Chapter 64

Chapter 64

Three years had passed, and the children had grown into strapping young lads.

Thankfully, Shen Banyue had finally filled out into a proper thirteen-year-old girl, no longer the thin, scrawny little string bean. Her skin had cleared up, her features had matured, and her eyes were lively and bright. With her hair tied in a ponytail and her sleeves rolled up, she looked like a sharp, lively, all-American girl.

Lin Mian had also grown taller, now just a bit taller than Shen Banyue, though compared to Zhao Xuehai and Shen Wendong, who were sprouting up like weeds, he was still a "short stack." As his features had matured, his handsome, clear brows and eyes became even more prominent, truly living up to the phrase "picture-perfect features."

In his childhood, he was quiet and always had a poker face, giving off an air of "back off." In recent years, he had become more talkative, but it seemed to have overcorrected, heading toward a development that made Zhao Xuehai the primary "victim," often left questioning his own existence after getting roasted by Lin Mian.

"Alright, alright, I'll head off first. I'll find you guys by the tree later," Zhao Xuehai said, immediately giving up on persuading them as soon as he saw Lin Mian return. He waved at Shen Banyue and bolted, afraid Lin Mian might lay into him even worse.

Lin Mian lugged the bucket of water into the kitchen, poured it out, and came back to help Shen Banyue hang the laundry. After they finished, they went into the kitchen together to cook dinner.

"Let's just cook some noodles for dinner, and each of us can have half of the leftover flatbread from lunch."

Shen Banyue chopped vegetables swiftly, while Lin Mian took a bundle of dried noodles from the cupboard and asked, "Should we add eggs?"

"Of course! Eat more to grow taller! Classmate Lin Mian, rest assured, your big sis will make sure you grow into a tall guy, taller than Zhao Xuehai and Shen Wendong!" Shen Banyue said without turning around.

Lin Mian quirked a smile and took two more eggs from the cupboard.

By the time Wang Guizhi and Shen Dechang returned from work, dinner was already ready.

Lin Mian hauled out a thermos of hot water from the kitchen and poured it into the enamel basin where the old couple had cold water. Wang Guizhi wrung out a towel from the water and said with a smile, "Cold water would have been fine too. It's not like we're that delicate."

Lin Mian glanced up at her and said, "You won't let us go to work in the fields, so is boiling hot water gonna kill us?"

Wang Guizhi chuckled. "Oh, you were so sweet when you first got here—quiet and agreeable, doing whatever we said. How'd you get so annoying these past two years?"

A hint of amusement flickered in Lin Mian's eyes as he deliberately said, "Yep, that's me. Too late for regrets now."

Wang Guizhi wiped her face with the steaming towel, let out a contented sigh, and said, "Mm-hmm, I regret it so much I lose sleep over it. I really miss that sweet little Lin Mian."

As the grandma and grandson shot the breeze, Shen Dechang also wiped his face with a hot towel, his brows relaxing in comfort as he reminded them, "Let's eat quickly, or we won't get good seats later."

Zhou Yaoyao still worked at the commune health clinic, usually only returning to Xiaodun Village on weekends or days off. Every year when the commune screened movies, she was responsible for hauling stools to save seats. Sometimes the clinic was busy, and she couldn't always secure spots in the front few rows. Finding seats further back could be a pain.

Shen Banyue had already laid out the bowls and chopsticks on the table. Each person had a bowl of noodles with half an egg nestled on top, and a plate in the middle held two flatbreads cut into four pieces.

On a normal day, they wouldn't eat this much for dinner—the four of them sharing one flatbread would be enough. But tonight, they were going to watch a movie, which meant walking a long way back and forth and returning late, so they needed to eat a bit more.

Wang Guizhi and Shen Dechang had long stopped trying to save the good food for the children. If they did, the kids would have a whole spiel ready, like "Children need nutrition, but the elderly need it even more," or "You're the ones working in the fields, and you want us, who just play around all day, to eat the good stuff? Does that make sense?" It was all crooked logic, and you couldn't argue with 'em.

So now, the old couple just ate without a peep of complaint.

One extra word, and these two kids might start insisting on heading to the fields again.

How could that be allowed? At twelve or thirteen, doing too much farm work might mess up their growth. Besides, everyone in the surrounding villages said their two kids were good-looking and well-brought-up. The old couple got a kick out of seeing them every day and couldn't bear to let them get all sunburned from working.

After dinner, Lin Mian cleared the dishes and did the washing up, while Shen Banyue went inside and came out with a satchel stuffed with some biscuits and candies.

The family bundled up warm, locked the doors and windows, and headed out.

Halfway there, they ran into Shen Wendong's family. Shen Wendong had shot up this year, now nearly a head taller than his mother. After greeting Wang Guizhi and Shen Dechang, he took his younger brother, Shen Wenkai, and walked over to Shen Banyue and the others.

Shen Wenkai, now a lower-grade kid in elementary school, lit up when he saw Shen Banyue and shouted loudly, "Sister Yue!" Three years on, Shen Banyue's status among the mischievous kids of Xiaodun Village had only risen, especially among the younger ones, who practically saw her as their life idol.

He Yingyu walked ahead with the old couple and, hearing this, couldn't help but laugh and sigh, "What a generational mess!"

By seniority, Shen Banyue and Lin Mian should call little Shen Wenkai "uncle."

Wang Guizhi chuckled. "Let each generation do their own thing. It's no big deal."

Shen Banyue pulled two milk candies from her bag and handed them to Shen Wenkai, who immediately grinned ear to ear. "Sister Yue is the best!"

Shen Wendong tugged at his hair. "I'll give all my pocket candies to Zhao Yingzi later."

Shen Wenkai immediately looked up at his older brother with a brown-nosing smile. "Brother, you and Sister Yue are both the best, equally the best." The kid had inherited his father's quick wit, a master of going with the wind. Shen Wendong gave him a side-eye and said nothing.

As they walked out of the village entrance, they encountered not only other commune folks but also two groups of educated youth.

The four educated youths who had arrived three years ago were now considered old-timers. The initial greenness had faded from their faces, replaced by a touch of weariness. But they still greeted Shen Banyue warmly, as over the past three years, she had indeed helped them a few times. The four of them deeply felt that sucking up to the "kid sister" had been a wise move.

When these four first arrived at Xiaodun Village, they were quite shocked and had since dared not cause any trouble. They worked diligently and lived honestly, getting along well with the older educated youths, and they walked together to the movie screening.

The other group of five educated youths had arrived over the past two years. They were mediocre workers but full of complaints. Every time the busy farming season came, they would line up with colds, heatstroke, or illnesses. The barefoot doctor from the neighboring village would come and find nothing wrong except a bit of weakness—pure excuses to avoid labor.

If you scolded them, they'd just stonewall you. If you punished them, they couldn't even handle their assigned tasks, so how could you expect them to do harder work? You'd just end up calling the barefoot doctor over and over!

Shen Zhenxing found these five a real headache, so he simply assigned them their own plot of land each time and let them do whatever they wanted.

These five walked a bit slower than the veteran educated youths but not by much. When they heard the veterans greeting Shen Banyue, two of them rolled their eyes so hard they almost got stuck.

"Isn't she just a kid rescued from a human trafficker's den? Calling her a 'Great Hero'—what a joke."

"I don't know what's wrong with those old-timers, always kissing up to some kid."

Zhang Ying and Xu Zilei, two educated youths who had arrived this spring, muttered to each other.

Though they were some distance away, Shen Banyue's sharp ears caught every word. She turned and glanced at them.

Xu Zilei happened to look up in their direction and met Shen Banyue's gaze. His heart skipped a beat. "That little girl is looking at us. You don't think she heard, do you?"

Zhang Ying looked up, but Shen Banyue had already looked away. "How is that possible? We're so far away. Does she have super hearing or something?"

Xu Zilei thought for a moment. "Maybe it was a coincidence. But that girl is really something special. The way she looks at you feels like she can see right through you."

By the time the group reached Yunling Middle School, it was already dark.

The old couple and He Yingyu went ahead to find the people saving seats.

Shen Zhenhua and Shen Wenyi had been at work today. After clocking out, one went to get food, and the other came to save seats. They had secured spots quite far forward, so He Yingyu found them quickly. Zhou Yaoyao's seats were a bit further back, but her brother, Zhou Siyuan, had sharp eyes and a loud voice. When he spotted Wang Guizhi and the others, he stood up and shouted, instantly drawing everyone's attention. The old couple, caught between laughter and exasperation, squeezed through the crowd under the spotlight.

"Isn't that Nurse Zhou from the health clinic? I heard her husband works at the county machinery factory. They've been married for years with no kids. I heard her husband's brother couldn't have children either and ended up adopting one. Do you think her husband might be the same?"

"I heard her husband's family adopted three kids. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Maybe they saw this coming? Oh my, tell me, what use is a man who can't even father a child?"

"Hey, do you think a man who can't have kids might not be up to much in other areas too?"

...

As luck would have it, Shen Banyue and the others happened to be walking right behind these women. They didn't need exceptional hearing to catch every word clearly.

Shen Banyue was utterly speechless. Before time-traveling, she thought people of this era were reserved and conservative. After arriving, she realized there was a reason families often had ten or eight kids. Middle-aged women could get so raunchy in their gossip that they sometimes forgot there were kids around.

Shen Wendong and Lin Mian, both half-grown boys, turned as red as persimmons. Fortunately, it was dark, so no one could see their faces clearly.

Shen Wenkai, who insisted on following Shen Wendong, looked up at his older brother and asked curiously, "Brother, is the Nurse Zhou they’re talking about Sister-in-law Yao Yao..."

Shen Wendong clamped his hand over his younger brother’s mouth.

Shen Wenkai struggled with a series of muffled grunts, but no one could make out what he was saying.

Those women were completely oblivious, even going further with their gossip, speculating whether Zhou Yaoyao felt lonely and bored all by herself at the commune. They didn’t say it outright, but the implication was clear.

Shen Banyue frowned, flicked her foot, and kicked a small pebble at the leg of the woman who was talking the most. The woman, mid-sentence, let out an "Ouch!" and stumbled forward, landing face-first in the dirt.

Lin Mian glanced at Shen Banyue, leaned over to whisper a few words in Shen Wenkai’s ear, then signaled Shen Wendong to let go.

As soon as Shen Wendong released him, Shen Wenkai burst out laughing, clapping his hands and shouting, "Gossip, gossip, lose your teeth, trip and fall, face in the street! Loose lips, regret, teeth all gone, that's the song!"

Some of the passersby had heard what the women were saying, others hadn’t. Regardless, everyone was amused by the impromptu, clumsy rhyme. Someone even called out, "Well said! Those gossips who yap all day are so annoying."

The woman scrambled to her feet and turned to find the kids to blame, but then she saw a young man walking over, patting the head of the little boy who was still clapping. Clearly, they knew each other.

She could bully kids without adults around, but not ones with a young man. Besides, with so many children, who knew how many adults were nearby?

As for the person cheering in the crowd, she had no idea who it was and dared not pick a fight.

The woman stormed off with a dark face, and her companions exchanged glances, too scared to keep gossiping.

Shen Wenkai found it amusing. Even after the women were far away, he kept repeating like a broken record, "Gossip, gossip, lose your teeth!" Shen Wenyi, who had been patting his head, switched to covering his mouth. "Oh, my little rascal, we’ve chased off the bad guys. Can you please calm down?"

After getting "silenced" by both his brother and cousin, Shen Wenkai finally settled down.

Shen Wenyi sighed and said to Shen Banyue, "Look, your uncle and I are in the same boat. He gets talked about even after getting married, and I get talked about for not having a girlfriend."

Shen Banyue looked at him speechlessly and reiterated for the umpteenth time, "I’m still a kid."

Shen Wenyi retorted without hesitation, "You’re no ordinary kid. Double your age, and you’d be two years older than me."

Shen Banyue: "………………"

How can this guy talk such nonsense?

But thinking about his rocky love life over the past two years, she decided to be generous and forgive him.

After Fu Yue got a boyfriend, Shen Wenyi became somewhat disheartened. Over a year later, when Fu Yue was already married, he started looking for a girlfriend.

Perhaps it was because he spent too much time with Shen Guoqing, catching his bad luck with women. Every time he met someone, things started well, but after two or three dates, problems would arise. The craziest time was when he thought he was dating the younger sister—after watching a movie and having a meal with her—but when it came time to discuss marriage, it turned out to be the older one!

The younger sister was pretty and already married, while the older sister was unattractive and had high standards, remaining single all along.

Even more ridiculous, her family wanted him to just go along with it, offering no bride price and even throwing in a dowry of a hundred yuan. This scared Shen Wenyi so much that he started going to work with his uncle every day, afraid the family would drag him off and force a marriage.

Auntie Liu had finally gotten her reputation back after great effort by helping Shen Aizhen find a partner, but Shen Wenyi dealt it another devastating blow. It was said that Auntie Liu had become somewhat obsessed, scouring every village near and far, and was even preparing to look for a match for him in other communes or the county town.

She wasn’t even this into finding a guy for her own daughter, Zhao Yingzi.

Shen Aizhen and Zhao Yingzi, two odd girls, got married one after the other.

Shen Aizhen was the first to marry. Her family’s many demands fell apart when Old Hu got sick. That old man hadn’t called Shen Aihua to work just to use him for free labor—after all, Shen Aihua was honest, not stupid. If Old Hu had been perfectly healthy, Shen Aihua wouldn’t have stayed at the Hu household for so long. He was genuinely sick, bedridden for months.

Later, as his health improved, the bad side of him came back out. He personally went to Xiaodun Brigade to trick Shen Aizhen into coming to his brigade. Shen Aizhen, foolish with her parents but not with her grandfather, made an excuse and ran straight to the brigade office to tattle on him to Shen Zhenxing.

Although Shen Zhenxing drove Old Hu away, Shen Aizhen, fearing he might return, dropped most of her earlier demands and hastily married a widower, a cadre from the commune compound.

After marriage, Shen Aizhen often rode her bicycle, wearing a polyester shirt, back to Xiaodun to show off. This apparently got to Zhao Yingzi, who quickly found a widower in the county—a minor leader in the textile factory—one-upping Shen Aizhen. But her mother, Auntie Liu, was so mad she nearly spat blood.

Shen Zhenxing was also furious enough to spit blood. Xiaodun Brigade had a good reputation in the commune, especially after winning several awards in recent years. Yet these girls kept marrying widowers, making the other brigades laugh at them.

Just as Shen Banyue thought of Shen Aizhen, she spotted her in the crowd. Shen Aizhen was holding a four- or five-year-old child, pushing through the crowd. Suddenly, the child slapped her across the face. She slapped back, and the child burst into tears.

"..."

That's a pretty unique way of parenting.

The group made their way through the crowd toward the row of trees in the back. The best spots were already taken, but a few nearby trees were still empty.

Shen Wendong climbed up first, settling on a branch, then had Shen Wenyi lift Shen Wenkai up to him. After finally getting the boy settled on the branch, the little brat complained, "Brother, you’re not that great. Sister Yue always grabs Xiao Dizi and swings up the tree in one go. Look at you—you couldn’t even get me up without help."

Shen Wendong felt like throwing the little brat down.

Shen Banyue jumped onto another tree, and Lin Mian climbed onto a nearby branch. Shen Wenyi looked around helplessly and climbed up the tree with the two brothers, afraid Shen Wendong couldn't handle Shen Wenkai by himself.

Soon, Zhao Xuehai showed up and climbed straight up Shen Banyue's tree.

Shen Wenkai called out to him, "Brother Xuehai, where’s Yingzi?" Zhao Qingying, his classmate and deskmate, was his age.

Zhao Xuehai laughed heartily. "I told her I was going to the bathroom, so she didn’t follow." Who wants to drag a little kid along? Well, Shen Wendong, that fool, did.

Shen Wenkai let out a deep sigh. "Xiao Dizi isn’t here, and Yingzi isn’t either. This movie's so boring!"

Shen Wendong asked, "Should I take you back to Mom and Dad?"

Shen Wenkai shut up right away.

The movie started soon after. Today’s feature was the model opera *Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy*, which had been released in 1970. The commune had shown it before, but the commune members didn't care. As long as there was a movie, even the same one every day, they’d still enjoy it.

Zhao Xuehai shared some sunflower seeds with Shen Banyue and Lin Mian. On the other side, Shen Wenyi had also brought seeds for his two younger brothers. They cracked seeds and watched the movie, totally relaxed.

After about ten minutes, Zhao Xuehai, who couldn’t sit still, started fidgeting. At one point, he pointed at a man in a blue "74-style" public security uniform with a peaked cap at the edge of the field and said, "That must be the new Public Security Commissioner. That peaked cap looks so cool!"

Dai Xianghua used to wear the "66-style" grass-green uniform with a liberation cap, switching to the peaked cap only after the "72-style" was introduced.

Over the years, Dai Xianghua had been temporarily transferred to the County Public Security Bureau several times, finally officially joining in May of last year. His replacement as commissioner was Cao Guilin, promoted from a militia captain in a lower brigade.

He'd actually been working there for over a year, but since Dai Xianghua left, they rarely went to the commune, so it felt like he was still new.

Just then, Commissioner Cao walked toward them. He first told someone in the middle tree to be careful, then approached Shen Banyue’s group.

When he saw the kids, especially Shen Wenkai, he seemed momentarily taken aback, then smiled warmly and said, "You kids must be careful, especially this little classmate. An adult needs to keep a close eye on him. I’ll be patrolling nearby. If anything happens, call out loudly."

The kids responded in a chorus. Cao Guilin nodded and looked up at Shen Banyue.

Sensing his gaze, Shen Banyue looked down puzzled. "Commissioner Cao, is there anything else?"

Cao Guilin smiled and shook his head. "No need to be so formal. Comrade Dai Xianghua told me about you. Just call me Uncle Cao. Feel free to come to the commune anytime if you need anything."

Shen Banyue smiled and thanked him. Cao Guilin waved and walked away.

After another half hour, Zhao Xuehai, unable to sit still any longer, jumped down from the branch. "I’m going to the bathroom. Anyone else?"

Shen Banyue patted her stomach. She’d had noodle soup for dinner and felt the need too, so she jumped down. "I’ll go too."

Lin Mian also jumped down. "Let’s go together."

The three brothers from the other tree said they all didn’t want to go.

Zhao Xuehai, already a middle school student, was familiar with the school’s layout. He waved his hand and said, “Come on, I’ll take you guys to the restroom.”

Lin Mian said dryly, “The way you’re acting, anyone would think you’re taking us to the capital.”

Zhao Xuehai puffed out his chest and replied, “Don’t worry, there’ll be a chance someday.”

Lin Mian shot back, “Wind’s pretty strong—you didn’t bite your tongue?”

Shen Banyue was cracking up next to them.

Just as they were nearing the restroom, a sudden scream rang out ahead: “Ahhh, thief! Pervert!” The three of them took off running.