Rebirth: Seven Years in a Great Dream

Chapter 45: The Willow Plague

When a new bride arrives at her in-laws’ home, rain during the day is considered a sign of bad luck, as she’ll get drenched. But when the guests have dispersed and the wedding celebrations are over, rain in the evening is a sign of good fortune—and the rain itself symbolizes wealth. Mu Dong and Xiao Xiao had dinner alone in their bridal chamber. Aunt Mu Er brought in food and drink, wishing them a hearty meal. According to custom, the couple should have shared a cup of wine at this moment, but since Xiao Xiao was pregnant, they had to substitute water instead. Mu Dong, however, was in high spirits as he linked arms with his wife and drank three cups of their family’s cellar-aged wine. The entire Mu family had gathered in the main hall, chatting animatedly about the little life growing inside Xiao Xiao and looking forward to the arrival of their new grandchild. The three branches of the Mu family had not welcomed a new addition for over twenty years; the last time the family grew was when Uncle Mu San’s son, Mu Dalong, was born—and Mu Dalong was already 23 years old. But at that moment, Mu Dong was silently praying in his heart: It has to be a girl—it has to be Xinger… What should have been a passionate wedding night turned into a tender night of mutual companionship. Both were too exhausted, so they fell into a sweet sleep in each other’s arms. As dawn approached, Xiao Xiao accidentally brushed against Mu Dong’s member, which was as hard as iron. Feeling sorry for how hard he’d been holding back, she finally used both her hands and mouth to help him release his passion. Mu Dong felt as though he were floating on cloud nine. The day after the wedding was when Xiao Xiao’s family came to “take a look.” This meant they wanted to see if the groom’s family was treating their daughter well now that she’d married into the family, and to assess the situation. There were very few guests—just one table—mainly consisting of an uncle from Xiao Xiao’s family, accompanied by her eldest brother and two other brothers from her side of the family. When the guests arrived, they discovered the bride and groom weren’t home. Mu’s mother stepped in to explain that Xiao Xiao might be pregnant and had gone to the county hospital for a checkup; she’d be back shortly, so they should go ahead and have a drink. The banquet was held at the Mu family home, with Mu’s father, Second Uncle Mu, Third Uncle Mu, and Mu Daguo serving as hosts. This time, Mu’s father really went all out, bringing out five jin of his family’s cellar-aged liquor. The old man was over the moon—after all, there were only eight people at the table! Just as the banquet was getting underway, and everyone was completely captivated by the mellow, lingering aroma of the cellar-aged liquor, Mu Dong and Xiao Xiao returned with the news that the pregnancy had been confirmed—she was already six weeks along. Mu Dong joined the feast as well, serving tea and water to everyone—taking over Mu Daguo’s duties. Mu Dong and Xiao Xiao had been called to the county seat by Aunt Mu for a checkup. Figuring it wouldn’t hurt to confirm the news, the two drove to the county hospital early that morning. Aunt Mu reached out to a friend—the head nurse who had once vouched for Mu Dong—who escorted Xiao Xiao to the obstetrics and gynecology department. After a series of tests, the pregnancy was confirmed. Mu’s eldest aunt finally breathed a sigh of relief. Overjoyed, she thanked her friend and the other doctors, unable to wipe the smile off her face. Knowing that guests from Xiao Xiao’s family were still at home, Mu Dong hurried back as soon as his checkup was over. That afternoon, a large group of Mu family members—men and women alike—visited the Mu family ancestral graves to celebrate the happy occasion and report to their ancestors the news of Mu Dong’s marriage and Xiao Xiao’s pregnancy. The next day, Mu Dong took Mu’s mother and Xiao Xiao to visit the graves at Mu’s mother’s family home to celebrate the happy occasion. On both occasions, Xiao Xiao did not go to the gravesite; as she was in the later stages of her pregnancy, there were certain taboos she had to observe—she was not allowed to visit places with heavy Yin energy. On the third day after the wedding, Mu Dong accompanied Xiao Xiao back to her parents’ home. Li’s parents had already heard the news of Xiao Xiao’s pregnancy and were overjoyed. Li’s mother pulled her daughter aside and gave her a long list of advice. All the wedding arrangements were finally complete. Mu Dong had originally planned to take Xiao Xiao on a short trip—a mini-honeymoon—after the wedding, but now that circumstances had changed, he had to put those plans on hold. Now they faced a new problem: Mu Dong couldn’t stay in Quancheng very often, as he still had to manage the willow sales later on, leaving Xiao Xiao with no one to look after her. Xiao Xiao insisted she could take care of herself and that they’d deal with it closer to the due date. Mu Dong flatly refused—that simply wouldn’t do. In the end, the family agreed that Mu’s mother would go to Quancheng to take care of the pregnant Xiao Xiao. Mu Dong would shuttle back and forth between Quancheng and southern Shandong to oversee the willow sales. Mu’s father would live and eat at the school from now on; with only Aunt Mu Er left to cook for the more than ten family members and workers, Mu Xiaoxia joined the kitchen staff to assist her. It just so happened that Mu Xiaoxia had just finished getting her driver’s license and didn’t have any major tasks on her plate. With the arrangements settled, Xiao Xiao still had a little over a week left of her vacation, so the family had plenty of time to spend together. Xiao Xiao’s morning sickness was very mild; she hardly ever vomited. She only felt a little queasy when she woke up in the morning, but it subsided quickly. Mu’s mother remarked, “Xiao Xiao is lucky—the baby isn’t giving you a hard time. When I was pregnant with Xiao Dong, I felt like I was going to throw up my guts.” Mu Dong felt quite embarrassed, as if he’d actually done something to provoke the wrath of heaven and earth. Xiaoxiao, meanwhile, couldn’t stop giggling. Aunt Mu laughed too and said, “Xiao Dong was a handful in my sister-in-law’s belly, and he was even more of a handful as a child—he was so fat that it was exhausting just carrying him on my back.” Mu Dong felt even more awkward, so he made up an excuse and slipped away, while Xiao Xiao laughed even harder. This was Aunt Mu’s second visit to see Xiao Xiao. She’d brought a huge pile of nutritional supplements—several boxes of ejiao alone—saying it was very effective for maintaining a healthy pregnancy. Mu Dong told her she was being too wasteful, but Aunt Mu glared at him and said, “I’m doing this for my little grandson—what business is it of yours?” Mu Dong thought to himself, “It’s actually a granddaughter, right?” But he didn’t dare say it out loud. With nothing else to do these past few days, Mu Dong checked on the current prices of willow branches. Back in April, due to a prolonged drought, the price of willow branches had already risen significantly—nearly doubling. With the recent string of rainy days, the price had dropped slightly again. After hearing Mu Dong’s report, Mu Jinqian had stockpiled about 200,000 jin of willow branches. With prices dropping these past few days, he was frantic and had called Mu Dong several times, as if Mu Dong had some kind of solution. Mu Dong had no solution whatsoever—and he also harbored a vague sense of unease. In this timeline, many things had changed—at the very least, Xiao Xiao’s pregnancy had been brought forward by several months—and Mu Dong couldn’t be sure that the willow market was still the same as he remembered it. Mu Dong contacted Old Man Su, and together they went to a township where willow was grown. They found a field overgrown with willow and examined it closely for a while. The willows were growing quite well—the plants were tall and healthy, with foliage so dense you couldn’t see through it. An earlier drought had caused some yield loss, but the problem wasn’t serious. Could he have misremembered the timing? That shouldn’t be possible—he’d calculated it carefully, and his figures were correct. At that moment, Mu Dong felt a bit despicable. Was he really hoping for a drop in the willow harvest just so he could make a fortune? That would mean a huge loss for so many growers. Never mind, he’d stop thinking about it. The current price of willow was already quite high; at the very least, he wouldn’t lose money. Old Man Su was also inspecting the willow branches, though his approach differed from Mu Dong’s. While Mu Dong was merely checking how they were growing, Old Man Su carried a small hoe, dug up a willow plant, and carefully examined its roots. The roots looked fine. Old Man Su sighed; his thoughts mirrored Mu Dong’s. Never mind—I shouldn’t be hoping for natural disasters or human misfortune. That’s just not right. After their inspection, Mu Dong and Grandpa Su drove back. Grandpa Su no longer went to the elementary school—he felt it had lost its liveliness. Lately, he’d become obsessed with fishing, which had become his new pastime. After dropping Uncle Su off back in the county seat, Mu Dong drove home—spending time with his wife was what really mattered. Xiao Xiao’s figure hadn’t changed at all, but Mu Dong often listened intently to her belly with great seriousness. Xiao Xiao couldn’t help but smile wryly and said, “What? Can the baby talk to you from in there?” Mu Dong replied, “I just want her to know how much I care about her.” Xiao Xiao said, “Honey, I’ve been eating way too much lately. If my mom keeps feeding me like this, I’m going to turn into a big fat girl.” Mu Dong replied, “It’s fine—I like a big, chubby girl too. Besides, what’s wrong with being a little curvier?” As he spoke, he began to get handsy, sneaking touches at Xiao Xiao’s full breasts… A week passed quickly, and before they knew it, it was already May 11. Mu Dong and Xiao Xiao packed their things, preparing to return to Quancheng the next day. Mu’s mom had prepared a huge amount of food: 50 jin of peanut oil, 20 jin of millet, 50 jin of flour, a large bag of potatoes, a big chunk of pork, and 10 jin of tofu. Mu Dong looked at all this with a sense of helplessness—it was way too much. How long would it take to eat all this? Aside from the locally pressed peanut oil, which he was quite pleased with, Mu Dong felt it would be better to buy the other items fresh as needed. But since Mu’s mom had already prepared them, he didn’t dare say a word; it was all his parents’ love, so he’d just let them do as they pleased. Just as he was fretting over this pile of food, the phone rang—it was Old Man Su. “Xiao Dongzi, come pick me up right away. We need to check on the willow groves—something’s gone wrong with some of them.” Mu Dong was startled. Something had happened? He quickly asked, “What’s going on?” Uncle Su replied, “I don’t know the details yet. Let’s go check it out right away.” Mu Dong quickly got in his car, drove to the county seat to pick up Uncle Su, and immediately headed for the affected plot. In the car, Mu Dong asked, “Uncle Su, everything was fine when we checked it last time. How could something have gone wrong in just a few days? What exactly happened?” Old Man Su replied, “I’m not sure either. I heard that large swaths of willow trees have died off in many townships across the county. The cause is unknown, and agricultural technicians are investigating.” When the two arrived at the affected plot, a crowd had already gathered at the edge of the field. It was a plot of about four or five mu. All the willow trees in the field had withered; their yellow leaves had fallen to the ground, leaving the bare trunks standing starkly across the entire field, with some of the tips already dried out. Agricultural technicians from both the county and the town were present, gathered around several clumps of willow trees that had been dug up, whispering to one another. Mu Dong glanced around; the surrounding plots were already showing faint signs of a similar problem. After discussing the matter for a while, the agricultural technicians reached a conclusion: willow blight—a disease not seen in decades. Just as arrow bamboo blooms only once every few decades, willow trees occasionally experience large-scale outbreaks of this blight—though the probability is extremely low. Old Man Su recalled that there had been one outbreak when he was a child; back then, the willow-weaving industry was virtually nonexistent, and very few families grew willow trees. This blight is highly contagious, and there is no medication to control it. The agricultural technicians explained that infected willow branches must be discarded and burned as firewood, since their insides have become hollow and they can no longer be used for weaving. Uninfected willow fields need to be harvested immediately; although the yield will be low, this can mitigate some of the losses. Once infected, the entire crop is lost. Mu Dong and Old Man Su visited several other townships, where many plots had already been affected by the disease. In the unaffected plots, the farmers had already organized themselves and begun harvesting… Both men felt a sense of heaviness in their hearts. Although the stockpiled willow branches would bring in substantial profits in the days ahead, how could they possibly feel happy when they thought of the farmers facing reduced or even zero yields? Mu Dong asked, “Uncle Su, is there any way we can help those people?” Old Man Su shook his head helplessly and said, “There’s nothing we can do. The scale is too vast. We’re just small-time operators—the annual output value of willow branches runs into the hundreds of millions. How could we possibly have the resources to help? This is a natural disaster; no individual can bear the burden alone.” Mu Dong fell silent as well. Yes, a natural disaster—human effort simply couldn’t stand up to it. Besides, with his own resources, he couldn’t possibly help tens of thousands of farmers. “This money feels so bitter to earn,” Mu Dong thought to himself. The next day, feeling somewhat downcast, Mu Dong drove his mother and Xiao Xiao out of his hometown and headed for Quancheng. While on the highway, Xiao Xiao wanted to drive a bit further, but Mu Dong wasn’t willing, and his mother was even less so. Xiao Xiao felt helpless—she could have swallowed her pride and pleaded with Mu Dong, but since his mother objected, she couldn’t say anything more and had no choice but to give up. When they arrived at their home in Quancheng, Mu Dong had to climb the stairs several times to carry all those abundant food supplies upstairs. With his mother getting on in years and his wife pregnant, he was the only able-bodied young man left—so naturally, he took charge. In the end, Mu Dong was exhausted—he sat on the sofa, panting heavily. He secretly thanked his luck that it was only the third floor. Mu’s mom also felt a twinge of regret—it seemed they really had brought a bit too much. That afternoon, Mu Dong told Xiao Xiao to rest at home while he took his mom out to get her familiar with the neighborhood—where the farmers’ market was, where the supermarket was. Then he took her across the street to Wanfoshan Park to get an annual pass, so she’d have a place to pass the time when she wasn’t busy. Afterward, he took his mom to get a haircut, then to the mall, where—despite her objections—he bought her a few new outfits. In the blink of an eye, the elderly woman from the countryside had transformed into a stylish city lady. Mu Dong had his own reasons for dressing his mother to look younger and more stylish; he believed it would help her quickly adapt to city life. If she’d kept wearing the clothes she’d worn back home, he suspected the other middle-aged women in the neighborhood might have shunned her. The two of them tidied up and headed home. Mu’s mom’s new look caught Xiao Xiao’s eye, and she couldn’t stop praising her mother-in-law’s elegance. Mu’s mom felt a bit self-conscious, her face turning red, and she hurried off to the kitchen to cook. Mu Dong couldn’t possibly let his mom do all the work by herself, so he hurried over to help. That evening, over dinner, Mu Dong brought up the matter of the willow blight and mentioned that he felt a bit disheartened. After listening, Mu’s mom said, “Xiao Dong, natural disasters and human misfortunes—no one can stop them. We haven’t stolen or robbed; we earn our money through our own skills and make a living with our own labor. You don’t need to overthink it.” Xiao Xiao added, “Honey, Mom’s right. Even if you hadn’t bought these willow branches, someone else would have. You offered a higher price and threw in some freebies, which is why they were willing to sell them to us. That’s what we call following the laws of the market.” Mu Dong chuckled, “Honey, where did you learn about ‘market forces’?” Xiao Xiao: “On TV. They say that all the time.” Mu Dong had actually come to some realizations himself. In this matter, he had a clear conscience—he hadn’t done anything immoral or unethical. Moreover, his future wealth would be put to good use, so there was really no need to worry about it. If he got too caught up in it, he’d just be worrying needlessly. Sunday, May 16. Mu Dong and Xiao Xiao booked a hotel and hosted a banquet for colleagues from the school and Northern Company. Mu Dong didn’t send out invitations to Northern Company; only close colleagues attended, filling one table. Over the next couple of days, Mu Dong accompanied Xiao Xiao to and from work, and spent the rest of his time taking his mother out for walks and sightseeing. Mu’s mother had been quite sociable in her youth, and though she was getting on in years, she still had her charm. Before long, she had made friends with a few elderly ladies in the neighborhood and now joined them every morning and evening to learn square dancing in the community. Seeing the changes in his mother and sensing her renewed vitality, Mu Dong felt deeply gratified. One evening, Old Man Su called to say that the county had introduced a subsidy policy for farmers whose willow fields had ceased production. Five million yuan would be allocated from the tax revenue generated by the willow-weaving industry to subsidize approximately 10,000 mu of unproductive willow fields across the county, with an average subsidy of 500 yuan per mu. Mu Dong was delighted to hear this. Although the amount wasn’t large, it would allow farmers to recoup their investments in pesticides and fertilizers—a welcome surprise. Mu Dong put things into perspective: there will always be someone to run the business. If he didn’t buy the willow branches, someone else would. Rather than letting others profit from this, he might as well make the money himself—at the very least, he wouldn’t be acting too unscrupulously. With that weight lifted from his mind, his appetite returned, and that evening Mu Dong ate an extra bowl of rice. Amid his joy, Mu Dong also felt a bit of self-disdain—worrying about the country and its people, acting as if he were some high-ranking official. Recently, the price of willow twigs had been steadily rising; white twigs were now selling for over 4 yuan per jin, and steamed twigs had climbed to over 7 yuan per jin. Mu Daguo called to say that someone had come by to inquire whether Mu Dong was selling willow twigs. “Of course not,” Mu Dong thought to himself. Mu Dong thought it over carefully: the buyers he was dealing with now were definitely not individual consumers, but various willow-weaving factories, and the sales would certainly not be sporadic but rather concentrated and rapid. Now isn’t the best time yet; he’ll wait a little longer. Mu Dong was now spending his days leisurely with his mother and wife; when he had nothing else to do, he’d catch up with Han Yong or meet up with Cheng Qiang—he was living the good life. After Mu Dong had been driving Xiao Xiao to and from work for a while, she suggested driving herself. Mu Dong disagreed at first, but Xiao Xiao presented the facts and reasoned that moderate exercise during pregnancy was beneficial for the baby’s development. She also promised that once she reached her fourth month of pregnancy, she would definitely stop driving. Mu Dong watched her drive a few times and saw that she was indeed fine—he realized he’d been overreacting a bit—so he let her have her way. Before he knew it, it was already late May. After the Dragon Boat Festival, seeing that his wife was doing well and his mother had adjusted to city life, Mu Dong took a bus back to southern Shandong. His Audi had been sitting in his hometown the whole time. Mu Dong arrived at the school at noon, walked around a bit, and found everything was going smoothly. He reminded Da Guo and the others that with the current rise in willow prices, it was inevitable that some people would become envious; they must be vigilant while on duty, especially during the night shift. At this point, Mu Dong paused to think for a moment, then instructed his father to hire eight more workers so that night patrols could be increased to four people per night to ensure safety. Indeed, some people were envious of the willow branches filling the courtyard. The school’s walls were high, topped with barbed wire, and equipped with security cameras everywhere. At night, the lights were bright, and patrols could be seen constantly moving about. Those with ulterior motives would look around, only to mutter a few curses before leaving. After making these arrangements, Mu Dong got in his car and drove off. He was going to see Old Man Su to discuss a major matter—one that would put his mind at ease.