Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Lunch was prepared by He Yingyu, Shen Zhenhua's wife. She was quite skilled in the kitchen, and the pot of wild chicken stewed with mushrooms she made was incredibly fragrant, with a broth so delicious it was to die for. Everyone at the table, adults and kids alike, ate with gusto.

Except for Shen Dechang.

He sighed between bites, not missing a single mouthful of food, nor a single sigh.

Wang Guizhi couldn't help but glare at him, saying, "If you have no appetite and don't want to eat, then don't. That'll leave more for the children." She knew he was thinking about his eldest son and grandson not getting to eat while he had meat.

Shen Dechang remained silent, silently extending his chopsticks to pick up another bite of scrambled eggs with chives.

Why not eat? If I don't, it'll just go to someone else's kids.

Under the table, Shen Wenyi nudged Shen Guoqing with his elbow, quietly teasing, "Look at you, seems like Dad's not too fond of you."

Shen Guoqing rolled his eyes.

He Yingyu had returned to her mother's home a couple of days ago and only came back this morning. Her mom had fallen while working in the fields a few days prior, so she went back to check on her and help out for a few days.

Wang Guizhi, also having trouble with her legs, felt a sense of camaraderie. "Is your mother any better? Injuring your legs and feet is truly inconvenient. The scab's drying up, so I should be able to move around soon, but for bone and tendon injuries, recovery isn't so easy."

He Yingyu: "You can say that again! It's fortunate the autumn harvest is over, and there's less field work. If it were during the busy season, you'd still have to report for work even if you were limping. She is a bit better, but her ankle is still swollen. It really will take some time to heal properly."

The two of them traded sighs and laments, and as the conversation naturally turned, He Yingyu brought up some news from her home village.

"You know the Liao family in our production brigade? The one with the army officer. His wife died in difficult childbirth a couple of years ago, leaving behind a daughter. The child was raised until about ten months old, or maybe seven or eight—I can't remember exactly—but she wasn't even a year old yet. His mother said her health wasn't good and couldn't manage the care, so she sent the child to his second sister's house. My mother said that in the past few years, no one in the village has seen that child. Everyone guessed she might have been given up for adoption."

He Yingyu wore a mysterious expression. "Guess what happened? That child wasn't taken away; she got sick and died!"

Wang Guizhi slapped her thigh. "The family kept it secret to keep getting his ration coupons and allowance, and even planned to buy a child to trick him, right?!"

He Yingyu was surprised. "Ah, Sister-in-law, you heard about this?"

Wang Guizhi pointed at Xiao Dizi, who was eating with gusto, her mouth shiny with oil. "That mother of his, whose conscience was eaten by dogs, wanted to buy this very child."

Then she pointed at Shen Banyue. "And she wanted this one thrown in for free. The trafficker said she was too greedy. They argued at the state-run restaurant and were caught by Guo Qiang and the others, who sent them to the commune."

He Yingyu suddenly understood. "Oh, right! These children were the ones rescued. I didn't make the connection for a moment. Ah, I never imagined that old woman wanted to buy our Xiao Dizi!" When it came to hearsay, she'd heard even more outrageous things before, but for it to happen right nearby, and to involve people she actually knew, that was truly something else.

He Yingyu sighed repeatedly and hurriedly put food in the bowls of each of the children. "Eat more, you've really been through a lot." She didn't forget to give her own two boys a serving either. The older one was fine, quiet and reserved, but the younger one would immediately cry "Mom is biased!" if others had something he didn't.

Shen Banyue asked curiously, "Was that old lady released? What about her youngest son? Has he come back?"

He Yingyu: "She was the buyer, and anyway, the deal fell through. I heard she won't go to jail, but the commune sent her to a farm for reform through labor."

Shen Banyue nodded, having momentarily forgotten this hallmark of the era: 'reform through labor.'

"The youngest son hasn't returned yet. I heard he'll be back in a day or two. The daughter he'd raised for three years is just gone. Who knows how he'll react when he comes back!"

After shaking her head over this, He Yingyu brought up another matter. "When I was leaving, I heard from Big Brother that a few 'old Rightists' will be sent down here in the next couple of days." The production brigade captain originally wanted Shen Zhenhua to help repair the cowshed, but since Shen Zhenhua and the others had to make new beds for the children in the afternoon, he had to call on someone else.

Shen Banyue glanced sideways at her.

She vaguely remembered that in the original book, Xiao Dizi seemed to have a good relationship with someone who was sent down to Xiao Dun Production Brigade. Later, when she grew up and went to Beijing, she was bullied by her stepmother and stepsister, and it seemed this person recognized her and helped her.

She needed to help the little kid maintain this connection.

Noticing her look, He Yingyu patted the little girl's tousled hair. "What is it, Xiao Yue?"

Shen Banyue put on a curious expression. "What are 'old Rightists'?"

This stumped He Yingyu. It was Wang Guizhi who interjected, "They are people from other places who come here to participate in labor. They have to prove themselves through labor before they can go home. You kids should stay away from them and not be a bother."

Shen Banyue nodded, appearing obedient, but her next sentence was: "When they come, can we go take a look?"

Wang Guizhi: "..."

She wanted to say it's best not to, but the little girl's face clearly read, "Looking doesn't count as bothering, right?" She hesitated and said, "Looking is okay, but don't get too close to them."

—

In the afternoon, a group of children stayed in the courtyard watching Shen Guoqing and the others make the new beds.

It wasn't complicated—just the simplest frame bed: a chair-like frame at each end, with a bed board made to fit in the middle. Eight out of ten men in the production brigade knew how to do it; the difference lay in how smoothly the wood was planed and how aesthetically pleasing the frame was nailed together.

Shen Guoqing and the other two's skills were clearly average. The frame was nailed together quite roughly, and the bed board didn't seem perfectly square. However, the group of children were great at cheering them on, constantly going 'Wow!' beside them, their exclamations rising like a chorus of croaking frogs.

This made Shen Guoqing and the others rather proud. Shen Wenyi was even struck by a sudden inspiration, suggesting that since they weren't busy lately, maybe they could find the village's old carpenter to apprentice under and properly learn carpentry.

Shen Banyue felt that for a grown man in his twenties to indulge in such self-delusional fantasies was very dangerous. So, out of the goodness of her heart, she pointed at the board he had just nailed and said, "This nail is crooked, very crooked. These two planks aren't level. Sleeping on it later will dig into you. Uncle Wenyi, I feel the old carpenter probably wouldn't want to take on a disciple like this."

Shen Wenyi: "..."

His fantasy instantly shattered. While hamming it up and exclaiming, "Xiao Yue, how can you treat your uncle like this? Uncle's going to cry, he's so hurt!" he dutifully dismantled the board without complaint and re-nailed it.

"Dong dong dong," a burst of hammering like sudden rain, and Shen Wenyi suddenly stopped. "Ah, are we out of nails? What do we do? Can we not finish today?"

Shen Banyue glanced at him. From an angle no one could see, her hand lightly brushed the ground. A barely perceptible glimmer flashed across the ground. Then, just as Shen Wenyi turned his head, Shen Banyue pointed into the wood shavings. "Aren't there some there?"

Shen Wenyi brushed aside the wood shavings on the ground, surprised. "Ah, there really are! There's another handful of nails here! Looks like I remembered wrong." He picked up the nails and looked at them, muttering, "These nails look quite new. The ones before were all rusty. Who hid a handful of good nails here?"

He was rather careless and didn't notice that the previously bent, discarded nails were gone.

Shen Guoqing found him annoying. "What's the difference between nails? Hurry up and work."

Shen Wenyi scratched his head. "Oh, good thing there's this handful of nails, otherwise we wouldn't have enough and would have to borrow some. Quick, quick, let's try to finish this afternoon so these little brats can sleep on their new beds tonight."

Shen Banyue moved her stool away from the "crime scene" and found another spot to continue watching the action.

She had dual abilities. Besides her strength ability, she also had a metal ability, allowing her to extract metal elements from within a certain range and alter their state and purity.

As a rare dual-ability holder, especially with both abilities leaning towards combat, in the apocalypse, she was among the stronger fighters and one of the most frequently sent on missions.

Who would have thought that the abilities once used to chop down zombies and mutated creatures could now only be used to make things like iron nails.

Shen Banyue rested her cheeks in her hands and let out a world-weary sigh.

Shen Guoqing caught a glimpse of her and was amused. "What are you up to, little girl?"

Shen Banyue immediately beamed. "I'm going to have a new bed to sleep on soon! I'm happy!"

No matter what, this world had no zombies, no mutated creatures. It was all lush green mountains and clear waters, everything brimming with life. It truly looked like a place that made people happy.

She hoped that her comrades-in-arms from that other world, who had fought alongside her, were all doing well.

And she was going to live well in this world.

—Provided that the damned transmigration god didn't pluck her out and toss her into another world again.