Beautiful times always pass quickly.
As sunlight began to spread across the land and temperatures started to rise, everyone had to begin their labor for the coming year’s harvest.
“Testing, testing.” The brigade captain’s raspy voice came through the old loudspeaker. “Attention, villagers. The snow on the mountains has begun to thaw over the past few days. Work details will start tomorrow. Able-bodied men are to be assigned to dig ditches.”
The work at this time mainly involved digging drainage channels. The ground was still frozen during the early thaw, making it unsuitable for planting. However, the snow on the mountains had already started melting, so ditches had to be dug in advance each year to give the meltwater somewhere to drain.
When Wu Jun heard the loudspeaker announcement, he was already busy repairing the house, with Grandpa Wu assisting.
Most of the houses in the village were made of rammed earth, with shallow foundations. The area got a lot of snow in winter—sometimes over a meter deep. As a result, several families with older houses had walls collapse. Though only the courtyard walls had fallen, it still gave everyone quite a scare.
The Wu family’s house was in better shape—a semi-brick-and-tile structure with a relatively deep foundation. Still, to avoid any accidents, Wu Jun was also repairing the walls around the house today, just like everyone else. The snow on the sunny side melted quickly, while the shaded side melted slowly, which could easily cause the house to tilt. So Grandpa Wu found some thick wooden beams to brace the walls.
“Uncle Dazhuang, are we digging drainage ditches together again this year?” Wu Jun called out, swinging a shovel at the frozen soil near the courtyard wall. When he saw Uncle Dazhuang from across the way come out, he quickly asked.
“Of course! Daniu and Erniu will come over to dig together later.”
Wu Jun chatted with Uncle Dazhuang as he dug. Suddenly, he felt something off. He looked down and saw—would you believe it—he had unearthed a nest of common, non-venomous grass snakes.
The snakes he had just dug up were still in hibernation, moving sluggishly. Uncle Dazhuang stopped in his tracks, walked over with a laugh, and patted Wu Jun on the shoulder. “Boy, you’re in luck! You just dug up a pot full of meat first thing in the morning. Hurry up and get a basket before these snakes wake up.”
Wu Jun grinned back and quickly went inside to fetch a basket.
Grandpa Wu leaned over to look at the snake den. Three long snakes, each about a meter in length, were coiled inside. Wu Jun had dug open the entire entrance. They seemed to have been woken up, their bodies twitching occasionally.
“Dazhuang, these snakes are quite big. You take two back. Our family is small—we can’t finish them all,” Grandpa Wu said to Uncle Dazhuang.
“Uncle Aiguo, how can I do that? Jun was the one who dug them up. As an elder, I can’t take advantage like that,” Uncle Dazhuang said, embarrassed. Though he was envious of the three snakes, he didn’t want to take unfair advantage.
“None of that ‘yours and mine’ talk. We’re all villagers here. Every year, your Daniu and Erniu help our family with so much work. These snakes are this old man’s way of helping Daniu and Erniu build up their strength.”
Seeing that the offer was genuine, Uncle Dazhuang replied, “Uncle Aiguo, if that’s the case, I’ll shamelessly take them. How about I process all of them and then bring yours back? It’ll be easier to do it all together anyway.”
Grandpa Wu didn’t want to fuss over such a small matter. He nodded and went back inside.
Wu Jun handed the basket to Uncle Dazhuang. “Uncle, how do you process these snakes?” In his past life as a chef, Wu Jun had only ever seen snakes already butchered and cut into pieces. He had never handled a live, whole snake.
Feeling that he had gotten the better end of the deal, Uncle Dazhuang was happy to explain everything in detail. His hands moved quickly, and in no time, he had bagged the snakes.
Seeing how eager Wu Jun was to learn, Uncle Dazhuang warmly invited him. “Jun, why don’t you come over to my place?”
Wu Jun looked at the work he had left. The rest of the drainage ditch could wait until Daniu and Erniu arrived—they would finish quickly together. So he accepted Uncle Dazhuang’s invitation.
This was the first time Wu Jun had visited Uncle Dazhuang’s house since his rebirth.
In his past life, Wu Jun’s main contact with this family had been through Aunt Chunhua. Shortly after he had been rejected and his engagement broken, his grandmother had asked Aunt Chunhua to set him up with someone. She had introduced him to Cui Xiao, a distant niece from her maternal family. Cui Xiao’s family was very poor, and she had a long string of younger siblings. She was hardworking and presentable.
At that time, Wu Jun had only met Cui Xiao once. Later, something happened to her family. He heard that Cui Xiao had married a wealthy older man in the city to support her family, becoming a stepmother. Unfortunately, it hadn’t ended well for her.
In this life, before Grandma Wu could ask Aunt Chunhua to play matchmaker, Wu Jun had already dissuaded her. He wondered whether Cui Xiao’s fate would be different from his past life.
Aunt Chunhua, who was grinding soybean milk, looked up when she saw her husband come in with Wu Jun. “Husband, what are you carrying?” Then, turning to Wu Jun, she asked, “Jun, have you had breakfast? Would you like a bowl of soybean milk?”
“Jun dug up some snakes this morning. Uncle Aiguo gave our family two of them, so I brought them back to process together,” Uncle Dazhuang said as he looked around the yard for a place to start working.
Aunt Chunhua smiled and said, “Jun, thank you to you and your family. Why don’t you stay for lunch?”
Wu Jun thought about how there were already four mouths to feed in his household, and no family had grain to spare these days. So he said, “Auntie, no need to be so polite. It’s just a small thing. When I head home later, just give me a little soybean milk to take back so the family can have a taste.”
Neither of them pushed further. After a while, Wu Jun left with a small basin of soybean milk and some processed snake meat.
“Little Uncle Tong, wake up! There’s soybean milk to drink!” Wu Jun’s call didn’t wake the child, but Gray Wolf, hearing his master’s voice, came flying over like lightning.
Looking at the puppy’s nimble body, it was hard to imagine he had once been so frail that everyone thought he wouldn’t survive.
Wu Jun put down his things and stroked Gray Wolf’s back. “You’re supposed to be a Chinese rural dog, but you’re acting more and more like a husky. You’re too excitable—not steady at all. It’s fine for now since you’re still small, but when you get bigger, you can’t just jump on me like this. Your master’s small frame can’t take it.”
Little Gray Wolf couldn’t understand his master’s words. He just licked Wu Jun’s hand enthusiastically. The clever dog knew that his master had come back smelling like meat—which meant more meat to eat. At the thought, his little tail wagged even more joyfully.
Daniu’s voice rang out from outside the gate. Wu Jun knew it was time to go back to work. He patted Gray Wolf on the head, picked up his shovel, and headed out to dig the ditch.