Chapter 2 Good Fortune

• “If you behave and take her up the mountain, I'll give you extra oatmeal tonight,” my mother-in-law coaxed.
• Her words made me shiver.
• Her son often used the same tactic. When I first arrived, I refused to share a room with him. My in-laws resorted to scolding and even beating me, but I held my ground. Starved for days, I eventually gave in when he coaxed me with the promise of food.
• I stood there silently, unmoving.
• My mother-in-law, frustrated, raised her hand to strike me, but her son entered the room. Seeing his daughter's body wrapped in the tarp, he turned on me.
• “What are you staring at? Hurry up and take that d*mn girl to the mountain!”
• I quickly brushed past my mother-in-law. Seizing the distraction, I slipped into the kitchen and grabbed two bread rolls, hiding them in the tarp with my daughter's body.
• I had never truly felt full. What little food they gave me was just enough to keep me alive. To have given birth in such conditions—whether it was a blessing or a curse—I couldn't tell.
• For years, my daughter and I lived in constant hunger. My only wish was that she wouldn't go hungry in the afterlife.
• By the time my mother-in-law's youngest son turned one month old, he had grown strong and healthy, thanks to the goat milk she fed him. When he was born, he was so frail we thought he wouldn't survive.
• Now, neighbors flocked to her, asking how she had managed to have a son.
• My mother-in-law loved the attention but wouldn't give away her secret easily. Only when someone brought gifts did she lean in and reveal her method with a grin.
• “The firstborn in our family was a girl, so we tossed her into the village well. Eighteen meters deep—it's like sending them straight to the depths of hell. After that, the spirits of those little girls were too scared to reincarnate.”
• She'd laugh and hold her son high, boasting, “I searched high and low for this top-secret method. As long as you follow the steps, you'll definitely have a boy next! He was born on the eighth of August! The midwife said he'd have a blessed life!”
• The eighth day of August. I remembered it too well—it was the day of my daughter's death anniversary. I stood in silence, clutching a handful of grain stalks as my husband entertained a guest with drinks.
• As he drank, he began his usual bragging—about his luck, his skill at cards, and his dreams of moving to the city, leaving the farming life behind.
• My mother-in-law, beaming with pride, took my hand and guided it to her youngest son's cheek.
• She always believed I brought good fortune to the family.
• When I first arrived, Judith told my mother-in-law I had a good natal chart and even offered to buy me. Though tempted, my mother-in-law refused.
• Despite her initial hesitation, my mother-in-law held onto Judith's prediction. With her son's satisfaction in me as a wife, she chose not to sell me off to another family.
• Over time, events only reinforced their belief in my so-called good fortune.