Shu Yao was forced to follow the flow of people, one hand protecting the child against her chest while the other held the vegetable basket high.
The last time she had experienced a scene like this was when she went to the supermarket with her grandfather and grandmother to buy New Year goods as a child.
Fortunately, two kind comrades beside her kept intentionally and unintentionally shielding her from being crushed by the crowd.
The commotion outside the market was enormous. The Red Guards held their heads high and chests out as they escorted the Stinking Ninth Category members onto the platform. Among them, Shu Yao saw familiar faces: Qin Shu and Su Zhiyun, one in front of the other, their expressions numb.
Someone was the first to throw a Pebble over there.
“Bah! Capitalists, Stinking Ninth Category members, big landlords!”
After that, broken pebbles and rotten vegetable leaves flew through the air, viciously striking the heads of that group and making their already-bent backs hunch even more.
A Pebble struck Qin Shu at the corner of her forehead. Shu Yao instinctively took a step forward, unable to describe what she felt. She could not bear to look any longer, but just as she turned around, she suddenly heard a familiar voice.
“Mama—mmph.”
“Older Brother—”
Shen Huaizheng looked at Shen Huaiyi with tears welling in his eyes.
“Have you forgotten what Mama told us? Xiao Zheng, don’t shout.”
Shen Huaiyi gripped his Younger Brother’s hand tightly, stopping him from running over.
“Huaiyi, Huaizheng.”
Someone suddenly pulled them back from behind.
“Little Aunt.”
When he saw Shu Yao, the tears Shen Huaiyi had been forcing himself to hold back finally fell.
“Let’s go.”
Shu Yao led them to a corner. Everyone was watching the spectacle, so this place was instead completely deserted.
“Little Aunt, father, mother, Grandfather, grandmother, and Younger Uncle were all taken away.”
Shen Huaizheng clung to Shu Yao’s waist and sobbed loudly.
The two brothers were actually not familiar with Shu Yao. At home, this Little Aunt had been rather unwilling to pay attention to them.
But now, she seemed to have become their only support and their mainstay.
“Be good, Huaizheng. Don’t cry. Father, mother, Grandfather, grandmother, and Younger Uncle will definitely come back.”
“Are you two all right?”
She touched the swollen red marks on the brothers’ faces and also saw that their clothes were covered in dust.
“Those people hit you?!”
That was outrageous. They did not even spare children.
“No, Liu Little Fatty and the others hit us.”
Shen Huaiyi shook his head.
Liu Little Fatty? He seemed to be one of the children from the compound too.
“It just hurts a little. It’s not serious.”
He sensibly comforted Shu Yao in return.
Shen Huaizheng stared at the vegetable basket in Shu Yao’s hand and swallowed. His stomach began to growl.
“You haven’t eaten breakfast yet, have you?”
“Come on, come home with me.”
“No, Little Aunt. It’ll implicate you and Younger Brother.”
Shen Huaiyi shook his head and pulled his Younger Brother, wanting to run away, but Shu Yao grabbed him.
“It’s all right. You’re still children. No one will really hold it against you.”
“I live in Liuya'er Hutong now. It’s not close to the compound, and no one will recognize you.”
“Come home with me and eat something. Otherwise, if you starve yourselves, father and mother will feel heartache.”
Shu Yao took Shen Huaiyi’s hand.
“Hold your Younger Brother’s hand. We’re going home.”
Shen Huaiyi quietly tightened his grip on Shu Yao’s hand and sniffed.
Shu Yao brought the two of them back to Liuya'er Hutong. There was still only Auntie Cai in the courtyard.
“Oh my, Yaoyao, who are these two children?”
“My nephews. I happened to run into them on the way, so I brought them over to familiarize them with the route.”
Shen Huaiyi looked up at Shu Yao, then suddenly lowered his head and revealed a faint smile.
Actually, father, mother, and the others had all been taken away the previous night. Xiao Zheng was too hungry, so he had taken him to look for their Uncle, but their Maternal Aunt-in-Law had harshly scolded them, calling them disasters and telling them to get lost.
He knew their Uncle was at home, but until the door was viciously slammed shut by their Maternal Aunt-in-Law, their Uncle never came out.
But Little Aunt said they were her nephews.
“Xiao Yi, Xiao Zheng, greet Grandma Cai.”
“Greetings, Grandma Cai.”
The brothers spoke in unison.
“Yes, yes, what good boys.”
“Xiao Shu, everyone in your family is so good-looking!”
The more Cai Cuifang looked at them, the more envious she became. How did other people manage to have such good-looking children?
“These two boys got into a fight, didn’t they?”
“Exactly. They’re boys, after all. They’re all mischievous.”
“Auntie Cai, I’ll take them back to the room first.”
After returning to the room, Shu Yao first pulled the two brothers over and examined them from head to toe. Shen Huaizheng obediently let her look, but nine-year-old Shen Huaiyi blushed and refused to cooperate.
Shu Yao coaxed him for quite a while before he finally let go.
Fortunately, there were no serious injuries.
With her back turned to the two of them, she took out hydrogen peroxide and treated their wounds.
“Keep an eye on Younger Brother for me. I’ll go get you something to eat.”
Shu Yao went to the utility room, prepared a bowl of infant milk powder for each of them, and added infant finger biscuits, soaking them until they became soft and mushy.
Shen Huaiyi and Shen Huaizheng were truly starving. They ate without lifting their heads. After finishing a large bowl, they still licked their lips, clearly not quite satisfied.
Shu Yao frowned deeply.
“How many meals have you missed?”
“After those people left yesterday, Mama and grandmother used the millet scattered on the ground to cook a pot of porridge. Then, that evening, they were taken away.”
That meant they had eaten practically nothing since yesterday morning’s breakfast!
“Did they take away all your grain?”
“Those people said that our family ate rice and fine flour, which was the way of capitalists and hedonism, so they took it all away.”
“They also took Mama’s velvet dresses, grandmother’s wool coat, and the military overcoats belonging to Grandfather, father, and Younger Uncle. They even tore up the quilts.”
“Our money and grain tickets are gone too.”
The nine-year-old child recounted everything piece by piece, the light in his eyes fading completely.
“Little Aunt, will father, mother, Grandfather, grandmother, and Younger Uncle really come back?”
Tears brimmed in Shen Huaiyi’s eyes.
“They will. They definitely will.”
In her previous life, this entire family had been sent away through forced relocation.
“Huaiyi, Huaizheng, stay here and play with Younger Brother for a while. I’m going out.”
Shu Yao rode her bicycle to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, bought quite a lot of candy, five bags of biscuits, and three bags of walnut pastry.
After returning, she stayed in the small storage room for half a day. Using the kitchen in the large flat, she made a jar of Egg Sauce, kneaded the small remaining bag of flour, and baked many unleavened flatbreads.
When she had been a food streamer, her funds had been limited, so she could not afford finished products and always cooked everything herself. To avoid wronging her taste buds, she had worked hard to hone her skills, so her cooking was fairly decent.
Shu Yao kept the two brothers with her until evening, only sending them back after dark, to the Street around the corner from the compound.
“Huaiyi, there’s a very small dog hole by the western wall of the compound. Have you seen it?”
“Mm!”
Shen Huaiyi nodded.
“Good. Push this package through the dog hole. After you get inside, go over and retrieve it. Can you do that?”
“We can.”
“Go back.”
Shu Yao rubbed the brothers’ heads.
“If anything happens, quietly come to Liuya'er Hutong and find me.”
“Little Aunt, you’re so kind.”
Shen Huaiyi hugged Shu Yao around the waist. Shen Huaizheng copied him. The two quickly let go, picked up the package, and ran off at full speed.
The Shen Family Members did not return until very late. That day, they had been taken on a parade, lectured, made to recite Quotations, and dragged to a brick factory to work for half a day before the Red Guards finally showed mercy and let them go home.
Shen Zhongheng and Shen Zhongyue were still all right. Aside from the psychological trauma, they were not physically exhausted.
But Shen Jianghai was old. Although he had also been a soldier, his stamina had long since failed to keep up with young people. Qin Shu and Su Zhiyun were in even worse shape, practically carried home by their sons and husbands.
Following Shu Yao’s instructions, the two brothers carefully smuggled the package home, but their family still had not returned, so they curled up in the living room and waited.
When they heard movement, they rushed out and saw their mother and grandmother being carried by father and Younger Uncle. They immediately burst into frightened tears.
“Don’t cry. Mama and grandmother are fine. They’re just too tired and need to rest.”
The two women struggled to get down, their faces each more haggard than the other.
“Zhongheng, find a way to get some food. The children haven’t eaten for so long. They must be hungry.”
Thinking of her two sons going hungry for an entire day made Su Zhiyun’s heart ache.
“Zhongyue, you go too.”
Qin Shu spoke up.
“Mama, grandmother, there’s food. Little Aunt gave us food.”
The brothers struggled to drag the package over.
“You went to look for Little Aunt?”
Shen Zhongyue’s expression was not very pleasant.
“No. Little Aunt ran into us at the market and brought us home.”
“Little Aunt lives in Liuya'er Hutong now.”
“Little Aunt prepared milk powder for us and even brought cooked dishes back from the state-run restaurant.”
“She also made us sauce, baked flatbreads, and bought walnut pastry, biscuits, and candy.”
“There’s medicine too…”
The brothers finished speaking one sentence after another, and the living room fell silent.
“Mama, we went to look for our Uncle yesterday…”
After hearing this, Su Zhiyun hugged her sons and began to sob loudly.
“Mama, don’t cry. Little Aunt told us to bring back milk powder, saying it was for Grandfather, grandmother, and you to regain your strength.”
“How can you be so thoughtless? The milk powder is for Younger Brother. What will Younger Brother eat now that you brought it back?”
Su Zhiyun smacked Shen Huaiyi twice on the bottom.
Qin Shu also spoke up.
“Huaiyi, take the milk powder back tomorrow.”
Shen Huaiyi shook his head.
“Little Aunt said Younger Brother has food. If we don’t take it, she’ll throw it away.”
Shen Zhongyue squatted down and asked his eldest Nephew.
“Are you, Shu Yao, and Younger Brother doing all right?”
“We’re fine.”
Shen Huaiyi nodded, then his eyes curved slightly, as if he had remembered something amusing.
“Younger Brother wet the bed and made Little Aunt stomp around angrily, calling him a Little Ancestor.”
“And Younger Brother farted and drove Little Aunt out of the room.”
Shen Zhongyue tilted his head, imagining Shu Yao’s exasperated expression, and the lines of his face softened.
“Mama, I don’t like Uncle anymore. I like Little Aunt. She told Auntie Cai that we’re her nephews.”
Shen Huaizheng’s words were disjointed, but everyone understood what he meant.
It is easy to add flowers to brocade, but difficult to send charcoal in snowy weather.
Unexpectedly, when the Shen Family fell into hardship, the only one who still cared about them was Shu Yao—the person who had once hated them the most.
Shen Zhongyue’s expression was somewhat sorrowful. Shen Zhongheng patted him comfortingly on the shoulder.
“Since it was Yaoyao’s kindness, we shouldn’t let it go to waste.”
“Come to think of it, I haven’t tasted Yaoyao’s cooking yet.”
His hand had already reached toward the package when Shen Zhongyue slapped it away.
“Get lost. Do you think you get to go first?”
Of course, the eldest brother-in-law eventually got to taste his Younger Sister-in-Law’s cooking, because Shu Yao had made far too much, and food would not keep in summer.