Around the time of the New Year, Xu Ning received a package from Beijing. The sender was Wen Qing, likely a friend of Lu Xiaotang, who worked in the Capital. The package contained several famous pastries from the city, as well as two pounds of milk candies.

Xu Ning unpacked the items and found a letter underneath. In the letter, it expressed thanks for the local specialties she had sent through Lu Xiaotang earlier. The family enjoyed them very much, and the pastries were a gift from several of his brothers, meant for her to try.

Xu Ning first wrote a letter to Lu Xiaotang, informing him about the package his brothers had sent. She then wrote a letter back to Wen Qing, expressing her gratitude and her appreciation for the pastries.

She took out a small portion of the pastries and had Xu An deliver the rest to the cowshed.

On the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, it was Jianmin’s second brother’s wedding day. Aunt Dashuan came several days in advance to invite Xu Ning and her brother to the banquet. Xu Ning wasn’t sure how much money to give as a gift, so she asked Aunt Xiangyun in the village. She learned that most people gave around 50 to 60 cents, so she wrapped up 60 cents in red paper and went to the banquet with Xu An.

As soon as they arrived at Jianmin’s house, the village head’s wife and Fourth Aunt greeted her and invited her to sit with them. Xu Ning joined their table, while Xu An sat with Da Lin.

Just as the food was about to be served, Grandpa Qi arrived with Xu Mo. A few of the elderly men sitting inside noticed him and called out, “Old Qi, come sit over here.” Uncle Dashuan immediately went over to greet them, leading Grandpa Qi and Xu Mo to the table with the older men.

San Dan, Uncle Hongjun’s son, spotted Xu Mo and pulled him over to the children’s table, which was full of kids. Xu Ning glanced over and saw about eight or nine children, ranging from four or five to seven or eight years old. Some of them had long trails of snot hanging from their noses, so Xu Ning quickly turned her head away, deciding not to look in that direction again.

Xu Mo saw her and called out, “Sister,” but didn’t speak to her any further.

Fourth Aunt commented, “That child from the cowshed is really well-behaved. In the fall, he was with me gathering mountain goods. He didn’t want to take a break, carrying a small basket on his back and collecting things everywhere.”

Aunt Xiangyun, who was sitting at a nearby table, chimed in, “He is well-behaved, and so polite too. Ever since my San Dan started playing with him, he’s become much more sensible. Every day he begs to go to the cowshed to find him and play.”

The village head’s wife then asked Xu Ning, “Xu Zhiqing, does he still visit your place often?”

Xu Ning replied, “He comes less often in the winter. When he really can’t sit still at home, he’ll come over to our place to play with Xiao An for a while.”

The village head’s wife sighed, “Your place is so far from the village. Otherwise, in the winter, we could sit together and chat more often.”

Just after the village head’s wife finished speaking, another aunt at the table asked, “Xu Zhiqing, is it true that you secretly ran away from home with your brother, without telling your parents, to come work in the countryside? We want to go to the city, but we can’t even manage that. What were you thinking, coming to the countryside?” She nearly asked Xu Ning outright if she was out of her mind.

The whole table fell silent, and everyone recalled what Xu Ning’s older brother had said when he came to speak to the village head.

Xu Ning stood up with passion and declared, “Auntie, the leaders said that educated youths should go to the countryside to receive re-education from the poor and lower-middle peasants, to integrate with the local community. So, I responded to the call and brought my brother here. How could this be called sneaking away? It’s such an honorable thing to do!”

Everyone at the table stared at her in stunned silence. The village head, seated at the nearby table, stood up and applauded. “Xu Zhiqing, your awareness is truly high. Xiao An is also doing well!”

The village head’s wife and Fourth Aunt quickly chimed in, “Yes, yes! Xu Zhiqing, sit down and eat, or the food will get cold.”

After Xu Ning’s impassioned speech, no one brought up the topic again for a long time.

Shortly after the New Year in 1972, news arrived from the county that there would be military recruitment that year. Their brigade only had two spots available, and competition was fierce.

A few days after receiving Lu Xiaotang’s letter, Xu Ning took a handful of beans to the village to exchange for tofu. As she passed by the village head’s house, she stopped in to chat with the village head’s wife. During their conversation, she mentioned the recruitment news and reassured her that as long as someone passed the physical examination, they wouldn’t be replaced by anyone else.

Xu An had also passed his school exams and, after the start of the new semester, would directly move on to the second half of his first year in middle school.

Chen Sen, the village head’s son, had successfully joined the military as well. The village head’s wife mentioned that he had been sent to southern Shandong. The previous night, she brought over a chicken and twenty eggs as a gift. Xu Ning kept the eggs but returned the chicken to her.

When spring planting began, five-year-old Xu Mo started joining the village children in the fields to work. He managed to earn one work point each day.

After the incident with Li Fengjiao, the village head and several team leaders discussed and decided to have all the educated youths work together. To avoid conflicts among them, they were instructed to do their own tasks, with their work points calculated based on the amount of work they completed.

Xu Ning thought to herself, the village head truly went through a lot of trouble for them!

Wei Lanlan and Chen Xiangdong were now officially seeing each other. The two of them worked and ate together every day. Sun Hao and Yang Xiaomei were also inseparable as a couple, while Chunhua was busy taking care of her younger aunt, Jiaohua.

Xu Ning wasn’t very familiar with the rest of the group and had no desire to engage with them much. She focused on earning her ten work points each day, and once that was done, she would go home to tend to her private plot of land. This left the others in the educated youth commune envious.

Chen Xiangdong and his friends saw that Xu Ning had already planted vegetables in her plot, while theirs hadn’t even been dug up yet. They couldn’t help but feel that the three of them, as grown men, couldn’t even keep up with a single woman.

This year, Xu Ning once again ordered vegetable seedlings from Aunt Dashuan. She planned to plant peppers, green beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Yesterday, after finishing work, she ran into Uncle Dashuan, who asked her when she needed the seedlings.

She planned to start planting the next day so that she could enjoy fresh vegetables a little earlier. Recently, when Xu Mo went to cut grass, he would bring back some wild vegetables each day. Thanks to that, there was at least an extra dish on the table.

When Xu An came home from school, he brought some leek roots, saying the village head’s wife had sent them over. Xu Ning happily planted them along the edge of her private plot and watered them. Leeks grow quickly, so it wouldn’t be long before they could eat them. She also remembered that there were still plenty of leeks stored in the space, but she rarely had the chance to take them out. She only dared to bring some out when leeks were in season.

Xu Ning only planted half of the seedlings and gave the rest to Xu An to take to Grandpa Qi for planting.

The next day, after finishing work, she planted the rest of the vegetable seedlings. It wasn’t dark yet, so Xu Ning told Xu An to start cooking while she fetched water to irrigate the vegetable plot.

At the well, Xia Qing and Liu Fang were washing clothes, and Lin Miao stood nearby holding a basin, talking to Xu Mo, who was playing by the cowshed door.

As Xu Ning passed by with her bucket, she overheard Lin Miao asking, “Do you like eating steamed white buns? When I go to the city in a few days, I can bring some back for you!”

Xu Mo, with his head down, playing with the ants on the ground, replied, “We don’t have money to buy white buns. I like eating black bread and pickles. My mom makes black bread every day, and it’s so tasty. The pickles are delicious too.”

Lin Miao laughed and said, “How can black bread and pickles be better than steamed buns? Next time, I’ll buy some for you, okay?”

Xu Mo eyed her cautiously and replied, “I don’t even know you. Why would you buy me white buns? Are you trying to sell me?”

With that, he burst into tears and ran toward the cowshed, shouting, “Grandpa Qiiii, someone’s trying to sell me!”

This left Lin Miao standing there, completely dumbfounded.

Xu Ning struggled to hold back her laughter, nearly dropping the bucket as she tried to lift it.