Chapter (6) "A trip to Port City to Sell the Boars"
Nanxiang Village got its name because Nan Mountain was to the south and the Xiang River was to the north. The Bai family's land was located north of the village, right between the village and the river.
Jiang Qing, the Village Elder's youngest son, came tearing toward the Bai family's fields. He looked super excited, yelling from a distance.
"Uncle Bai! Uncle Bai! Something major happened!"
Except for the two daughters-in-law who were pregnant, everyone in the Bai family—even ten-year-old Bai Ming: was working in the fields. The Bai family actually had slightly more land than the Village Elder, so if they didn't all work, they'd have to hire laborers, which cost money.
Bai Zhou (Bai Li's father) and Mo Hua (Bai Li's mother), along with their children, stopped what they were doing when they saw the young man frantically running toward them. They were actually just arguing about their second son, Bai Li, still unable to fully believe he had truly changed.
When Mo Hua saw that the running young man was from the Village Elder's house, her eyebrows twitched. She had a vague, uneasy feeling that this situation involved her second son, and her face fell immediately.
Did that good-for-nothing son of hers cause trouble again? She had seen the Elder's bow at Bai Li's house yesterday. Did he sell the bow, maybe?
Just as Mo Hua was sinking into her worries, Jiang Qing arrived, completely out of breath, struggling to speak.
"Uncle Bai! Your… your second... huff.. your second son, Bai Li... My father needs you to come to his house right now!"
The entire Bai family panicked. But couldn't blame them; the original Bai Li had brought bad news like this to the Bai family too many times.
Bai Zhou, being a simple farmer, frowned deeply at Jiang Qing's words.
"Xiao Qing, what happened to our second son? Do you know?"
Jiang Qing had caught his breath a bit by now. He wiped the sweat off his face and said, "Uncle Bai's son ran into two wild boars deep in the foot of the mountain!"
He wanted to follow up immediately with the news that Bai Li had killed them both, but he didn't expect Mo Hua to shriek in terror.
"Ah!! My second son! My second son! Is he... is he okay? Is he badly injured?! Where is he now?! My foolish boy, did something bad happen to him?"
Tears streamed down Mo Hua's face as she spoke, which made Jiang Qing completely confused.
Actually, it wasn't really Mo Hua's fault. The original Bai Li was useless. Even if he hunted pheasants yesterday, a pheasant and a wild boar were completely different. So, it wasn't wrong for her to immediately assume Bai Li was in danger when she heard he ran into boars.
Jiang Qing looked at Mo Hua's tears and the pale faces of the Bai family, feeling completely baffled. Bai Li was such a scoundrel and a loser before. Why did the Bai family still care so much about this piece of trash? If Jiang Qing had been even a tenth as bad as Bai Li, his own father would have beaten him to death long ago.
However, Jiang Qing stopped questioning their different fates, quickly waving his hands.
"Auntie Bai, you've got it all wrong! Your son killed both wild boars! One is already at his house. He and my oldest brother are retrieving the other one right now. My father said to hurry up and bring the cart so we can take them to the city to sell them before they spoil!"
There were only two carts in Nanxiang Village. One belonged to Xiao Han's father's house; the Xiao family prioritized working as transporters, going between the village and the city for money, and they only had two small plots for vegetables instead of large rice fields. Villagers who needed to rent their ox and cart had to pay a fee.
The other cart was jointly owned by the Bai family and the Village Elder's family. The Bai family owned the cart, and the Village Elder's family owned the ox.
The two families were the most financially stable in the village, and they had a good relationship, so there was never any argument about this joint arrangement; they worked together based on mutual understanding.
This cooperation also helped the villagers, as the Elder and the Bai family would rent out the ox and cart for field work at a very low price: sometimes even just trading for sweet potatoes.
The Bai family felt slightly relieved after hearing Jiang Qing's words, but they were immediately shocked again.
Two wild boars! Heavens!
Bai Zhou said in disbelief, "Xiao Qing, are you serious? Are you sure they are really wild boars?"
"Uncle Bai, it's the harvest season! Would I skip work just to joke with you? You'll see when you go check! The boars are huge! Bigger than a person!"
Though the Bai family still couldn't quite believe it, they had to go check Bai Li's house.
Bai Zhou instructed, "Eldest son, go get the cart."
Since the cart and ox are currently with the Bai family, Jiang Qing joined them, and the whole Bai family headed to Bai Li's house. The neighboring farmers who heard the news about the wild boars also wanted to see, so the cart was full of people. By the time the cart reached Bai Li's house, curious villagers were walking right behind them. The news about the wild boars had already spread throughout the entire village.
The Village Elder's family was already at Bai Li's house, and the massive wild boar, which had been carried on a makeshift stretcher, was lying in the yard. Everyone who arrived gasped in astonishment.
Bai Zhou saw the Village Elder and immediately approached him.
"Lao Jiang, when you see my second son, is he hurt?"
Bai Zhou and the Village Elder, Jiang Yan, had grown up together in the village and had a very close relationship. The Elder was drinking hot tea, staring at the boar. When he heard Bai Zhou's question, he put down his cup and answered.
"Lao Bai, forget about being hurt. Your son ran all the way to my fields with that boar on his back! When we saw him from a distance, we thought a giant boar was running toward us, and we almost ran away ourselves!"
The Bai parents felt relieved after hearing those words. The Elder's words were different from Jiang Qing's. No matter what Jiang Qing said, they didn't fully trust a young boy's words. But the Village Elder was different; he was the head of the village, and his words were reliable.
Mo Hua finally relaxed. She looked for her grandsons and saw them quietly standing by the door, clinging to Xiao Han's legs. The little kids were timidly observing the crowd surrounding the boar.
Xiao Han still had a fever, but he was no longer bedridden. He had bathed and cleaned her sons today, so the freshly bathed twins looked adorable, like little white buns. The tiny, reddish, wet moles under their left eyes looked like dots of red paint on the white buns. Mo Hua's heart always softened when she looked at her eldest grandsons. She had never understood why her second son could ignore these two such sweet boys.
Just as she was about to go to her grandsons, she saw the Village Elder's wife, Tu Xi, was also there. So Mo Hua approached Tu Xi. Tu San Nan (Tu Xi, the Elder's wife) and Mo Hua had been close friends since childhood. They were also lucky that their husbands were good men when they got married. The only misfortune was that Muo Hua gave birth to a son named Bai Li.
Tu San Nan deeply hated Bai Li and couldn't understand why someone like him existed in the world. The Bai family had ten plots of rice field and twenty plots of vegetable land. They should have been living comfortably in a tiled-roof house by now, but because of Bai Li's torment, their wealth was only nominal, and they eventually had to pull their fourth son out of school. Tu San Nan hated anyone who was a 'piece of trash' and caused trouble for their family. She liked everyone in the Bai family, except for Bai Li. She thanked the heavens every day that none of her sons turned out like him.
Tu Xi saw Mo Xi (Mo Hua, Bai Li's mother) coming toward her. Since it was inappropriate to stay near the group of men, she went to the Mo Xi, then she took Xiao Han and the children and went inside the small shack.
Tu Xi liked Xiao Han and the children; she only disliked Bai Li. But because of Bai Li's change yesterday, her view of him had shifted slightly.
Since the table had been taken outside for the adults to sit at, they all gathered on the brick bed. Even though Mo Hua had heard the Elder's words, she couldn't help but ask Tu Xi again.
"Is my second son truly safe? I'm afraid he might have sustained injuries."
Tu Xi sighed when she heard Mo Hua's words.
"Mo Xi, didn't you hear my husband? Your son is not hurt at all. I saw him myself—he was energetic and nimble."
"Did you really see? What if the injury is hidden under his clothes?"
Sometimes, Tu Xi was annoyed by her friend's excessive motherly love.
"He's fine! You should worry about something else. Look, I don't know how big the other boar is, but the one outside is worth a lot of silver ingots! You must oversee this carefully and make sure your son doesn't go back to being a waste. Look at your second daughter-in-law and the grandkids—they are so skinny! Your second son was truly wicked. Even though he seemed to change yesterday, I worry it's just temporary. If he gets a lot of money again, he'll start causing trouble. So, you must take the money away as soon as he tries anything bad. Then you can use it to buy food and necessities for the second family."
Mo Xi understood what Tu Xi was saying. She also didn't want her second son to go back to being reckless. She only wanted to see the family living peacefully and happily.
"I know. When they sell the boar, the Elder and the men will go with him. He won't be able to waste the money easily. If he tries to cause trouble, I'll tell his father to keep the money."
Tu Xi was satisfied with Mo Xi's words.
"That's good. You must stick to that. Don't spoil that brat anymore."
Then, Tu Xi looked at Mo Xi, the kids, and Xiao Han, sighing.
"How good would it be if your second son was sensible? Look at today: no one in the village even believed he had such hunting skills! If he keeps this up, you guys will be able to live much more comfortably."
At those words, Mo Hua's eyes turned red again.
"It's my fault. I spoiled my second son too much."
They truly spoiled him. After giving birth to the eldest son, she didn't get pregnant again for seven years. They thought they couldn't have any more children, so when the second son was born, they spoiled him immensely. Initially, they wanted the second son to go to school instead of the eldest. Unexpectedly, the second son didn't want to go to school and became very rebellious, eventually growing beyond their control.
Tu Xi knew this too. She comforted her dear friend.
"Those things are in the past. Your second son is starting to change now. You just need to keep supporting him."