Chapter 41

Chapter 41

By the time the group of children ran to the drying ground, the area was already jam-packed with people. The little ones, taking advantage of their small size, wormed their way through the gaps. Shen Banyue, holding Xiao Dizi, slipped through just as fast. Just as she was about to emerge from the crowd, someone suddenly caught her.

Shen Banyue's gaze turned sharp, her body tensing reflexively. However, her mind quickly reminded her that this was no longer the perilous post-apocalyptic world. In a split second, she forced herself to relax and turned to look.

"They've started on the pig slaughter inside. It's a bloody mess. It's one thing for you to watch, but dragging Xiao Dizi along?" Shen Wenyi bent down to look at the two little girls. "Don't worry, you won't miss out on the meat later."

Xiao Dizi blinked, swallowing hard. "Eat meat!"

Shen Wenyi patted her head, saying dismissively, "Yes, yes, eat meat."

Shen Banyue gave up on pushing forward and looked up at Shen Wenyi. "What do you mean 'it's one thing for me to watch'? I'm a child too." She didn't know if he was just odd or particularly sharp, but for some reason, he rarely treated her like a child.

Shen Wenyi was even more dismissive. "Yes, yes, you're a child. No one said you aren't a child, right? I'll give you an extra piece of meat later, okay?"

Then he muttered under his breath, "Are you an ordinary child?"

Shen Banyue: "..."

If you're going to talk trash about someone, can't you do it behind their back, not to their face?

Most of the prey had already been killed, so there weren't any awful screams during the slaughtering. However, such a scene wasn't really for little kids. The other children who had rushed over were also stopped by the adults.

Shen Banyue looked up and asked Shen Wenyi, "Was there a lot of prey this time?"

Shen Wenyi said cheerfully, "Quite a lot, more than last year. No wonder we ran into dholes and wild boars last time. Must be 'cause the weather's been good these past two years, there's plenty of food in the mountains, and the number of wild animals has increased."

Even though her height was a bit of a handicap, Shen Banyue still managed a very obvious skeptical once-over. She asked, "Did you manage to hunt any prey yourself?" Are you sure you weren't just holding everyone back?

Shen Wenyi: "...Of course I hunted prey!"

Shen Banyue let out an "Oh."

Shen Wenyi: "You little girl, what do you mean by that? Don't you believe I hunted any prey?"

She'd been trying to save him some embarrassment, but since he insisted on getting to the bottom of it, Shen Banyue decided to lay out the facts. "Last time on the mountain, you saw a dhole and thought it was a dog." You didn't exactly look like an expert, and you ran off in a total panic.

Shen Wenyi: "..."

He couldn't refute that.

Several commune members nearby, listening to their back-and-forth banter, couldn't help but laugh. One young man, about Shen Wenyi's age, laughed and needled him, "Hey, Wenyi, even Xiao Yue is dissing you."

Actually, Shen Banyue still didn't know many people in the village. However, due to the unique situation of these children and the incident with the wild boar and dholes last time, most villagers recognized Shen Banyue.

The young man winked at Shen Banyue, and she immediately smiled.

"Zhao Hui, don't talk nonsense. How could Xiao Yue be dissing me?" Shen Wenyi tried to salvage his dignity. "Xiao Yue, let me tell you, I didn't recognize it last time because I'd never seen one before. I only started going into the mountains last year, and we didn't encounter that thing then. This year, several of us went together and hunted a mountain goat!"

Seeing his expression begging for praise, Shen Banyue said helplessly, "Then you're really amazing. Keep it up!"

Shen Wenyi immediately beamed. "No chance this year, but I'll strive to do better next year."

Zhao Hui, standing beside him, couldn't help but smirk. He's actually bragging to a kid.

However, Shen Wenyi wasn't wrong. This wasn't an ordinary child. It was said this kid watched a pit full of dholes and wild boars without batting an eye, wasn't scared at all.

When the pigs and sheep had been turned into sides of meat, the children were finally allowed to gather around.

The total prey consisted of two large and one small wild boar, one mountain goat, five dholes, and some pheasants and wild rabbits. The pheasants and rabbits weren't divided separately, as it was difficult to do so. They were sold by weight, with the income going to the collective. The other prey was distributed according to work points and household population.

While the prey was being slaughtered, Zhao Youliang, the brigade accountant, had already calculated each household's share. Now, they could distribute it directly according to the production team order. Each household received half good meat and half poorer cuts, so the order of distribution didn't matter much.

Since Shen Guoqiang and Shen Guoqing had become workers, they were no longer counted as part of the village population. For the Shen family, only the elderly couple, Shen Dechang and Wang Guizhi, were counted. As for work points, Shen Guoqing's could still be included, but the base number was very small. Therefore, the Shen family received very little meat: just over a pound of wild boar meat, a few ounces of goat meat, and a few ounces of dhole meat.

Although they had divided the household, their production team affiliation hadn't changed. Shen Guoxing's family and Wang Guizhi's family still belonged to the same production team, so the meat distribution was naturally handled together.

The eldest branch had many people, seven in total including adults and children. Except for Shen Ailin, everyone worked. Shen Guoxing, Shen Aimin, and Shen Aihua, the father and sons, earned quite a few work points. In total, they received over six pounds of wild boar meat, over a pound of goat meat, and a pound and a half of dhole meat.

Hu Huaihua, rarely feeling so proud, held the enamel basin filled with meat and smiled triumphantly. "I told you it's better to have a large family. More people mean more grain distributed, and even more meat. We'll get another distribution before the New Year when the brigade slaughters the pig. Ah, thinking about it, life is pretty good."

Having meat to eat was indeed good, and no one could really argue with that.

However, her sarcastic tone was clearly mocking Shen Guoqiang and Shen Guoqing for not having children and thus not having a prosperous family line. Combined with the things people had overheard outside her courtyard before, many commune members gave her exasperated looks.

When she had wanted to give her son to Shen Guoqiang, she had acted so well, constantly mentioning "my mother-in-law" and "my second brother-in-law." Well, when that didn't work out and the household was divided, her true colors showed. Now, she wasn't even pretending anymore.

Hu Huaihua wished for Shen Guoqing to remain a bachelor and never find a wife. Wang Guizhi had naturally heard about this recently, but she didn't react much.

What's the use of wishing? She wished money would fall from the sky too, but would it? In the end, her son had not only found a very good partner but had also become a worker. Seeing their life getting better and better, she couldn't be bothered to argue with those two fools, Shen Guoxing and Hu Huaihua.

Today was a good day for meat distribution, so Wang Guizhi was even less inclined to pay attention to Hu Huaihua. She simply pretended not to hear Hu Huaihua's nonsense. Patting Xiao Jie's head, she smiled and said, "Let's go. Today we'll cook rice and make stewed meat with radish."

Xiao Jie and Xiao Shitou exchanged a glance and cheered in unison, "Yay, stewed meat!"

Just as Wang Guizhi was about to leave, Zhao Youliang, who was responsible for calculating the shares, suddenly called out to her. "Sister-in-law Wang, don't leave yet. I almost forgot. Your family still has ten pounds of meat to collect."

The commune members waiting nearby to collect their meat couldn't help but widen their eyes in surprise, exclaiming, "What? How much?!"

Hu Huaihua immediately turned back to the meat counter and said loudly, "Is that ours? Uncle Youliang, you mustn't have made a mistake. We've already divided the household. Don't give our meat to them." She turned and called to Shen Aizhen and Shen Ailin, "Hurry, go get our family's meat."

Zhao Youliang said helplessly, "It's not yours. It's for Sister-in-law Wang. You said yourself you've divided the household. This meat has nothing to do with your family."

Hu Huaihua: "How can it have nothing to do with us? Our family has seven people, and they only have two over there. It can't be that our seven people get less than their two people, right?"

Some commune members who had already received their meat but hadn't left yet also expressed dissatisfaction. One said their family of five only got four or five pounds of meat, another said their family of ten got less than ten pounds.

Zhao Youliang explained, "This meat isn't from the brigade. It's the commune's allocation for those five children. Two pounds per person, five people makes ten pounds. This has nothing to do with our brigade's allocation."

Only then did the commune members understand. Someone muttered, "You have to admit, raising those kids isn't a loss. The commune provides the grain, and they even get more meat than our own quota."

Someone else said, "Those children haven't found their parents. The government has to take good care of them, right? So it makes sense. We can't just eat meat while those kids watch longingly, can we?"

Others thought about it and nodded in agreement. That was reasonable.

After understanding the whole story, Wang Guizhi walked back to the meat counter holding her enamel basin and joked, "The commune's consideration is very thorough. Don't worry, everyone. I definitely won't steal a single ounce of this meat. It will all be used to nourish the children."

A commune member nearby laughed and said, "Auntie Wang, we all know your character. Not to mention anything else, just look at how those children were when they first arrived and how they are now. Each one of them has clearly gained weight."

Xiao Jie immediately said, "I've also grown taller."

Xiao Shitou, not wanting to be outdone, said, "I've grown taller and fatter too."

Children grow quickly, especially with the decent food at the Shen household. In the blink of an eye, almost two months had passed, and the children had indeed changed a bit. They were a little plumper and had indeed grown a little taller.

Wang Daniu, who was in charge of distributing the meat, gave two solid thwacks to chop through the bone, then with a quick, slicing motion, he cut off a piece of meat. He put it on the scale and saw it was a bit light, so without a second thought, he added a small extra piece.

The meat distributed by the brigade was a mix of good and poor cuts, but these ten pounds were all good meat.

Everyone watched enviously, but they all guessed that the allocation from the commune must have been ten pounds of good meat. It made sense—since the government was paying for it, they wouldn’t be stingy enough to separate the good from the bad.

Hu Huaihua, who had been standing by the butcher's block all along, suddenly spoke up: "Even though we’ve split the household, we’re still one family. This meat should have our share from the main branch."

She reached out to grab it, but Wang Daniu thumped the gleaming meat cleaver into the chopping block. He glared at her: "Guoxing's wife, what are you doing? If I accidentally chop your finger off later, don’t blame me."

Hu Huaihua quickly pulled her hand back. She shot Wang Daniu a resentful glare but, afraid he might notice, hurriedly stepped aside.

Wang Daniu ignored her and tossed the meat into Wang Guizhi’s enamel basin: "Auntie, your share is all here. Who’s next?"

Wang Guizhi held the enamel basin as she walked out of the crowd, receiving countless envious glances. Shen Banyue suddenly appeared from somewhere, raised her hand, and tossed a long, slender piece of meat into the basin.

"Oh my, where did this come from?"

Shen Banyue answered, smiling: "Shen Wenyi gave it to me. He said himself that when he came back from hunting, he’d share some meat with me."

Those who went up the mountain received extra meat, especially Shen Wenyi, who had helped hunt a goat and got an additional share of goat meat. What Shen Banyue received was his extra portion.

Wang Guizhi chuckled: "You two really are close."

Shen Banyue thought to herself, *I won’t take it for nothing. I’ll find a chance to "return the favor" later.*

But as she glanced at the meat in the enamel basin, she was surprised by how much there was. A quick look made it clear that the average share of wild boar meat per person was only about six or seven, maybe eight ounces.

Xiao Jie immediately chattered away to answer her question. This kid had a knack for storytelling—he mimicked one person’s speech, then another’s, doing it so vividly. Finally, he even imitated Hu Huaihua trying to snatch the meat but being afraid of Wang Daniu’s cleaver, acting it out so realistically that everyone couldn’t help but laugh.

The group chatted and laughed as they walked home, with Shen Dechang silently following on the periphery of the crowd.

Not far behind him, Hu Huaihua’s eyes lit up. She patted Shen Ailin and told him to catch up with Shen Dechang. Shen Ailin, who had been sulking because his family’s meat was less than that of the "wild kids," brightened up and sprinted after Shen Dechang: "Grandpa, Grandpa!"

Shen Dechang stopped in his tracks.

Shen Ailin: "Grandpa, I want to eat meat! I want to eat lots of meat! Bring all the meat to me!"

Shen Dechang stared fixedly at his beloved youngest grandson for a long moment, then shook his head: "Go back and ask your mom to stew some meat for you." After saying this, he hunched his back and slowly followed the people ahead. Behind him, the faint sounds of a child’s crying and yelling could be heard, but he didn’t look back.

As the group approached the gate, they suddenly saw a bicycle parked outside the courtyard.

Xiao Jie immediately rushed into the yard: "Uncle!"

He thought it was Shen Guoqing who had returned, but as soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw Shen Guoqiang, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time. Shen Guoqiang was chopping firewood and turned his head to see Xiao Jie, smiling: "Finished distributing the meat? How many pounds did our family get?"

Xiao Jie didn’t really remember Shen Guoqiang, but he was naturally outgoing and immediately laughed: "We have eleven pounds and eight ounces of wild boar meat, one pound and seven ounces of goat meat, and five ounces of jackal meat."

Shen Guoqiang exclaimed in surprise: "That much?"

This immediately sparked Xiao Jie’s desire to explain. He launched into a performance just like he had for Shen Banyue earlier, even "filling in the gaps" by adding the scene where Wang Daniu slammed the cleaver into the chopping block. He played both narrator and actor, thoroughly enjoying himself.

Wang Guizhi laughed: "Oh my, look how busy he is."

After Xiao Jie finished his "performance," Wang Guizhi asked: "How did you come back by bike? Who did you borrow it from?"

It was possible to borrow a bike from the commune—Dai Xianghua had one—but they often needed it themselves, and bicycles were precious items, so it wasn’t easy to ask to borrow one. Usually, Shen Guoqiang walked home.

Wang Guizhi didn’t ask about Lin Xiaohui because she didn’t always come back with Shen Guoqiang.

Shen Guoqiang gathered the chopped firewood and arranged it neatly under the eaves. As he worked, he said: "I borrowed it from Dai Xianghua. He said he hasn’t been too busy lately, and tomorrow is Sunday, so it’s fine to lend it to me."

He paused, then added: "Right after I got off the bike, I ran into the postman. He said there are two parcels for our family, and they’re quite big. Without the bike, I wouldn’t have been able to bring them back."

Wang Guizhi thought for a moment and asked: "Are they from Xiao Zhuzi and Xiao Wei’s families?"

She herself had fled as a refugee. Even if she still had relatives alive, they wouldn’t know where she was now. The Shen family had lived here for generations, all from Shanxi County, and had no relatives elsewhere. The only ones who could send them parcels seemed to be those two families.

Sure enough, Shen Guoqiang nodded: "Judging by the addresses, it should be."

Wang Guizhi sighed: "They’re really thoughtful. Last time they came, they brought so many things."

The children had been listening all along. Xiao Jie and Xiao Shitou couldn’t wait to ask: "Did Xiao Zhuzi and Xiao Wei send us things?"

"Did they get our letters? Did they write to us?"

Wang Guizhi waved her hand: "They’re in your room. Alright, Xiao Yue, take them to your Uncle Guoqiang’s room to open the parcels."

After the children went inside, Wang Guizhi asked again: "Why do I feel like you still have something on your mind?"

As the saying goes, a mother knows her son best. Wang Guizhi understood her eldest son well and could tell from his expression that something was bothering him.

Shen Guoqiang glanced in the direction of his room and lowered his voice: "When I went to borrow the bike from Dai Xianghua, he told me something. He said there’s news about Xiao Shitou’s family, and the county has made contact with them."

Wang Guizhi looked at him in surprise. Shen Guoqiang paused, frowned, and said: "But the reply from over there said his family can’t come right away. Although the information mostly matches, without them coming in person, we can’t confirm it here. If I hadn’t happened to go over, Dai Xianghua might not have even told us this news."

That was understandable.

Without confirmation, and with no idea when the other side could come or what the situation was, telling them wouldn’t be helpful. If the child found out, it might only upset him, so it was better not to say anything.

Wang Guizhi sighed: "Maybe the family has some difficulties."

Shen Guoqiang opened his mouth as if to say something but didn’t speak.

Mother and son exchanged a look, both knowing what Shen Guoqiang hadn’t said.

In this world, there are plenty of people who want children and love them, but there are also many who don’t.

They didn’t know what Xiao Shitou’s family situation was, but there was really no need for the child to know about such things.

Shen Guoqiang continued: "When they handed the children over to us, Dai Xianghua said we’d only have to care for them for a month or two at most. This time when I went over, he thought I was asking about that. He told me that the children are doing well in our home, and there’s still a good chance of finding their families. So if you’re willing, the children can stay with us for now. If not, he’ll find another solution."

He pulled a small roll of bills from his pocket: "This is twenty-four yuan. He said it’s two yuan per child per month. For Xiao Zhuzi and Xiao Wei, it’s been a month already, so this is for two months."

Wang Guizhi looked at her eldest son with amusement: "You’re in such a hurry to take out the money—are you afraid I don’t want to care for them?"

Shen Guoqiang grinned sheepishly: "Raising children isn’t easy, but I think these kids are pretty well-behaved."

Wang Guizhi took the money: "Alright, tell Dai Xianghua to rest easy. Ten yuan a month—where would an old rural woman like me earn that much money? Of course I’m willing. I’m very willing to care for them."

Shen Guoqiang immediately smiled: "Good, then I’ll go cook."

Inside the room, Shen Banyue used a blade to cut open the parcels and then stepped back.

She didn’t need to do anything else—Xiao Jie and Xiao Shitou immediately started tearing into them with eager hands. Even Xiao Dizi gritted her tiny teeth and used all her strength to help. Only Lin Mian stood coolly to the side, clearly curious but refusing to join in the unpacking.

Shen Banyue watched them with a smile until she overheard the conversation outside. Her smile gradually faded as she glanced at Xiao Shitou, who was still huffing and puffing as he unpacked, and she frowned slightly.

"Wow, there’s candy, malted milk… and fabric!" Xiao Jie exclaimed. "So much fabric!"

Last time the Zhang family came, they also left fabric—a large piece of soft, fine cotton. Later, Wang Guizhi and He Yingyu worked together to make each of the younger children a set of underwear.

This time there were three pieces of cloth, all quite large, though the color was a bit unevenly dyed.

These were imperfect fabrics. In this era, weaving and dyeing techniques weren't that advanced yet, and such flawed goods were sold cheap. Though called "public sales," they were usually "internally distributed." After all, being cheap and not needing ration coupons made them really popular in this time of scarcity.

Zhang Xiaowei’s mother worked at a textile factory, so this fabric likely came from their mill.

The other parcel contained some mountain delicacies, dried fish, and two pieces of homespun coarse cloth.

Perhaps realizing that Xiaodun Brigade also had bamboo groves, the whole family didn’t send dried bamboo shoots this time. Instead, they sent large bamboo fungus, which Xiao Zhuzi had mentioned, and a handful of dried dendrobium stalks… quite nourishing stuff.

The coarse cloth wasn’t as fine or soft as factory-woven fabric, but it was especially comfortable for summer clothes—breathable and cool.

Both packages had letters inside. In the Zhang family’s letter, Zhang Xiaowei wrote and drew, describing everything he ate and played with on the way home and after arriving. At the bottom was a short section in an adult’s handwriting, asking how the kids were doing and suggesting they keep in touch.

The letter from Xiao Zhuzi's family was entirely his show—no adult handwriting, just a child’s scribbles and drawings. Most of the pictures were of bamboo, bamboo shoots, and fish. Next to the bamboo shoots were several stick figures. With his limited drawing skills and words, he expressed how much he missed the days of digging up bamboo shoots with his friends.

It looked like they hadn't gotten the letters from here yet when they sent these packages.

With meat to eat and care packages from friends, the children were overjoyed that day.

By evening, Shen Guoqing had also returned, bringing more good news: the commune was putting on an outdoor movie the following night. He planned to take the early bus back to the county on Monday, so he would take the children to the movie tomorrow evening.

Since Shen Guoqiang also needed to go to the County Machinery Factory on Monday, the brothers discussed it and decided to take the whole family along for the fun.

Shen Banyue, who had watched plenty of movies in her past life, couldn’t quite relate to this era’s enthusiasm for film screenings. She asked hesitantly, "Nights are pretty cold this time of year. Won’t it be freezing to watch an open-air movie?"

They were just kids—weren’t the adults worried they’d catch a cold?

Xiao Jie widened his eyes. "How could it be cold when watching a movie? Movies are so exciting—of course it won’t be cold!"

Xiao Shitou chimed in, "Yeah, yeah! I only saw a movie once when I was little. Movies are amazing—you don’t feel cold watching them."

Shen Banyue: "…"

Wait, what does the movie being good have to do with whether it’s cold or not?

And hey, kid, you’re still little now.

Shen Guoqiang laughed. "We’ll dress warmly. With so many people around, it won’t be too cold. If Xiao Yue is afraid of the cold, Grandma Wang can hold you—then you won’t feel cold."

Shen Banyue: "…"

Well, that won’t be necessary.

By the next day, everyone in the brigade had heard about the commune’s open-air movie. The children were as excited as if it were New Year’s, calling out to friends everywhere and making plans to go to the commune together.

Zhao Xuehai came by early in the morning and returned in the mid-afternoon to urge everyone to leave early to secure good spots.

Shen Banyue glanced at the sky and said speechlessly, "…Isn’t this way too early?"

Zhao Xuehai, speaking from experience, replied, "We have to go now. Any later and we won’t get good seats. Plus, we need to borrow stools from the commune. If we’re late, even the stools will be gone."

Shen Guoqing leaned out from the room. "Your Sister Zhou said she’d go early to save spots."

Zhao Xuehai immediately said, "She can’t save that many spots alone. I’ll go help her."

Shen Banyue: "…"

It was clear—this guy just wanted to go early.

Shen Guoqing thought it over and simply said, "Then let’s all go together first."

The two hit it off and happily gathered their things to leave.

Shen Banyue and the others weren’t in a hurry. After dinner, they put on their warmest clothes and then followed the village crowd toward the commune.