Chapter 100
April 19th, sunny.
Zhang Ma wore a date-red woolen undershirt, covered with an old grayish blue lab coat, underneath a pair of old cotton pants, wore a pair of old cloth shoes, carried an old baggage skin, carrying a chubby boy in her arms, rode in a yellow cart to the west side of the city.
She held the child out of the car, the driver said: “I’ll wait for you here for a while, it’s not good to call a car here, you have to walk to the main road over there to see the car.”
Zhang Ma shook her head: “No, I go to relatives, to talk, do not know when to come out, you go.”
The car driver then left.
Zhang Ma holding the child, familiar with the way into the alley.
The boy in her arms looking around, called her: “Grandma, home.”
Zhang Ma heart a sour, from the baggage took out a piece of butterfly pastry into his hands, let him hold nibble: “Eat it, almost home.”
The boy hugged and chewed it up, and in a moment, he ate it with drool all over his chin.
Zhang Ma took a handkerchief and tucked it in the mouth of his collar, holding him and continuing to walk forward.
After walking for about a quarter of an hour, there was an old couple waiting in front of them, and as soon as they saw Zhang Ma carrying the boy, they immediately greeted her.
Mrs. Zhang stood still, held the boy upward, and pointed to him, “Look who’s here.”
The boy turned his head away and ignored it, continuing to eat the butterfly pastry in his hand.
The old couple looked exactly the same, you could say they were husband and wife, both with the same square face, broomstick eyebrows, small eyes, and very kind faces.
The two of them caught up with the boy and were so fond of him that they didn’t know what to do with themselves.
Last time, Zhang Ma brought the boy over to recognize the door, and then carried the child away. It was only this time that they had talked about coming over to give it away.
Since the last time the little boy came, the old couple had gone to a fortune teller, renamed the little boy and put his name on the family tree, redid his clothes and shoes, and cleaned up a room, hiring a new sister-in-law who could cook for the kids.
None of the four sisters in the family knew that the boy was adopted. The old couple had already made up a good story, saying that the old gentleman had gone out to have an affair and had been keeping a mistress, and that the boy was born of the mistress. The old lady had known about this for a long time, and she was the one who proposed to bring the boy back to be raised as her own. The two men gave the foreign room a sum of money and sent her back to her hometown, and only then did they carry the child back.
Because of this, the old gentleman even went out of hiding for a few days to make up a story about him sending his mistress back to her hometown so that he could tell it to his neighbors and daughters later.
The advantage of this was that the boy would be the old man’s own son from then on, and no one would ever mention the adoption; even if outsiders did, their own family could deny it.
Zhang Ma wanted to hand the boy to the old couple, but the boy was reluctant and would not let go of her neck.
The old couple saw that the boy had liked the boy so much that they didn’t know what to do, of course they didn’t dare to pull his hand, seeing that he was unhappy, they quickly said, “Then let’s go home first, let’s go home first.”
Zhang Ma sighed, “Alright, then I will work hard for a little while longer.”
She gently spanked the boy’s butt, “Why don’t you let your mom carry you?”
The boy was not quite able to speak yet, but he could already recognize people, he knew that this was not his mom and dad, not the people he usually called his mom and dad. He flopped onto Zhang Ma’s shoulder and said, “It’s not mom, it’s not my mom.”
Zhang Ma held him and followed the old couple into their house, the four sisters were waiting in the yard, the kitchen where the subordinates were hiding, they all stretched their heads to look here.
The four sisters stood there, all dressed exactly the same, looking at their size, except for the smallest one, the remaining three should almost be married. They were dressed in wide cheongsams with the same braid, and when they saw Zhang Ma, they all nervously and neatly squatted down to greet her, and when they looked at the boy in Zhang Ma’s arms, they all couldn’t help but smile like a flower.
Zhang Ma had noticed last time that these four girls had been too tightly controlled by their family, and had all been dumbed down, but they did not have the slightest bit of dissatisfaction or resentment towards this little brother who had just appeared on the scene, and each of them was so fond of him that their faces were filled with joy. If the little ancestor of her family had encountered such a thing, he would have lifted the roof of the house.
Other people’s children were of course the sillier the better, but her own was of course the smarter the better.
Zhang Ma was very satisfied with the four sisters and the family, and placed the boy on the couch as soon as she entered the house. The old man and the old woman rushed over with snacks and candies to coax him into recognizing her, and the four sisters went over to look at their new brother carefully.
With her coaxing him, and a plate of snacks and candies, the little boy quickly became unrecognizable, except for being coaxed and refusing to call his father and mother, he quickly called out to the four sisters as his elder sister.
The four sisters were even happier and rushed up to the couch to work with the little boy, coaxing him to talk and teaching him to pronounce his new name.
Zhang Ma stayed with him for half a day until the little boy fell asleep from exhaustion, and only then did she quietly take her leave.
The old couple rushed to the door.
The old man took out a hundred dollars and wanted to hand it to Zhang Ma.
Zhang Ma pressed his hand, shook her head, and sighed: “If it wasn’t for the fact that I can’t raise my own family, I really wouldn’t be willing to give this child to you. Alas, his father is incompetent, and his mother is a bitter person. You should treat him well in the future, don’t treat him badly. Although his father is not very capable, his family hires people, and his mother has studied, and both of them are not bad-looking, as you can see from the boy’s looks. In short, don’t treat him badly. If you don’t want to keep him, let me know and I’ll take him back.”
The old couple hurriedly shook their heads and waved their hands.
The old man said, “From the moment I saw you, I could tell that you are not an ordinary family, and this child’s parents are surely not wrong, alas, it’s all fate, they can’t raise this child, it’s fate, and it’s also fate that this child has come to my house. Don’t worry, I will raise him as my own, he is my own! I have four daughters, and I’m counting on this son to carry on my legacy, he’s my lifeblood.”
The old lady also said, “Don’t worry, even if we are no longer alive, he still has four sisters, and they can feed him up, and in the future, if he lives, dies, or gets sick, it will be in our family’s hands, and I won’t wrong him in marriage or funeral, and I’ll also be counting on him to give me a pot.”
Zhang Ma talked with them at the intersection for a long time before leaving, all the way to the main road, standing in the wind, waiting for the yellow bus, waiting for a short while there is a yellow bus leaning over, stopped and asked: “Mrs., do you want to take the car? It’s windy here, and your eyes are all red from the wind.”
Zhang Ma sniffled: “Take a ride, take me to the department store.”
The car driver hurriedly got off the car and helped Zhang Ma up to sit firmly, “You sit well, go!”
The old couple returned home, rushed to see the little boy.
The little boy has already changed into this family to his new clothes, are washed, soft very much. He stretched out his little hands and feet, huffing and puffing, sleeping soundly.
The four sisters were quietly doing needlework in the house to keep him company, and the two younger ones were driven outside the house not to disturb him while he slept.
When the old couple saw the little boy sleeping soundly, they reassured the two girls and said, “Zhaodi, Pan Di, you stay here with your brother, and if he wakes up, you can quickly call out to me.”
The old lady said, “I’ll watch here too.”
The old gentleman said, “I’ll go invite the eldest and second uncle over, so they can meet Baosheng as well.”
The little boy had already been given a new name: Baosheng.
Worried, the old lady shooed her two daughters away and bade him say, “It’s too early, isn’t it? He can’t call his father yet. Let’s invite relatives when he can call his parents.”
The old gentleman shook his head, “The night is long. Settle the name early, that is, if that family regrets coming for the child again, we can’t give it back to him!”
The old lady said, “Will they still want it? Didn’t this child’s parents give birth to him without a match?”
The old gentleman said, “Alas, I am not at ease! As long as he is alive, there is no guarantee that he won’t come back. If I miss this time, I won’t have another son in my life.”
The old lady had to agree.
The old gentleman said, “You’ll coax him more later, see if you can get him to call out for mom.”
The old lady fretted, “OK, I’ll try.”
When the little boy woke up from a nap, the old lady has been holding him, coaxing him, taking snacks and candies to lure him, but also let people from the street to buy windmills, bird whistles and other toys, teasing him to shout for his mother.
The boy was forced to cry, “You’re not mommy, mommy!”
The old lady was so anxious that her head was covered with sweat, but there was nothing she could do. She had to keep him out at night.
The old man invited his relatives to be witnesses and made an appointment to give Baosheng a genealogy before he let go of his heart.
The two of them were dedicated to coaxing the little boy to recognize his parents and change his name. Slowly, the little boy first took the old man as his real father, and smoothly called out his father and the old lady also hesitantly called out her mother, but he always called out his mother to the oldest daughter of the family.
The old lady breathed a sigh of relief and said, “An elder sister is like a mother, so it’s okay for you to be his mother, and in the future, when your father and I are no longer here, it will be up to you to support Baosheng. Do you know that?”
The eldest daughter Zhaodi obediently nodded her head and said, “I understand, mom, the younger brother is the dependence of the family, we sisters will all rely on the younger brother to support us in the future.”
The old lady nodded, “It’s good that you understand. Otherwise, if all four of you sisters marry out, when we die, your cousin will definitely take over this house, and none of these things will be left in the house. With your brother around, you all have a mother’s house.”