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The couple silently took out the things Aunt had brought and placed them on the kang’s edge. Since there was no dining table at home, the children had to stand on the ground by the kang to eat.
“Kids, come and eat. Your grandma’s stir-fried dishes are delicious.”
Today marked Wang Qian’s first real meal in this family. The dishes Grandma cooked, with not too much oil but very fragrant, had a unique taste of rural home-cooked meals. What struck her the most was the feeling of being at home, similar to the meals her grandmother used to make in her previous life.
The family finally enjoyed a satisfying meal. Watching her older siblings eat with relish, Wang Qian felt a bit bitter. Even outsiders seemed to do things more considerately than her grandmother.
“Dad, I saw some locust beans by the river in the morning. How about you go cut some in the afternoon? We can weave some baskets for our family. Otherwise, always using Grandma’s might make her unhappy.”
“Yeah, Dad knows. Sweetie, don’t forget to take your medicine later.” Wang Zhenhe touched the lump on the child’s head that still hadn’t gone away. “Does it still hurt?”
“Dad, as long as I don’t touch it, it doesn’t hurt.”
Zhang Lan brought over freshly boiled water for the children. “Sweetie, take your medicine. Oh, Zhenhe, we don’t have any mats at home. Shouldn’t we buy a kang mat this afternoon? We also need to find a way to get a dining table quickly.”
“Yeah, we need to buy a mat. I’ll figure out the dining table. Wife, is the money you borrowed enough?” Wang Zhenhe was a bit worried about buying so many things at once; the borrowed money wasn’t enough for all these expenses.
“Whether it’s enough or not, that’s all we have. Let’s buy what we urgently need first. Ah, it’s impossible to live at home without these things. Later, let’s move the big cabinet in the house and bring over the wooden stool. At least they match. In the future, when we have more, we can slowly get the rest. Later, we’ll move the big cabinet over and have a place to put clothes. The stool can also be moved, so we have somewhere to sit.”
“Dad, we’ll go with you to move. Let’s hurry. Little sister, you stay here and watch the house.” Mingcheng instructed.
Wang Qian obediently stayed in the new house. The couple, accompanied by their three children, went to the old house to move their belongings. When the son and daughter-in-law started moving the furniture out of the house, the old lady glared fiercely at the couple. “Hey, it’s not written in the family separation agreement that these furniture items belong to you. How can you just take our things like this? Isn’t this outright robbery?”
The old man, hearing the old lady’s voice, quickly walked out of the house with the children. “Just keep quiet. Those pieces of furniture were made by our son chopping wood and then asking someone else to assemble. They were the furniture for their wedding. Don’t tell me you want to keep those too? This is our son, not a stranger. Third son, hurry up and move everything away. Don’t listen to your mom.”
The old lady, feeling her face being slapped by the old man, raised her voice, “You old fool, who am I doing this for? Isn’t it for this family? We still have one son who hasn’t married yet!”
The old lady continued to be stubborn, and the old man didn’t want to argue with the women. He picked up the rake, took a basket, and went out to gather grass.
Wang Zhenhai, the eldest son of the Wang family, leaned against the door frame and asked, “Brother, do you need my help?”
Although he said that, he hadn’t seen him take any action. “No need. Your sister-in-law and I can handle it. There’s not much to move.”
Several children, holding bedding and clothes, followed silently. They walked out of the home where they had spent many years, knowing that it would no longer be their home.
After the couple moved the two pieces of furniture, there wasn’t much left to move in their main courtyard. With these two pieces of furniture, the small house seemed much narrower.
Zhang Lan neatly stacked four quilts on the wooden stool and covered them with a piece of rag to prevent dust.
In the afternoon, Mingcheng took his younger siblings to continue gathering grass, returning to the place they had been before. This time, with their older siblings working, Wang Qian sat on the side, watching. The east ditch was next to the road, surrounded by trees, and fields lay to the north and west. She didn’t quite understand how this ditch had formed; it seemed to have appeared suddenly.
With nothing to do, she followed the bottom of the ditch and walked north for a long distance until she reached the end. This ditch was probably several hundred meters long, and the farther in she went, the more grass and leaves there were. Some dried branches and other things had fallen on the ground. Wang Qian specifically picked up those dry branches; they were good for burning and could last a long time compared to dry leaves and grass.
Wang Xuan, feeling uneasy about her younger sister walking further away, followed her inside. When she saw the branches in her sister’s hands, she quickly took them, saying, “Little sister, let your older sister pick these up. You can stand aside and rest.”
In the memories Wang Qian retained from her original life, this older sister had always been kind to her. Whenever there was something delicious, she would share half with her. Unlike other families where children would fight over a single bite, their four siblings seemed unusually sensible.
In her previous life, she had no blood siblings. The children of her stepfather and stepmother would give her disdainful looks every time they saw her, fearing that she might steal the affection their parents showed them. They didn’t like her, and she didn’t like them either. They were all treated like emperors and princesses, while she was just a wild weed, left to grow or perish on its own.
Coming to this world, she not only had caring older brothers and sisters but also a loving set of parents. Thus, she wasn’t afraid of the current hardships because she knew that life would get better. As long as she could be with her family, she felt that living another life was worthwhile.
After the four siblings finished gathering grass, it was estimated to be enough for cooking dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow morning. They packed up their things and headed home together. With the help of the older brother and sister, the two younger ones carried lighter branches, and they all walked back together.
When they arrived home, Wang Zhenhe had already brought back the water jar, two jars of pickles, and some Chinese cabbage that the older Aunt had given them. Wang Xuan couldn’t help but say, “Now things are better. We have vegetables to eat in our house.”
Inside the house, Zhang Lan was spreading the bedding on the kang (heated platform) when she heard the voices of her children returning with the grass.
“Mingcheng, go to the production team and ask Uncle Pan for some millet straw. When your dad comes back, we’ll make a broom with it.”
“Sure, I’ll go now, Mom. Do we need to get some sorghum heads too? Our broom at home is not working well; let’s have Dad make one together.”
“Yes, getting some would be good. Our broom at home is really just the head now.”
After Mingcheng went out, Zhang Lan asked the children to quickly climb onto the kang and take a rest. They had all been working hard all day, especially the little girl who was not yet fully recovered.
The three children climbed onto the kang, sitting on the clean bedding, feeling comfortable in every way. Since Wang Qian arrived here, she had only had a proper rest last night, and now that she was on the kang, she realized how weak her small body still was. Lying on the warm kang, she unknowingly fell asleep.