“I’m not sick,” replied Jiazhen. “I just feel a bit sore.”
Youqing was leaning against a tree, looking like he had fallen asleep. Because her arms were sore, Fengxia had to keep switching hands as she fanned the flames. I went over and patted her on the shoulder. Thinking I wanted to take over for her, she turned around and shook her head. I pointed to Youqing; I wanted her to carry him home. She nodded and got up. It was then that a “baa, baa” sound coming from the animal pen made its way to Youqing. Still asleep, he smiled when he heard it. Then as soon as Fengxia picked him up he suddenly opened his eyes and said, “Those are my lambs that are crying!”
I thought he had been asleep. Seeing him open his eyes and start up again about this lamb business, I really got mad. I said to him, “They’re the commune’s lambs, not yours!”
Youqing was scared out of his wits. Completely awakened from his nap, he glared at me. Jiazhen nudged me.
“Don’t scare the kid,” she said.
She squatted down beside Youqing and quietly said to him, “Youqing, go to sleep. Sleep.”
Looking at Jiazhen, Youqing nodded his head and closed his eyes. Before long he was in a deep sleep. I picked Youqing up and placed him on Fengxia’s back. Then I gave Fengxia a hand sign telling her to bring Youqing home to go to sleep, and not to come back.
After Fengxia carried Youqing off, Jiazhen and I sat in front of the fire. It was already quite cool out, so it was nice sitting before the warm fire. Jiazhen was so exhausted that she had not a drop of energy left — even raising her arms took more strength than she had. I let Jiazhen lean up against me.
“Close your eyes and get some sleep,” I said.
The moment Jiazhen’s head rested against my shoulder, I also slipped into a light slumber. The first time my head started to droop I straightened right up, but in my tired state I came closer and closer to drifting off. I nodded off again after adding wood to the fire — only that time I didn’t pick my head back up.
I wasn’t sure just how long I’d been asleep when I heard a massive rumbling sound. It scared me so bad that I sprang to my feet. By then it was almost light out, and I saw that the petrol tank had fallen over. The fire spread out like a pool of water, scorching the ground and everything in its path. When I noticed that Jiazhen’s jacket was draped over my shoulders, I was struck with fear. I ran around the petrol vat twice but didn’t see Jiazhen. I was scared out of my wits. I roared, “Jiazhen, Jiazhen!”
I heard Jiazhen’s faint voice coming from the pond. I ran over and saw Jiazhen sitting on the ground, trying with all her might to stand up. As I helped her up, I discovered that her clothes were soaked.
After I had fallen asleep, Jiazhen had woken up and kept herself awake so she could continue throwing branches into the fire. Then, realizing that there was almost no water left in the cauldron, she grabbed a wooden bucket and headed over to the pond to fetch some. Carrying the bucket, she took only five or six steps before collapsing on the ground. She sat there resting for a while before returning to the pond to fill the bucket back up. This time she rested after each step, but as soon as she got to the pond, she fell down again. Altogether, two buckets of water spilled over her. She sat there on the ground beside the pond, lacking the energy to get back up — she remained there, virtually paralyzed, until that thunderous sound woke me.
Seeing that Jiazhen wasn’t hurt, my anxious heart relaxed a bit. I helped Jiazhen over to the petrol vat. A few flames were still smoldering, and as soon as I noticed that the bottom of the cauldron had been burned out I knew the situation was bad. Jiazhen, seeing what had happened, was also stupefied. She blamed herself right away. “It’s all my fault, it’s all my fault.”
“No, it was me,” I said. “I shouldn’t have fallen asleep.”
I thought I’d better hurry up and inform the team leader. I helped Jiazhen over to a tree. Leaning her up against the trunk, I ran toward the house that was once mine, later Long Er’s and that now belonged to the team leader. When I got to the team leader’s house I yelled, “Team leader, team leader!”
The team leader answered from inside, “Who is it?”
“It’s me, Fugui,” I responded. “The bottom of the cauldron’s burned out.”
“Did you succeed in smelting the iron?” the team leader asked.
“No,” I replied.
The team leader barked back, “Then what the hell are you yelling about?”
I didn’t dare open my mouth again. I just stood there, not knowing what to do. By then it was already light outside. After thinking about it, I figured I’d better take Jiazhen to the town hospital. It seemed like her illness was pretty serious. I would have to deal with this cauldron business later when I got back from the hospital. First I went home and woke Fengxia so she could help me. I couldn’t move Jiazhen alone; I was getting old and feared I wouldn’t be able to carry her the twenty-odd li to the hospital. I had no choice but to take turns with Fengxia.
With Jiazhen on my back and Fengxia beside me, I walked toward the city. From behind Jiazhen protested, “I’m not sick, Fugui, I’m not sick.”
I knew that she was just saying that because she didn’t want to spend the money needed to go to the hospital. I said, “We’ll let the hospital decide whether you’re sick or not.”
Jiazhen didn’t want to go to the hospital, and the whole way there she kept complaining. I was out of energy after walking part of the way, so Fengxia, who was stronger than I was, took over. As she trudged on with her mother on her back, her feet made a peculiar sound. As soon as Fengxia picked her up, Jiazhen stopped complaining and suddenly smiled. Comfortingly, she said, “Fengxia has really grown up.”
Jiazhen’s eyes turned red, and she added, “If only Fengxia hadn’t gotten sick that time.”
“What are you bringing that up for?” I said. “It’s already been god knows how many years.”
The town doctor said Jiazhen had “soft bone disease,”4 adding that there was no one who could cure this kind of illness. He said we should take Jiazhen home and, if we could manage it, get her some more nutritious food. He warned us of the possibility of Jiazhen’s sickness getting worse, and I feared he would be right. Fengxia carried her all the way home; I walked beside them with my thoughts in disarray. Jiazhen had an incurable disease — the more I thought about it, the more terrified I became. How quickly our life was coming to an end. I looked at Jiazhen’s thin and bony face and realized that I hadn’t brought her a single day of happiness since we’d been married.
Jiazhen, on the other hand, was happy. From atop Fengxia’s back she said, “It’s a good thing it’s not curable. Where would we get the money for medicine if it was?”
As we approached the village, Jiazhen said she was feeling better and wanted to get down and walk for herself.
“I don’t want to scare Youqing,” she said.
She was worried that Youqing would be upset if he saw her like this. Mothers always think about these little things. As she got down from Fengxia’s back, we went to support her. She said she could walk by herself.
“Actually, I’m not really sick,” she said.
It was then that the sound of bells and gongs made their way over to us. The team leader and a group of people approached us from the edge of the village. After catching sight of us, the team leader gleefully waved his hand, yelling out, “Fugui, your family has done a great deed!”
I had no idea what he was talking about — what kind of great deed had we done? Only after they got close did I see two young villagers carrying a chunk of clumpy iron. The top of this metal clump was shaped like half a pot, and pieces of iron sheets jutted out from the sides. A red cloth was draped over its top. The team leader pointed to this mosh of worthless metal and said, “Your family smelted the iron just in time for National Day. We’re heading up to the county seat to bring the good news.”