Chapter 81: Courage

Outside the Shen family courtyard, a bustling crowd of children rushed up, ranging from nine to ten years old, accompanied by five or six-year-olds, creating quite a commotion.

Seeing Shen An peeling sesame seeds, each and every one of them had keen eyes and rushed over to help.

In the village, which child hadn’t helped with the task of peeling sesame seeds for their family? Even the five or six-year-olds could clumsily manage it, though their movements were awkward, they could indeed do it.

Shen Ning chuckled as she watched, “While you’re peeling, I’ll go pour some sweet water for you.”

With light steps, she entered the courtyard.

Shen An hadn’t forgotten his promise to Shen Jin from last time. When someone did him a favor, it was only right to remember it. He looked around but didn’t see Shen Jin and the others, which was somewhat strange. Since the Chen family was so close, with Shen Jin’s gluttonous nature, he should have rushed over at the first sign of something good.

But he hadn’t come?

He greeted his brother, “I’ll go in and help serve the bowls.”

Then he followed into the courtyard.

He glanced at his sister’s expression, “Didn’t you see Shen Jin?”

“I did,” Shen Ning replied as she picked up a bamboo tube and bowls.

Seeing him was one thing, but not coming was unlike Shen Jin.

Shen Ning glanced sideways at her brother, “I know. Since last time he asked us to remember him when we had something good, but he didn’t come out himself. I didn’t feel like calling him, anyway. Last time when I brought bean dregs to Grandma Chen, Third Aunt was cursing at me behind my back, and Shen Jin was there too. It was probably embarrassing for him.”

They had grown up playing together, and Shen Jin was carefree. Sometimes, he was nice, like when Third Aunt secretly made egg fried rice for them when they were little, he would sneakily share it with her and Second Brother. But that was a long time ago, when Shen Jin was five or six years old?

He was particularly annoying when he wanted to be, especially as he got older, he wasn’t cute like when he was little. His mouth was especially irritating.

Shen Jin had seen Third Aunt scold him and Second Brother before, and he even laughed along while watching on the sidelines. But now that they had more food from their home, Shen Jin had become more frequent in his visits. People are swayed by kindness, well, maybe it was developing some friendship, and he knew it was embarrassing.

Shen An understood the reason after Shen Ning explained it to him. He was very clear about what kind of person Third Aunt was. The things she said when she scolded must not have been pleasant to hear. He patted his sister on the back of her head, “I haven’t heard you say that before, so let’s not call him. Don’t be angry.”

His sister couldn’t be wronged.

Shen Ning raised her chin, “I’m not angry. I just don’t think there’s anything nice to say. It’s not like it’s good, so why should we tell him and Sister-in-law? Besides, we’re better off now than they are. I’m happy to see her get angry and jump around.”

The little girl said, her eyes brightening as she spoke, a smile spreading across her face, her eyes filled with joy.

Shen An couldn’t help but smile along.

As for Shen Jin, let’s look at it later. After all, there’s still sugar left, and Anning won’t refuse to give it to him, but she’s being stubborn. She won’t call him anymore.

Well, think about it. If he had just listened to Third Aunt scolding him a few days ago, he probably wouldn’t have wanted to talk to Shen Jin and the others.

The pottery jar filled with sugar water wasn’t light, and Shen An carried it himself, pouring it into the bowls, while Shen Ning carried them out to distribute.

There were plenty of bowls in the house now, plus a few more bamboo tubes, which was enough.

When Sang Luo returned, she saw a group of children outside her courtyard, large and small, holding bowls with narrowed eyes, happily drinking the sugar water, enjoying themselves as if they were about to sway and dance. They greeted her with a wave when they saw her.

Sang Luo smiled and responded. She didn’t care how these children played. Shen An and Shen Ning were very organized in this regard. Sang Luo looked at the sky, still early for lunchtime, so she went into the house to get the clothes she had cut earlier, and carried the only stool in the kitchen outside to sew in the courtyard.

After sewing for a while, amidst the chirping voices of the children, there suddenly came a series of clucking sounds of hens. Sang Luo listened carefully, not just one, but two hens, and the sound was constantly moving.

Shen Ning had already run in excitedly, “Sister-in-law, it seems like the other two hens are about to lay eggs too!”

Sang Luo followed to see, two hens pacing back and forth outside, clucking incessantly, their peculiar chicken faces turning red.

Yes, Sang Luo could indeed see the redness on the chickens’ faces.

“It looks like they’re about to lay eggs. Let’s not startle them.”

The group of children fell silent one by one, nodding as they held their bowls of sugar water. Because of Sang Luo’s words, not startling the hens before laying eggs seemed like a serious and solemn matter.

Seeing the two hens standing like wooden dolls, not moving, stealing glances around, Sang Luo couldn’t help but smile before retreating into the courtyard to continue her busy work.

Each child with a bowl of sugar water, this group of kids gradually sipped away at it, taking more than a quarter of an hour to finish. They carefully washed the bowls and bamboo tubes outside with spring water, then Shen Ning and Shen An took them back to the kitchen. The children squatted together again to peel sesame seeds.

Doing all these things, there wasn’t much noise.

As noon approached, one of the hens came out clucking cheerfully, fluffing her feathers and strutting proudly.

The group of children looked excitedly at her, and Shen Ning wanted to go see, but she remembered there was still one hen inside the coop, so she restrained herself.

But she didn’t have to restrain herself for long. Soon, the other hen also started clucking, then proudly strode out of the coop, clucking all the way.

Shen Ning and the little girl saw the two hens come out and ran happily towards the chicken coop, followed by Sanniu’s sister Qiao Er.

The three little girls squatted in front of the chicken coop, laughing happily.

Shen Ning reached in and retrieved the eggs with both hands, then ran back into the courtyard gleefully, “Sister-in-law, we have three eggs today!”

Hearing this, Sang Luo smiled, “Okay, we’ll steam the eggs later for lunch.”

Shen Ning happily agreed and ran to the kitchen with the eggs. She felt like they needed something to hold the eggs in at home, with three eggs a day!

Outside the courtyard, when the group of children heard Sang Luo’s mention of steaming eggs for lunch, their mouths began to water. Huzi, looking enviously at Shen An, said, “Your sister-in-law is so good. You get to eat eggs at home?”

Their family’s eggs were mostly saved to be sold for money. They rarely ate them at home.

Shen An’s eyes curved, whispering to Huzi, “My sister-in-law said these are Yunying’s eggs, good for your health. We had egg flower porridge with sugar this morning, it was delicious.”

Huzi: Even more envious.

Erniu picked up on another point, “Do you have lunch at home? Three meals a day?”

They were all good friends, and since they were all involved in the same business, there was nothing to hide. Shen An smiled and nodded, “My sister-in-law said we were too hungry before and damaged our bodies, so we have to slowly replenish ourselves to get better. Otherwise, our bodies won’t recover.”

Erniu and Huzi listened to this and looked at Shen An. After a moment, they exchanged glances.

Erniu: “Xiao An seems to have gained some weight?”

Huzi nodded, “He’s gotten a little bigger. He used to be so skinny.”

Knowing it was because they had been too hungry before and had damaged their bodies, and now they needed to replenish themselves, they weren’t as envious anymore. They hadn’t suffered like Shen An had.

When Sang Luo started making lunch, Erniu and Huzi agreed to come back in the afternoon to help peel sesame seeds. They led the group of children back down the mountain to the village.

What Erniu and Huzi didn’t know was that while they were up the mountain, Shen Yin and Shen Tie were eagerly waiting outside their own courtyard, playing with mud. They had been watching the road down the mountain for a long time.

As soon as they saw someone coming down, they got excited. Shen Tie was still playing with mud, while Shen Yin ran back to their house like the wind, “Sanniu, Sanniu, Erniu and Huzi are coming down.”

Shen Jin sat up abruptly from the bed. Thinking of the scolding his mother had given Shen Ning last time and Shen Ning’s attitude today, he grumbled and lay back down.

Seeing him like this, Shen Yin pouted and ran out by herself.

She wasn’t familiar with Erniu and Huzi, but they were about the same age as Sanniu, Shishi, and Chen Xiaoya. When she ran out, she found an opportunity to approach them, eagerly asking, “Did you guys go to my Second Brother’s house for food today?”

Sanniu and Chen Xiaoya didn’t know about the incident where Li scolded Shen Ning, they only knew that Shen Jin, Shen Yin, and Shen Tie used to share in the food before. So they replied, “We had sugar water, one bowl each. Why didn’t you come today?”

Having walked with Shen Ning last time and heard clearly what Li said, Chen Xiao Ya couldn’t help but pause, “…”

It was normal not to go. An Ning sister didn’t even call Shen Jin today.

Shen Yin didn’t know all this, but when she heard it was sugar water, one bowl each, her mouth turned down, almost crying from envy.

Sugar water, it was sugar water. Why didn’t Sanniu go today?

She turned and ran home.

…

“Sugar water? One bowl each?”

Shen Jin couldn’t lie still anymore. How long had it been since he had eaten sugar? There was no sugar at home.

He got out of bed, put on his shoes, and paced around the room, stopping abruptly, “Did you ask Chen Xiaoya if he’s doing any work up there?”

Shen Yin was stunned, “Do you still need to ask that?”

Shen Jin rolled his eyes to the sky, “What do you think? Just drinking a bowl of sugar water and staying up there for so long, do you see anyone going up and not helping to find some work?”

Shen Yin scratched her head. Right, when they first got a piece of lard, it was from clearing land.

“Then wait here, I’ll go ask again.”

After saying that, she turned and ran out again.

In no time, she came back like the wind, “I asked, they said they’re helping to peel sesame seeds.”

Peeling sesame seeds.

Shen Jin’s eyes lit up. He had nothing to offer if he went up there empty-handed. But if he went up to cut some hemp, would that be enough to exchange for sugar water? Shen Ning probably wouldn’t drive him away for that.

The more he thought about it, the more certain he became.

Yes, yes, yes, he wouldn’t just be drinking it for nothing. He would exchange something for it.

As for his mother scolding Shen Ning last time, Shen Jin closed his eyes: It wasn’t me, it wasn’t me, it wasn’t me.

Mmm, brainwashing successful.

Immediately finding the sickle in the kitchen, Shen Yin also found a bamboo stick and handed it to Shen Yin, “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s cut some hemp. You help me beat the hemp.”

He also instructed Shen Tie to stay at home and watch Tianya, so that there would be no one in the house when Tianya woke up. He also forbade him to tell his parents where he and Shen Yin had gone. Then he took Shen Yin and ran off.

For a sip of sugar water, he thought it was worth it, and his courage soared.

But that courage only lasted for a moment. By the time they had cut a bundle of hemp, Shen Yin thought they could go, but Shen Jin’s courage had almost disappeared.

Under Shen Yin’s gaze, Shen Jin gritted his teeth, “Cut another bundle, one bundle is too little.”

After cutting another bundle, Shen Yin thought they could leave, but Shen Jin thought of Shen Ning’s attitude, not even looking in their direction, and he hesitated.

“…How about just you go?”

Shen Yin: ???