Chapter 13

After enduring hunger, the sudden influx of so much grain made the Li family, from top to bottom, seemingly forget their exhaustion, and everyone was full of energy. The children worked until midnight, only going to sleep after they had properly stored the grain they had brought back.

Thinking about how the three elderly members of the family would need to go out again tomorrow to collect more grain, Guihua woke up before dawn. She made a pot of pancakes, steamed some potatoes, and fried two eggs to make a fragrant egg sauce.

Li Laotai, smelling the delicious aroma, came to the kitchen and looked at the food, her face showing some concern. “The sauce is good enough, but why fry it with eggs? If we eat the eggs, what will Zhenzhen eat during the day?”

Guihua quickly smiled and replied, “Three hens laid eggs again yesterday, and I found five eggs in total, so Zhenzhen won’t be left out. I thought, since Dad, Mom, and Grandma are going out to work, it’s tough on them, so I made some egg sauce to help them replenish.”

Li Laotai’s face softened slightly as she listened and smiled. “We’re all old now, so it doesn’t matter what we eat. You young ones should have the good stuff.” After taking a puff from her pipe, Li Laotai reminded Guihua, “Today, just let the four brothers peel the corn husks. You stay inside and keep an eye on Zhenzhen—don’t let her bump into anything.”

Thinking of the half-basket of wild fruits they had brought back yesterday, Li Laotai took a basin and went outside to collect them. She rinsed them in the water barrel. When Guihua saw the fresh, plump fruit in the basin, she was pleasantly surprised. “Where did you pick these from? When I went to gather wild vegetables yesterday, they were still half-ripe.”

Li Laotai calmly replied, “The driver who brought the big cart from Liaoning Province brought them. It’s warmer there, so the fruit ripens earlier.” These wild fruits were from a mountain, and some ripened early while others ripened later. Even now, if one went to the mountain, a few started to taste sweet, so Guihua didn’t think too much about it. Li Laotai placed the washed fruits in a small bowl and told Guihua, “Zhenzhen is teething. Give her these fruits to chew on and let her taste the flavor. There aren’t many, but don’t let Mingnan and Mingbei see them—those two are so greedy.”

Guihua smiled, saying, “I’ll roast a few corn cobs in the stove and give them to the boys. They love them.”

Li Laotai nodded. “Tell them it’s just for today. The rest of the corn has to be ground into cornmeal. We can’t waste it.” Then, she added, “By the way, the driver also brought some big pine cones. I saw they’re bigger than the ones from our mountain. In the morning, you can go out, get some sand, and roast the pine nuts. Then, crush the kernels and add them to the egg cake when you steam it for Zhenzhen.”

Guihua agreed and quickly took the pancakes off the stove, placing them in a basket. While the grandmother and granddaughter were chatting, Li Muwu came back, carrying a small bowl of braised mudfish.

“Where did this come from?” Li Laotai asked, unable to resist the tempting smell.

“Mu Sen brought it. His son, Guangzi, caught a basin of mudfish yesterday afternoon, and this is left for us.” Li Muwu put down the bowl and drank half a cup of water. “This morning, I delivered grain to Mu Sen. He originally didn’t want it, but I told him that we had stored enough at home.”

Li Laotai nodded. “From now on, every so often, send them some grain. They’re busy working in the mountains and don’t have time to visit.” After a pause, she added, “Also, when you’re at home, lock the big door during the day. If anyone comes visiting, just pretend we’re not home. Don’t let anyone see the grain we have drying in the yard.” Guihua agreed and began scooping the corn porridge into a large basin.

Seeing that the meal was ready, Li Laotai grabbed a fly swatter and went around knocking everyone up. Wang Sufen had already tidied up, even feeding Zhenzhen some milk.

Since the whole family would be doing heavy labor today, breakfast was hearty. With the sight of the grain filling the yard, everyone felt assured, and they ate to their fill. After finishing breakfast, Li Muwu drove the cart, and Li Laotai and Wang Sufen continued their journey up the mountain to collect more grain.

Although Hongsong Mountain had tall trees, mushrooms everywhere, and wild vegetables covering the ground, it wasn’t a good place for growing crops. However, Beicha was a forest area, and except for mountains, there was nothing else. In their yard, they could only plant seasonal crops, and there wasn’t much space for grain.

The mountain was shaded and damp, so in previous years, the harvest was just average. But this year, each corn stalk bore seven or eight ears of corn, all large and full; the heavy sorghum heads bent the stalks over. The cabbage in the fields was so dense that there was barely any space to step.

There was so much grain, but only Li Muwu was transporting it down the mountain. The three of them worked together for seven or eight days before they finished collecting everything. The root cellar was now full of cabbage and potatoes, and the rest was placed in several empty rooms in the back. After peeling, the corn was spread out on the ground in the yard, neatly arranged and filling the entire small courtyard.

After using the borrowed cart for so many days, it was time to return it. Grandma Li opened the box and took out a stack of banknotes, counted the agreed-upon rent, and packed three pounds of sweet potato flour for Li Muwu to deliver.

At this time, money wasn’t the most important thing—food was the rarest. The wife of the family from whom they had borrowed the cart, seeing the sweet potato flour, was so happy that she didn’t even count the money: “Well then, Brother Muwu, next time if you need a cart, just borrow it from our house!”

Li Muwu smiled awkwardly and nodded. He set down his things without chatting much, thinking to himself that with two more days off, he should rest properly.

After working for so many consecutive days, the whole family only realized how tired they were when they finally lay down on the kang and had a long nap. Grandma Li had been digging wild vegetables and picking mushrooms at the foot of the mountain every day. After so many days, she hadn’t had a chance to rest, and her legs were swollen. Li Muwu usually carried bags at the grain store, and apart from his sore legs, everything else was fine. The one who was the most exhausted was Wang Sufen—digging potatoes, harvesting soybeans, and pulling up cabbages from morning till night. She was bent over all the time, and when she lay on the kang, it felt like her waist wasn’t even hers anymore. After breakfast, she lay down on the kang and took another nap.

Zhenzhen knew that Wang Sufen had been working hard these days, so she quietly sat on the kang eating some food. The sour and sweet wild grapes made her squint her eyes in delight. After Wang Sufen woke up from her nap, she saw her daughter still eating, so she couldn’t help but sit up and gently touch her little belly: “You can’t eat too much, or your stomach will hurt.”

Zhenzhen smiled and held up a blueberry to Wang Sufen’s mouth: “Mom, eat!”

Wang Sufen, excited, quickly pulled Zhenzhen into her arms and kissed her a few times, her face blooming with a bright smile: “Good daughter, I won’t eat, I’ll leave it all for you.”

Zhenzhen insisted, putting the blueberry in Wang Sufen’s mouth: “Eat!”

Looking at Zhenzhen’s earnest little face, Wang Sufen finally ate the blueberry and, satisfied, patted Zhenzhen’s soft black hair: “Our Zhenzhen is so smart; she learned to speak in just a few days.”

Of course, Zhenzhen had already known how to speak, but since everyone at home had been busy finding food in the mountains, and those at home were also busy with housework while watching over the child, no one had time to teach her. Only in the past couple of days, when Guihua took care of Zhenzhen, did she casually teach her to speak. Zhenzhen, pretending to have a big tongue¹, learned a few words and soon began to speak one word at a time.

Wang Sufen didn’t know the details and thought her daughter was especially clever. Taking advantage of these two days of rest, she half-lay on the neatly folded blankets, coaxing Zhenzhen to learn how to speak.

The mother and daughter took turns teaching each other to speak with a big tongue, occasionally bursting out in laughter. Grandma Li, feeling bored in the next room, heard the lively noise and came over to see what was going on.

When the door opened, Zhenzhen raised her head and, seeing who entered, her big eyes immediately turned into crescent moons as she smiled: “Grandma!”

“Oh, my darling!” Grandma Li walked over, sitting down next to Zhenzhen on the kang and noticed there were still some leftover fruit. She couldn’t help but ask: “Why are you eating but not finishing them?”

Wang Sufen casually replied: “She can nibble on one fruit for half a day, and with such a small belly, she can’t eat much.” Zhenzhen, feeling guilty, touched her nose and glanced at the floor, where a few small green sprouts could still be seen.

In Beicha, most houses were made of wooden structures with thick mud plaster. The floors inside the house were no different from the yard outside. Usually, they just sprinkled some water on the ground to keep the dust down, and it was common to see grass or sprouts growing here and there.

After playing with her granddaughter for a while, Grandma Li started chatting with Wang Sufen: “This year, our family harvested the grain early, and the yield was pretty good. Once the corn is dried and ground into flour, we’ll probably make it through the winter.”

Wang Sufen, thinking of the snowstorms that could block the mountains in winter, still felt some worry: “Summer is fine now, but what if we run out of food? If we only rely on mushrooms and wild vegetables from the mountains, we can survive, although we won’t be full, we won’t starve. But when the cold weather comes in two months, and the mushrooms and vegetables are gone, what will those families without food do?”

Grandma Li sighed: “We’ve dried some mushrooms. Besides, there are still some crops in the fields, though they aren’t doing well due to the drought. They should last through the winter. Maybe next year the weather will improve. I heard from Dongzi that the drought in our province has been bad the past two years. We don’t notice it much here in the mountains, but in other areas that rely on farming, the harvest is almost gone.”

Wang Sufen quickly put on her shoes and was about to head out: “I need to tell Guihua to stop making so many dried grains for now. I think we won’t be able to rely on the grain supply this year.”

Zhenzhen had been in this era for about seven months and had roughly figured out the time period. It was 1961. Even if she hadn’t deliberately researched it, she had heard the elders in the family talk about that history. Zhenzhen put down the fruit in her hand, climbed onto the windowsill, and leaned out to look outside.

The area between the front and back houses was densely filled with corn, and on both sides of the house, there was a patch of sweet potato vines. This was the most beloved crop in Beicha. Though the flour made from it wasn’t delicious, it was very filling, and every household grew a lot of it.

“We should be doing something. Although we can’t make it too scary like in the mountains, doing some small things privately should be fine. I just don’t know how much control I have over the crops in my own area,” Zhenzhen’s face showed a thoughtful expression that didn’t match her age. After thinking for a while, she climbed down from the windowsill, lay down on her little quilt, and closed her eyes.

“Are you sleepy?” Grandma Li smiled and took a thin blanket, covering Zhenzhen with it. “Good baby, go to sleep.”

Zhenzhen closed her eyes, but her consciousness spread out along the earth, growing farther and farther…

———
—”Pretending to have a big tongue” refers to intentionally speaking with unclear or slurred pronunciation, as if the tongue is too large to articulate words properly. This is often done humorously or playfully, mimicking the speech of someone who is struggling to pronounce words clearly.

In the context of language learning or teaching, especially with young children, it may also describe exaggerated speech patterns to help them practice pronunciation or learn new words in a fun and engaging way.