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When the mother and children returned home, Wang Zhenhe had already come back and was preparing to uncover the pots for dinner. “You’ve all come back. There’s nothing worth watching about hitting children. Let’s quickly eat, and later I’ll find someone to help build a toilet for our family.”
Since there was still work to be done in the afternoon, the family quickly set out the food. When everything was ready on the kang, Wang Zhenhe noticed the bountiful harvest the children had today.
Zhang Lan quickly put away everything on the kang. Later, when people came over, she didn’t want them to see. After finishing the meal, the helpers had arrived, and everyone together constructed a simple toilet on the west side of their house. This time, the Wang family could manage their own manure.
The children couldn’t be of much help, so they went to the fields with buckets and baskets to gather grass or see if they could find some goodies.
When they arrived in the fields, the children were somewhat disappointed. During the autumn, the fellow villagers had cleaned up quite thoroughly. The four of them only managed to pick a basket before there was nothing left. The fields had already been plowed, and there was no hope of finding more. Wang Qian sighed as she looked at the barren land; it seemed impossible to find anything to eat from here. They had to figure out another way to secure enough food for the family until the end of the year.
“Sister, how far is that mountain from our home?”
Wang Xuan glanced at the distant mountains. “Little sister, that’s quite far from us. It’ll take at least forty minutes to walk there. Why do you ask?”
“Sister, look, we can’t find anything in the fields. We should go up the mountain. Otherwise, we won’t have enough grain at home until the end of the year.”
All the children were aware that there wasn’t enough food at home. Even though Zhang Lan had been rationing it, they could at least have a decent meal. However, if one day they couldn’t even manage that, what would they do?
Experiencing hunger was unpleasant, so when the younger sister brought up the idea, everyone hoped they could find something on the mountain. This way, they could ease their parents’ burden a bit.
“Little sister, let’s go picking tomorrow. Even if we can’t find anything, we can bring back some branches for firewood.”
The siblings returned after gathering grass only to find Wang Zhenhe back home. “Dad, why did you come back? Aren’t you supposed to be earning work points?”
“My mother is not feeling well, so she asked me to come back.”
“Why did only she call you back? What about Uncle One and Uncle Two?”
The children’s questions momentarily put their father in a difficult spot. “First Uncle and Second Uncle went to work. Since I wasn’t too busy today, I came back to check on her.”
In fact, Wang Zhenhe wasn’t entirely truthful. It was his sister who called him back, but the older brothers hadn’t budged. Now he had to come back alone.
“She’s ill? We should go see her, right, brother?” Wang Qian signaled to Mingyuan.
The little one immediately understood. “Yeah, Dad, if Grandma is sick, we, as her grandchildren, should visit. Let’s go check on her.”
The children held hands and went to the main courtyard. It was quiet inside. Upon entering the room where his mother lived, they found her lying on the k’ang, seemingly asleep. However, Wang Qian noticed some biscuit crumbs around her mouth. Clearly, she was eating before they came in.
“Grandma, we’ve come to see you,” Mingcheng said beside her.
But the old lady remained silent, giving the impression that she was sound asleep. “Brother, Grandma needs an injection to get better. Remember last time? Let’s find Uncle Ye to give her an injection, and she’ll be fine.”
Wang Qian was small, and her voice was soft, but to the old lady’s ears, it was like someone tearing at her flesh. Needing an injection meant spending money, and even though the old lady wasn’t afraid of injections, she was afraid of spending money.
“Right, Sister, let’s find someone to give Grandma an injection. It will help her recover faster,” Mingyuan echoed Wang Qian’s suggestion.
The old lady contemplated that if she continued pretending to be asleep, the four mischievous children might indeed bring someone over to administer the injection.
“Who’s there? Why is it so noisy?” The old lady slowly opened her eyes, seeing the children and feigning the appearance of just waking up.
“Oh, it’s you. I’m not seriously ill; I’ll be fine by tomorrow. Hurry back; I want to rest a bit more. No need to see you off,” she said, clearly giving them a polite dismissal. Mingcheng led his siblings out.
“Grandma doesn’t seem sick at all. Why did Dad say she’s ill?”
“Well, whether she’s sick or not, only she knows. Every time, it’s the same—she claims to be ill, but as soon as she gets some tasty treats, she miraculously recovers. It’s just that those treats always end up in Uncle and Aunt’s mouths.”
Mingcheng was evidently well aware of the situation. As he explained, Wang Qian understood. It seemed their grandmother was using the pretense of illness to extract some snacks from her two younger children.
“That’s why First Uncle and Second Uncle didn’t come. They probably know she’s like this and ignored her. Only Dad is the most obedient; when asked to come back, he comes back. I bet Dad even borrowed money to buy those cookies,” Wang Xuan added, noticing the cookie crumbs at the corner of her grandmother’s mouth.
The siblings returned home feeling speechless. They rearranged the soybeans they had tidied up at noon and spread them on the kang to dry.
For the time being, they put aside the matter of their grandmother being ill and continued their struggle for sustenance.
In the evening, when Zhang Lan returned, Mingyuan recounted the day’s events to her. As for his mother-in-law’s “illness,” she had long grown accustomed to it. After all, wasn’t it just about snacks? Now that they didn’t have any, when conditions improved in the future, she was determined to make sure her mother-in-law got plenty of treats. She was genuinely curious to see how much her mother-in-law loved sweets.
“Mingyuan, it’s only right for your grandmother to have some good food. After all, she raised your father and his siblings. Even if it’s some nice treats, it’s not too much, you know?”
“Mom, our family is about to face another famine, and we haven’t repaid the previous debts,” Mingyuan expressed concern not about his grandmother enjoying snacks but about the financial strain on his family by the end of the year.
“Children, Mom knows you’re worried about this family. But there’s still your father and me. We’ll figure it out,” Zhang Lan reassured them, though deep down, she shared her children’s concerns. Continually borrowing money might jeopardize their ability to borrow in the future, and she understood the saying about borrowing and repaying.
“Mom, today, we only found a basket of sweet potatoes, and that’s it,” Mingcheng said with disappointment.
Zhang Lan, with a gentle smile, patted her son’s head. “Silly child, this is already good enough. When we tried before, we didn’t get much more than this.”
When Wang Zhenhe returned from work, he looked apologetic as he shared the story of his mother’s situation with his wife. “Zhenhe, it’s just about some snacks. If Mom wants to eat, buy her some. After all, there will be times when she can’t eat them. But we can’t keep borrowing money like this. You need to be sensible. The year-end bonuses will take a while, and we can’t keep relying on others. When we have money in the future, we can buy whatever Mom wants.”
Wang Zhenhe also understood that his mother could be unreasonable. If she were genuinely sick, it would be understandable, but the problem was that she would feign illness periodically. His two older brothers simply ignored her, and his sister would ask him for money. What could he do? He couldn’t just ignore his sister, right?