Chapter 97: The Infant Tower

Liu San wanted to go down into the courtyard and look around the rooms, but Fifth Sister-in-law Sun blocked the steps. He said, “I want to go in and see.”

Fifth Sister-in-law Sun didn’t move, smiling apologetically. “Master, this is the Qingjie Courtyard. Even a mother and her own son are not allowed to stay in the courtyard once the boy reaches the age of seven. The people living here are widows. If the Master goes in, I’m afraid… I’m afraid…” Seeing that Liu San still looked bewildered, Fifth Sister-in-law Sun had to be blunt. “…I’m afraid it will damage their reputation.”

Only then did Liu San understand why she was blocking him. He thought for a moment and felt there was no need for a closer look. Although it was better here than outside, it wasn’t much better. After all, Huanghua Temple itself was too dilapidated, and the management of the Puji Hall was very chaotic. It would take more than a day to rectify it. There was no rush.

“In that case, have everyone in the courtyard, young and old, come out. I want to see them.”

Fifth Sister-in-law Sun wanted to refuse again, but seeing Mao Xiuyu repeatedly winking at her, and feeling that it was unwise to keep defying the newly arrived “Australian,” she had no choice but to say, “Please wait a moment, Master. This servant will go and summon them now.”

With that, she began to strike a wooden clapper under the eaves.

With the dull, mournful sound of the clapper, many women came out from the various cells. The old were old women with chicken-like skin and crane-like hair, while the young were still in their prime. Some held infants in their arms, others had children in tow. Regardless of age, they were all dressed in indigo blue cloth. No makeup, with only a white flower in their hair as their sole adornment. They stood in the courtyard with their eyes downcast, silent.

Only now did Liu San feel that this place looked a bit like a charitable institution. At least the courtyard was neat and clean, and the women were not in rags, looking like beggars.

“This is the new Chief Medical Officer,” Fifth Sister-in-law Sun said loudly when most of the people had gathered. “He has come especially for an inspection.”

The women curtsied unevenly. “Blessings to the Master,” their voices were scattered and weak.

Liu San carefully looked at these women who had “vowed to remain chaste.” Their faces were either pale and bloodless or sallow, probably from working indoors all day with little sunlight. Naturally, there were no fat people here. Although they were not emaciated, they all looked thin and weak. The young children in the courtyard were sallow and thin, with dull eyes and slow movements. Looking at the stout Fifth Sister-in-law Sun, it was clear that the food here was not good; it was just enough to keep them from starving.

If judged by modern nutritional standards, everyone here was a patient with chronic malnutrition.

Liu San frowned. “How many meals are served here a day?”

“Reporting to the Master: two meals a day. One of rice and one of congee.”

“And the children?”

“The same,” Fifth Sister-in-law Sun said, not knowing why Master Liu was so interested in the children.

“What a pity,” Liu San said with emotion. These hundred or so “chaste women” were locked up in this living coffin of a courtyard year after year, looking at the square sky, with only their looms for company for the rest of their lives. This cruelty and waste were simply outrageous. The whole of Hainan had so many strong, hardworking men without wives! It was simply against human nature!

He thought that in the entire Guangzhou Prefecture, in the whole of Guangdong, there were probably many such chaste women. This custom of encouraging chastity had to be severely cracked down on.

Fifth Sister-in-law Sun didn’t know what was “a pity.” She wondered if this Kun Master had taken a fancy to one of the young widows inside. That would be absolutely unacceptable. She began to think about how she should advise him if he really were to do such a thing.

Although Fifth Sister-in-law Sun was ruthless in exploiting the “chaste women,” she regarded “chastity” as more important than heaven itself. It was truly a case of “starvation is a small matter, but losing one’s chastity is a great matter.” It was best if not even a male sparrow was allowed to land in the courtyard.

As Liu San was considering how to reform the entire Puji Hall, especially how not to waste its human resources, someone in the crowd suddenly screamed, “Chief Medical Officer! Help!”

Liu San was startled. A ripple went through the crowd, which had been as still as a dry well. A woman squeezed out from the crowd, knelt at the foot of the stone steps, and kowtowed repeatedly, her head hitting the stone slabs with a thud.

Fifth Sister-in-law Sun was shocked. She quickly jumped down, grabbed the woman’s hair, and cursed, “What are you shouting about?!” She then tried to drag her back.

Unexpectedly, the woman resisted desperately, continuing to cry and scream, “Master, help!”

Seeing this, Liu San felt something was amiss. He waved his hand and shouted, “Don’t pull her, let her speak!” He then said to the woman, “What is it? Just speak.”

Fifth Sister-in-law Sun didn’t dare to use force again and had to step aside. Only then did the woman cry and say that her child was sick, and not only did the courtyard refuse to treat him, but they had also thrown him into the infant tower behind the courtyard before he had even stopped breathing.

“…Although there is no medicine or doctor, the child is still alive,” the woman wailed. “Fifth Sister-in-law insisted he had smallpox and that he couldn’t stay in the courtyard because he would spread the disease, and she threw him into the tower alive! Please, Master, have mercy and save my son’s life!”

Hearing this, Liu San felt a surge of anger. His face turned red, and he glared, “Fifth Sister-in-law, is this true?!”

Fifth Sister-in-law Sun never expected this seemingly gentle Kun person to become so terrifying in an instant. Throwing a seriously ill child into the infant tower was a common practice, and no one had ever said anything about it. She never thought this Kun Master would be so angry… She couldn’t help but fall to her knees with a thud and tremble, “Master, Master, this is the custom of the courtyard. Her son has smallpox; he absolutely cannot stay in the courtyard…”

“Nonsense,” Liu San roared. “Get up and take me to the infant tower!”

Fifth Sister-in-law Sun quickly scrambled up and went out. She wanted to lock the door behind her, but seeing Liu San’s angry face and the unfriendly expressions of the guards, she no longer cared about being “strict” and stumbled ahead to lead the way.

The so-called infant tower was at the back gate of Huanghua Temple. This was originally the temple’s garden, but now it was dilapidated and overgrown, filled with bat droppings, spiderwebs, hornet nests, and fox tracks. The back gate was wide open, and next to it was the infant tower.

The infant tower resembled a pagoda and was less than a zhang high. There was a small door in the tower wall that one had to bend down to enter. In front of the tower was a filthy wooden basin.

Mao Xiuyu said that all the children who died in the hall were cremated here, and their ashes were placed in the tower. The children of common people who died young could also be brought here and placed in this wooden basin to be cremated by the hall and placed in the tower.

As he approached the tower, he could already smell a stench of decay—the smell of a rotting corpse. Liu San couldn’t help but frown and took out a mask from his pocket to wear. As he looked down, he saw the naked body of a child lying in a thorny bush less than five or six steps away from him. The child was only four or five years old, and the body was already bloated like a giant, with flies buzzing around it.

Looking around in the nearby grass and thorns, he could see many scattered small bones. A small, skeletal hand, belonging to an infant less than a year old, was exposed in the grass.

Seeing this scene, which was like something out of a horror movie, Liu San felt a surge of anger. He leaned against the tower to steady himself, pointed at the bones, and his voice trembled, “What… is this?!”

Fifth Sister-in-law Sun didn’t dare to answer. Mao Xiuyu mustered his courage and said that these were all the children of common people who had died young, and some were the bodies of those who had died on the streets.

“…Most of them hire undertakers to bury the children, but those people have no conscience. They find it too troublesome to go to the public burial ground, so they just dump them here.”

“You have a conscience, so why don’t you bury the children’s bones?!” Liu San thundered. “You just let them be exposed in the wilderness! I saw the words ‘benevolence and righteousness’ hanging at the entrance here—I’ve been looking all this time, and I haven’t seen half a bit of benevolence or righteousness! Have your benevolence and righteousness been eaten by dogs?!”

Mao Xiuyu didn’t dare to say more and stood there in silence.

As Liu San was fuming, he suddenly heard the faint sound of a baby crying. He stopped to listen carefully. It seemed to be coming from inside the infant tower. He pressed his ear against the tower wall—this time he heard it more clearly. It was indeed a child crying inside the tower.

He went to the entrance of the tower and was about to bend down and go in when the guard squad leader quickly stopped him. “Chief, don’t go. I’ll go in! It’s too dark inside!”

Reminded by him, Liu San realized it was inappropriate. He said, “Get me a torch. I’ll go in myself.”

The squad leader insisted on not letting him, but in the end, he went in with him.

As soon as they entered the tower, they were hit by a strong smell of decay. It wasn’t as dark as they had imagined. There were a few small skylights on the pagoda, letting in some light, so they could see勉强 without a torch.

They saw that the inside of the tower was filled with layers of small pottery jars, stacked higher than a person. Many of the ones at the bottom had been crushed and broken. The ground was covered with a thick layer of broken pottery shards, ashes, and bones. Many of the fragmented bones had not been cremated; they had clearly been thrown in directly. In this horrifying pile of bones, a young child in a small indigo blue shirt was crying. His voice was hoarse, and he was on the verge of death. Liu San quickly picked up the child. The squad leader said, “Chief, this child is sick. I’m afraid he’s contagious. I’ll carry him.”

Liu San didn’t say a word and carried the child out of the infant tower. Seeing the bright sunlight outside, he said to the guard squad leader, “Use your hat to shield him.”

He used the squad leader’s basin-shaped hat to shield the child from the sun, to prevent his eyes from being burned by the sudden exposure to sunlight after being in the dark. Looking closely, he saw it was a boy, about one year old. Although he was sallow and thin, he was clean, and it was clear his mother had taken good care of him. Liu San saw that there were no smallpox pustules on his face, but there were many blisters on his small hands and arms, and papules on his scalp. He knew it wasn’t smallpox, but chickenpox.

Chickenpox is not a serious disease and usually heals on its own with proper care. But in this time and space, with malnourished children and poor resistance, it often caused high fever or pneumonia complications—which were fatal in the 17th century.

He felt the child’s hands and feet; he was indeed running a fever, and it was not low. But from the sound of his crying, his lungs were not infected, so treatment would not be too difficult. He ordered, “Go! To the Qingjie Hall!” He then said to Fifth Sister-in-law Sun, “Go and prepare a basin of cool water immediately! And then make some rice water!”

Fifth Sister-in-law Sun responded repeatedly and hurried off.