still fear your husband at night?’
Second Daughter blushed and said, ‘I am cured now.’
Fourth Wife You said, ‘Give mother two bowls of egg noodle soup, and then mother will return home.’
Second Daughter said, ‘Ma, why don’t you sleep over tonight? Tomorrow my husband will return from town. He said that he was going to buy you a scarf.’
Fourth Wife You replied, ‘I have to go home tonight. Now I know how to cure this illness. Give mother two bowls of soup, and I’ll be on my way.’
Second Daughter stood there with a look of surprise.
Fourth Wife You said, ‘Go on, and give me some extra eggs in the soup, and some extra sesame oil.’
Chapter Six
Fourth Wife You left after lunch. By that point the sky was high, the clouds were sparse, and vast fields of grain sprouts blanketed the mountains and ravines virtually overnight. There was a pungent odour in the air. Second Daughter escorted her mother to the mountain ridge, whereupon Fourth Wife You told her to return home. She said, ‘Go back. If you can find your brother a wholer wife, then you will have done your part as a sister. Don’t think that simply making a pair of shoes will do it.’
Second Daughter stood on the ridge as her mother disappeared into the distance. Fourth Wife You did not return to her Eldest Daughter’s home. Along the mountain ridge she glanced in the direction of her Eldest Daughter’s home and began to shout, ‘Daughter, Mother is leaving. Mother can cure you and your sisters.’ She watched as her shout drifted out through the mountain ridge like a piece of silk, then quickly headed home. As Fourth Wife You proceeded through the mountain range, she felt the urge to talk to someone. When it occurred to her that her husband Stone You had not accompanied her to her Second Daughter’s house, she felt a pang of loneliness. It was the first time in years that her husband had not accompanied her when she went on a trip. She wondered what was wrong with him. Now that he was no longer among the living, was it still possible for him to get sick? As she walked, she began to cry out, ‘Dead one, where are you? When I want you to talk to me, you really are dead; but when I don’t want you to keep talking, you come back to life…’ She shouted as she continued forward, at which point a man leading a plough ox approached from the opposite direction. He stopped and asked, ‘Who are you talking to?’
She replied, ‘Are you going to plough your fields? I’m talking to my husband.’
The man looked around and said, ‘I’m going to plough a barren field. Where is your husband?’
Fourth Wife You replied, ‘You’re going to plough a barren field? My husband died twenty years ago.’
The man stared in surprise and said, ‘Are you sick or delirious? This is crazy talk.’
Fourth Wife You replied, ‘I’ve never been sick my entire life. My mind has never been clearer than it is now, and I’ve never been happier.’
The man walked away in confusion, but even as he was leaving he kept turning around to look back at her.
By the time Fourth Wife You reached You Village, it was already dusk and the village was bathed in red light. Even the pig troughs and the horse stables outside each house appeared red. Everyone eating their dinner came out to the street holding their rice bowls, gossiping about this and that. An old midwife rushed into the village, whereupon all the villagers realised that they were about to have a new addition. One villager standing at the entrance to the village was holding his rice bowl but he wasn’t eating; instead he was staring at the home of the family that was about to give birth. He asked if the baby was going to be a girl or a boy, and noted that you can predict someone’s fortune based on where they are born. Children born in the county seat may go on to become government officials, while those born in the provincial seat may go on to study at the university. There was also a granddaughter who, before she had even turned ten, went to the district to represent the township in some competition. As he was saying this, he saw the family’s octogenarian grandmother hobble out of an alley, followed by a lamb and a dog, and after exchanging a few auspicious remarks with the villagers she proceeded toward the village entrance.
The sunset was warm and tranquil, and the fields were bathed in red light. The grandmother stood motionless in the entrance to the village, gazing out at the road leading into the mountain ridge. The dog and the lamb were lying at her feet, as though they were her own grandchildren. At this point Fourth Wife You came down from the mountain ridge, her face hard, her head and body covered in a layer of dust as thick as a padded jacket. She proceeded quickly, as though she were going somewhere to pick up money or take care of some important business – as though if she were late all would be lost, but if she were on time she could make a fortune. When Fourth Wife You reached the entrance to the village, the elderly woman stopped her, took two red eggs out of her pocket, and handed them to Fourth Wife You. With an embarrassed smile on her deeply wrinkled face, the woman said, ‘Fourth Idiot’s mother, I’ve been waiting for you. My grandson’s wife is about to give birth.’
Fourth Wife You looked at the red eggs, and said,
‘Congratulations, Fourth Idiot’s grandmother! Soon you’ll be able to live in a four-generation family.’