Xu Ning took the two girls to the village to buy cotton after lunch the next day. The first place they went to was Aunt Dashuan’s house. Her family had just finished eating, and when Aunt Dashuan saw Xu Ning, she warmly greeted her, “Xu Zhiqing, what brings you here? Is there something you need? Come in and sit.”

The group entered the house, and Xu Ning said, “Auntie, these are the new educated youths, Wei Lanlan and Yang Xiaomei. The cotton clothes they brought with them are too thin, so they wanted to ask if you had any extra cotton. They’d like to buy some.”

“I have a little cotton at home, but not much. I made a set of cotton clothes for Jianmin this year. It’s too cold for him to go to school, so I made him a big set to wear over his old one,” Aunt Da Shuan explained.

As she spoke, she took out a bundle of cotton from the cabinet. “This is all I have left, about five jin. If it’s not enough, my neighbor, Aunt Si, has some. She grew quite a bit of cotton in her private plot this year.”

Wei Lanlan then said, “Auntie, this is only enough for one of us. Could you ask her if she’s willing to sell some? We’d like to buy more.”

“That’s no trouble at all. You wait here, I’ll call her.” Aunt Dashuan walked out to the yard, stood by the wall, and shouted toward the house across the way, “Old Si’s wife! Old Si’s wife!”

A woman’s voice responded from the other side, “You old nag, what are you yelling for?”

The two exchanged a few words in low voices at the corner of the wall, and soon after, a woman came over with a bundle in her hands.

The two of them each bought five jin of cotton. Aunt Si then asked Xu Ning, “Xu Zhiqing, do you want some too? I still have a little left at home. If you need some, I’ll go get it for you.”

Xu Ning replied, “Auntie Si, the last time I visited my sister-in-law, she gave me a few jin. It’s enough for me and my brother for this year.”

On the way back, Xu Ning told the two, “You can use the remaining cotton to stuff your quilts.” Both of them expressed their gratitude to Xu Ning.

According to Wei Lanlan, in the following days, a few more educated youths went to the village to buy cotton.

The weather had been gloomy for the past couple of days, and Grandpa Qi said that it was going to snow heavily soon. Xu Ning planned to go into town today and take some things out from her secret stash.

Just as she reached the entrance of the youth camp, she saw Wei Lanlan, Yang Xiaomei, and a few other educated youths coming out together. They were likely heading to town as well. Xu Ning nodded to them and then rode off on her bicycle.

As soon as Xu Ning arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative, Su Hongying spotted her. She immediately came over, warmly greeted her, and pulled her aside. In a hushed, secretive tone, she said, “Xiao Ning, do you still have any of those bedsheets from last time? Out of the twenty, our supervisor only took five, and my brother-in-law’s factory took ten. The remaining five were split among us at the cooperative, but now those who didn’t get any are all asking me about them.”

Xu Ning thought for a moment and said, “Hongying-jie, those twenty bedsheets were originally meant for a friend to take to Haishi, but I kept them. Even if he has more, they’re supposed to go there first. Before he left last time, he mentioned that he would come back here again soon. When he does, I’ll ask if he can get a few more.”

Xu Ning didn’t plan to take out too many items at once. Taking things out twice a year would be enough. If she took too much, it would be hard to explain where it all came from.

Su Hongying understood this well. Good quality items like these were always in high demand, and not just something you could get easily. Those twenty bedsheets were only given because of her good relationship with Xu Ning.

Once she understood the situation, Su Hongying didn’t ask about the bedsheets anymore. Instead, she held Xu Ning’s hand and whispered, “There are a few tea mugs in the warehouse. Do you want them?”

Xu Ning nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, Hongying-jie, how many are there?” Su Hongying asked her to wait while she went to the warehouse. She came back with four mugs. Although each had a bit of chipped enamel, they were still perfectly usable. Xu Ning took all of them.

Before she had traveled to this time, Xu Ning had bought a lot of military canteens but had forgotten to buy ceramic cups for drinking water. She then remembered that she still had 50 military coats in her storage space, so she said to Su Hongying, “Hongying-jie, my brother mailed me two military coats from his unit not too long ago. I already brought one from home, so I haven’t been able to bring myself to wear these two. Do you want them?”

Su Hongying nodded excitedly, “Yes! I’ll take both!” Military coats were not something just anyone could buy at that time. Even though she worked at the supply and marketing cooperative, rare items like military coats were hard to come by.

Xu Ning promised to bring them for her next time she came to town. She then bought candles, lamp oil, and matches—items that were in constant demand. The weather was getting colder, and it was best to stock up so she wouldn’t have to go out too much. She also bought notebooks and pencils for Xu An.

As Xu Ning was heading back, she noticed that Old Chen’s ox cart was still parked nearby. She called out, “Grandpa Chen!” and then continued riding her bicycle back to the village.

As Xu Ning neared home, she discreetly took out the prepared items from her storage space and placed them into the basket she carried on her back.

She pulled out a leg of lamb, thinking about how the past few days, though it hadn’t snowed, had been bone-chillingly cold, with the wind seeming to cut right through to the bones. Her father and Uncle Lu still had to wake up in the middle of the night to feed the cattle, so she planned to make some lamb soup to help warm them up. She also took out a set of pig offal, intending to clean it ahead of time, so it would be ready whenever they wanted to cook it. It wouldn’t be convenient to clean it after the snow started falling.

Xu Ning pushed her bicycle into the house, where she saw Xu An and Xu Mo on the heated kang bed, reading picture books. When they saw her return, both put down their books and rushed over to grab her hands.

Xu An said, “Sis, come get warm on the kang!” As he spoke, he ran off to fetch hot water for her.

Xu Mo gently pushed her onto the kang to sit down, knelt to take off her shoes, and then placed her cold feet inside his own cotton clothes to warm them. Xu Ning’s heart softened in a way she had never felt before.

Pulling Xu Mo up onto the kang with her, she said, “Little Mo, you’re such a good boy. As long as I’m sitting on the kang, I’m not cold anymore!”

Xu An came back with a bowl of hot water and handed it to her, saying, “Sis, I added two spoons of brown sugar. Drink it while it’s hot to warm yourself up.” Xu Ning smiled and asked Xu An to join them on the kang. The three siblings sat together, talking affectionately.

“Xiao An, Xiao Mo,” Xu Ning said with a smile, “today I bought some lamb. How about we have lamb soup for dinner tonight?”

Both Xu An and Xu Mo’s eyes lit up with excitement at the mention of lamb soup. Once Xu Ning felt warm enough, she let the two continue reading their storybooks on the kang while she went to fetch water, preparing to clean the pig offal. After she finished washing it, Xu An had already made a simple dough-drop soup. The wind outside was howling, and the sky looked dark and gloomy.

After the three of them ate, the house was so dim it felt like evening, even though it was still the afternoon. Xu Ning lit a candle and took out five cotton hats and five pairs of gloves she had retrieved from her storage space earlier. She then cut the old, ragged clothes Xu Mo had worn when he first arrived into patches and began stitching them onto the hats and gloves. Once she was done, the hats and gloves were covered with patches, making them look quite worn and shabby. Xu Ning inspected her handiwork and felt very satisfied—her sewing skills were getting better and better.

Looking at the time, she saw it was nearly three o’clock. She went to the kitchen and began cooking the lamb, sticking some flatbread onto the side of the stove. Lamb soup always tasted best when paired with flatbread.

Two hours later, the entire kitchen was filled with the delicious aroma of lamb soup. Xu Ning served three bowls for herself and her brothers. She didn’t want to deliver the rest to her parents too early, in case she ran into anyone.

She also made sure Xu Mo didn’t drink too much soup, urging him to eat more meat instead, to prevent him from wetting the bed later.

After they finished eating, Xu Ning filled a jar with the remaining lamb soup. She also prepared a dipping sauce using the chili paste Da Lin had brought over previously. She decided not to bring any flatbread because her mother and Aunt Lu usually made their own bread or cornbread every evening. She gathered the patched hats, gloves, and the tea mugs she had bought earlier, taking three and leaving one at home for their own use.

Since she couldn’t carry everything by herself, Xu Ning asked Xu An to carry a basket on his back, placing the hats, gloves, and tea mugs inside. He held the jar of dipping sauce, while Xu Ning carried the jar of lamb soup. Together, the siblings made their way toward the cattle shed.