Chapter 2: The Battle of Fate

  Every morning, under the dark sky, when only a faint white light is visible, a woman carries a hoe and holds a bamboo basket, walking towards her family's farmland. Lei Zhen, who is strong and sturdy, lies in the bamboo basket world, sleeping soundly; behind this woman, two thin and short little girls, one holding a water jug and dry rations for noon, the other grasping a small shovel, closely follow their mother's footsteps.

  Until the dark sky once again enveloped the entire heavens, this strange team would tread on the night color and return to their homes. Smoke would also slowly rise above that small mud-brick house.

  Right on the rice stalks, right in that big bamboo basket, Lei Zhen listened to the low hum of crickets, smelling the light mountain breeze bringing a hint of the most primitive fragrance, growing bigger and stronger day by day.

  "Zhen'er is almost one year old, this child is growing so fast, that bamboo basket can barely hold him now."

  Put down the hoe in her hand, Lei Zheng's mother stretched out her waist that had been working for a long time and was slightly sore, wiped away the sweat on her forehead with a towel, and slowly walked towards the field ridge where the large bamboo basket and water tank were placed. Only by looking at her increasingly strong son did this woman, who had become old due to losing her husband too early and even had a few strands of white hair on her forehead, have a happy smile on her face.

  She habitually poured a bowl of water from the water jar, when Lei Zheng's mother turned her head to look at her son sleeping in the bamboo basket, her eyes suddenly widened, and her hands loosened, the ceramic bowl in her hand smashed onto a protruding rock, making a "crack" sound.

  At this time, Lei Zheng's mother was trembling all over her body, because what she saw was an empty bamboo basket, and her son had disappeared!

  She had clearly tied her son to the bamboo basket with a thin rope, and it was impossible for an infant less than one year old to break free from the constraint of that thin rope. Looking at the thin rope torn into two pieces in the bamboo basket, Lei Zheng's mother suddenly ran back and forth like crazy, she carefully turned over the grass, she searched all possible places where a child could hide nearby, but she found nothing, her less than one-year-old son was really gone!

  She felt her legs go weak, and Lei Zheng's mother fell to the ground uncontrollably. She sat there stupidly for a full five minutes before suddenly shouting in a trembling voice with seven parts of shaking and three parts of crying: "Da Ya, Er Ya, where are you? Come back quickly... your younger brother is gone..."

  Heart-wrenching wails echoed repeatedly on the mountain slope, two little girls who were digging wild vegetables on the opposite side of the mountain looked at each other, they dropped their hoes and small bamboo baskets that had not been filled with wild vegetables, and ran over quickly. Looking at her mother's face covered with sweat and tears, and the empty bamboo basket placed on the ridge, even the bedding laid at the bottom was gone, the two little girls were also stunned like their mother.

  With two daughters, she had been wandering around for several hours. This woman, who suddenly lost her son, felt as if her legs were stuck in cotton, and she didn't have the slightest strength left. She suddenly came to her senses and shouted at her daughter: "Da Ya, quickly go back and ask Village Chief Da Bo to come over and help!"

  The village head led a group of villagers to the field, and after carefully examining the footprints around the bamboo basket, the village head let out a soft sigh, pointing to a series of footprints, saying in a low voice: "The child was taken away by a wolf."

  The village chief looked at the woman who had been thoroughly frightened, her whole person seemed to have lost three souls and seven spirits, standing there stupidly. He let out a light sigh and said to the villagers beside him: "Tell the people in the village to get ready, those who can help come out to find the child."

  This isolated mountain village, preserving its natural simplicity, almost all villagers moved out together. They went in groups of three or five, shuttling back and forth in the big mountains, even at night, they could see the torches swaying on the mountain slopes. Some more agile villagers even brought a rattle drum that children love to play with, searching around while shaking the toy in their hands, hoping that Little Lei would hear it and respond with at least a whimper.

  The entire village searched the surrounding mountains for three days and three nights, and when they finally returned in batches, facing Lei Zheng's mother's eyes filled with hope and expectation, these villagers covered in grass leaves and scratches on their bodies silently shook their heads, and Lei Zheng's mother's face turned even paler.

  When the last villager returned to this small mountain village with empty hands, he bowed his head in front of the woman who had no blood color on her face. The mother, who had been running wildly with the villagers in the mountains for three days and three nights without eating a single grain of rice, faced this desperate result, and she no longer had the strength to support her own body, "thud" heavily sat down on the ground.

  "His father..."

  Only four words, Lei Zheng's mother was already in tears, she suddenly went mad and pounded the ground with force, her hoarse voice wailed: "I owe you, I owe it to the Lei family, it was me who lost the child! I'm useless, I really am useless, how could I have left the child there for the wolf to snatch away... How can I face you now, how can I face Father and Mother, face the ancestors of the Lei family?!"

  Everyone stared blankly at the woman who had lost all hope and strength in her life, without even the strength to stand up. No one spoke, because they all knew that a widow losing her only son meant everything to her. She would cry loudly for a while, go home, cover her head with a quilt, and sleep for three days and nights. Life had to go on, and she would slowly recover. If she was lucky, she might even remarry a man who was poor or had some small defect but was honest, kind, and willing to treat her two daughters well.

  But soon, Lei Zheng's mother's crying suddenly stopped.

  She wiped away the sweat, tears and snot that had mixed together on her face, and slowly stood up. She looked at the village chief and asked: "Hasn't anyone in the whole village found Lei Zhen or the quilt wrapped around him?"

  "Yes."

  Seeing Leizhen's mother nodding, she actually took two daughters and turned back to the village. The anxious village chief asked loudly: "Lei family's eldest sister, what are you going to do?"

  Lei Zheng's mother sniffed hard and replied: "Go home and boil some sweet potatoes!"

  "Huh?"

  This was an absolutely unexpected response, and everyone in the room widened their eyes, opened their mouths, and stared blankly at the back of Lei Zheng's mother. The woman who had just been unable to support her own body earlier was now making another effort to straighten her waist. She took a few deep breaths, and said softly: "If my son really was taken away by wolves, then the small quilt wrapped around him wouldn't have been eaten too, would it? We didn't find that quilt, so my son might still be alive. Even if he really was eaten by wolves, even if only one bone is left of him, I will find him!"

  Her voice was soft, but as a mother, with no retreat, the instinct to defend her child was thoroughly aroused, and her voice had added a kind of determination that could almost split gold and stone.

  When the long-absent smoke once again wafted up from that small mud-brick house, the villagers' gaze at this humble abode was tinged with a hint of unspoken admiration... This woman is fighting! She's battling her own fate, and perhaps the predetermined fate of her son.