Chapter 22: Another Slap

When Liu Xuemei and her brother went home, they didn’t mention what had happened at the grain station. But when the family heard what Liu Xuemei said just now, Father Liu and the others all turned their eyes toward her.

“What meat?” Father Liu was the first to ask.

Liu Xuemei repeated what had happened today, then complained to her father, “My brother refused to believe her, and even said she was a fraud.”

Mother Liu sided with her daughter, saying: “Meat is hard to get in the first place. It’s normal that it trades for higher than the market price. Even if it doesn’t really have nourishing properties, we should still exchange for some. Not only should your sister, who’s just gotten pregnant, eat more to replenish her body, but even your wife—she gave birth just a few months ago—she should also be supplementing her health.”

The eldest sister-in-law (Liu’s wife) had no objection. Her mother-in-law doted on her sister-in-law, but had never treated her unfairly. When they exchanged for meat, it was cooked for the whole family, not just for the younger sister. Since she also got to eat, she had no reason to complain, so she stayed silent.

Liu Jianfeng said: “Mom, it was my first time dealing with her, so of course I had to be cautious. Now that I know the quality of what she has, I’ll naturally know how to handle it in the future.”

The scrambled eggs with Chinese chives on the table was quickly eaten up, though everyone still wanted more.

The same thing happened at the Chi household.

When Qin Xiangdong delivered the rabbit to the Chi family today, he said it was different from ordinary rabbits. At first, the elderly couple didn’t quite believe him. But Chi Jiahe loved his wife dearly. Even if he didn’t fully believe it, as long as there was even a sliver of hope, he wasn’t willing to let it slip.

Yang Cai, Chi Jiahe’s wife, had hurt her body when she was young. Her stomach was weak, and her constitution frail. Though she was ten years younger than her husband, she looked older than him. Most of the time she lay in bed, too unwell to do much. The doctors said that if she could be properly nourished now, she might live a few more years—but the problem was, she simply couldn’t eat. Even a little food made her nauseous, and sometimes she’d vomit it all back out.

The rabbit meat Chi Jiahe bought from Qin Xiangdong, he only cooked half of it today. Normally, even that much would be too much for the two of them. But this time, the stewed rabbit was fragrant, and when Yang Cai ate, she didn’t feel sick at all. That half of the rabbit was quickly finished, and she still wanted more.

Seeing his wife’s appetite return, Chi Jiahe was overjoyed. He hurried to stoke up the coal stove and stew the other half. In his heart, he was already planning to visit Qin Xiangdong tomorrow to ask about the rabbits and see if he could buy more.

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After leaving the grain station, Ji Tangtang found a place to enter her secret realm. She first returned to her original appearance, tied the bamboo basket onto the back seat of the bicycle, tidied up, and then exited the secret realm, riding the bicycle toward the village.

At first she was a bit unsteady, and the bike moved slowly. But with her quick learning ability, it didn’t take long for her to master it. Soon she was speeding along. On foot, even walking fast, it would take over an hour to get from the county to Hongxing Village. But with the bike, she arrived in just over twenty minutes.

When she reached the village, it happened to be the end of the workday. Everyone saw Ji Tangtang ride back on a bicycle and was stunned. The villagers quickly surrounded her, asking where she got the bike.

Standing in the crowd, Ji Tingting and Fang Juan stared at the bicycle beneath her, their eyes filled with jealousy so sharp it was almost tangible.

At noon, the two of them hadn’t eaten anything. They had spent the whole afternoon wandering the streets, looking everywhere for Ji Tangtang, but couldn’t find her. When it got late, they had no choice but to head back to the village. After walking all day on empty stomachs, their legs were aching.

Just as Ji Tingting was scheming how to use Fang Juan to ruin Ji Tangtang’s reputation, she saw her cousin riding back on a brand-new bicycle, swift as the wind. She almost choked on her anger.

But she hadn’t lost her reason—she knew she couldn’t say certain things herself, or it would damage her carefully maintained image in the village. So she suppressed her jealousy and said to Fang Juan beside her:

“Did Cousin buy this bike with the money from selling herbs today? She really is capable. I heard bicycles are very hard to buy—you need both money and ration coupons. Some people even have both but still have to wait in line.”

Her words sounded like praise, but the hidden meaning was that Ji Tangtang’s bicycle might not have a legitimate source.

Fang Juan, always quick to jump in, didn’t even think before shouting loudly:

“Ji Tangtang, where did you get that bicycle?”

The lively crowd suddenly fell silent at her righteous outburst.

“I borrowed it,” Ji Tangtang replied calmly, meeting her gaze. “What? Do you have a problem with that?”

Fang Juan had been ready to demand a receipt the moment Ji Tangtang admitted she bought it. If she couldn’t produce one, Fang Juan was prepared to accuse her of illegal dealings. But she hadn’t expected Ji Tangtang to claim it was borrowed instead.

Quickly, Fang Juan pressed again: “Who did you borrow it from? I don’t know anyone in town who’d lend you a bike. Don’t tell me it was that buyer from today! I knew your relationship with him wasn’t simple—you must be having an affair with him!”

Ji Tangtang parked her bicycle, strode over in a few quick steps, and landed several sharp slaps on Fang Juan’s face. Ji Tangtang moved so fast that Fang Juan didn’t even have time to react. The blows left her head buzzing, and she stood there stunned for quite a while.

Ji Tangtang’s gaze was as sharp as a blade as it fell on Fang Juan and Ji Tingting. “Haven’t you learned your lesson from this morning? And yet you still dare to sling mud at me! I went properly and openly to the supply and marketing cooperative to sell medicinal herbs, but in your mouth, that turns into me being loose with men? If I don’t teach you a lesson today, then who will dare to go to the cooperative to sell anything in the future?”

The villagers all nodded in agreement. Nowadays, what people feared most was being falsely accused.

“I didn’t—then you tell everyone, where did your bicycle come from?” Fang Juan covered her face, now swollen like a steamed bun, and glared at Ji Tangtang with stubborn resentment. “Explain it to everyone! Your family is dirt-poor, you have no relatives in the city—who would lend you a bicycle?”

The villagers’ eyes all turned back to Ji Tangtang. As Fang Juan had said, Ji Changming’s family was poor, and he only had two daughters. So where did the bicycle come from?

Ji Tangtang had already expected that riding a bicycle back to the village would stir up gossip. Facing the crowd’s questioning gaze, she remained calm. Speaking unhurriedly, she said:

“I think everyone knows that my father injured his leg. Without him earning work points, our family doesn’t have enough to eat. So in order to fill our stomachs, these days after work I haven’t rested. Instead, I’ve gone into the deep mountains to search for food.”

“I know about this,” Lin Yulan interjected. “Just a few days ago there was even a big farce. Ji Tingting called everyone to search for Tangtang, and Fang Juan insisted on going to the second Gu family house, saying Tangtang had stolen some breeding medicine and fed it to Gu’s second son, and that the two of them were sleeping together inside his house.”

Lin Yulan shot Fang Juan a look of disdain before continuing: “But the truth was, Tangtang was never in Gu’s house. She had gone up into the mountains in the rain to find food. She came back carrying a big basket of mushrooms, and even kindly asked if we wanted any. That day I thickened my skin and took a few handfuls home—those mushrooms were especially delicious.”