"Why are you back? Did you come back by yourself? Didn't your brother-in-law bring you?" Mrs. Li, Zuo Daya, pulled her youngest daughter close, looking her up and down.
She'd been working at the cafeteria when someone came shouting that her little girl seemed to be back. She'd hastily asked the team leader for leave and scurried home. Sure enough, from a distance, she could see her little girl standing at their front door.
Yuan Si quickly adjusted to the identity of the old woman before her. This was the original owner's mother, a real firecracker of an old lady.
"No, my second sister had someone from our hometown bring me back. I don't want to stay at her place anymore. It was awful, and I couldn't even get enough to eat." Yuan Si chose to tell the truth. This mother doted most on her only son, followed closely by Li Yuansi, the daughter of her old age.
"What's that? Your second sister didn't feed you?" Hearing her little girl's words, the old woman's sharp, triangular eyes narrowed.
Zuo Daya was already 52 years old. Her late-in-life daughter, Li Yuansi, had been born when she was 46. By then, her eldest daughter was 30, her second was 27, and her third was 24, all married with children of their own. Even her only son was 18 and no longer on his mother's side. Her husband had passed away from an illness when their youngest was only two, so she had poured all her affection onto this little girl.
Now, hearing that her second daughter might have mistreated her youngest, Mrs. Li bristled with anger.
"She did, I just couldn't get full." Yuan Si wasn't one for badmouthing people behind their backs, so she simply told her mother everything that had happened at her second sister's house.
Zuo Daya clicked her tongue as she listened.
"Oh, honey, why didn't you eat at the table? That's your sister's house, you have every right! No matter what your brother-in-law says, he has to respect you. What were you afraid of?" Her heart ached hearing that her child had been reduced to drinking pot-rinsing water. She had sent her youngest to her second daughter's place because she knew life in the city was better, and the girl could get some decent meals. Who would have thought she'd be worse off there than at home?
"You were sick for three days and your sister didn't even look after you? That heartless girl! Her wings have grown, so she thinks she can ignore her own family, is that it? Just wait until I see her again, I'll set her straight." When she heard what her daughter had overheard after waking from her fever, the old woman was seething with rage.
But when she heard what her daughter did after she recovered, Mrs. Li frowned, unsure what to say. "Honey, why are you so... earnest? It's right for you to eat at your sister's house, but you're still a guest. You need to be more tactful. When you eat, just pace yourself with your sister or Ai Ping. Your nephews are at an age where they eat a ton. If you try to keep up with them, of course your sister wouldn't be happy." Mrs. Li wasn't completely unreasonable. Putting herself in her daughter's shoes, she'd have kicked the girl out too.
"That's why I came home. I'm never going to someone else's house again. Having to watch their expressions just to get a bite to eat? I'd rather gnaw on cornbread and eat wild greens at home." Yuan Si was resolute. She wouldn't go back. She had observed the situation there—the city didn't even have a patch of dirt. If she wanted to catch bugs to eat, she wouldn't even know where to look. It was much more comfortable back home. At least with land, you didn't have to worry about food. 'My goal right now is to fill my stomach. I hate this constant state of hunger.'
"Oh, you silly girl. You want to eat cornbread? You must be dreaming. Our team's cafeteria ran out of solid food a long time ago. It's all just watery gruel. Why do you think your mother sent you to your sister's place? It was so you wouldn't starve! Fine, now that you're back, let's not talk about it. Come with me to the cafeteria."
And so, Yuan Si settled back in at home.
The house back home wasn't very large. It had a similar structure to her second sister's row house, but here they slept on beds instead of a heated kang. The kitchen wasn't in the main hall but in a separate adobe room built onto the side of the main house.
Across from the main house was another adobe building for storing firewood and grain. It was about the same width as the main house, but right now it contained no grain at all—just some wheat straw, a small stone mill, and a large coffin.
People here had a custom: once the elderly reached a certain age, they would save up wood and have a coffin made for themselves to keep at home, preparing for that eventual day.
On the side opposite the kitchen, there was no building, just a chicken coop. It, too, was empty now. The chickens had been caught and sold long ago.
The three adjacent adobe buildings formed a small courtyard for the Li family. This was considered quite decent in Li Family Village, where there were many people and little land, forcing villagers to live packed closely together.
The day after Yuan Si returned, Zuo Daya took her to work for the production team. That's right. Although Zuo Daya spoiled her child, she did so with principles. The Li family never raised idle hands. Anyone who could work had to go to the team to earn work points. Li Yuansi had been a proud member of the production team since she was five, and now that she was back, she naturally had to return to her old job. Yuan Si had no objections. It was just cutting grass, which was no challenge for her at all. So, on her second day back from the city, she slung a small basket on her back, grabbed a sickle, and went to the edges of the fields to cut grass.
This grass-cutting job was specifically set aside by the team for all the children. In the countryside, once kids reached a certain age, they had to help their families. But they were too small to be expected to hoe the fields alongside the adults, so the task of cutting grass was separated and assigned to the children. Whether they did a lot or a little, it was a form of training. At the very least, it helped keep the mischievous little rascals in line and stopped them from running wild all day.
The children could exchange the grass they cut for work points from the team. The exchange rate wasn't fixed. For example, in March, when grass by the fields was scarce, one jin of grass could be exchanged for one work point. By June or July, when the grass grew thick, it would take six or seven jin for a single point. The production team collected this grass to feed its livestock. Although individuals weren't allowed to raise chickens, ducks, cattle, or sheep at home, the production team had plenty. Once they were raised well and the year-end quota was met, the rest could be distributed among the commune members.
The original owner, being young, used to earn only two or three work points a day. Now that Yuan Si had taken over, she certainly couldn't do worse than a small child. So, after receiving her task, she began to wander around the entire Li Family Village.
This was a habit she had developed in the apocalypse: upon arriving in a new place, the first thing to do was to discreetly familiarize herself with the surroundings. This way, she would know what to expect in any future battles.
There were no battles here, but knowing her surroundings was still crucial for the current Yuan Si. She needed to fill her stomach; she needed to get nutrients. Since she couldn't snatch food from others, she would have to take it from nature.
That morning, she made a wide circle around Li Family Village. Combining this with the memories in her head, she managed to get a good feel for the area around her new home.
The place was originally called Li Family Village. However, a few years ago when the people's communes were established, Li Family Village was renamed. It became the First Production Brigade of the Fanxing Commune. Due to its large population, the brigade was further subdivided, splitting the entire Li Family Village into four teams. The team Zuo Daya belonged to was the Fourth Team of the First Brigade of the Fanxing Commune.