Chapter 7

The flashlight that had barely worked the night before was surprisingly revived when Lin Yonggang poked a hole in it during the day and filled it with a bit of salt water. The battery, which had been beyond repair, miraculously started working again.

Today, Lin Yun could already look at the various twisting, crawling centipedes with calm indifference.

That night, the three of them returned once again with a full haul. After two consecutive nights of successful collecting, Lin Yun felt more confident about this endeavor. She even started to look forward to each night’s arrival.

But soon, her calm demeanor was shattered. That night, she saw a snake—a grayish-brown one. It appeared to be shedding its skin. At that moment, Lin Yun even began to resent why her original body had such good eyesight, forcing her to face this scene head-on with no way to avoid it.

Lin Yun froze, unable to move. At that moment, Lin Yonggang called out from behind her: “Sis, what’s wrong? Why aren’t you moving?”

Lin Yonggang walked over and immediately saw the snake. To Lin Yun’s surprise, he used fire tongs to place the snake into a snake-skin bag hanging from his waist—she hadn’t noticed when he’d attached it.

He even muttered as he did so: “I’ve had this snake-skin bag with me for so long, and I finally get to use it.”

Lin Yun slowly turned her head to look at Lin Yonggang, now with a look of admiration. This was someone who could catch a snake with a pair of fire tongs. The tongs seemed smaller than the snake, but he really had guts.

“Sis, it’s just a snake. If it’s a venomous one, it could sell for ten or more yuan each. Are you looking down on it?” Lin Yonggang said with a grin.

Lin Yun rolled her eyes. Now that she was slightly recovering, she replied, “I’m not looking down on it, I’m just scared. And stop talking like that. Is it venomous? You should still be careful.”

“Don’t worry. This kind of snake doesn’t scare me. You wouldn’t believe how many venomous creatures I’ve seen while hanging out with Qiangzi and the others. A snake that’s shedding its skin is really weak, you don’t need to worry.”

“Let’s call it a night. We’ve walked far enough already. Go find Big Sister, we’re heading back.”

Lin Yonggang was clearly reluctant, but seeing his sister so determined, he didn’t argue. He turned and walked to find Lin Yumei, who had already gone far ahead.

When the three of them got home, they were surprised to find that Zhao Lanxiu and Lin Chuntian were still awake. The two of them were in the main room, stringing centipedes.

The three were quite astonished. “Mom and Dad, what are you doing?”

“I was wondering why you three kept going out so late these past few days. You’ve been working so hard, so your dad and I shouldn’t fall behind. We’ve collected as much as you,” Zhao Lanxiu said.

Lin Yonggang raised his hand and pointed to the flashlight in his hand, saying, “But we don’t have enough flashlights. This one is borrowed from Uncle’s house.”

“Yeah, how did you manage to collect so many centipedes in the dark?” Lin Chuntian asked, pointing to an oil lamp beside them.

Looking at the oil lamp, Lin Yun couldn’t help but feel admiration. Compared to a flashlight, an oil lamp required constant care. Once the flame went out, they had to relight it, and matches were consumable. Every match used meant one less available. The wind could easily extinguish an oil lamp. Despite that, they had managed to collect so many centipedes, which Lin Yun truly admired about these two.

“Soon it’ll be the Dragon Boat Festival. Selling these centipedes will help us have a better meal. Er Ya, you take care of this. I know you’re upset with me, but I’m also powerless in this situation.”

“I know, don’t worry. This Dragon Boat Festival, we’ll definitely have a good meal,” Lin Yun responded. She didn’t answer the latter part of Zhao Lanxiu’s words because she didn’t feel like she had been wronged.

“Let Yonggang come with me. He caught a snake,” Lin Yun suggested, mainly because she wasn’t sure she could handle carrying the snake alone.

“Alright, Sis, I’ll go with you,” Lin Yonggang always had a positive attitude toward these tasks.

“You two should leave early tomorrow morning. Now go to bed. We’ll handle these centipedes,” Lin Yumei said. “It’s better if no one else sees this, we don’t want any trouble.”

Lin Yun understood what Lin Yumei meant. In this era, everyone was poor. No one had a particularly good life, and they made do with what they had. But if a family suddenly became better off, it would make others envious.

The Lin family was considered one of the poorest in the area. They had many children, with two still in school. Lin Yun’s father had come to this area with his mother to escape, and at first, they were often bullied. Later, Lin Yun’s grandmother remarried in the area, and their situation improved slightly. But even then, Lin Yun’s father was not well-received, and he didn’t marry Zhao Lanxiu until he was in his thirties.

With so many children to support, and with two still in school, the burden on the Lin family was particularly heavy. Most of the people living around them were related in some way, but it was a coincidence that, apart from the Lin family, other families had only one child—either they had one by choice or lost the others to various reasons.

With fewer children to support, it was easier for those families to have a better life.

Because of this, the Lin family had to be careful. They secretly went out at night and didn’t turn on the flashlight until they were far from home.

Lin Yun knew that they couldn’t hide this forever, but for now, it was good to earn a little extra by getting ahead of others.

“Once we have money, we need to buy a wall clock. Not knowing the time is too uncomfortable,” Lin Yun mumbled as she got out of bed. She wasn’t sure what time it was, but she guessed it was still early.

The sun usually rose around five o’clock in June, but there was no sign of it yet. All she could see were the countless stars in the sky.

Lin Yun and Lin Yonggang grabbed a flashlight and left the house.

They needed to return the other flashlight to Uncle’s house. In this era, no one was wealthy, and a flashlight was a rare item. Not every household had one.

The Lin family had two flashlights because an old relative had passed away. He had no children and had left the remaining items to the Lin family.