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Chapter 2 - Tail

The three women did indeed bring back that male infant. They discussed it and quickly formed an agreement: they would take turns adopting this one-year-old boy for a month each. If the child's parents came looking for him, they would return him immediately. If no one claimed him after eighteen years of joint care then they would raise him together until adulthood.

This trip had five houses altogether including Zhang Gu and those three kind-hearted wives; there is also another household which is a widow's home next door named Lian Lei who happens to be town's number-one beauty.

Lian Lei married into town from elsewhere but she doesn't speak much. Her husband died many years ago hanging himself with a rope on their ceiling beam so long his tongue hung out. It seems like he didn't die worthily at all; nothing big happened except for quarreling with Lian Lei over some trivial matter or other.From then on nobody knew anything about Lian Lei's background.

After her husband died,Lian Lei surprisingly didn't go back to her family nor did she remarry.She stayed alone in Jue Lun Di small town guarding her widowhood.Although Jue Lun Di is quite remote,the people here are open-minded.They all hope Lian Lei can find another good man.It isn't easy for a woman and she's still so young. But nobody had the chance to get close to Lian Lei because she never socialized with anyone, keeping herself quite closed off.She doesn't even interact much with her neighbors; occasionally when she meets some women from 17th row on the road,she just greets them briefly without chatting.

Her house is next to the road so she opened a small clothing store which barely earns enough money for subsistence.

After those few women brought back that male infant,Mrs.Li called out Lian Lei. She told her about their plan and asked if she would participate in their agreement.

Lian Lei seemed extremely repulsed by this baby boy;she didn't even look at him once and kept saying "No no no,I don't want to adopt him." Mrs.Li smiled and said,"Alright then,we'll be his mothers from now on,and you can be his auntie." Then,Lian Lei lowered her head and left.She never looked at that male infant once.

Mrs.Li was the first one who became this baby boy's mother.

The baby boy had nothing with him except for his naked body. There was no name or birth date, and they estimated he was one year old based solely on his size. However, he couldn't speak like a normal child of that age and seemed to be in a state of panic as he stared at the unfamiliar women before him.

Mrs. Li took him home and cooked him a bowl of rice porridge mixed with minced vegetables and diced meat. He spat out the meat but ate all the rice porridge and vegetables, then reached out for more.

Mrs. Li was pleased because she knew that if the child wanted to eat, there wasn't anything seriously wrong with him. She then gave him a cup of milk and counted eight teeth in total on his upper and lower jaws.

Her son, Xiongxiong, who was four years old,he asked his mother seriously, 'Why are you feeding him? Is he also your son?' Mrs. Li told him, 'Xiongxiong, from today on, he is your little brother and you must not bully him.' Xiongxiong didn't seem to like this ugly little brother very much and reluctantly said, 'I don't want him as my little brother.' After eating enough food, the baby boy seemed to be in a better mood. He crawled onto the bed unsteadily and went for Xiongxiong's toy. Xiongxiong loudly said, 'Don't touch that! It's mine!' Mrs. Li sternly told Xiongxiong,'That's not right of you. This child is younger than you; he doesn't have a mother or toys - how pitiful! You should take care of him.' However, there was still hostility in Xiangxiao's eyes.

The baby boy picked up the electric car of Xiongxiong and started playing with it.

Xiongxiong had no choice but to leave the electric car to the baby boy, taking away other toys and putting them in another room. Mrs. Li sighed and gently said to the baby boy, "Sweetheart, play as much as you want, Mommy will change it for you when you're done."

Early next morning two ladies arrived; Ms.Bian brought several sets of clothes while Ms.Murong brought a bottle along with some bags of powdered milk - too many items like these were already present in her house and she couldn't use them all up.

Mrs. Li asked Ms.Bian how she had clothes for a baby when she didn't have one herself, and Ms.Bian replied that they were old clothes worn by her relatives' children. The baby boy was happy to see more people around him and started making noises while waving his arms and legs.

Mrs. Bian said, 'We need to give this child a name.' Mrs. Li replied, 'Yes, we do need to give him a name.' Then she said to Mrs. Bian, 'You went to vocational school, so you should come up with one.' Mrs. Bian responded, 'Just call him anything; it's just a name after all. Let's call him Cha(fork) for now and decide on his full name later. Who knows if his parents might come looking for him someday?' 'Okay then,' agreed Mrs. Li as she picked up the baby boy and playfully cooed at him saying, 'Cha! Cha! Cha!' As several housewives chatted together their conversation veered off topic and they began making some inappropriate jokes.

Mrs. Murong said to Mrs. Li, 'Your husband originally thought you were very obedient, but when he came back after a few days, he found out that you had given birth to all these children...' Mrs. Li replied, 'Even if I cheated on him, the children couldn't have grown up so fast!' Mrs. Murong smirked and said, 'Who knows when you did it behind his back.' Mrs. Li protested, 'That's not true! Have any men other than Li Ma come to my house?' Mrs. Murong retorted, 'This morning I saw a truck driver go in!' Mrs. Li explained, 'He's a friend of Lianlei's family who came to ask for water because his truck was leaking water from the tank. He was supposed to go to Lianlei's house but no one was there.' Mrs. Bian chimed in with curiosity and said,' He may have come for water but who knows what else he did.' But Mrs.Li insisted,' Nonsense! He left within five minutes.' Amazed by their quick reactions,Mrs.Murong exclaimed,'Wow,you two are really something!' Mrs. Murong exclaimed, "Wow, you guys move pretty fast!" Mrs. Li replied, "You two gossips will soon become the real deal because of your chatter!" Mrs. Bian and Mrs. Murong burst into laughter happily.

Mrs. Li said, 'To be honest, that driver is a pretty good person. He said he'll pass by here tomorrow morning on his way to the city to pick up some wood and return in the afternoon. Shall we take his car and go to the city for a stroll?' Mrs. Bian is the loneliest one; she has no children and her husband is a businessman who travels all year round, leaving her alone at home. She said, 'Great! I've been wanting to buy some clothes.' Mrs. Murong hesitated: 'But there's no one taking care of my child at home...' Mrs. Li said, 'Leave him with your mother-in-law.'The next morning, after Mrs. Li finished feeding her two children, she said to Xiongxiong: "Today you will take care of him. Mommy is going to the market. Don't let him touch the electric wires or play with fire. Also remember that neither of you can go out, and especially not near the well. If you get hungry, there are cookies and milk. Mommy will be back in the afternoon." Xiongxiong nodded obediently.

That truck came, and a few women got on the car chatting and laughing, then left.

On that day, they had a great time playing in the city. Among the pile of things they bought, besides some baby items, were some completely inexplicable things to men like hair clips, rings, stockings, lipstick and leather bags...

On their way back home, their car broke down on the road and they didn't arrive until it was dark.

Although Xiongxiong was quite reliable as a childminder, Mrs. Li was still a little worried and hurried back.

When she entered the house she saw Xiongxiong playing with a small stool pretending it was a train going "choo choo". The Cha sat honestly on the sofa watching TV.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

Xiongxiong immediately ran over to her mother when he saw her come back and acted spoiled.

Cha also seemed to recognize her and made cooing sounds towards her.

After cuddling with both children for awhile she went straight into cooking dinner. After a day of getting along, Xiongxiong became much better towards Cha. When Mrs. Li heard him talking to Cha, he became very gentle. The children got along well while playing together. Mrs. Li thought...

They finished eating quickly since it was already late at night.Mrs.Li lay down on the kang bed with both children after turning off all lights in room.

Cha fell asleep quickly.

The room is pitch black except for where there is moonlight shining through window panes.The town outside is extremely quiet at night.

She hugged Xiongxiong tightly giving him a kiss while saying softly: "Xiongxong is so good now that you're grown up enough to take care of your younger brother tomorrow Mommy will buy you an apple." Xiangxong said: "I want chocolate too."Mrs.Li replied:"You can have chocolate too."

Xiangxong happily rested his head against his mother's arm before closing his eyes.

After a while, Xiongxiong suddenly remembered something, opened his eyes and said: "Mom, I heard him talking." Mrs. Li was stunned: "Who was talking?" Xiongxiong pointed to Cha next to him: "Him." "He can't talk." "I heard him speak." "What did he say?" "He said 'I'll strangle you'". Nonsense!"Really. At noon, I was looking at an album on the bed. He was playing alone in the yard. I heard him curse - 'I'll strangle you!'" Who is he cursing at? It seems that a big cat came into the yard. I leaned against the window and looked outside, but only saw its tail disappear." How could I believe what a 4-year-old child says? Mrs. Li laughed and touched Xiongxiong's head saying: "Xiongxiong, you cannot tell lies or else the wolf will eat you up. Sleep now." Xiongxiong didn't say anything else, he snuggled into his mother's armpit, closed his eyes and fell asleep.