After eating her fill, Liu Chunhua chatted with Liu Qingsong for a while before heading home. In the end, she left Little Mochi behind.
The reason wasn't that her parents' home had Wild Hare meat today. She didn't want Little Mochi to cry and make a fuss.
The main reason was that she got along well with her younger siblings. The Huangyu Production Brigade also had plenty of farm work, so leaving Little Mochi behind was a good choice.
After all, no one at home except her and her husband was willing to look after Little Mochi. Her parents-in-law refused as well and looked down on Little Mochi.
This wasn't because Little Mochi was too mischievous.
Rather, her parents-in-law's son-preference mindset was severe—so severe that all the surrounding villagers knew about it.
As a Reborn Person, Liu Qingsong knew the inside story and the current situation of Liu Chunhua's family.
So he was a hundred percent in support of leaving Little Mochi behind, and was more than willing to look after her.
Little Mochi and little sister held hands and skipped off to play at the Grain-Drying Yard. Seeing them full and satisfied, Liu Qingsong smiled and began cleaning the Stove Platform.
Once he finished,
he headed to the rear courtyard to check on the Myriad Realms Garbage Dump.
But little sister came running up on her short little legs. "Third Brother, Pangdun said he's going to collect dog poop to earn work points—should I go or not?"
Pangdun.
The name suited him.
Short, chubby, and sturdy.
He was the child of their neighbor, Wang Yaoqing.
He was about the same age as little sister, both around five years old.
Collecting dog poop to earn work points was common in 1978 because Chemical Fertilizer was expensive. Most Production Teams couldn't afford it.
People collected dog poop and other animal droppings to make manure, making it a normal practice of the era.
But upon hearing this, Liu Qingsong frowned. "How many work points can you earn collecting dog poop? Seems like collecting a whole day's worth only gets you three fen in our production team, right?"
What could you even do with that few work points?
Converted to money, they probably wouldn't buy even one meat bun.
Little sister was so young. What if something happened to her while she collected dog poop?
So, in his mind, there was no way he'd let her go, especially now that the family wasn't short on food anymore. He wasn't the same person he used to be, after all.
But little sister had no idea what was going through Liu Qingsong's mind! She even corrected him. "Third Brother, a bamboo basket of dog poop isn't worth three fen, it's two fen."
"Only two fen, and you still want to go collect dog poop? Just stay home and take care of Little Mochi." Having said that, Liu Qingsong glanced up at the sky. "Or how about you come with me to the riverside to fish later, and we'll have Boiled Fish for lunch."
"Really?" Little sister bit her index finger.
It had been so long since she'd had Boiled Fish.
The last time was during New Year's!
"Of course." Liu Qingsong replied with confidence.
He was a Reborn Person, and he had bottled Bait from the Myriad Realms Garbage Dump. Catching a fish would be easy.
"Ooh... yay!" Little sister cheered and ran off to find Little Mochi.
She found them and happily announced the good news to Pangdun and Little Mochi: Liu Qingsong was going to take her fishing.
Pangdun envied her but remained doubtful. "Hongxia, don't get excited yet. The fish in that river aren't easy to catch."
"Does your brother even have a Fishing Rod?"
"Does your brother have a fishhook and fishing line?"
"That's..." Little sister froze. Unable to argue with Pangdun, she grabbed Little Mochi's hand and hurried off to find Liu Qingsong.
Liu Qingsong searched a corner by the kitchen door for Southern Bamboo suitable for making a Fishing Rod. He found two stalks with good length and flexibility, pulled them out, and carried them to the rear courtyard.
Seeing this, little sister and Little Mochi.
They hurried after him on their short little legs, toddling with excitement.
In the rear courtyard, Liu Qingsong searched a worn-out Fishing Tackle Box and found fishing line and fishhooks. The two girls were delighted.
Still, little sister was a bit puzzled. "Third Brother, where did this box come from? I never saw it before."
"Just because you never saw it doesn't mean our family didn't have it!" Liu Qingsong brushed her off with a smile and focused on tying the fishing line.
After he tied it,
he carried the Southern Bamboo Fishing Rod in one hand and the worn-out Fishing Tackle Box in the other as he headed toward the Diaozi River, five hundred meters from their front door.
"Third Brother, wait for me!" Little sister, holding Little Mochi's hand, hurried along behind him.
The Diaozi River was one of the two major rivers in the Huajiao Production Brigade. It got its name because the river was rich in Diaozi Fish.
The Diaozi River ran through five Production Brigades. It was much larger than the other river, the Agate River, and its current was swifter.
Liu Qingsong lived in the Huai Tree Team—no, in one of all eight Production Teams in the Huajiao Production Brigade. Most of the Water Source for irrigating the Cereal seedlings came from the Diaozi River.
In other words, the Diaozi River sustained most of the villagers in the Huajiao Production Brigade. The villagers regarded it as their mother river.
Normally, outsiders could not fish along the riverbank or damage the Diaozi River's ecological environment. The villagers of the Huajiao Production Brigade and their relatives and friends were exempt.
Liu Qingsong was a villager born and raised in the Huajiao Production Brigade, so he could fish without restriction.
Before Liu Qingsong, Little Mochi, and little sister reached the Diaozi Riverbank, he spotted several children in the southeastern area shallows, wading into the water to catch fish and shrimp by hand.
As for fishing with a rod, there wasn't a single person doing it.
The Huajiao Production Brigade's villagers knew how to fish.
The Diaozi River's current was so swift that no one without real skill could catch anything.
Fishing Rods were expensive, and most villagers were busy earning work points through farm labor. It was no wonder that no one fished.
That situation greatly benefited Liu Qingsong.
After surveying the conditions along the Diaozi Riverbank, he found a spot with a wide, open view and sat down.
As he threaded the Bait from the Myriad Realms Garbage Dump onto the fishhook, a snide voice came from behind him. "Oh-ho! I was wondering who had the free time to go fishing. Turns out it's Liu Qingsong, son of a Convict sentenced to reform through labor!"
Hearing this, Liu Qingsong turned his head and looked over with a frown.
The speaker was Liu Delei, a local thug from the Production Team. He limped toward the riverside with a Fishing Rod in hand, and Liu Qingsong's expression darkened.
Liu Delei should have been thirty-five or thirty-six. His broad mouth, wide nose, balding head, and big potbelly made him look far older than his actual age.
If Liu Qingsong's memory served him right, Liu Delei would remain single his whole life until death. It wasn't because his family's conditions were poor, but because he was the type to bully the weak and fear the strong, having done every rotten thing imaginable—no woman was willing to marry him.
Liu Delei's right leg had been crippled after he was caught stealing chickens and pilfering dogs, but his nickname wasn't "Lame Liu"—it was "Old Man Naji."
Old Man Naji meant "old man."
It was a nickname given to him by the villagers because of his aged-looking face.
Liu Delei still lived with his mother, Madam Zhang. When Reform Through Labor took Liu Qingsong's parents away, Liu Lijuan borrowed five yuan from Madam Zhang in front of the entire Liu Family to try to get them released.
The reason she'd only borrowed five yuan was that in 1978, nobody was well-off, so everyone gave whatever they could.
The more than one hundred yuan in External Debt Liu Lijuan borrowed had been pieced together from everyone's contributions.
In the past, when other members of the Liu Family got into trouble, Liu Qingsong's parents contributed as well—twenty or thirty yuan if they had it, ten or five yuan if they didn't. They never mentioned repayment.
But this time, Liu Delei came to Liu Lijuan's door demanding repayment less than a month after she borrowed the money.
When Liu Lijuan couldn't produce the money, Liu Delei brought people to haul away the household's chairs and benches, along with its Sweet Potatoes and rice, to settle the debt.
If the matter hadn't ultimately become a major incident—
and Liu Delei's mother, Madam Zhang, hadn't found out and given him a thorough tongue-lashing—
Liu Qingsong's family might well have starved by now.
And it was from that point on.
that was when Liu Qingsong's family became enemies with Liu Delei.
If not for the fact that Liu Delei was still part of the Liu Family, Liu Qingsong's uncles and Maternal Uncles would have gone over and torn Liu Delei apart.
After all, with Liu Qingsong's parents now taken away for Reform Through Labor.
life was already hard enough as it was.
For a member of the Liu Family not to lend a hand.
and instead to kick someone when they are down—that was lower than a pig or a dog.
Back to the matter at hand: when little sister saw Liu Delei fishing and mocking Liu Qingsong, anger flared. She stamped her foot and snapped back, "You're the convict's son! Your whole family are convicts!"
"That's right!" Little Mochi chimed in angrily.
After saying this, she even bent down to pick up a pebble from the ground and hurled it at Liu Delei, who was standing not far away.
The move startled Liu Delei and left Liu Qingsong stunned.
Seeing that the pebble Little Mochi had thrown hadn't hit Liu Delei, Liu Qingsong quickly reached out and scooped her up into his arms. "That was just a mad dog barking just now, no need to argue with a mad dog."
The implication being.
Arguing back would make her as mad as Liu Delei.
Liu Delei paused, then understood the insult. He clenched his fists in anger, unable to believe that the usually timid and introverted Liu Qingsong could be so sharp-tongued.
After weighing the pros and cons, he decided not to trouble Liu Qingsong. He backed down, moved away from Little Mochi with his Fishing Rod, sat down, and began threading an earthworm onto his hook.
Before he'd even finished threading the earthworm—
the Southern Bamboo Fishing Rod in Liu Qingsong's hands bent.
Then the river splashed. A large grass carp burst from the water, but it soon sank beneath the surface again.
Upon seeing this, Liu Delei's whole body froze in shock, his eyes going wide. "That damned Liu Qingsong—how can his luck possibly be this good? It's barely been any time at all, and he's already caught a large grass carp?"
……