“A-Ye is a grateful person. Back then, he originally wanted to sell himself into slavery and even insisted that the village head draw up a contract. It was your father and I who waived all that. Your father just wanted to find a reliable child to care for us in our old age and see us to our graves, not a servant to wait on him. Our family isn’t some grand household; we don’t follow those customs. Finally, we invited the village head and several senior elders to bear witness, and A-Ye settled down in Tianshui Village.” He Guixiang said this while stealing a glance at Lin Shu.
What was an outsider who would provide for one’s old age? Was that not a matrilocal son-in-law?
The hint was already very obvious, yet to her surprise, Lin Shu had no reaction. It was unclear whether she didn’t understand or if she understood but simply had no such intentions.
He Guixiang let out a sigh of regret.
After A-Yao left, in order to put their family’s mind at ease, A-Ye had approached her and Lin Dashan and promised that if he couldn’t be their son-in-law, it was his lack of fortune, and he would be like a son to them from then on.
At that time, both she and Lin Dashan were distraught and didn’t respond to those words, but in their hearts, they already looked upon Zhou Ye as half a son.
If A-Shu wasn’t interested in A-Ye, then so be it. In the future, she would look more carefully and pick someone for A-Shu who had good character and whom she liked.
Lin Dashan took a hasty cold shower in the courtyard, and He Guixiang finished washing the dishes. Once the two Lin sisters were in bed, He Guixiang finally carried the oil lamp into the inner room.
Seeing that Lin Dashan had already lied down, she was about to trim the wick, but Lin Dashan told her not to extinguish the light yet. Then, with a foolish grin, he pulled out ninety copper coins and gave them to her.
He Guixiang said in surprise, “Husband, what work did you do today to get so much money?”
“I spent ten copper coins on two sugar cakes; it was a total of one hundred wen. Today, I helped the manager of the grain shop in town unload goods. Originally, based on the amount I unloaded, I would have only received seventy wen. However, while the manager was supervising, his foot slipped and he fell. I moved quickly and rushed over to cushion his fall, so he didn’t get hurt. The manager was conscientious and specifically gave me an extra thirty wen. He even said that no matter when I go in the future, he will take me on for work.”
Normally, he would absolutely never be willing to spend ten copper coins on two sugar cakes, but these thirty wen felt like a windfall, so he could afford to be generous. Besides, his biological daughter had returned, and his heart was full of joy.
The joy at the corners of He Guixiang’s mouth faded slightly. “Father of my children, you’re not a young man anymore. Don’t be so impulsive in the future. If that manager had fallen and crushed you, wouldn’t you have to lie in bed for several days? It’s not worth it for thirty wen.”
“It’s fine, I know what I’m doing. See, am I not perfectly fine? A-Xiang, come lie down over here.” Lin Dashan suddenly pulled her over.
He Guixiang laughingly pushed him. “You’re being indecent! What are you fooling around for? You’ve been tired all day and still won’t rest properly.”
“Tomorrow I’m resting; I’m not going anywhere. A-Ye next door isn’t here, so it’s fine even if we make a bit more noise…”
Zhou Ye, who was still in the mountains searching for delicacies, was fine, but Lin Shu, who lived next door to the next door, was the one dealing with it.
The thatched house was not soundproof. Even with a room in between, the two of them could hear the faint sounds.
Lin Xiaopu was young and didn’t understand yet, but Lin Shu clicked her tongue twice.
“Father’s energy is really vigorous. After being busy outside all day, he can still keep being busy upon returning.”
Lin Xiaopu was salivating over the sugar cake, her mind elsewhere. There were two sugar cakes; Lin Shu had eaten hers in one bite, but Lin Xiaopu couldn’t bear to finish hers. She took one bite and set the rest aside, intending to save it for the next day. Hearing this, she added, “Brother A-Ye is the truly impressive one. A large stone mortar that several strong men have to lift together—two or three hundred catties—he can lift it all by himself.”
“He’s that strong?” Lin Shu was surprised, then she was stunned for a moment.
She thought of herself in the apocalypse.
During the apocalypse, zombies ran rampant, and disasters, both natural and man-made, were everywhere. Some people awakened abilities, such as lightning, or metal, wood, water, fire, and earth abilities. She was lucky enough to awaken a physical ability—infinite monstrous strength.
But compared to other abilities, this one seemed useless. It couldn’t strike zombies with lightning from above, nor could it raise earth walls from below. Consequently, she was often ordered around by the base to do various odd jobs and heavy labor.
In the early stages, she was always doing the hardest and most tiring work while earning the least money and food.
After her infinite monstrous strength awakened, her appetite became unprecedentedly large. The portions of an ordinary person simply couldn’t satisfy her, and she was hungry almost every meal.
Everyone was starving in the apocalypse, but she was especially hungry. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, she resolutely joined the vanguard. Using her fists as weapons, she could crush a zombie monster with a single punch. This was also how her nickname, “Violent Delicate Flower,” came about.
When she finally had enough money to finish five large bowls of rice for the first time, it shocked the entire base. Many people gossiped about her appetite behind her back, but she had no time to deal with them. In the apocalypse, getting full was what mattered; everything else was trivial.
Thinking of those days of starvation, Lin Shu asked curiously, “How many bowls of rice can Zhou Ye eat in one meal?”
Lin Xiaopu hesitated, not knowing for a moment whether to tell the truth or a lie.
The fact that Brother A-Ye had a huge appetite was a secret between the two of them. If she told a third person, would Brother A-Ye be angry? But her elder sister was different from her father and mother; surely it was okay to tell her? Besides, her sister was clever, and this matter probably couldn’t be hidden from her for long.
After the two little versions of herself in her heart had a fight, the one that wanted to tell the truth finally gained the upper hand.
Thus, Lin Xiaopu said truthfully, “Brother A-Ye usually eats two large bowls of dry rice, three large bowls of thick porridge, or five large bowls of watery porridge. It sounds like a lot, but he has never actually been full. To fill his stomach, he often goes into the mountains to find food. Because he’s afraid Father and Mother will find out, he chews raw tree bark, grass roots, and wild fruits.”
Lin Shu looked shocked. “Father and Mother don’t know about this? Did he tell you about eating tree bark and grass roots?”
Lin Xiaopu lowered her voice. “Only I know about this, and I discovered it myself. Once, Brother A-Ye came back very late. I happened to run into him when I got up in the night. When I spoke to him, I smelled a grassy scent from his mouth. Later, I secretly observed him and found that he stops eating after a certain amount every meal. When he’s starving, he goes into the mountains to find food. After autumn begins, there are more fruits and edible roots, so Brother A-Ye has it a bit easier. It’s miserable during the spring and summer; he can only chew on some flowers and grass, and he wakes up hungry every night.”
As she spoke, she sighed like a little adult. “Sigh, I wanted to tell Father and Mother, but Brother A-Ye adamantly refused.”
Likely because she had once experienced the same thing, Lin Shu was full of sympathy after hearing this.
She knew the feeling of an empty stomach all too well, especially since the current Zhou Ye was a “rice bucket” just like her former self.
Thinking that she still needed to ask Zhou Ye to dig a fish pond for her in the future, Lin Shu couldn’t help but start pondering.
She could guess the reason why Zhou Ye kept this a secret. He must have been disliked by others in his own home because of this appetite. Now that he was living under someone else’s roof and eating their food, if he let people know he needed to eat that much to be full, who would dare to support him?
But big eaters also had their advantages. For instance, the strength she had when she was 50% full compared to 70% full was vastly different. If she could make sure Zhou Ye was completely full, he might be able to dig out the fish pond she wanted in just a day or two without delaying anything else!
The family’s grain reserves couldn’t be touched; they were just barely enough to last until this year’s harvest. As for spending money, she didn’t have any spare cash. Now, she could only look for things in the deep mountains that could fill Zhou Ye’s stomach.
Guanyin tofu could stave off hunger, but with an appetite like Zhou Ye’s, she didn’t know how much would have to be made for him to feel satiated. However, foods that easily provided a sense of fullness, like fern roots or kudzu roots, weren’t in season for harvesting yet.
After Lin Shu calculated it, if there was nothing on the mountain, wouldn’t eating things from the water work? In this way, the problem came back to digging the fish pond.
She was already looking forward to Zhou Ye’s quick return.
After the two sisters finished their small talk, they fell asleep shortly after. Having run around the mountains and fields all day, their energy was completely spent, and this sleep was particularly sweet.
Early the next morning, Lin Xiaopu put on her straw sandals with high spirits and nimbly brought out the family’s water bucket.
“Sister, where are we going to catch fish?”
“We’ll look for a place with many fish and few people. My method of catching fish is a secret recipe; we can’t let others learn it.”
Lin Dashan happily listened to her boasting and offered a suggestion. “Follow the river where our Tianshui Village washes clothes and hemp downstream. Go past the village entrance and walk another two miles. The river there is the widest and largest, and there are the most fish, but the water is also deep, so you are not allowed to go there. There’s also a good place upstream. Follow the upstream path for less than three miles; our family’s other two acres of paddy fields are nearby. In the place where the river curves, the water isn’t too deep or too shallow, and it’s very clear. You can see several fish in there quite plainly. You can go there.”
Usually at this time, Lin Dashan would either be in the fields or in town, but the work in town yesterday had exhausted him, and he needed half a day’s rest to recover.
However, he was someone who couldn’t stay idle. He would probably go to the fields to take a look after breakfast. Weeding wasn’t necessary for the time being, but he had to dig and patch up areas in the fields where there was too little or too much water, and channel water from the ditches or drain it.
Lin Dashan’s eyes were full of work.
Lin Shu replied readily, “Thank you for your valuable advice, Father. We’ll go to the place you mentioned. Just you wait, Xiaopu and I will bring back a big bucket of fish for you!”
“Alright, I’ll be waiting!”
Lin Shu took the empty wooden bucket from Lin Xiaopu’s hand, found a thick wooden stick from the woodpile to toss inside, and cradled a roll of old woven rattan matting she had asked He Guixiang for under her other arm.
He Guixiang had made dry rations for the two of them to take so they wouldn’t have to go back and forth, but Lin Shu refused, saying with a smile, “We’ll be back soon, in time for breakfast. If we’re a bit late, just keep it warm in the pot for us, Mother.”
“Still, take two pancakes to pad your stomach if you get hungry before you come back for a proper breakfast.” He Guixiang wrapped two coarse flour pancakes in clean tung leaves, tied them with hemp rope, and had Lin Xiaopu carry them.
The two sisters walked for fifteen minutes before they reached the river where the villagers usually washed clothes. The riverbank was overgrown with various weeds, and Lin Shu even saw several taro plants growing lush and tall.
Early morning was the perfect time for washing clothes. A few villagers had already found good spots and were squatting by the river, using wooden clubs to beat their laundry and bedding.
Among them were older women and young wives. Those who knew each other gathered in groups, chatting and laughing with one another.