Chapter 12

“Why are you so useless? Hurry up and get the corn down the mountain!” Wang Sufen impatiently glared at Li Muwu. Having personally witnessed how branches could stretch and shrink at will without kneeling, she thought Li Muwu was being too timid.

Shaking and holding his knees, Li Muwu managed to stand up after rolling and crawling. But when he looked at the scattered corn and the potatoes dug from the soil, he felt a bit dizzy. Trembling, he pointed at the food on the ground and stammered, “Did our daughter make this?”

Wang Sufen nodded proudly, “Our girl is amazing! I think she’s definitely a reincarnated immortal. But you can’t tell anyone about this, not even Mu Sen. And our sons, they’re getting older every year. Who knows when this might slip out? Keep your mouth shut, understood?”

Li Muwu gave her a sullen look. “You still don’t know whether I can keep my mouth shut?”

Thinking of her husband’s character, who couldn’t even strike two blows with a single stick, Wang Sufen felt relieved. She put her hands on her hips, waved the hoe she was holding, and assumed a posture that somewhat resembled Grandma Li’s: “I’ll be collecting the grain here, so you hurry up and move it down. Bring as much as you can before dark!”

As Li Muwu was about to toss a bundle of corn into the basket, he suddenly noticed a rice bowl wrapped in blue cloth inside, and quickly took it out and handed it to Wang Sufen. “I almost forgot, this is the food your mother in law made for you. You should rest a while, put the child down and let her crawl on the ground. Carrying her all the time will be tiring.”

Wang Sufen gave him a complicated look. “I’m afraid if I put her on the ground, she’ll turn this mountain into a cornfield.” But as soon as she said that, she recalled how Zhenzhen had grown a tree branch that was several meters long on her back during the previous time. It seemed that carrying her wasn’t safe either.

Wang Sufen untied her carrying cloth and placed Zhenzhen into the basket Li Muwu brought. “Take our daughter home and let Guihua look after her. If I’m late coming back, have Guihua steam some egg custard for her.”

Li Muwu nodded, packed some potatoes that weighed about the same as Zhenzhen into the basket, strapped it onto his shoulders, and quickly made his way down the mountain.

Sitting in the swaying basket, Zhenzhen curiously grabbed the edge of the basket and looked outside. The ancient and lush forest was rich in resources, and there were dozens of wild fruits people commonly recognized and ate. At this time, the fruits were still unripe, and the red, yellow, and green ones hanging on the trees looked particularly beautiful. Zhenzhen looked at the wild fruits for a while, then raised her head to see the not-yet-large pine cones growing on the trees.

Thinking of the smell of fried pine nuts at home during the New Year, Zhenzhen couldn’t help but drool. The few pine cones on the tree quickly grew larger at an observable speed under her gaze. Once the kernels became plump, they fell from the tree into the basket.

Zhenzhen didn’t know whether this was a talent or a supernatural ability. She seemed not to need any practice; it was as natural as breathing, eating, or drinking. It felt like she had been born knowing how to do it. This interesting ability made her as happy as a child with a new toy, trying it repeatedly with great delight.

Lantern fruits, raspberries, mountain hawthorn, sand apples, wild hawthorn, grapes, and kiwis—unripe wild fruits quickly ripened, while the decaying fruits regained their plumpness, and the mature fruits became sweeter. Every kind of wild fruit fell at the perfect moment, competing to land in Zhenzhen’s arms.

Looking at the basket, which was quickly filling with more and more wild fruits, Zhenzhen smiled until her eyes curved into crescent moons. Meanwhile, Li Muwu, carrying the burden, began to feel something was off. Why did the basket seem to be pulling backward?

Pulling the shoulder pole forward, he walked for a few dozen meters, but the basket behind still tilted down. Finally, he realized something was wrong and quickly turned around to look at Zhenzhen in the basket.

Zhenzhen was holding a pine cone securely, sitting in the basket. She seemed to have secretly eaten quite a few things, with her face like a little cat with red, purple, and green juices mixing together—adorable but a little funny. Around Zhenzhen, there were seven or eight pine cones, and various fruits had actually filled half of the basket.

Seeing that the usually fragile lantern fruits were hanging sturdily on the pine cones without breaking, Li Muwu struggled to turn his head, pulled the shoulder pole forward again to restore the balance, and suddenly started running quickly. “Mother… Mother…”

At the foot of the mountain, Grandma Li tied the cart to a tree and couldn’t sit still. She grabbed the small shovel she carried and started digging wild vegetables around the area. After placing a bunch of dandelions she had dug up onto the cart, she suddenly heard her son’s frantic shouting from afar.

Grandma Li shook her head in frustration. “Uncultured fool! If he had even half the brains of his brother, I wouldn’t have to worry so much all these years.”

Just as she was muttering, Grandma Li saw Li Muwu rushing down the mountain like he was being chased by wolves. The baskets in front and behind him swung wildly, and even the potatoes inside flew out.

Having experienced hunger, Grandma Li couldn’t bear to see things wasted. Her face changed, and she was about to scold him. But as she opened her mouth, her sharp eyes caught sight of something familiar in the basket behind: a red-tied bun, a blue jacket, tender white skin, big eyes like black grapes…

Immediately, Grandma Li forgot all about the potatoes and the grain. All she could think about was the granddaughter she had longed for: “Li Muwu, if you dare throw my granddaughter out of the basket, I’ll break your dog legs!” Her angry roar finally snapped Li Muwu out of his daze, and he quickly calmed down, slowing his steps.

When she saw that the surroundings were quiet with no one else around, Grandma Li couldn’t help but scold him, “Didn’t I tell you everything before? How could you still be so scared?”

“It’s not…” Li Muwu swallowed hard, not knowing how to explain to his mother that the first wave of shock had passed, but he was now going through the second one.

After giving him a glare, Grandma Li went over to pick up Zhenzhen. Looking at the half-full basket, she was quite curious. “It’s only August, why are the sand apples ripe already? And these pine cones look big, but they’ve ripened pretty early.” As she spoke, Grandma Li picked a sand apple and quickly ate it.

“It’s not…” Li Muwu struggled to form words, but was immediately interrupted again by Grandma Li. “These sand apples are sweet, and the water content is high. After we’re done moving the grain, you can go pick some more. I’ll scrape them with a spoon and feed them to Zhenzhen.”

“But…”

“How much did you let Zhenzhen eat? Look at her little face all dirty.” As she spoke, Grandma Li pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket, poured some water from the flask, and wiped Zhenzhen’s face clean.

After Grandma Li finally finished scolding like a series of cannonballs, Li Muwu finally had a chance to speak. “I don’t know where these wild fruits came from. When I was carrying the baskets down the mountain, they were empty. But when I was almost at the bottom, I turned around and saw half a basket of things, and it scared my legs so much they went soft.”

“Scared you so much and still ran so fast!” Grandma Li couldn’t resist criticizing him. Looking at the wild fruits in the basket, and even a few potatoes, it seemed like they had all been thrown out by Li Muwu, though she didn’t know how they all ended up in the back basket.

Having already witnessed plants growing out of nowhere, Grandma Li didn’t take the half-basket of wild fruits seriously. She urged Li Muwu, “Hurry up and go back up the mountain to carry more things. I’ll go ahead to Li Daniu’s house and have him help take Zhenzhen home. It’s already afternoon, this is wasting too much time.”

Grandma Li quickly left with Zhenzhen, and Li Muwu, still in a daze, trudged back up the mountain. Fortunately, the road to his own land was already familiar to his legs. Even with his eyes closed, he couldn’t go wrong. With the task not requiring much thinking, although his mind was muddled, Li Muwu still managed to fill half a cart with grain before nightfall.

Though there was still a faint light in the sky, it was already nearly dark on the mountain, and Li Muwu hurriedly filled two more baskets with corn and quickly descended the mountain with Wang Sufen.

Grandma Li sat in the cart, smoking her pipe. When she saw her son and daughter-in-law coming down, she quickly lifted the felt cover and instructed Li Muwu to pour the corn inside.

The family relied on the last bit of faint light at the horizon and finally made it home before night fell completely. Li Muwu opened the main gate and drove the cart inside. Hearing the commotion, everyone in the house came out to greet them.

“Grandma, you told us to stay home and wait for work arrangements, but we waited the whole afternoon. Other than watching Zhenzhen, there wasn’t any other work to do!” Mingbei complained as soon as he saw his grandmother.

“Zhenzhen is so well-behaved and never causes trouble. Why would you need to watch her?” Smelling the aroma of food from inside the house, Grandma Li didn’t even have the heart to scold her grandson. She nimbly jumped off the cart and said, “Hurry inside and eat first.”

After washing her face and hands, Wang Sufen quickly went to the east room to check on Zhenzhen. By then, Zhenzhen had already eaten egg custard and was sound asleep. Wang Sufen added another pillow barrier outside and then went to join the meal.

Dinner consisted of leftover rabbit meat stewed with potatoes and wild vegetable dumplings. Although Mingbei repeatedly assured Guihua that Grandma Li had told them to eat their fill, Guihua didn’t believe him. With the current hard times, food in the house was scarce and couldn’t be replenished easily. If not for the fact that their parents and grandmother had been out all afternoon and must be tired, Guihua wouldn’t have even brought out the wild vegetable dumplings. With such a good dish like rabbit stew, it was better to save the grain.

While Grandma Li enjoyed the potatoes soaked in meat broth, Mingbei chattered on about how stingy Guihua was. Meanwhile, Mingdong looked like he wanted to say something but hesitated. Grandma Li pretended not to notice his expression and happily ate her potatoes with sips of liquor.

After dinner, Grandma Li wiped her mouth and saw her grandsons yawning, ready to go to bed. She quickly stopped them. “No sleeping yet! Hurry up and come outside to work.” She then glanced at Mingdong and Mingxi. “Tomorrow, you two take your wages and quit your jobs.”

Mingdong quickly responded, “Grandma, I still have more than half a month before school starts. Isn’t it too early to quit?”

Looking at her eldest grandson, Grandma Li rarely showed a kind expression. “You’ll be heading to Bingcheng in a few days, so take a couple of days off and help me with some chores at home.” Hearing this, Mingdong had no choice but to agree.

Thinking about his classmates who also got into college, Grandma Li asked, “Have your classmates all bought their tickets? Are you starting school together?”

Mingdong quickly replied, “Wang Jianguo got into Bingcheng University of Technology, which starts two days later than my Agricultural University. Li Aijun got into Bingcheng Polytechnic, and his start date is the same as mine. We’ve already bought our tickets with our admission letters and referral letters. Wang Jianguo is coming with us to keep us company.”

Hearing that they were traveling together, Grandma Li was relieved. She stepped down from the kang, turned on the electric light, and said, “Let’s make use of the light and get to work!”

Mingbei stared at the lightbulb in disbelief and turned to Mingdong. “Big Brother, Grandma wouldn’t even let us use the light to study at night. What kind of work needs the light on now?”

Grandma Li didn’t say anything. She walked to the cart, pulled off the felt cover, and revealed a half-load of corn, potatoes, and cabbage.

Mingnan and Mingbei rushed to the cart, touched the cabbage, and picked up a couple of ears of corn. They turned back to Grandma Li in disbelief. “Grandma, is this all ours?”

Looking at her family who seemed dumbfounded, Grandma Li smiled with satisfaction. “It’s all ours!”

“Where did it come from?” Mingdong adjusted his glasses and couldn’t help but ask.

Seeing her usually composed eldest grandson ask questions, Grandma Li calmly made up a story. “Your uncle heard we were short on food supplies, so he asked a comrade in the south to buy some and send it to us.”

Mingdong felt something was off and wanted to ask more questions, but Grandma Li cut him off first. “Your uncle took advantage of public resources and used a grain transport truck to deliver this for us. Both he and his comrade took a big risk. We didn’t dare to make it obvious, so we had to quietly transfer the supplies little by little. Remember, don’t tell anyone about this! If anyone gets your uncle into trouble, I won’t give them food for a month!”

Mingxi, Mingnan, and Mingbei quickly nodded like pecking chickens. “Grandma, don’t worry, we won’t tell!”

Satisfied, Grandma Li looked at Mingdong. Mingdong smiled helplessly and said, “Grandma, I understand. I definitely won’t let Uncle take this risk.”

Only then did Grandma Li smile. “Put the cabbage and potatoes in the cellar. Stack the corn in the backyard. Tomorrow, when you’re home, remove the husks and spread them out to dry in the yard.”

Muwu saw the kids already bustling about and couldn’t help but ask, “Shouldn’t we send some to Mussen’s house first?”

Grandma Li took a puff of her pipe and, seeing the kids were out of earshot, whispered, “We still have ten pounds of cornmeal and thirty pounds of sweet potato flour left. Split half of it and send it over to their house as an emergency supply. Once we’ve moved all the grain, we can have him come pick some up. If he insists on helping with transport, won’t we get exposed?”

Wang Sufen looked at Grandma Li with admiration. “Mom, your mind is so sharp!”

“Of course!” Grandma Li proudly raised her head. “If I weren’t clever, how would Zhenzhen have ended up being born into our family?”

———
Note:
—”Couldn’t even strike two blows with a single stick” means someone is weak, ineffective, or incapable of handling a task or challenge.