Chapter 20

As noon approached, Lin Youqing checked the time and headed into the kitchen to prepare lunch.

His mother, Grandma Lin, had been picked up early in the morning by her brother from Panzi Village. After eating most of the dumplings for breakfast, only the three would have lunch at home.

Lin Youqing wasn’t very skilled at cooking, so he planned to make some noodles, add a few cabbage leaves, and stir-fry some eggs with chives.

“Jiang Jiang, how about we have hanging noodles for lunch?” he asked.

Jiang Jiang was not a picky eater. When she stayed at Uncle Zhou Fugui’s house, there were times she returned late from work and missed meal times.

Zhou Fugui’s wife would simply pour leftover rice and vegetable juice into a bowl, add some cold water, and hand it to her as a meal. At those times, Yinhua would sit beside her, making faces and laughing.

Later, when Zhou Fugui’s wife kicked her out of the Zhou household, Jiang Jiang had no choice but to learn to start a fire and cook for herself to avoid starving.

She would boil wild vegetables in plain water, make sweet potato porridge, and create dumplings from rice bran and wild greens, eating whatever wild fruits, mushrooms, and tree roots she could find.

“Dad, I’ll help start the fire,” she offered.

Lin Youqing was about to say it wasn’t necessary when he saw his daughter already moving a small stool over to sit down.

She grabbed a handful of dry wheat straw with practiced hands and stuffed it into the stove, lighting it before adding some small twigs. The fire quickly caught.

Lin Youqing felt a mix of emotions as he recalled how he had first met Jiang Jiang—her sallow, malnourished appearance, the poor food she had been eating, and her living conditions.

It was hard to believe that a five-year-old child could endure so much hardship and yet manage to handle these tasks so skillfully.

When the water boiled, Lin Youqing took some hanging noodles from the cupboard, added a handful to the pot, and threw in the cabbage leaves to blanch. He added a bit of lard, salt, and soy sauce, and soon, three bowls of steaming cabbage noodle soup were ready.

In the basket, there were freshly washed chives. Lin Youqing placed them on the cutting board and chopped them up. After cracking two eggs, a simple yet delicious dish of chives and eggs soon came out of the pan.

The noodle soup was too hot, so Lin Youqing didn’t let Jiang Jiang carry it. Instead, she told her to call He Guijuan to come eat. Lunch was a meal shared by the three of them. He Guijuan picked the eggs out of the chives and placed them into her daughter and husband’s bowls.

The noodles were cooked with lard, making them very fragrant, and the bok choy leaves were crispy and sweet. Jiang Jiang held her bowl and drank all the soup, patting her round belly and letting out a satisfied burp.

—o—o—o—

After lunch, there were no other chores to do, so Jiang Jiang followed her mother back to their room. Covered with a thick, warm blanket, Jiang Jiang snuggled into He Guijuan’s arms and fell into a comfortable nap.

Around three in the afternoon, the adults and children who had gone to visit relatives returned. Jiang Jiang wandered around the courtyard but only saw a few children from her home sharing oil cakes, yet she did not see Fengzhen.

“Brother Shuanzhu, have you seen Sister Fengzhen?” she asked.

“I haven’t seen her. Why don’t you check in the kitchen and the backyard? … Do you want some oil cake?” Shuanzhu looked up at her.

Jiang Jiang glanced at the oil cake, which seemed to be leftover from the New Year’s Eve dinner.

She remembered that the filling was made of brown sugar. When she took a bite, it was both sweet and soft, and she swallowed hard. “Then can you give me an extra piece? I’ll take it to Sister Fengzhen.”

Jiang Jiang took two pieces of oil cake and first went to the kitchen to look for Fengzhen, but she didn’t see her there.

Then she checked the backyard, where they raised chickens, ducks, and even the pigpen, but there was still no sign of her.

Feeling puzzled, she wondered if Sister Fengzhen had gone up the mountain to collect pig fodder.

She went to the spot where the basket for gathering pig fodder usually was, and sure enough, the basket was missing.

Jiang Jiang returned to her room and found a scrap of old newspaper, wrapping the two pieces of oil cake inside it.

Meanwhile, Fengyin had been fighting with her six-year-old brother, Caogen, over the last piece of oil cake.

When she saw Jiang Jiang coming out, she quickly stopped her attempt to grab it, using an excuse to slip out the door.

Fengyin followed Jiang Jiang up the mountain, keeping a distance of about ten meters behind her—neither too close nor too far. Her heart began to race suddenly.

 She had been watching Jiang Jiang for several days now, but that brat was either with Lin Youqing and her husband or with that stupid Fengzhen, never alone. She hadn’t had a chance to make a move.

There wasn’t a soul in the mountain; the deeper she went, the steeper and more slippery the path became. If something were to happen, it wouldn’t be surprising to die unnoticed…

Fengyin lowered her head, rummaging through the grass, and finally found a sharp, handy stone.

She didn’t want to be so vicious… but it was this wild girl who was in her way.

After returning from Hongqi Village with her parents, Fengzhen had taken the basket for collecting pig fodder and left the house to go up the mountain, even though Zhang Yueju had said they didn’t need to gather pig fodder during the festive days.

Recalling that morning, Fengzhen had been quite happy. Although she didn’t get a new dress this year, her mother bought some fabric and food for her brother at the market, and with the remaining twenty cents, she bought Fengzhen two red silk flower hair ties. T

Those hair ties were bright red, like the rhododendrons blooming in the mountains, but they would never wither.

Fengzhen tied her hair into two ponytails with the silk flower hair ties. Looking in the mirror, she thought she looked even prettier than usual. Hand in hand with her mother, she walked along the path to her grandmother’s house, feeling a sense of joy in her heart.

Every time she returned to her family home, it was when Li Hongmei felt the most proud.

Her sisters had married less successfully than she had. On these visits, she always brought back some meat and snacks.

When she looked at her sisters, dressed in shabby clothes and holding only pickled vegetables and steamed buns, she couldn’t help but feel superior. Her sisters always tried to flatter her with their words.

All the kids had started elementary school, and when the adults sat together drinking tea and chatting, they inevitably talked about the children’s grades.

When they heard that the other kids had scored 80, 90, or even 100 points, and then asked Fengzhen, who was nervously biting her fingers, and she replied with a score of 58, which was below passing, everyone couldn’t help but laugh.

Hearing the laughter of the adults, Li Hongmei felt as though she had been slapped in the face, her dignity shattered.

Li Hongmei’s face fell, and she finished the meal in a bad mood.

On the way back, she couldn’t help but scold Fengzhen, and Li Hongmei also wore a dark expression.

Fengzhen felt a deep sense of injustice, having no place to vent her feelings.

She didn’t dare cry at home for fear of provoking another round of scolding, so she could only sneak away to this secluded spot.

After crying her heart out, she listened to the gentle trickle of water nearby and the sound of melting snow. A wave of sorrow rose within her.

Would anyone even care if she died?

She had always been the child her parents cared the least about.

She worked hard, hoping to gain some attention from her family for being the overlooked, quiet child.

At school, she was the student least valued by the teachers, and no one wanted to play with her. Her life felt like a complete tragedy.

Fengzhen closed her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Please…

Let her quietly disappear…

Flowing away with the water…

She couldn’t help but wonder… If I’m gone, will my family would feel pain from her absence?