Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Out of the five fish they brought back, only one was barely hanging on; the rest were completely dead. It couldn't be helped—they had been delayed too long on the way. But no one complained. In these times, any meat at all was a godsend. Whether they died today or were dried under the eaves months ago, it was all good stuff.

"You sure those didn't come from the stream outside the village?" Wang Guizhi asked suspiciously.

They really weren't.

Shen Banyue shook her head hard. "They weren't from that stream. Didn't the brigade leader forbid kids from going there? We couldn't go even if we wanted to. The adults working in the nearby fields are always watching. If we tried, they'd shoo us right back."

Wang Guizhi knew her all too well. "So you'd go if no one was watching, right?"

Shen Banyue scratched her nose, avoiding a direct answer. Instead, she put on an innocent smile and steered the conversation back. "We caught them in the mountain creek next to the bamboo grove. Probably not many people fish there, so the fish grew really big."

Wang Guizhi tapped her forehead and shook her head with a smile. "You little rascal."

Shen Guoqing piped up, "The reason no one goes there is because there aren't any big fish in that creek. They're all no bigger than your finger—you'd fish all day and barely get a mouthful." Unless you had nothing better to do or had a pregnant woman at home needing fish soup for nourishment, who would waste time there?

Shen Banyue laid out her logic. "Look, big fish all grow from little fish, right? So if there are little fish, there must be big ones too. Otherwise, where would the little fish go when they grow up? Would they just vanish into thin air?"

Put that way, it did make sense.

No one had really thought of it from that angle before. Little fish do grow into big fish. If those fish didn't vanish, they must still be in the creek... If that were the case, how many big fish must be in there!

Shen Guoqing stroked his chin, deep in thought.

But wait, that didn't seem right either.

"We've fished there before and never saw any big fish. Never heard of anyone catching any either."

Shen Banyue blinked innocently. "Big fish are probably a bit smarter than little fish. Maybe they all hide in places where they're hard to find. So catching them takes some luck." She pinched her fingers, indicating a tiny amount.

She added, "And even if someone did catch one, they wouldn't tell you, right? Like us today—are you going to broadcast it to the whole brigade?"

That was hard to argue with.

Shen Guoqing couldn't resist ruffling the little girl's hair. "You're quite the sharp-tongued one, kid."

Zhao Xuehai laughed. "Uncle Guoqing, you just don't have the luck for catching big fish! Our Xiao Yue the Hero has luck in spades!"

Shen Guoqing: "..."

This little brat really didn't know how to talk.

"Anyway, never mind how they got here. Let's hurry up and get them ready for the pot. I'll stop by Liu Qiaohua's place. I heard they got some tofu today. We'll get some to stew with the fish." Wang Guizhi stood up, patted her pant legs, and headed out.

Because of the incident with the child from the Shangfeng Brigade, Liu Qiaohua had been feeling guilty and had been avoiding her for days. Wang Guizhi had been angry that Liu Qiaohua only spoke up when she couldn't hide it anymore, so she hadn't gone looking for her either.

But they had been old friends for so many years. Aside from being a bit slow on the uptake, Liu Qiaohua didn't have any other faults. Wang Guizhi figured today was a good chance to smooth things over.

Now that he was used to it, Zhao Xuehai eagerly followed her out without needing to be told. "I'll go home and let them know, and bring our little Yingzi over."

Earlier, on their way back, they had run into Shen Wendong, who had already gone back to call his younger brother.

Shen Dechang, who had already finished work for the day, sat by the courtyard gate, watching Zhao Xuehai's disappearing back, his expression gradually turning melancholy.

The family was going to have meat again, and his precious son and grandson wouldn't get any.

But then again, the frequency of meat at home lately seemed a bit high.

Shen Dechang couldn't help but glance back at the dark, skinny little girl. It was all meat this kid brought.

Noticing Shen Dechang's gaze, Shen Banyue turned her head and gave him a bright smile. Shen Dechang seemed to flinch and quickly turned away, not looking back again.

—

The three people sent down to the cowshed were named Xie Tingqin, Lü Fang, and Nie Yuanbai.

Xie Tingqin and Lü Fang were a married couple. She had been a teacher, and he an engineer at a steel mill. Xie Tingqin had a problematic class background and overseas connections. If not for Lü Fang's impeccable revolutionary pedigree, they probably wouldn't have survived being sent down.

Nie Yuanbai had previously worked at a research institute. He was alone and never spoke of his past. Xie and Lü only knew he had been reported by a student; beyond that, they knew nothing.

When the three of them arrived, they had almost nothing to their names—just some spare clothes, daily necessities, and a bit of money and ration tickets hidden on their persons.

As Shen Banyue had said, most things in the cowshed actually belonged to the Xiaodun Brigade, including the only pot.

After the brigade leader had hauled Zhao Jinshun away, he later sent word that the brigade office didn't have any extra pots either. He had already spoken with Old Liu and told them to go see Old Liu to get it patched up and make do.

The three of them had been in Xiaodun Brigade for several days now. Aside from going to work, they hardly ever went out. Now that they needed to find someone in the village to fix the pot, they discussed it and decided to go together.

They had been "struggled against" so much they were afraid. Having company made them feel more at ease.

Lü Fang clutched the iron lump the whole way, muttering, "Using iron of this purity to patch a pot is such a waste. How can such high-purity iron be found in this poor, remote place? I haven't seen any steel mills around. What a pity we don't have the equipment; I'd really like to test its purity. As for patching a pot, I know you just need some iron powder and asbestos. Why use such a big lump of iron?"

Nie Yuanbai said helplessly, "Brother Lü, you don't need that much material to patch a pot, but they can't fix it for us for free, can we? We can't pay money, so giving a bit more material can count as the labor fee."

He sighed. "Besides, we've both left our posts. Even if this stuff reached 99.9999% purity, what use is it to us now?"

Lü Fang shook his head with a wry smile. "How could it reach that high? With our current level, achieving 99.9% would be impressive enough." Even that purity was something only a handful of factories nationwide could achieve.

After saying this, he let out a deep sigh.

Nie Yuanbai was right. In their situation, just protecting their own lives was an achievement.

Lü Fang's gaze fell on his wife's overly short hair—cut short after she was given a "yin-yang head" shave... How she had loved her long, black hair before. Thinking of this, he tightened his grip on the iron lump and fell silent.

Villagers generally didn't like interacting with people from the cowshed, but since the brigade leader had personally given the instruction, Old Liu readily took on the job.

The skill of pot-mending wasn't easy to learn, but the actual mending was quite quick. It was fixed before long.

Old Liu, having received the iron lump, didn't want to take advantage. He had his grandson pack a bag of dried sweet potatoes for them. These people clearly weren't used to hard labor; the work points they earned might not even be enough to feed themselves. Kind-hearted, Old Liu gave them what they needed most.

Walking out of the Liu family's courtyard, Lü Fang sighed. "There are still good people in this world."

Nie Yuanbai gave a wry smile, gazing at the setting sun on the western horizon, and murmured, "Indeed."

Wasn't that little girl earlier one too?

—

Shen Banyue didn't know she had been given a "good person card." She was holding a large enamel mug full of fish head stewed with tofu, walking out of the kitchen while shouting loudly, "Set the table and stools! Wash your hands and get your bowls and chopsticks! Dinner's ready, dinner's ready!"

Outside, a bunch of kids immediately scrambled to set up tables, chairs, and benches.

The family already had many children. Recently, Shen Wendong and his brother, along with Zhao Xuehai and his sister, had been coming over to eat from time to time. Shen Guoqing simply made two low tables to match the stools, so the whole family could sit on small stools to eat. The original Eight Immortals table used for meals was officially relegated to the sidelines.

Besides the fish head stewed with tofu, there were braised fish pieces, stir-fried bamboo shoot strips, and stir-fried greens. The only regret was not catching any eels, so they couldn't make stir-fried bamboo shoot strips with eel strips.

Shen Banyue silently noted down "catch eels" in the little notebook in her mind.

Catching rabbits was next on her little list.

She was a planner *and* a doer!

"Stir-fried bamboo shoots are so delicious. They'd be even better with cured meat!" Little Black Girl Zhao Qingying exclaimed, proving that great minds think alike.

Everyone else was amused by her remark. Zhao Xuehai gave his sister's nose a playful scrape. "How can you dream so big? Pork's only for the New Year feast."

"But just thinking about it is wonderful, right?" The little girl said, as if it made perfect sense, then turned to Shen Banyue with a flattering smile. "Wild chicken and fish are also really good to eat. Sister Yue, you're the best!"

Xiao Dizi, hissing at the heat of the tofu, piled on the praise: "Sister, amazing!"

Shen Banyue gave each of their heads a pat. "Everyone's amazing. We're all amazing."

Zhao Xuehai was the type who thought about the next meal while eating this one. Between slurps, he asked, "When are we going to raid rabbit burrows?"

Before Shen Banyue could answer, Wang Guizhi spoke up first. "On your days off from school. Your Teacher Tang and Teacher Wang are back now, right? You have to go to class every day but Sunday. I've already spoken with the Brigade Leader. Xiao Yue and the others will also attend classes. No matter how long they can study, learning even one character is a win. Xiao Yue, don't you agree?"

Shen Banyue had heard Wang Guizhi talking to the Brigade Leader, and of course she had no objections. Starting school earlier meant shedding her illiteracy sooner.

Zhao Xuehai let out a mournful sigh. "Does that mean we won't have meat for a whole week?!"

Although they didn't go up the mountain or into the water every day, they had been making small gains every few days recently. The kids couldn't imagine how they'd get through a whole week without meat.

Shen Guoqing couldn't help but shoot back. "You're dreaming too big. How can you expect gains every day?"

Zhao Xuehai protested. "Of course you can't, but Xiao Yue the Hero definitely can!"

Shen Guoqing: "...Hey, you've got no respect for your elders!"

Everyone else burst into laughter.

Indeed, life had been too good lately, so good that they all wished they could eat meat every day.

Through "tofu diplomacy," Wang Guizhi had reestablished a firm revolutionary friendship with Auntie Liu. Before bed, while Shen Banyue was washing up, she overheard Wang Guizhi taking Shen Guoqing aside to discuss setting up a matchmaking meeting for him.

It was said Auntie Liu had two very suitable candidates on hand. One was the daughter of the accountant in Auntie Liu's home village brigade, a junior high school graduate working as a work-point recorder in the brigade, and quite pretty. The other was a temporary worker at the commune towel factory, also a junior high school graduate, and described as good-looking too.

They were speaking softly, but Shen Banyue's hearing was excellent, so she heard everything clearly.

Both girls had obvious pros and cons. The recorder's job couldn't be brought along after marriage, essentially meaning no job, but she was probably quite pretty. The temporary worker at the towel factory was also a very good job by village standards, but the girl's looks were probably average.

When a matchmaker says someone is pretty, they might truly be pretty. But when a matchmaker says someone is good-looking, you absolutely cannot believe it.

Shen Guoqing himself didn't have a job, so of course he wouldn't mind whether the girl had one or not. He hesitated for a moment and said, "Someone working at the towel factory could find any kind of partner. She might not necessarily take a liking to me. Maybe the first one is better."

That's how it was in those days—a job was more important than anything else.

Wang Guizhi nodded. "Alright then. That girl said if there's a suitable person, have Liu Qiaohua pass on a message to arrange a time to meet at the commune's state-run restaurant. I think we should set it for market day."

Meeting at a state-run restaurant was quite rare in the countryside. Wang Guizhi thought to herself that this girl might have somewhat high standards, but she didn't say anything. After all, her son wasn't lacking either.

Having secretly overheard this gossip, Shen Banyue suddenly thought of a strange point. Even if Shen Guoqing was a year younger than Shen Aimin, by age, Shen Guoqing's marriage should be arranged first. Why was it that Shen Aimin got married first instead?