The brigade headquarters was close to He Yan’s home. While Bai Su was leading the police officers toward the Lu family’s house, He Yan had already brought back the things she had left on the tractor. He climbed over the wall into the neighboring property that had belonged to Old Mr. Bai.
After putting away everything Auntie Bai had purchased, He Yan headed to the fields to work.
When Lu Dajun called him the bastard offspring of a tyrannical landlord, He Yan concealed the fierce glint that flashed through his eyes, and a wicked smile curved his lips.
“Lu Dajun, are you going to hit Lihua?”
Still gripping Lu Dajun’s shoulder pole, He Yan deliberately shouted the question at the top of his lungs. He even winked at Lihua.
The frightened Lihua finally recovered her senses and played along, letting out a piercing scream. “Ah! Eldest Cousin, why are you hitting people again? Don’t hit me!”
He Yan’s shout and Lihua’s scream attracted the attention of the older women working in the neighboring rice paddies.
They had already witnessed Lu Dajun and his father chasing Bai Su that morning, and now he was apparently trying to beat Lihua too.
One after another, the women could no longer stand watching.
“You Lu family brat, don’t be so wicked! Just because your family failed to sell Lihua to Liu Laizi, you want to beat her? Are you even human?”
“He’s certainly something, isn’t he? He was chasing his aunt around trying to beat her this morning too!”
“I heard that Sister Bai wanted to buy medicine for her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, but he couldn’t bear to spend the money. He wanted to save it for his marriage, so he chased after his aunt and tried to beat her.”
“How did we never realize he was this kind of person? Educated Youth Zhao is such a pretty young woman, like a flower in full bloom. Marrying him would be like sticking a fresh flower in a pile of cow dung.”
One particularly loud-voiced woman enthusiastically called toward the distant rice paddies. “Educated Youth Zhao, come and see for yourself! You mustn’t marry a man who beats people! Liu Laizi’s previous wife from our brigade was beaten to death…”
Zhao Qingrou, who was bent over transplanting rice seedlings, felt so humiliated that she wished she could bury her head in the paddy.
Lu Dajun’s face turned ashen!
He Yan suddenly released his grip on the shoulder pole. Lu Dajun, who had been pulling against him with all his strength, promptly pitched headfirst into the rice paddy.
He Yan clicked his tongue a couple of times and pretended to reach out to help him. In reality, he took the opportunity to stamp hard on Lu Dajun’s foot beneath the mud.
“Lu Dajun, hurry up and get up! There’s nothing shameful about being the son of a reform-through-labor prisoner. Once your mother and grandmother get to the labor farm, I’m sure they’ll reflect on their mistakes, accept their reeducation, and turn over a new leaf.”
Covered in mud, Lu Dajun struggled to his feet in a miserable state, enduring the pain in his foot.
“What do you mean?”
He Yan gave him a wicked grin and answered at the top of his lungs. “You don’t know? The police came to Heping Production Brigade to seek justice for Auntie Bai! Grandma Lu and your mother have been arrested and taken to the commune!”
Lu Dajun scrambled out of the paddy and raced along the ridge toward the Lu family’s house.
Meanwhile, He Yan, having thoroughly defeated him, stood proudly on the paddy ridge with his bamboo basket, looking as smug as a rooster that had just won a fight.
“Brother He Yan!”
Lu Dajun had looked so frightening just now. With so many people from the brigade working in the fields, he had still behaved like a madman, ready to beat someone.
Having escaped her cousin’s violence, Lihua looked at He Yan gratefully.
Her eyes shone with emotion, and her soft “Brother He Yan” could have stolen a man’s soul.
He Yan couldn’t handle it!
“Um, Auntie Bai left her basket on my tractor. When you finish work, remember to take it home.”
He Yan felt his heart pounding wildly. Completely flustered by Lihua’s gentle voice and the feelings she stirred in him, his cheeks grew hot, and he fled in embarrassment.
“Sister, it’s not like you’re a fierce tigress!”
Hehua muttered in confusion, “Why did Brother He Yan run away so quickly, as if he were afraid of you?”
Lihua’s cheeks burned. She gave Hehua a reproachful look. “Stop talking nonsense and get back to work!”
“But was what Brother He Yan said true? Did the commune police really arrest Grandma and Eldest Aunt?”
“And Brother He Yan said Mom left her basket on his tractor. Does that mean Mom went to the town commune to report them?”
Remembering how her eldest male cousin had looked when he was about to hit someone, Hehua shrank back fearfully.
Now that Mom had gone to the town commune to report them, would their eldest uncle and cousin beat them to death?
Lihua had plenty of questions herself. Unfortunately, He Yan had run off so quickly that she hadn’t had a chance to find out exactly what had happened.
After what felt like an eternity, it was finally time to finish work. As soon as she completed her assigned tasks, Lihua rushed home without even bothering to wash the mud off her bare feet.
It was the season when bamboo shoots were growing. Everyone had been busy with spring planting and transplanting rice seedlings over the past few days, and the brigade’s children had been attending school. As a result, the patch of low-growing bamboo on the slope behind the Lu family’s house had yet to be picked clean.
Bai Su went into the bamboo grove and soon gathered a large handful of shoots. After peeling away their outer husks, she scooped out a generous spoonful of lard and stir-fried them.
That morning, Bai Su had broken open the grain storehouse and discovered the soybeans Old Madam Lu had been saving. She took a bowlful, boiled them in water, drained them, and stir-fried them with garlic shoots and dried chili powder. The result was a delicious dish that went perfectly with rice.
She also prepared scrambled eggs with chopped scallions. Although Bai Su had already used up all the eggs stored in the grain storehouse, the two hens in the chicken coop had laid another two eggs.
Bai Su picked some scallions and used them to make a fragrant, savory egg dish that was perfect with rice.
While gathering bamboo shoots, she had also ventured into the camellia grove on the slope, where she found several clusters of tea tree mushrooms. She used them to make a bowl of soup.
As Bai Su prepared the mushroom soup, she felt that adding only chopped scallions wasn’t quite enough. Without the slightest hesitation, she grabbed a handful of the crispy pork-fat cracklings that Old Madam Lu treasured so dearly and tossed them into the pot.
And just like that, a fragrant bowl of mushroom soup was ready.
Lihua could already smell the mouthwatering aroma from outside the house. When she entered the kitchen, she saw her mother once again extravagantly using the lard and pork cracklings that only her male cousins were usually allowed to eat. Bai Su had even cooked white rice, leaving Lihua momentarily stunned.
That’s right. It was proper steamed white rice, without a single shred of sweet potato mixed into it.
After witnessing Bai Su use up the white flour and eggs that morning, Lihua was only surprised for a moment before accepting the sight.
“Mom, are we not planning to make our food supplies last anymore?”
“Of course we are! Why wouldn’t we?”
Seeing the mud covering Lihua’s bare feet, Bai Su scooped several ladles of water from the large water jar into a bucket and handed it to her, telling her to wash her feet on the stone slab outside the kitchen.
“Your grandmother and eldest aunt have been arrested by the commune police. Your eldest uncle and cousin have also gone to the town commune to find out what’s happening.”
“It’s so satisfying to use up all the food your stingy grandmother has been hoarding. It’s just a pity they aren’t home to see it. I’d love to watch them get so angry their teeth ache and their eyes nearly pop out!”
The chicken coop was just outside the kitchen. Hearing the hens clucking, Bai Su suddenly brightened.
“Oh! How did I not think of slaughtering those two chickens?”
“When Guihua and Meihua come home in a couple of days, we’ll slaughter the chickens and have some meat!”
Lihua: “…”
She really dared to dream big!
She even wanted to slaughter the chickens?
Those chickens were her grandmother’s most precious treasures!
For a moment, Lihua had no idea what to say.
Bai Su had skipped the entire process of dating, marriage, and childbirth and gone straight to becoming the mother of five daughters. During the journey back from the commune, she had already thought things through.
Since she couldn’t change this ridiculous, melodramatic fate and had no choice but to be their mother, she might as well think of the girls as her own sisters.
Seeing that Lihua wanted to ask something but was hesitating, Bai Su scooped up another ladle of water and rinsed the mud from her feet.
“I went to the town commune to report them, and I’ve completely fallen out with your eldest uncle’s family. You’re worried that life will become even harder for us, a widowed mother and her daughters, now that we’re still living under the same roof as them, aren’t you?”