Accidentally-Born_C08

Chapter 8

Zhenzhen’s big eyes blinked rapidly as she looked this way and that. Though she couldn’t see very clearly, after these few days, she had already been able to recognize several familiar people from her family.

Grandma Li, holding Zhenzhen, pulled Li Mulin over and coaxed Zhenzhen, saying, “Darling, this is your uncle. Do you see him? Smile at him.” Zhenzhen cooperatively opened her mouth, made a few sounds, and showed a sweet smile.

Grandma Li immediately beamed with joy: “Oh, my precious is so clever, just like your elder brother. You’ll even go to university!”

Zhang Chunhua had never liked listening to Li Mulin talk about his hometown. Whenever he mentioned the Li family, she either changed the subject or found an excuse to do something else, so she wasn’t very familiar with the Li family members.

When she heard Grandma Li mention university, Zhang Chunhua’s eyes lit up. In this era, university students were still quite valuable. For example, in the Electric Bureau where Zhang’s father and Li Mulin worked, university graduates earned much more than regular workers, so Zhang Chunhua eagerly asked, “Mulin, has anyone in our family gotten into university?”

Li Mulin glanced at her and pointed toward the inner room. “Second brother’s son, Mingdong, will take the university entrance exam next summer after the new year.”

Zhang Chunhua’s spirits immediately deflated. She pursed her lips and said, “I thought everyone had already gotten in.”

Li Mulin looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to them, then quickly pinched her and whispered, “Don’t talk too much. Dongzi is diligent and studies hard, so getting into university is a sure thing. Be careful, if Mother hears you, she might hit you with the smoking pipe.”

Zhang Chunhua immediately closed her mouth, glanced nervously at Grandma Li, and felt a mix of complicated emotions, unsure whether she felt more gratitude or fear toward her mother-in-law.

The afternoon was lively, and as evening approached, Guihua came over to ask Grandma Li, “Grandma, what are we having for dinner tonight?”

Her son’s family of four had returned. Although it wasn’t yet the day of the new year, Grandma Li generously took out a piece of pork, a fish, and also brought in some frozen tofu from outside: “Fish stew with tofu, cabbage and pork stew with vermicelli, and we’ll reheat some bean paste buns. The rest, you can take care of.”

Hearing Grandma Li list out all the dishes, Zhang Chunhua couldn’t sit still. She awkwardly smiled and said, “I’ll go help in the kitchen.”

Grandma Li nodded, and Liu Xiulan stood up as well: “I’ll take my sister-in-law over.”

As soon as Zhang Chunhua entered the kitchen, she couldn’t help but look around. The fine grains were locked in a large box in the corner of the wall, and only Grandma Li could take them out. But things like sweet potato flour and cornmeal were in bags on top of the cabinet. Zhang Chunhua glanced at each bag and couldn’t help but mutter, “Our family does have a lot of grain, much more than the supply in Ice City.”

“Don’t mention it. Even here, the supply is insufficient. Since last year, we haven’t been able to buy the full quota of grain and vegetables. It was Mother who led us to the mountain to open up wasteland, planting corn, sweet potatoes, cabbage, potatoes, and so on. That’s how we’ve avoided starving,” Liu Xiulan said while cutting sauerkraut¹. She curiously asked Zhang Chunhua, “They say that the grain from the mountains here is sent to the big towns. Could it be that Ice City is still short of grain?”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chunhua lost interest in searching around. She poured the ten or so potatoes that Guihua had taken from the cellar into a basin and sighed. “Even with food stamps, there’s nowhere to buy grain. Getting half of the supply each month is already good. Fish and meat are even rarer. This whole year, my children Ming Shu and Ming Xin barely gained any weight.”

Liu Xiulan glanced at her and couldn’t help but ask, “Didn’t you ask Mulin to get some fish or something to supplement the children? I heard there’s a big river in Ice City.”

Zhang Chunhua kept losing her train of thought: “It’s far away, and we don’t even have any fishing gear. Honestly, our family is better off, with fewer people and a lighter burden. My neighbor, who works with Mulin, has seven or eight kids, and they’re all so thin from hunger, their parents are almost driven to despair.” Looking at the pile of potatoes on the floor, Zhang Chunhua couldn’t help but say, “If our family had so many potatoes, the two kids wouldn’t be so skinny.”

Liu Xiulan, perceptive as she was, sensed something in Zhang Chunhua’s words but didn’t respond. She silently put the chopped sauerkraut into a separate bowl and then took another piece to continue cutting.

While Zhang Chunhua was peeling potatoes, Guihua had already put the cleaned fish into the pot. With a sizzle, the sound of oil frying made Zhang Chunhua stand up and peer into the pot: “How much oil did you put in?”

“Not much,” Guihua said with a smile, flipping her braid.

Zhang Chunhua looked at the pot and couldn’t help but purse her lips. “That’s not much? I can already see the oil bubbles. How can you not be careful with money? You don’t even care about your own things?” Guihua lowered her eyes and didn’t respond, adding a spoonful of water and then frozen tofu into the pot.

When Zhang Chunhua was about to say something else, Liu Xiulan quickly explained, “Second brother’s family grew a lot of soybeans this year. They had someone press oil at the oil mill. And anyway, isn’t this her family’s stuff? Dongzi and Guihua are getting married next winter, and she’ll be the eldest daughter-in-law of our family.”

Zhang Chunhua awkwardly sat back down. “I’m just worried about the cost. You don’t know, in Ice City, we only dare to put a bean-sized amount of oil in the stir-fry, and even that’s not enough.”

Guihua finally turned around and said, “We’re the same at home normally. We only put more oil because Uncle and Aunt are here.”

Seeing that Guihua’s expression was not good, Zhang Chunhua quickly realized that she was in someone else’s home and hurriedly said, “Auntie didn’t mean anything bad, just said that casually. Guihua, don’t take it to heart.”

“It’s fine, how could a junior like me be angry with Auntie?” Guihua said as she served the stewed pork, cabbage, and vermicelli from the large pot in the west to a basin. After washing it briefly, she added a little oil and then poured in the sauerkraut.

Zhang Chunhua glanced at the remaining fatty meat on the cutting board and couldn’t help but remind her, “Guihua, you put a too little oil in the sauerkraut, it’s going to be a tough to eat, and you also forgot to add the meat.”

Guihua put the remaining meat into a bowl and placed it in the cupboard. She replied calmly, “There are already plenty of good dishes, why add so much meat? Besides, oil is hard to come by, if I put too much, I’m afraid Auntie will be heartbroken.”

Liu Xiulan couldn’t help but chuckle, and Guihua began sweeping the potato peels on the ground with a broom, driving Zhang Chunhua out, “Auntie, step outside! Auntie, you’re stepping on the potato peels!”

Zhang Chunhua was being driven back step by step, and only when she retreated to outside the kitchen did she realize that Guihua had thrown the potato peels into the trash can by the kitchen door. She casually pulled down the curtain and even poked her head out to say, “You’re a guest, Auntie, why don’t you go rest in the room? There’s nothing much to do here.”

Liu Xiulan couldn’t help but laugh, holding her stomach and unable to straighten up. Zhang Chunhua stood dumbfounded as she watched Guihua swish the curtain and return to the kitchen, her face turning alternately pale and red. “I was just saying it casually, why is this child so temperamental? Don’t leave the remaining meat in the cupboard, quickly stew it. It’s hot inside; what if it goes bad?”

Inside the kitchen, Liu Xiulan laughed even harder as she heard Zhang Chunhua’s words outside. Guihua, sitting by the stove and adding firewood, also couldn’t help but smile.

Zhenzhen had been playing in the west room for a while and was starting to get drowsy. Seeing this, Grandma Li quickly said, “Hurry back to the room and feed her again before she falls asleep, so she can sleep soundly.”

Wang Sufen nodded, holding the child and heading outside. Seeing that it was inconvenient for her to hold the child, Grandma Li used her cane to help open the door. Just then, Zhang Chunhua, having left the kitchen in a huff, was grumbling as she walked back. She was about to open the door when Grandma Li’s wrinkled face suddenly appeared in front of her. Startled, Zhang Chunhua’s legs went weak, and she almost fell as she grabbed the door.

Grandma Li glanced at the startled Zhang Chunhua, then at the creaking door, and couldn’t help but frown, “This door of mine is sturdy, but it can’t handle you pulling on it like that.”

Wang Sufen, while patting Zhenzhen, couldn’t help but ask, “Sister-in-law, what’s wrong?”

Zhang Chunhua, recalling how she had been rebuffed by the future daughter-in-law in the kitchen, immediately felt her face flush with embarrassment and anger. She wanted to complain but didn’t have the courage, and felt a little aggrieved, unsure of what to do.

Grandma Li didn’t have a good impression of this troublesome daughter-in-law. She leaned heavily on her cane and pursed her lips, saying, “There’s nothing going on in the kitchen, you should go back to the room and look after the children. Don’t keep pulling at my door. If you break it, you’ll have to pay for it.”

Zhang Chunhua immediately stood up straight, took a step back, and moved aside, “I was squatting down to peel the potatoes earlier, and my legs fell asleep.”

“Alright, I understand,” Grandma Li waved her hand, “Go rest in the room. After lunch, you should go to the back room to sleep. The kang is already warmed up for you.”

Zhang Chunhua agreed, then turned to watch Wang Sufen and Grandma Li enter the east room. She shivered as she entered, seeing Li Muwu and Li Sen outside chopping firewood, while Li Mulin was sitting on the kang, rubbing tobacco leaves for his mother. When he looked up, he saw Zhang Chunhua walking in with a dazed expression and quickly asked, “What’s wrong?”

Zhang Chunhua plopped down on the kang and couldn’t help but push Li Mulin, “How come everyone in your family is so formidable? Your mother is one thing, at least she’s a hero who’s fought the Japanese, I guess I couldn’t beat her. But why is Guihua, just a little girl, talking back to me like that? I just said she was wasting oil, and she got upset with me.”

“She didn’t waste your oil, why are you running your mouth? Quiet down, don’t make your mother-in-law upset on New Year’s,” Li Mulin rolled his eyes at her.

Zhang Chunhua, leaning closer, kicked Li Mulin with her toes and whispered, “I noticed your family’s life doesn’t seem worse than ours.”

Li Mulin looked at her in confusion, “When did I say our family is worse off? Although Beicha is a small place, it has mountains and rivers. As long as you work hard, no one will go hungry.”

Zhang Chunhua craned her neck to look behind, seeing that Grandma Li hadn’t returned yet, and quietly told Li Mulin, “There’s plenty of food in the kitchen. When Guihua opened the cellar to get cabbage, I peeked inside. There must be hundreds of pounds of cabbage and potatoes. Third sister-in-law said they opened a lot of wasteland in the mountains.”

Li Mulin wasn’t surprised since he had heard about it in the family letters. He lowered his head, still rubbing tobacco leaves, and said, “I know, the family wrote about it. Why are you telling me all this?”

Zhang Chunhua couldn’t help but hit him lightly, lowering her voice, “We only get half a meal a day in Ice City. You should talk to your mother and ask her to help us out.”

“What did you say?” Li Mulin looked at her in disbelief. “Zhang Chunhua, I’ve just realized how shameless you are. To put it bluntly, by marrying you in Ice City, I essentially separated from this family. Since then, it’s only my duty to honor my mother, and I’m not asking for anything from home. I’m telling you, you better give up on this idea.”

“But the family isn’t lacking in food, right?” Zhang Chunhua still seemed reluctant.

“The family’s food is just enough to fill their stomachs. They let you eat your fill because you’re back for the New Year. Don’t be so ungrateful!”

Zhang Chunhua helplessly realized that everyone in this family, from old to young, was too straightforward and tough. She couldn’t help but pound the stove, wanting to cry without tears, “Couldn’t you leave a little face for me? This is my first time here!”

Note:
—Sauerkraut is a type of fermented cabbage that is typically made by finely shredding cabbage, then fermenting it with the help of salt. This process encourages the growth of beneficial bacteria that naturally preserve the cabbage, giving it a sour, tangy flavor. It is commonly used in various cuisines, especially in Eastern European and German dishes, often served as a side dish or topping. The fermentation process also makes sauerkraut rich in probiotics.