The cherries were nearly sold out. Over the past two days, Li Sangyue had taken the time to settle the accounts and distribute the payments to the villagers.
Most of the villagers were elderly. They did not like keeping money in the bank because they found withdrawals too much of a hassle; they felt more secure holding cash in their hands. Consequently, when Sangyue dropped Taiyang off at school, she stopped by the bank to withdraw the cash. Upon returning, she took Tuan-jie and Lin Yin with her to go door-to-door to settle the accounts with the villagers.
This provided great material for her videos and helped strengthen her relationship with the locals. Seeing the money, people would likely gossip less about her family. Life in a village is like that; one cannot avoid people talking behind their back, especially in a situation like hers.
Her two grandmothers had worked away from home when they were young and suddenly returned after twenty years to renovate their collapsed old house. They brought back a divorced daughter and a one-year-old granddaughter. It was only natural for the villagers to be curious, and the rumors had twisted into all sorts of versions over the years.
When she was a child, her classmates called her a “wild child.” She had run home crying to ask her mother where her other mother was and why every other kid had two mothers while she only had one. She still remembered how her mother’s eyes turned red instantly. Tears welled up, but her mother bit her lip to stay silent, pulling Sangyue into a tight embrace and whispering, “I am sorry.”
That was the first time she saw her mother cry. It hurt her heart deeply. She felt she had done something wrong, thinking that she should not have come home to question her mother, but should have instead beaten up those who bullied her.
Later, she heard that those classmates had been dealt with by the “school bully,” leaving them black and blue. Since they were all children, calling the police was useless. Furthermore, the bully’s parents were notoriously fierce, so the other parents did not dare provoke them for fear their children would be bullied again. Thus, the matter was dropped.
After that, she was never bullied again. If anyone called her a “wild child,” she would curse back or even fight. If she could not win with her fists, she used her teeth. Whenever the “school bully” saw it, they would help her. She was very grateful at the time, thinking the bully was just a bad student but a good person. It was not until graduation day, when she treated them to a drink, that they told her the truth: her mother had paid them to “cover” her at school. Her mother told them to fight back whenever someone bullied Sangyue, paying ten yuan per fight.
Her mother had always protected her in her own way. From then on, Sangyue vowed to study hard and make a lot of money for her mother.
During the winter break of her senior year of high school, wanting to buy her mother a proper birthday present, she took a job as a waitress at a club in Taining. The manager, seeing she was pretty, agreed to let her work for a month, offering a commission on top of the salary. She was happy then, not understanding the dangers of such places. She absentmindedly drank a beverage offered by a guest; soon, she felt dizzy and flushed, and her whole body burned with discomfort. When someone tried to drag her away, she was terrified. Using every ounce of strength, she pushed the person off and bolted from the room.
Dizzy and with blurred vision, her limbs felt like jelly. She only remembered bumping into someone. That person’s pheromones smelled wonderful; it was a fragrance she did not find repulsive. Still, she was afraid and began to struggle. Her fists struck the person’s shoulder before sliding down weakly. Then, she was picked up. It felt like being nestled in the clouds, which was incredibly comfortable.
She could not remember much about that night as it was all a blur. The only thing etched into her memory was the sharp pain when her gland was bitten. When she woke up, she was in a bed, her body aching and weak. There was a stinging sensation at the back of her neck. She reached up and felt a patch; it hurt even with a light touch. A set of new clothes was folded on the sofa.
Terrified and shocked, she scrambled into the clothes and fled. She wanted to call the police, but after being threatened by the manager, she did not dare. She took her wages for the month and left. Afraid to go home, she hid in a small guesthouse for two days until her mother found her. That was the second time she saw her mother cry. Her mother’s hands were shaking as she held her.
Sangyue cried too because of fear, horror, and helplessness. Only upon seeing her mother did she feel safe enough to vent the terror of those two days. Her mother took her home and kept it from her grandmothers, lying that Sangyue had a fever and needed to rest. Once she felt better, she returned to school, hoping to slowly forget the incident.
But the college entrance exam physical revealed she was pregnant, which was a bolt from the blue. Someone leaked the news, and because it reflected poorly on the school, she was forced to drop out. That was her family’s situation, which was why the villagers gossiped so much in the early years. It had only improved recently.
She had thought about moving elsewhere, but considering the two elderly grandmothers, the fact that Taiyang was still small, and their financial situation, they stayed. Another reason was that although her grandmother never said it, Sangyue suspected they had moved from the south back to Yangtoubu because of her mother. Her mother seemed to be hiding from someone. While her grandmothers were happy to appear in her videos, her mother avoided the camera at all costs.
Aside from picking up Taiyang, her mother rarely left the village or interacted with outsiders. Whenever she did leave the village, she became abnormally hyper-vigilant. She avoided anything requiring identity verification and used Sangyue’s secondary SIM card for her phone. Furthermore, her mother was an Omega, but her gland had been removed, leaving a deep scar on the back of her neck.
Generally, unless there is a disease or severe injury, gland removal is not permitted. Even if surgically removed, it would not leave such a deep scar. She suspected her mother’s gland had been violently removed, though she did not know why.
And who was her other mother? Why did her mother never mention her? She had secretly asked her grandmother when she was little, but her grandmother only shook her head. She initially thought her grandmother was helping her mother hide the truth, but later realized her grandmother truly did not know.
How could she not know? As a child, she could not understand it. Now that she had Taiyang, she realized there were too many heartaches that were difficult to explain to a child. Just like when Taiyang was bullied and came home asking why she did not have an Alpha mother, Sangyue would hold Taiyang and cry, just as her mother had held her, not knowing how to explain and feeling her heart break for her child.
After settling the last household’s payment, the three of them Li Sangyue, Tuan-jie, and Lin Yin, prepared to ride the electric tricycle back.
“Xiaoyue, have lunch at my house! Your Second Grandma has rolled out noodles,” Second Grandma called out, stopping them.
Second Grandma was not her biological grandmother. Since most villagers in Yangtoubu shared the surname Li and belonged to the same clan, it was a title used based on seniority. Previously, Second Grandma’s family would pick cherries and take them to the market on a small tricycle. They sold them for very little, and people would squeeze and soften the fruit while picking through them. They hardly made any money and had even received counterfeit bills several times. Second Grandma would sit on the ground and cry over the fake cash. Now that Li Sangyue was helping them sell, they could make two or three thousand yuan without the hardship of setting up a stall at the market. It was much better.
Being dragged to stay for a meal was a headache Sangyue had been facing lately. Every household she visited went through this routine. If they did not stay to eat, they would be stuffed with snacks and drinks. These were things the elderly usually saved as treats, like boxed milk, bags of biscuits, or home-dried dates and preserved fruits.
Sangyue signaled Tuan-jie and the others to get on the tricycle quickly while she stayed to negotiate with the persistent Second Grandma. “We will eat at your place next time, Second Grandma. Not today, we are in a hurry to get to the next house.”
Second Grandma would not let go. “We are all from the same village; a little delay will not hurt. Eat before you go, the noodles are already in the pot!”
“Really, it is fine, Second Grandma. We have to go back to the small warehouse to check the stock after we finish the accounts. You and Second Grandma eat!”
By then, Tuan-jie had already turned the tricycle around. Sangyue saw her chance and hopped on, narrowly escaping being dragged into the house by the enthusiastic woman. If she really stayed, Second Grandma and her wife would surely stuff her with a mountain of gifts when she left. She could not bear to take them; the elderly had it hard enough. They lived frugally, barely willing to buy meat for themselves while their juniors were away.
Today, the family was making Beef Sa. The aroma hit her the moment she entered the courtyard.
Sa is usually a breakfast dish. While there are shops that specialize in it, making it at home is a laborious process. First, a high broth must be slow-cooked using marrow bones, large chunks of beef, and a bit of beef tallow. Then, star anise, cinnamon, and over a dozen other spices are ground into a fine powder and mixed with pepper, salt, and seasonings into a spice water called Saliao.
Once the beef and bones are removed from the broth, minced ginger is simmered in to release its flavor. Then, a large bowl of flour-water is stirred in and simmered until thickened. This thick soup is the Sa. To serve, thin slices of beef or a couple of beaten eggs are added to a bowl before ladling in the hot soup, topped with a pinch of cilantro.
Her grandmother’s Beef Sa was the best she had ever tasted. Her grandmother added barley kernels during the simmering process, making it thicker and tastier than the version made with just flour-water. With a few drops of home-pressed sesame oil, the fragrance was doubled. This had been her favorite since childhood. In the winter, a big, hot bowl of Beef Sa would warm her right up.
Since the kitchen was too hot in the summer, her grandmother had set up a stove in the courtyard to simmer the broth, allowing the scent to waft out past the front gate.
“You are back? Are the accounts all settled?” Li Ningjun shooed Bajiao away to stop it from catching birds.
Bajiao let out a couple of “meows” to express its dissatisfaction before sauntering over to the newly arrived Li Sangyue. It rubbed its chubby body against her calf to act spoiled, sweeping its upright tail against her knee. Sangyue felt itchy and hot, so she nudged the fat cat away with her foot. Rejected on all sides, Bajiao changed targets and turned its charms on Tuan-jie. Tuan-jie loved playing with it and immediately picked it up for a cuddle.
It was too hot; Sangyue was covered in sweat. She ran to the water pipe to wash her face. The well water, freshly pumped, was still icy cold. As she washed, she said, “All settled. Second Grandma tried to keep us for noodles, but we did not eat; we ran back.”
Li Ningjun went over to help hold the pipe so Sangyue could wash more easily. Noticing the patch on the back of her daughter’s neck, she could not help but feel worried. Xiaoyue’s heat cycles were unstable, and her pheromones were erratic. Suppressants were becoming less effective. Fortunately, the cherries were mostly sold. Otherwise, she really would not feel safe letting Xiaoyue go out.
“It is good that it is settled. Rest at home for the next couple of days.”
Sangyue wiped the water from her face, flashing a wide, white-toothed grin. “Got it, Mom.”
“Dry yourself,” Li Ningjun handed her a clean towel. “We were waiting for you to get back to eat. Your grandma took the bus to the market this morning just to buy fried oil cakes. Look, they are on the coffee table in the living room.”
Both grandmothers doted on Xiaoyue. If Xiaoyue mentioned wanting to eat something the night before, it would surely be there the next day. This morning, Sangyue had left early. After dropping off Taiyang, she had not even come home, heading straight out with Tuan-jie and Lin Yin to settle the accounts. Whatever she wanted to eat had to wait until lunch.
“I can smell the fragrance!” Li Sangyue chirped happily; she had a sharp nose.
Lunch was served on a small table in the courtyard. The area near the front gate was shaded and breezy, much cooler than the living room. When Qin Nian drove up to find them, the Li family was laughing and chatting while drinking their Beef Sa.
Just then, because Bajiao had tried to steal the oil cake from Li Sangyue’s hand, she grabbed the cat by the scruff of its neck and lifted it up. Bajiao was too fat; being lifted like that hurt, so it struggled, slipped from her grasp, and bolted toward the gate.
A large, orange, fat cat suddenly darted out, giving Qin Nian a huge fright. She had been afraid of cats and dogs since she was a child. She had not seen Bajiao during her last visit as the cat sometimes spent the day sleeping in the attic.