"Hehe... Third Brother made these sandals for me." Hearing this, little sister stopped chasing the puppy and pointed toward the southeastern area of the rear courtyard.
At that spot.
Liu Qingsong cut tire rubber with scissors. Liu Chunhua and Little Mochi helped beside him, using a file to smooth the burrs around its edges.
Liu Lijuan stared at the scene, stunned.
After she came back to her senses, she frowned and walked over. "Qingsong, where did you get this tire rubber? Since when do you know how to make sandals? And also..."
Having asked this far, Liu Lijuan suddenly didn't continue.
As for the reason, it was because Eldest Sister Liu Chunhua had glared her into silence.
After all, with Eldest Sister still there, interrogating Liu Qingsong like a criminal suspect was inappropriate.
The atmosphere grew awkward in that moment.
Seeing this, Liu Qingsong quickly spoke up to defuse the awkwardness. "Second Sister, I made this tire rubber from the pig trough in the pigpen. It's useless sitting there now, so I figured I'd use it to make sandals."
This was the excuse he had already prepared in advance.
So as to leave no loopholes.
He had even hidden the pig trough in the Myriad Realms Garbage Dump.
Liu Lijuan knew nothing about this. She trusted Liu Qingsong without question; after all, the pigpen really did contain a pig trough made from a used tire.
When she saw that darkness had fallen, she quickly finished the food in her bowl, ran to the main hall, fetched and lit the Kerosene Lamp, and set it on the long bench beside Liu Qingsong.
Liu Qingsong was making sandals for Liu Chunhua from tire rubber. He used the extra-thick outer tire layer, with its steel-wire tread, for the soles. Since scissors could not cut it, he cut it with the Broken Blade from the Myriad Realms Garbage Dump.
The Broken Blade looked somewhat like a woodcutter's knife. Since it was night, neither Liu Lijuan nor Liu Chunhua suspected anything or questioned the blade's sharpness.
They assumed that used tire rubber was easy to cut.
He cut the steel-wire outer tire layer into soles.
Liu Qingsong then began using the softer rubber from inside the tire to make the upper part and the straps.
This required skill. Without proper tools, Liu Qingsong could only improvise.
Once that was done, he only needed to join the soles, uppers, and straps.
Liu Qingsong had planned to search the Myriad Realms Garbage Dump for used rivets. They would have made a fast, neat join. But with his family beside him, he could not enter the Myriad Realms Garbage Dump, so he used the sturdy hemp thread from home to sew everything together.
Before sewing, he had to punch holes in the tire rubber; an ordinary needle could not pierce it otherwise.
Liu Chunhua suggested this method, and it worked well.
After half an hour, Liu Qingsong had made a pair of "rough sandals" from tire rubber.
Liu Chunhua tried them on, then used the file to smooth the spots that rubbed against her feet. She tried them on again and filed the uncomfortable spots.
This went on, back and forth, for another half hour.
At last, Liu Qingsong made a pair of well-fitting flat sandals.
Satisfied, Liu Chunhua walked a few laps around the rear courtyard and said happily to Liu Qingsong, "These tire-rubber sandals are excellent. I'll bring your brother-in-law over tomorrow so you can make him a pair too."
"All right." Liu Qingsong nodded with a smile.
"Make me a pair too." Liu Lijuan, standing nearby, couldn't help but chime in.
She wasn't trying to take advantage of him. In 1978, a pair of well-fitting sandals from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative cost a small fortune!
If she remembered correctly, adult sandals cost at least one yuan and some change.
Even children's sandals cost around a yuan.
And now that Liu Qingsong could make sandals himself, why wouldn't she want a pair?
That way, she could save quite a bit of money.
Of course, there was one more important point.
The tire-rubber sandals also looked decent. Their workmanship was rough, but everything else seemed fine to her.
"No problem! Everyone gets a pair." Guessing what Second Sister was thinking, Liu Qingsong nodded readily. "But I can't make them right now—I need to walk Eldest Sister home first."
"I want to go see Eldest Sister off too." Little sister raised her small hand along with him.
"Me too, me too, I want to take Mommy home!" Little Mochi chimed in with her babyish voice.
"Sure! Sure! You can all walk me home." Liu Chunhua laughed and agreed. After saying goodbye to Liu Lijuan, she picked up the packaged Spicy Diaozi Fish and headed for the rear courtyard's Main Gate.
Liu Qingsong followed behind, holding Little Mochi and little sister by the hand.
The group exited through the rear courtyard's gate.
Without stopping, they walked straight onto the winding mountain path.
The mountain path was lined with Thorns, Vines, and various unnamed trees. Moonlight cast eerie shadows across them.
But Liu Qingsong felt no fear. He swung the Broken Blade to chop through the Thorns blocking the path, then asked Liu Chunhua beside him, "Eldest Sister, has Brother-in-law finished his blacksmithing apprenticeship?"
Eldest Sister's Husband was named Wang Kuiwu, a blacksmith from the Huangyu Production Brigade.
But at this stage, he was likely still an apprentice.
Which was why Liu Qingsong asked this.
Asking whether Brother-in-law had finished his apprenticeship.
"Not yet!" Liu Chunhua replied with a helpless sigh. "I told him to work on his own, but your brother-in-law refused. He said his master still had much to teach him."
"Is that so?" Liu Qingsong chuckled. He was about to offer Eldest Sister some advice when the bushes ahead rustled.
"Who's there?" Liu Qingsong grew alert.
Liu Chunhua picked up a rock from the ground to defend herself.
Little Mochi and little sister followed suit, picking up pebbles and aiming them at the bushes.
But the bushes fell silent again.
"That was probably a wild animal passing by." Liu Qingsong breathed a sigh of relief.
Liu Chunhua relaxed as well.
This was why Liu Qingsong had agreed to walk her home. The area around Wild Boar Ridge was too dangerous; anyone walking alone at night could be ambushed by a wild animal.
"Let's go." Liu Chunhua tossed away the rock in her hand.
"Yeah, let's hurry." Liu Qingsong nodded.
Little Mochi and little sister exchanged a glance.
They mischievously hurled the pebbles in their hands toward the bushes.
When the bushes made no more "movement," the two girls relaxed, took Liu Chunhua's hands, and skipped along the mountain path.
After the group of four had gone some distance, a bald old man burst from the bushes, baring his teeth in pain.
This old man was none other than Liu Delei, the same one who had been fishing by the river earlier that day.
Liu Delei had hidden in the bushes because he did not want Liu Qingsong, Liu Chunhua, Little Mochi, or little sister to see him.
He had come to Wild Boar Ridge to sneak into Liu Qingsong's home and steal the Wild Diaozi Fish. If they caught him, he could not explain himself at this hour of the night.
However, even though he hadn't been discovered by Liu Qingsong and the others, Liu Delei wasn't having an easy time of it right now either.
Why was that?
It turned out that the pebbles Little Mochi and little sister had thrown earlier had both struck Liu Delei.
In particular, the pebble little sister threw had landed directly on Liu Delei's right eye.
It had not drawn blood, but his right eye was swollen red and barely opened.
That was the reason Liu Delei was baring his teeth in pain.
Because it hurt like hell.
After Liu Qingsong, Liu Chunhua, Little Mochi, and little sister vanished down the winding mountain path, Liu Delei gritted his teeth, cursed, and continued toward Wild Boar Ridge.
He was determined to do it.
If he did not steal every Wild Diaozi Fish Liu Qingsong had caught that night, he would no longer deserve the surname Liu, and his nickname, "Three-Handed," would be meaningless.
……