Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Shen Banyue and the others got their wish to sleep on new beds. The group of kids were so excited they stayed up late horsing around. When they woke up the next day, Shen Dechang and Shen Guoqing had already left for work.

Wang Guizhi was sitting in the yard mending clothes. Shen Banyue took Xiao Dizi to the outhouse first, then came back to get Xiao Dizi washed up before brushing her own teeth and washing her face. Her movements were so swift and efficient that the little boys by the other enamel washbasin were no match for her.

After washing up, she went into the kitchen herself to ladle out porridge and serve the dishes. By the time the boys were all ready, she had already set the table with food, bowls, and chopsticks.

Wang Guizhi chuckled. "This child is really capable."

Shen Banyue turned and smiled at her, asking, "Has Grandma Wang eaten breakfast?"

Wang Guizhi replied, "You all eat. I've already eaten."

Xiao Dizi toddled over to her, big eyes blinking, staring at the clothes she was mending, tilting her head cutely. "New cwothes?"

Oh my, too adorable.

Wang Guizhi couldn't resist pinching the little one's cheek, laughing. "You're a clever one too, aren't you? Yes, new clothes. These are for you. After finishing yours, I'll make some for your Sister Xiaoyue, then for Xiao Jie, Xiao Wei, Xiao Zhuzi, and Xiao Shitou. Everyone gets some." The commune had given each person a piece of fabric. Children's clothes use less fabric, so each child could have two sets made.

Xiao Dizi immediately grinned, showing her few little millet-like teeth. "Xiao Dizi wear new cwothes, pwetty."

"Yes, yes, yes, you're the prettiest!"

Shen Banyue, sitting at the table, tapped her bowl with a chopstick. "Xiao Dizi."

The little one immediately scurried over on her short legs to eat obediently.

Hearing that everyone would get new clothes, the boys also beamed, especially Xiao Wei and Xiao Shitou. Their original clothes were tattered and worn. Later, Lin Xiaohui had altered a set for them, which was much better than before, but still had patches and weren't new clothes.

After breakfast, Shen Banyue put Xiao Jie and Xiao Zhuzi on dishwashing duty and agreed with them that chores would be rotated in the future.

In these times, even five- or six-year-old children had to do chores. The little boys all puffed out their chests, declaring they could wash dishes, sweep the floor, and do all sorts of housework. Only Lin Mian hesitated for two or three seconds, probably not used to doing chores at home.

Wang Guizhi watched the children chattering with great interest, realizing Dai Xianghua was absolutely right. Despite having this large group of children, with Xiao Yue around, she hardly needed to worry at all.

After Xiao Jie and the others finished cleaning up the dishes, Shen Banyue took the children out.

Staying home all the time wasn't good. They didn't know how long they'd be staying in the village, so they definitely needed to integrate into village life.

The teachers at the brigade primary school were an educated youth couple from elsewhere. Their child had a fever that developed into pneumonia, which seemed quite serious. The couple had taken the child to the county hospital, so the village students had been on holiday for the past few days.

Yesterday, Shen Banyue had made plans with Shen Wendong, asking him to take them out to play today.

Although Shen Wendong wasn't very outgoing, he was a child born and raised in the village. With him leading, the group of children quickly started playing with other kids on the threshing ground.

"I heard you were the one who beat Zhao Jinshun and the others? Wow, you're amazing!" Zhao Xuehai, Shen Wendong's good friend, a robust, lively boy, gave Shen Banyue an exaggerated thumbs-up. "My dad said the commune leaders even gave you a certificate of merit, calling you a Little Hero."

Zhao Xuehai grinned. "He told me to stay away from you from now on."

Shen Banyue: "..."

It was clear this was another filial son, daring to say anything.

"Who's your dad?"

"My dad is Zhao Yongjun, Militia Captain Zhao Yongjun! He shoots guns and catches bad guys!" Zhao Xuehai made a finger-gun gesture and announced loudly, "When I'm a bit older, I'm going to join the army and fight the Japanese!"

Compared to Shen Wendong, Zhao Xuehai was clearly more energetic. Before long, he got bored. "Playing with pebbles is boring. I heard someone found fish by the stream yesterday. Let's go check it out too?"

Adults didn't let us go in the stream, but walking by the streamside was fine. Sometimes, you could even find duck eggs in the grass by the stream. Some were laid by the brigade's ducks, others by wild ducks. The chances were always slim, but if you found one and took it home, no one would say anything.

Hearing about fish and duck eggs, the big, eager boys immediately dropped their pebbles and followed Zhao Xuehai. Shen Banyue picked up Xiao Dizi with one hand and leisurely followed along.

The stream was near the eastern end of the village. The water was clear and emerald green, with willow trees lining both banks, creating an extremely beautiful scene.

In the distance, there were indeed ducks scattered in the grass. The brigade had someone specifically responsible for raising ducks. In the morning, they would drive flocks of ducks to the streamside, and in the evening, drive them back. They hardly needed to feed them much grain; letting them forage naturally added a considerable income for the brigade.

However, after observing, Shen Banyue felt that if one really found duck eggs in the grass, they might not necessarily be from wild ducks or the brigade's ducks. The probability was actually quite high that they belonged to the brigade across the way.

The brigade across the way also raised ducks. The difference between the two flocks was that one had red dye on their necks, the other green, creating a very fitting scene—red flowers and green willows.

The news about finding fish seemed to have spread widely. There were quite a few children on the pebble beach, each hunched over as if searching for gold along the streamside.

Shen Wendong, despite his young age, already had a bit of a pedantic air. He expressed skepticism about finding fish. "Fish swim in the water. How would they get themselves onto the shore? Wouldn't they die if they came ashore?"

Zhao Xuehai waved his little hand. "It's just like people—some are smart, some are dumb. The dumb ones come ashore. What does it matter if they're dead or alive? In the end, they're all for eating."

This argument was surprisingly hard to refute.

The group of boys ran off to look for fish. Shen Banyue followed Xiao Dizi, who was wobbling unsteadily on the pebbles. The little one kept chanting, "Fish, fish, fish," and whenever she saw something, she'd stick out her little bottom to take a closer look, searching even more enthusiastically than the others.

"Huh?"

The little one suddenly stopped moving.

Shen Banyue was contemplating the feasibility of catching two fish and then claiming she found them in the grass... It wasn't impossible. Maybe the ducks hid them in the grass?

Peeking over, she saw it was actually a nest of bird eggs hidden in the grass.

The little one, probably having never seen such small "chicken eggs" in her life, was clearly stunned. After staring for a moment, she turned her head and called Shen Banyue. "Sister, small, small chicken eggs!"

Shen Banyue was amused. She picked some nearby plants—whether they were wild vegetables or weeds was unclear—and gently placed the bird eggs into the bamboo basket she'd brought. "These are bird eggs. We can boil them when we get back, and then we can eat them."

"Eat, Xiao Dizi eat, sister eat, brothers eat!" The little one licked the drool that had trickled to the corner of her mouth.

"Ahhh! Help, help—"

A scream suddenly rang out from not far away. Shen Banyue turned sharply and saw a child had accidentally slipped into the water by the stream. She quickly placed the basket in front of Xiao Dizi. "Watch these little eggs carefully. Don't let anyone take them."

With that, she turned and sprinted toward the stream. Reaching the bank, she dove headfirst into the water.

"Ahhh! Someone else fell in!"

Even sharper cries came from behind, soon swallowed by the damp flow of water.

There were two children in the water. Shen Banyue swam swiftly over, grabbing the child closer to the shore. Her innate power surged forth in an instant. The child in her hand suddenly became as light as a feather. She dragged them quickly to the shore, flung them onto the bank with one hand, then turned and swam toward the other child.

That child had been carried farther away by the current.

If it were the Shen Banyue from her previous life, saving two children would be effortless, let alone two adults.

But this life, she was just a nine-year-old child. Even this body was so weak it couldn't compare to children her own age.

Even with her power flowing, Shen Banyue clearly felt her stamina draining rapidly. The initial burst of effort seemed to have consumed all the energy in this body. The distance, which wasn't actually that far, felt impossible to bridge.

Shen Banyue bit down hard on the tip of her tongue. A strong metallic taste of blood immediately filled her mouth. Her spirit and body, however, seemed activated by this brief pain. Using the strength from that moment, she swiftly swam to the child's side, grabbed him by the neck, and began swimming back.

Just as they were nearing the shore, adults finally arrived after getting the news and pulled both her and the child onto the bank.

—

Shen Banyue lay in bed for three days straight.

The reason was that after being pulled ashore, she immediately coughed up a mouthful of blood. When she was brought back, Wang Guizhi’s face turned pale with fright. Even though the barefoot doctor from the neighboring brigade was called in later and said the bleeding might have been caused by accidentally biting her tongue, she still worried and insisted on keeping Shen Banyue in bed to rest and recover.

During this time, the parents of the two children came by several times, thanking her over and over and occasionally bringing gifts.

Being stuck in bed doing nothing while regularly enjoying treats, Shen Banyue felt she could tell she'd put on weight. On the fourth day, she refused to stay cooped up any longer and took Xiao Dizi out with her.

In the days she hadn’t gone out, the boys seemed to have found their own playmates, each running off to “play wild” after meals.

Finally free from having to herd a group of children like ducks every day, Shen Banyue felt great.

She took Xiao Dizi for a walk to the village entrance first. Passing by the big camphor tree, several aunties sitting under it called out to her, heaping praise on her. One of them even stuffed a few pieces of candy into her and Xiao Dizi’s pockets.

The two children who had fallen into the water that day were named Little Potato and Little Pumpkin, cousins. This auntie was their grandmother, who had visited her twice already, so Shen Banyue was quite familiar with her.

“Feeling better now?” Little Pumpkin’s grandmother patted Shen Banyue’s hand. “My two grandsons really owe you their lives. Grandma is so grateful to you.”

“Yeah, I’m fine now. I eat anything and everything, fit as a fiddle,” Shen Banyue blurted out an advertising slogan from her previous life.

She added, “I’m the successor to Socialism. This is what I should do!” This line she had learned from Zhao Xuehai.

“Oh, what a fine sense of duty!” Little Pumpkin’s grandmother chuckled. “Good child, I'll let you get on with your playing.”

Shen Banyue, whose acting skills were now only used daily to play the obedient child, nodded. She then took Xiao Dizi, whose face was a sticky mess from the candy, and headed toward the cowshed.

She heard the sent-down individuals had already arrived, but the cowshed was closed, so she couldn’t see anyone.

Instead, a few kids were playing on the nearby field ridge, whispering about the three “newcomers.”

“There are two uncles and one auntie, but they don’t look any different. Do bad people look like that?”

“My mom says the worse someone’s heart is, the kinder they appear. That auntie looks really kind—maybe she’s that type.”

“Do kidnappers look like that? My mom said Xiao Yue the Hero escaped from a kidnapper’s den and helped the police catch a lot of kidnappers. She even got a certificate!”

…

What?

Shen Banyue’s light footsteps suddenly halted. Her lips twitched as she looked at the children, deeply doubting whether her ears were playing tricks on her. But when the kids turned around, they immediately started shouting in unison, “Xiao Yue the Hero!”

Shen Banyue: “…”

In the three days she hadn’t gone out, what in the world had happened? How did she suddenly end up with such a cringey nickname?

The embarrassment nearly made her legs go weak, and she almost stumbled and fell flat on her face.

Xiao Yue the Hero beat a hasty retreat, dragging Xiao Dizi along as she scrambled behind the cowshed.

Behind the cowshed was a small hill, where the bamboo grove Shen Wendong had mentioned was located. At the foot of the hill, there was also a shallow stream.

Shen Banyue’s eyes lit up.

That day by the stream, she had wanted to find an opportunity to catch a couple of fish, but she almost ended up becoming one herself.

She heard the brigade had recently tightened restrictions, forbidding any child from going near the stream. At least for now, there was no chance to go fishing there again.

She wondered if there were any fish in this little stream.

“Shen Guoqing himself said he’d go up the mountain this afternoon. You should head up early and find an opportunity… If you can’t stage an accident, can’t you do something else?” A man’s voice sounded not far ahead, his tone carrying a hint of insinuation.

Shen Banyue narrowed her eyes slightly and pulled Xiao Dizi into the nearby bushes to hide.