He Yan pointed her out to him. “Secretary Qin, that’s Auntie Bai.”
“Hello, Comrade Bai Su!”
Without looking elsewhere, he strode straight toward Bai Su. “I’m Qin Yanyue, a former comrade-in-arms of Comrade Bai Mao. He received the telegram you sent him. He couldn’t come back himself, but when he learned that I’d transferred to civilian employment here in your county, he asked me to come and check on you.”
Bai Mao was Bai Su’s elder brother.
Their father, Bai Zhicheng, had named both his children after medicinal herbs.
Her brother had protested, but the old man insisted that baimao was a valuable medicinal herb. Its root could cool the blood, stop bleeding, clear heat, and promote urination.
His son was named Bai Mao, and his daughter Bai Su.
Their protests had been useless!
It seemed that the telegram she had sent had worked. She was planning to move back into her maiden family’s old house, and since her brother couldn’t return in person, he had asked a former comrade to come and help her.
Having been entrusted with the task, Qin Yanyue proved to be a reliable protector.
He swept a cool glance over Old Madam Lu and the others. “What’s this? Has Comrade Bai Su run into some trouble?”
Under his piercing gaze, Lu Qiushuang and the others felt chills run down their spines.
Even the self-important Yan Weicai shrank back like a frightened quail, not daring to say a word.
That man’s gaze was practically murderous!
Bai Su was thoroughly satisfied and replied, “It’s nothing serious. Just a few stray dogs barking outside my door.”
“After all, we’re human beings. We can’t go around biting dogs just because they’ve bitten us.”
Bai Su pushed open the door. “You’ve come a long way. Why don’t you come inside and have some water?”
“All right.”
Qin Yanyue looked toward the official-looking man beside him.
The man immediately understood. “I’ll go get the things from the car…”
Yan Weicai was about to pull Lu Qiushuang and the others away, but Lu Qiushuang couldn’t bear being called a barking stray dog. She still wanted to quarrel with Bai Su.
Yan Weicai stopped her and lowered his voice.
“For heaven’s sake, woman, behave yourself! Do you know who that man going down to the car is? He’s our factory director’s boss.”
“Even our factory director is trying to curry favor with that man. That should tell you how important he is.”
What kind of situation was this?
She had come to defend her mother and elder brother and restore their dignity.
How had someone she couldn’t afford to offend suddenly appeared out of nowhere?
Lu Qiushuang was so furious that she nearly ground her teeth to pieces, but she had no choice but to leave with her husband.
But did she think leaving would be that easy?
Bai Su called after her. “You come barking outside my house, and now you think you can just walk away?”
“Your elder brother still owes me ten yuan. Are you going to pay it or not?”
Bai Su smiled meaningfully. “It’s fine if you don’t. I’ll take the IOU and that other document to the police tomorrow.”
“We’ll pay! All right? We’ll pay!”
Lu Qiushuang was beside herself with anger. She made Yan Weicai take a ten-yuan banknote from his pocket and hand it to Bai Su, then left with her resentment bottled up inside.
Qin Yanyue followed Bai Su into the house.
“It seems Comrade Bai Su can handle her own troubles. I suppose I’ve come all this way for nothing.”
“Of course not. I was just borrowing your authority to intimidate them.”
There was a hillside in the brigade where tea was grown. Every year, after the tea leaves were harvested, each household received a small portion, barely half a jar.
Back when Bai Su still lived with the Lu family, she had saved a small pinch of tea leaves.
Now they would finally come in handy.
With such an important guest visiting, Bai Su asked He Yan and Lihua to boil water and prepare tea.
Since He Yan had brought the visitors, Bai Su tentatively asked, “Comrade Qin Yanyue, do you know Xiao He?”
“I’d only just transferred here when I ran into a minor difficulty. Comrade He Yan helped me out.”
“Your brother asked me to visit Heping Production Brigade. I happened to meet He Yan again, so I asked him to show me the way.”
Qin Yanyue was a man of few words. Still, whenever Bai Su asked him something, he was willing to answer rather than let the conversation fall awkwardly silent.
“Xiao He lives next door to me. What a coincidence.”
They chatted for a little while before the official-looking man returned, carrying a large parcel and two additional bags.
“Your brother asked me to bring this from the island where he’s stationed.”
Qin Yanyue first accepted the parcel and handed it to Bai Su. Then he gave her the other two bags.
“It’s my first time visiting, so I bought a few things to eat from the food-processing factory. I hope you won’t think the gifts are too modest, Comrade Bai Su.”
The parcel from her newly acquired elder brother was tightly wrapped, so Bai Su couldn’t tell what was inside.
But the two bags Qin Yanyue handed her afterward were open. She could see walnut pastries, sponge cakes, and biscuits in one bag, while the other actually contained fresh pork.
Perhaps because the original body’s diet had been so lacking in meat and fat, Bai Su’s eyes practically lit up at the sight of the pork.
She immediately imagined red-braised pork belly, stir-fried pork, steamed cured pork…
Even Qin Yanyue’s extraordinary good looks were no match for the appeal of fresh pork!
Since her guests had brought pork all the way to her home, Bai Su generously invited them to stay for a meal.
“Thank you so much for bringing the parcel from my brother, Comrade Qin. You and this gentleman should stay for lunch and try my cooking.”
Qin Yanyue looked as though he was about to stand and decline, but when he saw He Yan helping Lihua carry the freshly brewed tea into the room, he changed his mind.
He remained seated and calmly finished a cup of tea before standing up.
“Your brigade has some lovely scenery. Comrade He Yan, would you accompany me for a walk?”
Playing the role of a good host, He Yan took Qin Yanyue and the official-looking man outside to look around.
Meanwhile, Bai Su and Lihua happily began opening the parcel.
After cutting through the outer wrapping and peeling away the layer of newspaper inside, they discovered that the parcel from her brother was filled with seafood, dried fruit, and canned goods.
There was a large package of dried mango and coconut strips, a packet of dried longan, and cans of mangoes and lychees.
The seafood included dried seaweed, dried shrimp, small dried fish, dried squid, several large salted sea fish, and a bag of dried abalone.
In an era when supplies were scarce, receiving such a parcel made Bai Su feel as though she had suddenly become wealthy. She couldn’t stop smiling.
“These are all wonderful things! We can make seaweed and dried shrimp soup later, and stir-fried squid too.”
Bai Su asked Lihua to help put everything away.
“Most importantly, all these good things belong to us now. We won’t have to let that family of Lu bloodsuckers take advantage of us ever again.”
“Of course, canned mangoes and lychees are rare treats. We’ll share some with your Auntie Liu, along with some dried longan. Longan is especially nourishing when added to chicken soup.”
When Bai Su mentioned He Yan’s mother, Lihua’s cheeks reddened.
Lanhua and Hehua were still busy working in the fields. Lihua had hurried home earlier because she’d seen her grandmother and paternal aunt, Lu Qiushuang, heading toward the house and had been afraid Bai Su would be taken advantage of.
She certainly hadn’t expected her maternal uncle’s former comrade, Qin Yanyue, to appear out of nowhere, or for her aunt and uncle by marriage to leave with their tails between their legs.
Once they had nearly finished organizing everything, Bai Su took out some dried seaweed, dried shrimp, and dried squid.
For lunch, Bai Su prepared steamed pork with tender bamboo shoots, a bowl of red-braised pork with potatoes, and stir-fried squid with dried chilies and garlic shoots.
While showing Qin Yanyue and the others around the slope behind the houses, He Yan had picked several stalks of stem lettuce from his family’s private vegetable plot. Bai Su used the fat rendered from frying the pork to stir-fry a bowl of lettuce.
She also made a pot of seaweed and dried shrimp soup, sprinkling bright green chopped scallions over it just before serving.
Four dishes and one soup might have seemed a little modest, but the portions were generous, and both hosts and guests thoroughly enjoyed the meal.
Qin Yanyue didn’t seem particularly interested in food. However, Factory Director Zheng, who had accompanied him, couldn’t stop praising Bai Su’s cooking.
Just like He Yan, he declared that her food was even better than the dishes prepared by the chefs at state-run restaurants.