Wu Younian said, “I came to tell you that Xiaomin’s school enrollment has been taken care of.”
Qiling Village Production Brigade had an elementary school that had been running for several years. The teachers were all experienced educated youths who had been sent to the countryside.
Not long after arriving in Qiling Village, Ye Qingyun had asked Wu Younian to find out whether Fu Min could transfer into a class.
If she couldn’t transfer in, having missed so much coursework, she would probably have to start over from first grade.
But Fu Min had no desire to repeat a year.
Now that Wu Younian said everything had been arranged, Ye Qingyun was genuinely happy for the child.
“Let’s find some time to go to the commune together and register the household records for all four children.”
After saying this, Wu Younian noticed Ye Qingyun hesitate and cautiously asked,
“Shouldn’t you discuss the children’s household registration with your in-laws first?”
“No need,” Ye Qingyun replied. “Big Brother, let me tell you the truth. One of the reasons I decided to bring the four children back here… is because Fu Linchuan’s mother threw the five of us out.”
“So the children have nothing to do with that family anymore.”
“When we register them, I was planning to change all four of their surnames to mine.”
Hearing that, Wu Younian frowned deeply.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Your husband… is already gone. The children should at least keep something to remember him by.”
After thinking it over, Ye Qingyun nodded.
“You’re right. Then we won’t change them.”
Wu Younian fell silent.
That was awfully casual…
After they finished discussing school, Wu Younian still didn’t leave.
Smiling, Ye Qingyun asked,
“Big Brother, is there something else?”
Wu Younian laughed awkwardly a couple of times before looking at her as though he wanted to say something but couldn’t.
Ye Qingyun was in a hurry.
“Big Brother, just say it.”
“You really want me to?”
When she nodded, he cautiously asked,
“Xiaohong said she saw you looking for Old Wang. And people in the village have been saying he’s been eating at your house lately. You two…”
Apparently finding it difficult to directly ask his younger sister about a fifty-year-old lifelong bachelor, Wu Younian phrased it more tactfully.
“Old Wang has a bad reputation. You’re raising four children by yourself. It’s better not to associate with him too much, or people in the brigade will start gossiping.”
Ye Qingyun blinked curiously.
“Gossip about what?”
Wu Younian nearly choked.
Did his second sister really not understand what he was getting at?
“Anyway, just stay away from him! If that old bachelor doesn’t know his place, I’ll go talk to him myself. If he still dares come around, I’ll beat him senseless!”
Growing more serious, Wu Younian continued,
“That lazy old man is always bothering young girls and married women. He’s no good. Don’t let him fool you!”
Ye Qingyun blinked again.
“Big Brother, you’ve misunderstood.”
“Misunderstood?”
Wu Younian looked completely confused.
With a perfectly straight face, Ye Qingyun explained,
“When I first arrived at the production brigade, I almost fell into the river while cutting pig grass. Wang Tiezhu suddenly appeared and pulled me back. Otherwise, I would have fallen in.”
“So I acknowledged him as my godfather and invited him to eat at my house from now on as repayment for saving my life.”
Watching her brother’s expression shift from stunned to utterly disbelieving, Ye Qingyun sincerely added,
“Actually, Wang Tiezhu isn’t as terrible as everyone thinks. He’s really quite kind.”
Wu Younian looked doubtful.
“Really?”
That lazybones usually counted himself lucky if he wasn’t stealing chickens or dogs.
Would he really risk himself to save someone?
Ye Qingyun nodded firmly.
“Really.”
…As if.
Seeing how serious she looked, Wu Younian couldn’t help wondering whether he had judged Wang Tiezhu too harshly.
Maybe…
The old man actually had a side no one knew about.
“Big Brother, it’s getting late. You haven’t had dinner yet, have you? Hurry home before Sister-in-law has to wait any longer.”
Ye Qingyun pulled him to his feet and urged him toward home.
As he walked away, Wu Younian turned back one last time to confirm,
“So you and Wang Tiezhu are father and daughter now?”
Ye Qingyun answered,
“Purely family.”
Wu Younian patted his chest in relief.
“Good… that’s good.”
As long as it was purely family, he could rest easy.
Ye Qingyun watched until he disappeared into the distance before closing the gate and hurrying toward the foot of the mountain.
Wang Tiezhu had been waiting so long he was practically wilting.
Seeing her finally arrive, he asked with concern,
“What took you so long? Did something happen?”
Too lazy to explain, Ye Qingyun simply shook her head.
“Nothing. I’m going in.”
She took out her flashlight, switched it on, and stepped into Ghost Creek.
After reminding her to be careful, Wang Tiezhu continued keeping watch beneath a tree.
Returning to the familiar spot, Ye Qingyun immediately noticed that the number of stone frogs had visibly decreased.
After catching a little over twenty, only half-grown frogs remained.
She tied the sack shut, placed it in a shallow pit near the bank, and continued deeper into the creek to see if she might find more sweetfish today.
It seemed her luck had already run out.
She didn’t find any sweetfish.
Instead, she encountered two water snakes that tried to bite her.
Each snake was about as thick as an adult’s thumb.
Before either could even open its mouth, Ye Qingyun grabbed it by the neck, crushed it, and tossed it onto the bank.
There wasn’t enough meat on a water snake for more than a couple of bites.
She looked down on them with obvious disdain.
Since there were children waiting at home and she had already started late today, Ye Qingyun estimated the time and decided not to linger.
She picked up the sack containing more than twenty stone frogs and headed back out of the mountains.
On the way back, she heard the low growls of wild beasts echoing through the forest on both sides of the trail.
At that moment, she decided where she would go on her next trip into the mountains.
The forest was full of birds and wild animals.
She was getting tired of frog meat and fish.
It was about time to change the menu.
The only thing she lacked was a suitable weapon.
Hunting and owning firearms hadn’t been banned yet, and many of the older hunters in the brigade still kept hunting rifles at home.
Wu Younian had told her that every year after the autumn harvest, several nearby production brigades organized collective hunting trips.
The game they caught was divided equally among everyone so the villagers could enjoy a rare feast.
Qiling Village was especially poor.
Secretly slipping into the mountains to hunt on one’s own was even more common.
Generally speaking, as long as no one caught you, nothing happened.
But if some jealous person reported you…
The consequences would be severe.
Gunshots attracted far too much attention.
They weren’t the best choice.
Ye Qingyun felt that cold weapons might be more suitable.
She had been eyeing Sister-in-law Chunhua’s butcher knife for quite some time.
If she could get one during this trip to the commune…
That would be perfect.
A place like the black market probably had everything, didn’t it?
Lost in thought, she soon emerged from Ghost Creek carrying the stone frogs.
Master and disciple met up again.
Seeing the noticeably smaller haul, Wang Tiezhu merely sighed.
After all, the previous two trips had already earned them quite a bit.
Being any greedier would be excessive.
They brought the stone frogs back to Wang Tiezhu’s house to keep alive for the time being.
Ye Qingyun then returned home alone through the darkness, pondering how she could bribe Qi Xue and Mo Qiuyu into covering for her the next day.
Before she could come up with a plan…
Sleep claimed her first.
When she woke the next morning and saw the dried sweetfish hanging from the ceiling beam, Ye Qingyun smiled.
To be honest, the food at the educated youths’ dormitory wasn’t even as good as what better-off village families ate.
Fresh vegetables were scarce.
As for meat…
They might not see it once in half a year.
Even Qi Xue, despite coming from a well-off family, hadn’t eaten meat since arriving at Qiling Village Production Brigade.
So when Ye Qingyun placed the dried sweetfish in front of Qi Xue and Mo Qiuyu…
The two girls’ mouths watered uncontrollably.
All they had to do was help Sister Qingyun cut pig grass for one day and make sure no one discovered she wasn’t at the pig farm.
For the sake of dried sweetfish…
Even if it seemed impossible—
They would make it possible!