In the countryside, especially during summer, very few people slept in.
As soon as the first rays of dawn appeared on the horizon, the entire village came alive with crowing roosters, singing birds, and the sounds of people beginning their day.
Shen Yao did not find it difficult to adapt.
Although she had been doted upon at home, she had been raised with proper discipline.
Paying her respects morning and evening and accompanying her grandmother during breakfast had always been the first task of every day.
Of course, there was no such routine here.
During busy farming seasons, villagers began early work at five in the morning and resumed fieldwork at eight-thirty. During less demanding periods, they simply started at eight-thirty.
People got up at five not for the fields, but to tend their private plots, feed their chickens, ducks, and pigs, and prepare breakfast.
Even then, time was always tight.
Shortly after five o’clock, Shen Yao and Shen Gang each carried a large bamboo basket and a sickle as they crossed the river toward the mountains to cut pig fodder.
On the narrow log bridge, they passed two or three others carrying similar baskets.
Once they reached the mountains, there were even more.
Shen Yao did not know about other places, but in Shenjia Village almost every household raised pigs.
There was no choice.
Aside from the team’s yearly dividends, selling pigs to the food station was one of the few ways families could earn money and obtain meat coupons.
The pig fodder growing along the village dikes had long since been harvested clean by children from every household.
The fields had practically become barren.
Anyone wanting more fodder had to venture into the mountains.
Even then, it was not easy.
So many people were gathering fodder that finding a single patch of pig grass on the outer hills felt like discovering buried treasure.
In all her years, Shen Yao had handled embroidery needles, not sickles.
She had never done work that required bending over and cutting grass.
Once they ventured deeper into the mountains, the undergrowth became denser and filled with small creatures.
Every now and then a lizard would dart past her feet, startling her badly.
Whenever that happened, Shen Gang would laugh and move ahead of her, clearing a path for her as they walked.
From a little after five in the morning until the sun had climbed noticeably higher, Shen Yao had managed to gather only enough pig fodder to barely cover the bottom of her basket.
Meanwhile, Shen Gang had been darting all over the place and had already filled nearly half a basket.
When he turned around and saw the discouragement on his sister’s face, he immediately thumped his chest and volunteered to take over her share of the work.
“Sis, if you’re tired, just rest. I’ll definitely fill both baskets in a little while.”
Shen Yao looked at him.
Perhaps because of poor nutrition, he was half a head shorter than her twelve-year-old cousin had been and much thinner too. He was just a child, barely older than her nephew.
She truly could not bring herself to exploit him, so she continued working earnestly.
By the time they headed home, it was Shen Yao’s first experience gathering pig fodder. She had managed only a little under half a basket, while most of the work had been done by Shen Gang.
Shen Gang was genuinely considerate. He carried both overflowing baskets himself, one in each hand.
If he had been an older brother, Shen Yao would have accepted it without guilt.
But he was only a half-grown boy.
The weight was one thing, but the baskets themselves were enormous. Just watching him carry them looked exhausting.
Yet she truly had very little strength.
She could manage for a short distance, but before long her arms would ache. Carrying the basket on her arm made her forearm throb from the pressure, while carrying it by hand quickly left her palms red and sore.
According to her memories, Shen Gang had always carried the baskets before.
The original Shen Yao had been just as delicate as she was.
For a rural family to raise such a pampered daughter, Shen Gang deserved much of the credit.
In the end, she persisted by alternating between carrying the basket and resting, managing most of the journey home.
By the time she arrived, both hands hurt everywhere.
The next time He Shi saw Shen Yao, she was standing outside the pigsty, adding feed to the trough.
From a distance, he could hear her muttering to herself, though not clearly.
Only when he got closer did he catch her words.
“…I personally gathered pig fodder, personally fed you all, and I even got blisters on my palms carrying those baskets.”
She had not noticed anyone approaching.
As she spoke, she examined her palms. The burning pain was difficult to endure.
Thinking about it, if she were still her old self…
She pointed the feed scoop at the pigs inside the pen.
“If my mother knew about this, none of you would live to see tomorrow’s sun, understand?”
Xu Xiangdong burst out laughing.
This girl was simply too adorable.
Was she actually threatening pigs?
There was an unconscious sweetness and innocence in her tone.
He Shi almost laughed as well, but at the same time, something in his chest felt oddly uncomfortable.
She really was simple-minded.
So the scheme he had imagined, her climbing into his bed to trick him into marrying her, had all been a misunderstanding.
He still did not know why she had sneaked into his room that night, but plotting against him?
This silly girl simply did not possess that kind of cunning.
Xu Xiangdong clearly wanted to go over and strike up a conversation.
He Shi glanced at him.
“Are we leaving or not?”
Xu Xiangdong rubbed his nose and followed.
This miserable backwater place had left him without a satisfying meal for ten days.
Today he and He Shi were planning to go into the county town to eat at a restaurant.
If they delayed any longer, the state-run restaurant would be closed by the time they arrived.
Shen Yao had noticed them as soon as Xu Xiangdong laughed.
Seeing that He Shi clearly wanted nothing to do with her, she felt quite satisfied herself.
After such an embarrassing incident, maintaining exactly this kind of distance was for the best.
Shen Gang had only been gone about fifteen minutes after a classmate called him away.
When he returned and discovered that Shen Yao had already fed the pigs, he was amazed.
At lunchtime, as soon as Wang Yunzhi came home, he hurried over to tell her.
“Mom, I think Sis is better than before now. She even knows how to help share the work.”
Nothing involving Shen Yao was ever a small matter to Wang Yunzhi.
Upon hearing that, she even paused in the middle of removing her straw hat.
“What do you mean?”
“When we were coming back from gathering pig fodder today, Sis didn’t make me carry the baskets by myself. Whenever she got tired, she’d let me carry them, but after resting she’d take them back again. I saw her switching between her left and right hands constantly. Her hands definitely hurt. I told her I wasn’t tired and she could rest, but she wouldn’t listen.”
He paused before continuing.
“And this morning, when a classmate came looking for me, I was only gone for about ten minutes. Sis fed all the pigs by herself.”
Then he hesitated.
“Mom, before, Sis would do whatever we told her. Now she actually thinks things through herself and has her own ideas. She even looks for work on her own. Do you think she’s gotten smarter?”
As Wang Yunzhi listened, her eyes lit up.
Nothing like this had ever happened before.
Thinking about how her daughter had given food to her brother yesterday, she wondered if Shen Yao had really become more mature.
That would be wonderful news.
The thing that made Shen Yao different from others was that her mental development had stopped at around five or six years old.
In plain terms, she was never supposed to grow up mentally.
But if she was behaving like this now, didn’t that mean her mind was continuing to develop?
Wang Yunzhi set down her straw hat and excitedly paced around the room twice.
Then she suddenly thought of something.
Smack!
She slapped Shen Gang on the shoulder.
“Your sister barely has any strength. She’s hardly done any work her whole life. And you actually let her carry those baskets of pig fodder home?”
She looked at her son as though wondering if he was a little slow.
Then she asked,
“Did they feel heavy to you? Don’t stunt your growth carrying things like that. If they’re too heavy, gather less fodder next time. You’re free during the day anyway. Just make two trips.”
As she spoke, she cast a critical glance at his height.
Shen Gang was outraged.
What kind of look was that?
“I’m not short, okay? I’ve still got years left to grow. Everyone says boys grow later.”
Afraid he might truly get upset, Wang Yunzhi quickly steered the conversation back.
“Listen to me. You’re a boy. You’re your sister’s support. How can you let her do heavy work? Does that make any sense?”
She immediately launched into a lecture.
Shen Gang responded with occasional acknowledgments, his head bobbing rhythmically.
He could practically recite the speech himself by now.
“Your sister doesn’t have any other brothers. Just you. You can’t think of yourself as the younger brother. You have to think of yourself as the older brother…”
On and on she went.
Blah blah blah.
Blah blah blah.
Just then, Shen Yao stepped out of the house and happened to witness the scene.
At last she understood how Shen Gang had become such a wonderful younger brother.
This was the source.
The moment Wang Yunzhi saw Shen Yao, she stopped lecturing Shen Gang altogether and went over to ask whether she was hungry.
Then she began preparing lunch.
Although “preparing lunch” really just meant stir-frying a dish.
Shen Gang had already steamed the rice and washed and chopped the vegetables. All that remained was for Wang Yunzhi to cook them.
When the food was finally placed on the table, Shen Yao stared at the large bowl of stir-fried cabbage and the plate of dressed string beans.
Holding her chopsticks, she began contemplating life.
Poor.
Far too poor.
Heaven had given her fifteen years of a privileged life.
Could it be that only recently it had realized a mistake had been made and decided to take everything back?
There was no logic in that at all!
Life could not go on like this. There was no reason a daughter of the Dingnan Marquis Manor should become incapable of surviving simply because she had lost her family’s protection. If that were true, it would make a mockery of the more than ten years of teachings her mother had given her.
Her mother had once said that for a woman to live well, she needed three pillars of support: a capable natal family, a powerful husband’s family, and the ability to stand firmly on her own.
Shen Yao thought about it. A father who was the leader of a production team was probably equivalent to a small estate steward back in her world. No, not even that. The life here was far worse than that of the estate stewards in her family’s manor. So her natal family could hardly be considered powerful.
As for a husband’s family, with her reputation as a fool and the fact that people here did not marry particularly early, she had no intention of marrying some farmer and living out her days in the countryside. That issue could be set aside for now.
She went through everything she had learned over the years. Music, chess, calligraphy, and painting were all useless. Sewing and embroidery were equally impractical in a place where people could only buy a few feet of coarse cloth in an entire year. Household management and business administration were no help either. Here, everyone watched everyone else closely. Speculation and profiteering, or “cutting off the tail of capitalism,” were not things to be taken lightly.
After analyzing the situation for half a day, she arrived at one conclusion.
This truly was a distorted world.
Resting her chin in her hand, she pondered seriously for most of the afternoon. Then she thought of He Shi and Xu Xiangdong, whom she had seen that morning. Among the villagers dressed in drab, gray clothing, the two stood out conspicuously. With Shen Yao’s discerning eye, she could tell at a glance that the fabric of their clothes was of excellent quality. Even Educated Youth Song from Shanghai was far more financially comfortable than the villagers.
The educated youths.
These city youths who had come from outside were her breakthrough point. If she wanted a better life, she first needed to understand the world beyond Shen Family Village.
Shen Family Village had a night school, essentially a literacy class, located in the educated youth compound beside the village headquarters. Every evening, educated youths would teach classes there, and the village awarded them work points for doing so. Any villager who wanted to learn could simply bring along a kerosene lamp and attend.
Shen Yao thought that after dinner she would have to persuade Shen Gang to take her there.