He Shi did feel that he paid more attention to Shen Yao than he did to others, but he did not believe it was for the reason Xu Xiangdong imagined.
He glanced at Xu Xiangdong, shook his head, and said,
“It’s not that kind of romantic feeling between a man and a woman. I used to be prejudiced against her, but later I realized it was all a misunderstanding. The little girl is quite likable, so I pay a bit more attention to her. It’s not as complicated as you’re making it out to be.”
After saying that, he shoveled a mouthful of rice into his mouth and followed it with a large chopstick-full of vegetables.
Xu Xiangdong nearly jumped out of his seat. His eyes widened involuntarily.
“Wait, are you saying a man and a woman can like each other in a way that isn’t romantic? If you don’t like her, why’d you give her three shoe coupons? What about when you need shoes later? Are you not buying any, or are you planning to have your mother mail you more?”
While eating, He Shi glanced at him and laughed.
“Don’t you still have some?”
“Holy shit!”
Xu Xiangdong felt like he was about to be fleeced alive.
Leather shoes, loafers, winter-lined shoes, he needed to maintain an image too, alright? Looking good cost resources.
He stared at He Shi for a long moment, unable to say a word. But who told him that he had been eating and using so much of He Shi’s stuff? If He Shi wanted to bleed him dry, would he dare refuse? He gritted his teeth and nodded.
“Fine, fine. They’re just shoe coupons, right? I’ll spare you one from my stash.”
He Shi simply smiled and looked at him.
With a pained expression, Xu Xiangdong continued offering up more of his blood.
“Two. Two coupons.”
He Shi had not brought much luggage with him, nor many shoes. Xu Xiangdong, on the other hand, had brought plenty of clothes, shoes, and socks from Beijing.
It hurt. It really hurt.
Holding out both hands, he showed them to He Shi from every angle and wailed miserably.
“Brother, if you’re not trying to court her, then stop being so generous! Look at this. See it? The skin between my fingers is peeling. It itches like hell, and it hurts too.”
“I’ve never suffered like this in my life. If you don’t like Shen Yao, why are you sucking up to Shen Guozhong? If it wasn’t for helping you earn goodwill points, would I be suffering like this? I’m not going to work tomorrow. Some of the educated youths in the other teams stopped going into the fields after the harvest. Rice transplanting isn’t work for human beings. My back hurts so much I can’t even sleep on it at night.”
He bared his teeth as he spoke. Every expression on his face seemed to scream: Life is tormenting me.
He Shi glanced at his hands and nodded.
“Do whatever you want. If you’re not going to work tomorrow, help me with something.”
The moment Xu Xiangdong heard he could skip work, he perked right up. Anything was better than soaking in the rice paddies.
The sun beat down relentlessly overhead while the water beneath his feet felt like boiling soup. Under the blazing sun, waves of heat rose from the ground. The entire countryside felt like a giant steamer. Quite a few loaches had even been cooked to death in the fields. One could easily imagine how miserable the workers felt.
The fact that he had managed to transplant rice seedlings for three days straight was already his absolute limit.
The errand He Shi wanted Xu Xiangdong to handle was to go to the township food station and buy ten jin of rice, ten jin of refined flour, and one jin of pork, then deliver them to Shen Yao’s Fifth Grandma’s house.
Xu Xiangdong was speechless.
You don’t like her? Are you planning to become her live-in son-in-law?
He was even taking care of her extended relatives, and doing it on such a grand scale.
“Wait, which family is Shen Yao’s Fifth Grandma’s?”
He almost added, Why not just deliver it directly to Team Leader Shen’s house? This roundabout approach is going way too far.
But before he could say it, He Shi replied:
“The house next door to Shen Yao’s. Just ask anyone and they’ll tell you. She’s the family of a martyr. Her son died last year. I’ll give you the money and ration coupons afterward.”
The moment Xu Xiangdong heard the word “martyr,” the teasing look disappeared from his face.
He glanced at He Shi and agreed to take care of it.
Night seedling-pulling usually lasted until around midnight.
After returning home, Shen Yao locked her room and went to sleep. The next morning, as soon as the gong sounded outside, she got up and handed the three shoe coupons to Wang Yunzhi.
Wang Yunzhi was stunned.
Where had these shoe coupons come from?
And there were three of them.
When she heard that Shen Yao had exchanged a few meals with Educated Youth He for them…
She was dumbfounded.
A few meals for three shoe coupons?
Since when had shoe coupons become so worthless?
She looked at the coupons in her hand, then at her daughter, and finally came to a conclusion.
Her daughter simply did not understand these things. She must have offered such an outrageous deal that Educated Youth He had been too embarrassed to refuse.
So Wang Yunzhi patiently explained how valuable ration coupons of all kinds were, hoping her daughter would understand just how large a favor she had received and would not accidentally take advantage of people again in the future.
“I’ve heard city people only get a few shoe coupons a year. He gave our family three at once. How’s Educated Youth He supposed to buy shoes afterward?”
Wang Yunzhi felt that He Shi was far too generous.
She thought about making him a couple pairs of shoes the next time she sewed for the family. Otherwise, she would feel too guilty. She also resolved that whenever the family had fish, meat, or anything delicious in the future, she would have Shen Gang deliver a portion to He Shi.
Then she said:
“How about we return two of the coupons? We’ll just buy one pair according to your father’s shoe size. This time your brother can wear them. Whoever needs to work in the fields can use them afterward.”
The more she thought about it, the better the idea sounded.
Having spent her entire life scrimping and saving, she could not bear to spend so much on herself, especially when ration coupons were even more precious than money. Besides, a little skin damage on her feet would heal eventually.
Shen Yao truly did not understand these matters.
Had she known, she probably would not have exchanged all three coupons from He Shi alone.
But since the exchange had already been made, and He Shi had not seemed troubled by it at all, she grabbed Wang Yunzhi’s arm and said:
“Mom, let’s buy the rain boots. Your feet are already in such terrible condition. If we’re careful with them, they’ll last for years. He Shi didn’t seem reluctant at all when he gave me the three coupons. I think he probably isn’t short on them. Why don’t we make it up to him in other ways?”
She and Wang Yunzhi had arrived at the same thought.
In the future, whenever they had good food, they would send some to He Shi.
After the morning shift, the family discussed the matter over breakfast and ultimately decided to keep all three shoe coupons.
Once breakfast was over, Wang Yunzhi specifically requested two hours off work and made a trip to the township supply and marketing cooperative.
Shen Yao went along with her.
The mother and daughter were going to buy rain boots.
Even though Shen Yao now seemed no different from an ordinary person, she had been treated like a child for so many years that Wang Yunzhi still worried about letting her go alone. At least for this first trip, she wanted to accompany her personally.
Wang Yunzhi walked very quickly, and Shen Yao had to hurry to keep up.
She could understand why. During the double harvest season, everyone was working day and night. Taking time off was no small matter.
By the time they returned to the village, it was already after ten o’clock.
Wang Yunzhi had Shen Yao carry the purchases home while she headed straight back to the fields.
At noon, when the family returned home for lunch, they all admired the new rain boots.
When they went back out to work in the afternoon, everyone wore a pair.
The other villagers were green with envy.
Many asked where they had gotten the shoe coupons.
Wang Yunzhi only said that Shen Guozhong had exchanged for them from an educated youth and did not elaborate further.
Taking advantage of a moment when no one was paying attention, Shen Guozhong sought out He Shi to thank him personally.
He also pressed five yuan into He Shi’s hand and said quietly:
“Yaoyao doesn’t understand these things. She had no idea how precious coupons are, otherwise she never would have tried to exchange three coupons for just a few meals. You’re far too generous. Consider this money payment for the coupons. I know it’s still not enough. But Yaoyao’s offer to treat you to several good meals still stands. Educated Youth He, I hope you won’t mind.”
He Shi glanced at the rain boots on Shen Guozhong’s feet, and amusement flickered in his eyes.
So the shoe coupons had been exchanged for the family’s sake.
This little girl might not be very sharp mentally, but she was genuinely devoted to her family.
In fact, after interacting with Shen Yao several times, he did not think she seemed foolish at all. If not for the incident of her climbing into his bed, and if both the villagers and the educated youths had not all said the same thing, he would have suspected that he had gotten it wrong.
The villagers had been working under extremely intense conditions lately. Wanting to nourish her parents and younger brother a bit, Shen Yao took a bamboo scoop basket and went to the stream to catch fish.
More than twenty days had passed since she arrived in this world, and she had gradually adapted to life here. The biggest change was that she was now willing to put in labor if it meant eating a little better.
She was nowhere near as skilled as Shen Gang. After struggling until after three in the afternoon, she had only managed to catch three fish, each about the size of a palm.
She kept two for her own family and carried the remaining one to Fifth Grandma’s house.
When she arrived, the old woman was holding a bowl and preparing to head out. Seeing the fish still flopping in Shen Yao’s basket, she had not even asked about it before Shen Yao explained that she had brought it as a gift.
The old woman immediately stopped preparing to leave and smiled.
“Well then, that saves me a trip. Take this meat home with you.”
She placed the bowl in Shen Yao’s hands.
Inside was a chunk of pork about the size of a child’s fist, mostly lean with only a little fat. Shen Yao’s eyes practically glued themselves to it.
She had been here for so long and had only eaten the tiny fingertip-sized piece of meat her father had once brought back from a meeting. She had not tasted pork at all since arriving.
How could she not crave it?
“Fifth Grandma, where did this meat come from?”
By this point, very few villagers still had meat coupons. As for high-priced pork sold without coupons, she had not heard of any pig-slaughtering quota being issued in the village.
The old woman pulled her into the house.
“At noon, Educated Youth Xu from our team brought it over. A bag of flour, a bag of white rice, and a jin of pork. He said Educated Youth He gave him the money and asked him to buy it and deliver it to me.”
When she heard it was from He Shi, Shen Yao raised an eyebrow.
Well, well.
She had not expected that.
That Educated Youth He was actually the type to care for the elderly?
This man really kept overturning her previous impressions of him.
“There was so much that I felt embarrassed accepting it, but there was no way to argue against it. Educated Youth Xu said that since I’m the family of a martyr, people should help out when they’re able. He put the things down and left.”
“I was thinking of cooking the pork tonight and inviting them over for dinner. I figured your family probably hasn’t had meat in a long time either, so I cut off a small piece for you. Take it home.”
When she mentioned being a martyr’s family, the old woman’s feelings remained complicated.
She had given birth to four children in her lifetime, but only the youngest, Shen Guohuai, had survived. He had grown up capable and promising, eventually joining the army.
Yet now, looking back, she would rather he had simply stayed home farming, living an ordinary but safe life.
Almost a year had passed since his death, so the grief was no longer as raw as it had once been.
Looking at the fish Shen Yao had brought, her mood brightened again.
Smiling with narrowed eyes, she said:
“You brought this fish at just the right time. Fifth Grandma won’t stand on ceremony with you today. I’ll go pick some vegetables from the fields, then stop by and let those two educated youths know they’re coming over for dinner tonight.”
As she spoke, she placed the fish into a basin of water to keep it alive and then pulled Shen Yao along with her.
Shen Yao had come intending to deliver a fish.
Instead, she ended up carrying home a piece of pork.
She hesitated all the way from the old woman’s house to her own kitchen, but in the end she simply could not bring herself to refuse.
She truly could not.
By six o’clock, the villagers were gradually getting off work.
When Wang Yunzhi saw both fish and pork at home, she was astonished.
“Where did all this come from?”
Her daughter certainly did not have any money.
After hearing how the fish and pork had come about, Wang Yunzhi did not say much else. She only remarked to Shen Guozhong that the educated youths from the capital really had high ideological awareness.
Since Fifth Grandma had already invited He Shi and Xu Xiangdong for dinner, Wang Yunzhi did not suggest inviting them over again.
Instead, she rubbed salt onto the pork and planned to stretch it over the next two or three days. Whenever she stir-fried vegetables, she would add a few slices.
Shen Yao was deeply disappointed by that idea.
What kind of meat flavor could possibly come from a few slices mixed into a huge plate of vegetables?
She wanted braised pork belly, Dongpo pork, lion’s head meatballs…
The mere thought of those dishes made someone who had not been hungry moments ago suddenly feel ravenous.
She was craving food so badly it was torture.