spoiled brat

Chapter 37, Section 36: Against the Current (Part Six)

Just before the tobacco leaves in the pipe went out, the faint cry of a baby finally rang out inside the house; it was not a joyous sound but rather an ominous one.

Soon, another cry of alarm came from inside: "A stillborn baby!"

The door was pushed open, and Zhao Zhao squeezed into the room, where she saw Yao Niang lying unconscious on the bed, her face deathly pale.

A baby, whose umbilical cord had been cut and whose body had been washed clean of blood, lay weakly in swaddling clothes.

The other child, however, was lifeless, covered in blood from the womb. A young woman pointed at him and said, "This child died in the womb..."

Shopkeeper Zhang glanced at them and sighed, "The mother's body was too weak, and the two children killed each other to survive."

Zhao Zhao didn't believe in such superstitious nonsense, and felt a dull ache in her heart, a feeling she couldn't quite describe. She went up to ask about Yao Niang's condition, and Manager Zhang simply said she was still alive, then coldly added:
"From now on, we should not have any contact with each other."

It's good that Yao Niang is alive, it's good that she's alive.

As for Manager Zhang? Money talks, surely he can find a doctor to help Yao Niang recover.

One of the two children had died, and the girls all felt that the surviving one was a bit unlucky. They offered a few words of comfort, took the thank-you money from Zhao Zhao, and quickly followed in Zhang Zhang's footsteps.

Zhao Zhao, holding the child, leaned close to Yao Niang's ear, her eyes brimming with tears: "Mother, I shouldn't have argued with you that night."

It was already springtime.

It was still cold then, and the rainy night was especially damp and chilly. Yao Niang begged Zhao Zhao to go back with her, but Zhao Zhao ignored her and left, leaving her standing alone in the rain.

Zhao Zhao's tears fell on Yao Niang's face. She slowly opened her eyes, a pale smile appearing on her extremely weak face, her voice so soft it was almost ethereal:
"Zhao Zhao'er... I just heard them say that they had children together..."

Zhao Zhao nodded and showed her the baby in her arms, who looked like a little monkey: "It's a little girl."

A hint of disappointment flickered in Yao Niang's eyes as she asked reluctantly, "And the other one... is it a boy or a girl?"

Zhao Zhao turned around and glanced at the lifeless infant in the basin: "It's a boy."

"A terrible tragedy, a terrible tragedy..."

Yao Niang snapped like a taut string, tears welling in her eyes and seeping into her sweat-dampened hair: "It's all a tragedy..."

Zhao Zhao, holding the child, was somewhat stunned: "Why are girls considered unlucky?"

Yao Niang stammered, "Being born into a brothel, isn't that a misfortune..."

Zhao Zhao pointed to the dead baby boy in the basin and asked, "Then if he becomes a pimp in the future, it won't be a misfortune?"

“How could he be a pimp?” Yao Niang cried, her pale face full of resentment: “His father passed the imperial examination with flying colors; he is the son of an official.”

Zhao Zhao thought she had misheard. After a moment of silence, she asked, "That man has ruined you like this, and he has ruined me like this too. You still hope that he will acknowledge the son you gave birth to?"

Yao Niang didn't answer, but her eyes conveyed the same meaning: "...Boys always need to acknowledge their ancestors and return to their ancestral home."

The room fell silent instantly. The smell of blood filled Zhao Zhao's nostrils. Her younger sister in her arms cried out twice in a weak voice. Crack, crack... The lamp on the table exploded, and before the sparks could even hit the ground, they turned to ashes.

For a moment, Zhao Zhao really wanted to whisper in Yao Niang's ear, "Didn't you ask me why I was unhappy the other day...? Now I'll tell you, it's because I went to kill someone."

Zhao Zhao's lips twitched, then she chuckled softly, saying self-deprecatingly, "Mother, women in the brothel aren't allowed to have children, yet you gave birth to me... And who is this respectable man's child? When you saw I was a girl, were you just as disappointed as you are now?"

Before Yao Niang could answer, Zhao Zhao, carrying her younger sister in one arm and the stillborn baby in the basin in the other, walked outside and said to Xiao Duo, "Help me dig a hole."

Xiao Duo was confused, but seeing her gloomy face, she had no choice but to do as she was told. The pit wasn't dug very deep, and Zhao Zhao, without blinking, poured the dead infant in, then filled it with soil, stepped on her younger brother's bones, her expression neither sad nor happy, and said to her swaddling sister:
"My name is Zhaozhao, which means bright and radiant."

“And your name is Aheng—the Heng grass that can grow lush no matter what circumstances you are in.”

Zhao Zhao couldn't tell whether she was acting as an older sister or a mother.

Ah Heng was weak; her breathing was as shallow as a dying kitten, and her cries were pitifully faint.

Zhao Zhao couldn't sleep well at night. Whenever she drifted off to sleep, she would wake up shivering and reach out to check Ah Heng's breathing and body temperature. Only after making sure that Ah Heng was safe and sound would she carefully continue to sleep.

Neither the new mother nor the baby could withstand the heat, so Zhao Zhao simply set up a wooden couch next to Yao Niang's bed. She slept between the two of them, fanning herself with a fan in each hand, and didn't dare to stop even when she fell asleep.

She was so exhausted, yet Yao Niang was still sulking.

Yao Niang pleaded with Zhao Zhao to dig up the dead baby boy and give him a proper burial.

Zhao Zhao said it was too much trouble; how could a living person go through all that trouble for a dead person?

Yao Niang called her a heartless beast, but Zhao Zhao stood her ground and refused to budge, seemingly insisting on something.

The mother and daughter each had their own stubborn temperaments, and their relationship gradually cooled down.

Despite the cold, Yao Niang still needed Zhao Zhao to take care of her while she lay in bed.

Once, as usual, Zhao Zhao prepared a sweet-smelling medicine and handed it to Yao Niang. Unexpectedly, Yao Niang pushed the medicine bowl away and looked at Zhao Zhao with a resentful gaze:

“If you don’t acknowledge your brother, then you don’t need to acknowledge me as your mother either.”

The medicine bowl shattered into pieces, and some of the liquid got onto Zhao Zhao's hands. Because too much sugar had been added, the liquid stuck to her hands and became greasy, making her feel nauseous.

Zhao Zhao expressionlessly picked up the broken bowl from the ground and threw it outside the door.

Yao Niang thought she was about to leave, so she said again, "Zhao Zhao'er, dig out your brother and bury him properly, then I'll drink my medicine properly."

Zhao Zhao's back froze for a moment, then she quickly turned around, her cat-like eyes cold and gloomy.

She didn't answer Yao Niang's question about whether it was okay or not. Instead, she opened the wardrobe, took out some scraps of satin, and neatly tied Yao Niang's hands and feet to the bed railing.

"Zhao Zhao, what are you doing!" Yao Niang was both anxious and angry.

Zhao Zhao picked up the medicine pot on the table and poured another bowl. This time, she was too lazy to add sugar, as that would only make her look ridiculous. "Mom, stop fooling around and drink your medicine."

Yao Niang gritted her teeth: "I won't drink it! Unless you—"

Before she could finish speaking, Zhao Zhao pried open her jaw and poured the bitter medicine into her mouth without spilling a drop.

"Mother, no amount of threatening me will work."

Zhao Zhao sighed. She was so tired that she didn't have the energy to coax anyone anymore: "Go to sleep. Call me if you need anything."

After saying that, she picked up Ah Heng from the cradle and walked into the courtyard.

There is a large camphor tree in the courtyard, lush and upright, its branches and leaves forming a cool shade as if a breeze were blowing.

(End of this chapter)