Chapter 11

The next day, as dawn broke, Jiang Jiang woke up. After years of habit, she did not linger in bed and climbed directly off the kang.

She sat on the bed for a while, rubbing her eyes. Quickly, she became fully awake and turned to He Guijuan, opening her mouth to softly call, “Mom.”

Then, she called out in Lin Youqing’s direction, “Dad.”

She had parents now, and this feeling was both novel and blissful, like walking on clouds—light and floaty.

With careful movements, she got dressed and stepped outside. By the well in the courtyard, she washed up a bit. In the kitchen, Zhang Yueju was already preparing breakfast for the whole family. In the backyard, a sturdy, dark-haired girl was feeding the pigs with a bucket of pig food.

The pig looked like it had been raised for some time now, starting to gain weight, its fur shining and slick. The bucket mainly contained scraps from washing pots and dishes, chopped pig grass, and some old sweet potato slices.

Jiang Jiang paused for a moment before she remembered who it was and called out softly, “Sister Fengzhen.”

Fengzhen, with a blank expression, froze for a moment before nodding, her face turning red as she stammered, “Little sister Jiang Jiang.”

After feeding the pig, Fengzhen cleaned out the food bucket, picked up a large wooden basin filled with clothes, and prepared to wash them.

“Sister Fengzhen, I’ll help you.”

“No need, I can wash it myself,” Fengzhen replied with a bit of hesitation.

Jiang Jiang was younger than her own little sister, Fengyin, who never did any work.

How could she let someone younger than her help wash clothes?

“I’m strong; I won’t leave anything dirty. I often wash my own clothes.” Jiang Jiang insisted.

“Then come wash with me.” Fengzhen finally agreed.

The two of them carried the large wooden basin out of the house. A river, five meters wide, ran through Dongxi Village.

The water was bone-chillingly cold in the winter mornings, and winter clothes were thick and heavy.

Only three or five village women were washing clothes and chatting about home life. However, the two girls were used to it, quickly finding a quiet spot to start washing.

With Jiang Jiang’s help, Fengzhen finally managed to wash all the family’s clothes before it was fully light out.

When He Guijuan got up, she saw Jiang Jiang and Fengzhen tossing the heavy clothes onto a bamboo pole for drying, and the courtyard was already filled with garments hanging out to air.

“Jiang Jiang.”

Jiang Jiang responded and jogged over to He Guijuan.

On this cold winter morning, the girls had worked up quite a sweat.

He Guijuan wiped the sweat off her daughter’s forehead. “I’ve heated some water in the house. Go wash up quickly; breakfast is ready.”

Fengzhen cast an envious glance before heading to the kitchen to fetch hot water.

Her parents were still waiting for her to bring water back for them to wash up.

—o—o—o—

Breakfast consisted of pumpkin porridge, white flour steamed buns, pickled radish, and vinegar stir-fried cabbage.

Jiang Jiang sat next to her parents, not proactively serving herself. He Guijuan gave her whatever was available, and she ate it.

In the north, the staple foods were mostly made from wheat, such as steamed buns and noodles. Among these, white flour products were the most palatable and nutritious, followed by cornmeal, with black sorghum flour being the least desirable.

In the Lin family, the main foods were either white flour buns or cornmeal buns, and both adults and children could eat until they were full. This was quite rare in the village.

After breakfast, He Guijuan returned to the room and took out the set of clothes for a small doll she had bought at the county department store before returning to the village.

The fabric of the doll’s clothes was pure cotton and felt soft to the touch. She also had a few apples and a red envelope with New Year’s money for the child, all packed in a basket as she headed out with Jiang Jiang.

As the mother and daughter stepped outside, Grandma Lin was in the courtyard, shucking corn.

Jiang Jiang called out, “Grandma,” but Grandma Lin frowned and didn’t respond. Seeing their retreating figures, she couldn’t help but spit on the ground.

“Pah! Two bringers of bad luck!”

One was a hen that didn’t lay eggs, and the other was a broom star that caused the death of her own parents.

How could she have been so blind to agree to her son marrying this woman?

After spitting, Grandma Lin felt a bit relieved, but just as she was about to sit down, a sharp pain shot through her lower back, likely from overexerting herself. Her face turned pained. “Oh, my old back…”

—o—o—o—

After walking for a while and crossing a ditch, they arrived at the home of Wang Shuwen, a high school classmate.

Wang Shuwen’s family was relatively well-off in Dongxi Village; her husband, Shi Qianjin, worked at the county department store, and she herself was a public school teacher in the village.

Her in-laws had passed away years ago, and she had split off from her two older brothers-in-law, living a life that was quite comfortable.

With her youngest son reaching his one-month milestone, Wang Shuwen’s husband had taken leave a couple of days earlier and was currently welcoming some relatives from her side of the family.

Although holding a full month celebration was no longer customaryon, gathering the family for a hearty meal was still acceptable.

“Doctor He, I knew you would come! Please, come in and have some tea…” Shi Qianjin spotted He Guijuan and her daughter from a distance and warmly approached them.

Wang Shuwen was a woman in her thirties with short, neat hair, exuding a sense of capability. She and He Guijuan were high school classmates, though Wang Shuwen had not continued her education after graduating; she returned to the village and got married. Perhaps due to her high school education, Wang Shuwen found it hard to relate to the other villagers. Later, when He Guijuan married Lin Youqing from their village, although they didn’t live in Dongxi Village, they would come back for festivals and holidays, allowing the two to catch up and chat.