Chapter 5

In the evening, every household went to the threshing ground to wait for the brigade to distribute grain. Joy shone on everyone’s faces, and the children were especially excited. The bolder ones even took the chance to beg their parents to make a proper dry meal for supper.

Lately there was not much work in the fields, and meals in every home were very simple. Some especially thrifty families had simply stopped cooking supper altogether, saving themselves an entire meal.

But grain distribution was, after all, a happy occasion. Everyone had endured wind and snow, blazing sun and bitter cold all year long, and what had it all been for if not this mouthful of sustenance? It was the harvest after toil, and many parents, in rare generosity, waved a hand and said they would make a dry meal tonight, and everyone would eat until they were full.

Cheers from the children rang out at once.

The educated youths were mixed in with the crowd as well. Zheng Jiamin said with a grin, “Why don’t we make a proper dry meal tonight too? My stomach hasn’t known what full means for ages.”

Quite a few of the others looked tempted. Zhang Zhiqiang frowned. “What if all the grain is gone before the distribution begins? Are we supposed to live on the northwestern wind, or faint in the fields from hunger like that Shen Mo'er you mentioned?”

Zheng Jiamin said, “...If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. Why drag Shen Mo'er into this? That was downright mean.”

Zhang Zhiqiang said, “I’m stating facts.”

As he spoke, he glanced at Fu Mingze. Zhang Zhiqiang had been among the first to come down to the countryside, earlier than both Fu Mingze and Zheng Jiamin, and was the “leader” of the educated-youth compound. Though that title was not any official post, Zhang Zhiqiang still took it very seriously. So many educated youths had come and gone—why had the brigade chosen him as leader if not because he was outstanding?

Zhang Zhiqiang had a pretty high opinion of himself and considered himself an excellent young man, but inwardly he was wary of Fu Mingze.

Fu Mingze was well educated, good-looking, and from the capital. Though he did not speak much on ordinary days, the other educated youths all admired him, thinking him worldly and knowledgeable. The female educated youths in particular would basically support whatever Fu Mingze said without hesitation, and that made Zhang Zhiqiang feel a very real sense of danger.

He looked at Fu Mingze’s clothes, patched over and over, and thought to himself: so what if he is from the capital? Isn’t he still so poor he cannot even afford a decent set of clothes?

Thinking that, he felt inexplicably more at ease.

Fu Mingze paid Zhang Zhiqiang’s gaze no mind at all. He had heard the argument between Zheng Jiamin and Zhang Zhiqiang, but what he was really thinking about was whether he could find a reason in the next few days to ask for leave and go to the county town for a decent meal.

There were too many people and too many eyes in the educated-youth compound, and he never kept anything there. Every so often he would make a trip to the county for a proper bite to eat, and not too often either. After all, the educated youths all lived together, and the slightest disturbance drew attention.

Fu Mingze could not help recalling the night before he came down to the countryside. His grandfather had warned him earnestly, “They say that if you’re poor, you don’t show it, and if you’re rich, you don’t reveal it. But these days, showing off wealth really won’t do; showing off poverty, on the other hand, can be done openly. When you get to the countryside, just think of yourself as an orphan with no parents, down on his luck and penniless.”

His father adjusted his glasses and said, “Yes, just pretend to be poor. The poorer the better. The clothes and bedding your family prepared for you were all chosen to look the oldest and shabbiest. I don’t think the winds are going to change anytime soon. If you happen to meet someone suitable, you can also settle down and marry in the countryside. Don’t set the conditions too strictly. Eight generations of poor peasants, three generations of poor peasants—any of that will do. Otherwise, if you spend half your life wasting away out there, you can’t remain a bachelor forever, can you?”

The rest of the family chimed in one after another, and his grandmother, especially, sighed and said, “Thankfully your mother gave you such a handsome face. With that face, you can at least trick some girl into taking you, can’t you?”

After being talked over like that from all sides, all the tense atmosphere—of imminent upheaval, of disaster looming, of parting ways forever—vanished, and Fu Mingze had gone straight back to his room with a dark expression to pack.

Still, he knew there was some truth in what the elders had said.

His elders had sent him down to the countryside before trouble struck at home. His household records were in order; ordinary people would not investigate too deeply. But if he drew too much attention to himself, who could say what complications might arise? So after going down to the countryside, he faithfully followed his elders’ instructions and did his best to act poor.

At first, on the train, he had nearly slipped. Other educated youths traveling with him had even asked sly questions, wondering whether his family had once been rather well-off. Later, he quietly studied the poorest people in the carriage and copied their speech and mannerisms. By the time he got off the train, he was already almost flawless.

Now he had been living in Willow Grove Brigade for more than nine months, and the routine had become second nature.

It was just that with so many people living together, it was truly inconvenient.

“What if you happen to meet someone suitable, you can also settle down and marry in the countryside... you can’t remain a bachelor forever...”

Thinking of his father’s words, Fu Mingze’s face darkened a little.

If there was any advantage to marrying and settling down in the countryside, it was probably that he could move out of the educated-youth compound and no longer have to squeeze in with so many people.

However, though the countryside was more spacious than the city, it also held far more people. Almost every household had a whole string of brothers and sisters; some families had not even split up, and several generations lived under one roof. At mealtimes, there could be enough people gathered to fill several tables.

It might not be any quieter than the educated-youth compound.

Besides, no matter what, he was not so desperate as to sell himself for a patch of room to live in.

While the educated youths over there were bickering, not far away Cao Mei was scolding her two grandsons so fiercely that they looked utterly wretched. “Eat, eat, eat—you only know how to eat! The grain is all gone, and you still want to eat? Never mind dry rice, you won’t even get watery porridge! You little debt collectors, you ungrateful wolves!”

The boys, barely ten years old, had only said a few words about wanting dry rice after hearing the other children mention it, and their grandmother had caught them and given them a savage tongue-lashing. They instantly wilted like seedlings beaten down by a downpour.

Seeing this, Shen Lingling, who was standing nearby, could not bear it and said, “Auntie, Xiao Wei and the others are just happy about the grain distribution. Why are you scolding them?”

As she spoke, she pulled a piece of candy from her shoulder bag and pressed it into Xiao Wei’s hand. “Share it with your little brother.”

In truth, Cao Mei had already developed some resentment toward Tian Fang. The grain had clearly been distributed between two families together, yet in the end the only one being gossiped about was her.

But Shen Lingling was the private teacher at the village school, and her own children relied on her to look after them at school. Besides, the girl had given candy. Cao Mei could hardly put on a sour face, so she answered awkwardly, “Where’s your mother?”

Tian Fang had naturally stayed home, too ashamed to come out.

Shen Lingling was actually rather annoyed at her mother for being so short-sighted, tarnishing their good name over a few dozen catties of grain. But matters had come to this, and in front of others she still had to defend her mother’s reputation, so she said, “She’s not feeling well. Besides, moving grain is hard work. My second brother and I can handle it.”

Her second brother, Shen Jianshe, was there as well.

Cao Mei choked on her words. The men in her family had all gone to repair the reservoir by day. When they came back and heard that Old Shen the Seventh had come to their door demanding grain, they all thought it was humiliating and refused to come wait for the distribution. Her daughter-in-law had vanished somewhere long ago, and in the end only she had come as the sole adult from her family.

Both she and Tian Fang had lost face, yet the treatment they received was worlds apart.

This scene was naturally seen by many others as well, and Zhang Zhiqiang once again sighed, “Comrade Shen Lingling really is beautiful and kind.”

This time Zheng Jiamin did not contradict him. Shen Lingling was indeed a beautiful and kind comrade; that was a consensus among the male educated youths... except for Fu Mingze. He seemed never to comment on a female comrade’s appearance.

It was not long before the grain distribution began.

The first several teams went smoothly enough. When they reached the eighth team and came to the Shen Second family’s share, Zhou Peijun stepped forward and explained the situation to the brigade leader and the brigade accountant.

The brigade leader, Zhou Mancang, frowned. Willow Grove Brigade was one of the larger villages in the area, and could usually compete for honors from the commune or even the county. What the Shen Second and Shen Third families had done had truly brought shame upon the brigade’s reputation.

However, he did not want to make a bigger scene out of such an ugly matter, so he signaled for the accountant, Ding Shouchang, to calculate it according to Zhou Peijun’s account and quickly make up the grain for the Shen Seventh family.

“Has the Shen Seventh family come?” Ding Shouchang finished weighing it out, told someone to set aside part of the Shen Second family’s grain, and called out loudly.

“Here, here.” Shen Shaoyuan supported Shen Mo'er as they slowly made their way out from the back of the crowd, explaining as they walked, “Our roof leaked. The bedding and quilts were all soaked, and moving things around delayed us a bit. We’re late, we’re late.”

Kind-hearted Aunt Chen immediately said, “Oh dear, if even the quilts and bedding are soaked, one day of sun won’t dry them through. What are you going to do tonight?”

Shen Shaoyuan gave an honest smile. “The weather’s getting warmer, so it’s all right even without a quilt. It’s been raining all this while, and that’s how we’ve been getting by.”

Aunt Chen frowned. “No wonder people said your Mo'er caught a chill. It may be warm in the day, but it’s still cold at night. How can you go without covering up at all?”

Shen Shaoyuan looked helpless. “There’s nothing to be done. Fortunately the sun came out today, so the clothes have all dried. Tonight we’ll just cover ourselves with a few layers of clothing.”

So even the bedding and clothes had all been soaked. Aunt Chen sighed. “Then you’d better hurry and fix the house while the weather’s still good.”

Shen Shaoyuan also sighed. “I climbed up there this afternoon and tried to fix it a bit, but many of the tiles are broken beyond repair. I could only gather the tiles from the corners and move them toward the middle for now. We really don’t have money to buy new tiles.”

He did not say that it was his daughter who had repaired the roof. His daughter was still “ill,” and besides, the original Shen Mo'er did not have her skills.

And indeed, they had no money, or else they would not have let their daughter faint from hunger.

Aunt Chen glanced at the few people from the Shen Second and Shen Third families, then said pointedly, “That house of yours was the woodshed from the landlord’s estate. What kind of good house could it be? You’re just too easygoing. Back when your father... ah!”

In the end it was another family’s private matter, and just as the words reached her lips, Aunt Chen swallowed them back. Shen the Seventh himself was too weak-willed to stand on his own; no matter how much others said, it would do no good.

Aunt Chen had thought that even if she opened the topic, Shen the Seventh, being an honest man, would not dare mention the house. Who would have thought that Shen the Seventh would suddenly seize her arm and, choking with emotion, say loudly, “Aunt Chen, you understand me! I’ve always been too easygoing! My father had originally built me a house of blue bricks and black tiles. Back then I wasn’t married yet, so I thought my nephews would marry first and let them use it for the time being. Later, when I got married, they said they had gotten used to living there and moving would be too much trouble, so they bought that house from the brigade for me. I really didn’t mind myself—where can’t one live? My wife is also a decent woman. She came here fleeing famine and has endured every hardship imaginable, so she never cared about these things. But, but my Mo'er can’t, she can’t, sob sob sob!”

Not only Aunt Chen, but even the nearby people waiting for grain were startled by him.

Old Shen the Seventh had always been the sort who could not be coaxed into saying three words with two clubs. If two words could get the job done, he would never use three. Moreover, he usually spoke very softly, and his whole family had little presence in the village.

Who would have thought he would suddenly explode like this today?

People had said before that because of the matter of Shen Mo'er fainting from hunger, Old Shen the Seventh had been provoked and seemed like a different person. It looked like it was true!

“The place I had was two large rooms of blue-brick, black-tile house. My father even put in the money he had saved to marry me off, and the little bit of dowry my mother brought with her also went into it. They had hoped that even if they were gone, I could still build a proper home and make a life for myself.”

As he spoke, Shen Shaoyuan kept shedding tears. “I’ve failed my parents’ painstaking efforts!”

By rights, a grown man crying and sniffling was not very seemly, yet perhaps because Old Shen the Seventh looked so miserable, or for some other reason, the onlookers somehow found no discomfort in seeing him cry—

Nonsense. If a man’s crying was enough to make people uncomfortable, how could he have fooled his emperor brother for decades on end?

Someone in the crowd did not know who and said, “Oh dear, what are we going to do now!”

It was really only an exclamation, but Shen Shaoyuan wiped his tears and his eyes suddenly turned resolute.

“I’m going to take my house back!”