Chapter 64: The Whereabouts

The child’s words made her feel a bit sad. Before this, Wang Qian doubted if the child would even be willing to eat a meal. It’s all due to the hardships of life.

“Zuo He, I’ll bring some food for you tomorrow to save you from going out to buy. Let’s make do with what we have today.”

After the white rice porridge in the pot was ready, she slaughtered the fish and put it in the pot, added seasoning, and waited for it to cook. Zuo He, smelling the fragrant aroma of the rice, was so tempted that he almost drooled. To conceal his embarrassment, he made an excuse to take care of his grandmother and left the room.

Wang Qian found it amusing. This kid is quite interesting. He’s so young and already knows how to be embarrassed.

After stewing the fish, she called Zuo He to bring it to the old lady’s room. “Grandma, it’s time to eat. I don’t know if it suits your taste. Please try it first.”

Wang Qian brought the porridge and fish to the old lady and slowly fed her with a small spoon.

“Mmm, it’s delicious. This is the most delicious porridge I’ve ever had. Thank you, Qianqian,” the old lady learned the little girl’s name from her grandson.

“Grandma, you’re welcome. Take your time eating. I’ll come to see you again tomorrow.”

Zuo He was also very hungry these days. He quickly finished a bowl of porridge. After seeing the child finish, Wang Qian asked him to serve himself, and she fed the old lady before having a small bowl herself. Zuo He savored the second bowl of porridge slowly.

After the old lady finished her meal, she sighed heavily. “Alas, I wonder where they’ve arranged for our old man to work. If he were here, we wouldn’t have ended up like this.”

Wang Qian suspected that the old lady’s illness was related to her family’s old man, probably due to excessive internal heat. So she comforted her softly, “Grandma, Grandpa Zuo will be fine. I have to go back this afternoon. There’s leftover food in the kitchen, enough for you to have for dinner. There’s also some rice in the kitchen. If it’s not enough, you can make some more. I’ll come to see you again tomorrow.”

The old lady was truly grateful for the kind-hearted young girl. She was amazed at how considerate she was at such a young age.

“Zuo He, walk Qianqian out. Qianqian will come over tomorrow and have dinner at Grandma’s.”

After bidding farewell to the old lady, Wang Qian gave Zuo He five yuan from the money she earned from selling fish. “Zuo He, take this money. Go to the store and buy some fruit for your grandma. She probably got sick from the internal heat. Let her eat some pears to clear the heat. I’ll bring some medicine for you tomorrow. I have to go now.”

As she put the money in the boy’s pocket, Zuo He held her hand, reluctant to let her leave. She understood his feelings. He was the only one left to take care of his sick grandmother. Meeting her was like finding another person to rely on. “Zuo He, your grandma still needs you to take care of her. You should go back. I’ll come tomorrow morning and bring you some delicious food.”

Reluctantly bidding her farewell, Wang Qian hurried to the station, afraid of missing the bus home.

Zhang Lan had been absent-minded all day. She was genuinely worried about her child being out alone, especially since she was so young. When the afternoon bus was due to arrive, she couldn’t bear it any longer and ran to the station after informing others.

When Wang Qian got off the bus, she saw her mother anxiously looking around. “Mom, I’m back.” After spending the day outside, she was starting to miss home a little. She rushed into her mother’s arms.

Seeing her daughter back safe and sound, Zhang Lan finally felt relieved after a day of worry.

“Wonderful daughter, how was it? Were you scared in the city?” Zhang Lan held her little treasure and asked softly.

“Mom, I wasn’t scared. I sold all the fish,” Wang Qian told her mother about meeting Zuo He today.

Zhang Lan hadn’t expected that her child would encounter such a thing while selling fish. However, being kind-hearted, she felt sorry for the seriously ill old lady. She quickly took her child to a medical point to buy some tetracycline for the old lady, as an anti-inflammatory.

Wang Qian handed the remaining 11.6 yuan to Zhang Lan. “Mom, this is the remaining money. You should use it to pay off debts.”

Zhang Lan hadn’t expected her child to earn so much in just one trip to the city, and that was without counting the five yuan she gave to someone else. It was much more than what they earned from their work the previous year.

Wang Qian also mentioned her idea of selling eggs in the city to her mother. Zhang Lan hesitated. She was fine with selling fish, but if they started selling eggs, it might not be good if they were caught.

“I’m just a child, who would catch me? Besides, if I collect the eggs, they won’t have any evidence. Don’t worry, I’ll be careful,” Wang Qian assured her.

Wang Qian’s safe return from her first trip to the city made Zhang Lan feel much more at ease about her child’s capabilities. “Qianqian, go home and pick some wild vegetables. I’ll go to work first. I’ll talk to everyone about the egg-selling matter.”

After parting ways, Wang Qian went home, grabbed some tools, and went to the hillside to dig up some wild vegetables. She focused on gathering some bitter greens to clear internal heat and dandelions, which are known for their medicinal properties. Once her basket was full, she stored the wild vegetables in her space and continued to gather another basketful for their own consumption.

Later, she took a walk around the reservoir and noticed that the soil in her space had dried out. She collected some water and decided to catch more fish. She made an interesting discovery that the fish seemed to be attracted to the ring in her space, and they gathered around her. This was exactly what she wanted, so she collected a good amount of them.

Carrying the basket, she slowly made her way back. The vegetables she had planted in their own plot had started to grow, but they were growing slower than the ones in her space, which were already half-grown. After using her mental power to check her space, she found that the fish were still lively and jumping around. To prevent them from dying, she hurried back to collect them.

She quickly opened the door with her key and went herself in the space to start collecting the fish. She had a good catch today. She separated the big fish from the small ones. She decided to sell the small fish in the city, as someone might need them for breastfeeding. The mushrooms in her space had grown again, so she picked them and stored them in one place.

When Zhang Lan returned from work, she found that her child had already washed the wild vegetables she had dug up and was about to cook. The little one was standing on a small stool, scrubbing the pot. This sight startled her, and she quickly picked up the child. “My little darling, if you get burned, what will I do? Let Mom cook. You should rest on the kang.”

Wang Qian was happy to have someone else cook. To be honest, cleaning the big pot at home was quite a hassle, especially for her short stature. Cooking would have been a real challenge for her.

Resting on the kang was much easier. As she sat on the small stool, she talked to her mother about selling fish in the city. Zhang Lan listened to her daughter while cooking. She was glad that someone had helped her child sell the fish.

“Qianqian, after dinner, we’ll go collect the eggs. I’ve already talked to them. We’ll say it’s for your maternal family’s needs. Let’s not reveal the real reason.”

With the egg situation settled, it meant they could earn some extra money the next day. Although she didn’t earn much today, in the 1970s, a small amount of money could go a long way, as prices were low at that time.

After dinner, Mingcheng and Mingyuan held some branches, while Wang Xuan carried a bag filled with wild vegetables for the chicks. After putting down their school bags, they started chopping the vegetables for the chicks, a task assigned to Wang Xuan every day.

Mingyuan put down the firewood and went to the water tank to scoop up a large ladle of water, then drank it down in big gulps.

After finishing the water, he let out a satisfied burp. “I’m so thirsty, Mom. Do we have any empty bottles? I need to bring some water to school tomorrow. Otherwise, there’s no water to drink at school.”

Seeing her child drink water like that made Zhang Lan feel sorry for him. “Mingcheng, does your school not provide water?”

Mingcheng explained, “Mom, the school has a well, but we younger students can’t operate the pulley, so we can’t get water. The older students can, but it’s not enough for them either. So, we have to wait until we get home from school to drink water.”

After hearing this, Zhang Lan and Wang Qian felt heartbroken. If the children couldn’t even drink water at school, it was a real struggle.

“Brother, wait. I’ll buy water bottles for you tomorrow. From now on, you’ll bring water from home to drink at school.”

Zhan Lan started rummaging through the corner of the wall and found a few empty wine bottles, which she cleaned and filled with water for the children. “Mingcheng, take these to school tomorrow. We’ll get proper water bottles later.”

Zhang Lan was willing to spend money for her children. Besides, her daughter would be selling eggs in the city the next day. Even if they had to endure some hardship to earn extra money and pay off debts, she didn’t want her children to suffer.

The family waited until late at night for Wang Zhenhe to hurriedly return. Wang Qian rarely saw her father return so late and asked curiously, “Dad, where were you today? You came back so late, and we’re all starving.”

Wang Zhenhe, apologetically, picked up his daughter. “Qianqian, I’m really sorry. Just before I finished work, I was asked to help arrange accommodation for some people undergoing labor reform who were sent from the city. I was so busy that I’m starving now. Let’s go eat, sweetheart.”

Others didn’t react much to Wang Zhenhe’s explanation, as such incidents were common in their area. However, Wang Qian thought of Zuo He’s grandfather. Could he be among those people?

“Dad, do you know if there’s an old man with the surname Zuo among those people?”