Chapter 3 – Look at Them, Such Honest Father and Daughter…

Everyone present began to look at Cao Mei and Tian Fang with odd expressions.

No wonder. Even if grain was scarce, it wasn’t as bad as it had been in ’58 or ’59. So how could someone be starving like this? Turns out, all their grain had been borrowed away, and the household had gone several days without food… Of course they’d be starving after days without eating.

Someone said, “But seriously, no one’s got extra food these days. Who even thinks about borrowing grain? If they really needed to borrow, they should’ve gone to the production team. That way it could just be deducted during the next ration distribution. But borrowing someone’s food until they had nothing left? What kind of behavior is that?”

Another said, “Heh, borrowing? Did they ever plan to return it? That’s not borrowing—that’s outright robbing.”

“I’m not surprised at all if Cao Mei did this. But Tian Fang too? I really didn’t expect that.”

“Pfft, didn’t I already say she was all talk, all nice words but no real kindness? You all just wouldn’t believe me.”

Most of the people working this field were elderly women and children. To be exact, aside from the kids, it was mostly older women. And older women never held back when they had something to say—especially a few who had long disliked Cao Mei and Tian Fang. The moment the topic started, everyone chimed in.

Cao Mei instantly grew furious. “What nonsense are you all spouting? I never said I wouldn’t pay it back. How is that robbery? And besides, I didn’t borrow your food! What right do you have to meddle in someone else’s business?!”

She pushed Shen Mo’er forcefully and argued righteously, “Our family’s got more mouths to feed and not enough food. Your family’s got fewer people and lighter burdens. We’re relatives—what’s wrong with borrowing a bit from you? How can you be so stingy? If you’ve run out of food, go dig up some wild vegetables and roots like everyone else! Who hasn’t done that? Why are you making such a fuss?”

Everyone was stunned by her shamelessness. Aunt Chen, a famously warmhearted woman, immediately retorted, “If your family’s short on food, why don’t you go dig up wild vegetables and roots?”

Shen Mo’er let herself be pushed and staggered to the ground, wailing, “But… I didn’t want to lend it in the first place! My dad wasn’t home, and you just took all the food! You didn’t even leave a single potato for us… sob sob sob I did go dig for wild vegetables, but they don’t fill you up… I’m really starving… Am I going to die of hunger… sob sob sob”

Shen Shaoyuan quickly helped his daughter up, his face red with anger. “Sister-in-law, you took all our food while I wasn’t home—that’s bad enough. But now you’re scolding Mo’er, pushing her around? You—you—you’ve gone too far! Are you trying to drive us to our deaths?!”

Everyone suddenly understood. So it turned out that Cao Mei had waited until Old Seventh Shen wasn’t home and just took all their food.

Both father and daughter from the Shen family were known to be timid and honest. Most likely, they hadn’t dared to confront her. Or maybe they had tried, and Cao Mei just refused to return anything—something entirely in line with her character.

As for Shen Old Seventh’s household, they had two working adults and no other burdens. By all accounts, they should’ve been self-sufficient. But perhaps they were too embarrassed to ask the production team for help, so they’d simply run out of food.

Had Shen Mo’er not fainted from hunger, the two of them probably wouldn’t have dared to speak up at all.

Now that everyone understood the full story, they looked at Cao Mei with even more contempt. What kind of person does something like that?

Zhou Peijun was absolutely furious. “Aunt Cao! They didn’t even want to lend it to you, and you just took it. If that’s not robbery, then what is it?! Don’t you glare at me—if you’ve got a problem, we can call the comrades at the police station over and let them settle it. Let’s see if they think what you did is right, or if they’ll toss you in a cell for a few days!”

Cao Mei had been glaring defiantly at Zhou Peijun, but at the mention of the police, she immediately wilted. “Come on now, it’s not that serious. No need to get the police involved over such a small matter…”

She didn’t think she’d done anything wrong. She was just afraid—Zhou Peijun’s brother-in-law worked for the police, and if Peijun riled him up, he might actually have her arrested.

Zhou Peijun didn’t actually intend to involve the police. What Cao Mei did was clearly wrong, but in rural areas, most people preferred to settle things within the production team. If this went public, the entire team would be embarrassed.

He shouted, “Then what are you waiting for? Go give back the grain!”

Cao Mei was naturally unwilling to give up the food now that it had already entered her household. Besides, it was stolen grain, not something she paid for, so she didn’t feel the loss. The family had been eating solid meals these past days, and the grain was mostly gone.

She muttered, “We’ve already eaten it all. There’s none left at home.”

Shen Mo’er sobbed “quietly,” “There were over forty jin of grain, and more than twenty jin of potatoes… How could you possibly have eaten all of it… sob sob sob”

Everyone around gasped. That was sixty or seventy jin altogether—that was a lot!

They now looked down on Cao Mei even more. Even if it was just to help in an emergency, a couple of jin would have been reasonable. But this? She’d clearly just helped herself. What kind of person does that?

Zhou Peijun immediately said, “I don’t believe you’ve got no food left. Let’s go. Right now. Everyone’s going. We’ll see for ourselves.”

This situation had turned really serious. If something had happened to Shen Old Seventh and his daughter from starvation, the entire Yangliu Production Team would’ve been notorious.

Zhou Peijun made the decision on the spot and took the lead toward Shen Old Third’s house.

Cao Mei hurried to follow and shouted her grievances along the way, “Fine, fine! There’s still a little grain left at home! But we didn’t take all their grain! Tian Fang and I split it! Why should I be the only one giving it back?”

Tian Fang had been silent all this time, hoping to avoid attention. But now that Cao Mei had dragged her into it, she realized she couldn’t escape. She quickly caught up and explained, “Old Cao did give some to my family. I haven’t touched it yet—it’s still sitting at home. I’ll go get it now.”

Cao Mei instinctively felt something was off with that statement. She had been the one who’d gone to take the grain and then divided it up with Tian Fang. Now Tian Fang’s words made it sound like she hadn’t known anything and had merely accepted what she was given. Cao Mei couldn’t find a way to argue. And when she thought about how everyone was scolding her and not Tian Fang, and how Tian Fang didn’t even defend her, she glared furiously at her.

Tian Fang, on the other hand, just pretended not to notice.

The others naturally followed along, and hearing Tian Fang’s words, many assumed she hadn’t known the food was stolen and had simply accepted a share. This made them despise Cao Mei even more—stealing food and then giving it away to win favor? Absolutely shameless!

Aunt Chen, helping Shen Shaoyuan support Shen Mo’er, muttered, “That Tian woman’s pretty good at dodging blame. Wouldn’t be surprised if this whole rotten idea came from her.”

Shen Mo’er and Shen Shaoyuan exchanged a glance. In their hearts, they thought, Aunt Chen really is one of the sharp ones in the village. Sweet on the outside but bitter inside—wasn’t this exactly Tian Fang’s style?

A group of people made their way from the village entrance, and after more than ten minutes, they finally arrived at their destination.

There were four brothers in the old Shen family: Shen Eldest, Shen Second, Shen Third, and Shen Seventh. The first three all lived together in a row of solid blue-brick tile-roofed houses, which had been built back when their father was still alive.

Before the old man passed away, he divided the family house among his sons. Shen Seventh technically had a share as well. But back then, he hadn’t married yet, while a few of his nephews—older than him—had already wed and found the place too cramped. So, they “borrowed” his share of the house.

By the time Shen Seventh got married, none of the nephews returned the house. Instead, they pooled together some money to buy a confiscated storage hut from the village, patched it up a little, and handed it over to Shen Seventh as if that settled the matter.

It was obvious what kind of quality a storage hut would have.

Over the years, people in the village had heard plenty about how the Shen Seventh household suffered from leaks and drafts.

Now, seeing this sturdy row of blue-brick tile houses, everyone suddenly understood: the Shen family had a history of “borrowing” things without returning them!

People had always known that Shen Seventh had gotten the short end of the stick, but since it was a family matter and he never complained, no one knew how to help even if they wanted to.

But today was different. Little Mo’er had fainted from hunger, the father and daughter had spoken up, and with Team Leader Zhou Peijun taking the lead, as fellow villagers, they had to lend a hand!

A few warmhearted older women followed Cao Mei and Tian Fang straight into the main house, supervising them as they retrieved the grain.

Tian Fang’s portion of the food had indeed not been touched, though there were only a few potatoes left. As for Cao Mei’s household, not only were the potatoes gone, but even the grain was almost completely eaten.

Tian Fang sighed and said, “There are many people at home, and the children are at the age when they eat the most. But even if we have to go hungry ourselves, we shouldn’t let Mo’er starve.”

Cao Mei, on the other hand, was swearing and cursing: “Take it all, take it all! As long as you two eat your fill, who cares whether we live or die! Damn it, you ungrateful bastards!”

Despite the different tones, both women were essentially saying the same thing: blaming the father and daughter for taking the food and disregarding their families’ welfare.

Leaning “weakly” against Shen Shaoyuan, Shen Mo’er asked, “Dad, isn’t the team distributing grain today? Second Uncle and Third Uncle’s households shouldn’t be starving like us, right?”

Shen Shaoyuan choked up and said, “Don’t worry about them. Your cousins are all capable workers, earning more work points than we do—they won’t go hungry. Look at you, you’re already this thin from hunger, and you’re still worried they might not have enough to eat. You worry about them, but who worries about you? Don’t worry anymore. I’ve figured it out—you’re my only daughter. If anyone dares to stop you from eating, I’ll fight them with everything I’ve got!”

Everyone suddenly realized that if anyone was truly starving, it was Shen Seventh’s household—they had gone without food for days. And with the grain distribution happening today, even if some of the grain was returned, Shen Second and Third’s families wouldn’t go hungry.

Those two households had plenty of laborers. Just like Shen Seventh said, they earned lots of work points, and their lives were undoubtedly easier than his and his daughter’s.

And besides, after robbing someone’s grain, how could you still claim the moral high ground?

Just look—these two honest people were driven to tears and threats of violence!

While people didn’t recall Shen Seventh and his daughter being the fiery type, wasn’t there an old opera line that said, “Driven up the mountain by desperation”? Push someone far enough, and they might even rebel. What else wouldn’t they dare do?

So no one thought there was anything wrong with how Shen Mo’er and Shen Shaoyuan were acting now.

Instead, they found Cao Mei’s unreasonable tantrum even more despicable, and Tian Fang—just like Auntie Chen said—really did seem to be all talk and no real kindness.

Thus, when Shen Shaoyuan asked what to do if there was still grain missing, everyone spoke up in unison. Since the team was distributing grain today, they would all supervise the process and make sure those two families made up for what they took.

Shen Shaoyuan looked deeply moved. “Everyone is so warmhearted!”

Shen Mo’er expressed her gratitude in a “weak” voice: “If it weren’t for your help, what would we have done…”

At that moment, especially Zhou Peijun and the few kind-hearted older women, felt a sense of duty and mission: Just look—what honest, upright father and daughter! If it weren’t for our help, they might’ve starved to death without ever daring to speak up… We have to help them to the very end!