Chapter 1: Birth
In the summer of 1962, Xiangfu Village was a picture of serenity, having just passed through the three years of hardship.
At midday, the villagers didn't have to work in the fields and had all returned home for a noon nap.
The home of Old Song the Second, Song Dezhu, was located at the end of Xiangfu Village, a small courtyard with three main rooms built of earthen walls, surrounded by a perimeter of picket fencing.
Song Lao Er - Lao for old, Er for second(2).
Inside the house, Wang Guifang, sporting a massive belly, was secretly worshipping the Buddha: "Amitabha, Great Bodhisattva Guanyin, Lord Guan, all gods of every path, all leaders, please bless me so that this birth must be a baby girl..."
Wang Guifang was Song Dezhu’s wife. In this era, every household wanted to give birth to sons; only by having sons could one support the family lintel.
In the village, wives who gave birth to many sons held extremely high status in their husbands' families and spoke with a louder voice than anyone else.
Yet, Wang Guifang happened to have an almost obsessive fixation on having a daughter.
It was a long story. Back when Wang Guifang was in her parental home, she was the only girl in the family. She was the eldest sister with a string of younger brothers beneath her.
Her parents were biased toward the brothers, and she had to give way to them in everything. Each of those brothers was obnoxious in their own way, and she had to help her parents look after them; she had been sick to death of it long ago.
After marrying into the Song family, she was different from others. While others prayed for sons, she prayed for a daughter.
How well-behaved daughters were, fragrant and soft. They weren't like those bratty boys, flailing about and acting like nuisances.
While pregnant with her first child, she dreamed one night of a little girl wearing a bellyband, looking like a child attendant seated at Guanyin's feet, precious as a pearl or a gem, grinning and laughing at her.
At that moment, Wang Guifang was so charmed she nearly fainted.
She was certain this was a conception dream and waited with wide eyes for her daughter to arrive.
Who would have thought that the Heavens seemed to be intentionally working against her?
The first birth was a son.
Wang Guifang could still comfort herself, it was only the first one, no matter, perhaps the second would be the one.
So she kept giving birth. The second was still a son, then the third, then the fourth... five consecutive births, all of them male.
Something that others envied and couldn't obtain nearly caused Wang Guifang to break down.
That baby girl in her dream had truly charmed her to her very core. Waking up in the middle of the night, she wanted nothing more than to kiss and hug her; could it be that the Heavens only sent her into the dream to make her crave it?
Not to mention, these five sons were exactly like their father, each had a large physique, and every day they were teasing chickens, provoked dogs, climbing trees, going into the water, catching fish, and trapping birds.
There wasn't a single moment they were idle. Wang Guifang couldn't be more miserable.
Now, she was pregnant again.
From the day she conceived, Wang Guifang prayed every day that this one would be a girl.
She had worshipped every god and Buddha, whether they were relevant or not.
"Second Sister-in-law! Second Sister-in-law, come out and see! Look at how your Zhizhong beat my Zhihe. Look, his forehead has such a huge lump; what if something happens to him? If you don't start disciplining these lawless brats of yours, you'll be waiting to deliver prison meals to them in the future!"
In the courtyard, Ma Xianglan from the third branch of the Song family pulled along her eight-year-old son, Song Zhihe, aggressively demanding an explanation. Her heart ached as she looked at the swelling on Song Zhihe's forehead.
Behind them followed a boy acting incredibly cocky, his hands in his pockets and his nose pointed toward the sky.
Compared to Song Zhihe, he was much sturdier, though his slightly unsteady footsteps and the way his eyes darted around betrayed his guilty conscience.
This was the fifth son of the Song family’s second branch, Song Zhizhong. He was eight years old, two months younger than Song Zhihe, yet he was the one who could suppress and beat him.
The veins on Wang Guifang’s forehead throbbed. She didn't know how many times things like this had happened.
Not one of the Demon Kings in her house was easy to deal with; there was a long line of children who had been beaten or provoked to tears by them, resulting in other parents coming to her door for an explanation every few days.
Wang Guifang was annoyed to death!
However, she knew her children. Generally, they didn't proactively cause trouble, but once someone provoked them, they wouldn't let go until they had beaten the other person into submission.
Her sons were annoying, true, but they were hers, she could be as fed up with them as she liked.
By what right did an outsider curse them like that, talking about prison meals?
Was Ma Xianglan out of her mind?
Did she think that just because Wang Guifang had tempered her personality during pregnancy, she was easy to bully?
Wang Guifang laboriously supported her large belly and walked out of the house. She looked at the fuming Ma Xianglan and the wailing Song Zhihe, then at Song Zhizhong, who was currently looking at the sky and the ground, anywhere but at her.
"Old Fifth, tell Mom, why did you hit Zhihe?"
Song Zhizhong immediately dropped his tough guy act and answered dutifully, "Because this kid cursed me! He said I'm going to have another younger brother. Mom, you're clearly carrying a younger sister in your belly; what right does he have to be so annoying and curse my sister!"
Wang Guifang nearly fainted from the shock.
How could someone curse her to have another son?
She immediately said, "You did the right thing in this matter. Younger sister-in-law, take your child back. He’s older than Zhizhong, yet he has the nerve to come to my door after being beaten to tears."
Ma Xianglan was so angry she nearly fell over backward. "How is saying you're having a son a curse? Who doesn't want to have a son? What use is a little girl? When they grow up, they just belong to someone else's family anyway."
Fury surged in Wang Guifang's heart. She had been praying to gods and Buddhas for so many days without a single day's interruption, and yet this mother and son were here jabbering away.
What if the Bodhisattva took back the female fetus because of them?
"Get out! If you want to have sons, go have them yourself. This old lady wants to have a daughter! If you keep blabbering, I'll beat you to death with a broom!" Wang Guifang roared, hands on her hips.
Ma Xianglan was startled into taking three steps back. Remembering her second sister-in-law’s past fierce track record, she slunk away with Song Zhihe in tow.
Wang Guifang glanced at Old Fifth, who was trying to sneak toward the foot of the wall. She let out a hum, and Song Zhizhong immediately froze.
He turned back with a sheepish grin and a fawning expression: "Mom..."
"Mom what? I've told you all long ago not to fight. When someone provokes you, is throwing punches the only thing you know how to do? Can't you solve it using other methods? People like you who only use their fists and not their brains are all idiots! Be sensible and go stand by the wall."
Song Zhizhong was dejected and went to stand against the wall for his punishment. This was the old spot frequently visited by the brothers; two footprints had practically been worn into the ground there.
As he stood, he didn't forget to mumble: "Talk about us... you and Dad are exactly the same."
His eldest brother always said the whole family had short fuses and that the five brothers all took after their parents, it was in their roots and couldn't be changed.
*To be quick to take offense/ lose one's temper easily.
"Ouch, ouch..." Wang Guifang had just punished Song Zhizhong and was about to go inside when she suddenly felt a downward pressure in her belly, and a warm current soaked her trousers.
"Old Fifth! Quick, go get Second Grandma next door! I'm about to give birth!"
Song Zhizhong leaped up. While helping his mother into the room, he bellowed at the top of his lungs: "Second Grandma! Second Grandma! My mom is about to give birth to my sister! Hurry up..."
At dusk, Song Dezhu returned to the village with his four sons who had been working on the roads.
Someone called out, "Old Song the Second, hurry back and take a look, your wife has given birth!"
"Really?! A girl or a boy?"
"I heard it's a girl."
Upon hearing this, Old Song the Second tossed his hoe aside and sprinted toward home with a whoosh, shouting as he ran: "Hahaha! I finally have a daughter!"
Among the four brothers behind him, the eldest, Song Zhidong, picked up the hoe his old man had dropped and also went rushing home after Song Dezhu.
The villagers watched them, shaking their heads in confusion. "This family is truly a bunch of eccentrics. Even if others don't dislike having a daughter, they wouldn't be as happy as this. Who doesn't want a boy to carry on the family line?"
"I reckon it's because Wang Guifang wanted a daughter so badly that the rest of the family got caught up in it. Besides, they've already had so many sons; adding a daughter is indeed quite nice."
These people actually hit the nail on the head.
*To predict correctly.
Song Dezhu didn't actually crave a daughter that much. Having had so many sons, a daughter was the icing on the cake, but he could have lived without one.
However, his wife craved one; she even murmured about wanting a daughter in her sleep. He doted on his wife, so he wanted her wish to come true.
The five Song brothers felt the same way. They were indifferent about whether it was a sister or a brother, but if it made their old lady happy, they were happy.
However, they would soon be proven wrong.
Later on, when they began to dote on this daughter/sister, they would be willing to give her their very hearts and souls.
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