Newborn 1927

Seeing Xu Zishan and his men leave, everyone beamed with joy, their eyes filled with admiration for Yang Jiefang. Yang Jiefang said loudly, "Today, we only managed to get Xu Zishan to retreat thanks to the power of Qinglong Village, and he promised not to harass our Zhao Family Village again. This proves that regardless of whether he's from the legitimate or illegitimate world, as long as we have power, we have nothing to fear. It's getting dark, everyone should go home!" The crowd dispersed happily, but Zhao Changming and the others stayed behind, saying, "Little Yang, we've dealt with Master Shan's matter. When do you plan to leave for Qinglong Village? We need to prepare in advance." Yang Jiefang replied, "Tomorrow morning, let's meet at the Zhao Family's backyard first, and then we'll set off together." Zhao Changming and the others all agreed and went home.

Yang Jiefang and the others from Qinglong Village returned to the Zhao family compound. He instructed everyone to take turns resting and to guard the valuables before going to Zhao Changyi's room to sleep. They had been busy non-stop since yesterday and were indeed exhausted. The blankets and quilts were new and odorless; Yang Jiefang was determined to take them. Just as he was drifting off to sleep, the door was gently pushed open, and someone slowly entered. Yang Jiefang awoke with a start and sat bolt upright. He saw someone standing before the bed, but couldn't see their face clearly in the darkness. Yang Jiefang asked, "Who is it?" The person replied, "Yang Sanwa, it's me, Zhao Xiaohui." It was Zhao Xiaohui. Yang Jiefang asked in surprise, "What are you doing here?" Zhao Xiaohui said softly, "Didn't you say you wanted to marry me? As you wish, I hope you'll spare my mother and sister-in-law." She then got into bed and slipped under the covers.

Yang Jiefang was stunned. Children often make grand pronouncements while playing; just listen and don't take them seriously. In Yang Jiefang's memory, since this body started boarding school, the two hadn't seen each other much. However, Yang Jiefang quickly recovered and asked, "Who sent you? Was it your mother or your sister-in-law?" Zhao Xiaohui, hiding under the covers, took off her coat and put it aside, replying, "Don't ask, Yang Sanwa, I'll sleep with you tonight. Promise me you'll let my mother, my sister-in-law, and my aunt's family go, and don't sell them to a brothel, okay?" Yang Jiefang said, "Who said I was going to sell you to a brothel? Was it Wang Sanlaizi? He's just threatening you, don't take it seriously. Hurry up and put your clothes on and go home! We'll meet first thing tomorrow morning..." "I will leave, and I won't hurt you anymore." Zhao Xiaohui, however, couldn't believe it and said, "I know our family was wrong before. If you want revenge, then take it out on me! Let my mother go; she's old and in poor health. My sister-in-law is pregnant; the child in her womb is innocent. And my aunts and the rest of the family—their younger siblings are still young and don't understand anything. Your parents are dead, and so are my father, my eldest brother, and my uncle. Your sister was sold into prostitution; I will compensate you for that. Is your revenge going to end here?"

At fifteen or sixteen years old, which would be considered a middle school student in later years, Yang Jiefang simply couldn't bring himself to do it. So he advised, "Let's end the feud between our two families here! You're innocent, there's no need for this." Zhao Xiaohui sat up, stared at Yang Jiefang for a long time, and said, "Perhaps you really won't hurt us, but my sister-in-law won't feel at ease. If you don't want me, they'll push me to someone else. You've divided our family's land and our family property. If we don't find someone else to rely on, how will we survive? Right now, I'm the only one in the family who's worth anything. Rather than letting someone else benefit, I'd rather give me to you. Even if it's just to atone for my sins, it will make me feel more at peace."

Zhao Xiaohui was a bright girl, and her words plunged Yang Jiefang into deep thought. The phrase "land reform" kept flashing through his mind. Yang Jiefang couldn't help but wonder: was this really the right thing to do? Some landlords and bullies were certainly despicable, but their families weren't necessarily guilty. He recalled the scene of fighting landlords during the day; the Zhao family's land wasn't entirely obtained through trickery or force, and those peasants who lost their land weren't all innocent. Yang Jiefang felt lost. Could today's model be widely adopted? A moment ago, Yang Jiefang wouldn't have had this doubt, after all, there were successful precedents. But now, looking at the pitiful, innocent girl before him, Yang Jiefang couldn't help but think: wasn't there a better way?

Neither of them spoke, just staring at each other. Yang Jiefang smelled the unique, youthful fragrance emanating from Zhao Xiaohui, and his heart skipped a beat; he almost pounced on her like a beast. Yang Jiefang took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his wicked thoughts, and said, "You can sleep here tonight! Don't take your clothes off anymore. I'll make arrangements for your family before I leave tomorrow." Seeing his sincerity, Zhao Xiaohui didn't say anything more and got into bed. Yang Jiefang quickly followed suit; it was indeed a bit cold outside.

And so, the young boy and girl lay in bed together, their breaths mingling, yet neither moved or spoke, just lying there stiffly. Yang Jiefang was indeed tired; banishing all distractions, he slowly drifted off to sleep. When he awoke, Yang Jiefang found himself in someone else's arms—he and Zhao Xiaohui had been sleeping side by side. Zhao Xiaohui groggily awoke, and seeing Yang Jiefang face to face, mouth to mouth, she didn't react for a moment, then suddenly gasped. Zhao Xiaohui cried out in surprise, rolling to the other end of the bed and pulling the blanket over herself. Yang Jiefang felt a sudden emptiness, a chill running down his spine, and instinctively sat up, curling up. The two looked at each other, slowly realizing what had happened. Zhao Xiaohui involuntarily lowered her head. On the bedsheet, where Zhao Xiaohui had been lying, a large red flower was visible, its color slightly dark. Zhao Xiaohui blushed and said, "When did you do that last night... I didn't feel anything at all. Isn't it supposed to hurt a lot the first time?" Yang Jiefang was speechless. Good heavens, she's such a naive girl! She's on her period, okay? Coming to a man's bed when her period is about to start? Seriously. Considering that most girls these days lack knowledge about menstrual hygiene, he said, "You're on your period. Be careful about hygiene and keep warm these next few days! Okay, you can go now, remember to change your pants. I'll come find you later." Zhao Xiaohui finally understood, blushing even more, then lowered her head silently, put on her coat, and went out.

Yang Jiefang quickly dressed and packed up the quilts and sheets from the bed, ignoring the bloodstains on the sheets. He also found a few suitable clothes in the wardrobe and took those with him. When he carried the large bundle of clothes to the backyard, it was already quite lively. Zhao Changgui, Zhao Changming, and all twelve other people from Zhao Family Village had arrived and were loading carts with the people from Qinglong Village. Nine horses had come from Qinglong Village, and with the three horses from the Zhao family, all twelve horses were harnessed to the carts. Ten of the carts were loaded with wheat, totaling over 20,000 jin. The other two carts were loaded with silver dollars, copper coins, cloth, cotton, and the personal belongings of Zhao Changgui and the others. Yang Jiefang also put his packed clothes and quilts on one of the carts.

Then, Yang Jiefang opened the box containing the silver dollars, took out two hundred silver dollars and some gold and silver jewelry, wrapped them in a square cloth, and said, "We can't go too far. Let's leave some valuables for the Zhao family! Changzhi, tell your father that the remaining grain can't all go into the granary; leave three thousand catties for the Zhao family, mother, daughter, and sisters-in-law. Changgui, go tell Changfu that my family's dozens of acres of land will be left to the Zhao family. I'll give the land deeds to Zhao Xiaohui later. Houfei, I remember there are a few large iron pots in the kitchen; pick two good ones to take with you. We can use them to boil water for bathing or cook for ourselves." No one objected to Yang Jiefang's arrangements; they all agreed and went about their business.

The two hundred silver dollars weighed over ten jin (approximately 5 catties), and Yang Jiefang felt their weight in his hands. He then stuffed the land deed and sales contract into the bundle. When he arrived at the room where Zhao Xiaohui and the other two had been held, he saw Zhao Xiaohui's mother comforting her with tears in her eyes; Zhao Xiaohui herself was silent with her head down. Yang Jiefang went straight to the table, opened the bundle, and said, "I'm not being selfish. I'm leaving you three thousand jin of grain and two hundred silver dollars, and my family's several dozen mu of land is also yours. Here's the land deed. We're leaving right away. Take care of yourselves! Also, if Zhao Changyi comes back, tell him not to think about seeking revenge against me, or he'll die a horrible death." Without lingering, he turned and left the house. From afar, he heard Zhao Xiaohui's sister-in-law say, "Mother, don't be sad! My little sister only spent one night with him and got so many benefits in return. It was worth it." Yang Jiefang stumbled and almost fell.

Lu Ziqi approached and said in a low voice, "Brother Yang, you'd better be prepared about what happened last night." Yang Jiefang asked curiously, "Prepare for what?" Lu Ziqi said, "Miss Zhao went into your room last night and only came out this morning. I'm not the only one who knows about this. You'll need to give Miss Gao an explanation. Think about it yourself!" Then he patted Yang Jiefang on the shoulder and turned to leave. Yang Jiefang felt a sudden chill run down his spine, a bad feeling welling up inside him.

When Yang Jiefang returned to the backyard, Zhao Changzhi's father, Zhao Yuanliang, and Zhao Changgui's brother, Zhao Changfu, were there, leading the villagers to move grain out. Yang Jiefang had said he would leave three thousand jin of grain, and he really did: one thousand jin of wheat, one thousand jin of millet, and one thousand jin of corn.

Zhao Yuanliang approached and said, "Little Yang, I think we should report what happened in Zhao Family Village yesterday to the county so that I can legitimately get this village head position. This is a report I wrote overnight; take a look and see if it's alright." Yang Jiefang laughed, "You can write it yourself, no need to tell me." He still took the paper and started reading, and what he saw shocked him. The gist of it was: the notorious bandit Xu Zishan led over two hundred bandits to attack Zhao Family Village last night; they killed Zhao Family Village's security captain, Li, and his team member, Wang, as well as the three male members of the village head Zhao's family; they robbed the Zhao family of their property and grain, etc. Attached was a threatening letter from Xu Zishan to Zhao Jinyuan. Now, Xu Zishan had become a scapegoat, one he couldn't shake off. Zhao Yuanliang explained, "It's not unfair for Master Shan to take the blame. This way, we can better protect the safety of you all. Little Yang, there are people like Zhao Jinyuan everywhere. You must be extremely careful in your future actions! If your dream can really come true, it will surely be a peaceful and prosperous era."

Yang Jiefang nodded and replied, "Okay, I'll be careful. And please rest assured, that peaceful and prosperous era will definitely come to pass." Suddenly, Yang Jiefang's conviction strengthened again. To establish a completely new social system, the old vested interest classes must first be overthrown. If they could be reformed through gentle means, that would be ideal; if that wasn't possible, then only violent means would be necessary.

Everyone was ready, and just before departure, Yang Jiefang summoned Zhao Yuanliang and Zhao Changfu and said to them, "From today onwards, the matter of Zhao Jinyuan's family is over. The village cannot bring up past grievances against the Zhao family mother and daughter. We must leave them a way to survive!" The two nodded in agreement and then took their leave.