Chapter 29

When Ling Yao brought Ruan Xi home, Zhou Xueyun was wearing an apron and cooking at the stove. Ling Zhiyuan had also returned and was sitting behind the stove, tending the fire. Both greeted Ruan Xi with smiles and asked Ling Yao to take her out to play for a while.

Ruan Xi could feel that the atmosphere in the Ling family was genuinely good today.

Ling Zhiyuan and Zhou Xueyun were both in a rare, relaxed state. They treated her warmly and politely and spoke with great enthusiasm, especially Zhou Xueyun, who seemed like a different person compared to when Ruan Xi first woke up.

Since they weren’t very familiar, Ling Yao took her outside after greeting them, fearing she might feel uncomfortable staying with Ling Zhiyuan and Zhou Xueyun. They walked around the stilt house and then sat on a stone in the breeze to rest and chat.

Ling Yao was also very relaxed, feeling that even the mountain breeze was sweet today. He looked at Ruan Xi and smiled, “I’ve been here for so long, and this is the first time I’ve felt such warmth from the villagers.”

Earlier, when he went to find Ruan Xi, he met some familiar adults on the road. They smiled and greeted him warmly, calling his name and asking where he was going, something that had never happened before.

Ruan Xi looked at him, the evening breeze lifting the strands of hair by her temples, and smiled, “People are like that. If you’re distant with me, I’ll be distant with you. If you’re kind to me, I’ll be kind to you. True heart for a true heart.”

Country folks, though rough, are sincere, and many are warm-hearted.

Of course, the sudden respect and warmth towards Zhou Xueyun and Ling Yao weren’t just because Zhou Xueyun had kindly saved Xiao Yan. Another important reason was that the nearby villages had never had even a barefoot doctor.

If Ruan Xi’s prediction was correct, many people would come to the stilt house in the future to seek Zhou Xueyun’s help.

Illness is hard to endure, and if someone can treat it, who would want to suffer? Especially when children fall ill, parents are even more anxious.

Ruan Xi and Ling Yao were sitting on the stone, chatting in the evening breeze, when they heard Zhou Xueyun calling them for dinner. They got up and headed towards the stilt house. Before they even reached the wooden stairs, they could smell the aroma of meat.

Ling Yao, who hadn’t eaten meat for over half a year, couldn’t help but swallow silently.

Ruan Xi saw this but didn’t laugh at him. In these times, who wouldn’t crave a bite of meat?

Ruan Xi followed Ling Yao into the house and sat at the table, where the dishes and chopsticks were already set. She picked up her chopsticks and smiled at Zhou Xueyun, saying, “Thank you, Auntie.”

Zhou Xueyun’s first move was to place a piece of chicken leg in Ruan Xi’s bowl, urging her, “Don’t be shy, eat up.”

Ruan Xi felt embarrassed but happily accepted the chicken leg to avoid making Zhou Xueyun feel awkward. Not only did she accept it happily, but she also ate it with great joy.

As they ate, Zhou Xueyun said, “Thank you for taking care of Yao Yao these past few days.”

Ruan Xi quickly responded, “Auntie, I haven’t been taking care of him. If anything, I’ve been troubling him.”

Every afternoon, she and Ruan Jie would go to Ling Yao to study their textbooks, often spending half the day learning. Ling Yao had spent a lot of time and patience on them, so it wasn’t her taking care of him at all.

Zhou Xueyun didn’t know about these things, but she could tell that Ling Yao had changed since he became friends with Ruan Xi. He was noticeably more cheerful and happy, no longer as sullen and withdrawn as before.

Moreover, today, Ruan Xi has helped her breakthrough four years of repression, allowing her to feel the kindness and sincerity between people once again. The warmth and respect she received from the production team members that day significantly impacted her mindset. She even began to reflect on whether she had been overly sensitive and cautious all these years. So she said, “Anyway, thank you.”

Ruan Xi thought for a moment and smiled, “Alright, I’ll accept it then.”

Zhou Xueyun smiled in relief, picked up the serving chopsticks, and gave her another piece of chicken leg.

A few words brought them closer, and the atmosphere at the table became relaxed and comfortable.

After finishing the chicken neck, Ling Yao took a bite of rice and asked Zhou Xueyun, “Mom, I want to go to the production team tomorrow to help harvest the rice, pick up rice ears with Xi Xi and the others, and then cut pig grass to feed the pigs. Is that okay?”

Previously, Zhou Xueyun didn’t let him mingle with people and only allowed him to herd pigs. Now, with a change in mindset, she nodded and said, “From now on, do whatever you want. You don’t need to ask me for everything. Just be mindful of your actions and don’t do anything bad.”

Hearing this, Ruan Xi added, “He definitely won’t. Zai Zai is very well-behaved.”

Zhou Xueyun laughed, finding the children’s interactions amusing, and asked, “You call him Zai Zai?”

Ruan Xi nodded, “I’m a year older than him, so he calls me sister.”

Ling Yao immediately responded, “I don’t call her sister. I call her Xi Xi.”

Zhou Xueyun glanced at him and smiled, “What? Calling her sister is too much for you?”

Ling Yao lowered his head and continued eating, not responding.

Seeing this, Zhou Xueyun didn’t press further and changed the topic, chatting with Ruan Xi about other light and casual subjects only to keep the conversation pleasant.

After dinner, it was already dark outside. Zhou Xueyun didn’t keep Ruan Xi for long and asked Ling Zhiyuan to walk her home.

Ling Yao quickly interjected, “Let Dad rest. I can take her home.”

Zhou Xueyun thought for a moment and agreed, letting him go.

Ling Yao and Ruan Xi walked side by side, their moods as bright as the moonlight.

Talking with Ruan Xi, Ling Yao thought to himself—being stuck here doesn’t seem so bad after all. He watched Ruan Xi enter her house before heading back. On the way, he ran, letting the night breeze fill his collar, feeling as if he could fly.

The crescent moon hung in the sky, silver light scattered, and the stones underfoot seemed to sing.

The next morning, Ling Yao woke up more energetic than ever. He, Ling Zhiyuan, and Zhou Xueyun fed the pigs and chickens, cooked and ate breakfast, then took their sickles and straw hats to the terraced fields to join the production team, listening to the team leader’s instructions to start a new day of rice harvesting. In the fields, he saw Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie and went to join them with his sickle.

They spent the morning helping the production team harvest rice, and in the afternoon, they went to the mountains to cut wild vegetables. Then, they looked for fields that had just been harvested and rushed to pick up the leftover rice ears before others.

While picking up rice ears, they saw Gao Haiyang and his group standing on the ridge, shouting at Ling Yao—

“Hey! Idiot! Don’t you know if you’re a boy or a girl?”

“Why do you always play with girls? Don’t you know you’re a boy?”

“Look at him, he looks like a girl, he must think he’s a girl.”

“Hahaha…”

Ruan Xi picked up a clump of mud from the ground and threw it at them, shouting, “You idiots! Get lost!”

Since they had been warned by Ruan Changsheng, Gao Haiyang and his group didn’t dare to do anything more than taunt. Seeing Ruan Xi getting angry and about to rush at them, they made faces, turned around, patted their butts, and ran away.

Ruan Xi threw the mud clump hard and shouted, “So annoying!”

She added, “If you come back to bother us, I’ll get my fifth uncle to deal with you!”

Ruan Jie, standing nearby, commented, “They are really boring.”

Ruan Xi, calming down, said, “Ignore those idiots. Let’s just take care of ourselves.”

Ling Yao didn’t care about Gao Haiyang and his group’s teasing and nodded to Ruan Xi, “Yes.”

So the three of them continued picking up rice ears, chatting and playing around.

After the busy farming season, the vegetation and other crops on the mountains slowly turned yellow, orange, and red, creating a colorful fairy-tale world that looked like an oil painting. The rice was harvested, threshed, and dried, and it was time to distribute the grain.

After the production teams finished distributing the grain, Ruan Zhigao set a time and asked the village cadres to inform everyone that there would be a commendation meeting in the courtyard of the village committee to praise and reward the village’s good deeds and exemplary representatives.

On the day of the meeting, the women’s director and a few women got busy early in the morning. There wasn’t much to do, just setting up a few tables and benches to make it look official.

After the busy farming season, Ruan Xi returned to her routine of learning the craft. She spent most of her day at the old tailor’s house, part of the day studying with Ling Yao and Ruan Jie on the hillside, and the rest of the time at home.

Since there was a commendation meeting in the village that afternoon, she returned home after having lunch at the old tailor’s house. She found the house lively when she arrived home because her Fourth Aunt, Ruan Cuilan, had come with her husband and two children.

The family had already finished lunch, and Ruan Xi greeted them with a smile, “Fourth Aunt, Fourth Uncle.”

Seeing her, Ruan Cuilan said to her husband, “Look at that! Aren’t our two nieces all grown up now? Look at the girls in our Ruan family, each one prettier than the last.”

Fourth Uncle smiled and said, “You talk as if I haven’t been here in ages.”

Hadn’t they just visited during the Dragon Boat Festival?

Ruan Xi smiled and found a stool to sit next to Ruan Jie, listening quietly to the elders’ conversation.

In the west room of the main house, Sun Xiaohui, with a serious expression, sat on the edge of the bed, threading a needle. She spoke to Ruan Changgui, who was lying against the headboard, “Are you going to the commendation meeting this afternoon?”

Ruan Changgui decisively said, “No, I’d rather stay home and sleep.”

Because of the commendation meeting, Ruan Zhigao had given all the villagers a half-day off.

Sun Xiaohui moistened the thread with her mouth and continued threading the needle, “Then I won’t go either. It’s not like it concerns our family. It’s mainly to praise Zhou Xueyun for saving someone. Is it really worth it?”

Ruan Changgui glanced at her, “Saving someone’s life is a big deal. How is it not worth it?”

Sun Xiaohui snorted, “They’re holding a commendation meeting to praise this and reward that, but they falsely accused our Yuehua of pushing Xiao Yan, saying he wanted to harm her, and smashed our pots and bowls. I don’t think it’s worth it.”

Thinking about the losses their family suffered because of this, Ruan Changgui remained silent.

The pots and bowls were provided by Ruan Zhigao when the family split. The broken pot needed to be replaced, and the shattered bowls couldn’t be repaired, so they had to buy new ones from the supply and marketing cooperative. Since they didn’t have much money, they had to offset a lot of work points with the production team.

Offsetting work points was equivalent to borrowing money, and at the end of the year, these work points would be deducted during settlement.

After the family split, life became quite difficult, with debts everywhere. Previously, they owed eggs for Ruan Yuejin’s craft apprenticeship, and now they owed money for Ruan Yuehua.

After a while, Ruan Changgui said, “If I had known, I wouldn’t have listened to you and split the family.”

If they hadn’t split the family, at least they wouldn’t have to worry about money in such unexpected situations.

Liu Xinghua had saved up the money and tickets sent by the eldest son, Ruan Changfu, for half a year. The tickets could be exchanged for money on the black market, and there were always people willing to buy them. She hadn’t eaten the vegetables and eggs from the house for the past six months and instead exchanged them for money, so she wasn’t short of cash.

Previously, the family had a good life because most of the money and tickets sent by Ruan Changfu were spent on the household. They had enough oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, and most of the vegetables and eggs from their chickens were kept for themselves, with the surplus exchanged for money. They could even afford to eat meat occasionally, and Liu Xinghua was generous, making him and Sun Xiaohui happy. But now, he and Sun Xiaohui ate most of the fruits and vegetables themselves, and the surplus was exchanged for a little money, which wasn’t enough to buy lamp oil and matches, let alone save. When something happened, they either offset work points or borrowed money.

Although Liu Xinghua was saving money for Ruan Changsheng’s marriage, she would still help the family in emergencies, such as Ruan Xi learning a craft. Ruan Zhigao and Ruan Changsheng would also support him in times of need.

Previously, they had split the family because of Liu Xinghua’s savings, not wanting to share the burden of Ruan Changsheng’s marriage. Now, with no pots and bowls to eat from, they couldn’t expect Liu Xinghua to give them money.

After all, when the family split, they received their share of food and items, and Liu Xinghua even spent money to help them get everything they needed, including building a stove, buying pots and bowls, and making tables and benches, without giving them any reason to complain.

Now, not only would they not get any money, but Ruan Zhigao and Ruan Changsheng, who were once his father and brother, wouldn’t even acknowledge him. They treated him worse than an outsider, as they would still be polite and helpful to strangers. Now he’s all alone, having to bear everything himself, and it’s really exhausting.

Life would be fine if it were good, but it’s clearly worsening, and he feels stifled.

Sun Xiaohui knew that life had been tough lately, but since she insisted on splitting the family, she didn’t want to say anything discouraging. She just said, “Why rush? Just wait a bit longer. Once Yuejin starts earning money, things will get better.”

Ruan Changgui replied, “He’s been learning for so long, and I haven’t seen him bring back a single penny. Didn’t he damage the old tailor’s things before and had to compensate with a lot of fruits and vegetables? How is he doing? Can he make it?”

Sun Xiaohui said, “Oh, it’s just that this is an off-season month, and there aren’t many people getting clothes made. Wait another two months, and when everyone starts preparing new clothes for the New Year, the tailor shop will get busy, and there will be money.”

Ruan Changgui sighed, “By then, don’t be surprised if you see Xiaoxi earning money while we just stare.”

Sun Xiaohui laughed, “That’s absolutely impossible. Xiao Xi doesn’t even know how to use the sewing machine. How could she? At least Yuejin has learned to use the sewing machine. When he goes out to make clothes, he’ll definitely earn more than Xiaoxi. She’ll only earn less than Yuejin. Staring in envy is even more impossible. It should be Xiaoxi envying our Yuejin, not the other way around.”

Ruan Changgui sighed in relief, lay down, and turned to sleep, “I hope so.”

Sun Xiaohui looked at him and said, “It’s not just hope! It’s certain!”