Men like He Min, who try to insert themselves into conversations with flattery and display their charm to every woman they meet, she had never paid any attention to in her entire life.

“Mom, what’s for dinner today?” Er Dan had lost a lot of weight since starting school, looking much weaker and more dispirited.

The teacher had scolded him recently, and he didn’t have much confidence.

The only thing that could cheer him up was the meal his mother made every day.

“Let’s see what we have in the garden. It’s still so hot, how about we have some cold noodle soup? I’ve made some pickled cabbage.”

“No, I want to eat meat, big pork knuckles.”

Since having pork knuckles once, Er Dan had been longing for pork, but unfortunately, there was only lamb in the mining area, no pork.

“Er Dan, if you really want pork knuckles, I’ll figure out a way to get some for you. Pork can be cooked in many ways—like braised pork, twice-cooked pork, steamed pork with preserved vegetables, or fermented tofu steamed pork.

Especially the braised pork with preserved vegetables, the pork belly sliced thin, seasoned, then steamed in a bowl, served with fluffy pancakes—it’s delicious. I’ll find a way to get some, and we can cook it at the farm. But if you really want me to cook it, I have one condition.”

“What’s that, Mom?” Er Dan thought he’d agree to anything if it meant getting that delicious pork.

Chen Lina knelt down and pointed seriously at his nose: “During class, only focus on the teacher’s mouth, listen to what she’s saying, and when you get home, tell me what you learned. If you do that until the weekend, I’ll make it for you.”

“So, what are we eating today?” Nie Weimin asked.

“Lamb. I’ve marinated some lamb minced meat, so we’re having lamb vegetable soup today. I’ll make it for you.”

Nie Weimin didn’t mind, but Er Dan rushed straight to the small garden to pick vegetables.

Long beans, round little pumpkins, and tender bok choy—after stir-frying the lamb minced meat and boiling a pot of vegetable soup, served with large steamed buns made from high-grade flour, the earthy flavor of the flour was perfectly masked by the rich aroma of the soup.

The pumpkin became so soft it resembled egg yolk, the soup was fragrant, and the buns were light and airy.

Er Dan finished two large bowls by himself.

“San Dan, why are you so down today? Why aren’t you getting up?” Nie Weimin, seeing San Dan laying on the couch after finishing his meal, came over to tease him.

“It hurts, brother, my head hurts,” San Dan said.

Nie Weimin touched his head and, to his shock, found a large bump.

He pulled back his hair, furious.

He started blowing on the bump and rubbing it, but the bump only got bigger and redder.

“Who hit you?”

“The bad kids on the farm, one of them says his name is Li Daye,” San Dan remembered clearly.

Those two troublemakers even tried to lure him toward the river.

“Tell mom, she’s the director, she’ll help us beat them up,” Er Dan was the most straightforward.

“No, then mom won’t take me to the farm anymore,” San Dan was worried about this.

Nie Weimin also thought it was not a good idea. “Dan’er, do you still remember what those kids looked like?”

“I remember. I can recognize them as soon as I see them.”

“At the base, no one dares to bully my brothers. Tomorrow, we’re going to the farm to teach them a lesson.”

The next day was Saturday.

In the morning, Nie Weimin was sweeping the yard with a broom, while Er Dan was even more diligent, starting to do his homework right after waking up.

“Oh my, the sun must be setting in the west today. Our Er Dan actually started his homework so early?” Chen Lina teased.

Er Dan’s expression was fierce, as if the photo from his past life had come back to haunt him.

His chubby little hand gripped the pencil tightly, eyebrows furrowed in anger, staring at his homework as if it was his enemy. With one pencil, he was fighting a lone battle.

Nie Weimin fetched some water from the tap, watered the vegetables in the fields, and asked, “Mom, can we go to the farm and pick wheat ears today?”

“The wheat ears were already picked. The wheat fields have been plowed, and now we’ve planted the last batch of cabbage before the autumn frost. Son, there’s only cotton picking left on the farm, but that’s not suitable for you,” Chen Lina said.

“But we can still catch insects in the vegetable garden! I remember there were a lot of pests on the big melons. Let’s help mom with the Four Pests. How about it?” Er Dan, finally done with his homework, showed his neat handwriting to his mom.

“Okay, you can go, but don’t fight with the farm kids.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll never get into a fight with anyone,” Nie Weimin quickly reassured her.

“Er Dan, you haven’t told me yet, what did the teacher talk about yesterday afternoon? Come on, tell mom.”

Er Dan was still young, and during class, the sounds outside the classroom, the footsteps, and other students’ small movements all distracted him, so he never fully focused on the lesson.

The little chubby one with a round butt started speaking right away, what the Chinese teacher talked about, what the math teacher talked about, and that the production team had three large pumpkins, gave one to the commune, and still had two left.

Hmm, not bad.

Although the little guy wasn’t focused on the class, he still listened carefully enough to tell his mom.

For the sake of teaching his mom, he really did pay attention.

Well, the little one’s recounting sounded pretty decent.

Chen Lina wasn’t the biological mother of the children.

Although she focused on education, she didn’t have the same ambitious dreams as other parents who wished for their children to become successful.

She was more relaxed when it came to academics.

Nie Weimin, on the other hand, relied on his sharp observation skills and excellent memory to teach himself.

With different talents, it was a big improvement for Er Dan to be able to focus on learning.

“Well then, let’s go. We’ll have lunch at Auntie’s house on the farm today.”

As they left, Nie Weimin, fully armed and wearing white gloves, was busy working hard on the side of the road.

“Dad is fixing the car again.”

“Yes, your mom hasn’t been speeding lately, that’s worth praising,” Nie Bozhao said.

“Your dad has X-ray vision. Guess how fast I usually drive?”

Nie Bozhao tossed a nail into a metal box with a clang. “Maximum speed is sixty miles per hour, otherwise, your tire would have burst. Your tire’s been punctured with a nail.”

The meticulous engineer would check his wife’s car every day after work.

He’d inspect the tires, jack up the car, change the tires, and even do oil changes himself.

“Alright, today we need to do military training in the desert. The wild rabbits are fat this autumn. Tonight, I’ll catch two fat ones for us to eat. You two should hurry up and get going.”

The family left the residential area as the sun rose, and it was shaping up to be another beautiful day.

“Sun Duoyu, are you looking to get yourself killed? Stealing the farm’s big squash, the sweetest and best variety of grapes, and then letting those little brats frame the farm director? Looks like you don’t want to live anymore!”

To find the squash thief, Wang Guanghai, the leader of the production team, specially formed a task force.

After searching everywhere, they finally found the high-quality squash, bred by experts, in Sun Duoyu’s cellar.

“What are you talking about? I… I work every day, I never stole any squash,” Sun Duoyu protested anxiously.

In fact, ever since Sun Xiangnan moved away with his daughter and his wife went to Beijing to petition, Sun Duoyu had been living alone.

Chen Lina had been very kind to her, even giving her several pairs of rubber shoes she couldn’t use.

Why would she steal from the production team?

“Then tell me, are you the one in the team who least respects the farm director?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that,” Sun Duoyu replied.

She didn’t exactly respect the farm director, but she felt there were others who didn’t respect her even more.

“I think only your Sun family would dislike our Director Chen. Let’s arrest Sun Duoyu and publicly criticize her in front of everyone, then let a thousand feet stomp on her, so she doesn’t ruin our reputation,” said team member Sun Zhenxing.

“No, the Director said that those who criticize others will eventually be criticized themselves.

If someone in the team steals, they should be handed over to the mining district police for serious punishment, no private criticism,” Wang Guanghai, the leader, said rationally.

He carried the squash and got into his tractor, taking the thief directly to the mining district.

As soon as Wang Guanghai and the few workers escorting Sun Duoyu left, several figures sneaked out from behind the Sunjiazhai village.

They were no more than five or six-year-old children, one of whom, a short one, was named Li Ye.

No one knew who gave him that name, so they nicknamed him Li Daye.

Though this kid was short, he was already fifteen years old.

Since childhood, he had been Sun Dabao’s apprentice and was known for being a troublemaker—a born bad kid.

He was also the “king of the kids” on the farm.

The farm’s squash was indeed large and beautiful.

He and the other kids had stolen all of it, hiding it in an abandoned pit.

What were they going to do with it?

Smash it, break it, or throw it at the wall.

The farm’s grapes, which had been bred by experts, were sweet, disease-resistant, and the result of months of hard work.

They were meant to be displayed at an exhibition in Urumqi to help secure funding for the farm.

Instead, they were stolen and gobbled up.

As soon as they saw that the production team was going to search, they were afraid of being caught, so they planted the stolen squash at Sun Duoyu’s place, escaping with no consequences.

Early in the morning, the kids wandered around like stray dogs.

When they saw the farm director’s car drive in, the kids stopped.

One of them said, “Wait a minute, Daye, didn’t you say you put nails in the director’s tires? How come it’s still running fine?”

Another one said, “Yeah, I looked, the director’s tire hasn’t popped.”

Li Daye was also puzzled.

During the Great Leap Forward in 1958, all the metal had been requisitioned for steel production, so iron nails were rare.

He only had a few nails left from his master, Sun Dabao’s old stock.

How come the director’s tire hadn’t been punctured?

“Are you Li Daye?”

A group of kids, wandering through the poplar trees, were stopped by a skinny, fair-skinned, and refined-looking boy.

Well, this boy, clean and well-dressed, was tall and thin, followed by two chubby kids.

They looked like a troublesome trio.

---

After dropping off the kids at the grape field, Chen Lina, as usual, went to the warehouse.

Today, the sun was shining brightly, and it was Saturday, the day when the farm held its democratic life meeting.

The meeting would take place in the big barley field in front of the warehouse, with everyone sitting on millstones or squatting in the field.

In the past, a few old professors would tell everyone about the difficulties they faced before the Liberation, reminisce about the tough times, and then sing a few songs while playing the accordion.

That used to be a real life meeting.

But now that He Min had arrived, the format had become much more complicated.

“Comrade Tian Jin, last night someone posted a big character poster accusing you of being a ‘black five’ element, unrepentant, and engaging in a show-off, capitalist lifestyle. You’re eating fine noodles and drinking milk powder every month. Tell me, where did that milk powder come from?”

“Well, I’m not at liberty to say.”

“Do you know that drinking milk powder is a very extravagant and capitalist behavior?”

The gray-haired old expert fell silent.

Tian Jin, the expert who helped Chen Lina improve various crops and breed grains, had been getting monthly milk powder rations from his friend Nie Bozhao.

The old professor, being old and living in a harsh environment, had some milk powder to supplement his health, which was not a bad thing.

However, this was a secret; given the current ideological stance, once a big character poster was posted, it was inevitable that he would be criticized by the public.

“I realize my mistake, and starting tomorrow, I will no longer drink milk powder,” Tian Jin said as he stood up, took off his glasses, and deeply bowed to everyone.

He Min, holding the big character poster, turned and looked at the workers and team leaders around, raising both hands and saying, “Now it’s time for everyone to speak up. Criticize if you must, guide if you must. Why is no one speaking?”

When no one responded, she cleared her throat and said, “Well, just saying you won’t drink milk powder doesn’t show enough repentance. Our farm has a cow shed, you know. The leader is right—form is important. Starting tonight, old Tian should move into the cow shed.”