Chapter 46

Chapter 46

The "Persimmon-Picking Four" had a bountiful harvest, and the children who stayed on the mountain slope did just as well, filling their baskets with wild vegetables and picked mushrooms.

Zhao Xuehai couldn't hold his tongue. As soon as the two groups met, he quietly shared with his little friends the news of catching a whole bunch of pheasants and picking tons of persimmons. This made all the kids go "Wow!", drooling while remembering to 'shush' each other and cover their little mouths.

Even Xiao Dizi knew that pheasants caught on the mountain couldn't be let known, or else Brigade Leader Grandpa would confiscate them!

The large group trooped down the mountain, each child holding a bright red wild persimmon, their faces smeared with red goop. Occasionally, when they encountered familiar children, Shen Banyue would glance back at Shen Wenyi. Shen Wenyi would then dig into the bamboo basket on Zhao Hui's back, pick out a few persimmons, and share them with the children.

Entering the village, the group headed straight for the house with blue bricks and tiled roofs.

Halfway there, they ran into Shen Zhenxing, Zhao Yongjun, and three young men wearing red armbands.

As soon as Shen Zhenxing saw them, he looked pained. A young man with a red armband beside him suddenly chuckled, "Oh, looks like you had quite a haul. You've almost sheared all the wool off Socialism..."

Shen Banyue suddenly reached out, offering a persimmon she was holding to the young man, asking with wide, innocent eyes, "Big brother, do you want a persimmon too? These persimmons were almost rotting on the tree. We picked a lot and shared many with the kids along the way. Of course, if big brother wants one, I can share mine too. We can each spare one!"

As she spoke, she glanced at Shen Wenyi. Shen Wenyi immediately understood, rummaged through his bamboo basket, and pulled out a few persimmons that got a little bruised when we picked them. "Oh dear, look at these. If we'd waited even one more day, they probably would have fallen and rotted. We were just thinking of drying them into dried persimmons to give the kids a little snack. Does this count as shearing Socialism's wool? Oh my, I really didn't know that. Come on, comrades, don't be shy. At most, we won't make dried persimmons. They're a little bruised, but don't let that stop you, take them, eat them."

Zhao Hui looked at Shen Banyue and Shen Wenyi, then said with a grin, "The kids also dug a lot of wild vegetables and picked a lot of mushrooms. Hey, comrades, does that count as shearing Socialism's wool? Should we give those to you too?"

Zhao Xuehai's eyes darted around. Beneath his father's dark glare, he said with a cheeky grin, "Big brothers, could you leave us a little of the wild vegetables? We wanted to make a cold wild vegetable dish."

Xiao Dizi looked at this one, then that one, then at the half-eaten persimmon in her hand. Pouting pitifully, she extended her small hand and said in a milky voice, "Persimmon for big brother!" Then she made a pouting face.

The young man with the red armband: "..."

The other two red armbands: "..."

"Oh my, even snatching food from a three-year-old's mouth? Has the revolution reached into little kids' mouths now?"

"Damn it! My family has been poor peasants for eight generations! I'm not afraid of any Revolutionary Committee! Whoever dares bully the kids in our brigade, I'll slap him silly!"

...

Things were different in the countryside compared to the city. Most commune members came from poor or lower-middle peasant backgrounds, truly proletarian, with no "little pigtails" for the Revolutionary Committee to grab. Besides, in a large village, there were always tough customers who wouldn't spare any face for the Revolutionary Committee's kid soldiers.

The three red armbands' faces turned alternately green and pale. One with a round face spoke up, trying to smooth things over, "Misunderstanding, misunderstanding, fellow villagers, that's not what we meant at all. The children are the successors of our Socialism. It's only right they eat the best things. We were just reminding everyone, just a reminder."

He shot a meaningful glance at the young man who had picked the fight. "Qian Tao, we've got real work to do."

Qian Tao stared at Shen Banyue for a moment, his cold gaze sweeping over Shen Wenyi, Zhao Hui, and the commune members who had spoken. He smirked, slowly turned, and walked back the way they came.

Shen Banyue stuffed the persimmon in her hand into the hands of Wang Daniu, who had just said he'd slap someone silly, beaming. "Uncle Daniu, have a persimmon."

Wang Daniu gave a guileless smile. "Well, don't mind if I do! I'll take it back for my little glutton at home."

Shen Wenyi immediately rummaged in his basket, pulled out a few more, stuffed two into Wang Daniu's hands, and also shared some with the other commune members standing nearby. They roared with laughter, "Oh my, this is really embarrassing. It looks like we're snatching food from the little ones now."

"There's more, there's more," Shen Wenyi laughed. "It was our Xiao Yue the Hero who found them. We're all benefiting from her."

Shen Banyue's face darkened. She waved a hand. "Let's go!"

The children, pushing and shoving behind her, ran towards the house with blue bricks and tiled roofs.

Once the group entered the courtyard, Shen Wenyi hurriedly bolted the gate.

Wang Guizhi was sitting in the courtyard sunning herself. Seeing their dramatic entrance, she couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong? Did you steal from someone's private plot?"

Shen Wenyi: "Tsk, a few punks from the Revolutionary Committee came to the village. They almost stopped us, wanted to punish us for 'shearing Socialism's wool'." He frowned and muttered, "Huh, that mean-looking jerk, I feel like I've seen him somewhere before. The one called Qian Tao."

He looked at Zhao Hui. Zhao Hui looked baffled. "How would I know where you've seen him? I've never seen him, anyway."

Shen Banyue took over the conversation. "The night we watched the movie, they were the ones who arrested Sister Fu Yue's dad. That Qian Tao even kicked Sister Fu Yue."

Shen Wenyi clapped his hands together. "That's it! No wonder that kid looked so familiar. That bastard doesn't look like a good person at all. Who knows what they're doing in our brigade."

Wang Guizhi caught on right away. "What else could it be? It's about that business with Zhu Juncai. It's been quite a while since he was locked up. They should have figured something out by now."

As they were talking, the bamboo basket Shen Wenyi had set down suddenly shook. Wang Guizhi started. "Oh my! What's in that basket?"

Shen Wenyi chuckled, took out the large handful of wild vegetables used for camouflage from the top of the basket, and placed them in an empty basket nearby. Then he reached in and pulled out one by one the pheasants with their brilliantly colored plumage.

Except for the "Persimmon-Picking Four," everyone else was stunned by the number of pheasants. The children covered their mouths, exchanging wide-eyed glances, afraid they might accidentally shout and attract those red armbands who wanted to take their things.

Wang Guizhi was silent for a long moment before saying, "You cleaned out the whole nest, didn't you! Luckily the Revolutionary Committee people didn't actually stop you, or you'd get at least a week of ideological education."

Zhao Hui: "Auntie, you don't know, I was really afraid these chickens would start struggling in the basket earlier. Luckily they were tied up securely." Despite his earlier bravado, he'd nearly broken out in a cold sweat.

After seeing so many pheasants, Wang Guizhi wasn't even surprised by the full basket of pheasant eggs. She didn't worry about how they'd split them up, brushed off her pants, stood up, and went to the kitchen to boil water, preparing to slaughter and pluck the chickens.

The Shen family courtyard was built later; this area was considered the edge of the village, with few people passing by. It was quite convenient for having a nice meal occasionally. Besides the neighboring Auntie Qin's family, others really wouldn't notice.

Seven pheasants: Shen Wenyi, Zhao Hui, Shen Wendong, and Zhao Xuehai each took one, meaning each family got one. The remaining three belonged to Shen Banyue and her group.

With Revolutionary Committee types in the village, after discussing with Zhao Hui, Shen Wenyi decided not to take the chickens home. They would slaughter them right there and ask Wang Guizhi to cook them together. Later, they could just take them back in their enamel mugs.

Once it was cooked, who could tell? Even if they encountered Revolutionary Committee people, how could they tell if it was domestic chicken or wild pheasant, freshly taken from the mountain or distributed by the brigade earlier?

When Zhao Xuehai heard this method, his eyes lit up. He said he'd also ask Auntie Wang to cook his, and he planned to cook only half, take it back to share with his sister (oh, and give a bit to his grandparents, but not his parents). The other half would be cooked next time along with the Shen family's chicken.

When the adults heard this, they laughed so hard they slapped their thighs. Zhao Hui even started saying loudly he'd go find Zhao Yongjun as soon as he left to tell him.

Zhao Xuehai wasn't afraid at all. "They still owe me fifty cents! Hmph, and they want to eat my chicken?"

In contrast, Shen Wendong was much more filial, saying he'd also slaughter and cook his together, and he'd go home to get an enamel mug to put it in.

With five chickens to stew at once, if the Shen family didn't have two pots, they might not have been able to fit them all.

Wang Guizhi cheerfully got busy.

Shen Wenyi and Zhao Hui weren't ones to take advantage. They took two eggs to cover the cost of the seasonings. Then the two brothers made another run up the mountain to gather some firewood. They couldn't let someone do all the work for them and also pay for seasonings and firewood, right?

Once the chicken in the two big pots was done stewing, those who wanted to take chicken home had already gone back to get their enamel mugs. Everyone had a full mug—except for Zhao Xuehai, who only had half a mug—placed in bamboo baskets along with wild vegetables and carried off.

After everyone else had left, they closed the door and finished their meat. Only then did Wang Guizhi tap the kids on their foreheads. "I thought you were just going up the mountain to dig wild vegetables and pick mushrooms? Were there that many pheasants and wild persimmon trees on that mountain slope?"

Shen Banyue beamed. "We just went to pick some persimmons and accidentally discovered the pheasants. It was like raking grass and hitting a rabbit—just something we did while we were at it."

Wang Guizhi sighed helplessly. "You're such a little schemer. I really can't keep up with you anymore."

Shen Banyue quickly assured her, "You can, you can! Tomorrow we won't go to the mountain. We'll go to the stream to collect scrap. Isn't Uncle getting married after the New Year? We'll collect more scrap, try to make Uncle's wedding really lively."

Xiao Jie and Little Stone immediately chimed in, "Yes, yes, yes! Collect scrap, get Uncle a wife!"

Lin Mian nodded seriously. Xiao Dizi raised her little fist in agreement. "Collect scrap!"

Wang Guizhi: "..."

She really didn't know what to do with these kids. Call them well-behaved, and their mischief could scare you to death. Call them naughty, and their thoughtfulness made her wish she could keep every single one of them at home.

Half a month ago, Shen Guoqing had gone to the Zhou family to meet Zhou Yaoyao's parents. The Zhou family were quite satisfied with him. Later, the young couple discussed it themselves and decided to get married around March, after the New Year.

Although there were still three months to go, many things needed to be prepared. Last week when Shen Guoqing came home, Wang Guizhi talked it over with him about borrowing some money and ration coupons from the second brother later, so they could at least hold a lively wedding.

Unexpectedly, the children had overheard and remembered it.

"Your uncle's wedding is for the adults to worry about. You just need to eat well and sleep well every day."

Shen Banyue also knew that even if the Shen family were currently facing some financial difficulties, they wouldn't really want money from a bunch of kids. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Then let's save up to buy Uncle a gift to congratulate him on his marriage."

The gifts children could think of were nothing more than candies and cookies, which wouldn't cost much anyway. So Wang Guizhi didn't say anything more and smiled, "Then I'll thank you on behalf of your uncle in advance."

They ate lunch late, and it was filling, so in the evening, Wang Guizhi just made some dough drop soup.

Right after dinner, the small production team leader hurried over to notify them: "Bring stools to the brigade headquarters for a meeting. Each family must have at least two people. Come on, come on, your family is the last one in our team. Grab your stools and let's go together."

There were only two adults in the house, so the old couple obviously had to go. The children had nothing else to do and all clamored to go too. Since it was still early anyway, Wang Guizhi simply let them carry their small stools and follow along.

Besides a large office and a storage room, the brigade headquarters also had a large open meeting room.

The meeting room wasn't small, but it couldn't handle the crowd. It was packed densely like a beehive. In the middle of winter, it was quite warm.

When the commune members saw Wang Guizhi bringing in a line of children, they very kindly made way for her, allowing her to take the children, who were attending a brigade meeting for the first time, to the very front row to see it up close—

When meetings were held at times like this, it was mostly for some kind of ideological education. The commune members understood this clearly. To balance study and production, most of the women comrades brought their mending.

Not long after, Shen Zhenxing and Zhao Yongjun led the way, followed by three young people wearing red armbands.

Seeing strangers, the originally noisy meeting room suddenly fell silent. A few seconds later, noisy discussions broke out again.

"Who are these kids?"

"I heard they're from the Revolutionary Committee. Oh dear, I don't know why they've come to our brigade. We're all politically sound, how could any revolution target us?"

"Is it about Educated Youth Zhu and Educated Youth Hu?"

"Hey, don't say it, it really might be. These city kids, they're no good at work, but they're really good at making trouble. Our Xiaodun Brigade has never lost so much face in the commune before! A few days ago when I went back to my parents' home, oh my, so many people asked me about it, saying, 'What's going on with the educated youths in your brigade?'"

...

The educated youths huddled in the corner looked at each other, their expressions not very good.

Clearly, it was Zhu Juncai who did the bad things, yet they were the ones being discriminated against and blamed.

"Cousin, cousin!"

Shen Banyue turned her head and saw Zhao Jinshun not far away, craning his neck and giving a flattering smile to the red armband named Qian Tao. She looked thoughtfully at the two of them and remembered that Zhao Youliang's wife seemed to be surnamed Qian.

So this was the cousin who had egged Zhao Jinshun on with "Revolution is not a crime, rebellion is justified"!

Shen Banyue suddenly understood. So when Zhao Jinshun said he'd give them a hard time, it was because his cousin was coming to Xiaodun Brigade?

"Today, several comrades from the Revolutionary Committee have come to our brigade to hold a criticism meeting. Let's welcome them."

After taking the stage, Shen Zhenxing only said this one sentence. Though his words said "welcome," there wasn't even a trace of a smile on his face. After speaking, he and Zhao Yongjun stood to the side, leaving the podium in front to the three young people.

Qian Tao stepped forward, his face stern and cold. "Xiaodun Brigade has serious deficiencies in the ideological and moral education of educated youths. The educated youths Zhu Juncai and Hu Caidie have decadent thoughts and degenerate morals, causing an extremely negative impact. After discussion by the commune Revolutionary Committee, it has been decided to carry out a week-long criticism and education campaign in Xiaodun Brigade. We ask everyone to actively engage in criticism and self-criticism, deeply root out ideological problems within the brigade, and expose class enemies hidden among the people. Note, this is not limited to educated youths; commune members must also deeply investigate and expose each other."

As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd below erupted with a "boom."

"What's this? Weren't Educated Youth Zhu and Educated Youth Hu already arrested? Why aren't they criticizing them, but coming to criticize us instead?"

"What other class enemies are there among the people? Haven't all the class enemies already been criticized?"

"Sounds to me like they want us to report on each other. Haha, report what? Report that you haven't washed your feet for ten days and they stink so bad they're about to suffocate me? Hahaha."

...

Qian Tao frowned and continued, "The three of us will be at the brigade headquarters every day. You can report directly to us. If we don't get any reports that day, then each production team must nominate one person to undergo criticism."

Ignoring the commotion below, he directly announced, "Tonight, the educated youths and sent-down personnel will undergo criticism."

A group of educated youths and three sent-down personnel, looking ashamed and dejected, stepped forward to undergo criticism.

They had already been notified, and each had written a self-criticism. They took turns stepping forward to read their self-criticisms.

Qian Tao, with a cold sneer, lifted his chin towards Zhao Jinshun in the front row. Zhao Jinshun, who had somehow gotten a basket of weeds and mud, led his gang of underlings and hurled it onto the stage. Soon, the faces and bodies of those on stage were covered. Nie Yuanbai's glasses were hit by a clump of mud, cracking the lens. He adjusted his glasses, glanced at the children baring their teeth at them, and lowered his eyes.

"Spit, bad elements, spit, spit, bad elements!"

After throwing the mud, the group of children began spitting on those people.

Many commune members frowned deeply, but at a time like this, even the parents of these bratty children couldn't openly stand up to stop it.

After all, what's wrong with knocking the "bad elements" to the ground and stamping ten thousand feet on them?

Shen Banyue tossed Xiao Dizi into Lin Mian's arms, signaling him to continue covering the little one's eyes. Then she sprang up, dashed out in a few quick steps, and kicked Zhao Jinshun.

The scene instantly fell silent. Even the person reading the self-criticism stopped.

Zhao Youliang's wife suddenly shouted, "You wild girl, how dare you hit my Jinshun!" She rushed towards Shen Banyue without a second thought.

Shen Banyue nimbly maneuvered and in the blink of an eye hid behind Qian Tao. Zhao Youliang's wife couldn't stop in time and crashed into Qian Tao. Qian Tao, knocked down by his own aunt, sat on the ground with a thud and angrily said, "Qian Yan, what are you doing?!" He shoved Zhao Youliang's wife away.

Zhao Youliang's wife—Qian Yan—was about to say something when she caught sight of Shen Banyue out of the corner of her eye. Shen Banyue had somehow run to her son's side again and slapped Zhao Jinshun on the head. Qian Yan no longer cared about Qian Tao and rushed over again: "You wild girl, how dare you hit my son! I'll beat you to death!"

But this time, Shen Banyue turned and hid behind the red armband with the round face. Qian Yan's slap missed Shen Banyue and landed squarely on the round-faced red armband.

By then, Zhao Jinshun finally reacted. He usually didn't dare provoke Shen Banyue, but now with his mother and his cousin here, this brat didn't think he would lose. He roared, "Get her!" and called his gang of underlings to rush at Shen Banyue together.

The problem was Shen Banyue's footwork was too agile. This group couldn't even touch a corner of her clothes. Their punches and kicks ultimately landed on "their own people."

Qian Tao and the other two had never suffered like this. In their minds, there was no such thing as "not hitting back." When hit by the children, they immediately kicked out, sending several kids sprawling to the ground.

Now the parents of those children wouldn't have it. They howled and rushed up to help, quickly getting into a brawl with the three red armbands.

Shen Banyue dodged while occasionally delivering a sneaky blow, stirring the pot like a shit-stirring stick, fanning the "flames of war" higher and higher. Once their competitive spirit kicked in, these people had long forgotten why they were fighting, throwing themselves into the brawl with gusto.

Shen Banyue smoothly slipped away and asked Shen Zhenxing, who stood expressionless in the corner, "Brigade Leader, can we leave now?"

Since they were already fighting, the criticism probably couldn't continue, right?

Shen Zhenxing twitched the corner of his mouth, waved his hand wearily, and said, "Hurry back." If they didn't leave now, once this group finished fighting, they'd definitely settle accounts with this girl.

Shen Banyue smiled brightly. "Alrighty!"

After saying that, she dashed into the crowd in a few steps and said in a hushed voice, "We can go now!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Guizhi immediately stood up and grabbed her small stool. "Come on, let's go, let's get out of here."

Seeing the situation, the others thought, *Heck, only an idiot would stick around now*, and quickly picked up their stools, turning to leave.

In a flash, more than half of the meeting room was empty.

Of course, some people stayed behind. They were the ones who figured it was none of their business. Since they had nothing better to do anyway, they stayed to watch the commotion and see how the fight ended up.

In short, by the time Shen Zhenxing finally got the commune members to stop and the group finally separated, the meeting room was already deserted. Only about a dozen people in the front rows remained, sitting on their small stools, eyes shining as they watched them.

The three men with red armbands were furious.

"That little girl, who is that little girl?!"

Shen Zhenxing said calmly, "You're asking about that girl just now? She's not from our Xiaodun Brigade. She's a child the commune entrusted to our brigade to raise. Oh, right, the commune even awarded her a certificate, naming her a 'Little Hero for Bravely Fighting Criminals.'"

The three red armbands: "………………"

*What the hell kind of 'Little Hero for Bravely Fighting Criminals' is that?*

They suspected the brigade leader was mocking them as the criminals.

"That girl doesn't get along with Little Shunzi. They often fight. I didn't expect them to start fighting today too," Shen Zhenxing added.

The implication was that the kids were like fighting cocks—they'd clash whenever they met. Adults like us can't control these brats. This has nothing to do with the criticism meeting. Brats fight—do they care about the occasion?

"How about we call it a day today? After all, there's another criticism meeting tomorrow, right?" Before Qian Tao and the other two could speak, Shen Zhenxing waved at the people in front. "Go back and revise your self-criticism reports. Try to make them more sincere. For tonight, you can go home first."

They understood and quickly agreed before running off.

Qian Tao and the other two shot icy glares at the parents who had been fighting.

The parents were terrified by their stares but still protested, "Weren't these kids helping you with your work? They were helping you, and you still hit them. That's just too much. Whose child isn't a precious treasure? If you dare hit our kids again, we... we'll take you on!"

Shen Zhenxing said with a headache, "Enough! What are you still yapping about? You think fighting is something to brag about? You lot, write self-criticism reports too. If you can't write, have your kids write them for you. Hand them in at the brigade office tomorrow! If you don't, work points will be deducted! Now get out of here, quick!"

Qian Tao gritted his teeth and said coldly, "Keep blabbering, and I'll finish you off!"

The parents were still unconvinced, but facing his icy glare, a chill ran down their spines. They exchanged glances, then dragged their brats away.

Meanwhile, Shen Banyue and the others had already returned home.

Wang Guizhi shook her head and said, "You kid, what did I tell you? I give up on trying to control you. You even dared to cause trouble at the Revolutionary Committee's criticism meeting. Tell me, is there anything you wouldn't do?"

Shen Banyue giggled and said, "Grandma Wang, I'm not from Xiaodun Brigade. Besides, I only gave Zhao Jinshun a beating. They started fighting on their own."

Wang Guizhi sighed, "Oh, you're wise beyond your years. Alright, alright, I know. You're not from the brigade, so they can't control you. But you be careful. Those three will be staying in the brigade for a week. Stay out of their way on the road later. Don't let them throw a sack over you and beat you to a pulp."

Those three looked like trouble.

Shen Banyue agreed readily, "Mhm, mhm, I know, I know."

But in her heart, she had a sudden thought, figuring out if she could bag *them* and give them a beating.