The second and third children ran into the house hand in hand to report what they had found.
They said there were lots of wooden planks behind the house, along with some stones and a water jar.
Ye Qingyun hurriedly put down the freshly changed bedding and ran to the back of the house.
Sure enough, there were six wooden planks, though they were caked in mud.
Looking down at the long boards the production team members were stepping on while transplanting rice seedlings in the fields below, she guessed these were probably the footboards Wu Dad and Wu Mom had once used when working in the paddies.
Every household kept a few stones around. They were useful for repairing walls and weighing down rooftops.
With planks and stones, she now had everything she needed to make a bed on the floor.
The water jar had a chipped rim, but the bottom was intact.
Ye Qingyun told Fu Min and the others to stay near the house and not run around before hoisting the half-meter-tall water jar onto her shoulder and heading down the mountain to fetch water.
Halfway there, she suddenly realized she hadn’t heard Yaozu making any noise for quite a while.
When she turned around, she found a little tail following behind her. The little boy stumbled along in a clumsy run, cheeks puffed out and lips pouting in indignation.
Compared to terrifying mountains and wild wolves, Mother was the least frightening thing of all.
Ye Qingyun smiled, pointed out an easier path for him to walk, and continued toward the well.
Fu Xiangdong pumped his short little legs as hard as he could to keep up, becoming his mother’s tiny shadow.
Wherever Ye Qingyun went, he followed. At one point he tripped on flat ground and landed on his bottom. He opened his mouth, ready to cry.
Sneaking a glance at his mother, he discovered she hadn’t even slowed down.
He immediately scrambled back to his feet, waved his little arms, and chased after her with all his might, forgetting all about crying.
The water jar wasn’t very large, and with its chipped rim it could only hold a little over half its capacity. Ye Qingyun carried it home on her shoulder.
But to anyone watching, the sight was still astonishing.
The members of Production Team One working in the fields spotted from afar a fair-skinned young woman wearing a white shirt and army-green trousers. She had a huge water jar balanced on her shoulder and was striding briskly up the mountainside.
As for the tiny little tail trailing behind her, he was so small that everyone unconsciously ignored him.
The team’s scorekeeper, He Jie, asked in surprise, “Who is that?”
Someone replied, “Did Captain Wu from Team Two come back?”
“I think so. I just saw him return the cart to the storage shed.”
“Could that be the younger sister he brought back from the city?”
“The one who got switched at birth?”
“Looks like her.”
One of the older women gasped.
“How does she look like someone from the city? She’s carrying a water jar like it’s nothing!”
The group immediately burst into lively discussion.
Seeing that the sun was about to set while today’s work still wasn’t finished, the scorekeeper hurriedly interrupted them.
But the moment he spoke, he was met with resentful glares from the workers.
“What are you all staring at me for?” he shouted. “Finish your work already! Don’t you want to call it a day?”
He pulled out his scoring notebook, ready to deduct work points.
The workers immediately wilted and hurriedly picked up the pace.
The scorekeeper looked around, frowning.
“Where’s Wang Tiezhu? Has anyone seen Wang Tiezhu?”
Someone laughed.
“That old rascal’s probably sneaking into some widow’s bed again!”
“The old fool skipped work again!” He Jie angrily marked another absence.
When he flipped to Wang Tiezhu’s page and saw the dense list of absentee records, his face turned green.
Although Wang Tiezhu had never been particularly dependable, he hadn’t dared skip work so brazenly before. At most, he’d ask for three days off in a month.
But ever since he took a bad fall six months ago, he had somehow managed to work no more than three days a month!
Someone who showed such complete contempt for the revolutionary cause deserved to have a public criticism poster plastered on him and be severely denounced by the working people!
…
Ye Qingyun used the well water she had fetched to wash the mud off the wooden planks.
Then she swept the empty space beside the bed clean with a bamboo broom, laid down stones as supports, placed the planks across them, and successfully built a second bed beside the small one.
After spreading a straw mat and quilt over it, tonight’s sleeping arrangements were finally settled.
She thoroughly cleaned the room once more, especially removing the two colorful mushrooms growing by the doorstep, roots and all.
She also sternly warned the four children that if they ever saw mushrooms that looked that pretty again, they absolutely must not touch them.
Since there was no wardrobe in the house, she left the clothes packed in their bundles, which conveniently doubled as pillows.
As evening fell, the children began crying that they were thirsty and hungry.
Well water couldn’t be drunk without boiling it, and the mountain spring was too far away.
Ye Qingyun took the remaining candies from her pocket and gave each child two pieces to stave off their hunger.
She herself walked over to the earthen stove, intending to light a fire and boil some water.
Only then did she realize there wasn’t even a box of matches.
Nor was there any firewood.
Wu Younian was the production team’s leader. Every day he had to organize the workers while also handling the team’s affairs.
The past few days were the busiest period for rice transplanting. The fact that he had managed to take one day off to bring her and the children back was already no small feat. There was no way he could have thought of every little detail.
At the moment, this house had nothing besides four walls to keep out the wind and rain.
Just as Ye Qingyun was regretting not buying some daily necessities at the commune supply cooperative before coming…
Her sister-in-law, He Chunfang, arrived!
She came bearing a warm invitation to dinner.
“Big Brother, Sister-in-law… you two are truly kind people.”
Sitting at the Wu family’s dining table, Ye Qingyun spoke sincerely.
Prompted by their mother, the four siblings also gratefully said,
“Thank you, Uncle! Thank you, Auntie!”
The sweet potato porridge smelled wonderful, and the large bowl of pickled vegetables looked quite appetizing too.
But…
Was this really all there was for dinner?
Wu Younian’s family consisted of four people: the couple, one daughter, and one son.
Ye Qingyun’s side consisted of herself and her four children.
Nine people.
Yet there was only one basin of sweet potato porridge and one bowl of pickles.
That can’t possibly be enough to feed everyone, Ye Qingyun thought.
Seeing that the mother and children hesitated to pick up their chopsticks, Wu Younian urged,
“You must all be starving after such a long journey. Hurry and eat. Help yourselves to as much as you want.”
Fu Min and her younger siblings all looked toward their mother.
Ye Qingyun glanced at her niece and nephew sitting opposite them. Their heads seemed too large for their thin little bodies, and they stared at the sweet potato porridge while swallowing hard.
Only then did she truly understand why Qiling Village ranked dead last among all the production brigades.
She served each child half a bowl, then filled one bowl for herself.
Just like that, over half the porridge was gone.
After they had finished serving themselves, Sister-in-law He pulled the basin over.
She first ladled a large, heaping bowl for Wu Younian.
Then she gave each of the two children less than half a bowl.
The remaining half bowl was left for herself.
Fu Xiangdong had been hungry for a long time. After calling for his mother twice to feed him—
Ye Qingyun handed him a wooden spoon instead.
He stared at the spoon, then tugged on his third sister’s sleeve.
Fu Min shot her third sister a glare, forbidding her from feeding their little brother, then proudly declared,
“I could eat porridge by myself when I was only one and a half.”
She had always hated how the adults spoiled their little brother.
They were spoiling him rotten.
She especially refused to let Xinyu and Xinyang become his little babysitters.
Of course, in the past she had never dared say such things openly.
Grandma would always order them to take care of their younger brother.
Mother had silently supported Grandma too.
So after doing this, Fu Min secretly watched her mother’s reaction.
The original owner had been pampered as an only daughter by her city parents from childhood. She cared too much about appearances and was constantly bullied by her mother-in-law.
Influenced by her mother-in-law’s obsession with having sons, she had even gone through three pregnancies just to give birth to one.
But Ye Qingyun wasn’t like that.
She merely smiled and gently placed the wooden spoon back into Fu Xiangdong’s chubby little hand.
Fu Min patted her chest in relief.
She finally felt at ease.
The only problem was that Auntie’s sweet potato porridge wasn’t all that tasty.
Still, their stomachs were protesting so fiercely that the three sisters cleaned their bowls completely.
The children especially loved the pickled vegetables and reached for them several times.
With the pickles, Fu Xiangdong managed to finish an entire bowl of porridge all by himself.
Although he got his clothes dirty, it was still a huge improvement.
“Dongdong finished his meal all by himself today. You did a great job! Keep it up from now on, okay?”
When someone did well, they deserved praise.
That was something Ye Qingyun had learned from her master.
Hearing his mother call him Dongdong instead of Yaozu, the little fellow’s eyes lit up with joy.
He nodded eagerly.
“I… eat by myself!”