In the past, Lin Er Lai had a good relationship with their father. Having been married for many years without having children of their own, he treated Lin Xiaoman and her brother like his own kids.
When Lin Erhu was little, Lin Er Lai often carried him on his shoulders and ran all around the village.
Last year, the earthquake claimed the lives of their parents, as well as Aunt Er Lai’s life and Uncle Er Lai’s leg.
Now, only Uncle Er Lai and his mother were left, relying on the small plot of land Uncle Er Lai’s mother tended and the clan’s support to get by.
Since the siblings didn’t have any copper coins to pay for labor, they went to discuss things with Uncle Er Lai’s mother instead.
As soon as they entered, they saw Uncle Er Lai’s mother sitting in the yard, lost in thought. Lin Xiaoman asked, “Fourth Grandma, where’s my Uncle Er Lai?”
Fourth Grandma sighed. “He went to visit your Aunt Er Lai early this morning.”
Even though Aunt Er Lai hadn’t been able to have children after years of marriage, the couple’s bond had always been the envy of others. Lin Xiaoman could only sigh in response. “We’ve collected quite a few mushrooms these past few days and can’t sell them all at once. We were hoping to hire someone to dry them into dried mushrooms and settle the payment with salt. I don’t trust anyone else, so I came to ask you for help, Fourth Grandma. I’ll pay you for the work.”
Fourth Grandma’s face, usually etched with sorrow, broke into a small smile. “What’s this about paying me? Your Fourth Grandma and Uncle Er Lai can’t do much else. With the farm work done for now, what’s wrong with helping you look after some mushrooms? If you mention payment again, I’ll get upset.”
Lin Xiaoman didn’t dare bring it up again. All they had were the two hundred copper coins from the family division. Since Fourth Grandma wouldn’t accept payment, she decided to give her some food and clothes from the other side instead.
Winter would soon arrive. Hedong Village was in the bitter cold of the north, and they didn’t have the cotton-padded clothes and quilts from the other side.
Wealthy families used silk floss to fill their winter clothes and bedding, while poor families had to make do with straw, rice stalks, and reeds. Every winter, people froze to death if they weren’t careful.
Lin Xiaoman remembered the quilts and cotton-padded clothes she had seen at the supermarket yesterday. Though they felt light to the touch, they looked warm. In a few days, when she and Lin Erhu bought some, she would also get some for Fourth Grandma and her son.
…
“Alright, I’ll go tell them later. From now on, any mushrooms collected will be brought to Fourth Grandma’s place. I’ll bring the salt over soon—one jar of salt for one basket of mushrooms, and I’ll make sure the jars are filled generously.”
Fourth Grandma agreed. Lin Xiaoman went back to fetch the salt. She had removed the packaging and poured the salt into cloth bags, each bag containing fifty small jars’ worth. She brought two bags and also brought along the small jar used for measuring the salt.
When Fourth Grandma opened the bag and saw the fine, white salt, she marveled, “Xiaoman, where did you buy this salt? It’s far better than what’s sold in town. A jar of this must cost over a hundred wen, right?”
How could Lin Xiaoman admit that she had bought the salt for almost nothing? She had to make up a story. “I went to town with Erhu a while back and ran into some out-of-town merchants selling salt, so I bought a few bags. You know, Fourth Grandma, private salt trading isn’t allowed by the court, so we had to keep it quiet. It wasn’t that expensive—about thirty wen per jar.”
Fourth Grandma shook her head. “A basket of mushrooms won’t sell for much in town. Trading a jar of salt for one basket—you’re losing out!”
Lin Xiaoman smiled sheepishly. “It’s not too bad. I’m not losing much. Fourth Grandma, where’s your salt jar? Let me fill one for you first.”
“No, no. You need this for your business. I can’t just take it for free.”
“If you won’t take my salt, Fourth Grandma, then I’d feel bad having you work for nothing.”
Fourth Grandma couldn’t refuse Lin Xiaoman, and besides, her family was truly out of salt. For the past few days, they had been surviving on wild vegetable porridge and had no energy left. In the end, seeing Lin Xiaoman fill a jar of salt for her, she stopped resisting.
Back home, Lin Xiaoman spread the word to the villagers: from now on, any mushrooms collected should be taken to Fourth Grandma’s house, where the salt would also be distributed.
Word spread quickly, and finally, the commotion at their place died down. The siblings could now focus on going to the other side to sell mushrooms.
Hedong Village had gathered enough spiky fruits and no longer worried about surviving the winter. However, the neighboring villages were not as united as Hedong Village.
As soon as they heard about Hedong Village harvesting spiky fruits in the mountains, people rushed to gather them before the village heads or clan leaders could organize a proper effort. By the time the leaders tried to step in, most of the spiky fruits had already been picked by frenzied villagers who couldn’t be stopped.
In the chaos, several fights broke out over the spiky fruit groves. Almost every day, people were injured by thrown spiky fruits.
The worst incident happened in Yaojia Village. Two families, closely related, resorted to using knives, injuring two people. Fortunately, no one died, so the authorities were not alerted.
When the Lin family of Hedong Village heard about it, they felt a wave of fear. In times of famine, everyone feared their own family starving. If not for the clan leader, Lin Daqiang, organizing the villagers to go up the mountain together and distributing the harvest fairly, something similar might have happened in Hedong Village.
Early that morning, someone from Yaojia Village arrived. The eldest uncle’s wife’s younger brother, Yao Sancheng, brought over a basket of eggs. He explained that, thanks to his brother-in-law’s early warning, their family had gone up the mountain to harvest spiky fruits three days ahead of the others. By the time the others arrived, they had already stockpiled over a thousand jin of spiky fruits.
Old Lady Lin’s face twisted with displeasure. “So that’s how other villages found out we were picking spiky fruits—it was because of a traitor in our own family. If not for the eldest’s wife thinking about her maiden family, our village could have gathered so much more!”
Yao Sancheng felt humiliated. He had come under the pretense of gratitude to check on his sister and reassure her about her family, even bringing eggs. Why did the old lady have to twist it into something so ugly?
As he left, Yao wanted to give her brother some dried mushrooms they had prepared. While others took mushrooms to Lin Xiaoman’s house to trade for salt, her family couldn’t bring themselves to do so, so their mushrooms had to be dried and eaten at home.
“What a wonderful daughter! After all these years of marriage, she still cares about her maiden family. I’m not so blessed!”
“Sister, these mushrooms grow everywhere. If we want some, we’ll pick them ourselves. Keep them for your own family.” Fuming, Yao Sancheng left empty-handed, vowing never to set foot in the Lin family’s house again.
Yao chased after him. She didn’t give him the mushrooms but whispered, “Xiaoman and Erhu are trading salt for mushrooms. When you go back, have the family gather some and bring them here to trade with them.”
Yao Sancheng’s eyes lit up. He had heard from his brother-in-law that the idea of gathering spiky fruits came from those two siblings. He also remembered people saying that the siblings’ late mother was a great cook. Whatever they were doing with the mushrooms, trading them for salt was a good deal.
When Yao returned, the old lady was in the yard, cursing one person while meaning another.
Yao was about to argue with her when Lin Goudan tugged at her sleeve and whispered, “Mom, don’t argue with Grandma. If she gets angry at you, you’re dead!”
Yao froze, reminded of the night when the old man had stormed around the yard searching for eavesdroppers. She asked, “Did you hear something? Tell me.”
“I heard Grandpa and Grandma say that Second Aunt was pulled in front of a collapsing beam by Grandma and that’s how she got crushed to death.”
Hearing her son’s words, even in broad daylight, Yao couldn’t help but shiver.
The old lady had always spoken highly of her second daughter-in-law, praising her wealthy family and how generously she spent money on her. Her words had sounded sweeter than a song. But then, without blinking, she had killed her?
Living in the same courtyard with her in-laws, Yao saw them every day. If one day the old lady decided she didn’t like her, would she really end up dead, as Lin Goudan had implied?
From then on, the eldest uncle’s wife worked harder, stopped talking back to the old lady, and fussed over her attentively, keeping her comfortable. Even when the old lady said something nasty, she responded with a smile. But she couldn’t help stealing glances at her, and the more she looked, the more ferocious the old lady’s face seemed.
The old lady, on the other hand, thought her eldest daughter-in-law had finally realized who truly ran the household and felt quite pleased with herself.
Yet, every time she sat alone, she had the strange sensation of being watched. Turning toward the feeling, she saw her eldest daughter-in-law dutifully busy with her chores.
Was she imagining things? Or was there an unseen pair of eyes fixed on her?