In no time at all, the second and third piglets were born.

In the blink of an eye, the sow had delivered five piglets, one after another like dropping pearls. Shen Zhuxi watched in astonishment and couldn’t help saying:

“…Can pigs really have so many at once?”

Sister Zhou laughed at that. “This is only the beginning. Pigs are the most prolific of all animals. This sow of mine gave birth to eighteen piglets the last time.”

Shen Zhuxi looked at the sow still in the midst of labor with a mixture of awe and reverence, utterly unable to fathom how her belly could have contained so many piglets inside it.

So pigs could have that many…

And they didn’t need the umbilical cord cut…

They said that for a woman, giving birth was like walking once through the gates of death — so why did a pig seem to manage it so effortlessly?

Shen Zhuxi was still turning this over in her mind when the sow went a long while without delivering the next piglet, and her cries grew increasingly anguished.

“It must be a larger one, stuck,” Sister Zhou said. “If this one can’t come out, the piglets behind it will suffocate and die.”

Shen Zhuxi immediately grew anxious. “Then what do we do?”

Sister Zhou opened the gate to the pigpen. “I’ll try repositioning her so she can push more effectively.”

The sow lay docilely on the ground and allowed Sister Zhou to adjust her body. Her eyes were moist and dark, gleaming as though there were a soul behind them. Shen Zhuxi spoke to her: “Don’t be afraid. Your baby will come out safely.”

Sister Zhou glanced back with a helpless, bemused expression. “How would a pig understand a word you’re saying?”

“It doesn’t matter that she can’t understand,” Shen Zhuxi said. “Even though I’m saying it to her, I’m the one who’s afraid, and I’m the one who finds comfort in it.”

“And what are you afraid of?”

“I’m afraid she won’t be able to deliver,” Shen Zhuxi said. “Becoming a mother is terribly hard.”

“It’s not as dire as all that. People have been getting through it since the beginning of time — to say nothing of pigs.” Sister Zhou stifled a smile. “You young girls are frightened of everything because you haven’t experienced it yet.”

Sister Zhou stayed by the sow’s side watching over her. The sow seemed to draw strength from her caretaker’s presence, and at last the stubborn piglet that had been stuck so long came tumbling out from beneath her — its body half again the size of its siblings.

Sister Zhou immediately picked up the plump, wriggling piglet and set it to one side, making room for the ones still to come.

Shen Zhuxi breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the piglet delivered safely. Remembering what Sister Zhou had said earlier, she couldn’t help asking:

“Was it difficult when you gave birth, Sister Zhou?”

“The first one was hard. The second gave me almost no trouble at all — it was over in the time it takes to burn one stick of incense.” Sister Zhou smiled. “Every woman has to pass through that gate. Once you’ve come through it, you’re all right.”

Shen Zhuxi said nothing.

What about those who never came through it?

After delivering that big, sturdy piglet, the sow’s subsequent births all went more smoothly. When she finally delivered the twentieth piglet, she stopped crying and turned her head to sniff at her babies with her flat, broad nose.

Sister Zhou beamed. “Twenty! Even more than last time. Once they’ve grown a little, I can bring them to the market and sell them as piglets.”

Seeing that both the sow and all her piglets were safe and well, Shen Zhuxi couldn’t help smiling too.

“Would you like to take a closer look at the piglets, or go back to the hall for barley soup?” Sister Zhou asked.

“I’d like to see the piglets,” Shen Zhuxi said hopefully. “Could you bring one over for me to look at?”

Sister Zhou picked up the sturdiest of the piglets and carried it over. Shen Zhuxi stared at it with wide-eyed curiosity and tenderness, unable to stop looking.

“Go on, give it a touch,” Sister Zhou said with a smile.

She reached out and gingerly stroked the piglet’s back — slippery and soft.

Shen Zhuxi’s heart melted completely. The stench of the pigpen was entirely forgotten.

She looked up and met Sister Zhou’s eyes, smiling a little sheepishly. “Thank you, Sister Zhou. Please put it back with its mother.”

Once Sister Zhou had settled the sow and her piglets, Shen Zhuxi asked for water to wash her hands, and the two of them returned to the main hall together and sat down to drink the barley soup.

Even cooled down, the barley soup was delicious — the grain’s distinctive fragrance light but far from bland, reminding Shen Zhuxi of a chilled tea she used to drink in the palace.

Sister Zhou had also brought out a bowl of fresh green jujubes from the kitchen. These jujubes were noticeably larger than the ones sold at the market, and their color was far more vivid and lustrous — clearly fine fruit at a glance.

“These jujubes aren’t from around here, are they?” Shen Zhuxi asked curiously.

“My eldest son had them sent back.” Sister Zhou smiled. “He’s a sailor. He rarely comes home throughout the year, but every now and then he arranges for things from different places to be sent to us. These are Fuzhou jujubes — terribly sweet. Try one.”

Shen Zhuxi ate one and found it refreshingly sweet indeed — only slightly inferior to the tribute jujubes she had eaten in the palace.

Having lived in the palace for many years, Shen Zhuxi had developed the essential skill of reading people and situations with ease. She offered sincere praise for the jujubes and complimented Sister Zhou’s eldest son on his filial devotion, until Sister Zhou smiled so broadly her eyes nearly disappeared.

When it was time to leave, Sister Zhou walked her to the gate and asked her to wait a moment.

Shen Zhuxi watched as she disappeared into the kitchen and came back out with a parcel wrapped in a lotus leaf.

“Take the jujubes home with you, and let your Li Wu have some too.” Sister Zhou pressed the lotus-leaf parcel into Shen Zhuxi’s arms with a smile.

Shen Zhuxi couldn’t refuse, and thanked her again and again.

“…It’s nothing much in the way of hospitality. You’re a sweet-tongued girl — no wonder Li Wu likes you, and no wonder I like you. Come and visit anytime you’re free.” Sister Zhou smiled broadly.

Shen Zhuxi said her farewells and set out on the walk home.

Seeing the sunset spilling golden light across the fields and the narrow path, she only then realized how long she had spent at Sister Zhou’s. She wondered whether Li Wu was back yet, and quickened her pace toward the Li house.

When she returned home, the house was still empty. The words she had left in the ground were still there. Shen Zhuxi washed the jujubes and arranged them in a ceramic bowl, setting it on the square table in the main hall where Li Wu and the others would see it the moment they walked in.

She had barely finished doing this when the bamboo fence gate was pushed open from outside.

Li Wu walked in talking with Li Que, while Li Kun trailed behind the two of them, one large ceramic crock tucked under each arm.

“You’re back?” Shen Zhuxi went out to meet them, eyes going to Li Wu. “Sister Zhou from next door came to return the money today. She also brought a basket of eggs. I’ve put the money on the side table — see if the amount is right.”

Li Kun and Li Que headed into the kitchen. Li Wu stopped under the osmanthus tree, reading the words scratched into the ground for a moment.

“You went to the Zhou house?” He turned away from the words and walked toward the main hall on his long legs. “Did you have a good time?”

“I did.” Shen Zhuxi fell into step beside him, eager to share the highlights of her day. “She invited me for barley soup, and I got to watch the sow give birth and even touched one of the newborn piglets. Freshly born piglets are so pink and red, and their little bodies are all slippery. Oh, and the pigpen is absolutely foul-smelling! Thank goodness we don’t keep pigs at our house!”

Li Wu caught the last line and glanced at her with a faint smile.

“Don’t we have a pig right here?”

“Where’s there a pig?” Shen Zhuxi asked blankly.

She had never seen one!

“Go look in a mirror,” Li Wu said.

Shen Zhuxi caught his meaning and stamped her foot in fury. “You’re the pig!”

After the two of them went into the main hall, Li Que and Li Kun came back from the kitchen carrying a bowl of clear water. Li Que handed the bowl to Li Wu, then picked up a green jujube from the square table and bit into it with a crisp crack.

“These jujubes are really good. Where did they come from?” Li Que said in surprise.

“Sister Zhou gave them to me. She’s such a kind person!” Shen Zhuxi said.

Li Wu, who had been gulping from the water bowl like an ox at a trough, wasn’t pleased. He set down the now-empty bowl and said:

“She gives you a few jujubes and she’s a kind person? I made you glue to eat, and you never said I was a kind person.”

He was talking nonsense again. Shen Zhuxi decided to ignore him.

She picked up a plump jujube and held it out to Li Kun, who didn’t look the slightest bit interested. “These jujubes are very sweet. Why aren’t you eating any?”

“I eat meat and buns. Not jujubes.” Li Kun patted his round belly with an air of supreme contentment. “Besides, I’m full.”

“What did you eat?” Shen Zhuxi asked, puzzled.

“Eleven big steamed buns.” Li Kun grinned from ear to ear. “Dipped in fermented tofu — spicy fermented tofu, rose-flavored fermented tofu, honey fermented tofu…”

“I brought back two crocks of fermented tofu, and you don’t say I’m a kind person either?” Li Wu cut in.

“We went to a fermented tofu workshop today with many different flavors. Big Brother specifically chose two crocks of rose-flavored tofu — he picked them out with your tastes in mind, Sister-in-law,” Li Que said with a cheerful smile.

“When did I specifically pick anything? I just grabbed what was there,” Li Wu said flatly. “Grabbing whatever was around doesn’t make me a kind person now?”

“You are a kind person!” Shen Zhuxi said helplessly. “A very kind one!”

Only then did Li Wu close the mouth that had been running nonstop.

Fermented tofu wasn’t exactly something they could eat as a main dish — two whole crocks of it would last them until who knows when. Shen Zhuxi ventured tentatively, “Can I take one crock over as a gift for Sister Zhou?”

Li Wu glanced at her. “If you want to give it, give it.”

“But I can’t carry it,” Shen Zhuxi said, looking at him expectantly.

“I can—” Li Kun started to say, then let out a yelp. He glared furiously at Li Que. “You kicked me! I’m going to hit you!”

“I was sitting perfectly still — how could I have kicked you? You must be losing your mind. And besides…” Li Que said with a grin, “if you hit me, I’ll have Big Brother hit you.”

Li Kun shot two quick glances at Li Wu, then pressed his lips together and said sulkily, “You’re my little brother… so I’ll let it go…”

Shen Zhuxi watched the two brothers in complete bewilderment.

“I’ll go with you to drop it off,” Li Wu said.

Shen Zhuxi’s attention snapped back to him, and she brightened up. “Really? If you get tired of carrying it on the way, I can help carry it for a bit!”

“Just focus on walking without falling,” Li Wu said. “If you trip, I’m the one who suffers.”

“Why would you suffer?” Shen Zhuxi asked.

“Because it would hurt,” Li Que chimed in.

Li Wu’s expression darkened, and he shot a cold look in Li Que’s direction. “You not speaking doesn’t make you a mute, you know.”

Li Que mimed zipping his lips shut, grinning so wide his eyes were nearly slits.

Shen Zhuxi thought Li Que had a honeyed tongue, but his sense of occasion left something to be desired. Though she and Li Wu were married in name, it was plain that Li Wu had no real feelings for her — so why did Li Que keep trying to bring the two of them together?

He was young, she supposed — inexperienced in the ways of the world.

When she and Li Wu dissolved their contractual marriage one day, Li Que would probably be in for quite a shock.

Li Wu rested for a while, then went to the kitchen to make dinner. Shen Zhuxi trailed after him, hovering in the doorway and asking, a little awkwardly:

“Do you know what pigs like?”

Li Wu was sorting through vegetables. He glanced at her. “How would I know what pigs like?”

“When we go to deliver the fermented tofu,” Shen Zhuxi said, “I want to bring a gift to see the newborn piglets.”

“Why bring me along for that? I have no interest in pigs, big or small.”

“I didn’t say bring you — I said bring a gift! A gift for the people, not for you!”

“You’re going to visit pigs and you’re bringing a gift? Are you feeling all right in the head?”

“You’re the one who’s not all right in the head!” Shen Zhuxi puffed up indignantly. “That sow gave birth to twenty piglets in one go! I want to bring her something good to eat so she can recover her strength.”

“Understood,” Li Wu said. “I’ll prepare something.”

“What are you going to prepare?” Shen Zhuxi was quite curious.

“You’ll find out when the time comes.”