The next day, Xu Ning had breakfast and continued to peel corn.

Lu Xiaotang took Xu An up the mountain. They had enough firewood at home, and the two of them planned to venture further in to see if they could encounter any game.

When Xu Ning finished work at noon and prepared lunch, the two of them had not yet returned. She glanced at the time and realized it was almost time for her to start work again, so she decided not to wait for them. After hastily eating a little, she left their meals in the pot and headed off to work.

When she returned from work that evening, she found the front door was locked from the inside, indicating that the two of them had come back. She pushed on the door but couldn’t open it. Just as she was about to call out to Xu An to let her in, the door swung open from the inside.

Xu An opened the door to let her in and then locked it again. Xu Ning noticed he seemed a bit mysterious; they must have caught something big today.

As soon as she stepped inside, she saw Lu Xiaotang skinning a wild boar. Xu Ning had never seen such a large boar before; it appeared to weigh around five or six hundred pounds. Next to him, a basin contained pig blood, and another basin held the pig’s entrails.

Xu An closed the door and excitedly said, “Sister, today Big Brother Lu and I spent the whole morning wandering around the mountain without spotting any big game. Just when we were about to head back, two large wild boars appeared.

Big Brother Lu lassoed one of the boars around its neck, tied it to a big tree, and with a few blows from a stick, he killed it. Unfortunately, the other one got away.”

Lu Xiaotang chuckled as he watched Xu An get more animated. “Stop bragging and hurry up and wash the entrails; it’ll be dark soon, and we won’t be able to see anything.”

Xu An quickly replied, “Sister, I’ve already cleaned the pig’s entrails. You can stuff the blood sausage; I can’t do that part.”

It was then that Xu Ning snapped back to reality from the sight of the large wild boar and asked, “How could there be such big wild boars? You two didn’t get hurt, did you?”

Xu An scoffed, “How could we get hurt? Big Brother Lu is so strong! The wild boar didn’t even get close to us before he lassoed it and killed it. This one isn’t even that big; the one that ran away was even bigger!”

Xu Ning looked at him speechlessly, wondering what he was so proud of; it wasn’t even him who had killed it.

The three of them finished preparing the wild boar, and it was already past seven in the evening. Xu An was cooking the blood sausage.

Lu Xiaotang cut the pork into chunks weighing about two jin, and Xu Ning salted it and placed it in a jar. The daytime temperatures were still quite high, and she feared the meat would spoil if not salted.

She realized they didn’t have enough salt; they were short by quite a bit. She planned to head into town early the next morning to buy more salt. She had plenty of salt stored in her space, but there was no excuse to take it out now. Besides, that was fine salt, which was completely different from the coarse salt they used now. She only dared to use a little when cooking rice, and even then, she didn’t want anyone to see.

Xu Ning fished half of the cooked blood sausage out of the pot and took a few pieces of meat, asking Lu Xiaotang to take them to the cow shed, reminding him to come back for dinner afterward.

She and Xu An stayed home to prepare dinner, but they only had one pot. They hadn’t eaten dinner yet since they had been cooking the blood sausage.

On the day Xu An started school, both Xu Ning and Lu Xiaotang went to see him off. Since he had to bring his luggage, Xu An rode old Chen’s ox cart to take it with him.

Xu Ning and Lu Xiaotang rode their bicycle ahead and agreed to wait for him at the archway.

As Lu Xiaotang rode the bicycle, he called back to Xu Ning, “Xiao Ning, while you’re sending Xu An to school, I’ll take you to get some fabric. You should make a few new outfits.”

Xu Ning quickly replied, “Brother Lu, I already have clothes.”

Then she realized that he might think her clothes were all dark and baggy because she was unwilling to buy nicer ones.

After a moment of thought, she added, “Brother Lu, I have plenty of clothes. I don’t really like bright colors. Wearing darker clothes is practical for working in the fields in the countryside; they’re less likely to get dirty and safer too.”

After she finished speaking, Lu Xiaotang fell silent for a long time before finally saying, “I’ve put you in a difficult position.”

“Oh, it’s not a big deal. Look at the people in the village; they all dress like this, right?”

After they dropped Xu An off at school and helped him move his luggage into the dormitory, they stepped outside.

As Xu An saw them off, he said to Lu Xiaotang, “Big Brother Lu, I won’t be able to see you off the day after tomorrow when you leave. Please be careful on your way.”

Lu Xiaotang smiled and patted Xu An on the shoulder, saying, “It’s fine. Consider today a farewell. Focus on your studies, and if anything comes up, just write me a letter.”

After leaving the school, they passed by a photography studio. Lu Xiaotang turned to Xu Ning and said, “Xiao Ning, shall we take a photo?”

Xu Ning was also curious about what a photography studio was like nowadays, so she nodded and replied, “Sure!”

The staff at the studio noticed that they were both wearing military uniforms and exuding a good demeanor. They greeted them enthusiastically, saying, “Comrades, are you here to take photos? Would you like a group photo or individual ones?”

As Xu Ning curiously looked around the studio, she noticed all the photographs hanging on the walls were in black and white, with no color photos in sight. She asked, “I see that all the photos here are black and white. Can’t we take color ones?”

“Comrade, for color photos, you’d have to go to a big city. Here in our small town, we can only take black and white ones.”

The two of them took a group photo, and Lu Xiaotang had Xu Ning take an individual photo as well. They were told to come back in three days to collect their pictures.

Lu Xiaotang asked, “Comrade, could you help us speed up the development? We’re willing to pay a little extra.

In the end, they agreed to come back the next afternoon to pick up their photos.

Lu Xiaotang then suggested taking her to a state-run restaurant for a meal. Xu Ning had eaten there once and felt that the food wasn’t as good as what she made herself, and the hygiene was lacking as well.

So she replied, “Brother Lu, let’s just go back and eat. We have so much meat and vegetables at home; it’ll be cleaner and more hygienic to cook ourselves.” There was one more thing she didn’t say: it would also save on ration tickets and money.

Lu Xiaotang laughed and said, “Alright, let’s go back to eat. You don’t need to cook today; I’ll make dinner for you.”

Xu Ning happily responded, “Great! I’ll enjoy a ready-made meal today, then.”

As they rode back, they ran into Grandpa Qi and Xiao Mo at the village entrance. Xiao Mo was carrying a small backpack made of several pieces of fabric that Xu Ning had sewn for him, and she had even deliberately added a few small patches on it.

Xu Ning and Lu Xiaotang got off their bicycles and greeted Grandpa Qi. Noticing that there weren’t many people around, Xu Ning pinched Xiao Mo’s little cheeks and said, “Jade-Faced Little Tiger, today was your first day of school, right?”

Xiao Mo excitedly replied, “Sister, Big Brother Lu, I started school today! The teacher even gave us books. Tomorrow, we’ll have classes for real. I’m in the same class as Sandan, Xiaowang, and Dachui!”

Xu Ning smiled and said, “Then Xiao Mo needs to study hard! Come to my place tonight, and I’ll make you something delicious.”

Xiao Mo nodded happily, and Grandpa Qi said to the two of them, “You two should ride back first! I’ll take Xiao Mo for a walk around the village.”

As they rode their bicycle to the entrance of the Youth camp, they ran into Yang Xiaomei and Sun Hao coming down from the mountain.

Seeing Xu Ning, Yang Xiaomei happily waved and said, “Come down! Let’s chat for a bit before you go!”

Xu Ning got off their bicycle, and Lu Xiaotang also dismounted, greeting Sun Hao before saying to Xu Ning, “You stay here and have some fun for a bit. I’ll head back to cook.”

Xu Ning nodded in response and followed Yang Xiaomei into the house.

Yang Xiaomei let Xu Ning sit down first and went to pour two bowls of water, placing them on the table. She said, “I have to ask, how come your mouth is so sharp?”

Xu Ning, confused, asked, “What do you mean my mouth is sharp? Did I guess something right?”

“Wei Lanlan is really pregnant.”

Xu Ning was delighted and asked, “Really? When did that happen? How come I didn’t hear about it?”

“Just a couple of days after you joked with her. She started experiencing morning sickness, and yesterday afternoon, she went to the village to see Dr. Han. He checked her pulse and said she’s been pregnant for over a month.”