By the time the double harvest ended, it was already early August.
That night there was no need to pull seedlings.
After more than half a month of exhausting labor, the villagers all went to bed early and enjoyed a truly restful sleep.
The next morning everyone woke up refreshed and full of energy.
The reason was simple.
The busiest period of the year was finally over.
And today, the village brigade would slaughter a pig.
Half of it would be turned over to fulfill state quotas, while the other half would be brought back and distributed as a reward for the villagers.
According to the rules from the communal dining years, the large dining hall that had long since stopped operating would reopen for one day.
Naturally, not everyone in the village would be allowed to eat there.
This feast was meant to reward the strongest laborers who had contributed the most during the double harvest.
Early that morning, the accountants from each production team had to bring their work-point records to the brigade headquarters and submit lists of the laborers qualified to receive pork.
Women could earn at most eight work points a day and therefore did not qualify as full laborers.
As a result, women and children were excluded.
Men who had been lazy or failed to put in enough work hours during the double harvest were excluded as well.
In truth, there were not many people who qualified.
For example, in the Eighth Production Team managed by Shen Guozhong, there were more than a hundred people in total, yet only a little over twenty qualified laborers.
Two of them were educated youths.
One was Song Jincheng.
The other was He Shi.
The pig had been sent before dawn to the slaughterhouse designated by the food station.
By late morning it had been transported back to the village.
The long-unused communal dining hall became unusually lively from ten o’clock onward.
Some of the villagers who qualified for pork arrived early carrying their own bowls and chopsticks, waiting in the courtyard.
The fieldwork was already finished, so there was not much else to do.
Standing around with a bowl, chatting and joking, was pleasant enough.
After all, it was rare for people from all twenty-six production teams to gather in one place.
He Shi and Song Jincheng had been called over by Shen Guozhong.
He Shi himself had not even realized he now qualified as a strong laborer entitled to eat pork.
Standing nearby, Xu Xiangdong laughed so hard he could barely contain himself.
Lowering his voice, he teased:
“Just imagine your parents’ reaction if they found out how well you’ve been performing out here in the countryside.”
He Shi ignored him. Following Shen Guozhong’s suggestion, he grabbed a lunch tin and headed to the communal canteen with him.
The canteen stood beside the brigade headquarters, right next to the educated youth compound. Before eleven o’clock, the whole area was already filled with the rich aroma of meat. Even the educated youths who normally spent their time sleeping in their rooms or reading books were lured out by the smell.
The older educated youths had seen this scene before and now stood outside the compound watching the excitement. No matter how much they liked to think of themselves as different from the villagers, as city people rather than country folk, they still could not help envying those who were about to eat meat to their fill.
Not many educated youths got to eat meat regularly either. It depended largely on family circumstances. Those whose families were better off often received money and ration coupons from home and naturally lived more comfortably. Those whose families were struggling had to rely on themselves. The diligent ones earned more work points, and if they were frugal enough, they could even send some money or coupons back home. Most, however, were doing well just to keep themselves fed.
Chen Yuzhen’s family circumstances were only average, but she was her parents’ only daughter. She also knew how to complain and act pitiful in her letters home, so both her parents and her two older brothers were willing to support her whenever they could. Among the educated youths, she was generally regarded as coming from a fairly good family, and she herself firmly believed that as well. Because of that, she looked down somewhat on these old farmers who had to bury themselves in labor every day just to earn a few bites of meat.
When she saw He Shi, the man who had embarrassed her before, standing there with an old farmer, holding a lunch tin and waiting for meat, disbelief flashed across her face.
Had she misjudged him?
No, impossible.
She certainly had not mistaken the watch on his wrist. But if he was truly wealthy, why would he be here? Everyone eligible for meat today had earned full work points every single day during the busy double-harvest season. Anyone with decent circumstances would not have worked that hard. Could it be that he was merely keeping up appearances?
Since she herself squeezed her family for support in order to present the image of a well-off female educated youth, she naturally viewed He Shi through the same lens.
Soon she reached a conclusion.
The resentment she had felt after He Shi publicly snubbed her faded somewhat. She had originally assumed he was the son of some Beijing cadre, but apparently he was not all that impressive after all.
A trace of contempt flickered across her eyes.
He Shi had no idea that simply coming to eat a meal of pork had inspired so many thoughts in someone else’s mind. Of course, even if he had known, he would not have cared. He had never paid much attention to the opinions of people who meant nothing to him.
Half a pig might sound like a lot, but there were twenty-six production teams in the village. More than seven hundred laborers qualified for the meal today. Spread across that many people, a little over a hundred jin of pork really was not much.
Each person received roughly one large ladle of meat dishes and one ladle of vegetables.
Among those seven hundred people, there were two kinds.
Some brought bowls and chopsticks.
Others brought only large bowls.
Those with bowls and chopsticks got their food and ate right there in the canteen.
Those who brought only bowls collected their food and hurried home while it was still hot, adding a meat dish to the family table so their wives, children, or elderly parents could share it.
Shen Guozhong naturally belonged to the latter group.
After getting his food, he was about to head home when He Shi, who had been with him the whole time, asked him to wait.
He Shi collected his own meal and followed along as well.
Nearby, Song Jincheng, who was still in line getting food, shot He Shi a surprised look.
Shen Guozhong raised an eyebrow.
“Why not eat here? By the time you carry it back across the river, it’ll be cold. Meat tastes best when it’s hot.”
He Shi replied, “I’m not taking it across the river. I’m bringing it to Fifth Grandma Shen’s place so the three of us can eat together.”
Shen Guozhong was momentarily taken aback. Then he smiled.
“My fifth aunt is fortunate to have met you and Xiao Xu.”
He Shi smiled in return.
He was not particularly kind-hearted or enthusiastic by nature. He simply was not that eager for meat, and he was not used to standing outdoors holding a large bowl and eating in public.
After Shen Fifth Grandma had sent over some braised pork a few days earlier, Shen Yao and Shen Gang were eating braised pork again today.
Their mother had even steamed pure white rice.
By now, Shen Yao no longer wasted time dreaming about abalone, sea cucumber, shark fin, fish maw, or bird’s nest. Having braised pork and white rice was already the happiest life imaginable.
After dinner, the wife of Li Jieyong, the storekeeper for their production team, came to see Wang Yunzhi.
She said that the township supply and marketing cooperative had just received a new shipment of fabric and asked whether Wang Yunzhi wanted to go take a look the next morning.
Li Jieyong had three children. The oldest was only thirteen. The youngest could inherit the oldest child’s clothes, but the eldest was still growing and had no one’s hand-me-downs to wear. Every year, they had to make at least one or two new outfits.
Wang Yunzhi figured she had nothing pressing to do and decided to go. She thought that if she found something pretty, she could buy fabric to make a new outfit for her daughter.
There was a reason for this.
Ever since the educated youths arrived in the village two years ago, Wang Yunzhi had once seen one of the female educated youths wearing a beautiful dress.
She had been envious.
Not because she wanted to wear one herself.
She wanted to dress up her daughter.
In Wang Yunzhi’s eyes, if her Yaoyao wore a dress like that, she would definitely be prettier than any of those city girls.
Unfortunately, Shen Yao had not been fully aware of things before. During the slack farming season, Wang Yunzhi personally stayed with her daughter. During busy periods, Shen Gang accompanied her whenever school was out.
Even so, Wang Yunzhi had never dared to dress her up too much.
Now that her daughter had become clever and sensible, those old thoughts began stirring again.
She agreed to meet Li Jieyong’s wife early the next morning and visit the cooperative together.
After the woman left, Wang Yunzhi returned to her room, took out a small key she wore around her neck, unlocked a drawer secured with a padlock, and removed an iron box from inside.
Opening the box, she counted her cloth coupons.
After some thought, she decided Shen Gang’s clothes could still last another year or two if she patched the cuffs and hems with fabric scraps she had saved before.
With that, she resolved to spend all the cloth coupons she had accumulated on making a beautiful outfit for her daughter.
A seventeen-year-old young woman, after all.
In Wang Yunzhi’s opinion, with her daughter’s looks, failing to dress her nicely would be a waste of the face Heaven had given her.
She put the coupons back into the iron box, locked everything away again, and told Shen Gang that he would have to gather pig fodder by himself the next day.
She was taking Shen Yao to the cooperative to choose fabric.
Shen Gang readily agreed.
As a boy, he had little interest in clothing. As long as he was not like some children from desperately poor families, wearing trousers patched right across the seat in embarrassingly obvious places, he was satisfied.
What interested Shen Gang more now was visiting the educated youth compound.
That was right.
Now that the busy farming season was over, activities at the educated youth compound had resumed.
Shen Yao still had to attend lessons.
Even if everyone thought she was simply sitting there blankly and daydreaming, she still had to show up every day.
Otherwise, if one day her foolishness was suddenly cured and she somehow became literate as well, how would anyone explain that?
Shen Gang already had everything planned out.
His sister would attend class, and he would stand outside the educated youths’ room listening to their stories.
He would have had to bring something as a token contribution if he wanted to go inside and listen. Shen Gang was reluctant to spend that money. Besides, if he stayed outside, he could still hear the stories, and afterward he could keep an eye on his sister. What could be better than that?
Ever since he was three or four years old, he had known to look after his sister. More than ten years later, it had become second nature. Even though he knew his sister was no longer foolish enough to be bullied or taken advantage of, the habit could not be changed.
Sitting in the yard, he watched Shen Yao slowly rinse her mouth. He felt that his sister had become increasingly particular about things. After every meal, she insisted on rinsing her mouth, saying that otherwise there would be an unpleasant taste left behind.
Even the way she rinsed her mouth was different from everyone else. Other people tilted their heads back and gargled noisily, but Shen Yao did it delicately and gracefully, looking especially pretty.
At moments like this, Shen Gang felt his parents were absolutely right. A girl like his sister ought to be carefully protected and spared from hardship whenever possible.
Once Shen Yao had finished rinsing her mouth, Shen Gang got up, carried two small stools, and hurried toward the gate.
His pace was a little too quick, so Shen Yao called after him.
“Walk slower. We just finished eating. It’s better to take it easy.”
Not far away, He Shi and Xu Xiangdong had just left Shen Fifth Grandma’s house after dinner when they heard Shen Yao’s soft, sweet voice.
Then they heard Shen Gang answer her.
The boy emerged from the Shen family courtyard carrying two stools, with Shen Yao following a few steps behind.
Small stools.
That was practically standard equipment for the literacy classes held at the educated youth compound.
He Shi stopped and pressed his lips together.
“Who’s teaching the literacy class tonight?” he asked Xu Xiangdong.
Xu Xiangdong was baffled.
He did not attend literacy classes, so why would he know who was teaching?
But he quickly realized what He Shi was really asking. Biting his lip to suppress a laugh, he deliberately kept his tone casual.
“No idea.”
Sure enough, after glancing at the Shen siblings who had already walked several steps ahead, He Shi turned left instead.
“Let’s go sit around at the educated youth compound.”
At last, Xu Xiangdong understood one of the benefits of eating at Shen Fifth Grandma’s place.
It was nearby.
Running into certain people became incredibly easy.
Following behind He Shi, Xu Xiangdong was laughing so hard inside that he nearly doubled over.
So much for “it’s not that kind of liking between a man and a woman.”
As if he would believe that nonsense.