I am not Ximen Qing.

The children were curious about the male and female dogs, tightly intertwined. They didn't know this was how dogs reproduced; a female dog in heat and a male dog in heat would mate openly and shamelessly in public. The children, innocent and unrestrained, chased after the inseparable pair, hitting them with sticks and throwing stones. The dogs could only bar their teeth and howl in despair—the desperate cries of dogs. In the past, this was a common scene in rural towns and even cities. The children naturally didn't understand why the rooster would peck so fiercely at the hen's comb and sit on her body. Honglin was already a little older; her mother, Huang Yupei, was now a mother of four. Zhang Hongyu, Hongying, Zhang Honglin, and Zhang Honghua, along with Honglin and Honghua, were babbling and liked to play around their older sisters, Hongyu and Hongying. However, the two older sisters disliked their younger siblings following them around because the children were in the way and would cry and complain. Huang Yupei had just reprimanded Hongyu and Hongying, along with a bunch of wild children, for attacking the male and female dogs that were linked together with stones. She had already disciplined them many times, but Hongyu and Hongying still insisted on hitting the linked dogs with stones, and even asked Huang Yupei why the two dogs were linked together. Yupei was stumped and couldn't explain. They went to ask their father, Zhang Sirui, and their second uncle, Zhang Zechen, who asked them directly. Zhang Sirui, with his red face, had previously believed that the child wasn't born from the mother's womb, because his mother had said when she was little that her father had picked her up from a crack in a rock.

The past was too feudal, too backward, and too ignorant in matters of male-female relationships. The concept of marital relations, especially sexual relations, was truly unspeakable. Therefore, marrying Huang Yupei was Zhang Sirui's rebirth. His second uncle, a lifelong bachelor, a true "Buddha," devoid of desire. Seeing his nephew Zhang Zechen's many children and good fortune, he still thought the children were a gift from heaven to the Zhang family. Human ignorance is indeed evident. Don't blame men and women in the past for having so many children despite hunger; desire was the last luxury. Besides suffering and a tragic fate, all that remained was the final carnal feast—a manifestation of the ceaseless vitality of life, isn't it? This is practically a perpetual question for children. Innocently, they ask why dogs must be linked together. Finally, Zhang Sirui, looking at the chicks behind Huang Yupei's hen, says, "Just like a hen giving birth to chicks, male and female dogs are together to produce puppies."

"No, Daddy, chicks hatch from eggs."

"We need to see where the puppies came from?"

"It came out of a dog's belly."

"Father, did my sister and I come out of a crack in a rock?"

"No, it came out of your mother's belly."

No wonder Mom still breastfeeds her younger siblings.

"No, Father, we believe Mother. She said that we were all picked up from the cracks in the rocks by Father."

Zhang Sirui was speechless. This was his wife Huang Yupei's fairy tale, and all women were like that, just like Nuwa, the progenitor of humankind in ancient historical records. Fuxi's Bagua (Eight Trigrams) represented Yin and Yang, the Dao giving birth to all things. Men and women were also products of Yin and Yang. In the West, Adam and Eve created the human world. The so-called creation myth of ancient Greece involved Prometheus, whom Jupiter, the god of creation, hated for his connection to humankind. Therefore, he bound Prometheus to the Caucasus Mountains, where eagles tore and peck at him—this was the beginning of original sin. Huang Yumin was quite used to this; he had been seducing women since childhood, living a life of unbridled pleasure. However, Huang Yumin encountered the same problem as Ximen Qing in *Jin Ping Mei*. In *Jin Ping Mei*, at least Ximen Qing's Li Ping'er bore him a son, only to have him die of fright from Pan Jinlian's snow cat during a power struggle among his wives and concubines. Huang Yumin's question arose: his elder sister, Yupei, gave birth like a hen laying eggs, producing a niece every year for four years. Her frail body displayed incredible strength as she continued giving birth—truly a continuous cycle of life! Childbirth seemed so easy for her; she didn't need a midwife, handling everything herself at home. Giving birth appeared to be an everyday occurrence. His sister, Yuhuan, wasn't to be outdone, also giving birth to a nephew, Zhang Liang, and nieces, Yuanchun, Yingchun, and Tanchun. It was clear that Huang Yuhuan had received guidance from a master, or perhaps her understanding was exceptionally high; she even aspired to be like the young ladies of *The Story of the Stone*. In truth, Huang Yuhuan had quite the ambition.

She was still wealthy, so she simply sought to leverage the influence of the Jia family… Huang Yumin was dumbfounded. The whole world took pride in having children, in becoming a worker, and in labor—all three things Huang Yumin longed for. But he dreaded exertion; even the slightest effort made him feel as if his bones had turned to jelly, causing him pain for about a week. He couldn't understand if his sisters' bodies were made of iron. Was childbirth painful? For them, childbirth was easier than a hen laying an egg, yet Gui Lan showed no signs of labor. This made Huang Yumin lose all face. Not only could he not have children, but his good old days were gone. Those days were paradise! Beautiful women everywhere, every day a new bride. Their images sometimes reappeared in Huang Yumin's fantasies. Now, women were treated with too much respect; hooliganism was a capital offense. Like a counter-revolutionary, Huang Yumin could only tuck his tail between his legs and start anew. The reason Gui Lan hadn't had children was because she remained youthful, beautiful, and alluring. The days of living off their savings had finally arrived. Since the older sisters were busy having children, they seemed to have forgotten Huang Yumin's existence; he became a figure of varying importance. After working in both large and small collectives for a while, Gui Lan's opportunity arose: the factory was hiring, and Gui Lan became a worker in the shoe factory. Actually, Gui Lan had long disliked Huang Yumin's laziness and playboy attitude. The key issue was that when Huang Yumin drank, he would reminisce about how carefree he used to be. Gui Lan's mother also began to support her daughter. After her daughter became a worker, Gui Lan's mother's stance became even stronger. Gui Lan was different after starting work at the shoe factory. The crucial point was that Huang Yumin often acted inappropriately when drunk, scolding her for not knowing how to have children. However, there was a doctor in the factory who understood childbirth, and Gui Lan realized that childbirth wasn't just a woman's problem, but a problem shared by both men and women. Marriage and childbirth would bring all sorts of issues. Now, Zhang Sirui faced a more practical problem: the schooling of Hongyu, Hongying, Honglin, and Honghua. Because he wasn't a worker, he couldn't attend school in the city. Education was a deep pain for Zhang Sirui; this was his fate. But his children had to go to school. Other children received free compulsory education; Zhang Sirui's children also needed to receive compulsory education. Yu Huan and her brother-in-law Zhang Sirui were on the same page. There was only one path: to become a worker. As a worker, one could attend primary, middle, and high school. Education was wonderful; it meant becoming a cadre directly, and promotions were incredibly fast. Lately, Yu Huan had been constantly arguing with Yu Min, and her younger brother, Huang Yu Min, had practically emptied the family's coffers. If her brother had listened to their father and studied abroad, he could be a university professor now. Even a primary or middle school teacher would be fine; teachers are so respected! After becoming a mother, Huang Yu Huan understood the responsibilities and obligations of motherhood and the hardships of raising a child. She cursed her brother, calling him a modern-day Sun Shaozu (a notorious historical figure known for his wickedness), saying that even marrying him a fairy godmother wouldn't help. Huang Yumin found it strange; his sister seemed different than before. His sister said that this era had saved the Chinese people and should be cherished. She claimed the Chinese Communist Party truly served the people wholeheartedly and even suggested Huang Yumin read classic works of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought.

How could Huang Yumin possibly understand these massive philosophical works? He didn't care about any of their ideas. It's not that Huang Yumin was completely illiterate; he could read and write a little. He also had a bit of a quirky talent: his secret was a copy of *Jin Ping Mei* from the Wanli era. He was afraid of forgetting the alluring actresses, prostitutes, and other women of the past. People's awareness had risen too high. After Gui Lan entered the factory, she gradually stopped letting Huang Yumin touch her. After joining the shoe factory, Gui Lan poured almost all her energy into her work, becoming both studious and ambitious, preparing to join the Party. Now, Gui Lan began to hate the so-called marriage; it was a marriage her mother had sold for money. Now that women were liberated, she wanted to leave Huang Yumin.

“Yumin, you are falling further and further behind Guilan’s progress. This won’t do. You should go work in the shoe factory as a worker. If you refuse to work and lack ambition, you will hurt Guilan’s feelings.”

"Sister, she doesn't have children."

"How do you know she can't have children? What if..."

"What if?"

"It's your problem!"

"What's wrong with me?" Huang Yumin felt a sense of crisis for the first time; the world was about to descend into chaos. The Yalu River was no longer peaceful. American planes frequently flew to its banks, and his nephews and nieces loved having their carefree uncle take them to the river to watch the planes, especially the black crows, also known as black widows, soaring freely in the sky. The children were curious about everything, clapping and cheering at the roar of the planes. But as an uncle, he also developed a sense of compassion; these mischievous children were all his sisters, new lives born from his womb.