He was about to go to the kitchen and ask for an explanation.
A hoarse shout came from the mountain path: "Lijuan, Lijuan, are you back?"
When the second elder sister in the kitchen failed to answer, Liu Qingsong turned toward the mountain path.
Eldest Uncle Liu Huagen was approaching with a black puppy in his arms, his head covered in white hair. Liu Qingsong hurried forward to meet him.
Liu Chunhua, leading Little Mochi by the hand, followed behind.
The three of them walked closer. Before Liu Qingsong could even speak, Liu Huagen held out the puppy in his arms to him. "This is a Five-Black Hound. Take it back and raise it! It'll make a fine guard dog when it grows up."
"Good! Good!" Liu Qingsong reached out and took it.
As for his eldest uncle's gift.
He naturally felt no need to stand on ceremony.
"Wow!" Little Mochi spotted the adorable Five-Black Hound in Liu Qingsong's arms, rose onto her tiptoes, and scooped it up. Then she ran toward the Main Gate on her Short Little Legs.
Seeing this, Liu Chunhua had no choice but to follow after her.
Liu Qingsong left the mother and daughter to themselves and asked Liu Huagen, "Eldest Uncle, what happened to my second elder sister today? Did she get bullied again while repairing the Reservoir Dam?"
If no one had bullied her and nothing upsetting had happened, she wouldn't have come home without saying a word or even greeting Eldest Sister.
Liu Huagen let out a long sigh. "Sigh! Calling it bullying might be too strong, but Captain Wang and the Production Team Accountant have been targeting her. They won't let your family join the Huai Tree Team's Post-Autumn Hunting."
"As for why they're targeting you—"
"I think you already know in your heart."
"What? They won't let my family join the team's hunt?" Once Liu Qingsong understood what Eldest Uncle meant, he nearly burst out cursing in anger.
Unlike Eldest Sister's Huangyu Production Brigade, with its abundant Camellia oil tree resources, the Huai Tree Team had only a dozen or so vast, desolate mountains that few people ever visited.
Some mountains were shrouded in Miasma year-round, while fierce beasts and Venomous Insects roamed others. Ordinary people did not dare go near them.
Wild Boar Ridge, where Liu Qingsong lived, was one of those places. All kinds of animals lived there, including ferocious wild boars, black bears, and even Tigers—creatures that, decades later, could be seen only in a zoo.
In other words, hunting in the mountains was dangerous.
For example, in the autumn of the year before last, two hunters from the neighboring Toad Production Team entered the mountains to hunt without permission. They caught no prey; instead, the prey killed them.
To prevent such tragedies, the team organized large groups of villagers to hunt in the mountains every autumn during the agricultural off-season.
This reduced the danger, helped them bring down more prey, and gave them a chance to gather rare goods such as Lingzhi and Wild Honeybees.
In the past, every household received a share of these goods and the hunted prey. Each household sent a representative to join the hunt; even when special circumstances prevented one from going, the household still received its share.
This was the rule.
The rule of hunting in the mountains.
However, after Wang Xiaohe became captain of the Huai Tree Team in '73, the rule changed. A household that sent no representative to the village hunt received no share of the prey or goods.
Not even the smallest bit.
The change was fair in principle: it stopped villagers from skipping the dangerous Post-Autumn Hunting while still claiming a share of the prey and goods.
If he remembered correctly,
his parents had once raised both hands in support of this very change!
Yet Wang Xiaohe now used the change against them.
Turned into a "tool" for targeting their family.
When he thought about it, the change was outrageous and shameless.
He wasn't wronging Wang Xiaohe by saying this—it was the truth.
Wang Xiaohe and the Production Team Accountant, Zhong Xinbing, barred their family from the Post-Autumn Hunting, so the family would receive no share of the prey or goods.
Other villager households might not care, but for Liu Qingsong's family, this was adding frost to snow—a merciless, crushing blow.
Without their share of the prey and goods, the family would have no meat for the New Year and might lack even the money to buy oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea.
Still, Liu Qingsong was not surprised that Wang Xiaohe and Zhong Xinbing targeted his family. He felt it was entirely expected.
He said this because it went back to the time when his parents were falsely accused of stealing the Production Brigade's Oil Coupons.
At the time, his father, Liu Hualei, served as the Huai Tree Team's Production Team Accountant and managed the team's account books.
Naturally, he also managed Ration Tickets such as Oil Coupons, Match Ration Coupons, cloth coupons, and Kerosene Coupons.
But his father enforced the rules too strictly. Whenever Production Team Captain Wang Xiaohe asked to borrow a few cloth coupons or Kerosene Coupons for relatives, his father refused him outright.
That set the stage for what followed: Wang Xiaohe tampered with the Ration Tickets and then conspired with Zhong Xinbing to frame Liu Qingsong's parents.
Zhong Xinbing had backing in the Commune and wanted to take over as the Huai Tree Team's accountant.
What happened next was predictable. His parents were taken away on the strength of a single two-catty Oil Coupon used as "evidence."
Looking back, Liu Qingsong felt his father, who had devoted his whole life to public service, had received a raw deal.
If he had never taken that wretched Production Team Accountant position, he would have avoided those years of imprisonment calamity.
But the matter was settled, and Liu Qingsong did not dwell on it. He turned back to Liu Huagen and asked, "Eldest Uncle, is the reason Wang Xiaohe won't let our family join the Post-Autumn Hunting the grudge between him and my parents?"
"Mm, he said your family's class background is bad, and you don't deserve to join the hunt," Liu Huagen replied in a low voice. "Your Third Uncle, Wang Yaoqing, and the rest of the Liu Family and I went to reason with Wang Xiaohe and Zhong Xinbing after we finished work, but instead we got cursed at for our trouble."
"If your second elder sister hadn't held us back—"
"Your Third Uncle and I would have beaten Wang Xiaohe today."
"Is that so?" Liu Qingsong was somewhat taken aback. He furrowed his brow and said, "My second elder sister did the right thing. If we'd hit Wang Xiaohe and Zhong Xinbing, our family would have faced even more trouble."
"But don't worry, Eldest Uncle—even if our family is targeted and receives no share of the hunting goods, Hongxia, Qinglong, Qingshi, and I won't starve."
"That much I know," Liu Huagen said, reaching out to pat Liu Qingsong's shoulder with a look of relief. "I could tell from those two plump Wild Diaozi Fish your second elder sister gave me earlier."
"Still, you'd best be careful when you go fishing by the river from now on."
"Not only is the wind strong there, it's dangerous too."
"Mm," Liu Qingsong nodded.
An eldest uncle was an eldest uncle — always looking out for him in every way.
"If there's nothing else, I'll head back now." Liu Huagen glanced at the darkening sky. "From now on, whatever your family needs, come find me. If I can help, I won't refuse."
"Also, whatever fish you catch, keep it for yourselves to eat."
"Don't go giving it away again."
"Understand?"
"Understood." Liu Qingsong nodded.
"Then get on back to whatever you were doing!" Liu Huagen turned and walked off down the winding mountain path.
Liu Qingsong watched Liu Huagen's figure disappear from sight before heading to the kitchen.
In the kitchen, Liu Lijuan sat before the Stove Platform, eating her meal by the light of a Kerosene Lamp. When Liu Qingsong returned, she glowered at him and asked, "Why did you accept that Five-Black Hound from Eldest Uncle? Don't you know our family can barely feed itself?"
They could barely feed themselves as it was.
Raising the dog would only add to their burden.
If other villagers saw it, they would probably start gossiping again.
"So, second elder sister, why do you think Eldest Uncle wanted to give us the Five-Black Hound?" Liu Qingsong didn't answer Liu Lijuan's question, and instead asked one of his own.
"Why?" Liu Lijuan looked at Liu Qingsong.
"Think it over yourself!" Liu Qingsong did not answer her. He turned and walked toward the rear courtyard to make shoes.
Liu Lijuan watched his retreating figure with a furrowed brow. She hadn't meant to think too hard about it, but the next moment she suddenly froze, finally understanding the meaning behind Liu Qingsong's words.
If she was not mistaken, Eldest Uncle had given the Five-Black Hound to their family as a return gift.
The gift he was returning was clear: that afternoon, following Liu Qingsong's suggestion, she had given two Wild Diaozi Fish to Eldest Uncle's House.
Returning courtesy for courtesy, Eldest Uncle had done nothing wrong by giving her the Five-Black Hound in return.
Refusing it would mean looking down on Eldest Uncle.
After all, Eldest Uncle had accepted the Wild Diaozi Fish she'd given him.
More importantly, the Five-Black Hound was a mongrel dog. Once it grew up, the family could eat it for meat.
Given their family's current situation, Eldest Uncle's intention in giving them the Five-Black Hound couldn't have been clearer — he wanted their family to have meat to eat by the end of the year.
Killing a dog they had raised themselves felt cruel, but Eldest Uncle's intentions were good—unquestionably so.
But she had not considered any of this. She had focused instead on her anger at Wang Xiaohe and Zhong Xinbing for barring their family from the hunt—a case of picking up the sesame seed and losing the watermelon.
Liu Lijuan felt guilty when she realized this. She also recognized Liu Qingsong's emotional perceptiveness.
At least he could see through something that she, as Eldest Sister, had failed to understand.
Liu Lijuan hurriedly picked up her rice bowl and went to the rear courtyard, unwilling to let the incident create a rift between them.
In the rear courtyard, little sister, who usually went barefoot, chased the puppy in black, oddly shaped sandals that fit her feet perfectly.
Her happy expression and bright, hearty laughter left Liu Lijuan frozen when she entered the rear courtyard.
After she came back to her senses.
She asked little sister in bewilderment, "Hongxia, where did you get those sandals?"
If she'd stolen them, Liu Lijuan wouldn't hesitate to spank her little sister's bottom raw.
She was not being cruel. Their parents had been arrested and sent to Reform Through Labor, and she did not want her younger sister to follow the same path.
……