Rebirth: Not Being a Waste - Chapter 113

Official documents approved by the government were submitted to superiors for review and stamping before they could be executed, so they were not acted upon immediately.

Upon hearing about the matter, the elder members of the Zhang family were filled with tears, lamenting the misfortune of their family. “Such wickedness is beyond belief. How could they do such a thing? We clearly failed as parents, letting our descendants fall into such disgrace. Thankfully, Ah’shu has grown up; otherwise, his whole life would have been ruined by them.”

Zhang Shu got into the carriage and took the two elders of the Zhang family to the county government prison to see Zhang Huai. It cost two cents of silver to enter. This silver went to the government; without it, entry was impossible.

Zhang Shu did not go in himself. If he did, Zhang Huai would probably become extremely agitated and might even lash out with curses. But Zhang Shu felt that this was exactly what Zhang Huai deserved.

He stood by the side door, watching as Uncle Zhang and Aunt Zhang dragged Wang Hao, now renamed Zhang Jun, inside. Zhang Jun had apparently endured hardship in the Zhang family, crying for his mother and grandfather all the way. Once a young master in the Wang family, living a life of luxury, he now fell from heaven to earth. The Zhang family treated him poorly, so he naturally didn’t want to stay there.

Aunt Zhang, frustrated with him, slapped him on the head. “You troublemaker! If you keep making trouble, I’ll lock you up with your mother and let the magistrate chop off your head!”

Zhang Jun, hurt by the slap, cried loudly out of pain, stumbling as he was dragged inside.

Soon after, the elders of the Zhang family came out, their faces marked with tears and anger. Being confined in jail for a few days made Zhang Huai’s words sound slightly more reasonable, but the words of his parents were anything but human. They even demanded money for raising their grandson, saying things like, “It will be three years before he comes back, and our family isn’t in good shape. With such a delicate child, it’s hard to manage without money.”

The two elders couldn’t stay any longer and left immediately. His aunt and uncle were such conscienceless people, and it was a relief that his grandparents cut ties with them long ago. People like them weren’t worthy of being foster parents, and Zhang Shu had to remain vigilant against any trouble they might cause behind his back.

With the Zhang family matters settled, Zhang Shu felt calm. Yet, at times, when recalling his past life, he thought of Zhang Qin, the eldest son who was wronged. In his past life, Zhang Qin was his only biological child.

He crawled out of Wu Liniang’s womb, mixed with the blood of both parents. In this life, he and Wu Liniang had nothing to do with each other. She was about to be executed, and it was unlikely that Zhang Qin would ever acknowledge him as his father in this life. Even if he could, he probably wouldn’t want to.

Perhaps, as often happens, thoughts during the day affected dreams at night.

Zhang Shu dreamt of Zhang Qin. In the dream, Zhang Qin was no longer the strong man from his past life but a child, and his face, so much like Zhang Shu’s, broke into a bright smile. The child staggered over to him and called out, “Father.”

Zhang Shu squatted down, caught him, lifted him up, and spun him around.

 If they were destined to be father and son in this life, Zhang Shu swore he would take care of the child, giving him the fatherly love he failed to provide in his previous life. He would ensure the child lived a happy and peaceful life, free of worries.

Zhang Shu wasn’t sure if the baby heard what he said in his heart, but the baby giggled and nodded at him. Then, he turned into a ball of light and flew away.

Zhang Shu chased him, running after the ball of light for what felt like a long time. Sometimes, the light waited for him when it got tired, but it flew away again as soon as he came near. Suddenly, the light stopped, spun around, and then burrowed down into the ground, disappearing.

Zhang Shu, frantic, wanted to dig up the earth to find it. But then, he was struck in the face, waking up from his dream.

He found himself still in the quilt, his hand accidentally groping Li Mujin’s belly.

Li Mujin, abruptly woken from a good sleep, was very angry. Recently, many passengers on the ship were buying whole jars of pickled radish strip, and those who bought it for the first time returned to promote it to others. Now, nearly all of their 120 jars were sold out. Li Mujin contacted the villagers to start harvesting the radishes. The villagers were worried, thinking the Zhang family would not harvest them this year and that the radishes would be left unsold.

Li Mujin was busy, but now, Zhang Shu came to disturb him in the middle of the night. He couldn’t help but feel upset.

However, after giving Zhang Shu a light reprimand, Li Mujin was surprised to find that Zhang Shu looked dazed, as though he didn’t fully understand what happened. Concerned, Li Mujin quickly sat up and shook him, “Ah’shu, what’s wrong? Did I hurt you? Please don’t scare me!”

Zhang Shu finally woke up, looking at his hand and then at Li Mujin’s belly. “It’s nothing. I had a dream, probably just a little delirious…”

Li Mujin, still worried, asked, “What kind of dream? Was it scary?” He turned Zhang Shu’s pillow over and patted it twice. “My father used to say that if you have a bad dream, you should turn the pillow over and pat it twice.”

Zhang Shu smiled and hugged Li Mujin to settle back down. “It was a good dream. Go back to sleep. You’ll be busy tomorrow.”

Li Mujin wanted to say more but was quickly lulled to sleep by the warmth of Zhang Shu’s embrace. Meanwhile, Zhang Shu lay thinking about the events of his dream. Could it be that Zhang Qin entered Li Mujin’s belly? If that were true, it would be wonderful…

Suddenly, a baby’s cry sounded, and Zhang Shu jolted awake. He opened his eyes and saw that it was Zhang Yao lying beside him.

His heart softened as he picked up his child and gently coaxed him. “My precious baby, how about I find you a little brother?”

Qianjin stopped crying at once upon being held. Listening to his father’s words, he purred twice, as if agreeing with him.

Zhang Shu smiled down at him and kissed his little face. “You really are Father’s good ger.”

The pickled radish strip business could continue year-round, but it was best to avoid summer, as the heat made it difficult to preserve the food.

By June, the Zhang family stopped selling pickled radish strips and instead dried the radish strips, only mixing them when they were ready to eat in the morning.

Unexpectedly, this method turned out to be a success. Some customers bought two kilograms of dried radish strips to take home. Whether they fried them or mixed them at home, they all had a unique flavor.

Although anyone could dry radish strips, the results varied depending on who did the drying.

Qianjin, born in September of the previous year, was almost nine months old by June. It was the time when babies began to crawl, and he started learning to crawl.

He wore a small bellyband and a pair of little pants. After all, he was a ger, and it wasn’t very appropriate to show his little bird.

Grandma Zhang and the others spread a large mat in the yard, watching him and Dabao sitting together, playing. Occasionally, when he wanted to reach something, he lay down and shuffled forward. Sometimes he crawled on his hands and feet, but he always got tired and fell to the ground after a while.

Li Mujin returned to his natal home, and Zhou Nan’s belly grew bigger and bigger, now looking a little frightening. It was much larger than when Li Mujin was pregnant with Qianjin. Everyone secretly suspected that he might be pregnant with twins, but he didn’t see a doctor since getting pregnant, so they weren’t sure.

Li Yan, anxious and worried, didn’t dare let Zhou Nan travel by cart. He wanted the doctor to take a look, so he went to the town and convinced a doctor to come. The doctor took Zhou Nan’s pulse, examined his belly, and said, “If it really is twins, we should be able to tell. When the babies move, you should feel four little feet kicking together. Why didn’t you feel that?”

Zhou Nan and Li Yan exchanged awkward smiles. They thought the baby was lying on his stomach, and sometimes, the movements were frequent enough that they joked the child might be some kind of octopus monster.

The doctor sighed. When he first became a father, he was equally clueless, but now he had experience. Fortunately, he saw several sets of twins. As long as the babies didn’t come too early, it wouldn’t be difficult to give birth. The only concern was preventing premature delivery. It was already the seventh month, and many twins were born around this time.

Li Mujin secretly laughed. The doctor came today, and he also joined to see what was going on to ease his worries.

When the doctor saw him, he asked, “Where’s your Zhang Shu? Why didn’t he come with you?”

“He went to the mountains with my father.” Since his brother didn’t go today, Zhang Shu went with Father Li to see if they could find any mushrooms.

“Come here, come here. Let me take your pulse too.” The doctor gestured for Li Mujin to sit down. Since he was there, he might as well stay for a proper farm meal.

Li Mujin, feeling well, agreed. He sat down and extended his hand for the doctor to feel his pulse.

The doctor placed his hand on Li Mujin’s wrist, stroked his beard, and closed his eyes to examine his pulse. Suddenly, he opened his eyes and couldn’t help but chuckle. He just talked about how those who weren’t fathers yet didn’t understand, but now here was a father who didn’t even realize his own child was coming.

Li Mujin looked at the doctor’s puzzled expression, not understanding what was happening. He only heard the doctor say, “You’re too confused as a father. You don’t even know a baby’s coming again.”

Baby? It’s coming again? Li Mujin’s eyes widened. What was going on? Didn’t they just say it would be hard to have another child? His child hadn’t even turned one yet!

Everyone else was thrilled by the news, especially Li Yan. He felt it was a blessing from the Bodhisattva that the family was so prosperous.

At noon, Zhang Shu came back from the mountain, carrying two pheasants, a musk deer, and a basket of mushrooms.

The musk deer wasn’t very large, but it got caught in a trap and was half-dead, so they decided to bring it back to eat.

The doctor turned the musk deer over and said disappointedly, “What a shame, it’s a female. If it were a male, it would have musk, which is valuable.”

Zhang Shu was a little surprised. “Old doctor, why are you here?”

“If I don’t come, how would you know there’s a happy event at home?” The old doctor rolled his eyes at Zhang Shu, turning over the mushrooms and discarding the inedible ones.

“What happy event?” Zhang Shu squatted down and picked the mushrooms with him, asking casually.

“Two happy events. First, your eldest brother-in-law is having twins, so you’ll soon have two little nephews or niece. Second, you’re going to be a father again.”

At the old doctor’s words, Zhang Shu froze, his hand pausing mid-air. Jin’er was pregnant again? He panted, suddenly remembering a dream from a few months ago. Could it be…?

He quickly threw the mushroom aside and rushed inside.

The main hall was bustling with people. The two elders of the Zhang family were also there with their son. Li Mujin sat on a stool, listening to the conversation.

Zhang Shu rushed straight to Li Mujin and knelt down, gently touching his belly. “Jin’er, thank you.”

Li Mujin, embarrassed by the attention, hurriedly urged him to get up. The others smiled warmly and looked at the silly father.

Qianjin bent down, patted his father’s head, and looked around at everyone with wide eyes, as if asking what was happening with his father.

Everyone was amused by his gesture.

Zhang Shu picked up Qianjin and gently raised his little hand. “Say hello to your brother.”

Qianjin touched his father’s belly and looked at Zhang Shu, confused. Where was the brother? Not getting an answer, he touched it again.

Zhang Shu whispered to Li Mujin’s belly, “You were the elder brother in your past life, suffering all the hardships in the world. In this life, you will be everyone’s little brother, and from now on, you will live a life free of worries, blessed with good fortune.”