Lin Xiaoman was strong. She grabbed Lin Erhu like a chick and set him back in place. “No rush. Let’s move the wardrobe first.”
She had just taken a look over there. About five steps east, there was a large tree. The door had opened right there. With the tree as cover, they wouldn’t have to worry about being seen and mistaken for ghosts.
She just wasn’t sure—if they moved the wardrobe on this side, would the door move on that side too?
The siblings each took one side and shifted the wardrobe five steps east. Sure enough, the scene inside changed. It seemed that moving the wardrobe on this side shifted the door’s position on the other.
They walked through the wardrobe one after the other. Looking back, the door was now exactly where the tree trunk was.
Lin Xiaoman took Lin Erhu’s hand and gave him a serious warning: “Don’t let go! Don’t run off! Don’t say anything you shouldn’t!”
Lin Erhu looked embarrassed. He was eleven now, practically a grown lad by village standards. What grown lad still needed to hold his sister’s hand when going out?
When he saw that Lin Xiaoman was reaching for the belt loop on his waist—was she about to tie him to her—because he hadn’t nodded in agreement, he quickly grabbed her hand. “Sis, I won’t let go, I won’t let go!”
Only then was Lin Xiaoman satisfied. She took his hand and headed toward the area with more people.
Before they got close, the aroma of sizzling meat wafted through the air. Lin Erhu swallowed hard with a loud gulp.
It wasn’t that he was greedy for food. Back when their parents were alive, their family had meat nearly every day. But ever since their parents passed, it had been over a year since either of them had tasted meat.
Lin Xiaoman looked toward the source of the scent. There was a strange cart with a transparent case on top. Inside the case, rows of long, cylindrical items and round items were rolling.
A voice came from a black box: “Grilled sausages, fish balls, two yuan per skewer.”
Lin Xiaoman guessed the long ones were the grilled sausages and the round ones the fish balls. They were sold skewered, just like candied hawthorn sticks.
But what was two yuan? Was it a kind of coin? That made sense—coins were round!
She was about to go over and buy two skewers to share with Lin Erhu when a woman in a long dress, accompanied by two children, beat her to it.
“Give me two grilled sausages!”
With that, the woman held up a small square device, pointed it at the cart, tapped it a few times, and the black box announced: “Payment received, four yuan. Thank you for your patronage, and please come again!”
The siblings stared in astonishment. “Sis, do people here not use money to buy things? But where do you get one of those square things?”
Lin Xiaoman shook her head. She wanted to know too!
A woman in a tight top and a short skirt walked past. She held a square device to her ear, talking loudly as she went:
“What’s the deal? My family pays for the renovation, my family buys the appliances, after marriage I’ll be supporting your mother, plus helping you pay off the mortgage—that’s in your mother’s name, by the way—and you think my asking for eighty-eight thousand in betrothal money is too much? … Hah, you’ve got over two hundred thousand to buy a new car, but no money for eighty-eight thousand in betrothal money? So I’m worth less than your car, is that it? Your little abacus beads are flying right into my face… Alright, bye-bye to you. I’ll come by tonight to move my stuff out… So what if we slept together? I’ll just treat it like being bitten by a dog… If all men are as pathetic as you, I’d rather stay single for life… Pfft! Scumbag!”
Good heavens. Lin Xiaoman had always thought the women of Hedong Village were the fiercest around for miles, but it turned out there was always someone fiercer.
If this were Hedong Village, people would be poking right through this woman’s backbone with their gossip.
But although Lin Xiaoman only understood half of what she heard, she couldn’t help feeling that the woman’s rant was… oddly satisfying.
Lin Xiaoman raised her hand to cover Lin Erhu’s ears. Erhu was still young; he shouldn’t be hearing this kind of thing.
Still, that square thing was truly amazing. You could buy things with it, and you could use it to curse people out.
The siblings walked slowly, weaving through the crowd. Though people glanced their way, there was no contempt or malice in their gazes—just curiosity about their clothing.
They walked past the grass and trees and spotted a small river in the distance. By the riverbank stood a few low straw sheds, and people in even more tattered clothes than theirs wandered about.
The siblings were overjoyed. So this place wasn’t entirely unfamiliar—at least there were people dressed similarly to them.
But although these people wore ragged clothes, their faces were flushed with health and their backs were broad and strong. Unlike the siblings, who had gone a year without enough to eat and were gaunt and sallow.
As they approached the crowd, a man holding a horn-shaped object shouted: “Places, everyone! We’re doing another take of the scene where the refugees grab the food. Got it? You’re refugees who haven’t eaten in months, not nobles out for a stroll. I want fierce, I want ruthless! Understood?”
“Under… stood…” came the sparse replies from the crowd.
Before the siblings could figure out what was happening, they saw two large bags of steamed buns dumped onto the grass by the river.
Steamed buns made with white flour?
Their eyes went wide with shock. Not just during the past year living with their grandparents—even when their parents were alive, their family couldn’t afford white flour regularly, let alone steamed buns made from such fine white flour. They had never seen anything like it.
That man wanted them to grab the white flour buns, and to fight over them fiercely? What a kind soul!
Even the refugees here were so fortunate—eating better than the rich back home.
The man who had dumped the buns quickly walked away. Then they heard someone shout: “Scene three, shot two, take six!”
At the sound of a clapperboard, the people around them surged toward the buns on the ground.
Without a word to each other, the siblings let go of each other’s hands and charged into the crowd with all their might.
Lin Erhu was small and nimble, weaving through the gaps in the crowd and soon reaching the front.
Lin Xiaoman gave no ground either. Relying on her strength, she shoved her way forward, the people she pushed aside stumbling from her force. Cries of pain rang out around her.
Soon the siblings were side by side, reaching the pile of buns at almost the same moment. They crouched down and began stuffing buns into their clothes.
Seeing the people behind them closing in, the siblings decided to go all out. They threw themselves onto the pile of buns, pinning them tightly beneath their bodies.
Lin Erhu kicked his legs wildly, keeping anyone from getting too close—though that only stirred up others’ competitive spirit.
Some people grabbed their legs, trying to drag them away. The siblings clung fiercely to the buns beneath them. They could be dragged off, but they weren’t letting go of the buns! They guarded their food with everything they had.
Lin Xiaoman took the opportunity to strike back a few times, careful to hold back her strength and not actually hurt anyone—though she still earned a few curses.
A voice from the horn called out, “Cut!”
The crowd erupted in chatter and complaints: “Who brought these two kids? Do they have to act like it’s life or death?”
“Ouch! I got kicked several times. Anyone watching would think they haven’t eaten in days.”
“Come on, the kids did a good job. So you got kicked a few times—how much can it hurt? If you can’t handle a little pain, why be an extra?”
“Easy for you to say. Why don’t you let them kick you and see how much it hurts?”
The siblings lay on top of the buns, listening to the adults say things they only half understood, refusing to get up.
A young woman’s voice came from outside the crowd: “Alright, this take is done. Come over to collect your pay.”
The crowd began moving toward her. Each person held a small square device as they passed by the short-haired woman, and every so often, a voice announced: “WeChat payment received, fifty yuan!”
Eh? Another phrase she’d never heard before.