De volta a 82: Não posso perder nenhuma das minhas filhas

A sharp intake of breath! How bitterly cold it was!

A fierce gust of snow wind swept across him, causing Tang Jiancheng to tremble uncontrollably. He yanked his tattered cotton jacket tight against his body, yet the chill only deepened.

Yet his heart burned with warmth, his emotions surging with rare excitement.

Gazing at the swirling snowflakes and the cluster of old earthen houses half-buried in the drifts nearby, Tang Jiancheng itched to throw his head back and laugh wildly to the heavens: "Hahaha, I have been reborn! I truly returned to 1982! Heaven has been kind to me!"

In truth, he neither laughed nor shouted nor performed any such gesture. He simply stood up silently, brushed the accumulated snow from his shoulders, and then walked quickly toward home with his head lowered.

If his memory served him correctly, today was the tenth day after the birth of his ninth daughter.

According to the customs of Daping Village, this was the occasion for the first fetal bath in the child's life, washing away the impurities of birth.

In Daping Village, every child born received three fetal baths: one on the tenth day after birth, one on the full-moon day, and the final one on the hundredth day.

Each fetal bath was conducted with solemn reverence.

Mugwort was burned to prepare the water, and two eggs were boiled.

The eggs were not for consumption; rather, their shells were peeled and rolled over the baby's body during the mugwort-infused bath.

It was said that this would draw out the 'toxins