Chapter 19 ☆ Green Plum and Wild Vegetable Dumplings

The next morning, Cheng Yaoyao woke up by herself. Every muscle in her body ached, a sign of overexertion. She slowly got up, sat on the bed rubbing her eyes, and looked very cute and innocent with her sleepy eyes.

Han Yin and the others were already up and were surprised to see Cheng Yaoyao awake: “You’re up early today?”

“Well, I have to go plant beans,” Cheng Yaoyao replied, opening her wicker box and rummaging through it.

The original owner had a love for beauty, and the clothes in the box were all beautiful and rare. Cheng Yaoyao selected a sky-blue top, took it out, and discovered a small box.

She picked up the small box and opened it, finding it empty. The box, which was beautifully carved like a jewelry box, was unfamiliar to her. Cheng Yaoyao tilted her head in confusion. When Xie San sucked out the snake venom for her yesterday, her memory should have been complete.

Never mind. Cheng Yaoyao put the small box back into the suitcase, changed her clothes, and went outside with a washbasin and towel to wash up.

It was only six in the morning, and the spring water was icy cold. Cheng Yaoyao shivered as she splashed it on her face. After washing up, she braided her black hair into loose plaits, put on the sky-blue shirt with a butterfly collar, and looked striking with her bright eyes and white teeth.

Han Yin, enviously admiring Cheng Yaoyao’s braid, said, “Your braid is so beautiful. Please teach me how to braid it.”

Cheng Yaoyao smiled and said, “I’ll make one for you.”

Han Yin’s hair wasn’t as black and smooth as Cheng Yaoyao’s, but she had a lot of it. Cheng Yaoyao straightened Han Yin’s hair, divided it into three strands, and braided it. Her gaze shifted to the stove, where Cheng Nuonuo was frying pickles and Shen Yan was helping. They occasionally exchanged glances, and you could smell the greasy aroma from a distance.

Han Yin held a small plastic mirror, peeking at Cheng Yaoyao’s braid. She whispered, “I’ve been feeling bored all morning. I don’t know why I’m so unmotivated. Yaoyao, don’t mind them. It’s not worth getting upset.”

Cheng Yaoyao raised an eyebrow. How could naive young people like Han Yin understand that it wasn’t about warding off evil spirits, but… If Cheng Yaoyao guessed correctly, the two must have had a deep discussion yesterday.

“I’m not angry,” Cheng Yaoyao said with a smile as she finished the braid. “It’s done. Take a look.”

Han Yin was delighted. Her round face looked much better with the shiny, big braid. Cheng Yaoyao had styled it into a loose pigtail with a few bangs, which made Han Yin’s face appear smaller and prettier.

Han Yin looked in the mirror and was thrilled, “I can’t even describe how beautiful the braid is.”

Zhang Xiaofeng also smiled and said, “Yes, Yaoyao is always good at dressing up. You look much better now.”

Cheng Yaoyao smiled. Having been a young lady for twenty years, she might not know much about other things, but she knew a lot about food, clothing, and appearance.

At that moment, Cheng Nuonuo called out, “The meal is ready. Come and eat.”

Han Yin quickly put away the mirror, washed her hands with Cheng Yaoyao, and went to the table to eat.

The meal included two steaming mixed-grain steamed buns, a plate of fried pickled vegetables with no oil, and a bowl of clear pickled vegetable soup. The educated youths, used to meat dishes from the previous days, weren’t very enthusiastic about the meal, although this was the usual standard at the educated youth camp.

Cheng Yaoyao busily drank two mouthfuls of pickled vegetable soup and tried to swallow the steamed bread. Han Yin also complained, “The food is almost gone this month. The pickled vegetables have no oil. I’m choking to death.”

It wasn’t the lack of oil, but the absence of that comforting taste. Cheng Yaoyao frowned. Cheng Nuonuo had been tired last night and didn’t get the chance to bask in the moonlight, which made the food taste poor.

The freshly steamed wowotou tasted good—soft and fluffy. Cheng Yaoyao ate one while it was still hot, drank half a bowl of pickled vegetable soup, and then went to the kitchen. She got two freshly steamed wowotou^[1] is a type of traditional Chinese steamed corn bun., added a few chopsticks of pickled vegetables, and said to Han Yin, “I won’t be back for lunch. You and Zhang Xiaofeng can take this for me. I’ll pack the lunch portion first.”

Han Yin agreed eagerly. The steamed bread in the cafeteria was made with 5 cents corn flour and 3 cents buckwheat flour, and there was also a portion of stir-fried vegetables with fatty pork slices!

After everyone finished eating, Cheng Nuonuo stayed behind to clean up while the others went to work, chatting and laughing. It was cloudy today, but the weather was cool, and many villagers were already busy in the fields.

Cheng Yaoyao saw Xie San from a distance. He was tall and seemed more lively than others, even though his coat was ragged. He was talking with team leader Lin Dafu, who was gesturing and speaking, while Xie San listened quietly and occasionally shook his head.

Cheng Yaoyao walked quickly toward them with the lunch box in her arms and called out, “Captain, Xie San, thank you,!”

Xie San looked over silently, and Lin Dafu responded and glanced at Cheng Yaoyao. She was wearing a sky-blue top today, a color that made her skin look even whiter and made her appear strikingly beautiful.

Lin Dafu looked at Cheng Yaoyao and regretted his hasty decision from the previous day. “Cheng Zhiqing, yesterday I asked you to work in the soybean field…”

“Very good!” Cheng Yaoyao interrupted with a smile, “I think working in the soybean fields is suitable for me. It’s better than working in the rice fields.” She continued, “Thank you, Captain, for taking care of me!”

“Is… is that so?” Lin Dafu’s words were blocked by Cheng Yaoyao’s sweet smile. He scratched his head and said to Xie San, “Then you take good care of Cheng Zhiqing.”

Xie San merely grunted in response, picked up his tools, and walked away. Cheng Yaoyao followed him, swinging the whip.

One was the ragged, silent, and sinister son of a landlord, and the other was a delicate, educated city girl in new clothes. Together, they crossed the ridge of the field, attracting the attention of those working in the paddy fields.

“Damn it, how lucky is Xie San that the captain assigned him such a good job?”

“How can we let Cheng Zhiqing and the landlord’s son work in the fields? Isn’t this like throwing meat buns at a dog?” Lin Goudan, a local scoundrel, said it with a drooling face, only to be suddenly hit in the face with mud. “Ouch, who hit me?!”

Lin Jiajun, with a dark expression, glared at him. “It was me. What’s the matter?”

Lin Jiajun was the son of the brigade secretary, and Lin Goudan had no choice but to quickly smile and say, “Nothing, nothing.”

Nearby, some villagers laughed and suggested, “Jiajun, why don’t you ask your father to tell the team leader to let you take Cheng Zhiqing to work? Such easy jobs should be left to our own people.”

Lin Jiajun threw the seedlings into the water. He couldn’t say anything; as soon as he opened his mouth, his father had beaten him with the sole of his shoe and warned him not to pursue the educated youths.

An experienced worker commented, “You only earn five work points a day and don’t even get lunch. This job is quite nice. Do you want it?”

Everyone fell silent. Who would willingly take on such a tiring and unprofitable job other than the landlord’s son?

Only Lin Goudan snorted, “The landlord has several jars of gold buried in his house! I don’t care about these three or five cents.”

This was an old rumor in Tianshui Village. A former farmhand from the Xie family had spread the story that the Xie family had buried several jars of gold. However, when the Xie family was seized, they were searched thoroughly—everywhere, from the step-out bed brought by Xie Sanniang as a dowry to the gold foil scraped off the pillars. There was no gold to be found.

Despite this, rumors persisted. For a long time, the Xie family was raided frequently until Xie San, a fifteen-year-old boy, stood firm in front of his grandmother and sister, beaten and bloodied but unyielding.

Seeing the fierce determination in the young boy’s eyes, the raiders were frightened. They were only after money, but Xie San’s gaze was one of a killer. This young man had grown into a formidable figure.

Some still doubted and continued to provoke the Xie family, but Xie San defeated them one by one. Though initially beaten, Xie San seemed impervious to pain. As he grew stronger, more people avoided provoking him, and no one dared to challenge the Xie family anymore.

Besides, no one had seen the legendary gold for years. Xie San, known for doing the most exhausting and least profitable work, used all the money he earned from hunting to support his grandmother’s medicine. If the Xie family had truly possessed gold, their lives wouldn’t be so impoverished.

On the path, Xie San carried a large basket on his back and held Cheng Yaoyao’s cloth bag in his hand, walking ahead without looking back.

Cheng Yaoyao pouted, annoyed that Xie San didn’t even glance at her in her new clothes. Although they weren’t custom-made in Paris or limited editions, didn’t she deserve a bit more attention?

As they passed the Fengyu Bridge spring, Xie San took the initiative to help her fill the water, but Cheng Yaoyao declined and squatted by the spring with the kettle to fill it herself.

Bending over, Cheng Yaoyao’s slender neck and delicate skin looked even whiter against the sky-blue fabric, with only a few red sunburn marks. She clumsily filled the kettle with water from the spring, leaving Xie San with a view of her angry back.

After a while, Cheng Yaoyao looked up and noticed something falling on her head. She reached up to touch it and said, “Hey? What is this?”

Xie San looked down at her and replied calmly, “A hat.”

Feeling the cold bamboo strips, which were smooth and wouldn’t cut her hands, Cheng Yaoyao examined the hat. She held it up and looked at Xie San, asking, “How does it look?”

The hat’s pointed top and round brim covered Cheng Yaoyao’s head, making her face look smaller. With her pointed chin and rosy lips curled up, she looked very pleased.

Xie San raised his hand and adjusted the hat to cover Cheng Yaoyao’s eyes. “Let’s go.”

“Hateful!” Cheng Yaoyao hurriedly adjusted her hat, fixed her bangs, and ran ahead of Xie San.

The sky was cloudy today, but the soil remained moist, making tilling easier. Xie San loosened the soil with a shovel, while Cheng Yaoyao followed, stepping on small clods of soil and scattering beans. Wearing her new bamboo hat, she looked a bit silly as it kept slipping down her small head.

Xie San reminded her, “There’s no sun today, so you don’t need to wear it.”

“If you have a new hat, you should wear it,” Cheng Yaoyao replied, lifting her bamboo hat and glancing at him from under the brim. How could a man understand that wearing sunglasses on cloudy days or short skirts in the snow was all part of a woman’s determination to wear new clothes?

At lunchtime, Xie San took off Cheng Yaoyao’s hat, adjusted it a few times, and handed it back to her. Cheng Yaoyao put it on and said, “It fits much better now!”

Although it was just a bamboo hat, Cheng Yaoyao’s peach blossom eyes sparkled like a child who had received candy, making Xie San’s lips curl up slightly.

Cheng Yaoyao put away the bamboo hat and saw Xie San eating. He opened a lotus leaf bag and took out a black dumpling to chew.

Curious, Cheng Yaoyao asked, “What are you eating?”

Her eyes displayed a naïve innocence, as if unaware of life’s hardships. Xie San paused, pinching the dumpling in his hand, and said, “Buckwheat and wild vegetable dumplings.”

Cheng Yaoyao glanced at the dumplings. They were a mix of wild vegetables and buckwheat flour, forming a hard, colorless ball that was difficult to chew. Xie San ate it without changing his expression, though veins on his forehead and neck were faintly visible as he swallowed.

Cheng Yaoyao looked at the lotus leaf bag in Xie San’s hand again. There were no vegetables in it, only a few green plums. In Tianshui Village, people who couldn’t afford to eat would dip green plums in salt and eat them with rice. Cheng Yaoyao was surprised that Xie San ate them this way!

She quickly took out the lunchbox she had brought and approached Xie San. “Look, I brought this!”

Inside Cheng Yaoyao’s lunchbox were four mixed steamed buns—three from that morning, one from the previous night—and some pickles.

Xie San swallowed the food in his mouth and looked at Cheng Yaoyao with his dark eyes, seemingly confused by her gesture.

Cheng Yaoyao offered him a steamed bun. “Don’t eat the wild vegetable dumplings. Eat this steamed bread instead. I brought it specially for you.”

Xie San remained expressionless and asked, “Why?”

“Why?” Cheng Yaoyao thought for a moment and replied, “Just as a thank you for helping me with my work?”

Xie San was facing the light, but the air around him seemed to chill. Cheng Yaoyao continued, holding out the steamed bun with an innocent and earnest smile in her eyes.