“Lao San, what are you making trouble for again!” Grandmother Bai came over and scolded Father Bai without even asking what happened.
Father Bai had never been one to swallow his anger, even when the other side was his parents. “Mother, then just keep spoiling her. If she can’t get married later, you can raise her for a lifetime. I’m saying this up front, I still have two kids to feed. I’m not going to support your daughter for you in your old age.”
Those words made Grandmother Bai so angry she nearly hit him. Father Bai was already shuffling in his shoes and running into the house.
Aunt Bai was furious too, stamping her feet beside them and fanning the flames.
She was very skilled at this kind of thing.
Grandmother Bai couldn’t hit anyone, and after pounding on the door until her hand hurt, she still had nothing she could do about her third son, that tough old lump of meat who couldn’t be chewed through.
Bai Shuhua had originally been standing by and watching the show, but she hadn’t expected Grandmother Bai to take her anger out on her too and take away the plate of stir-fried mushrooms she had just served out.
Little Brother Bai tried to stop her, but she held him back.
With the two of them having such thin arms and legs, they still had to know their own limits.
Bai Shuhua also heard Aunt Bai babbling complaints, “Mother, I told Third Brother to honor you and Father with some vegetables, but he wouldn’t even agree, and he even scolded me…”
Seeing Grandmother Bai and the others go far away, Bai Shuhua hurriedly ran back to her own room and banged on the door. “Dad, open up quickly.”
Father Bai opened the door. “What’s wrong, girl?”
Bai Shuhua immediately complained, “Grandma took the food away. She didn’t leave a single bite in that whole basin.”
She should be thankful that, worried the steamed egg custard would cool down and smell fishy, she had told Little Brother to carry it into the room first, or else it would have been in danger too.
Father Bai didn’t have time to say anything before he ran off.
He came back quickly too, carrying the basin of food.
Only when he set it on the kang did Bai Shuhua see what was inside. It seemed like less had been taken, and more had been added…
What was missing was only the bowl of mushroom and greens stir-fry.
What had been added, though, were three steamed corn buns.
Father Bai looked very pleased with himself. “Your grandma took out a big bowl of vegetables. I saw your youngest aunt eat them all, so I was too lazy to ask for them back. I got three corn buns from them too, so it doesn’t count as a loss.”
Bai Shuhua gave him a thumbs-up.
In people’s eyes nowadays, aside from meat dishes, no matter how tasty vegetables were, they still weren’t as important as staple food, so Father Bai had come out ahead after all.
“Grandma didn’t make a fuss?” Bai Shuhua was curious. That didn’t seem like her style.
Father Bai bit into a corn bun and told Little Brother to get him chopsticks. “Wasn’t your grandpa there?”
Bai Shuhua didn’t have time to keep gossiping. “Dad, wait a moment. I’ll fry the rice right away. Put the dishes on the table, Little Brother, and pick up the bowls and chopsticks.”
Dinner was soon on the table. The steamed egg custard mixed into the vegetable-soup fried rice, making it even tastier, and this meal brought three satisfied faces.
“Little Brother, go play.” Bai Shuhua sent her little brother away.
Little Brother Bai had been held in all day, and at last he could play, so he shot off in a flash.
“What is it, got something going on?” Father Bai could tell something was up.
Bai Shuhua nodded, looked toward the door, and lowered her voice. “Dad, today when I was gathering mushrooms with Sister Xiaobing, she told me the old doctor agreed to take someone in. You should take the time to go build some rapport. After all, if one sheep is herded, a flock of sheep is herded too, teaching someone while taking patients doesn’t stop him from taking an apprentice. My brother has already memorized quite a few medicinal herbs. If he starts being trained from a young age, he definitely won’t be bad in the future.”
Father Bai also got a little excited, pacing in circles around the room with his chin tucked in his hand. “Then I’m going right now! This can’t be delayed.”
He said that and was about to leave, but Bai Shuhua stopped him. “You’re going empty-handed?”
Although the old doctor was richer than they were, a gift represented an attitude.
Father Bai nodded. “Right, right, right! Can’t go empty-handed. What should I bring?”
He started pacing in circles again.
Bai Shuhua also started thinking along with him. Mainly, there was too little time. Otherwise, they could have gone to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some pastries or something.
Not all pastries needed tickets. There were some high-priced ones that didn’t need them.
She really wanted to sigh. Her family was too poor.
“Right! I’ll look for something.” Father Bai must have thought of something, because he started turning the house upside down.
He found a piece of green cloth. “Big daughter, do you think this cloth will do?”
Bai Shuhua thought about it. “Barely.”
Father Bai rolled up the cloth and was about to tuck it into his chest.
Bai Shuhua had no choice but to stop him again. Father Bai had worked all day. When he got home he had only washed his hands and feet, not bathed at all, and he was absolutely covered in sweat. It would be better not to ruin the cloth. “Put it in the little basket.”
Father Bai was very receptive to advice. “Watch the house. If it gets too late, remember to call Xiao Jun home.”
After a few simple instructions, he left.
Father Bai came back pretty late. Little Brother Bai was already lying on the kang.
Bai Shuhua heard the door open and looked over, but the room was a little dark, and there was no lamp, so she could only vaguely make out a shadow. “Dad?”
Father Bai answered, “Hey, it’s me. You and Xiao Jun still haven’t slept?”
Little Brother Bai was the type to react a bit later. “Dad!”
He even wanted to get up.
Bai Shuhua was afraid he’d get lively again, so she hurriedly held him down. “Go to sleep, stop fooling around!”
She patted his little butt.
Not to mention, it was pretty springy.
Little Brother Bai muttered a couple of times, but still didn’t get up. After a while, his breathing evened out.
Father Bai unconsciously lightened his steps. “Asleep?”
Bai Shuhua lightly patted Little Brother Bai a few more times and softly said mm-hm. “Dad, did it go smoothly?”
“Xiaobing helped say a lot of good things, and the old man even said he’d consider it. I think it’s more or less settled.” There was a faint excitement in Father Bai’s voice.
Bai Shuhua was happy too. People always said a famous teacher produces outstanding students. If Little Brother started learning now, there might still be a chance he’d become a generation’s famous doctor in the future.
“That’s great. Tomorrow I’ll take Little Brother to look for Sister Xiaobing.”
They still had to keep farming that favorability.
That old doctor looked like he had become a spirit… pfft pfft pfft, he had eaten more salt than she had eaten rice. How could he not see through it? Like she said, this was an attitude problem.
Besides, the person the old doctor valued most right now had to be Sister Xiaobing.
So it was more useful for them to “win over” Sister Xiaobing.
“Mm, you two go have fun.” Father Bai clearly had also grasped the key point and was very much in agreement.
Bai Shuhua’s little eyes rolled, and she got an idea. “Dad, you should sponsor a little, buy some candy or something.”
Although she had her own little stash, more was still better.
She still had to buy candy for Little Brother Bai too, or else how could that little troublemaker behave?
Father Bai had already lain down, but he didn’t refuse outright. “How much?”
Bai Shuhua opened her mouth wide. “Five mao.”
“Too much. I don’t even have that much in my pocket. Five fen.” Father Bai wasn’t really bargaining, he was cutting the price all the way down.
The father and daughter haggled for a while, but the gap was still too big.
Bai Shuhua wasn’t willing. “Dad, give me two mao, and I’ll tell you a huge secret, a secret so big it concerns the entire production brigade. I definitely won’t lie to you. If I lie, I’m a puppy!”
Father Bai chuckled. “How come I don’t know there’s such a secret?”
Bai Shuhua said, “Because you’re an adult and I’m a child, so the source of our information is different. This secret still hasn’t spread yet.”
Father Bai’s curiosity was hooked. “What secret is it, big daughter? Tell me.”
“Two mao!”
No money, no secret, no wasting breath.
Father Bai gave in. “Fine, fine, fine. I’ll give it to you tomorrow morning.”
He didn’t have any money on him right now.
Bai Shuhua wasn’t worried Father Bai would go back on his word. After all, she was also the cook at home.
If he didn’t give her money, she just wouldn’t cook, and he’d have to go hungry.
“Dad, it’s like this, my little brother discovered something, it’s about Sister Xiaojuan…”
Bai Shuhua told him everything she had heard from Little Brother Bai, along with everything she had guessed.
Anyway, she hadn’t planned to hide this matter either. If she could get some money for it, even better.
As for whether this secret concerned the entire production brigade, she wasn’t exaggerating. If her guess was true, then the entire production brigade really would become hugely famous.
Anyone in a hurry to marry, find a partner, or those trial-marriage young men and women, would all be dragged down.
This was absolutely not a joke.
People nowadays really cared about reputation.
Father Bai fell silent. After a long while, he let out a sigh. “How could Xiaojuan be so foolish.”
“Dad, what do you plan to do about this?” Bai Shuhua was a little curious.
“It can’t be hidden. There has to be a result as soon as possible.” Father Bai said, “If it’s true, either make that brat marry Xiaojuan, or send him off for labor reeducation.”
Bai Shuhua opened her mouth, but didn’t know what to say. Her mind was a little tangled.
She felt that the sent-down youth was cheating on both sides, a total scumbag, no need for explanation. Marrying him wouldn’t be like jumping into a fire pit?
When the ten-year movement ended and the sent-down youths returned to the city, if that happened and he ran off, Sister Xiaojuan would be miserable.
But if she didn’t marry him and this got exposed, the gossip alone could drown Sister Xiaojuan.
This was not the same as Aunt Bai dating a street loafer.
Sister Xiaojuan and that man had been seen by children crawling into the firewood pile.
Sigh, it could only be that she had met the wrong person.
Also, what about that female sent-down youth?
She was properly dating someone, and hadn’t done anything illegal.
She also knew that Father Bai was naturally on Sister Xiaojuan’s side.
“Dad, do you think forcing that male sent-down youth to marry is wise?”
“Who would want to have a cow’s head forced down and made to drink water?” So Father Bai did know.
“Right now that man has to make a living in our production brigade, so naturally whatever we say goes. But sent-down youths can return to the city, his roots are in the city, so what will happen to Sister Xiaojuan then?” Bai Shuhua couldn’t bear it after all, so she hinted at it a little.
“It’s not that easy for sent-down youths to return to the city.” Father Bai sighed again, then cursed, “That bastard! He’d better never return to the city for the rest of his life, let him shovel manure every day!”
Bai Shuhua very much agreed. “Right, this kind of scum, scum like that is only fit to shovel manure.”
“Alright, sleep. These next two days keep an eye on Xiao Jun, don’t let him go blabbing outside.” After Father Bai finished speaking, he yawned hugely.
Because breakfast was Father Bai’s job, Bai Shuhua and Little Brother Bai naturally slept in.
When they got up, Father Bai had already gone to the fields.
“Jie, I’m hungry.” Little Brother Bai rubbed his stomach pitifully.
“See what Dad made.” Bai Shuhua was a little hungry too.
She lifted the pot lid, and inside, as expected, was millet-corn porridge.
Cornmeal meant corn flour.
Among the various ways of eating corn, by grain size, corn kernels > corn grits > corn flour.
Because corn flour was finer, it also cooked more easily. Once the water boiled, it could be eaten in two or three minutes.
Father Bai must not have gotten up very early, and had just made cornmeal porridge in a hurry.
The siblings each had a bowl, with some pickles, and it was pretty tasty.
It was just that, like this, their daily protein intake definitely wouldn’t be enough.
They still had to find something to eat.
Then they’d find a few more kids and head a bit farther into the woods.
Bai Shuhua washed the bowls and gave Little Brother Bai a task. “Go see if Big Brother Dajun is home. If he is, ask whether he’s going up the mountain to catch snakes.”
Mentioning this, many people might be puzzled. Snakes are so dangerous, why would they actively go after them?
Bai Shuhua really wasn’t courting death. On their mountain there was a kind of flower snake, with lots of meat and no venom, and when roasted it sizzled with oil and was damn delicious.
Most importantly, it was much easier to catch than rabbits or wild chickens, believe it or not.
Rabbits had four legs, and also the old saying that cunning rabbits have three burrows. If they didn’t run into a stupid rabbit that crashed into a tree, and they didn’t have long-range weapons, they really weren’t easy to catch.
As for wild chickens, they had wings, and they didn’t run slowly either. Their group of short legs definitely couldn’t catch them.
But when snakes encountered danger, many times they would coil themselves together, stupidly not running. As long as you had a stick in your hand, and since they weren’t venomous, the danger was basically zero.
It was also a case of one thing overcoming another.