Chapter 5
Madam Liu spent seven whole days bedridden. During that time, Zhou Lanxiu still grumbled and cursed, but no one laid a hand on Li Weiyang, so life was fairly comfortable. With Madam Ma’s help, she even got two proper meals.
When Zhou Lanxiu saw Li Weiyang finish washing the clothes, she walked over and handed her a huge bucket of pig feed. “Go feed the pigs!”
Feeding the pigs was an important chore in a farming household. Madam Liu rarely entrusted it to anyone else, usually telling Zhou Lanxiu to do it.
Now that Madam Liu wasn’t watching, Zhou Lanxiu dumped the chore on Li Weiyang. Li Weiyang smiled brightly. “Yes, Big Sister Lanxiu!”
Still smiling, Li Weiyang took the enormous bucket of pig feed and struggled to carry it around back to the pigpen.
The Zhou family raised eight pigs. Li Weiyang smiled as she looked at the fat, big-headed, big-eared pigs. After a moment’s thought, she scooped some feed into the trough. The pigs immediately rushed over to fight for it. Watching them shove each other aside, Li Weiyang came up with a brilliant idea. She glanced around, then set the bucket on top of the pigpen and opened its gate. The eight pigs, long cooped up inside, bolted out as if their lives depended on it.
Li Weiyang hid to one side and waited until all the pigs had run off before the corners of her mouth lifted. Then she picked up the bucket and quietly slipped out through the back gate. She circled around to the well at the village entrance, where most people gathered, and tossed the bucket in. Hearing water splash inside the well, Li Weiyang smiled softly.
Several groups of people passed by, but Li Weiyang said nothing. They gave her curious looks, chatted about her for a while, then moved on. She glanced at the sky, then simply sat cross-legged on the ground and gazed toward the village entrance in the distance.
After waiting nearly an hour, she saw Mr. Wang, who lived near the village entrance, and the village chief slowly walking toward her. Li Weiyang was delighted to see them from afar. Everyone returning to the village had to pass this well. She had only meant to wait for the village chief, but she had lucked into Mr. Wang as well. He was the village’s only licentiate. Though he had repeatedly failed the examinations afterward, he was still the only person in the village who could read and write. So if anyone loved to lecture people, meddle in others’ affairs, and play the righteous arbiter to win a good reputation, it was the private school teacher!
Li Weiyang immediately stood up and rubbed her eyes hard, then peered around the well as if terribly worried.
The village chief passed by and looked at Li Weiyang in puzzlement. “Miss Li, what are you doing here?”
He had only asked casually, but Li Weiyang raised her face, revealing an anxious, sorrowful expression. “Big Sister Lanxiu told me to feed the pigs! I accidentally dropped the bucket into the well. What should I do? What should I do? I’ll be beaten to death tonight!”
The village chief was horrified. “What? How did you manage that?!”
Li Weiyang looked flustered, almost on the verge of tears, as if she were overwhelmed with sorrow and guilt. “What should I do? What should I do? I’ll be beaten to death! I don’t dare go home. I might as well jump into the well!”
As she spoke, she climbed toward the well’s edge, looking as if she truly meant to jump. The village chief was alarmed. If someone really jumped in, how could anyone in the village drink from this well? He hurried over and grabbed her. “Please, don’t! Whatever’s wrong, we can talk it through!”
Mr. Wang watched for a moment, stroking his beard, then asked, “What’s going on here? You’re staying at his house. I heard they get several taels of silver a month for taking you in. How can they make you feed the pigs?”
Li Weiyang wiped her face with her sleeve, looking utterly remorseful. “My family used to send ten taels of silver each month. They sent it for five years straight, but now they can’t afford to anymore...”
“What? Ten taels a month?” Mr. Wang jumped up. He taught in the village, and not a single student could afford to pay even two taels in annual tuition! It was outrageous! He glared angrily at Li Weiyang, thinking how greedy this family was. Forget the ten taels they had received every month for five years—that came to a full six hundred taels! How much could it cost to raise a little girl? Even if they raised her for her whole life, they couldn’t spend all six hundred taels! And yet they treated her like a servant! He glared indignantly. “Come on! Let’s go ask the Zhou family about this!”
The village chief also felt the Zhou family had gone too far. Seeing the village’s highly respected teacher heading over, he hurried after him and called back to Li Weiyang, “Come along! Don’t cry!”
Li Weiyang wiped away her entirely imaginary tears and hurried after them.
Just then, she heard a strange snicker. She stopped abruptly and looked back, but there was no one there. Had she imagined it? Li Weiyang frowned. The village chief was urging them on up ahead, so she glanced around once more, confirmed no one was there, and hurried after them.
Maybe she had misheard—
As soon as they entered, Mr. Wang called loudly, “Zhou Qing! Come out, come out! How can you make a young lady from the city feed the pigs? She’s not a servant!”
Zhou Qing ran out of the house and froze when he saw what was happening.
The village chief chimed in, “That’s right! She’s staying in your home, and the silver they used to give you was more than enough. You shouldn’t take their money and then make her do rough work!”
By then, Madam Ma and Zhou Lanxiu had come out too. Both stared at Li Weiyang in astonishment.
Li Weiyang said with an aggrieved look, “Uncle, I wanted to help Big Sister Lanxiu with some chores. It’s not her fault. She didn’t deliberately dump the work on me! It was all my fault. I saw the outside of the bucket was dirty and thought we shouldn’t give the pigs anything unclean, so I decided to wash it. Then I accidentally dropped it in. It’s all my fault. I’m so clumsy—I can’t even manage such a little thing!”
The village chief glanced at Zhou Qing. “You shouldn’t have let her feed the pigs in the first place. How would a young lady from the city know how to do that? Besides, she’s been paying to stay in your home. Even if her family can’t send money now, what you’ve already received was enough to support her for ten years or so. How can you treat her like a servant?”
Usually, to keep people from gossiping, Madam Liu made sure to shut the doors before cursing and beating anyone, so Zhou Qing had turned a blind eye. But now the village chief and the only teacher in the village were there, with the neighbors watching. Zhou Qing felt his face burn. He turned and kicked Zhou Lanxiu hard. “Lazy girl! Why’d you make her feed the pigs? She doesn’t know how!”
Li Weiyang lowered her head, looking deeply remorseful. In everyone’s eyes, this made her seem even more pitiful. The villagers might enjoy a bit of gossip, and some were a little jealous of Li Weiyang’s beauty, but deep down they were simple, kindhearted people. They believed that since the Zhou family had taken so much silver, they ought to treat the girl well. How could they bully such a little girl? Several neighbors began pointing and whispering. Zhou Qing lost his temper and slapped Zhou Lanxiu hard across the face. “You’re the one who caused all this trouble!”
Li Weiyang thought to herself that this was only the beginning. Sure enough, Zhou Jiang soon came rushing out, panicked. “Father! The pigs! The pigs have all run off!”