Rong Zhaonan watched Ning Yuan’s slender back, lost in thought.
The look she had given him just now was filled with an anger that was almost sorrowful. Why had she reacted so strongly?
But before he could dwell on it, Grandma Xia excitedly tugged at him. “Kid, give me those few fish you roasted. I saw you eating roasted fish the other day.”
Rong Zhaonan adjusted the glasses on his nose. “…Granny, don’t push your luck.”
Grandma Xia licked her lips and snorted coldly. “I knew you were just pretending. So stingy.”
With that, she turned and stomped away in a huff. Rong Zhaonan followed her, his expression unreadable.
Grandma Xia and her husband lived not far from the Cowshed, in a half-collapsed adobe house at the foot of the mountain.
A gaunt old man lay in the depths of the adobe house, sleeping on a floor covered with straw. Beside him were two broken bowls and a blackened aluminum pot.
Ning Yuan was stunned. She had thought Rong Zhaonan’s cowshed hut was as bad as it could get, but she never imagined there could be a house even more dilapidated and broken-down than the Cowshed.
Before arriving at Grandma Xia’s home, she had guessed that the old couple might be having a hard time.
But she had never expected their lives to be this… difficult.
Seeing someone enter, the constantly coughing old man struggled to prop himself up.
“Cough, cough, cough… Is that little Rong? Has my old woman been bothering you again? I’m so sorry.”
The old man had a pair of glasses on his nose, missing one leg and with only half a lens remaining. The moment he opened his mouth, he spoke with a Beijing accent.
The moment Ning Yuan heard his refined speech, she knew he was a man of culture, most likely also sent down for re-education.
Grandma Xia darted out from behind Ning Yuan and rushed to the old man’s side, helping him up. “Hey, old man, we have food! Eel porridge, it’s so, so fragrant!”
Ning Yuan was astonished by Grandma Xia’s agility; the old lady was remarkably nimble.
“What eel porridge… You went to ask little Rong for food again, you can’t do that!” The old man rose, trembling.
The aroma of the remaining half-pot of eel porridge wafted through the room. He couldn’t help but swallow, yet he still shook his head at Grandma Xia. “Next time, don’t do this again…”
Seeing this, Ning Yuan sighed inwardly. She carried the pot over and set it down on the floor by the old man’s bed. “The porridge is here. You two should eat.”
There wasn’t even a stool in the house; the food could only be placed on the ground.
“This must be your dinner. You should take it back. Young people have to work in the fields, you can’t do that without a full stomach. We have sweet potatoes. Old folks eat less, we’re not hungry.”
The old man tremblingly adjusted his glasses and shook his head.
“Old man, you’re so sick, how can you not eat? This illness of yours is from hunger!” Grandma Xia said, annoyed, as she shoved the pot into his arms.
Ning Yuan glanced at a small, blackened pot to the side, which contained two small sweet potatoes. An indescribable feeling welled up in her heart.
The old man clearly needed the food, yet he politely refused the meal his wife had procured. It made Ning Yuan’s heart ache.
Ning Yuan squatted down, took the broken bowl by the bed, filled it with porridge, and handed it to him. “Grandpa Tang, you have to work too. I gave this to Grandma Xia willingly.”
She remembered the manure cart not far away and finally recognized who the old couple was.
They were the old couple in the production team responsible for hauling night soil and composting fertilizer.
The work was dirty, smelly, and exhausting. Everyone gave them a wide berth, so they rarely crossed paths, let alone spoke.
She had only vaguely heard that the old man who hauled manure was surnamed Tang, but she never expected him to be such a gentle and scholarly old man.
Grandpa Tang looked at Ning Yuan and smiled kindly. “Cough, cough, cough… You must be little Rong’s partner… cough, cough… You are both good people.”
Ning Yuan smiled. “We still have three fish for dinner. This porridge was… Zhaonan asked me to bring it to you.”
Seeing that her old man was willing to eat, Grandma Xia was overjoyed. She quickly grabbed a spoon to feed Grandpa Tang. “See, I didn’t lie to you. Hurry up and eat, old man.”
Only then did Grandpa Tang allow Grandma Xia to feed him the eel porridge.
Rong Zhaonan hadn’t said a word since entering. He watched Ning Yuan’s slender figure as she squatted there, and the corners of his lips curved up slightly.
The fragrant smell of the fish porridge made Grandma Xia lick her lips, but she said nothing.
Grandpa Tang, however, pushed the pot toward Grandma Xia. “You eat too. I’m sick and can’t help you, but you still have to go to work tomorrow.”
Grandma Xia suddenly turned, grabbed another broken bowl, and stuffed the two sweet potatoes from inside into her mouth. “I don’t like eel porridge. It’s too fishy.”
Grandpa Tang froze, then started coughing. “Cough, cough, cough… You old woman, you’re really… If you don’t eat, how can I?”
Watching the devoted old couple push the food back and forth, making up excuses for the other to eat, Ning Yuan felt her eyes sting for some reason.
She suddenly stood up. “Since Grandma Xia doesn’t like eel porridge, Zhaonan and I still have roasted fish. We can’t eat that many fish anyway. I’ll go get two for you.”
With that, she started walking toward the door.
Grandpa Tang was taken aback and quickly said, “Wait, there’s no need…”
But Grandma Xia quickly pressed down on Grandpa Tang’s hand and chuckled. “The laboring people must help each other. If the little girl is willing to get me roasted fish, then I’ll eat it.”
“You…” Grandpa Tang started to say something.
“Enough with the ‘you.’ Hurry up and finish the eel porridge so I can wash the pot and return it. Don’t delay the newlyweds’ nighttime fun.”
Grandma Xia unceremoniously shoved a spoonful of porridge into Grandpa Tang’s mouth.
Grandma Xia’s crude and direct words made Ning Yuan’s face flush instantly. She nearly tripped over her own feet and quickly reached out to steady herself against the wall.
How could this old lady speak so boldly in this era? Wasn’t she afraid of being accused of hooliganism?
But instead of the wall, her hand landed on Rong Zhaonan’s sturdy arm by the door.
Rong Zhaonan instinctively reached out to steady her and said softly, “Be careful, it’s dark in the room.”
Ning Yuan felt the scent of his soap and the fresh smell of grass brush past her ear, and the tips of her ears instantly grew hot. “I’m fine!”
After saying that, she hastily steadied herself and walked quickly outside.
Watching Ning Yuan dart out the door from his arms like a startled rabbit, a strange light flickered in Rong Zhaonan’s long, deep eyes.
When Ning Yuan returned with two roasted fish, Old Lady Xia wolfed them both down.
Of course, she didn’t forget to pick out the boneless meat and stuff it into Grandpa Tang’s mouth.
Finally, Ning Yuan and Rong Zhaonan carried the empty aluminum pot back to their own cowshed hut.
On a late autumn night in the southern countryside, insects chirped their melodies, and the fragrance of grass and trees lingered in the air.
Ning Yuan sat by the simple Earthen Stove in the backyard, staring at the single remaining small roasted bass, her expression a whirlwind of emotions.
Damn it. Another day of being moved by someone else’s love, and then… starving myself.
If she had known, she would have kept the biggest fish when she went to get them!
This one was barely the size of her palm. How was that enough for her, let alone the big man beside her waiting to be fed?
“What, are you not going to eat?” Rong Zhaonan watched the rich array of expressions on Ning Yuan’s face and, for some reason, felt an urge to laugh.
Was this little spy only now realizing that one fish wasn’t enough for them to share and was regretting it here?