Chapter 20

Lin Yao was someone who acted on her plans. When she said she would “guard the tree stump to wait for the hare,” she meant it.

In those days, there weren’t many entertainment options for ordinary people, and the communal courtyard wasn’t electrified. By eight or nine at night, everyone in the household had gone to bed.

Having lived there, Lin Yao had developed the habit of going to bed early and waking up late. As soon as her biological clock went off, she would obediently go to bed and dream of meeting the King of Dreams.

Since Gu Shi’an had started working at the police station, working late until eleven or twelve was common.

To make sure she didn’t miss her chance, Lin Yao specifically used Gu Shi’an’s “Golden Rooster” brand alarm clock, set it to eleven o’clock, and then went to bed contentedly.

— She wasn’t being lazy; she was just getting a good night’s sleep to be refreshed and ready to catch Gu Shi’an.

At eleven o’clock, the old alarm clock on the wardrobe went off, buzzing and ringing non-stop.

Lin Yao energetically emerged from the mosquito net, stretched lazily, and turned off the alarm with a snap.

The communal courtyard was quiet at midnight. The heat of the day had faded, and the bamboo forest outside the window swayed with the wind, the rustling of bamboo leaves mixed with the sounds of insects in the grass and cicadas in the trees.

Lin Yao had sprayed some floral water and burned mugwort in the room, making the mosquitoes disappear immediately.

She sat by the window, resting her chin on her hand, waiting for a while.

Since Gu Shi’an hadn’t come back yet, Lin Yao, feeling bored, decided to knit a pair of wool gloves with her knitting needles.

It was mid-August, and the days were flying by. In the blink of an eye, autumn would arrive, followed by winter.

The winters in Yunshui County were freezing, especially in recent years. Last year, before December even started, there were already two heavy snowfalls. During the bitter cold of winter, water turned to ice, and many people in the county suffered from frostbite. Their hands and feet would freeze, turning red like radishes, and applying frostbite ointment didn’t help much.

Aunt Cuilan had suffered from frostbitten hands for years. The communal courtyard didn’t have running water, so cooking and washing required boiling water. Unlike the countryside, where people could gather firewood and straw for burning, the city relied on honeycomb coal in winter. Honeycomb coal was especially scarce in winter, and the Gu family’s five-member household received only a small amount each month. The coal wasn’t enough for cooking, drinking, and washing.

Aunt Cuilan had been washing dishes and pots with cold water for years, so her hands were bound to freeze.

Anticipating this, Lin Yao, after discussing with Gu Chunmei, had saved up some yarn coupons. The sisters bought a few pounds of yarn at the internal price from the supply and marketing cooperative.

Gu Chunmei was busy with work and was slow at knitting, so Lin Yao took on the entire task herself.

She planned to knit a pair of wool gloves for Aunt Cuilan and Uncle Mancang. The elderly couple had previously worn factory-issued work gloves, which weren’t warm. They were fine for autumn but left their hands exposed to the cold wind in winter.

Naturally, Gu Shi’an and his siblings would also each receive a pair.

Lin Yao had plenty of warm clothing for herself—down jackets, sweaters, and thermal pants—but couldn’t wear them openly. Instead, she unraveled and reworked the yarn from the ones Gu Chunmei had brought back, knitting them into the popular “grandma-style” sweaters.

Inside the house, the candlelight flickered. Gu Shi’an, tired from work, came home late. As he was about to wash his face, he noticed the light coming from the east wing room with surprise.

The window of the room was open in the night, with moonlight filtering through. Lin Yao, in a floral nightgown, was diligently knitting by the window, her face glowing like a peach blossom.

Why was Yaoyao still awake so late?

Gu Shi’an hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should knock on the door to suggest she go to bed earlier.

He also thought that Lin Yao was a determined girl and might be busy with something else, so he didn’t want to disturb her and risk upsetting her.

Gu Shi’an’s younger brother, Gu Shidong, who had gotten up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, saw this scene and smirked. It seemed his older brother also faced relationship troubles.

“See, love isn’t that simple.”

Gu Shidong decided to play the role of advisor, running to the east wing room and knocking on the door. “Sister-in-law, my brother is back. Aren’t you going to make him some supper?”

Lin Yao snapped out of her daze, realizing it was already eleven-thirty. She had been so focused on knitting that she almost forgot about Gu Shi’an.

She quickly put down her knitting needles, smiled, and leaned out the window to greet Gu Shi’an. “You’re back! Haven’t eaten anything yet, have you? Are you hungry? Let me make you a bowl of noodles.”

With that, Lin Yao tied on an apron and headed to the kitchen.

Gu Shi’an’s mouth curled into a smile. Yaoyao cared about him.

Gu Shidong, seeing his brother smile for the first time like this, clicked his tongue and went back to his room.

*

In the Gu family’s small kitchen, there wasn’t much rice or flour left, but there were still a couple of handfuls of homemade dried noodles. Lin Yao picked some fresh green onions from the garden and handed them to Gu Shi’an to wash while she busied herself in the kitchen.

It was a joke to think that Gu Shi’an would be a passive recipient waiting for noodles to appear.

She wasn’t Gu Shi’an’s maid.

Lin Yao, though pretending to be delicate and lazy, actually made Gu Shi’an do all the tasks—picking vegetables, washing pots, and preparing ingredients.

Once everything was ready, Lin Yao shooed Gu Shi’an out of the kitchen and prepared a bowl of braised meat noodles.

The braised meat was from the pig offal that Aunt Cuilan had brought back. She had originally planned to hang it in the well and send it to her family the next day.

Lin Yao suggested cleaning the pig offal and braising it into fatty intestines with broth to send to her mother-in-law.

Zhang Cuilan was surprised. “Pig offal is difficult to handle. Yaoyao, do you know how to braise fatty intestines?”

Lin Yao certainly did. Her grandfather had been fond of braised fatty intestines when he was young. Though Lin Yao herself didn’t particularly like them, she had learned the skill from him.

Grandpa Lin often said, “A versatile skill is never a burden.”

Perhaps it was fate. Lin Yao had found herself in the 1950s, and now her skill in braising fatty intestines was coming in handy.

However, dealing with the stench of pig intestines wasn’t something Lin Yao enjoyed.

Gu Shidong jumped in to help, though in truth, the boy was eager to taste the delicious fatty intestines his sister-in-law was making.

Recently, the food at the commune’s cafeteria had been decent, but the steamed buns and other staples were never enough. During mealtimes, one had to queue up early. Otherwise, there would be nothing left if you arrived late.

Neighbors had complained several times, but Director Ge had his own difficulties. This year, northern regions had been hit by floods, reducing the grain harvest in many areas.

Although Yunshui County’s weather was still favorable, most of their grain had been sent to the north.

It was essential to send the grain, as the people in the north were starving.

The county committee was worried, and the higher-ups suggested tightening supplies for the time being and revisiting the issue once the disaster situation improved.

With insufficient food in the commune’s cafeteria, the members had to buy snacks from the supply and marketing cooperative to fill their stomachs.

Those without money had to steam some wild vegetable buns at home, and at night, they’d eat a bun and drink water to get by.

Lin Yao noticed this and couldn’t ignore it.

The Great Famine of the past had claimed countless lives.

Lin Yao, living in this era, felt like a grain of sand in the desert, carried along by fate.

She planned to find a suitable opportunity to discuss with Aunt Cuilan the possibility of stockpiling some grain for emergencies.

In the communal courtyard, where five families lived closely together, the idea of stockpiling grain seemed like a fantasy.

The Wang family in the front courtyard and the Zheng couple were particularly observant. Any commotion in the courtyard would attract their attention, and they might act like a cat sniffing out fish, ready to strike when least expected.

Given these circumstances, caution was necessary.

The Gu family had an old house in the countryside, which was quite isolated. The original owner had visited it with Aunt Cuilan when she was young. Lin Yao subtly brought up the topic with Gu Chunmei.

The old Gu family house was a traditional rural dwelling with mud walls and a thatched roof. It was surrounded by bamboo forest, with a ravine to the south. The nearest neighbors were about five or six hundred meters away, and beyond that were ancient, towering trees and dense mountains.

When Lin Yao heard this, she was delighted. Though the old house couldn’t be lived in, it was a perfect place to store grain.

After preparing the noodles, Lin Yao brought a steaming bowl to Gu Shi’an.

The homemade noodles were of various thicknesses, chewy and absorbed the braised flavor, glistening with a rich sauce. Gu Shi’an ate the noodles without lifting his head.

In just a few minutes, the bowl was nearly empty, with only the broth left.

Lin Yao, with a beaming smile, watched him eat.

Gu Shi’an, unaware of her gaze, finally looked up and noticed Lin Yao watching him intently. His face flushed. “Have you eaten enough?”

Gu Shi’an nodded.

“Great,” Lin Yao said, clearing her throat. She sat down seriously, ready to talk to him.

But Gu Shi’an spoke first. “Yaoyao, I have something for you.”

He turned and went to the inner room.

Lin Yao’s eyes widened. He had something for her?

What could it be?

Gu Shidong, having finished his bathroom trip, was now snuggled in bed, listening intently for a few minutes before falling sound asleep.

Gu Shi’an returned with a wooden box made of sandalwood from his suitcase. Inside was a thick velvet pouch, which he handed to Lin Yao.

“Open it and see.”

Lin Yao, puzzled, took the pouch. Inside was a savings passbook with a balance of one thousand yuan, along with several bundles of notes and some receipts.

She was surprised. The passbook showed a deposit of one thousand yuan, dated “1958,” and listed Gu Shi’an as the account holder. Given that banks at that time used manual entries, this seemed to be Gu Shi’an’s military allowance and salary from his ten years of service. But why was it given to her instead of Aunt Cuilan?

Gu Shi’an seemed to sense her confusion and chuckled softly. “Yaoyao, a man’s private savings should be given to his wife. So, Yaoyao, would you be willing to become my true wife?”