Chapter 56: Wash It Several More Times

"I know your stomach hurts, but what does that have to do with having a baby?" Shunzi's mother looked utterly bewildered. Her son wasn't this silly, was he? Since when did a stomachache mean having a child?

"It was Great-aunt, Great-aunt told us to have babies. Not just me, but also Little Stone, Little Mountain, Little Six..."

The more Shunzi's mother listened, the more confused she became, her face a mask of puzzlement. "What do you mean, Great-aunt told you all to have babies?"

"Mother, how can you not understand? Great-aunt just now gave us pumpkin seeds to eat, and now we're going to have babies..." Little Shunzi began, his nose running and tears streaming down his face. He didn't want to have a baby either, but Great-aunt had spoken—how could he not obey?

In that moment, he felt as if he had to swallow his broken teeth. He suddenly felt he'd grown up.

Hadn't he? He was about to have a child, after all!

At last, Shunzi's mother understood why her son had been clamoring about a stomachache and having a baby. She pulled her leg free from his grip and scolded, "If you keep talking nonsense, do you believe I won’t give you a beating?!"

When she first heard him, she'd been perplexed—how could Great-aunt tell boys to have babies? Was there some hidden meaning? Turns out, her son had simply misunderstood. Thank goodness this was said at home; if word got out and Great-aunt heard, how hurt she would be.

Little Shunzi was dumbfounded. Could it be that his mother only cared for his younger brother and not him?

With this thought, his stomach ached even more, and his heart hurt as well.

His mother, unaware of what was going through his mind, kept scolding, "You children haven't even grown up yet—what business do you have having babies? Besides, having babies is women’s work, it has nothing to do with you."

"But, Great-aunt gave us pumpkin seeds to eat." Little Shunzi was heartbroken, but still tried to explain his reasoning.

Seeing her son’s stubbornness, his mother slapped him again and snapped, "Even if you ate a whole sack of pumpkin seeds, you wouldn’t have a baby!"

"Huh?" Little Shunzi, who had just been worrying that, unlike his younger brother, he’d have no one to care for him after having a baby, and would be forced to leave home with a brood of children—being both father and mother at once—was struck dumb by her words. He looked up, astonished.

"Mother, you mean we can't have babies?"

"Of course not!" With what, exactly?

She really didn’t want to admit this fool was her own son.

"But we ate the pumpkin seeds. Great-aunt gave them to us, and..." And told them to go have their babies outside.

Before Little Shunzi could finish, his mother cut him off.

"You still won't have babies," she said, rolling her eyes. "You think having babies is that easy? If eating pumpkin seeds could make you have babies, wouldn't the world be teeming with children? Enough already—go to the latrine, and I'll find you some ‘never-pulls’."

With that, she strode off toward the backyard without a backward glance, remembering there was a patch of ‘never-pulls’ growing there.

Little Shunzi stood there, still dazed. He looked down at his belly, which still hurt, but didn’t really feel like he was about to have a child—though he wasn’t sure what that would feel like, anyway.

After all, he was his mother's son—she wouldn’t harm him, would she?

So, hesitating a moment, he clutched his stomach and made his way to the latrine.

While in the latrine, Little Shunzi still fretted; if he really had a baby there, how pitiful would that child be? But the pain didn’t let him dwell on it long—if worse came to worst, he’d just bathe the baby in a basin a few extra times.

Before long, he came out, his stomach already feeling much better.

He just happened to see a few ‘never-pulls’ on the kitchen windowsill—he knew his mother had picked them for him. Forgetting his embarrassment, he grabbed them, chewed a few bites, and swallowed.

Just then, his mother came out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of water. Seeing him chewing the ‘never-pulls’, she handed him the water, grumbling, "Haven’t I told you not to drink raw water when you play outside? Now you’ve got a stomachache."

The people of Niuluo Village never drank raw water—a tradition passed down from their ancestors.

"It’s not that, Mother, I didn’t drink any raw water."

Little Shunzi was still uneasy. "Mother, after we ate Great-aunt’s pumpkin seeds, are you sure we won’t have babies?"

"Absolutely not!" If she weren’t holding a bowl—one that would cost three coins to replace if broken—she would have smacked him with it. How could she have such a foolish son?

"But didn’t Mrs. Li have two big, healthy babies after eating pumpkin seeds from Great-aunt?" Everyone in the village knew about that.

Shunzi’s mother raised her hand to smack him again, but seeing him holding the bowl, she restrained herself. "That was Great-aunt bestowing good fortune on your Mrs. Li. What’s that got to do with you eating pumpkin seeds? You think that kind of blessing can be given out freely?"

She glared at her son, but recalling how he’d run home earlier shouting about having a baby, she couldn’t help but double over with laughter.

Little Shunzi realized what his mother was laughing at—and, with his stomach no longer hurting, he began to suspect he really wouldn’t be having a baby. Embarrassed, he scratched his face, thrust the bowl into his mother’s hands, and fled outside.

"Mother, I’m going to check on Little Mountain and the others."

How humiliating!

He blushed to think how, on the way home, they’d boasted that, after having sons and daughters, they’d arrange marriages between each other’s children. Now he wished he could bury his head in the ground.

Over at Little Six’s house, his parents weren’t home—only his grandmother was there.

When the old woman heard her grandson say he was going to have a baby, she thought he was joking and scolded him with a laugh.

But when the boy started rolling on the ground in pain, clutching his stomach and insisting he was about to have seven or eight babies, the old woman was taken aback.

Unlike the others, she quickly caught on and, playing along, asked, "Your stomach hurts and you’re going to have a baby?"

"Yes, it hurts so much—I’m going to give birth! Our family will have seven or eight more people soon..."

"You’re a boy, and you’re not even grown up yet. How could you have a baby?"

Little Six, writhing in pain, waved his arms in frustration. "What do you know? I’m having one anyway! Oh, it hurts so much—hurry and fetch a midwife, I’m about to give birth!"

The old woman grew more suspicious and hurried outside under the pretense of preparing for the birth, beckoning Mrs. Chen from next door and whispering the news to her.

When Mrs. Chen heard, she was alarmed. "Should we tell Great-aunt?"

"No need!" the old woman replied. "Great-aunt is a person of good fortune—we mustn’t involve her in such unlucky business."

"Whoever dares stir up trouble in Niuluo Village, just wait and see how I deal with them!"

(Here I am, my little darlings! Did you miss me? Probably not. But I’m sure you missed Bai Xi, right?)