Chapter 59
◎Hoes at Noon◎
After returning from school, Tangtang rested at home for a few days and then began to work in the production team.
Although Tangtang usually did a lot of work at home, most of it was housework like washing clothes, gathering firewood, cooking, and feeding chickens. Working in the fields was a completely different feeling from doing housework at home.
Take cutting wheat, for example. They had to go to work at the crack of dawn. They would hold the wheat stalks in their left hand and cut them diagonally close to the ground with a sickle in their right hand. The sharp wheat awns would prick the back of their hands, and in a short while, their hands would be painful and red. When the sun rose over the mountain, the dew on the wheat stalks would evaporate into steam, mixing with the sweat and dripping into their eyes from their foreheads, so salty that she had to blink constantly.
Her feet, in yellow rubber shoes, were in the mud. Her bent back felt as if a stone were tied to it. In less than an hour, her back was sore. Every time she straightened up, the muscles in her back would ache.
The most unbearable part was in the afternoon when the wind stopped. The wheat field was like a stuffy steamer. The wheat awns pricked her neck, causing a red rash. The sickle rustled as it cut through the wheat stubble, and her two legs felt as if they were filled with lead. She saw stars in front of her eyes.
She now deeply understood what it meant to “hoe at noon, sweat dripping under the crops.”
Tangtang and her mother, Yu Juanfang, were assigned to two separate wheat fields to cut wheat. Her third brother, Su Juesheng, was in charge of transporting the wheat. After Yu Juanfang finished cutting the wheat on her side, she rushed over to help Tangtang cut the wheat she was in charge of.
Yu Juanfang saw the blood blisters on Tangtang’s tiger’s mouth, and the bamboo pattern on the sickle handle was stained with blood. Her nose stung. “I told you not to come. This wheat cutting is hard and tiring. It would be fine if you just stayed at home and helped with some housework. Is our family really short of your two work points?”
“Mom, I have to learn to be self-reliant. I can’t always rely on you and Dad to support me. I can also earn work points to support myself. If you can do this wheat cutting, why can’t I?” Tangtang picked up the water bottle by the field ridge and took a large gulp of the cooled boiled water. But because she drank too quickly, a lot of water spilled from her mouth and dripped onto her neck, relieving some of the pain and itching from the wheat awns.
She simply poured half a bottle of cold water on her neck. The water seeped into her blue cloth coat along her collarbone. The red spots from the wheat awns stung when they met the water, but after washing off the wheat awns on her skin, it felt much cooler and more comfortable.
Although her dad, Su Huimin, worked outside, her mom, Yu Juanfang, did not have a fixed job. She could only rely on working in the production team. When the grain was distributed at the end of the year, she would use the work points she had accumulated to exchange for grain.
Yu Juanfang sighed with heartache. “I should have reminded you to wear a thicker long-sleeved shirt and put on sleeve covers. I’m used to cutting wheat, but I forgot that this is your first time. You’re so delicate. It’s really hard on you.”
Seeing that her two children, Tangtang and Juesheng, could only stay at home after graduation, she felt unspeakably sad. It would be great if the two children could also be recruited for work like Juesheng and Juexiao.
“Mom, I’m fine. Although these wheat awns look sharp, they’re actually quite soft. They only itch for a while, and it’s fine after a while.” Tangtang laughed with a feigned nonchalance. “And I’m cutting wheat very quickly now! I estimate that in another two or three days, I’ll be an old hand at cutting wheat. Look, am I not cutting quickly…”
As Tangtang spoke, she even demonstrated for her, cutting down a large patch of wheat with a clatter. But the cut wheat was crooked, like the pages of a book that had been randomly gnawed by a naughty child.
Yu Juanfang was amused by her appearance. “Alright, alright. Since you’re going to cut wheat, do it properly. Look at you, long in the east and short in the west.”
The sun was already beginning to set in the west. The mother and daughter helped each other finish cutting this patch of wheat. They picked up their sickles, water bottles, and straw hats, and then walked home one after the other.
Dinner was buckwheat dumplings. Yu Juanfang scooped a ladle of buckwheat flour from the flour bag, added half a ladle of water, and then rubbed it into round dumplings of a suitable size. Eating buckwheat dumplings in the summer was the best. It was cool and reduced internal heat. The taste was refreshing, and it had a unique, light, bitter fragrance. And what was that saying? A single buckwheat dumpling, paired with the five flavors, could almost supply all the nutrients the body needed.
At seven in the evening, Su Huimin, Yu Juanfang, Tangtang, and Su Juesheng, a family of four, sat under the grape trellis in the courtyard and began to eat dinner. Su Juesheng had worked hard all day and was tanned a shade darker. He was starving and didn’t care about being rude. He held his bowl and ate with loud slurps.
Yu Juanfang sighed with heartache and scooped the remaining buckwheat dumplings from the pot into the two children’s bowls. “Eat slowly, no one is going to snatch it from you… Tangtang, bring your bowl over. Mom will add some more for you.”
Tangtang’s mouth was full of buckwheat dumplings, and she said indistinctly, “Thank you, Mom.”
After dinner, Yu Juanfang filled a basin with water and soaked some dried plums, hawthorns, dried tangerine peel, and licorice. She planned to make some sour plum soup in the evening, chill it in the well overnight, and take it to the fields to drink the next morning.
Just then, she saw Zhang Guixiang walk in, a friendly yet teasing smile on her face. “Oh, Third Sister-in-law, are you preparing to make sour plum soup?”
Yu Juanfang gave a fake smile. “A rare guest, Eldest Sister-in-law. You usually don’t come unless you have something to ask for. Why are you looking for me so late at night? What’s the matter?”
“Look at you. Although we’ve divided the family, we’re still sisters-in-law. We should visit each other more often. Speaking of which, I have some good news for you this time.” Zhang Guixiang said with a fawning smile. But seeing that Yu Juanfang was only focused on picking the washed dried plums and hawthorns into the jar and didn’t even glance at her, she felt a little embarrassed.
“Good news?” Yu Juanfang didn’t believe that Zhang Guixiang would think of their family for any good news.
Zhang Guixiang covered her mouth and smiled. “I was thinking that Tangtang has also graduated from high school and is probably eighteen by now. A young girl’s marriage is a major event in her life. You, as her mother, should start planning for her early. Look at my Chunni. She married a man from the city who eats commercial grain. Now she has completely escaped the fate of toiling in the fields. Her life is so wonderful now. Chunni’s husband’s older brother, his wife died a couple of years ago, and he has two children. He also works at the grain bureau. Although it’s a second marriage, he’s experienced and knows how to dote on people. If your Tangtang can marry him, she will have endless blessings in the future!”
Seeing that the third branch’s Juexiao and Tangtang had returned to the village to engage in agricultural production after graduating from high school, Zhang Guixiang was unspeakably proud. What was the use of studying so much? Didn’t they still have to come back to shovel manure and plant crops? Her two sons, Tiedan and Gousheng, hadn’t studied much and had dropped out of school early to go home and earn work points. Now it seemed that their eldest branch was the wise one.
Yu Juanfang had originally thought that Zhang Guixiang had bad intentions, but she hadn’t expected her to have this idea, to use Tangtang to do her niece a favor. It was as if she had eaten a bowl of spoiled rice that had been left out for three days. She was so disgusted she wanted to vomit.
Yu Juanfang sneered. “Chunni’s husband is thirty-six, right? Her husband’s older brother must be in his forties or fifties?!”
“It’s not that exaggerated. He’s not even forty…”
“He’s old enough to be Tangtang’s father. Since you think this marriage is a good one, Eldest Sister-in-law, why don’t you divorce Eldest Brother and marry him yourself? The age difference between you and Chunni’s brother-in-law is even smaller than the age difference between Tangtang and that Zhang Chunni’s brother-in-law. If you’re really too embarrassed to ask Eldest Brother for a divorce, I’ll go and ask for you!”
After Zhang Guixiang left, Yu Juanfang couldn’t help but spit fiercely at Zhang Guixiang’s back several times. She wouldn’t even look at the best young men in this village, let alone this widower in his forties or fifties with two children.
Tangtang came out of the house. She had heard their conversation in the house just now. “Mom, don’t be angry. Eldest Aunt just came over to disgust our family. If you get angry and ruin your health, it will be exactly what she wants.”
“I know, but Zhang Guixiang’s idea is too dirty!” Yu Juanfang had wanted to grab a broom and sweep it across Zhang Guixiang’s face just now.
“Mom, don’t be angry, don’t be angry. I’ll go and make you some sour plum soup to cool you down.”
Seeing that her mother had already washed all the ingredients for the sour plum soup, Tangtang took the earthenware pot and put it on the stove. She added a few small pieces of firewood and began to make the sour plum soup.
There was no special skill in making sour plum soup. She brought it to a boil on high heat, then turned to low heat and simmered it for forty minutes. She added two pieces of rock sugar and a handful of dried osmanthus, and it was ready to drink. Tangtang picked up a bowl and took a sip. The sour plum soup was a mixture of sour and sweet, warm and gentle. Although it was not as delicious as chilled sour plum soup, it still tasted good, sour and sweet, and mellow.
Tangtang brought sour plum soup to her parents and her brother, Juesheng.
…
Wani had just scattered a handful of shriveled rice grains into the chicken coop when she heard someone ask, “Excuse me, is this Wu Fangmei’s house?”
Wani looked up and saw a thin young man standing before her. His cheekbones were slightly prominent, and he had a square face. Perhaps because he was a little reserved, one hand was pressed against the seam of his trousers, and the other was holding something.
“Yes.”
“I’m Wu Fangmei’s cousin’s nephew. We made tofu at home today, and my parents asked me to bring a portion over for her.” Song Xiaojun was also puzzled. Their family usually didn’t have much contact with this cousin, Wu Fangmei. This relative was already very distant. Why would they suddenly ask him to bring tofu over?
Wani put the wooden ladle in her hand on the fence of the chicken coop. “But she’s not at home. I can help you take it into the house.”
“Oh, then I’ll have to trouble you.” Song Xiaojun handed her the tofu.
Yu Yahong came out of the house. Seeing the tall and thin young man in front of her, her eyes lit up. “You must be the fourth sister-in-law’s cousin’s nephew, Song Xiaojun, right?”
Compared to the crooked melons and cracked dates that Matchmaker Yang had introduced, and looking at the young man in front of her, wearing a set of army green labor cloth uniform and a pair of yellow rubber shoes, tall and thin, Yu Yahong was now as clear-eyed as she could be.
“Yes.”
Yu Yahong couldn’t help but give a thumbs-up. “What a good young man!”
After Song Xiaojun left, Wu Fangmei asked Yu Yahong what she thought. Yu Yahong thought of the young man she had seen during the day. “He’s tall and thin, and he has a good spirit. Although his education is not as good as my Wani’s, his family’s conditions are not bad. He’s a good match for Wani!”
Yu Yahong had originally not held much hope, but after seeing that Song Xiaojun today, he was indeed a good rural youth.
Wu Fangmei wrung the corner of her apron and paced around. “I’ve already asked my cousin and her husband. They are very satisfied with that girl Wani. If we miss this marriage, we won’t be able to find such a good one even with a lantern.”
Yu Yahong nodded. For once, she agreed with Wu Fangmei’s words. “That’s right. I’ll go and do some ideological work on Wani. I must make her agree to this marriage. We absolutely can’t miss it again.”