Mom was actually scooping up water to wash her feet?
Something like this had never happened before.
In the past, Mom had only ever been this attentive toward her male cousins.
Warmth spread through Lihua’s heart. “Eldest Uncle doesn’t say much, but he’s ruthless. Eldest Cousin is fierce too. I’m just afraid we’ll end up suffering.”
“What if we didn’t live under the same roof as them?”
After pouring several ladles of water over Lihua’s feet and washing them clean, Bai Su suddenly noticed something soft and limp clinging to her daughter’s fair skin.
The hand holding the water ladle trembled, and she nearly dropped it.
Good heavens!
Leeches were what she feared most!
Thinking about how some members of the Lu family had been arrested while the others had gone to inquire about them, Bai Su realized she would have to go into the fields to transplant rice seedlings tomorrow. The thought of those soft, squirming little creatures attaching themselves to her legs and sucking her blood made her feel utterly miserable.
The original owner of this body had been exceptionally skilled at farmwork, the sort of person the Lu family had worked like an old ox.
Would someone like that be afraid of leeches?
Not wanting to reveal her fear in front of Lihua, Bai Su deliberately avoided looking at her daughter’s leg.
“Q-quickly pull that thing off your foot before it burrows into your skin and starts sucking your blood.”
“Anyway, about not living under the same roof as them anymore, I already have a plan.”
“I sent a telegram to your uncle when I went to town today. In any case, I won’t let us suffer any losses.”
“So stop worrying, all right…”
Along with Old Madam Lu and her eldest daughter-in-law, Liu Laizi, who had participated in the scheme, had also been taken away for questioning.
When Lu Dajun and his father arrived in town and tried to enter the commune office to find out what was happening, they were driven away.
“Auntie has gone mad, and now Lihua has gone mad too. Today she even dared throw rice seedlings at Chunya and cover her in mud.”
Standing outside the commune office, Lu Dajun looked utterly disheveled, his face covered in dirt and his injured leg causing him to limp.
“Dad, are we just going to let them carry on like this?”
Even teeth and tongues occasionally knocked against each other[1]“Even teeth and tongues occasionally knock against each other” is a Chinese saying meaning that disagreements are inevitable among people who live closely together, including family members. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3694787_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3694787_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.
Lihua hadn’t actually married Liu Laizi, so why had his younger sister-in-law gone all the way to the commune to report her mother-in-law and sister-in-law?
The eldest son of the Lu family remained silent, so Lu Dajun continued.
“After all the trouble Auntie caused yesterday, she put on another performance this morning. Even professional opera performers couldn’t act as well as she does! Now the entire brigade is talking about how you and I supposedly tried to beat her.”
“There are rumors flying around the educated youths’ residence too. When I went over to help, Educated Youth Zhao wouldn’t even acknowledge me.”
Lu Dajun’s eyes reddened with anger. “If this keeps up, my relationship with Educated Youth Zhao is going to fall apart.”
When he heard that Lu Dajun’s relationship with Educated Youth Zhao was in danger, the eldest son of the Lu family finally broke his silence.
His expression darkened. “We can’t let them keep causing trouble. Lihua used to be such an obedient girl, but now even she’s become rebellious.”
“Don’t be fooled by how much noise they’re making. How much strength can a bunch of women have? If we want to deal with them, we’ll have plenty of opportunities while we’re all living under the same roof.”
The eldest son’s eyes narrowed as he began calculating his next move.
“If they refuse to behave, we’ll make sure that mother and her daughters suffer. Once this matter blows over, tell Liu Laizi that if he can sleep with Lihua and make the marriage a done deal, our Lu family will accept it.”
His father certainly dared to come up with such a plan!
Although Lu Dajun found the idea satisfying, he had no choice but to remind his father, “Dad, thanks to Auntie’s interference, Liu Laizi is being held at the commune office too!”
“Lihua didn’t end up marrying him, did she? They can’t keep him locked up forever.”
“With a little persuasion and the right connections, your grandmother and mother should be released after a few days.”
“But Liu Laizi must stick to the story. He needs to say that the money he paid was a bride price.”
“We still need to find someone who can get inside the commune office and pass along a message.”
After thinking for a moment, the eldest son instructed Lu Dajun, “Let’s go back and get a letter of introduction[2]A letter of introduction (介绍信) was an official document identifying its bearer and explaining the purpose of a visit. It could be required for accommodation or official business. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3694787_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3694787_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });. Then you can head to the county town and find your aunt.”
Lu Dajun’s paternal aunt had married a worker at the county food-processing factory. His uncle by marriage had recently been promoted to workshop director. He had said that once he was firmly established in his new position, he would find a way to get Lu Dajun a temporary job at the factory.
His uncle by marriage had extensive connections and really could get in touch with the police officers at the town commune.
After all, Lihua hadn’t actually married Liu Laizi, had she?
With the right arrangements, they could turn a serious matter into a minor one and then make it disappear altogether.
Lu Dajun thought the plan was workable and hurriedly nodded. “All right. Once we’ve got the letter of introduction, I’ll go to the county town and find Auntie…”
*
Porridge wasn’t filling enough for a day of farmwork, so Bai Su steamed some sweet potatoes that morning and made flatbreads using cornmeal and white flour.
Having learned their lesson from the incident with the white-flour steamed buns and eggs, the eldest son of the Lu family and Chunya behaved themselves. They silently ate their flatbreads with porridge, afraid they might lose even a piece if they complained.
Bai Su noticed that her second daughter, Lanhua, had secretly hidden half of the flatbread she had been given.
Yesterday, when Bai Su distributed the eggs and steamed buns, Lanhua had also hidden a boiled egg. Since Bai Su had given her two portions of both, she had assumed that her delicate, quiet daughter simply had a small appetite and was saving the egg to eat later when she became hungry while working in the fields.
But today’s flatbreads were different. Because the eldest son and Chunya had behaved themselves, there were no extra portions left. Everyone had received only one flatbread.
Eating one would barely fill a person’s stomach, so why was Lanhua hiding half of hers?
Her second daughter, whom she had gotten for free through transmigration, was rather tall but much too thin. Her small face had a sallow complexion from malnutrition. Perhaps because of her slender figure, she possessed an unusually refined and elegant air.
Yesterday, after returning from work, she had spent quite some time reading a book by the light of a kerosene lamp before going to bed.
Bai Su had made an enormous fuss over the plan to marry Lihua off to Liu Laizi, even going so far as to have Old Madam Lu and her eldest daughter-in-law taken to the commune. Yet Lanhua hadn’t expressed any opinion about it.
Unlike her third daughter, Hehua, who was timid and easily frightened, Lanhua seemed completely indifferent to everything that had happened.
That made Bai Su feel that Lanhua didn’t quite belong in this family.
Throughout the walk to the fields, Bai Su quietly observed her.
When she saw Lanhua hand the hidden half of her flatbread to the work-point recorder responsible for assigning tasks, and the recorder subsequently assigned Lanhua to supervise the brigade’s educated youths, Bai Su couldn’t help frowning.
“The educated youths from the city probably haven’t done much farmwork before, have they?”
Bai Su asked Lihua, “They work so slowly that they can’t earn many work points. Why does Lanhua insist on working with them?”
“She wants to borrow books from them. The educated youths from the city brought lots of books.”
Lihua thought nothing of it and didn’t see anything unusual.
But Bai Su watched Lanhua chatting and laughing with the educated youths. In particular, she noticed how close Lanhua seemed to be with a tall, broad-built, fair-skinned young man among them.
Bai Su suspected that Lanhua’s interest in the educated youths involved more than simply borrowing books.
However, she soon had no time to worry about Lanhua.
For some reason, Lu Chunya had arrived at work earlier than everyone else that morning and gathered with the brigade’s older women and young wives, whispering among themselves.
When Bai Su arrived with Lihua and Hehua to receive their work assignments, Lu Chunya shot her a provocative look. Then, shamelessly, she pulled Liu Laizi’s mother into joining her work group.
At first, Liu Laizi’s mother refused and glared at Chunya angrily. But Chunya leaned close and whispered a few words into her ear, after which the two women walked away together, tugging at each other.
As a result, the field of slightly more than one mu assigned to Bai Su and her daughters was now short one worker.
“Who wants to work in a group with Auntie Bai?”
Zhou Yan, the brigade secretary’s daughter, asked around. But the young wives and older women all shook their heads, their faces filled with disdain.
Just then, someone pushed through the crowd from behind.
“Me! I’ll work with Auntie!”
Bai Su was slightly startled when she saw that it was He Yan.
He Yan smiled ingratiatingly, afraid that Bai Su might reject him.
“Auntie, I’m strong, and I work really fast!”
References[+]