Bai Su handed the pheasant and rabbit to Lanhua and told her to rub them with salt. Once the salt had soaked in, they could hang the meat over the fire to smoke.
In another pot, Bai Su was simmering the meat sauce, with Hehua helping beside her.
The sisters had already eaten their fill, but as the meat sauce neared completion and its rich, irresistible aroma spread through the house, they suddenly felt hungry again.
Bai Su let each of them have a taste, then asked Hehua to help spoon the sauce into empty glass jars that had once held canned food. Only after everything was packed away did she ladle out the medicine she had finished preparing and carry it next door to He Yan’s house to give his mother acupuncture.
Between gathering medicinal herbs in the mountains and preparing the meat sauce, Bai Su was thoroughly exhausted. She slept soundly that night.
The following morning, she woke to sounds coming from outside. When she opened the door, she saw He Yan holding a hoe and planting vegetables in the private plot enclosed by the fence.
“Auntie, I went to Xiangyang’s house early this morning to get some vegetable seedlings. It’s too late to plant green beans now, so we’ll have to make do with cucumbers, eggplants, and chilies.”
After he and Li Xiangyang finished building the fence, He Yan had carefully hoed the entire vegetable plot for Bai Su, breaking up the larger clumps of earth to loosen the soil.
He had also formed raised planting beds and ridges, leaving small drainage channels along the sides to prevent water from accumulating.
He had even applied base fertilizer. Early that morning, he’d pulled up some seedlings from his family’s vegetable plot, then gone to Li Xiangyang’s house for more when he realized there weren’t enough.
Li Xiangyang’s grandfather was exceptionally skilled at growing vegetables.
He Yan carefully explained his plans to Bai Su. “It’s too late to plant green beans and luffa now. We can still grow cucumbers, yardlong beans, and eggplants. One ridge of cucumbers and beans, along with half a ridge of eggplants, should be enough for us to eat. We can use the rest of the plot for chilies.”
He had planned everything so thoughtfully and had even started planting. What could Bai Su possibly be dissatisfied with?
She quickly called Lihua, who had already washed up, to help He Yan plant the vegetables and fetch water from the stream for the seedlings, while she went to prepare breakfast.
After breakfast, it was time to head into the mountains again.
Bai Su took another set of silver acupuncture needles and carefully concealed them inside her carrying basket.
As they were leaving, Hehua looked as though she wanted to say something but didn’t dare.
Bai Su raised an eyebrow and asked what was wrong.
Only then did Hehua speak hesitantly.
“Mom, do the people living in the cowshed not get enough to eat? Grandpa Yin was digging up wild vegetables yesterday.”
They’d only enjoyed a few days of comfortable living, and already her daughters were starting to take other people’s sides?
Still, there were advantages to having a daughter who worried about everything.
Hehua’s question reminded Bai Su of the two bags Qin Yanyue had brought when he visited.
He had managed to obtain such good imported medicine for Professor Yin. Surely that didn’t mean he had no desire to bring them food as well.
It was simply that Professor Yin’s political status was sensitive. Qin Yanyue probably hadn’t dared to carry a bag of supplies openly into the cowshed.
Qin Yanyue had delivered the parcel from Lihua’s maternal uncle and had even stood up for Bai Su. She wasn’t someone who forgot a kindness, and she appreciated what he’d done.
She took some of each of the sponge cakes, biscuits, and walnut pastries Qin Yanyue had bought.
After thinking it over, she added a can of lychees and a handful of dried mango.
She had intended to save the meat sauce she’d prepared the previous night to send to Lihua’s maternal uncle at the island military posting, but she reluctantly took out a jar of that too.
Once they entered the mountains, Lihua and Lanhua went to search for mountain produce, while Bai Su took Hehua to gather medicinal herbs. Together, they made their way toward the mountain hollow near the cowshed.
Whenever Professor Yin suffered an attack and lost consciousness, he usually needed several days of bed rest to recover. Yin Fan had therefore volunteered to take over the job of shoveling cow dung so he could remain at the cowshed and look after his grandfather.
When Bai Su and Hehua approached the cowshed, Yin Fan was busy shoveling manure.
The pungent smell was almost unbearable!
Hehua was about to pinch her nose, but when she realized the person shoveling manure was Yin Fan, she stopped in her tracks. She even forgot how unpleasant the smell was.
Being seen shoveling cow dung by a young girl made Yin Fan feel rather embarrassed.
He put down his shovel.
“Auntie, come with me.”
Bai Su followed him with Hehua into the thatched hut beside the cowshed.
The interior was surprisingly clean and tidy. Dry rice straw had been spread over a wooden bed, where Professor Yin lay weak and exhausted.
When he saw Bai Su enter, he struggled to sit up.
Bai Su quickly gestured for him to remain lying down. She sat on the bamboo stool Yin Fan brought over and placed her fingers on Professor Yin’s wrist to examine his pulse.
After carefully checking his pulse, Bai Su withdrew her hand.
“You’re much better than yesterday. But your body is terribly weak, and you’re suffering from exhaustion and fatigue. You’re still not getting enough to eat. If you could improve your nutrition, you’d recover much faster.”
Having fallen into such circumstances, they could barely fill their stomachs. How could they possibly afford nourishing food?
Professor Yin sighed, while Yin Fan lowered his head in shame.
He was useless!
Not only was his grandfather suffering because of him, but he couldn’t even find enough food to keep them from going hungry, let alone anything nourishing to help his grandfather recover.
Yesterday, his grandfather had secretly gone out to dig up wild vegetables while Yin Fan wasn’t looking. The exertion had triggered another attack.
Hehua knew she couldn’t keep staring at Yin Fan, so she stood beside Bai Su and stole occasional glances at him.
When she noticed the shame on his face, she grew anxious and tugged at Bai Su’s sleeve.
What an impatient girl!
Bai Su sighed helplessly. She quickly lifted the worn cloth covering her carrying basket, took out the food inside, and placed it on the table.
When Professor Yin saw the walnut pastries, biscuits, sponge cakes, canned fruit, and dried mango laid out before him, he couldn’t help swallowing. His eyes grew moist.
Back when he lived in the Capital, what hadn’t he seen or enjoyed?
But in this remote, out-of-the-way place, such things had become extraordinarily precious.
Offering someone a little extra when they were already comfortable was nothing special. But providing help when someone was suffering through desperate hardship was truly invaluable.
Professor Yin, who had been surviving on wild vegetable dumplings every day, desperately wanted to eat those treats. Nevertheless, he was a man of principle, and he forced himself to shake his head.
“How can I possibly accept all these things from you? Take them back!”
“Please don’t stand on ceremony with me, Professor. I’m merely passing along someone else’s kindness. The walnut pastries, biscuits, and sponge cakes were all brought to my house by Secretary Qin. Only the canned fruit and dried mango came from the parcel my elder brother sent from the island.”
Bai Su explained, “As for the meat sauce, my eldest future son-in-law caught a rabbit, and we made the sauce last night. We had some extra at home, so I brought a jar for you to try.”
In times like these, when most people couldn’t even get a scrap of meat, how could anyone have extra meat sauce?
Yin Fan knew Auntie Bai was deliberately putting it that way so they wouldn’t feel burdened about accepting the food.
Her thoughtfulness was truly precious.
He could go without eating anything himself, but his grandfather needed proper nourishment.
They already owed Auntie Bai so much. In the future, he would have to do everything he could to repay her.
Professor Yin was about to refuse again when Yin Fan gave Bai Su and Hehua a grateful look and spoke up.
“Grandpa, you should accept it.”
“Exactly. Besides, it’ll cause trouble if someone sees us standing here with all this food.”
Bai Su asked Yin Fan to help put the things away, then took out her silver acupuncture needles.
“Professor Yin, I’m going to begin your acupuncture treatment now.”
A tiger that has fallen onto the plains can be bullied even by dogs!
Ever since misfortune struck their family, Professor Yin and his grandson had suffered countless hardships.
Bai Su was the first person to show them genuine kindness since they arrived at Heping Production Brigade.
She had already saved his life twice. At this point, there was no reason he couldn’t accept a little more help.
He could only hope that things would turn out as she had said.
Perhaps he and his grandson were merely suffering through a period of misfortune, like dragons trapped in shallow waters.
One day, the winds might rise and the tides might swell, carrying them eastward and back to the sea.
When that day came, he would never forget the woman who had helped them.
Professor Yin closed his eyes with a helpless smile.
“I’m ready. Thank you for your trouble, Comrade Bai Su.”