Su Xiangwan’s family had been at the reservoir command center for the entire day.

Little Uncle Wu was very warm and friendly, even taking the two children to his dorm to let them rest and nap.

However, the children were too full to lie down, so they just stared at Little Uncle Wu, watching to see what he would do next.

As for Little Wu, he didn’t care much for Lu Dan, but he got along well with Gou Dan.

He especially liked this quiet, introverted child and seemed a bit disappointed in him.

Suddenly, an idea struck him, and he said, “Come on, I’ll take you to find something interesting.”

So Gou Dan followed him out.

After a while, he came running back with loud footsteps, saying, “Mom, I want to show you something.”

“What?” Lu Dan immediately stood up to take a look.

Gou Dan covered his hands over his face but slowly opened them, holding something in front of Su Xiangwan: “Little Wu Gege gave me a chicken.”

Since people from Xiao Song Village didn’t raise chickens, Su Xiangwan hadn’t seen one in a long time.

The cute little chick, yellow and fluffy, with a tiny comb on its head, was a little rooster.

“Sis, isn’t it forbidden to raise chickens privately in our village?” Su Xianghong asked. “How about we secretly raise it for the kids?”

Xiao Song Village already had pigs, so raising chickens was definitely in the plans, and it would be raised separately in different households.

Su Xiangwan had been thinking about this for a while, but she wouldn’t say anything until the plan was executed.

Seeing how much Gou Dan loved the little chick, she said, “Alright, we’ll raise it, but didn’t you ask Little Wu where the chicken came from?”

Little Wu stood straight and explained: “Sister-in-law, it’s like this. Our unit doesn’t raise chickens, but we don’t know whether the eggs got too warm or something, and they just hatched by themselves.”

The guys from the mess hall had put the eggs in the warehouse, and one day, they were surprised when chicks started jumping out.

“Do you have any more? How many chickens do you have, and can you sell them to us?” Su Xiangwan asked.

Little Wu hurriedly said, “What’s there to sell? We don’t have time to raise them, we’re actually worried about it. Sister-in-law, if you want them, there are seven. I’ll give them all to you.”

Gou Dan was so happy that he almost went crazy: “Mom, we can eat chicken for seven days!”

“The chickens are still small, you can’t eat them yet,” Su Xiangwan said.

But Gou Dan disagreed: “Uncle Wu said that if I raise them for two days, they’ll grow, so in two days, I can eat them.”

Su Xiangwan thought Lu Dan would be the sensible one, but to her surprise, Gou Dan said thoughtfully, “Two days probably isn’t enough for them to grow. Let’s raise them for four days. I think four days should be enough to eat.”

The two kids gathered around the soft little yellow chick, and thinking about the big fat chicken their mom had stewed a few days ago, their mouths watered as they stared at the little chick.

Before long, Zhi Zhi, who had just woken up from a nap, came over.

Seeing the small basket on the ground with the fluffy little yellow chicks jumping around inside, Su Xiangwan thought that Zhi Zhi must love animals.

But unexpectedly, Gou Dan handed one to Zhi Zhi, and the little girl with round eyes stared at it for a while, then suddenly tried to put it in her mouth.

These three little foodies!

By eleven o’clock at night, still no sign of Song Qingshan.

Little Uncle Wu went to the county committee guesthouse across the street and opened two rooms, letting Su Xiangwan and the kids stay there.

The guesthouse wasn’t in very good condition, honestly a bit shabby.

However, Gou Dan and Lu Dan had never slept on soft beds before.

Even though the mattress was just a thin layer of straw, the two kids found it quite a novelty.

“This Uncle Wu is so nice, he even let us stay in a hotel,” Gou Dan said with bright eyes. “Mom, if Song Qingshan makes you mad again, let’s make Uncle Wu our dad.”

Su Xiangwan grabbed his ear: “Uncle Wu is doing this because of your dad. If it wasn’t for him, would he have arranged for you to stay in a guesthouse?”

The clueless child had already placed the chicks under the beds in the guesthouse.

It was almost midnight, and still not asleep.

The kids were about to get up to check on the chickens again: “Mom, have my chickens grown?”

Su Xiangwan, irritated by the noise, said, “Yes, they’re big now, fat and huge.”

Gou Dan immediately jumped out of bed and ran over.

When he saw the little chickens were still yellow and tender, looking at him with their round eyes, he swallowed a mouthful of saliva and lay back down to sleep.

The next morning, Su Xiangwan was surprised to hear that Song Qingshan had asked her to go to the hospital.

Little Wu came to inform her, and after setting down some steamed buns and millet porridge from the unit’s cafeteria, he left.

Lu Dan and Gou Dan opened the steamed buns and were delighted to find a fried egg in every one.

They took their baskets with them when they went to the hospital, covering them with lids, and every so often, they’d lift them to check if the chickens had grown, and if they were ready to eat yet.

When they arrived at the health clinic, Su Xiangwan didn’t expect the ward to be crowded with people.

Even Jin Gui, who had been wandering around like a stray dog a few days ago, was there.

Song Qingshan and Song Tingxiu stood like sentries beside the old lady.

Old lady song looked very energetic today.

Song Dahua had bought her clothes in the city, and Song Erhua bathed her every day at the hospital.

Qingyu took care of her meals, and the health clinic’s cafeteria made different meals three times a day for her.

Although the old lady only wanted to drink sour soup at home, she heard the hospital served unlimited rice and could add more if she wanted.

After four or five days, she had eaten three bowls of rice at a time and had grown round and plump.

Her second son-in-law, Zhao Yuanshan, a doctor at the health clinic, had arranged a single room for her.

She was so happy that half of her illness seemed to be cured.

She wiped her mouth and looked around at her children and grandchildren, beaming with joy.

Overall, raising children might be tough, but when they grew up and she grew old, she realized that no child was raised in vain.

“Since everyone’s here, let’s have a little meeting,” Song Qingshan said.

The old lady song looked around and said, “Where’s Old Three? What meeting are you holding?”

Song Qingshan stared at her seriously: “He’s in the detention room of our company for now. You won’t be seeing him for a while.”

“What’s a detention room? Is it like a hospital, with unlimited rice?” the old lady song asked.

Song Qingshan paused for a moment and then said, “He’s a key witness who can prove that Fang Gaodi and his son were planning terrorist activities. He’s also an accomplice. Fang Gaodi is dead, and Jinhuan hasn’t been found yet, but Old Three will be locked up for at least a few years before he gets out.”

At that moment, even Old Grandpa, who usually just grumbled, nearly jumped up: “Old One, what do you mean Fang Gaodi is dead?”

Song Qingshan said, “You turn on the radio. In about half an hour, the news should be on.”

“My Jinhuan, where’s Jinhuan?” The old lady trembled anxiously and asked.

Song Qingshan didn’t answer, and neither did Song Tingxiu. It was Song Dahua, who had arrived in a hurry, that entered the door, knelt down in front of her mother with a thud and said, “Mother, I’ve failed you!”

After the liberation, Qing Shui County underwent a cultural dissemination campaign. Before that, children would call their mothers “niang” instead of “mama,” and their fathers “da” instead of “baba.” So, Song Qingshan and his peers, from the old generation, would call the old lady “niang” when they were young.

As Song Dahua knelt, it was clear that the death and disappearance of Fang Jinhuan and his son were true.

Su Xiangwan thought to herself, this wasn’t a family meeting.

Was Song Qingshan planning to send his mother off to the afterlife?

But such a big matter, surely it would be covered on the news in the province and in Beijing.

In the Song family, this was a shameful issue. Why would Song Qingshan call all the children together to talk about it?

All of Song Qingshan’s children, except for Fang Jinhuan, were present.

Song Fu, Jin Gui, Fang Caiqi, Lu Dan, Gou Dan, Little Zhi Zhi, and even Zhao Dahua, Zhao Erhua, and Zhao Sanniu from Song Erhua’s family—grandchildren of the old lady—were all standing in the room in a messy crowd.

Gou Dan and Lu Dan, now with a few chicks, still had to check on them to see if they had grown.

As Song Fu had always said, Song Qingshan was quite a capable big shot.

He dug around in his pocket for a while, pulling out a handful of White Rabbit candies, and began counting them in his palm.

The old lady pressed on, asking, “When did Jinhua steal the dynamite? You’re his uncle, and uncles are closer than fathers. I raised him! Song Qingshan, you were a regiment leader, a high-ranking official, but instead of fighting the Japanese, why didn’t you save your nephew?”

Song Qingshan’s voice remained calm as he said, “Mom, can you wait until I finish the meeting before you speak? Is that alright?”

“No, it’s not.” The old lady replied.

“Anyway, Jinhua is already lost. I’ll have the police sentence him to ten years. If you’re not happy with that, I can have him sentenced to twenty years.”

The old lady was willing to listen now and fell silent, sitting down.

Holding the candies, Song Qingshan counted them.

Seeing there were nine children, even Little Zhi Zhi, though small, was not left out. Each child received a candy. He then asked, “What do you have to say?”

Caiqi, being older, didn’t care much for the candy.

She stuffed it into her pocket without saying anything.

Children from homes where parents fought weren’t usually talkative.

Song Fu, always eager to stand out, quickly spoke up, “I eat these at my grandpa’s house all the time. They’re not fresh.”

But as he spoke, he unwrapped the candy and popped it into his mouth, chewing it noisily.

Zhao Dahu and Zhao Erhu, one thirteen and one fourteen, were also casually walking around, not caring about the candy.

They passed it to Zhao Sanniu, who took it and stood in the back.

Jin Gui didn’t eat the candy. He just held it and said, “Thank you, Uncle.”

Lu Dan, receiving a candy, was nervous since it was the first time his father had let him speak in front of everyone.

He hesitated for a moment before saying, “Dad, I don’t want to be called Lu Dan anymore. I want everyone to call me Donghai.”

“This is not a big issue. Song Donghai, give me the candy and stand behind,” Song Qingshan said.

When it was Gou Dan’s turn, he stuttered and stood there for a long time, looking shaky and wanting to squat but not daring to.

He quietly asked, “Dad, can I share the candy with mom and Zhi Zhi?”

“Sure,” Song Qingshan replied.

“Thank you, Dad,” Gou Dan said, pouting a little, then turned and ran back to Su Xiangwan’s side.

Zhi Zhi peeled the candy wrapper, licked it, then placed the candy in Su Xiangwan’s mouth, continuously urging her to eat.

At this point, there was no need for further words.

Su Xiangwan realized that Song Qingshan wanted to show the old lady which child had better manners.

Indeed, Song Qingshan asked, “Mom, with just one candy, which child do you think did better?”