Bai Taotao had been observing Song Zhi.

She had spent an entire night tirelessly absorbing spiritual energy from Song Zhi and then transferring all of it to the dozen or so newly transplanted plants.

In the end, Song Zhi looked somewhat wilted (though it might also have been because he had traveled the entire day, fought two fights right after arriving in Ruyi Village). Taotao herself was utterly exhausted (or maybe it was just because it was late at night).

Bai Taotao didn’t even know how she fell asleep.

She slept in a daze until the next morning. While she and her sisters were still lying in bed, they heard Tang Liren shouting outside, calling Bai Lili, “Lizi, get up early and tidy the house! Today, people from the TV station are coming to interview your dad! I have to go to your second sister-in-law’s family to pick someone up this morning…”

Bai Lili responded with an “Alright” and got up to start her tasks.

Bai Taotao continued to sleep.

After a long while, Bai Xingxing rushed into the room and shook Bai Taotao awake. “Fourth Sister, get up! Don’t sleep anymore! The TV station people are already in the village. Hurry up!”

Only then did Bai Taotao get up. She rubbed her eyes and asked, “Where’s Song Zhi?”

“He left early this morning! Dad has already resolved the issue at the Educated Youth Station for him, so he’s probably gone to work! Fourth Sister, are you wearing the white one or the pink one today?” Bai Xingxing said as she pulled two outfits from the clothing chest.

Bai Taotao looked at the two outfits and said, “I’ll wear the pink one; you wear the white one.”

The pink outfit had been washed until it was somewhat old, its color faded, and the style wasn’t attractive as it was loose and shapeless.

The white outfit, on the other hand, was still about seventy percent new.

But Bai Xingxing, having been instilled with the idea of “putting her silly sister first” since childhood by their parents, hesitated. “Fourth Sister, you should wear the white one; the white one is newer!”

Bai Taotao bluntly pointed out, “This pink doesn’t look good. Only I can pull off this color.”

Bai Xingxing: …

The remark wasn’t very hurtful, but it was extremely insulting.

But what could she do? Her silly sister was naturally beautiful and the most attractive among the siblings. Besides, her silly sister giving her the better-looking outfit was so touching!

“Fourth Sister, you’re so kind!” Bai Xingxing said emotionally. “But if Mom comes back and sees me in the new outfit while you’re wearing the old one, she’ll think I’m bullying you, and she’ll definitely scold me!”

Bai Taotao replied, “No, in Mom’s eyes, only I matter. She won’t care what you’re wearing.”

Bai Xingxing: …

After changing into the pink outfit, Bai Taotao went to wash up and saw Bai Lili busy running around the house.

“Third Sister!” she called out.

Bai Lili was so busy she barely had time to turn around. “Taotao, hurry up and eat breakfast! I need to wash the dishes afterward. If the reporters come and see the house in a mess, it’ll look bad…”

“Third Sister, what do reporters do?” Bai Taotao asked.

“Reporters? They interview people. Didn’t Dad save someone heroically? The reporters are here to cover the story and publish it in newspapers and on TV so everyone in the country will know about it… This time, they’re doing a follow-up report to check on Dad’s recovery.”

“What are newspapers? And what is TV?” Bai Taotao asked again.

“Newspapers? Doesn’t Dad read them every day? As for TV, there’s none in our village, only radios. But the town has a TV. I’ll take you to the town to watch TV next time! Now hurry and eat breakfast!” Bai Lili instructed.

Bai Taotao sat at the kang table and saw a bowl of bean porridge placed there.

The porridge didn’t look appealing. It was watery with few beans, and a few pieces of crumbled scallion pancakes floated in it. On the side of the bowl, there was a boiled egg still in its shell.

Tang Liren secretly raised five or six chickens in the cellar, but it wasn’t every day that they could gather four eggs. Sometimes, they couldn’t even afford to feed eggs to Hongdou and Huangdou but Bai Taotao could have a boiled egg every day.

Bai Taotao stared at the scallion pancake pieces in the porridge for a while, then seriously finished the unappetizing bean porridge. Afterward, she pocketed the boiled egg and picked up the “newspaper” her dad read every day and carefully flipped through it.

The small square characters in the newspaper were quite different from the ones Bai Taotao had known before.

In her previous life, the characters were rounded, with more complex strokes. However, the characters in the newspaper were angular; some were easy to recognize, while others were so simple that she couldn’t recognize them at all.

The problem was that she could identify about thirty to forty percent of the characters, but when they were put together, she couldn’t understand their meaning.

Bai Xingxing ran over. “Fourth Sister, which of these two hair clips do you like?”

Bai Taotao saw Bai Xingxing holding two reasonably well-made plaid fabric butterfly-shaped hair clips.

“Do you like them?” Bai Xingxing asked as she admired the hair clips, liking them more the longer she looked at them. “These were a gift from the overseas Chinese that Dad saved in the county! She especially liked you and gave us a bunch of these trinkets, but those brats next door took most of them. These are the only two left…”

Just then, Bai Lili came in to collect the dishes. Bai Taotao noticed that her third sister was still wearing patched clothes.

Looking at herself, then at Bai Xingxing, Bai Taotao thought: Was Third Sister so indifferent about appearances?

“Third Sister! Where are the scissors?” Bai Taotao asked.

Bai Lili replied, “Why do you need scissors? You’re not allowed to use them! If you hurt yourself, it won’t be funny!” With that, she carried the dishes away.

Bai Taotao turned to Bai Xingxing. “Where are the scissors?”

Bai Xingxing ran off and soon returned with a pair of scissors. “Fourth Sister, what do you need scissors for?”

Bai Taotao grabbed the scissors and shouted, “Third Sister! Third Sister! Third Sister…”

Terrified, Bai Lili rushed over. “Taotao, what’s wrong?”

Bai Taotao stood up, pressed Bai Lili down to sit, and with a couple of snips, cut off Bai Lili’s two braids!

Both Bai Lili and Bai Xingxing were stunned.

Bai Taotao then trimmed her third sister’s hair, cutting bangs as well. Finally, she attached the two plaid butterfly hair clips to Bai Lili’s bangs.

Bai Lili’s facial features were delicate, but her face was slightly square. Previously, she kept her hair braided for convenience while working, which, though neat, made her face look especially large. Now, with her hair cut short, covering her ears and part of her face, her square face was transformed into an oval one, making her look much more elegant.

In addition, the bangs covered half her forehead, partially hiding her eyebrows. Her eyes sparkled…

Bai Lili looked like a completely different person!

“Taotao, you…” Bai Lili began with difficulty.

Bai Xingxing clapped her hands in admiration, her face glowing with excitement as she exclaimed, “Ah! Ah! Ah! Third Sister, you look so beautiful! Way prettier than that shameless Yan Naqian, who calls herself the prettiest educated youth!”

Then she quickly ran to fetch a mirror. “Third Sister, look at yourself!”

Bai Lili was stunned when she saw her reflection in the mirror.

—Was she really this pretty?

Bai Lili brushed her bangs and touched the two hair clips, feeling both delighted and a little embarrassed. “…Gosh, I don’t even look like someone who does farm work anymore…”

Bai Taotao said, “Why can’t someone who works on a farm be pretty?”

Bai Lili laughed and tapped her silly little sister’s forehead with a finger. “You used to be truly silly, but now you’re silly in a smart way!”

“I’m not silly!” Bai Taotao protested, upset. “…You’re the silly one!”

Then she threw down the scissors, grabbed the newspaper, and dashed out of the house. But as soon as she ran outside, she suddenly remembered something. She hurried back, picked up the potted grapevine, and ran off again.

Bai Lili watched her silly sister’s retreating figure and muttered, “And she says she’s not silly! Last night, she even made us line up to shake hands with her grapevine and insisted on sleeping with it in her arms…”

Bai Xingxing also found it hard to believe. “Third Sister, I honestly think Fourth Sister isn’t really silly. But just when you think she’s acting normal… she suddenly seems not so normal again…”

Bai Lili glared at her younger sister. “You’re not allowed to say things like that again! Go follow your Fourth Sister!”

Bai Xingxing stuck out her tongue and ran outside too.

Bai Taotao was already sitting in the courtyard, holding the newspaper and pestering Bai Zhengqian with questions.

Bai Zhengqian knew that reporters were coming to the village today to interview him. But since he thought the lighting in the main room wasn’t bright enough, he had slowly moved outside early in the morning and was now sitting in the courtyard.

Now, his silly daughter ran over with a newspaper and bombarded him with questions?

Among all his grandchildren, Bai Zhengqian felt the most guilt toward this silly daughter. But seeing her recognize words??? He was utterly shocked and immediately asked, “Taotao, how do you know how to read?”

Bai Taotao made up a story on the spot. “I hear you reading the newspaper every day! You always stop after a few words, so I remembered them and matched each word with what you said. After hearing you so many times, I learned to recognize them.”

Bai Zhengqian was dumbfounded. Ever since he injured his back and had been stuck at home, he had passed the time by reading newspapers repeatedly, looking up words in the dictionary until he recognized more and more.

But he never expected his silly daughter to be so smart?

Bai Zhengqian was thrilled and immediately called Bai Xingxing to fetch the dictionary. Then, he patiently taught Taotao how to use it and recognize more words.

Hongdou and Huangdou also crowded around, eagerly sharing their own insights and methods for looking up words in the dictionary.

When reporters Zhang Hongmei and Ma Wenli arrived at the Bai family’s courtyard, they were greeted with a scene full of warmth and serenity.

—In the clean and tidy courtyard, Bai Zhengqian sat on a chair with a wooden board tied to his waist. Several girls and children gathered around him, attentively listening as he read the newspaper aloud:

“…as leaders joined the people of the capital and friends from five continents to celebrate the solidarity and struggle of working people worldwide…”

Bai Taotao couldn’t help but ask, “Dad, what are the five continents?”

—Did it include her homeland, Xuandu Continent?

Huangdou said, “I know! I know! It’s Duck Soup, Big Sheep Soup¹…” But he scratched his head, unable to name the other three kinds of soup.

Bai Lili whispered softly, “And America, Europe, and Africa!”

“That’s right!” Hongdou counted her short little fingers and declared, “The five continents are Asia, Africa, Europe, Oceania…”

Wait, no matter how she counted, there was still one missing?

Bai Taotao felt disappointed when she didn’t hear Xuandu Continent among the five continents. But then she thought—she wasn’t the only one here. Song Zhi was here too! He must know how to get back! Even though, for now, he didn’t seem to recognize her and completely acted like a native, what if he recovered his memory someday?

Thinking of this, Bai Taotao suddenly wanted to go find Song Zhi.

But before she could stand up, she glanced toward the main gate and saw two middle-aged women whose demeanor and clothing were entirely different from the villagers’. One held a notebook and pen, while the other carried a black box (a camera?).

Bai Taotao froze for a moment, realizing these two must be the reporters here to interview her dad.

But before Bai Taotao could say anything—

Her step-grandmother, Chen Juxiang, suddenly screamed from inside the house, “I’m going to die! I’m going to die!”

Her voice was so loud and full of despair that it sounded like the sky was falling!

The courtyard fell silent, and the two female reporters were so startled they froze in place, hesitant to step inside.

At that moment, Chen Juxiang burst out of the house with disheveled hair, shouting angrily, “Which damned thief stole my money?”

The entire courtyard fell into a stunned silence.

Chen Juxiang roared, “My life’s savings—five hundred yuan!”

Bai Taotao’s sharp eyes caught a glimpse of Fourth Aunt Li Cui’er hastily closing her door and windows.

It seemed Li Cui’er had already gotten her hands on the money???

Bai Zhengqian asked, “Mom, did you… did you lose money? When did it go missing?”

Chen Juxiang’s gaze swept over everyone in the courtyard. “It was there last night before I went to bed! But when I checked this morning, it wass gone! It has to be someone in this house. Who was it???”

“It was Fourth Aunt who stole it!” Bai Taotao declared loudly.

Inside the house, Li Cui’er broke into a cold sweat and cursed Bai Taotao in her heart.

Meanwhile, the people in the courtyard stared in shock, their mouths agape.

“Taotao, don’t talk nonsense,” Bai Zhengqian said.

“I’m not talking nonsense! It’s true!” Bai Taotao insisted.

Chen Juxiang stormed over to Bai Taotao. “How do you know it was your Fourth Aunt?”

Bai Taotao confidently replied, “Because Fourth Aunt asked me! She said, ‘Taotao, you’re in your grandmother’s room all the time. Where does she hide her money?’”

She imitated Li Cui’er’s tone perfectly.

Chen Juxiang’s face darkened. “And what did you tell her?”

Bai Taotao declared loudly, “I said—grandmother’s money is all hidden in the third drawer from the top on the right side of the desk, inside on the left!”

Chen Juxiang’s mouth fell open, and she was speechless for a long time.

—So this little fool knew everything all along!

At that moment, Li Cui’er burst out of the house. “You brat, you’re talking nonsense!”

As she spoke, she lunged forward, claws out, ready to hit Bai Taotao.

Bai Lili and Bai Xingxing immediately acted in sync. One pulled Taotao aside, while the other stepped forward to block Li Cui’er.

“Fourth Aunt, if you have something to say, say it properly. You’re an elder—how can you just start hitting people?” Bai Lili said.

Chen Juxiang cast a sidelong glance at Li Cui’er, as if assessing whether she could be the one who had taken the money.

Li Cui’er, clearly afraid of her mother-in-law, pointed at Bai Taotao and said, “Which eye of yours saw me go into your grandmother’s room to steal money? But you—you’re the one who’s sneaky! Hmph, like parents, like child!”

Chen Juxiang hesitated.

—The eldest son’s family had always been upright and straightforward, so it was unlikely they would do such a thing. But Li Cui’er was her favorite daughter-in-law, and she also didn’t believe Cui’er would betray her.

Seeing the uncertainty on her mother-in-law’s face, Li Cui’er panicked and pointed at Bai Taotao. “Since you knew exactly where the money was, maybe you’re the one who stole it!”

That argument actually made some sense.

Bai Taotao covered her nose. “Fourth Aunt, you stink! You smell like duck shit!”

Last night, when Chen Juxiang came back, she’d also smelled like duck shit!

Li Cui’er froze and flushed red. She raised her hand, ready to slap Bai Taotao. “You brat, if you keep talking nonsense, I’ll beat you to death!”

Chen Juxiang’s face darkened.

—Yesterday at work, her task had been collecting duck manure from the communal duck pens to fertilize the vegetable garden.

Chen Juxiang grabbed Li Cui’er’s hand and sniffed it. Sure enough, there was a faint smell of duck manure.

Li Cui’er panicked. “Mom, it wasn’t me… It really wasn’t me!”

“What’s going on here?” a calm voice interrupted.

Everyone turned their heads and saw Tang Liren standing at the courtyard gate.

Tang Liren didn’t look happy. Behind her stood four people—two young women and two middle-aged women.

One of the young women was visibly pregnant. She was Bai Nansheng’s wife, Chen Lanfen, and her face looked ashen. The other was Chen Juxiang’s relative and junior, Sun Xiumei, whose eyes flickered with unease.

The two middle-aged women were the female reporters, Sun Hongmei and Ma Wenli, who had previously come to interview Bai Zhengqian.

Author’s Note: “… leaders and other leaders, together with the people of the capital and foreign friends from five continents, celebrate the festival of the unity and struggle of the working people of the world…” [Excerpted from the headline of the People’s Daily on May 2, 1966]

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The separation war is about to begin

1. Continent is pronouced as zhou and so is soup/broth. ↩︎