I bring bad luck to my husband, you bring bad luck to your wife.

Changxing County is close to Kyoto and relies on its port, making it a wealthy small county.

There are a large number of merchants from the north and south, as well as outsiders hoping to settle down and make a living here.

On the bustling dock.

Xiangxi's older brother's head was broken today; there was a huge gash, and blood was flowing all over his face.

Today, Xiangxi's older brother, Xiangqiang, and his sister-in-law went to the dock to set up a stall selling flatbread as usual, while Xiangxi stayed at home to take care of her little nephew, Bao'er.

Bao'er is the posthumous child of my sister-in-law and her late husband, and she is five years old this year.

Back then, Xiangxi and her brother ended up at the docks trying to make a living, where they met her sister-in-law, who was pregnant and had just lost her husband.

My sister-in-law asked my brother what he thought. If he didn't mind the child in her belly, she would marry him, and the child would take his surname.

My sister-in-law has a house and a small business, so she would never let Xiangqiang and Xiangxi starve to death.

Xiang Qiang agreed and moved into his sister-in-law's house with Xiang Xi.

I've lived here for so many years.

This afternoon, after feeding her nephew Bao'er and putting him to sleep, Xiangxi did laundry and other chores in the yard. After finishing the laundry, she still had to prepare dinner.

Once her nephew wakes up, Xiangxi won't have time to do these things anymore; she needs to keep an eye on the child, as boys at this age are at their most mischievous.

Xiangxi is busy every day, like a car wheel.

"Xiangxi, Xiangxi, open the door, open the door quickly!" The sister-in-law's voice came from the alley, but unlike her usual tiredness, this time it was more urgent and panicked.

Xiangxi was startled and hurriedly opened the wooden door.

At first glance, my sister-in-law was supporting my brother as he stood at the door. There were still dried bloodstains on my brother's face, and the white cloth wrapped around his head was soaked with blood.

"What happened?" Xiangxi was so anxious she was almost crying. She helped her sister-in-law carry her brother into the house.

"These damned beasts, why did they have to cause trouble at the docks? They could have fought anywhere else." The sister-in-law's voice was still trembling with sobs.

At noon today, my brother and sister-in-law set up their stall at the dock as usual, selling flatbreads. The small ones cost two coins, and the large ones cost three coins. They also sold some noodle soup and the like.

Business has been consistently good.

Suddenly chaos erupted on the dock, with people shouting that a fight had broken out and that someone had died.

It turned out that two groups of local thugs were fighting over territory.

Seeing that things were going badly, Xiang Qiang hurriedly took his wife and ran away, not even having time to pack up the stall.

In the chaotic crowd, Xiang Qiang, in an attempt to protect his pregnant wife, was accidentally hit on the head by a stranger's carrying pole, causing him to bleed profusely.

Once they reached a safe area, Xiang's sister-in-law discovered that her husband's face was covered in blood. Terrified, she hurriedly took Xiang Qiang to a clinic for treatment.

After examining them, the doctor said that although the wound looked serious, it wasn't actually that deep, and told them to go home and rest properly.

"Xiangxi, go to the dock and see if the riots are over. If it's safe, go to the stalls and see if there are any leftover cakes, and bring them back." The older sister-in-law knew that in such a chaotic situation, there probably wouldn't be much left, but she just couldn't give up without going to check; those were all money.

Xiangxi understood what her sister-in-law meant. After all, there were so many mouths to feed in the family, and they all depended on the money from selling these pancakes.

Xiangxi went back to the house first to see if her little nephew had woken up yet.

Fortunately, he hadn't woken up yet. After tucking the blanket around his little nephew, Xiangxi hurried to the dock.

------------

A crowd of onlookers gathered at the dock, while constables from the yamen, armed with knives, blocked the way, preventing anyone from getting close.

Xiangxi was a young man, not very tall, who managed to squeeze through the crowd to the front.

What they saw was alarming: several people were lying on the ground at the dock, covered with white sheets, and were completely dead.

Xiangxi noticed that her brother and sister-in-law's stall was also within the cordon area.

Unable to get in, Xiangxi was so anxious she didn't know what to do.

Just then, they saw Uncle Chen, the dock manager, following behind a constable, describing the scene of the crime.

Xiangxi, with a "nothing to lose" mentality, tried her best to move in that direction.

"Uncle Chen! Uncle Chen!" Seizing the opportunity, Xiangxi called out to Uncle Chen.

"Uncle Chen, when can we go in? My wife told me to take the pancakes home." Xiangxi shouted at the top of her lungs, attracting the attention of many people.

"Nonsense, can't you see the dead body? You're a young man, don't cause trouble here, hurry home." Uncle Chen and Xiang Qiang were old acquaintances.

That year, a plague broke out in a small southern town, and people died one after another. Xiangqiang and Xiangxi's father also unfortunately passed away as a result.

The mother, with her two children and all their belongings, fled north with the refugee wave.

They ran out of money on the road and couldn't even find wild vegetables or tree bark.

The three of them could no longer survive, so the mother sold herself to get a few taels of silver to save her two children's lives.

"Run to bigger places; you can survive there."

This sentence is Xiangxi's last impression of her mother.

Xiang Qiang was just a teenager at that time, with a boy in tow, all alone and helpless.

The two followed the crowd, heading north in a daze.

I don't know how long it took.

We arrived outside the city of Changxing County.

There I met Uncle Chen, who worked at the dock.

Uncle Chen took pity on the two brothers and brought them to the dock to do odd jobs.

Uncle Chen was the one who arranged my brother and sister-in-law's marriage.

"Who is he?" a cold voice asked.

Xiangxi then saw clearly the person standing next to Uncle Chen.

He was dressed in the uniform of a constable, standing five feet seven inches tall (1.9 meters), and as strong as an ox. His gaze towards Xiangxi was full of scrutiny.

Seeing this, Xiangxi shrank back.

"Officer Yang, this is the young man from the pancake stall. His brother was injured in the chaos, and his family's pancake stall hasn't closed yet, so his sister-in-law sent him over to check on the situation." Uncle Chen stood in front of Xiangxi.

"The dock is blocked. There's a curfew tonight. Come back tomorrow," Constable Yang said coldly to Xiangxi.

"What a daring young man, not even afraid of death." Yang Tongchuan glanced at the bean sprout a few more times.

"Yes, yes, yes, did you hear what Officer Yang said? Hurry up and go home."

Xiangxi wasn't unafraid; he was simply helpless.

Uncle Chen sent Xiangxi away.

When Xiangxi returned home, she told her brother and sister-in-law what had happened.

My little nephew Bao'er is awake and playing in the room.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it then. We'll talk about it tomorrow. You go and make dinner first, just make something simple." My sister-in-law touched her belly with a worried look on her face.

Her deceased husband was an alcoholic. When he wasn't drinking, he was a decent person and could help her set up a stall to make some money.

But once he starts drinking, he's no longer a human being. She's been pregnant several times, but he kicked her out each time when he was drunk and acting crazy.

That year, in the dead of winter, the drunkard went out drinking and slipped on his way back, lying on the snow and never getting up again.

When she was discovered the next day and told, she was too stiff to fit into her burial clothes.

After the funeral of the deceased was over, she discovered that she was pregnant again.

Just when he was worried about how to get through the day, he met Xiang Qiang.

Aside from being a bit poor and a bit slow-witted, this man didn't have any other problems, so the two of them just made do and got together.

There was no banquet; Xiang Qiang and Xiang Xi moved into his own home.

After Bao'er was born, she always wanted to have another child with Xiang Qiang.

Perhaps it's because they've had too many miscarriages in the past. After all these years of trying, they've always managed to conceive, but each time they'd miscarry within a few months. This time, the baby in her belly is the one they've carried the longest.

But after today's events, this commotion has made her stomach hurt a little again.