Chapter 3

Chapter 3

My mother died that night.

My father was not upset.

He said that since this mother was gone, he would just get me a new one.

He told me to throw Mother’s body inside.

But the tripod cauldron was too small. She would not fit.

My father had no choice but to give up, saying he would think of another way.

Then he told me to put something else in first.

Generously, he took out the rice he had secretly hidden away.

One handful went in. One whole basin came out.

To keep the secret from being discovered,

they locked me in the backyard. Every day, they also tried to eat as little as possible, still looking like skin and bones on the outside.

But when mealtime came, ours was the only house with smoke rising from the stove.

So young wives would come to our door, begging my father and my two brothers for pity.

Each time they came out, they could only get a tiny handful of rice.

I secretly threw extra rice as hard as I could from the silent backyard, along with the steamed buns we had left and the meat I had hidden away.

The meat went bad and drew wild dogs. The dogs drew people.

Soon, more and more people gathered outside our house.

That was the spring of the third year. The grave mounds behind the village had grown a great deal larger.

One night, a huge, pounding rain fell. The river swelled violently again, and the countless scraps of cloth I had cut up flowed out through the cracks in the wall. A mob of refugees rushed into our house.

My two brothers were beaten half to death. The first thing my father did was grab me and the tripod cauldron and climb over the backyard wall to flee.

Third Brother ran fast. He followed and locked the gate behind him.

Only Second Brother’s screams were left inside.

I asked my father, “What about Second Brother?”

My father said, “If you don’t have brothers, you’ll have younger brothers in the future.”

He sat at the bow of the boat, rowing with all his might. “In the future, we’re going to make a fortune. We’ll have so much money, so much glory and riches we’ll never be able to enjoy it all. My Yu-jie’er, you really are my little blessing.”

Third Brother climbed up onto the boat from the water and said, “Father, let me hold Yu-jie’er. You focus on rowing.”

Father looked at him warily. “No.”

In the end, each of them took one thing.

Father carried the tripod cauldron on his back. Third Brother held on to me.

The boat surged through the river channel.

Several times, it nearly overturned, but somehow it never did. After who knew how long, the water gradually calmed. When daylight came for the second time, we drifted down a tributary to a dock.

The place was bustling with voices. Not far away, from the upper floor of Red Sleeve House, slender young courtesans waved handkerchiefs from the balcony.

My father got off the boat first and wiped his face.

“What place is this? Could this be the Heavenly Capital? These brothel girls are even prettier than Lord River God’s concubines. And every one of them looks so alike. What lucky family gave birth to twins like that… Oh, triplets? How much money could that blessed family make… Heaven itself is feeding them.”

Third Brother held me tightly in his arms and followed behind my father.

They walked all the way toward the city.

Neither of them could read.

So they could not recognize that everything on this street, shop after shop, all bore the Yu brand.

This was Kunzhou, the place where my mother’s family lived.

The place my mother had refused to return to even if it meant death.