“Mom, I missed you so much!” Shang Niannian hugged her mother playfully. It was a heartwarming scene, but Shang Yinyin had never laid eyes on her own parents since the day she was born.
She had only ever been told that her parents had sacrificed their lives in the line of duty, and that her mother, already gravely injured at the time, passed away shortly after giving birth to her younger brother. Shang Yinyin had never known the warmth of parental love.
In her past life, it was Xie Quanzhou who gave her that love. During their first year of marriage, Xie Quanzhou satisfied her every whim, refusing to let her do heavy labor and always making sure she had whatever delicious food she craved. Whenever he was home, he constantly treated her to good things to eat. After he returned to the military unit, life at home had been decent at first, and he regularly sent money back. But once contact was lost, her younger brother and sister still had to go to school, plunging the household into financial hardship as they frequently had to borrow money just to get by.
Seeing how well-protected Shang Niannian was by their aunt, Shang Yinyin couldn’t help feeling a trace of envy.
“Now that you’re back, you’re heading straight to the fields tomorrow to work,” Chen Cuihua said as she walked into the courtyard, intending to help her daughter carry the luggage inside. Instead, she found the bags pitifully light. “Where is the quilt?”
Faced with that question, Shang Niannian instinctively looked over at her older sister, Shang Yinyin. The two of them had already gotten their stories straight on the way back. Without a word, Shang Yinyin slipped away into the kitchen.
“I asked you a question. Speak!” Chen Cuihua glared at Shang Niannian, her eyes flashing with anger.
“Mom, the quilt was stolen,” Shang Niannian lied, her guilt making it hard to meet her mother’s gaze.
“What? Stolen?” Chen Cuihua clearly didn’t believe it.
“It’s true! In this kind of summer heat, nobody wants to sleep under a thick quilt anyway. We just left them up on the storage rack, and when I went to grab mine today, I found it missing. It wasn’t just mine—several of my dorm mates’ quilts were gone too.”
“Shang Niannian! You good-for-nothing spendthrift, you couldn’t even keep an eye on a quilt!” Upon hearing this, Chen Cuihua angrily pointed at her daughter and began yelling.
Inside the kitchen, Shang Yinyin poured herself a cup of water, completely unfazed by her aunt’s roaring voice, as she had long grown used to it.
“Mom, I knew you’d be mad, but I didn’t want this to happen either. You know how crowded our dorm is—two people share a single bed. If we don’t put things up on the rack, there’s just no room.” Shang Niannian kept the excuses flowing. “Besides, it wasn’t just mine. Those thieves must have figured out we were graduating and wouldn’t be coming back, so they targeted us.”
Chen Cuihua was furious, but with the quilt already gone, there was nothing she could do.
“Mom, I sold my books too. I made five yuan,” Shang Niannian said, aggrievedly pulling a five-yuan bill from her pocket.
Seeing the cash, Chen Cuihua’s anger subsided quite a bit.
“Such a disaster of a child,” Chen Cuihua muttered as she snatched the money and tucked it into her pocket. Turning to head back out to the fields, she threw out a final instruction: “Your university tuition is still unaccounted for, and you’ve gone and wasted all my savings. I’m going back to hoeing the fields. There’s food in the pot—eat it, and then wash the clothes.”
“Got it, Mom.” Seeing her mother leave, Shang Niannian let out a sigh of relief.
Shang Yinyin walked out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of water.
“You really should become an actress,” Shang Yinyin remarked to her.
“Sis, here’s one yuan. Consider it your cut for backing up my story,” Shang Niannian said, fishing a yuan note from her pocket.
“No thanks, keep your money. If the truth ever comes out, I’m not taking the fall for you,” Shang Yinyin refused, unwilling to take the bribe.
Shang Niannian pouted. “If you don’t say anything, nobody will ever know.”
Shang Yinyin could only shake her head with a helpless sigh.
For dinner, Chen Cuihua treated Shang Niannian to a rare luxury: preserved mustard greens stewed with pork belly, served alongside white rice. Once they finished eating, Shang Yinyin set to work sweeping the courtyard while Shang Niannian sat to the side picking vegetables.
“Sis, do you think I’ll pass? My grades are so mediocre, I don’t even dare to imagine it!” Shang Niannian’s academic standing in class had always been entirely unremarkable. “I was hoping to test into a university in Beijing so I could be with older brother!”
She chattered on. “Sis, older brother’s school term is over too. Is he coming back? He hasn’t been home for the Lunar New Year in years, and honestly, I don’t even remember what he looks like anymore.”
Their brother Shangzhi had spent previous New Years staying behind in Beijing, taking on odd jobs that paid two yuan a day, though such work wasn’t always available.
“Shangzhi should be back for the New Year this time,” Shang Yinyin answered.
Shang Niannian had always been a talkative girl who loved chatting with her older sister ever since they were little. Whenever other kids taunted them for being motherless children just like her, Shang Yinyin would step right up to fight back, fiercely protecting her younger sister. In her past life, Shang Niannian had even visited her in Beijing a few times, though the distance was vast. Later on, after starting families of their own, they mostly kept in touch through occasional phone calls.
“Older brother never writes letters to me, so I never know how he’s doing over there! Sis, tomorrow when we go into town, I’m going to mail him some money—I’ll send him all ten yuan,” Shang Niannian declared.
“You should keep that for yourself. Shangzhi has his own money,” Shang Yinyin replied, her hands busy with her chores.
“Fine.” Then, her face lit up. “Sis, that fabric we bought is so trendy. Can I cut off two meters to make a new outfit?”
“Go ahead. Auntie bought it specifically for the two of us to make new clothes,” Shang Yinyin said, showing a soft spot for her younger sister.
“Thank you, Sis! I’ll make you a nice outfit too.”
While bustling around preparing dinner, Shang Niannian even measured Shang Yinyin’s dimensions so she could sew her a pretty dress as well. During the evening meal, Chen Cuihua remained quiet, but the two sisters talked endlessly.
“Is brother-in-law really coming back?” Shang Niannian asked, unable to contain her excitement upon learning Xie Quanzhou was returning. She remembered crying for a long time when he first left for the military.
“You weren’t around much back then, but when brother-in-law was home, he’d often bring back roasted chicken. Game meat from the mountains smells so good! Ever since he left, we’ve both gotten so skinny.” Shang Niannian patted her flat stomach and her gaunt cheeks, looking entirely displeased with her appearance.
At that moment, Chen Cuihua shot a stern look in Shang Niannian’s direction, threateningly gearing up for a lecture, which immediately caused Shang Niannian to snap her mouth shut.
That night, the two sisters shared a single bed.
“Sis, what do you think brother-in-law is like now?” Shang Niannian lay staring up at the ceiling, picturing what he looked like, before rolling over to face her sister. “When I get married one day, I want to find a man just like brother-in-law—full of heroic spirit.”
Shang Niannian had only been twelve when Xie Quanzhou departed. Having been cared for by him so well during her childhood, it was only natural for her to hold onto that deep sense of attachment and longing for such a family figure as she grew up.
“Just find someone who truly loves you,” Shang Yinyin advised gently. “Someone with good character, who is willing to spend money on you, and who has the backbone to stand up and protect you in front of his own family.”
“You’re right, Sis,” Shang Niannian agreed softly. “Once I get into university and graduate to start earning money, I’m going to buy you tons of clothes and snacks, I promise.”
Shang Yinyin smiled in silence, knowing full well that Shang Niannian would eventually make good on that promise.
“Alright, I’ll hold you to it. Go to sleep now,” Shang Yinyin coaxed in a soothing tone.
Exhausted from a full day’s work, Shang Niannian quickly drifted off to sleep. Soon after, lulled by her sister’s steady breathing, Shang Yinyin closed her eyes as well.
Having tasted the sweetness of earning her own money, Shang Yinyin was eager to bring in more. Waking up around four in the morning, she spent over an hour writing her novel before getting up to cook breakfast. She tucked the newly written chapters away in her storage box, changed her clothes, and headed to the kitchen.
The days ahead would be consumed by planting peanuts, and the wheat harvest was fast approaching with plenty of chores still left undone. Once the early spring wheat was harvested, they would immediately have to plant the second round of crops. Country life was a relentless cycle of endless toil, and because their household had so few hands compared to other rural families, they always had twice the work to finish.