Early in the morning, Li Xiu rushed to the county town. He had an appointment with a driver to use his truck in the afternoon. Once he arrived, he went straight to the scrapyard. He slipped the old man at the gate one yuan and explained his situation, saying he was getting married but, as a country fellow with no money, he hoped to pick out some furniture. He also mentioned his younger siblings needed books for school.
The old man nodded in understanding, telling him that whatever he picked out would need to be checked and weighed. Li Xiu quickly agreed. As soon as he entered, he saw a large courtyard where junk was piled everywhere, along with a row of dilapidated-looking sheds. Li Xiu spent the entire morning picking things out: two large bundles of books, chairs and tables missing legs, a vanity without a mirror, the frame of an old-fashioned canopy bed, seven or eight large doors missing their copper studs and locks, and a pile of grimy, blackened cabinets and stools…
He bought a few fertilizer sacks from the gatekeeper. After the old man weighed everything, Li Xiu packed the books and some other odds and ends into the sacks. He let the old man know, then went to the distillery dorms to find the driver. Together, they loaded everything onto the truck. After saying goodbye to the gatekeeper, he got in.
As soon as he was in the truck, the driver gave him a thumbs-up. Li Xiu smiled shyly. "Uncle, please don't laugh at me. I've got no other choice, you know? Uncle, I'll come see you in a couple of nights."
The driver nodded. He understood this was Li Xiu's way of saying he would bring him a gift and that it wasn't convenient during the day, so it had to be at night. This time, Li Xiu didn't have the truck drive into the village. Instead, he had it stop in the small grove at the west end of the village. The driver helped him unload everything, then drove away.
Li Xiu squatted beside the pile for a moment before walking directly over to the bed frame. He started taking it apart and pulled out four old-fashioned jewelry boxes of different sizes. Carefully opening them, he found one filled with jewelry, one with gold ingots, one with a box of small pieces of gold, and the smallest one contained a pair of jade Fish pendants.
'In his past life, he'd often gone online with his grandson, so he recognized all of these things. The jade pendants must be quite old, probably from one of the dynastic eras. Each gold ingot was likely 10 taels, and there were 20 of them. Each small piece of gold was also 10 taels, and there were 36 of them. There was also a pair of gold inlaid jade rings, a Jade Ring, a pair of gold inlaid jade earrings, a gold inlaid jade necklace, a hairpin depicting a hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix, six golden hairpins, a pair of jade bracelets, a pair of Mutton Fat Jade bracelets, and two pairs of gold bracelets with a dragon and phoenix design.'
Li Xiu was ecstatic. 'This must have been the dowry of a young lady from a wealthy family in the old days. The jewelry is for my wife and daughters, and the jade pendants and Jade Ring are for my sons. There's over fifty catties of gold in total! When 1980 comes, I'll exchange it for money and buy two courtyard houses in Beijing. In my last life, my son and daughter were so envious of those but could never afford them.' After daydreaming happily for a while, Li Xiu put the four boxes into a fertilizer sack with the books, hoisted it onto his back, and went to his grandmother's place. He told her it was all books, warned her not to let anyone see them, and stuffed the sack under her bed.
He asked his grandmother to watch the grove while he went to find people to help haul the rest of the items back. By the time everything was delivered to the carpenter's house, it was already dark. After the helpers had all left, Li Xiu finally sat down and spoke to the carpenter. "Uncle, this is all good wood. Please dismantle the furniture and build according to the blueprints. The main gates should be painted red, but use a clear varnish for the other doors and windows. The beams for the seven rooms will be delivered tomorrow. Can you see if this wood is enough?"
Sun Er stood up, walked around the pile, and then said, "The old bed is too big. If I take it apart, I can make a three-meter-wide, two-and-a-half-meter-long canopy bed. There will be enough left over to make a cabinet with drawers. Those eight large doors can be repurposed into all the doors and windows you need. As for the rest, that set of cabinets doesn't need to be touched. It was probably a kang cabinet before. It just needs a new coat of paint. It's an old piece, and it's not broken. It would be a shame to dismantle it."
Seeing Li Xiu nod, he continued, "Those tables and chairs, I'll take them all apart and make one long table, one square table, a kang table, six chairs, and eight round stools. The vanity only has a broken mirror; that's also an old piece. I can fix it up and install a new mirror. This other miscellaneous wood is enough to make the four wardrobes you want. I'll make the rest into household tools. What do you think?"
Li Xiu thought for a moment and said, "Could you make a baby stroller?"
Carpenter Sun chuckled. "Your bride isn't even here yet and you're already thinking about kids! Alright, this is all good wood. I'll make one, and it'll last through several children without breaking. Oh, right, don't use this wood for the farm tools. Just add an extra log to the delivery for the beams tomorrow. You're building a big house. With the rest of this, I can make you two beds and two cabinets with drawers, and that should be about it. If there's any left after that, I'll hold onto it for you. You can tell me what to make later if you find you're missing something."
"Okay, I'll leave it all to you, Uncle," Li Xiu quickly agreed. "Uncle, I'll let you get to it. I'm heading out. Just call me if you need anything."
Li Xiu went straight to the new home site, where he saw Li Bao and Li Guo. "Big Brother, you're here."
"Have you eaten?"
"We have. Have you eaten, Big Brother?" Li Guo asked, looking at Li Xiu.
"I came to check on things. I'll eat when I get home."
"Big Brother, the foundations are all dug, and the stones have all been hauled back," Li Bao reported. "The head mason said they can start building tomorrow. The wood will be sent to the carpenter's place tomorrow. The only thing is, we still haven't bought the lime. The mason said with so many people, the main structure will be up in two or three days. The courtyard wall will be done in a day. The well, kang, doors, and windows will also take about a day. Including plastering the cement and lime, the whole thing will be finished in less than ten days."
"Good. I'll go buy the lime tomorrow." After chatting a bit more with Li Bao and Li Guo, Li Xiu headed home. He still had to go to Daqing Mountain tonight. He needed to repay that favor as soon as possible.
After dinner, just as Li Xiu was preparing to head into the mountains, he was stopped by Ge Er Ya. Li Xiu glanced over and saw they were all waiting for him. "Ol—"
"Mother, I got some wood from the scrapyard in town. What I left at Grandma's place was three bags of books; I was afraid you'd use them for kindling if I brought them back here. The bit of money I got from my trip to the mountains was all spent on cement, red tiles, and glass. The house will be up in less than ten days, and the furniture is being made. The labor costs alone are nearly 100 yuan, and I still have to host a banquet and buy pots and pans. The money I got from the family separation is just barely enough. Today is the 3rd of the ninth lunar month. The wedding is next month, and that's when I'm hosting the banquet. I still have to go into the mountains tonight. If there's anything you want to talk about, wait until I'm done with all this." After speaking, without even looking at the ugly expressions on his family's faces, he stood up and left.
Watching Li Xiu's departing figure, Second Brother Li's hand trembled as he picked up his tobacco pouch. He lit it, took a puff, and then said, "Woman, what were you trying to do?"
Ge Er Ya opened her mouth, but it was a moment before she said, "I was just going to ask. I wasn't doing anything."
"From now on, don't ask about the eldest's business. Don't go snooping. If he gives you something, you take it. If he doesn't, don't you dare ask for it."
"I'm his mother! What's wrong with me keeping an eye on him?" Ge Er Ya said, displeased.
"What were you doing before? It's too late now. If you want to drive the eldest even further away from this family, then just keep making a fuss," Second Brother Li said, his anger growing as he spoke.
"Look at him now! When the eldest needs something done, does he ask his own brother and sister? No, it's always Li Bao and Li Hua leading the younger ones to help. While he's building his house, have you or Li Xin ever once brought water to the workers? It was the eight of them, Li Hua and Li Gui included, who did it. When the corn stalks needed bundling, it was Eldest Sister-in-law and Third Brother's wife who led the old women of the village to do it. Whenever there were errands to run for small items, it was always Li Bao and Li Guo who went. And at night, it's Eldest Uncle and Third Uncle who stand guard over the materials."
"And what about our family? The parents don't act like parents, and the siblings don't act like siblings. And you still expect the eldest to listen to you? The only reason he hasn't cut off all ties with us is because he's generous and filial. Can't you see that? Building a house is a huge deal. Did he discuss it with us? Did he ask us to help? For the wedding preparations, he bought things himself and went to Eldest Sister-in-law and Ge Er's family for help. Did he discuss it with you, his own mother? And you? Did you even ask? You were afraid of spending money, so you pretended not to know."
"Second Son is nineteen now; he should know better! He should look at Li Bao and Li Guo and see how a younger brother is supposed to act. And Li Xin, you're fourteen! Never mind Li Hua and Li Gui—even Li Yun and Li He are younger than you, but look at how they behave! You two are his full-blooded siblings, yet you're worse than his cousins. You're the ones forcing the eldest to distance himself from this family. You were all there on the day the family property was divided. You all heard what he said."
"Never mind that he's been supporting you all these years. Just think about the money your mother left for you kids—he's the one who earned most of it! And what about him? He left with practically nothing. Now, when he needs help the most, not a single one of you has stepped forward. All you think about is leeching off his good fortune. Why don't you just fly to the moon while you're at it?! From now on, you all figure out how you're going to act. The eldest is kind, but he's also incredibly stubborn. Once he makes up his mind, no one can change it. If he decides to cut ties with this family, no one will be able to talk him out of it, not even his grandmother. Then you can all cry your eyes out!" With that, Second Brother Li stormed off, not even glancing at the ugly expressions on the faces of Ge Er Ya and his children.