Chapter 15: Big Sister 

In the late afternoon, Li Lin woke up. After stretching lazily and massaging her sore legs, she got out of bed and grabbed her military water bottle before heading into the mall.

She filled the bottle with mineral water and sprayed sunscreen all over her body before leaving the mall.

“Dong dong dong, Linlin, it’s time to go to work. Get up!”

Hu Yingying came out, locked the door, and seeing that Li Lin’s door was still shut, she went over to knock.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.”

Li Lin slung the water bottle over her shoulder, stuffed a few dry cakes into her pocket, and threw some hemp rope into her basket before heading out.

“The team leader said to get a basket from the warehouse. Why are you still carrying one?” Hu Yingying asked, confused, as she saw Li Lin with her basket.

“The baskets from the warehouse are for pig grass. We’re bringing our own so we can collect firewood while picking the grass. I heard that dry leaves make the best kindling, so it’ll be convenient to carry them back in the baskets,” Li Lin explained as she locked the door.

“Right, I didn’t think of that. I’ll go back and grab my basket too,” Hu Yingying said, about to turn back.

“No, we only need one. When we get back, we can split the load. Carrying too much is just a burden,” Li Lin said, pulling Hu Yingying along.

The two of them walked out of the youth station, just as the other intellectual youth were also coming out.

Seeing Li Lin with the basket, Lin Meina asked in surprise, “Li, are you really going to cut pig grass?”

“Yeah, Hu Yingying and I asked the team leader. He agreed we could go cut pig grass, so we’re heading out this afternoon,” Li Lin said, nodding. Since there was no reason to hide it, she spoke openly.

Li Lin’s words made the faces of the other intellectual youth, except for Fang Mingyi and Zhu Liyan, change slightly.

Especially Liu Lan—hearing that they were cutting pig grass, which was considered an easy job—immediately shouted, “Why should you two get to do such an easy job? This isn’t fair!”

“You can ask the team leader too. No one’s stopping you,” Li Lin replied, then said a quick hello to Lin Meina before pulling Hu Yingying away.

“I’m going to find the team leader! I want to cut pig grass too!” Liu Lan said, ready to leave, but Zhao Li grabbed her by the arm.

“Liu, don’t be impulsive! Cutting pig grass only earns three work points a day. You won’t get much grain when winter comes. What are you going to eat then?”

Zhao Li wasn’t genuinely trying to stop Liu Lan for her own good; rather, she was worried that if Liu Lan went to cut pig grass, she wouldn’t earn enough work points to get a decent amount of grain in the winter, and they wouldn’t benefit. She was trying to dissuade Liu Lan from the idea to ensure they could earn more work points.

“How much grain can three work points even buy?” Liu Lan asked, swallowing and turning to Zhao Li.

“Each work point is worth five cents.”

Zhao Li said this, noticing the time was getting late. If she didn’t hurry, she’d be late for work, so she quickly jogged off to the fields.

“Five cents per work point? So that means if I earn three work points a day, I’ll only get one and a half cents. That can’t even buy two jin (about 1.1 kg) of coarse grain, and even less for fine grain. This is crazy! Earning so little means I’ll be starving come winter, right?” Liu Lan mumbled, counting on her fingers. After a moment of frustration, she cursed, then reluctantly went to the fields.

Li Lin and Hu Yingying, unaware of Liu Lan’s frustrations, went to the warehouse to pick up their baskets and sickles, then headed straight for the pigsty.

“Aunt Liu, we’re here to cut pig grass. The team leader asked us to check with you on what kind of grass the pigs eat. We don’t want to pick the wrong kind and make the pigs sick,” Li Lin said, approaching the woman who was feeding the pigs.

“Aunt Liu, you should go with these two intellectual youths to cut pig grass and also tell them what the pigs eat,” the woman, Aunt Liu, said to the little girl.

Aunt Liu was generally a kind person, but now that the two intellectual youths had come to cut pig grass, she had pushed her nephews away, and naturally, she wasn’t too fond of these two youths standing before her.

“Alright,” came the response.

The girl, named Daya, looked to be about seven or eight years old. However, her clothes were patched over and over again, and her little body carried a basket that was nearly as tall as she was.

She walked with this heavy load on her back, and it was a sight that made anyone who looked at her feel a pang of sympathy.

“Big sisters, let’s go quickly,” Daya urged, noticing that the two older girls were still standing there.

She was in a hurry—after cutting the pig grass, she still had to gather firewood and then go home to pick vegetables for dinner.

She was very busy.

“Oh, okay, let’s go,” Li Lin snapped out of her thoughts and nudged Hu Yingying. They quickly followed Daya.

But as they walked behind her, they couldn’t help but notice how fragile the little girl looked with that heavy basket on her back. They both felt uneasy.

“Daya, why don’t you let me carry the basket for you? It’s too heavy for you,” Li Lin suggested.

Daya paused, looked at them, and then shook her head. “I’m used to it. It doesn’t feel heavy anymore.”

“…”

Li Lin and Hu Yingying exchanged a glance, both silent for a while.

After a moment, Hu Yingying asked, “Daya, you’re about seven or eight, why haven’t you gone to school?”

“My younger brother goes, but my grandparents said girls don’t need to go to school. When I grow up, I’ll just get married,” Daya repeated the words her grandparents had said, but there was a longing in her eyes.

“How can they say that? Now, we encourage women to be able to hold up half the sky. Why should they look down on girls?” Hu Yingying was angered by this.

“Don’t be angry, this kind of thing happens a lot in the countryside. When you get more familiar with this place, you’ll meet a lot of girls like Daya,” Li Lin said, seeing that Hu Yingying was upset and trying to calm her down.

Hu Yingying knew that this kind of thing was common both in the cities and in the countryside, but she still couldn’t help feeling furious every time she encountered it.

“Alright, alright, don’t be mad. Have a piece of candy to sweeten your mood,” Li Lin said, smiling as she took out three pieces of big white rabbit milk candies from her pocket.

She handed one to Hu Yingying, one to herself, and the third to Daya.

“I can’t take it, it’s too precious,” Daya said, startled that the beautiful sisters would offer her candy. She shyly waved her hands, rejecting it.

“Take it, it’s very sweet,” Li Lin said as she ignored Daya’s refusal, unwrapped the candy, and placed it in Daya’s mouth.

Daya was so surprised that she closed her eyes in delight at the sweetness. She didn’t know how to respond.

If she spit it out, she’d be afraid that the beautiful sisters would think she was dirty.

But if she didn’t spit it out, she felt awkward, because she had nothing to offer in return.

“Just enjoy it. Afterward, tell us more about what kind of wild vegetables are good for cutting pig grass, and what we should pay attention to. Think of the candy as a reward from your big sisters for helping us,” Li Lin said, understanding Daya’s discomfort.

Hearing this, Daya understood that the pretty sisters were making up a reason to give her the candy, but since she’d already eaten it, she could only help them more in return.

She nodded earnestly, as if she had agreed to a promise.

Afterward, she savored the sweetness in her mouth, a flavor she had never tasted before, one that would stay in her memory forever.

Even when she grew up, married, had children, and ate countless delicious foods, she would always remember that taste—sweet and unforgettable.