Chapter 119 – End

Ever since Ye Qingshui gave birth to her twin sons, more and more people came to visit the babies.

Everyone who visited remarked on how blessed Ye Qingshui and Xie Tingyu were. They even praised the Xie family’s good fortune—how many families were lucky enough to have two babies at once?

As the babies grew, their features began to define themselves. The two boys looked as if they were carved from the same mold. Since they were both fair and chubby without a single birthmark between them, no one except Ye Qingshui and Xie Tingyu could accurately tell them apart.

While she was pregnant, Ye Qingshui had made many little clothes. Small vests for the summer and little padded coats for the winter; looking at those tiny garments was enough to melt anyone’s heart.

Frugal with fabric, Mother Ye told her daughter, “Don’t make so many; just enough to wear is fine.”

Reflecting on how much fabric was there—enough to make outfits for an entire family in the old days—she sighed, “Children these days have such good lives. They don’t have to worry about food or clothes. Unlike you; you had a hard time when you were little.”

The clothes Ye Qingshui wore as a baby were made from three feet of fabric that Grandma Ye had managed to get from the County Revolutionary Committee using Qingshui’s birth certificate. This was a government welfare policy for newborns: one piece of swaddling cloth, which Ye Qingshui used for over half a year.

As she grew, the skillful Mother Ye cut the swaddling cloth into clothes, letting them out an inch at a time as her daughter grew. “New for three years, old for three years, and patched for three more.” Just like that, Ye Qingshui wore that one piece of fabric for five years.

It wasn’t until she was five years old and took a fall that the clothes finally tore beyond repair, and the fabric reached the end of its long service.

Hearing her mother’s words, Ye Qingshui gave a vague nod of agreement, but her hands never stopped moving the needle and thread.

She said with a smile, “Mother-in-law bought the fabric. It’s better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. The doctor said it’s twins, after all.”

Parents often can’t help but give their children double what they themselves lacked. Just as many years ago, the little Qingshui had wept silently on a mountain path over her torn clothes, wishing desperately for another decent outfit.

Mother Ye’s gaze fell on the fabric sent by her daughter’s mother-in-law. Stacked up, it was a hand-span thick—truly impressive. That was the grand style of a wealthy family. She fell silent.

After giving birth, Ye Qingshui truly did add two big, healthy boys to the family in one go. All the clothes she had prepared came in handy, fitting the two children perfectly. There was no need for a frantic rush to acquire more.

Holding her grandsons, Mother Ye’s maternal heart was instantly awakened. After bathing the two wailing boys, she smilingly dressed them in the soft little clothes.

“Chenchen’s eyebrows and the corners of his eyes take after Shui-ya. But that high nose? That looks just like Little Xie!” The more Mother Ye looked at them, the more she cherished them.

The power of blood relations is truly incredible. The moment she held her soft little grandsons, her heart was completely tied to them.

Later, when Ye Qingshui established the “Chenguang Food Factory,” she taught Mother Ye how to manage it. Mother Ye stumbled through the learning process for half a year, diligently supervising the factory every day. Once they had storefronts, she took charge of the cash.

When Mother Ye received her first salary, she—who had once thought her daughter’s mother-in-law was too wasteful—became quite extravagant herself. She bought several pounds of wool for her precious grandsons without batting an eye, even if it used up her entire paycheck. She hand-knitted woolen shoes and hats, rubbing the wool until it was delicate and soft before letting the boys wear them.

After the babies were born, the weather gradually began to cool. Ye Qingshui’s postpartum recovery period (the “sitting month”) had narrowly avoided the hottest months, but the cooler weather brought the risk of catching a “wind chill.”

A woman in her recovery month must not get cold or overexert herself. Elders often said that if you don’t recover properly during this month, you will suffer greatly when you are older.

Mother Ye nagged her daughter incessantly: “I went back to work right after I gave birth to you. Now, every time the weather is damp or rainy, my back aches terribly.”

Ye Qingshui didn’t pay it much mind, but Xie Tingyu took it to heart. He took the task of caring for the children entirely upon himself.

Ye Qingshui’s pregnancy had been difficult. She suffered through the first four months, unable to keep food down, and only gradually improved under Xie Tingyu’s care. After giving birth, she was exhausted and often slept straight through the night. Not even the crying of the infants could wake her.

Ye Qingshui set an alarm, but it didn’t help much. She complained in frustration, “Is this alarm clock broken? I never hear it go off.”

Xie Tingyu comforted her, saying, “It’s fine. I wake up anyway, so I just feed the babies while I’m at it.”

Little did she know that for that entire year, the alarm went off on time every night. But after a single ring, it was instantly silenced by a wide-awake Xie Tingyu.

Every night after the bell stopped, Xie Tingyu would get up quickly. With practiced movements, he would lift the babies from their crib, turn on a dim nightlight, and patiently coax them in the soft glow until they stopped crying before bringing them to his wife’s side to nurse.

Occasionally waking up during the night, Ye Qingshui would see the children with their eyes closed, peacefully asleep with their tiny fists clenched. Knowing they had been fed, she would drift back to sleep in peace.

Raising twins was utterly exhausting. Chenyang and Qiguang had very different personalities. Chenyang was lively and rambunctious, causing a stir during the day when the house was full of people. Qiguang, on the other hand, was quiet and delicate, sleeping most of the day. At night, when Chenyang finally fell asleep, Qiguang would start his fussing.

While Mother Ye and Nanny Wu helped during the day, at night, only Xie Tingyu was there to soothe the children.

During that period, Xie Tingyu hardly got a good night’s sleep. He would wash up quickly in the morning and head to school for classes. Students in the Mathematics Department would occasionally see the top student in their grade sitting in the furthest corner, quietly dozing off.

His professors had a love-hate relationship with him. Those who cherished his talent turned a blind eye, while the strict ones who stuck to the rules deducted points from his participation grade. That semester, because of the fussy little Qiguang, the novice father Xie Tingyu had over ten points docked.

But precisely because Xie Tingyu cared for and fed them every night, the two children were closest to him. Qiguang, especially, would excitedly reach out his arms whenever he saw his father. Every late night, it was his father who held him, sang lullabies, and gently rocked him to sleep.

Yet Qiguang had no idea just how much his father actually “disliked” his late-night antics.

When Chenyang and Qiguang were eight years old, the couple happened to have a long vacation, so they took the children back to Ye Village. Grandma Ye was still in good health, and the two great-grandsons were now old enough to run and jump.

“Chenchen and Guangguang have grown so tall in the blink of an eye!”

During the years Ye Qingshui was studying in the capital, Mother Ye would bring the grandsons back to the countryside during the Tomb-Sweeping Festival and summer breaks. But as the business grew, Mother Ye became too busy to take them. The brothers had stayed in the capital to study with their great-grandmother.

After three years apart, Grandma Ye was overjoyed to see her lively great-grandsons again. Her wrinkled face was filled with a kind smile. “Chenchen, Great-Grandma will give you a fishing rod and take you fishing later.”

“Qiguang loves longans the most. I sent so many dried longans to the capital last year; did you eat them?”

Besides persimmons, Qiguang loved longans. Longans thrive in heat, and the capital was too cold for such tropical fruit, but they were plentiful in Ye Village. Every year, Grandma Ye would dry dozens of pounds and send them to the capital.

Qiguang looked up. “I ate them, Great-Grandma. They were so sweet.” Grandma Ye happily embraced her two great-grandsons and took them off to play.

Ye Qingshui watched with pretend envy as Grandma happily led the children away. “Grandma doesn’t even have eyes for us anymore.”

“How old are you, Shui-er, to be jealous of two children?” Xie Tingyu couldn’t help but laugh, taking her hand. “Grandma is helping us by watching the kids so we can have some free time. Since that’s the case, let’s not waste her kindness. Let’s go for a walk.”

“I haven’t been back to Ye Village in a long time.”

Due to the nature of his work, Xie Tingyu’s vacations were rare; this was his first time back in Ye Village in six years. The biogas digester he had built back then was still there, though it had been renovated to be safer.

Eight years had passed. Ye Village had long been connected to electricity, and smooth roads reached the doorsteps of the houses. Yet the villagers still loved using biogas for heating and lighting. There were more and more people riding bicycles in the village. It was no longer the era where having a bicycle made the whole village envious. Xie Tingyu’s expensive Phoenix brand bicycle had long since been retired; Uncle Ye had sold it to a scrap station for eight yuan.

Xie Tingyu borrowed Uncle Ye’s bicycle and rode through the village with his wife. They passed the fields where they had once sweated. Ye Qingshui still remembered when one work point was worth nine cents, and earning a full day’s points seemed like an unreachable goal.

They passed the “Sent-down Youth” dormitory where they had once strived together. Xie Tingyu remembered that the canteen there didn’t have a drop of oil; after a few months of that, he had finally started eating the meals his wife made.

They also toured the village elementary school. A new teaching building made of cement and red bricks had been built, replacing the old, cramped mud-brick house. It was here that they had taken the first National College Entrance Exam after it was reinstated, and after the exam, they had happily gone to get their marriage certificate.

Finally, they went to the place where they used to fetch water. The scenery deep in the mountains was still beautiful, but after eight years, things had changed. The original towering trees had aged, and the saplings from back then had grown into great trees themselves.

Yet the mountain was still the same mountain, and the water was still the same water. The spring remained crystal clear, and the sunlight remained bright.

Xie Tingyu parked the bicycle aside. He saw his wife squatting by the stream, cupping water in her hands to wash her face. Ye Qingshui took off her shoes and soaked her feet in the stream, squinting her eyes in comfort. She splashed water toward Xie Tingyu. “Come here, it’s so cool!”

“I still remember this place!”

Xie Tingyu smiled knowingly. The experience of coming here to fetch water years ago was deeply etched in their hearts. At that time, the entire province had suffered from a drought unseen in decades. After finishing their farm work, every commune member had to walk several miles into the mountains to get water.

Back then, every commune member was exhausted, but the two of them felt light. He had been captivated by the folk songs she sang along the way; her look with those two braids—pure and clean—was just like the mountain spring. Her mind had been full of him in his clean white shirt and his smile as bright as the sun.

The young man and woman were full of endless passion and energy; even the breeze on the mountain path felt sweet. Looking back, that time was full of sweetness and a touch of bitterness—but never fatigue.

Because all along the way, they had each other’s company…

Sansukini: What a great ending, looking back at their journey from when they started their marriage to the present life. Thank you so much for everyone for reading with me. I hope to see you again in our next translation. This time, it’s a comedy/family/romance, although the romance part is not the focus of the story, it’s still very enjoyable and satisfying. Also, check out my other completed projects here .

Ruyi’s Comfortable Life

Cheng Ruyi, who survived for ten years in the post-apocalyptic world, has transmigrated. She found herself in the body of a female supporting character whose reputation has been utterly ruined, within an ancient-setting novel about a reborn concubine’s daughter that she just finished reading.

Cheng Ruyi is thrilled; she is beyond excited.

The troubles inherited from the original body’s owner are no big deal—she can resolve them in a matter of minutes.

One-Sentence Synopsis:

This is a story about a girl from the apocalypse who thrives in ancient times, crushes all opposition, and lives a comfortable, happy life.

Notes:

1. The female lead solves problems in an extremely simple and “brute force” manner. This is a lighthearted, “palate cleanser” story.
2. A light, “brainless” power fantasy (Shuangwen). The male lead is the cousin—they are not blood-related!

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You can also check out my other translations Here