Chapter 16

Today, there are still two packs of cigarettes left from the ones bought at the commune. The cigarettes for the wedding banquet are enough.

I still need to buy some alcohol, oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar.

He Ting brought some grain over from the sent-down youth point. It’s enough for now. Lu Baiwei plans to go up the mountain to gather herbs after the busy farming season. Once she has saved up some money, she’ll buy more grain from the team.

Just now, when we were eating, there was still some dim light coming into the room.

Now the sky is completely dark, and the room is pitch black.

He Ting lit a candle, took out paper and pen, and began discussing with Lu Baiwei about what to buy for tomorrow’s wedding banquet.

The couple finished writing the shopping list and sat in the main room, staring at each other.

Outside, the sound of crickets came from the bamboo forest, and the croaking of frogs could be heard from the distant rice fields. The night breeze blew in through the open window, brushing lightly across Lu Baiwei’s face. The atmosphere in the room was filled with an indescribable sense of intimacy.

Sticking your neck out means facing the blade, pulling it back means the same.

Having lived two lives, there’s no need to be pretentious. Once married, the couple should live in the same room.

Just as Lu Baiwei felt that she had the advantage over He Ting in this matter, He Ting broke the awkwardness of their alone time.

“I’ll make a bed here in the main room tonight.”

He Ting stood up. “It’s getting late. I’ll go wash by the creek.”

Lu Baiwei breathed a sigh of relief.

She had also hastily married He Ting.

If things went that fast, it felt too quick.

But as He Ting wrapped a towel around himself and walked out, she felt a little disappointed—what was this feeling?

Lu Baiwei thought the weather was really hot, and her mind started to wander, making her face flush.

Just as she was about to get up, He Ting cleared his throat as he brought a bucket of water back. “Don’t follow me, I’ll bring water back for you.”

Should she follow him?

Did she want to follow him?

Why was she so angry about this?

She wasn’t planning to devour him.

Lu Baiwei ignored He Ting and went back to the room to tidy up the bed.

By the time she finished making the bed, He Ting had already washed in the creek and returned with a bucket of water.

They had just moved in, so there was no firewood to heat water for a bath. Fortunately, the weather was hot, so they could make do with a cold wash.

Lu Baiwei took the water to the small side room next to the kitchen and, while soaking a towel to wet herself, He Ting had already finished setting up the bed in the spacious main room.

—

Lu Baiwei carried the water to the small side room next to the kitchen, and as she wet a towel to pour water over herself, He Ting had already set up the bed in the spacious main room.

The main room of the health clinic was very wide. When Lu Baiwei lived with her grandfather at the health clinic, the main room used to be set up with a bed, and there was a ready-made wooden bed there.

The room was very quiet.

He Ting quickly laid out the bed and lay down, hearing, through a wall, the faint sound of water being splashed outside.

The sound of water splashing could lead to endless fantasies, especially since He Ting had just gotten married and was still in the prime of youth, which inevitably brought certain images to his mind.

He Ting thought to himself that he was being quite shameless.

He tried hard to clear his mind, but it seemed that everything was beyond his control.

Even though Lu Baiwei had finished washing and was back in the room, he could still hear the sounds. The water splashing seemed to linger in his mind, leading him to continue thinking inappropriate thoughts.

After reciting the calming incantation he had learned from random books several times, the sound of water seemed to gradually fade away. He didn’t even know when he fell asleep, but his sleep was restless, and he woke up with the first light of dawn.

Hearing no noise from the inner room, he didn’t wake up Lu Baiwei, who had gone up the mountain.

By the time he returned from the mountain, Lu Baiwei had already gotten up and gone to the creek with a bucket to fetch water.

He Ting unloaded the firewood from his shoulders, took the bucket of water from her, and poured it into the water tank.

“I’ll go fetch more water, you cook the rice.”

He Ting filled the tank with water, while Lu Baiwei started a fire and put a pot of porridge on the stove.

The rice porridge, mixed with crushed corn kernels, had a faint, pleasant aroma. Lu Baiwei also reheated the leftover corn flatbreads from last night. The two of them made do with a simple meal.

Lu Baiwei went out to ask her aunt to buy fish, and she also planned to invite her two uncles over for dinner.

He Ting took the shopping list Lu Baiwei had written, hopped on his bicycle, and went to the supply and marketing cooperative.

By the time Lu Baiwei returned from getting fish with her aunt from the neighboring village, He Ting had also come back from the town’s supply cooperative. Not only had he bought several pounds of meat, but he also brought back two large bones and about twenty eggs.

The eggs were buried in rice bran and were perfectly intact.

Lu Baiwei was overjoyed. “You can even buy eggs at the supply cooperative?”

“Yeah, I got lucky. They had eggs for sale.”

At this time, raising poultry was limited in number. If a family had chickens, they kept the eggs for themselves as treats or to add to their meals.

The rural supply cooperatives couldn’t stock eggs regularly.

He Ting had gone to the county’s black market to get the meat and eggs.

But he wasn’t planning to tell Lu Baiwei about it.

Meat was also in limited supply at the cooperative, and if you were late, there was none left.

Since they couldn’t eat meat often, Lu Baiwei was thinking of raising chickens. She discussed with He Ting, “Once the team finishes planting the rice, I’ll ask Aunt to see if there are any chicks available. Let’s raise two chickens for eggs.”

—

Since they couldn’t eat meat often, Lu Baiwei was thinking about raising chickens. She discussed with He Ting, “Once the team finishes planting the rice, I’ll ask Aunt to see if there are any chicks available. We can raise two chickens for eggs.”

“We’ve got two big bones. I won’t stew the fish; I’ll kill it and make boiled fish.”

With the two uncles’ families, plus the people they were inviting from the sent-down youth point, Lu Baiwei planned to set up three tables for the banquet.

The fish she bought from the neighboring village was still being kept in the water tank. She sharpened a knife to catch and kill the fish, but He Ting took over the task.

“I’ll kill the fish.”

Seeing how greedy Zhou Yanfeng was when he ate the fish yesterday, Lu Baiwei could already imagine that neither he nor He Ting, the two young men from Beijing, would know how to cook.

He Ting said he could kill fish, which surprised Lu Baiwei.

“Aren’t you bad at cooking?”

“I can’t cook dishes, but I’m good with knives. I’ve practiced knife skills.”

He Ting was going to take the fish to the creek to clean it properly.

Lu Baiwei quickly followed him, “I’ll go with you. Don’t let the fish scraps go to waste. If we clean them up, we can make another dish.”

Lu Baiwei’s two aunts were worried that the newlywed couple wouldn’t be able to prepare enough food, especially He Ting, who had come to live with them as a sent-down youth to suffer.

A young master from Beijing wouldn’t know how to cook, would he?

So, Lu Baiwei’s two aunts had finished their chores early and had headed to the health clinic in the village ahead of time.

From far away, they could already smell the delicious aroma of braised meat.

“Waiwai, what’s that smell? What are you cooking so delicious?”

In the pot, the braised pork was simmering, and Lu Baiwei walked out from the kitchen. “Aunt, I’m making braised pork!”

Lu Baiwei’s grandfather had two sons: Tang Jingshan and Tang Jingchuan. Tang Jingshan was honest and hardworking, a great farmer, while Tang Jingchuan was in the military and even a regiment commander.

Her grandfather also had a younger brother, her paternal uncle Tang Jinghe, whose sons were Tang Jinghe and Tang Jinghai.

Tang Jinghe was the head of the Xiangyang Village, and Tang Jinghai worked at a factory in the county, managing procurement.

Lu Baiwei’s marriage to He Ting had been so sudden that she hadn’t had time to inform her second uncle Tang Jingchuan, nor her third uncle Tang Jinghai, who worked in the county. The two families they were inviting today were her first uncle Tang Jingshan’s family and her third uncle Tang Jinghe’s family.

Tang Jingshan and Tang Jinghe’s wives came to the kitchen, and He Ting was cutting fish fillets as per Lu Baiwei’s instructions.

The delicious-smelling braised pork was stewing in the pot, and the fish had been filleted along the spine, with two thick pieces of fish meat carefully sliced into even thin slices.

The two aunts couldn’t stop praising: “Waiwai, you and your husband are doing great! You’ve just gotten married, and your life together already looks so impressive.”