Summer vacation ended. When school started, Gu Yihan was in the third grade. The drought had grown more severe over the past few months.
Now, Gu Yihan went to the mountains every day after school to pick wild vegetables, secretly feeding herself along the way before returning home for dinner.
At the end of the year, the production brigade began distributing grain. Although the harvest was poor this year, every family still had some grain stored away. Scarred by past famines, no one dared to eat their fill, even when they were allocated grain to grow themselves. No one in the entire village sold grain either.
The brigade leader, Gu Baoqing, was no longer young at forty-five. Each family sent a few representatives to the brigade headquarters for a meeting.
The brigade leader shouted at the top of his lungs, “Everyone has seen it this year. There’s been little rain, and the harvest is poor. After we turn in the state-levied grain and set aside seeds, the rest will be distributed to the members.”
The village party secretary, Gu Guodong, was older at fifty-five and due for retirement in a few years.
The party secretary said helplessly, “When you all go back, don’t eat your fill. Eat sparingly. You should all remember the natural disasters from the early years. Not to mention 1943 and 1934—the older folks have all lived through it. How many people starved to death back then?”
The party secretary took a puff from his tobacco pipe and added, “We don’t know if the drought will continue. Everyone go back and ration your food.”
As soon as the secretary finished speaking, the crowd erupted. Because the secretary was old, had experienced a lot, and was the most educated person in the village, the villagers still listened to what he said.
The brigade leader knocked on the table. “Quiet! Go to the accountant to get your grain.”
Everyone lined up to get their family’s share of grain from the brigade accountant, Gu Xingwang.
One auntie started a scene as soon as she received her grain. “This is going to starve my whole family! How is this little bit of grain supposed to last until the next distribution?”
After speaking, she began to throw a tantrum on the ground, rolling around and refusing to leave without more grain.
The brigade leader came over, his face dark. “Jiawang’s wife, don’t be unreasonable. You know perfectly well why your family’s share is small. You slack off during work. If you delay everyone else from getting their grain, I’ll have the militia drag you out.”
The woman, Jiawang’s wife, lay stiffly on the ground without moving, fully committed to her shameless act.
The brigade leader directly ordered people to carry the woman out. Then he scanned the surrounding crowd.
In the crowd, Gu Yihan heard them talking: “They were all thinking that if Jiawang’s wife could get something extra, they would follow suit. If she didn’t, they wouldn’t lose anything.”
Gu Yihan was speechless. After collecting their grain with her family, she went home with them.
Seeing the grain they had received, Grandma Gu immediately had Gu Dasao’s husband carry it to the cellar. The entrance to the cellar was in her and Grandpa’s room. This was the first time Gu Yihan had learned where the family cellar was. An old-fashioned, solid wood dowry chest sat on top of the cellar entrance.
Grandma Gu looked at her eldest and second daughters-in-law and said, “No matter who from your maternal families comes to our Gu family to borrow grain, we will not lend any. It doesn’t matter who comes asking.”
“If you’re still thinking of helping your maternal families borrow grain, then you can just go back to them. Our family can’t afford to have such disloyal daughters-in-law,” Grandma Gu said, glaring at them. “Did you hear me?”
Gu Dasao and the second daughter-in-law exchanged a glance. “Mother, we understand.”
Because Zhang Cuihua hadn’t gotten pregnant once in all these years, she lacked confidence now.
That night, as Zhang Cuihua and Gu Aidang lay in bed, Zhang Cuihua placed her hand on Gu Aidang’s chest and said, “How long has it been since we’ve been together?”
Gu Aidang swatted her hand away. “I’ve been busy all day. You’re not tired, but I am. All you think about is this nonsense. If your plot of land could grow crops, it would be one thing. But just scattering seeds without any sprouts, isn’t that a waste of seeds?”
Tears of anger streamed down Zhang Cuihua’s face, and her heart filled with even more resentment for Gu Yihan.
Gu Yihan had no idea that her cheap mother’s hatred for her had deepened once again.