Wu Guihua impatiently dug at her ear, as though the whole thing were nothing but a dog fart.
“I’m saying this now, once and for all: the money Li Hongyuan gave me is compensation for all the years I sold my blood to feed this family. From now on, I don’t care who it is—if anyone dares scheme to get their hands on that money, they’d better be ready to bleed. And then I’ll send them off to prison!
“So don’t anyone go saying I forgot we’re all neighbors, or that I’m cruel and heartless!”
Wu Dayong immediately chimed in to back her up.
“Exactly! And don’t go saying you’re worried about getting sent to prison and hurting the village’s chances of being named an advanced unit. We’ve never won that honor anyway, so we’ve got no reputation to lose! Whoever’s thinking of pulling something, don’t be afraid to die!”
Wu Guihua struck first and offered no quarter; Wu Dayong’s warning made an example of the rest. Everyone fell silent, and at least no one dared openly plot against her anymore.
Uncle Zhong hurriedly called on the villagers to head out.
“It’s bitterly cold. Don’t just stand around here—get home and tuck yourselves into your warm brick beds. In a few days, we’ll start hauling manure out to the fields. Then you won’t have any chance to rest.”
Wu Changyong hung back a few steps and quietly reminded her, “Sister Guihua, make sure you keep the doors locked tonight. If anything happens, bang on a metal basin.”
“I know, Brother Dayong.”
Using the bundle to conceal what she was doing, Wu Guihua took two bottles of Fenjiu from her storage space and pushed them straight into his arms.
“One for you and one for Uncle Zhong!”
Then she shoved Wu Dayong out the door, giving him no chance to refuse.
With no one left to back her up, Old Madam Li was trembling with fear, but she still reached for the ginseng box.
Wu Guihua wasn’t about to indulge her. She put the box away and tossed the old woman back into the east room. This time, even her little grandson wasn’t there to keep her company!
“You little bitch, let me out! You heartless beast, you’re going to get me killed! Just wait until my son comes back—”
“Your son’s busy crawling into his sister-in-law’s bed. He doesn’t have time to worry about you. I suggest you behave. We can spare you a bowl of rice. But if you keep making trouble, I’ll just save the food!”
Wu Guihua meant what she said. She cut half a pound of the pork she’d bought.
They’d gone shopping late, so all the best pork belly was gone. Only lean meat was left, which was perfect for pork-noodle soup.
She also sliced up a plate of the cabbage they had stored at home. She stir-fried the meat and vegetables, added broth, and cooked the noodles—all in one go.
Mother and daughter ignored Old Madam Li, sat by the stove to warm themselves and ate their noodles together, so happy their toes curled.
Once they’d eaten their fill, they pulled a thick quilt over themselves and slept like the dead.
Old Madam Li cursed on and off all night, scaring off every thief.
Of course, it was also possible the news hadn’t spread yet—or that the people with the nerve to steal couldn’t find accomplices!
Over the next two days, Li Lan’s new bedding for school was sewn, and Old Madam Li finally learned to keep quiet. She even got a bowl of cornmeal porridge with ginseng rootlets added, which she slurped down noisily.
But around midnight, there was a disturbance outside the yard.
Three local hooligans had just used a human ladder to climb onto the Li family’s courtyard wall when a blow to the head knocked them down.
The other two tried to run, but Wu Guihua caught them and gave each one a taste of the same stick, sending them to join their good buddy. The three of them saw stars together.
Li Lan’s face was pale, but she gritted her teeth and tied the men up with rope.
Wu Guihua swiftly gagged them, then tied them to a tree.
Early the next morning, the Zhao family’s daughter-in-law went outside to empty the chamber pot. When she suddenly saw three half-dead “frost men,” she shrieked, “Oh, my god!” and dumped the pot all over herself.
Uncle Zhong hurried over in his padded jacket and recognized the hooligans as men from neighboring Wang Family Village.
The two villages were close and occasionally helped each other out, so it would have been awkward not to show them some consideration.
After consulting with Wu Guihua, he went to see the village chief of Wang Family Village. In the end, Wu Guihua got thirty yuan in compensation and three old hens.
She stewed one of the hens right away, wanting to nourish herself and her daughter while she could. After sleeping for half the afternoon, she spent the evening waiting for more people to come knocking with money.
Perhaps they’d seen that she hadn’t sent the first men to prison. This time, two old bachelors from the village climbed over the wall and crept up to the window. They’d even brought a packet of powder.
They clearly weren’t after money alone. They also wanted… her.
Wu Guihua’s face darkened. She broke both their legs, then, as soon as day broke, hired a village cart to take them to the county Public Security Bureau.
Some villagers made snide remarks.
“Wu Guihua’s too vicious. We all live in the same village, but she has no regard for anyone’s feelings.”
Uncle Zhong picked up a clump of snow and smashed it into the man’s head, sending white blossoms flying.
“Shut your foul mouth! Did you even look at the filth those two bastards brought with them? Have you all forgotten what happened at the educated youth compound the year before last?”
One of the sharper villagers’ eyes shifted as he caught on, and he immediately ducked his head.
The year before last, during the New Year holiday, policies had loosened and many of the educated youths had returned to the cities to visit their families. Only one female educated youth had stayed behind. Somehow, she’d been raped in the night. The perpetrators were never found, and the case was eventually dropped.
But the young woman went mad and drowned after falling into the river.
Now that they thought about it, those two old bachelors might have been…
If Wu Guihua hadn’t been on guard and hadn’t fought back so fiercely, then she and her daughter—and perhaps even Old Madam Li—might not have escaped what had happened the previous night.
Uncle Zhong quickly took two men with him to the Public Security Bureau. Sure enough, that afternoon he returned with confirmation.
The two old bachelors had confessed everything as soon as the police gave them a scare. They’d earned themselves an endless stay in prison, plus a complimentary autumn peanut!
That outcome brought all of Nandawa to silence.
No one dared scheme against Wu Guihua again, and even in private, people spoke of her cautiously, in lowered voices.
Wu Guihua didn’t care what they said. She bought several packets of caozigao at the supply-and-marketing cooperative and gave one to everyone who had gone with her to the Public Security Bureau, Uncle Zhong included.
Caozigao were small cakes made with eggs, flour, and honey. Each one was about as wide as a bowl, and a packet of five cost eighty cents plus one non-staple food coupon.
In those days, it was hard enough for most families to eat their fill. Getting such a thank-you gift out of the blue was an unexpected delight.
So the households in the village that had neither the urge nor the nerve to steal all began hoping someone with both would show up, so they could help escort the thieves to the Public Security Bureau!
Unfortunately, the threat of those “peanuts” was too great.
Even though word that Wu Guihua had three thousand yuan in cash had spread a hundred li in every direction, no one came to her door again.
Still, rumors about the wicked woman of Nandawa spread far and wide: she had money, she was fierce, and she beat people at the drop of a hat—even sending them off to prison.
Wu Guihua had no time to bother with any of that. Once the house was quiet at night, she plunged into the Jade Pendant Space and worked until she was dizzy.
Wang Yun had been a real spendthrift, and there was a huge amount of stuff from the military family compound in the storage space.
Wu Guihua wiped down the furniture, planning to put it in the east room of the thatched hut. She could keep the two sets of new bedding, too; that way, if she ever came in for a nap, she wouldn’t have to sleep on a bare plank bed.
As for the clothes and other belongings that had picked up a strong, unpleasant smell, she’d wait until she took Li Lan to school and find a chance to sell them for cash.
But when Wu Guihua carried the table and chairs into the room, she discovered another huge surprise.
The room looked to be only twenty square meters, but it seemed to have been enchanted. The inside was five times larger than she’d expected, with plenty of room to live in.
Wu Guihua dropped everything and hurried into the west room.
This place was even more astonishing. The moment she stepped inside, it was as if she’d passed into another space: a warehouse the size of ten soccer fields, with rows and rows of neatly arranged wooden shelves.
More than a dozen baskets of red apples sat by the entrance, fresh and dewy.
There were also seven or eight sacks of corn kernels and five sacks of rice still in their husks!
Could things stay fresh in here indefinitely?