The ox cart at the town was already long gone. So Tian Baozhu still had to walk back to Chengjiawan Brigade on foot.
As she trudged along, she thought to herself with determination—besides a watch, she would also need to get a bicycle. By the time she reached the village, dusk had already fallen. That was just as well—no one saw what she had bought on this trip to the county.
When she arrived at her house, she saw that the collapsed wall had been completely rebuilt, though the main gate hadn’t been installed yet. The house itself, where the roof had caved in, had been cleared of dirt and rebuilt with bricks to about one meter in height. It seemed the repairs would be finished in the next day or two.
She placed the items she had bought that day beside the kang (heated bed), then took out five still-warm meat buns from her space. After eating and washing up, she lay down in her bedding.
As she lay there, she couldn’t help thinking—even though the slab of meat in her refrigerator regenerated daily, it still seemed a bit lacking, only enough for her own consumption. If only she could fill the pigsty in her space with live pigs, then she wouldn’t have to worry about running out of meat to trade for ration tickets!
Compared to grain, meat was clearly easier to exchange for money and tickets in the county.
But given the current circumstances, even if she was willing to raise pigs in her space, where could she get piglets?
As she drifted in and out of sleep, Tian Baozhu felt like there was something she had forgotten to do. Since she couldn’t remember, she decided not to dwell on it.
It seemed she would need to make a trip to the black market next time. She just didn’t know if she could get piglets there. Even if she couldn’t get piglets, raising some chickens or ducks in her space would still be good. After all, the warehouse in her space was stocked with a whole storehouse of pig feed. That feed could be given to chickens and ducks without any problem. If she couldn’t have pork, chicken and duck meat would be just fine.
Plus, chickens and ducks could lay eggs. Whether boiled or scrambled, eggs were less conspicuous.
What Tian Baozhu didn’t realize was that even boiled or scrambled eggs were a rare delicacy in ordinary village households.
At that very moment, next door to Xie Zhong’s house, a fierce argument was erupting over a bowl of steamed egg custard.
“I don’t care! I didn’t get any egg custard yesterday. If I don’t get some today, I won’t eat. I’ll just starve!”
Xie Zhibao smelled the aroma wafting from next door and sat on the ground, kicking his legs and wailing.
“Oh, my little ancestor! Those eggs have to be sold for money. Otherwise, we won’t have money to buy the candy you love. Next time, Grandma promises to make you egg custard, alright?”
Wang Cuihua was at her wit’s end with Xie Zhibao, coaxing and promising her beloved grandson.
Xie Zhibao didn’t immediately get up after hearing his grandmother’s words. Instead, his eyes darted around, and he pointed at Xie Zhong’s house, separated only by a wall, and said loudly, “Grandma, if we can’t eat our own eggs, let’s eat that little bastard’s eggs. I saw it this morning—in the garbage he dumped in the back vegetable garden, there were chicken feathers. He must have caught a wild chicken in the mountains and cooked it secretly to eat by himself. Grandma, go to that little bastard’s house and take our chicken back!”
Before Wang Cuihua could respond to these words, the eldest daughter-in-law, Li Caidi, couldn’t help but jab at the third daughter-in-law, Wang Pandi.
“Third Sister-in-law, after all, that little bastard was raised by you for a few months. As the saying goes, the kindness of raising is greater than the kindness of bearing. Even if you’re not his real mother, if he gets something good, the least he could do is bring some to honor you, right? But now, you raised him for months, and you’ve gotten nothing out of it.”
Hearing her eldest sister-in-law’s words, Wang Pandi felt deeply distressed.
Back then, after giving birth to three daughters in a row, Xie Zhong was brought back by his uncle at the age of two, just after she had given birth to her third daughter, Xie Daidi. Her husband, Xie Baosheng, couldn’t help but think about asking the uncle to officially register Xie Zhong under their branch while the boy was still young, fearing their branch would have no heir.
At the time, both her husband and her father-in-law had been tempted. Only Wang Pandi had been secretly unhappy, feeling that a child not born to her would never be truly close. But having given birth to three daughters in a row—considered “useless” by the family—her mother-in-law Wang Cuihua’s face would darken every time she saw her, and her gaze was terrifying. So Wang Pandi dared not object.
Behind closed doors, however, she would pinch and twist Xie Zhong, venting her frustration. In the end, it was the eldest uncle, Xie Changfu, who shook his head and refused, putting an end to the matter.
But during that time, at least on the surface, everyone had assumed Xie Zhong would be registered under Xie Baosheng and Wang Pandi’s names.
And what Li Caidi called “the kindness of raising” was merely the fact that Wang Pandi had once given Xie Zhong a wild vegetable bun in front of everyone.
Whether Wang Pandi was unwilling to adopt Xie Zhong was one matter; the eldest uncle rejecting her husband’s proposal was another. More importantly, without a son, Wang Pandi had to keep her head down in the Xie family. Any of the sisters-in-law could step on her.
She endured silently for three years before getting pregnant again—this time giving birth to a son, Xie Zhibao. Having finally borne a son, she felt she was no longer the family’s sinner and had repaid her husband. From then on, she could hold her head up in the Xie family.
But after more than a decade of being oppressed since marrying into the family, she had grown accustomed to it and couldn’t change overnight. Besides, Wang Cuihua doted on this long-awaited grandson of the third branch, which made the whole family envious. Though they couldn’t criticize Xie Zhibao in front of Wang Cuihua, they could still take jabs at Wang Pandi.
“Elder Sister-in-law, it’s that little bastard’s fault. Third Sister-in-law didn’t want things to be this way. Don’t rub salt in her wound. Third Sister-in-law, if I were you, I’d go next door and ask that little bastard if his conscience was eaten by dogs.”
The second daughter-in-law, Fang Chungui, smiled as she handed over a soft knife, urging Wang Pandi to go cause trouble next door. Whether it stirred anything up or not, there was no harm for her. And if Wang Pandi actually managed to get something from that little bastard, wouldn’t the whole family benefit?
“Alright, Third Daughter-in-law, go get an egg and steam some egg custard for my precious grandson. If that little bastard next door were so easy to get things from, would we all have been eating chaff and vegetables all these years?”
Wang Cuihua shot a glare at the eldest and second daughters-in-law, then sourly ordered the third daughter-in-law to get to work. She wouldn’t mind getting something out of it herself, but that little bastard never took the bait. If he had, she could have accused him of disrespecting his elders and gotten the brigade leader to help her. But every time, he came and went without so much as a glance her way.
“Next time, let Zhichang secretly follow that little bastard. Once we’re sure he’s gone up the mountain, we’ll figure out a way to go over.”
Wang Cuihua spoke bitterly to her three daughters-in-law. She refused to believe that the little bastard had eaten everything he caught in the mountains.