Chapter 33
◎The Moon Sleeps Softly◎
Coming out of Tian Wenwen’s house, Tangtang and Sun Xiangrong parted ways. She happened to run into Wani, who had come to the Su family’s house to find Su Juexiao.
“Sister Wani,” Tangtang called out. Seeing her, the two sisters affectionately linked arms.
Wani was the only girl in their Yuhuai Village who was still persisting in attending junior high. This was her third year at Hongqi Commune Middle School. In fact, life after the family division had not improved much. There was still not enough food. But fortunately, for the past three years, she had been able to get a ride to school on her third uncle Su Huimin’s bicycle every day. Although she had suffered a lot from the severe cold and scorching heat of the daily commute, she had at least saved a large sum of money on meals. So, her mother, Yu Yahong, had turned a blind eye to her schooling.
But Yu Yahong had also made it clear that if Wani couldn’t get into a secondary school after graduating from junior high, she would not agree to let Wani continue on to high school.
Getting into a secondary school! That was easier said than done for them.
Not only did they have to take an exam, but they also had to pass layers of inspections and selections. A school only had five spots for secondary school, but their school had one or two hundred students. The competition was extremely fierce.
Su Juexiao had good grades and could always rank in the top three in his grade in every exam. Wani, on the other hand, mostly hovered around the teens. If Wani wanted to continue her studies, she could only come to Su Juexiao every weekend to ask questions, hoping that her grades could improve a little.
Su Juexiao had good grades and good interpersonal relationships. He was the class monitor, and the school teachers all liked him. His own father was also the commune’s education specialist. If he applied for a secondary school, the probability of being selected was very high.
Wani, on the other hand, was not good with words and was always very reserved and couldn’t speak freely in a crowd.
Wani had indirectly probed Su Juexiao about whether he would apply for a secondary school or a high school.
“I’ll apply for high school.”
“Why?” She widened her eyes. “Brother Juesheng didn’t go to a secondary school because he didn’t pass the exam. Why don’t you go to a secondary school? After graduating from a secondary school, you can get an iron rice bowl. It’s so respectable to be assigned a job.”
“If I go to high school, I might have a chance to go to university in the future.”
Seeing Su Juexiao’s determined look, Wani suddenly couldn’t help but smile, a wave of envy rising in her heart. “That’s true. Anyway, no matter what you do, Third Uncle and Third Aunt will support you. You still have your family to back you up.”
Wani pinned a plum blossom she had picked on her hair. Tangtang touched it and grinned happily. “This plum blossom smells so fragrant. Is it pretty?”
“It’s pretty, very pretty.”
Wani was not being perfunctory. Tangtang had fair skin and delicate, beautiful features. Her eyelashes were long and curled. The plum blossom looked particularly beautiful on her head.
“Sister Wani, my mom said she went to the meat stall at the village entrance today to buy half a catty of meat. She’s going to make us cabbage and pork pancakes for dinner. Why don’t you stay for dinner tonight?”
Hearing about the cabbage and pork pancakes, Wani couldn’t help but swallow her saliva, but she still refused. In these times, no family had a surplus of food, not to mention that half a catty of meat was not much at all. If she stayed and ate at someone else’s house, Tangtang’s family would have to eat one mouthful less. “No, my mom said she’s making potato and wheat flour rice tonight. I have to go back for dinner.”
“Alright then.” Tangtang was a little disappointed. As they were talking, the two sisters had already walked into the Su family’s courtyard. “Then, Sister Wani, I won’t waste your time. You should go in and ask Brother Juexiao your questions.”
The crabapple tree in the courtyard was bare. A month ago, Tangtang had been worried that the crabapple tree wouldn’t survive the winter, so she had made it a “coat” out of wheat straw and grass rope.
She took off her schoolbag and put it on the table. Remembering something, she also took off the red plum blossom from her hair. After sniffing the fragrance of the plum blossom, she carefully wrapped it in a handkerchief.
Remembering that Yu Juanfang had said in the morning that she was going to make cabbage and pork pancakes, Tangtang scooped a spoonful of white flour from the flour bag, used half hot water and half boiling water to mix the dough into a flocculent state, and then kneaded it by hand until the dough was smooth and glossy, and bounced back slightly when pressed. The dough was then ready. She lifted her sore and numb arm and covered the dough with a basin.
Then she took a large cabbage from the bamboo basket under the eaves, drew half a basin of water from the well, carefully washed the dirt from the cabbage, removed the rotten leaves, chopped the cabbage with a kitchen knife, added half a spoonful of salt, and squeezed out some of the water from the cabbage.
At six o’clock, Yu Juanfang came back from work. After putting down her hoe, she started to cook.
In the west room, Su Juexiao was explaining a junior high physics problem to Wani. Wani was better at liberal arts, and science had always been her weakness.
The sizzling sound of pancakes being made came from the Su family’s kitchen. Her stomach rumbled. She looked up and realized that it was already dark. “Then I’ll go back first.”
“Wani, wait a minute.” The two of them were only a few months apart in age, so they didn’t call each other sister and brother in private. Su Juexiao took out a notebook from his schoolbag. “These are the notes I organized myself before. They are more detailed than what the teacher taught in class… You can take them and use them.”
“Don’t you need them?” Su Juexiao’s handwriting was very good. The notes on it were concise, clear, and easy to understand. It was obvious that they were not made casually, Wani asked with confusion.
“I’ve already memorized them in my head when I was organizing them. You can just take them.”
She swallowed her throat. “Thank you.”
Whether it was him boarding at the school and leaving the chance to ride the bike for her, or spending time every week to explain problems to her, Wani knew that she had taken a lot of advantage.
When Wani went out, it started to snow again. She was already so hungry her chest was sticking to her back. Just as she was about to walk towards the old Su family’s house, Tangtang and Su Juesheng came out of the kitchen and stopped her.
“Sister Wani, Mom said you must stay for dinner. The food is just ready and it’s hot. Hurry up and come in.”
“That’s right, you haven’t tried my mom’s pancakes yet. They’re so fragrant.”
Yu Juanfang also came out, a smile on her face. She was very fond of this niece. “I made enough for six people tonight. Wani, if you don’t eat, there will be leftovers.”
Wani couldn’t refuse the warm invitation and had to go into the main hall and sit down. The warm atmosphere that hit her face made her pause for a moment.
Dinner was cabbage and pork pancakes with corn grits congee. The pancakes were oily and shiny, the surface glistening with tempting grease. The congee was cooked until it was golden and thick. One sip was incredibly fragrant.
Wani took a bite of the pancake. The crispy skin crackled. Inside was fresh, tender, and juicy cabbage and pork filling. The rich, meaty aroma and the light, sweet taste of the cabbage blended perfectly, spreading throughout her mouth.
She took another sip of the corn grits congee. The congee was also cooked just right, soft, glutinous, and sweet, with a very rich corn aroma.
Tangtang ate the pancake in large bites and said indistinctly, “Sister Wani, how is it? I told you my mom’s pancakes are delicious!”
Wani nodded. “Delicious. The pancakes Third Aunt made are really delicious.”
…
“Tangtang, these clothes are dry. I’ll put them in the wardrobe for you.” Yu Juanfang came in with a few pieces of clothing in her arms.
Tangtang was already lying in bed. Hearing her mother come in, she sat up again. “Mom.”
Yu Juanfang walked over and touched her face with her hand. “What’s wrong? Hurry up and get back under the covers, you’ll get cold…”
“I want to talk with you.”
A gentle smile appeared on Tangtang’s lips. She hugged Yu Juanfang’s arm and lay down again.
Unlike the smell of cooking oil and hair oil that ordinary rural women had, Yu Juanfang had a simple and elegant fragrance that was very comfortable to smell.
Yu Juanfang gave her a playful look. She was helpless against her and could only sit down by the bed and touch her smooth forehead. “Do you want to hear me sing you to sleep?”
Tangtang was taken aback. When she was little, the most she heard before going to sleep was her biological mother Su Yandi’s scolding. She was already six years old when she came to the Su family, so it was naturally impossible for her to listen to Yu Juanfang sing any nursery rhymes.
“Your three brothers all grew up listening to this nursery rhyme. I haven’t sung it to you yet. I’ll sing it for you.” Yu Juanfang thought of the lyrics in her mind and began to sing softly, “Little cradle, sway gently, little stars, hang in the sky, mother sings a lullaby, the moon accompanies me into dreamland.”
Outside, the snow was falling with a rustling sound. Inside, the woman’s singing was gentle and melodious, like a silk thread coated with honey, wrapping around her in circles. A warm current surged up from the bottom of Tangtang’s heart. A hot tear rolled down from the corner of her eye and disappeared into the pillow.
“It’s so beautiful.”
“Mom, why were you willing to let me go to school?” Tangtang thought of Tian Wenwen, who had already dropped out.
Tian Wenwen was already in the sixth grade. She was only half a year away from getting her primary school diploma.
If she had stayed at the Wang family, her biological father, Wang Shijin, and her biological mother, Su Yandi, would probably not even have let her go to primary school. In this life, she would have been an illiterate rural woman, blind to the world.
And her cousin Wani, who had to do housework every day after school. Her second aunt had said that if Sister Wani couldn’t get into a secondary school, she would not let her continue her studies.
“Look at Mom’s hands.”
Tangtang took Yu Juanfang’s hand. She knew it was a very rough hand, but she had never looked at it carefully. At this moment, under the flickering light of the oil lamp, she could clearly see that Yu Juanfang’s palm was covered with crisscrossing lines, like the cracked earth during a drought. There were also several scars of varying depths, as well as chilblains and calluses.
“I had good grades when I was little, but the family really couldn’t afford it, so I had to drop out. Later, I worked at home until I was twenty. The villagers all praised me for being diligent and virtuous. Then I met your dad twice, went to Hongqi Commune to get our marriage certificate, and muddled through half my life. I know how hard it is to scrape a living from the soil. Carrying manure, carrying ashes, plowing the fields, weeding, harvesting. When I was working in the mountains, I would wipe the sweat from my forehead, and the towel would be dripping with water. I would think to myself, in this life, I will never let my children be like me.”
“I know that even after studying for many years, they might still have to go back to the fields. But with more education, their path in life will always be a little easier.”
Tangtang felt her eyes sting. She couldn’t help but hug her mother.
“Mom, even if I can’t get into a secondary school in the future, will you still be willing to let me study?”
“As long as you are willing to study, no matter how difficult it is, your dad and I will support you.”