Chapter 31**

  The family had just been chatting for a while when someone arrived outside. It was Daniu’s second uncle, Song Yunshan, along with his wife and their son, Song Zhiqiang and his wife, Zhao Xi, who gave birth to a son named Song Jiankang.

  The Song family was harmonious and lived well, but there was one issue—they had few children. Each branch of the family had only one child, and by the time it came to Song Zhigang and Song Zhiqiang, there was only one child. Fearing that the child might not survive, they had given him a name like “Jiankang” (health).

  The next day was her grandfather’s birthday, so the family decided to stay overnight and celebrate before leaving. The Song house didn’t have many rooms, but with the _kang_, they could squeeze in. Daniu and her two younger sisters went to stay in their cousin Song Zhigang’s room.

  As soon as they entered the room, a fresh, pleasant fragrance greeted them. “Sister-in-w, what’s that smell? It’s so nice,” Meizi said, sniffing the air.

  “I didn’t put anything special in here,” Liu Yue said with a smile.

  “I don’t wear perfume or makeup, so I don’t know why it smells so good. Maybe it’s the mud used to pster the _kang_. Your second sister-in-w’s room has the same smell. Our _kangs_ were made at the same time.” Her room was originally the west room. The family only had four rge rooms, two rooms for each son, but the grandparents occupied one.

  In the northeast, as long as there was a _kang_, a family could live comfortably. Some families even had parents and married children sharing the same _kang_, separated by a wooden board. When Liu Yue got married, her mother-in-w had suggested that the young couple should have their own space, so they had converted the west room into two smaller rooms, with the northern one being slightly rger.

  Daniu also noticed the fragrance. It was hard to describe, but it was refreshing and seemed familiar. She walked over to the _kang_ on the north wall and realized the smell was coming from there. The _kang_ was already heated, and the fresh scent mixed with the smoke rising from it.

  Liu Yue yawned a few times, clearly feeling sleepy. “Meizi and Xiaocui, you two sleep at the head of the _kang_. Let’s go to bed early. We have to get up early tomorrow.”

  Daniu agreed and climbed onto the _kang_, but Meizi and Xiaocui were too excited to sleep. They chattered and tossed and turned, unable to settle down. Liu Yue, on the other hand, fell asleep almost as soon as she y down. Daniu told her sisters to keep quiet, but she herself couldn’t sleep. After tossing and turning for a while, she took a few deep breaths and finally began to feel drowsy.

  * * *

  _‘Musk has the effects of opening the orifices, invigorating the mind, promoting blood circution, and reducing swelling and pain. It’s a valuable medicinal herb. The musk deer in our old forest can produce musk. If you ever get some, bring it to me.’_ Sixth, Grandpa had once told Daniu this while taking a small box out of the _kang_ cabinet. _‘Take a look. This is what it looks like. Smell it. This is unprocessed musk. Once it’s processed, it has a fresh, pleasant fragrance.’_

  Daniu had smelled it back then. It had a distinct aroma but also a slightly fishy odor, not particurly pleasant.

  _‘Musk is a good thing, but it must be used carefully. It promotes blood circution and menstruation. If a pregnant woman is exposed to it for a long time, it could cause a miscarriage. Even ordinary women may find it difficult to conceive if they’re exposed to it for too long.’_

  Suddenly, Daniu sat up in bed. The room was quiet, and everyone else was asleep.

  She sniffed the air carefully. The smell was simir to musk, though slightly different. But she was sure it was musk. She thought about how excited Meizi and Xiaocui had been earlier. Sixth, Grandpa had also mentioned that a small amount of musk could clear the mind, but too much could have the opposite effect, making people drowsy.

  Looking at her sister-in-w, who was sleeping soundly, Daniu felt a surge of anger. Who could be so cruel?

  * * *

  The next morning, Daniu, who had barely slept, got up early. It was her grandfather’s birthday, and she didn’t want to spoil the mood, but this matter was serious. When she saw her father getting up, she called him outside.

  “Dad, I need to talk to you,” Daniu said, expining what she had discovered.

  Song Yuncheng’s eyes widened, and his demeanor changed instantly. “Are you sure about this?”

  Daniu nodded. “I’ve only smelled it once before, but I’m certain. The only difference is that one was processed, and the other wasn’t. The smell in my cousin’s room is more fragrant, with other scents mixed in.”

  Song Yuncheng nodded and went back inside. Liu Yue was already helping with the fire, and only Meizi and Xiaocui were still in bed. Song Yuncheng entered the room and noticed a faint fragrance, though he couldn’t identify it. Still, even this slight smell was telling. In their area, where _kangs_ were used for heating, even the best-built _kangs_ had some gaps, and the smell of smoke was usually strong. Most homes had a distinct smoky odor.

  Song Yuncheng thought for a moment and said, "Let's not spread this matter for now. At least let your grandfather have a good birthday. Also, go check Zhiqiang's room and see if it's the same situation there."

  Daniu nodded, "Okay, I understand."

  Daniu walked out and headed to the west room where her second uncle lived. As she entered, she passed through a narrow hallway with a kitchen partitioned off at the back. The kitchen was smoky and bustling with cooking activity. Today, the family was preparing a big feast, and both stoves were already simmering with dishes.

  Her second uncle lived in the west room, while her cousin lived in the east room. When Daniu entered Song Zhiqiang's room, she didn't notice any unusual smell. However, there was a faint fragrance in her second uncle's room.

  The healthy little boy was already awake, nursing in his mother's arms. He seemed to have had enough, and when he saw Daniu enter, he turned his head toward her, waved a hand, and giggled.

  "Is our little Jiankang awake?" Daniu reached out and gently touched the baby's small hand.

  "This kid is always full of energy. It's so hard to get him to sleep. It's exhausting," compined Zhao Xi, her cousin sister-in-w.

  Daniu tentatively picked up the child and bounced him gently. "Jiankang seems a bit thin. Is your milk not enough, sister-in-w? I still have a few milk powder coupons. Take them and buy some milk powder for Jiankang to supplement his diet." As she spoke, she held the baby with one hand and pulled out a few milk powder coupons from her pocket with the other.

  Zhao Xi happily accepted them. "Thank you, Daniu. Jiankang was born prematurely before the nine months were up. When he was born, he was as tiny as a kitten. I feel like he drinks a lot of milk, but he doesn't gain much weight, and he doesn't sleep well."

  "Try giving him milk powder. It might help," Daniu suggested. She cradled Jiankang's head with one hand and held him with the other, letting him stand. "Jiankang is about five months old now, right?" She remembered coming to help with the baby's feeding when he was born. Counting the days, he was just three days short of five months.

  "That's right. He's just not as sturdy as other kids," Zhao Xi sighed. Although every parent thinks their child is the best, when she visited Song Zhiqiang's uncle's family yesterday, she saw their grandson, who was born around the same time as Jiankang. That child was already able to sit up.

  Daniu looked around the room. "Second sister-in-w, I remember you and my second brother lived in the west room when you got married, right?"

  "Yes, but the west room was too cold. When I was pregnant with Jiankang, it was freezing, and I even started spotting. Your second aunt suggested we switch rooms, and we never moved back after Jiankang was born."

  Daniu nodded. "I just went to the west room, and it felt fine. There was even a faint fragrance."

  "Exactly! When I first met your brother, I noticed that fragrance when we looked at the house. It smelled really nice. Your brother wanted to build a new kang bed, but I didn't let him," Zhao Xi said.

  Daniu thought to herself that it was fortunate they had switched rooms during the cold weather. She suspected that the spotting back then might not have been caused by the cold but something else. People from the northeast weren't usually afraid of the cold, especially with the heated kang beds at night. They had grown up with this, so it wasn't likely that pregnancy would suddenly make them more sensitive to the cold.

  This year was her grandfather's 70th birthday, but in these times, it wasn't encouraged to celebrate birthdays, especially since everyone was living frugally. The family decided to have a simple meal together. Besides their immediate family, they only invited Song Guoyi's family.

  Song Guozhong and Song Guoyi were brothers who had followed their father to the northeast many years ago. After their father passed away, the family property was divided between them. Although they lived in the same vilge, one family lived in the east end, and the other in the west end. Daniu wasn't very familiar with them, but she knew they had a rge family. Sure enough, when they arrived, they filled three tables.

  Perhaps because they had so many children, Song Guoyi's family wasn't as well-off as Song Guozhong's. Today's main dish was stewed deer meat with potato noodles, with a rge pot pced on each table. There was also stewed pickled cabbage, stir-fried dried tofu, and a cold sad.

  The deer had been brought over by Daniu's father earlier in the year. Since their family was small, they hadn't eaten much of it, so they decided to cook it all for the feast.

  As soon as the meat dishes were served, Daniu watched as the people at the tables quickly devoured the food. In no time, the pots were empty.

  "This was hunted by Daniu, right? You should think of your second grandfather next time. When you get something good, bring some over for me," Song Guoyi said, squinting at Daniu as he drank.

  Daniu smiled but didn't respond. She wasn't a stingy person and often shared her hunting spoils with retives. However, she had never given anything to Song Guoyi's family. For some reason, she just didn't like them. Their words always carried a hint of sarcasm, and they often spoke with a sour tone. When she was younger, she had overheard Song Guoyi badmouthing her grandfather to her great-grandfather. At the time, her father had just become a middle school teacher, and Song Guoyi had suggested that they should take him back. In short, there were a lot of miscelneous things.

  Daniu remembered all of this. Another reason she felt distant from Song Guoyi's family was that she had once asked her great-grandfather why her second grandfather didn't look like him at all. Her great-grandfather had expined that Song Guoyi took after his mother, and that was when Daniu realized that her grandfather and Song Guoyi had different mothers.

  So, even though Song Guoyi asked Daniu to bring him game every year, she never did.

  Not wanting to engage with them, Daniu took a rge bowl and sat down to eat with her grandmother. Although the old dy was bedridden, she insisted on doing everything she could for herself. She had lost all her teeth and couldn't eat meat, so her aunt had specially prepared a bowl of steamed egg custard for her. Today, they had cooked a mixture of rice and millet, and after cooking, they boiled a thick porridge for her. The old dy ate a lot of the custard and porridge.

  "Don't pay attention to what he says. The older he gets, the more shameless he becomes," the old dy whispered to Daniu, gncing toward the west room.

  The meal sted until after 3 p.m., mainly because the men drank too much. Song Guoyi's six sons and a group of adult grandsons seemed to have been deprived of alcohol for a long time, and they drank recklessly, refilling their cups and giving Daniu a glimpse of what drunkards looked like.

  After the feast ended and Song Guoyi's family left, Daniu's family also prepared to leave. Her grandfather, having drunk too much, was asleep on the south kang bed. Song Yuncheng called Song Yunfeng and Song Yunshan to go to Zhigang's room.

  "What did you say?" Song Yunfeng jumped off the kang bed. "Third brother, are you saying there's something wrong with this kang bed?" Song Yunfeng gred at Song Yuncheng with a shoked look. Song Yuncheng nodded. "Daniu discovered it. There's something wrong with the kang bed, and it's the same in Zhiqiang's west room. It's the smell of musk. You know what Musk does, right? Constant exposure to this smell can affect fertility. Zhigang's wife hasn't been able to conceive in all these years of marriage. I heard from Hongmei that she got pregnant soon after they got married but had a miscarriage. It might be reted to this," Song Yuncheng expined.

  Song Yunshan remained calm. "It's easy to verify this. We just need to find someone who knows about medicine to take a look." He was also filled with resentment. Back then, when his son got married, they didn't choose a well-off family nearby. Instead, they went to the mountains to find a poor family. Why? Because Zhao Xi was healthy. But now, his daughter-in-w had been frequently ill during her pregnancy with Jiankang, who was born prematurely and was weak. Now they knew the reason.

  "This is an attempt to cut off our family line," Song Yunfeng said angrily. "I'll go find the vilge doctor."

  "No, big brother, we should go to the commune to find someone," Song Yunshan suggested.

  Song Yunfeng thought about it and agreed. "I'll go right now."

  "Let me go instead. I'll go back with third brother and tell Dad that we're going to the forest farm to check things out. I heard they're pnning to build a recmation farm there. I'll see if I can find some work for Zhigang and Zhiqiang." The recmation farm was indeed a real project, currently being built in the northern river pin area. Although it was still starting, there were more opportunities on the farm, so many young people from the area had already signed up.

  "Alright, I'll leave this to you. Don't say anything to Dad yet. If you bring a doctor back, just say it's to check on Mom's leg."

  After discussing, they all went to take care of their tasks. Song Yunfeng didn't expin much to his wife and simply swapped rooms with his son and daughter-in-w.

  This time, they also needed to have the doctor check on the two children. It had been so long; they had to know if there was any sting damage.