CH 1

Chapter 1 – Gambling debts

Xiao Qian, bearing a basket, walked towards the school’s kitchen door. She lifted her young sister-in-law out of the pack basket and gently placed her on the door threshold. She whispered, “Man Bao, sit here. I will go and cook. Once that’s done, I’ll take you home.”

Man Bao cleverly nodded. She waited until her sister-in-law entered the kitchen and then, quickly ran with her short legs towards the classroom next to the kitchen.

The teacher was teaching his pupils to recite from the Thousand Character Classic book. Man Bao, who have mastered “the climb the window” technique, dragged a stone and placed it under the window. She stepped on the stone and peeked inside with intense interest.

Bai Er Lang (Master Bai, the rich landlord’s second son) who was shaking his head while reciting the thousand characters noticed Man Bao. He secretly turned his head and scowled at her.

Tit-for-tat, Man Ban glared back, and then, made a face at him.

Er Lang’s eyes widened angrily. Just then, the teacher walked by, patted his head gently, and reprimanded, “Pay attention.”

Man Bao was absolutely delighted to see the teacher. As he glanced at her, she, mischievously, winked at him.

The gray-bearded gentleman couldn’t helped shaking his head and sighing. He ignored her and left her to peeked and eavesdropped on the pupils who were busy studying. 

He said to them, “Today, we are going to learn the last paragraph of the Thousand Character Classic. Mao and Shi were benevolent and beautiful; even while working their frowns were charming. Years pass like flying arrows each in urgent haste; but the sun continues to shine bright and glorious… Fools and numbskulls; dunderheads and the absurd may deride you. At last these will help: that’s it, all done, finito, the end.”*

The students recited the phrases, a phrase at a time. Man Bao stood outside the classroom and followed along, loudly, in her four year old voice. The pupils were used to her, so they ignored her and focused on reciting after the teacher.

Man Bao began reciting the Thousand Character Classic when she first learnt to talk. So, she has long memorized the text. Then, the teacher placed the book down and encouraged the pupils to recite the text by themselves. When she noticed the action, and that he was walking towards the older children in another part of the room to teach them, she jumped off the stone and quickly ran to the teacher’s residence.

After the teacher announced class was dismissed, he walked back to his residence which was just next to the school. He noticed Man Bao had earlier dragged a broom and swept the area around the front door. She was now sitting on the ground, happily sorting out the manuscripts which he had thrown out.

When Man Bao noticed he was home, she delightfully showed him the manuscripts that she had sorted out. “Sir, look! The reverse side of the paper can still be used.”

“These are wastepaper which I wrote on. Take them home if you want them.”

Man Bao shook her head. “Sir, the reverse side can be used to practice calligraphy. Once you have done that, I will take them home.”

He couldn’t win so he took the manuscripts and placed them on the table. He pointed to another stack of manuscripts filled with words and said, “Take these home. If you don’t understand any of the words, just ask me.”

Man Bao happily agreed and stuffed the pile of paper into her arms. She dashed away to find her sister-in-law in the kitchen.

The rice and vegetables had been cooked, and Xiao Qian was serving the pupils.

Man Bao sneaked into the kitchen, greeted her sister-in-law, and took her teacher’s food to him.

He pointed towards the mat opposite him and said, “Sit down and join me for the meal.”

Man Bao shook her head, “I’ll go to the kitchen in a while and eat there. This food is all yours. Please enjoy your food.”

He didn’t want to insist. Instead, he took a piece of meat and stuffed it into her mouth. Man Bao chewed happily, but she couldn’t sit still. She ran out after playing around for a while.

The teacher laughed, shook his head and didn’t call her back.

Man Bao ran to the kitchen. When Xiao Qian saw her, she scraped the crunchy rice at the bottom of the pot and served her.

Man Bao obediently took the rice crust and stuffed it in her mouth. She broke a piece off and stuffed that into her sister-in-law’s mouth. Xiao Qian smiled and tried to decline while chewing the rice crust that was in her mouth, “It’s all yours, it’s all yours. There isn’t much anyway.”

After all, it was just a pot of rice. How much rice crust could there be? If there was too much scorched rice, the students might still be hungry after the meal. The consequence: she might lose her job.

She had a good sense of propriety. After all, she has been a cook in the school for three years.

Mr Bai, the landlord in the village invited Mr Zhuang to teach. Mr Bai was also the main funder of the school. The balance of payment for the school building was paid with the villagers’ donations.  

When Mr Zhuang first started teaching in the village, he was accompanied by his wife and children. The kids from two nearby villages also came to study, and they couldn’t go home for lunch due to the distance. Mr Zhuang felt sorry for them because they were hungry at noon. So, it was decided that the school would collect six jin of rice (3 kgs – PRC weight) for each child who would also pay another 30 fen so that they could have lunch in school.

Initially, Mrs Zhuang was the school’s chef. She and the villagers would buy some vegetables, while the students would bring rice from home. Occasionally, she bought meat, which was minced and cooked for the communal meals. At the end of the month, there was around 20 to 30 wen left which she took as her hard earned wages.

The students’ parents were aware that Mr Zhuang introduced “lunch in school” as he felt sorry for his pupils, and not because he wanted to make money. After all, the children would still have to eat when they reached home after school. As such, the villagers were pleased to supply the requested rice and even the students from the village where the school itself was located, happily sent rice to the school.

Later, Mrs Zhuang passed away due to a serious illness. Subsequently, his son and wife took their children and moved to town. He was left all alone to teach in the village. There was no cook. Mr Zhuang took 100 wen out of his own pocket and hired Xiao Qian as the school’s chef.

When Mr Bai, the landlord found out, he asked Xiao Qian to return the money to Mr. Zhuang. He then hired Xiao Qian and took over the administration work in relation to the collection of rice and fees for lunch, so that Mr Zhuang could focused on teaching.

At that time, Man Bao was only eight months old and couldn’t even walk yet. Xiao Qian’s main responsibility was to care for Man Bao, and her own son, nicknamed three heads or San Tou. She often took the two kids to the school kitchen by carrying them in a back pack. Occasionally, there was leftover rice which she shaped into a rice ball to feed the two babies. Xiao Qian raised them with love and care.

However, San Tou was now four years old, and he didn’t like to go to school. He preferred to play with his older brothers and sisters. Only Man Bao stayed with Xiao Qian.

Although, Man Bao only ate a bit of the leftover rice crust every day, she became fair and chubby. She didn’t look like a farmer’s child nor, resembled her family, the Zhou, at all.

After Man Bao and her sister-in-law finished dividing and crunching the scorched rice, they washed the pots and bowls and went home. Man Bao ran along happily.

Xiao Qian wanted to lift her into the pack basket, but Man Bao wasn’t willing to get into the basket. She scampered off and said, “I can walk on my own, I can walk by myself.”

Her sister-in-law conceded. “Okay, walk on your own. Be careful, don’t fall.”

“I’m a big girl! I will not fall down!” Man Bao shouted and rushed forward. From far, she noticed a big group of people surrounding her house. She was so jubilant and was about to rush over until she heard a terrifying scream from within her house, leaving her shell-shocked.

Xiao Qian figured out something was wrong way before they heard the scream. She quickly picked up Man Bao and ran home.

The crowd saw Xiao Qian and immediately gave way, “Zhou’s eldest daughter-in-law is home. Make way, make way.”

“Eldest daughter-in-law, your fourth uncle lost money gambling! The debt collectors are here.”

Some of the villagers quickly told her the news, while a few others, gloated. “He lost quite a bit of money. Looks like Old man Zhou will beat his son to death. Quickly go and calm your father-in-law down. After all, if you don’t have money, you can make more money. If the boy is killed, then all is lost.”

Xiao Qian shuddered and squeezed past the crowd to enter the house. She saw her second (Er Lang) and third brother-in-law (San Lang) pressing their younger brother (Si Lang) down on the ground, while her father-in-law, armed with a pole, was beating up the boy.

There were about a dozen strangers standing in the yard. The leader looked on angrily, and said to Old man Zhou, “Master Zhou, even if you kill your son, you will still have to pay me back today. We are not going to go back empty handed after trampling over the hill and dale.”

Man Bao wriggled out of her sister-in-law’s arms and quickly ran towards her father. She looked at her disappointing fourth brother and the crowd. She frowned and asked, “Father, how much did fourth brother lose?”

The leader of the thugs, a young man, looked at Man Bao in amazement, and said, “Master Zhou, your daughter looks quite good. If you don’t have money, just use the child to offset the debt. We don’t mind although she is just a little girl.”

Old man Zhou was incensed. He protected his daughter by placing her behind him and said furiously,”If you want this beast, then just drag him away. He incurred the debt, let him pay it off.”

Si Lang howled and shrieked, “Father, Father, save me! I really don’t dare (to gamble) anymore, never again, never again. If you allowed them to drag me away, they will kill me! They will really kill me!”

The thug glanced at Old man Zhou, sneered, stretched out his foot, and stamped on Si Lang’s hand. The boy screamed.

He smiled in satisfaction when he saw Old man Zhou’s complexion turned ashen and ghastly pale. “It’s just 15 taels of silver! Look at your new house. It certainly doesn’t look as if you have no money.

“Well, no matter how bad the situation is, there are so many little girls around. Just sell two of them to me. Let me tell you in advance, little girls are quite worthless at the moment. We’ll need your daughter. Otherwise, we’ll only get three to five taels for each girl, and you’ll need to give us four girls to pay off the debt.”

As soon as these words were uttered, Xiao Qian and Feng (Er Lang’s wife) were terrified as only the two of them have daughters. They quickly grabbed their girls and placed them protectively behind their back.

Old man Zhou was so enraged that his hands and feet trembled. Si Lang was also shocked and terrified, and almost peed in his pants. With his other hand, he grabbed the corner of his father’s clothes, and begged: “Father, Father, save me, save me, I really don’t dare (to gamble) anymore, never again…”

Er Lang, who was pinning Si Lang down to the ground, couldn’t help but hit him. The family’s finances had just improved marginally but now, Si Lang had completely ruined everything.

And he has two daughters, if the girls were sold…

When he thought of this, he hit his brother even harder, “You disobedient boy! Why did you disregard our parent’s warning?”

Si Lang hugged his head and begged for mercy.

Man Bao looked at the situation, and pursed her lips. She turned and looked at her three nieces, then turned around and ran into the house.

Her mother was leaning against the bed and stroking her chest, while being supported by Man Bao’s sixth brother who was very worried.

Her mother was in poor health all along. Being shocked by what was happening didn’t help.

Man Bao ran over and asked, “Mother, how much money do we have?”

Mrs Zhou opened her eyes and looked at her daughter.  She couldn’t help wiping her tears, “Why do you want to know?”

Man Bao asked the next question, “Do we have enough money to pay off the debt?”

Mrs Zhou answered whilst weeping, “(Your fourth brother should have been killed with) a thousand knives. Should have been drowned at birth.  We don’t have enough money, we are short by four to five taels of silver.”

Man Bao asked, “Why don’t we allow them to drag fourth brother away?”

“They came a long way, trampling over the hill and dale. If we don’t give any money, they can beat your fourth brother to death in the village. Can we bear to see him die?”

Her parents were aware of this. It was just that they were reluctant (to part with the money).

Man Bao emphasized with a serious face, “You can’t sell my nieces.”

Her mother stroked her hair and said, “We are not selling the girls. If we are selling anyone, we’ll sell your fourth brother, that wicked beast.”