A century of poverty

Chapter 32 Eye Disease

On New Year's Eve, the kneading board was placed on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), and Mom stood on the ground rolling out the dough. Next to the board was a large earthenware jar for filling, and Grandma sat next to it making dumplings, with a flat steamer on the other side. Dad sat on the kang, leaning against the stack of bricks, watching the dumpling-making process. My eldest sister played with my eldest brother at the head of the kang, and my second sister sat next to a vegetable-filled earthenware jar, holding onto the edge of the jar as she watched.

To create a joyful atmosphere for the Lunar New Year, Grandma held a dumpling wrapper in one hand and a spoon in the other, filling it with filling. She asked her second granddaughter, "Duozi, what kind of filling do we have in the dumplings we made today?"

Second sister: "They can't see, and you're asking them what kind of filling the dumplings have!"

Mom: "Oh no, the child can't see anything!"

At this moment, Grandma stopped making dumplings, and Mom put down the rolling pin and bent down to look at Second Sister's eyes. Apart from seeing that the child's eyes were red, she couldn't tell anything else.

Father began, “There are quite a few children in this village suffering from eye disease. It’s an epidemic. There’s ‘Silver Shine’ in the West Courtyard, and children in West Street and South Street are also having eye problems, and they’re all quite serious.”

Grandma: "Eyes are no joke. The child is so young, she needs treatment."

Father: "Where is the money?"

Grandma: "Even if we don't have money, we have to borrow it to treat the child. Otherwise, his whole life will be ruined."

The mother looked at her second sister with concern, her hands constantly rolling out dough and making dumplings. Listening to the conversation between her grandmother and father, she felt a little relieved, but then she became worried about the money and didn't dare to interrupt.

During the Spring Festival, my second sister could only sit on the kang (a heated brick bed) by the window, leaning against the windowsill.

The mother had no other choice. She knew that washing her eyes with cool water would make them feel a little better, so every day she would make time to fill a basin with cool water for her second daughter, wash her face and eyes, and wipe them with a clean cloth.

After the fifth day of the first lunar month, Dad came to Zhang Xiaoyong's house.

Zhang Xiaoyong and his family were very hospitable: "Uncle, sit down, sit here."

Xiaoyong's wife brought over a cup of tea: "Here you go, Uncle, have some water."

After his father sat down and exchanged pleasantries for a while, Zhang Xiaoyong asked, "Uncle, is something the matter? What is it?"

Father began, "My second daughter's eyesight isn't very good anymore. I'd like to take her to see a doctor tomorrow, but I'm a bit short on money..."

Zhang Xiaoyong: "Oh! I have some here. Take this first, and come back for more if you need more. I have more here." He said, opening the cabinet, taking out the money, and handing it to his father.

Father: "Enough, enough, this is perfect."

On the morning of the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, Mom got up early, prepared breakfast, and after the family finished eating and tidying up, she picked up my second sister, and Dad put his cloth satchel on his shoulder. The two of them headed straight for Luan County.

We arrived at the ophthalmology department of Luanxian People's Hospital. The doctor told us, "Don't be afraid. This is an epidemic, and many children are getting sick. As long as you take the medication on time, both internal and external, they will be fine after a while. Remember not to give your child meat, fish, or other spicy or greasy foods, and don't let hot pot spill on them. You must take good care of them."

Huan'er, from the west courtyard, also fell ill with an eye disease around this time. They took completely different approaches. Her family had always been well-off, and with the Lunar New Year approaching, things were even more different from usual. After the fifth day of the first lunar month, most families stopped eating meat, but Third Grandmother, out of habit, still told her son, "Huan'er is sick, you have to buy her meat to eat so she'll have the energy to recover quickly."

After the Lantern Festival, Dad and Mom took my second sister to Luanxian Hospital for a follow-up examination. Her eyes had improved significantly. They were prescribed some oral and topical medications, and we took good care of her as instructed by the doctor.

Back home, Dad said to Grandma, "Mom, I think the doctor who treated Duozi's eyes is quite skilled. If it's not too late, I'll take you to Luan County tomorrow to have the blue skin on your eyes removed. I asked the doctor, and he said they can do this surgery."

Grandma said, "I'm not in a hurry. I'm already so old, what's the point of having surgery? This money was all borrowed. Let's treat the child first, and I'll worry about it later."

Dad: "When will we have to wait until then?"

Grandma: "I will never blame you. It was my own fault for not wanting to do it."

The uncle in the west courtyard also listened to his mother and would rush back to the market every few days, buying bags of cooked meat to give to his mother. The third grandmother would feed her granddaughter the meat, bite by bite herself, to "fight the disease."

After the Spring Equinox, the weather warmed up, and my second sister's eyes recovered. She ran to my aunt's house to play with her older sister, Huan'er, who was a year older than her. As soon as she entered the front door, she called out in a clear voice, "Aunt! Second sister!" My aunt answered, "Oh! Duozi's here! Come play with your second sister, come on the kang (heated brick bed)." Saying this, she stood up, took down a small basket hanging on the beam, and scooped up a handful of apricot pits, scattering them on the kang: "Here are some apricot pits for you two to play with."

Duo Zi: "Second Sister, let's play with apricot pits!" Saying that, she picked up a pit and tossed it into the air. Her little hand quickly swept across the kang (a heated brick bed), catching a handful, and then catching the falling pit. She counted: "One, two, three, four, five, six, I have six, your turn."

Huan'er stammered, "I can't see, how can I play games with you!"

Auntie: "You little brat, didn't you say your eyes were hurting too? What happened?"

The woman who took her child said, "My parents took me to Luan County for treatment, and I got better."

The aunt said, "Oh—". She thoughtfully glued the shoe trim. She was thinking that this second daughter and her own second daughter had both contracted an eye disease. The other girl had recovered, but hers was still unable to get out of bed. She had to talk to her father when he came back today. She couldn't wait any longer and had to take her to Luan County to see a doctor.

At dinner, the family ate together on Grandma San's kang (heated brick bed). Gao Shuzhi said, "The child in the east courtyard also had eye problems, but he's all better now. We can't just keep buying meat without treating him. You should take your child to see a doctor tomorrow." He looked at Zhang Xifeng as he spoke.

Zhang Xifeng: "Hehe, you say so, then I'll watch it."

Zhang Xigui chimed in, "We should have seen it a long time ago. Can eating meat really improve your eyesight?" His mother listened to her daughter-in-law and sons' conversation, then lowered her head and ate in silence.

The next morning after breakfast, Gao Shuzhi opened the cabinet, took out some money, handed it to her husband, and then said to Zhang Xigui, "You and your brother take Huan'er and go. I'll stay home and watch over 'Yingying'." Yingying was her third child, a boy.

"Okay!" Zhang Xigui replied. His third grandmother added, "Come back and buy two catties of pig's head meat. Tomorrow is the second day of the second lunar month." "Yes!" Zhang Xifeng replied, picked up his daughter, and the two brothers went out the door and headed south.

Grandma San also got off the kang (a heated brick bed) and called out to Yingying, "Grandma will carry you to play." Yingying, a little over a year old, toddled over and snuggled onto her grandma's lap. Her eldest granddaughter, Jinzi, also got off the kang and put on her shoes, saying, "I want to go too!"

Grandma San carried her grandson on her back, with her seven-year-old granddaughter following behind, heading towards the crowded temple platform.

Gao Shuzhi cleared the table and tidied up the dishes. Then he went to the yard, carried the pig feed pot to the pigpen entrance, picked up a ladle, scooped up a spoonful of pig feed, and poured it into the trough, calling for the pigs to eat. The two piglets, perhaps not yet used to their owner's call, looked up with puzzled expressions, snorting, and finally came to the trough and plunged into it to eat.

To the north of the pigsty were two west wing rooms, and to the south was the outhouse. The south wall of the outhouse was a high courtyard wall, and beyond the courtyard wall was Xidang Street.

To exit the courtyard, you need to turn left and pass through the three rooms in the east courtyard, then walk through the main gate on the east side.

They lived in a two-courtyard house. The first entrance had three main rooms, an east wing, a pigsty, and a latrine. It was a house and courtyard prepared for Zhang Xigui.

The six rooms and two courtyards are viewed from the inside; from the outside, it consists of six main rooms and a square courtyard.

Outside the south wall is Xidang Street, which is very spacious. Because it is located at the intersection of the main north-south road in the village, forming a T-junction, people often stop and chat at the foot of this wall. There are also two large stones where people sit.

Facing north, across the street was the home of Gao Pingzhi. Gao Pingzhi was a few years younger than Zhang Xifeng. He was tall, with hunched shoulders, a square face with fair skin, large, round eyes with light-colored pupils, a straight nose, and a perpetually pouty face that always looked angry. Children were afraid of him and would avoid him. He didn't like working in the fields much, and when he did, he would only do light, easy tasks. He had always been like this, and no one bothered him.

Today, he was waiting at his doorstep on the street when he saw Zhang Xifeng and his younger brother leave with Huan'er. A little while later, his third grandmother, carrying her grandson and leading her granddaughter, also headed south, probably to visit other people on Nandang Street.

This was a perfect opportunity. He went to the north side of the road, climbed onto a stone, and peered into the courtyard. He saw Gao Shuzhi feeding the pigs, and his heart fluttered. He used the stone to leap up the courtyard wall, then down the outhouse wall, landing with a thud. Gao Shuzhi heard the noise and turned around. At that moment, Gao Pingzhi ran up and hugged her, kissing her face urgently and groping her body. Gao Shuzhi, breathing heavily, said, "What's the rush? Let me pour this pig feed first." The two embraced and went into the side room.

Meanwhile, Third Grandma carried her grandson to the temple platform. Seeing other children playing there, she put her grandson down, and the children played together while she sat on the stone platform chatting with the adults. Feeling a strange chill under her bottom, she called out, "Jinzi! Go home and get Grandma a 'duzi' (a straw mat)."

"Yes!" Jinzi replied and ran home.

Entering through the main gate, turning into the courtyard through the second gate, you can go to the passageway to get the stool. When passing through the side room, you hear some strange noises inside. You wonder what your mother is doing. She comes out carrying the stool and peeks through the door.

She was stunned by what she saw, and she turned away in shame and ran away.

Upon reaching the temple platform, he handed the stool to his grandmother, saying, "Gao Pingzhi is beating my mother in the side room."

Third Grandmother: "What are you saying? Speak properly."

Jinzi: "It was that yellow-eyed kid from Daonan who pinned my mother down in the side room—"

Third Grandmother: "Keep an eye on your brother, then go check on my house."

After saying that, he walked straight home.

Now let's talk about the two people in the side room.

Takagi Shuzhi: "It looks like someone's there."

Yellow-eyed boy: "Where's anyone?"

Tall Tree Branch: "No, there's someone there! Get up!"

Gao Shuzhi looked at the house warily, but there was no one in the yard. Gao Pingzhi asked, "Where is she?" Gao Shuzhi walked towards the gate again, and Gao Pingzhi followed behind him, peering through the gate to the north and south. He saw his mother-in-law hurrying towards the house.

"Hurry up and go back the way you came. If you go through the main gate, you're bound to run into them."

Gao Pingzhi peeked out and saw that it was indeed as she had said. He turned back, went to the outhouse, climbed over the wall, jumped down, and walked towards his house as if nothing had happened.

Just then, Third Grandma arrived at the intersection of West Street and saw Gao Pingzhi walking home from north to south. She hurried inside. Through the second gate, Gao Shuzhi was scraping the pig feed pot at the pigsty entrance, pretending to have finished feeding the pigs. Her mother-in-law stared at her face: "What's Gao Pingzhi doing here?"

Takagi Shugi: "No, nobody's coming!"

"You still dare to lie to me? I just saw him jump off the wall and down into the house." The mother-in-law was lying, but Gao Shuzhi insisted that it was not true.

"You still say you don't have it? I just asked Jinzi's family to come and get the stool, and the child told me everything."

At this moment, Jinzi, leading her younger brother with one hand and carrying a stool with the other, also stepped through the gate.

Seeing that he couldn't deny it, Gao Shuzhi fell silent. Her mother-in-law, seeing the child return, didn't press the matter further. Gao Shuzhi went to the side room to get a shovel and went to the fields to deliver manure and build embankments; the mutual aid group had work to do.

In the afternoon, Zhang Xifeng and Zhang Xigui returned from taking their child to the doctor, both looking gloomy. The third grandmother asked, "What did they say? Did you get the medicine?" The eldest son replied, "Yes, we got the medicine. The child's left eye can't be saved; they'll have to remove the eyeball."

Third Grandma exclaimed in surprise, "Really? Is it that strange?"

Eldest son: "We're too late, we've missed something."

The second son said, "People say it's from a fire. The children in the east courtyard are all better, and those other children in our village who got infected are also better." He then got up and went to his courtyard to tidy up the garden.

Taking the opportunity, the third grandmother told her eldest son about what had happened at home that morning. Zhang Xifeng was furious; misfortunes never come singly, and all sorts of things that shouldn't have happened to him were happening to him.

The couple brought their second daughter to Luanxian Hospital for enucleation surgery. She was fitted with a prosthetic eye, stayed in the hospital for a few days, then had the bandages removed and went home to recuperate.

For days, Zhang Xifeng had been sullen and rarely spoke. That day, just as dawn broke, he carried his luggage to Zhugezhuang Railway Station and boarded an eastbound train.