Soon, the day for distributing the grain arrived. At the sun-drenched threshing ground in front of the village committee, everyone’s faces were lit up with the joy of harvest. The entire year’s yield was determined by today’s events. Even Xu An, who had been eagerly stockpiling supplies from the mountains, did not go up the mountain today. After breakfast, he had dragged Xu Ning to the threshing ground with sacks, waiting there.

After the siblings brought the grain back home, they headed up the mountain with their baskets again. After several days of picking by the villagers, there was not much left. While picking up firewood and foraging for mountain goods, they continued their work.

When Xu Ning and her brother descended the mountain carrying the mountain goods and firewood, they saw their benefactor uncle and his wife returning with a cart loaded with grain. The two of them called out in unison, “Uncle, Auntie.” The middle-aged man looked around to ensure no one else was present before saying, “Don’t bring things here anymore, and don’t greet us when you see us. It’s not good for you.” With that, he guided the cart back to the cattle shed, while the middle-aged woman smiled at the siblings before following him. Xu Ning and her brother exchanged a glance but said nothing.

The next day, when Xu Ning opened the door, she saw a thin layer of white frost outside. She looked at the cabbages in the field and decided to harvest them all today. With the weather getting colder and snow likely approaching, she needed to act quickly.

Xu Ning moved the two large barrels for pickling sauerkraut ^[1]Sauerkraut is a fermented product made from cabbage – It has a long shelf life and a distinctive sour flavor from the kitchen to the door and washed them clean. She planned to pickle the cabbages after harvesting them. Before her time travel, her family had been from the northern region, where her grandmother pickled sauerkraut every year. Xu Ning had always helped out, so pickling sauerkraut was quite familiar to her.

Hearing the commotion outside, Xu An also got up. Seeing his sister scrubbing the barrels, he went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. He made a pot of millet and sweet potato porridge. By the time Xu Ning finished cleaning and entered the kitchen, the porridge was ready. She ladled out the porridge and also stir-fried some pork crackling with shredded radish.

She thought to herself that having only one pot was inconvenient. Next time she went to the city, she needed to buy a stove and a clay pot. It would be much easier to simmer soups and cook porridge in a clay pot during winter.

After breakfast, the siblings went out to harvest the cabbages. It took them half an hour to finish harvesting the two-thirds of an acre. They set aside the cabbages for pickling, neatly stacking the remaining cabbages under the eaves and covering them with oiled paper. The siblings then began pickling sauerkraut. Xu An removed the old leaves from the cabbages and cleaned them. It took the entire morning for them to pickle the two barrels of sauerkraut. In the afternoon, they continued to go up the mountain to collect firewood and search for mountain goods.

At dinner that evening, Xu Ning said to Xu An, “Xiao An, I’m going to the city tomorrow. Would you like to come with me?” Xu An, seeing that there wasn’t much mountain produce left, agreed to go.

The next day, as soon as they arrived in the county, Xu Ning took Xu An to the supply and marketing cooperative to find Su Hongying. Their baskets were filled with chestnuts and hazelnuts that Xu Ning had brought for Su Hongying.

Upon reaching the cooperative, they saw Su Hongying sitting there, shelling sunflower seeds and chatting with someone. Xu Ning walked in and called out, “Hongying Jie!”

Su Hongying looked up, stood up, and said, “Xiao Ning, you’re here! And this must be your brother.”

Su Hongying had already heard about the siblings from her sister.

Xu An greeted, “Hello, Hongying Jie.”

Su Hongying responded warmly, “Hello, hello, you’re so well-behaved,” and handed him a handful of sunflower seeds.

Turning to the person beside her, Su Hongying said, “Please watch the store for a moment,” and then led the siblings to the back warehouse.

Once they reached the warehouse, Xu Ning put down the basket and said, “Hongying Jie, these are the mountain goods we gathered. Since we came to the city today, we brought some for you.”

Su Hongying replied, “Xiao Ning, you shouldn’t have. I can’t accept these.”

Xu Ning insisted, “It’s all stuff we picked up in the mountains. Just take some and try them.”

The two exchanged a few more polite words, and then Xu Ning asked, “Hongying Jie, do you have stoves for sale at the cooperative?”

Su Hongying replied, “We do have stoves, but you need an industrial coupon.”

Xu Ning said, “I have the industrial coupons with me!” Su Hongying packed up the chestnuts and then took her to see the stoves.

Xu Ning bought a stove and a clay pot at the cooperative. With Su Hongying’s help, she also purchased five hundred pounds of coal. She then went to find Old Chen and gave him fifty cents and a handful of fruit candies, asking him to help transport the items back.

Old Chen brought his bullock cart to Xu Ning’s courtyard and helped the siblings move the stove into the house. Seeing how clean and organized the house was, with a good amount of mountain goods and a full woodpile in the firewood room, he thought to himself that these children were truly living well. Even without adults around, the siblings were managing quite impressively.

In the afternoon, Xu Ning ordered a wooden bath barrel from the village carpenter. It would be used for bathing in summer, and during winter, she could bathe in the barrel indoors. She couldn’t stand the idea of not bathing in winter, so having a bath barrel would allow her to bathe indoors where it was warm and cozy with the heated kang and fire walls. Though it would use up some firewood, it was manageable since they lived close to the mountains and could easily fetch more firewood.

The next noon, the siblings happily descended from the mountain, each carrying a full basket of chestnuts. Xu Ning had also carried two bundles of firewood on her shoulder. They had found a tree that had not yet been picked clean, so the chestnuts had fallen to the ground. They had made two trips home with the chestnuts already and had only finished gathering them now.

As they reached the foot of the Daqing Mountain, they heard loud commotion coming from the nearby youth hostel. When they were about to reach the cattle shed, they saw the village head, Old Chen, and two men and a woman with a child heading in the same direction. Xu Ning recognized them as her original family’s parents and younger brother. Though she wanted to avoid them, there was no way to stop, so she continued walking forward. She held Xu An’s hand, who thought she was just concerned about him stumbling, and held on tightly.

As they walked a few more steps, Xu An’s eyes widened, and he immediately wanted to run over. Xu Ning tightly pulled him back and said sternly, “Don’t speak. We can’t be recognized right now.” She noticed that the man across from them subtly shook his head, so she lowered her own head as well. The woman across from them also lowered her head, holding the child close to her chest to prevent him from looking around.

The village head, seeing them, smiled and said, “Xu Zhiqing, Xiao An has gone up the mountain to collect firewood, hasn’t he?”

Old Chen, standing nearby, added, “The siblings are very capable. You don’t know, I went to deliver a stove to them yesterday. Oh, the amount of firewood they had! I ended up giving my youngest son a good scolding when I got home.”

The village head laughed heartily, and Xu Ning saw the woman across from them let out a quiet sob.

Xu Ning said to Old Chen, “Grandpa Chen, don’t be hard on Hongdang Ge. He’s doing so well in his studies. And Hongjun Ge’s reputation for building houses in our brigade is excellent. If it weren’t for Uncle Village Head’s influence, I wouldn’t have been able to ask Hongjun Ge to build a house for me.”

This made both men smile.

Old Chen opened the door to the cattle shed and called inside, “Seventh Brother, Seventh Brother.” After a moment, Old Grandpa Qi came out and said, “Why are you back so early today? Just lead the cow inside; the shed is cleaned out.”

Outside, Xu Ning asked the village head, “Uncle Village Head, what are these people doing here? They don’t look like they’re from our village.”

The village head sighed and said, “They’ve been assigned here by higher authorities for rural reform.”

At this point, Old Grandpa Qi said, “They want to stay here? There’s only one room available, and it doesn’t have a kang. If they’re to stay here, we’ll need to build a kang.”

The village head frowned and said nothing, thinking to himself that while there was government support for sending youth to build houses in the countryside, there was no support for rural reform. Did the village now have to spend its own money to build a kang for them?

Xu Ning whispered to the village head, “Uncle Village Head, when I went to the city last time, I heard from Uncle Jianshe that a village in the north had people freeze to death in winter, and the village head was dismissed. Why not have Hongjun Uncle come over to build a kang for them? Whatever it costs, we can deduct it from their work points next year.”

Though Xu Ning spoke softly, everyone nearby heard her.

Old Grandpa Qi said to the village head, “Baoguoh, without a kang in winter, it’s really unbearable here, especially with such a young child.”

The village head thought for a moment and said, “Then I’ll have someone bring over the bricks and build the kang tomorrow. The cost will be deducted from your work points.”

Xu Ning’s father nodded and said, “Alright, we’ll follow the village head’s plan.” Old Grandpa Qi then led them inside.

The village head and Old Chen returned to the village.

Xu Ning pulled Xu An toward home. Before they reached their house, Xu An, with tears in his eyes, said quietly, “Sister, it’s Dad, Mom, and Xiao Mo. Dad, Mom, and Xiao Mo are here.”

Xu Ning’s eyes also filled with tears as she replied, “Xiao An, pretend you don’t know them while we’re outside, okay? If others find out, we’ll end up having to live in the cattle shed too, and we won’t be able to take care of Dad, Mom, and Xiao Mo. They’d also be distracted by us. If no one knows, we can secretly bring food to them at night or have them come here.”

Xu An nodded through his tears, saying, “I understand, Sister. I won’t say anything. I won’t talk to Mom and Dad outside.”

The siblings were too upset to cook, so Xu Ning took out the egg cake and made some milk powder. They each had a little to eat.

Xu Ning planned to find an opportunity to send cotton clothing and blankets to her family that evening. The few people who had arrived didn’t wear cotton clothing when they came, and the three people in the cattle shed had shown themselves to be decent and not troublesome, having saved the siblings without concern for the potential complications.

Old Grandpa Qi was also a good person. Sometimes, when passing by the cattle shed, Xu Ning would hear him and the benefactor uncle chatting and laughing. Not long ago, when a child passing by the cattle shed called the benefactor uncle a bad element, Old Grandpa Qi had scolded them, and since then, no one had dared to say anything.

The siblings went up the mountain again in the afternoon to gather more firewood before the snow arrived. During the day, it was difficult to approach the cattle shed because many people were cutting firewood and passing by. With so many people around the youth station, and since they had to fetch water several times a day and do laundry at the well, the siblings had to wait until evening to take action.

Returning earlier than usual, the siblings noticed that, unlike before when they had to make two trips, today they only needed one trip. The sun had not yet set, and they saw several unfamiliar youths washing clothes at the well near the cattle shed. These must be the new arrivals, as the old youths usually came at midday when it was warmer.

At the cattle shed door, the siblings slowed their pace and peeked inside. They saw Xu’s father and the benefactor uncle cleaning cow dung. Xu’s father was wearing an old cotton coat that Xu Ning had seen Old Grandpa Qi wear before. It was likely that Old Grandpa Qi had given it to him when he saw they had no cotton clothing.

Back at home, Xu Ning took out the cotton clothing and pants she had prepared for them and gathered the ragged clothes she had made. She also included a pound of milk powder, a pound of biscuits, and a pound of brown sugar. Since they couldn’t visit during the day, the milk powder and biscuits were for Xiao Mo when he was hungry. Noticing that Xiao Mo still didn’t have cotton shoes, she added some cotton and scraps of fabric used in making the ragged clothes, packing everything together in a bundle.

Hearing Xu An tidying up the chestnuts he had gathered, Xu Ning went to the kitchen to get some meat from the storage. She began making dough and preparing meat filling for dumplings. Xu An, hearing the noise, came into the kitchen and asked, “Sister, are you cooking this early?”

Xu Ning replied, “I’m making dumplings to send to Mom and Dad tonight. Go outside and wash a cabbage and peel a couple of scallions.”

Upon hearing this, Xu An quickly went outside to get the cabbage. By the time they had finished wrapping the dumplings, it was almost dark. Xu Ning checked the time and figured that those who had been gathering firewood on the mountain should have returned to the village by now. With the cold weather, the youths wouldn’t be fetching water in the evening, so she asked Xu An to start the fire while she boiled the dumplings.

Carrying a large bowl of dumplings enough for five or six people, Xu Ning and Xu An, with Xu An carrying the bundle of cotton clothes, quietly made their way to the cattle shed under the moonlight. When they reached the door, Xu An softly called out, “Grandpa Qi, Grandpa Qi, it’s Xiao An.”

Grandpa Qi was about to lock the door when he heard Xu An’s call. He opened the door and saw the siblings standing there—one holding a basin covered with a cloth, and the other with a large bundle. He recognized them as frequent visitors who had brought gifts several times. If they weren’t accepting any more, they would leave the things and run away.

Grandpa Qi said, “Xu Zhiqing, Xiao An, why are you bringing so many things again? Didn’t we say not to send more? Take it back. You two should keep it for yourselves.” He began to close the door.

Xu Ning hurriedly said, “Grandpa Qi, I noticed that the three new arrivals don’t have any cotton clothing. These are clothes we don’t need ourselves. We’re bringing them for them to wear. And these are the dumplings I made tonight. Can we come in?”

Seeing the two siblings and their offerings, Grandpa Qi looked at them and then opened the door wider, saying, “Come in!”

The siblings followed Grandpa Qi into the house. The cattle shed yard was spacious, with the main house consisting of two adobe rooms: one for Grandpa Qi and one used as a kitchen. To the left were three connected adobe rooms where the cattle were tied up, while to the right were two rooms built in recent years. One was for the benefactor uncle and his wife, and the other, with its door open and swept clean, seemed to have been prepared just for tomorrow’s kang installation.

As they reached the door of the room where the cattle were kept, Xu Ning saw her father and the benefactor uncle coming from the backyard, each carrying a bundle of straw. In the moonlight, she couldn’t see their expressions clearly. Xu An took a few steps forward and then stopped. The two men, seeing the siblings, seemed momentarily surprised. Grandpa Qi, standing behind them, said, “Come inside. It’s cold out here,” and led them to the kitchen while Xu’s father and the benefactor uncle placed the evening feed for the cattle into the cattle room.