Chapter 167 – Wrapping Zongzi

It was early morning once again. The sun had yet to rise, but the villagers of Zhoujiazhuang were already busy at work.

By now, the wheat was gradually ripening and almost ready for harvest.

Unlike other rural villages that only tended to wheat or rice, Zhoujiazhuang’s villagers had plenty more to do. In addition to their regular production tasks, there were various other crops that needed looking after.

In short, there were practically no idle hands in Zhoujiazhuang anymore.

Except for the Zhou Yimin family.

These days, even the elderly in the village were doing what they could, rather than crowding into Zhou Yimin’s house to listen to the radio. Some of them hadn’t been in great health, but with Chen Baishu’s treatment, they were now full of energy.

The old party secretary, the team leader, and the others were all brimming with ambition.

Just a couple of days ago, the village had managed to hunt down eleven wild boars. After keeping one for themselves as a treat, they sold the rest and made a good chunk of money.

With over a thousand yuan in hand, the village could now accomplish quite a bit.

Having money and food meant having confidence. At this point, Zhoujiazhuang was full of it.

The roads in the village were still under construction, but with today’s work, they’d be close to completion. The road had been laid with coal cinders and compacted well—it looked neat and tidy. Not only could cars drive on it easily, even walking felt a lot more pleasant.

At this very moment, every villager thought that building this road had been well worth it.

“Yimin’s back!”

Some villagers noticed Zhou Yimin riding into the village on his bicycle as they worked.

Zhou Yimin, seeing the people working on the road, got off his bike and began pushing it instead. In the rear basket was the haul from yesterday’s one-yuan shopping spree: 100 catties of glutinous rice, two large lobsters, ten catties of pork belly, and more.

The pork belly was for wrapping zongzi.

They still had peanuts and beans at home.

Today, he planned to coax his grandmother and the others into wrapping zongzi. After all, you didn’t have to wait until the Dragon Boat Festival to eat them.

“They’ve built this much already?” Zhou Yimin asked in surprise.

The team leader laughed and replied, “We should be just about done after today’s work.”

After feasting on wild boar for two meals the day before, everyone had been working extra hard. Even the tractor drivers were moving faster, hauling coal cinders at a quicker pace.

Also, now that folks had gotten the hang of it, they were working faster overall.

Zhou Yimin chatted with them for a while before heading home. He pushed his bike onto the finished section of the village road and rode a bit—it really was much smoother, without any bumps.

“Third Aunt, are you busy?” Zhou Yimin called out when he saw his third aunt, Huang Lan, hanging laundry outside her house.

Laifang and Laicai ran over. Laifang quickly climbed onto the front bar of the bicycle, and Laicai got ready to push from the back.

“Not busy. What’s up, Yimin?”

In reality, she had been planning to help out in the fields after looking after Qianqian for a bit. But hearing her nephew ask like this, she figured he must need something, so she said she wasn’t busy.

“I brought back some glutinous rice. I want to wrap zongzi later. If possible, can you gather a few of the village women to help?” said Zhou Yimin.

It wasn’t a small amount.

A hundred catties of glutinous rice!

Zhou Yimin planned to make zongzi and share them with everyone, especially the kids at school.

Huang Lan was stunned when she heard that. How many are you planning to make? You even need help from several village women?

She asked tentatively, “Are you making a lot?”

Zhou Yimin nodded. “A hundred catties of rice—that’s quite a bit.”

Good lord!

Huang Lan was speechless.

She had almost said she could do it all herself—thank goodness she hadn’t. Just thinking about wrapping that many zongzi gave her chills.

“Alright, I’ll go find people now,” Third Aunt said, quickly hanging the last piece of laundry.

Then she called out to Laicai, “Laicai, come back and carry Qianqian!”

Zhou Yimin also said, “Laicai, go pick up Qianqian.”

As soon as Laicai heard his big brother was making something delicious again, he had no complaints at all and ran off toward home.

“Hold on tight,” Zhou Yimin said to Laifang.

Then he rode on with her toward home.

Back at the house, his grandparents were completely unfazed by their grandson bringing back so many things. They didn’t even ask anymore. Their grandson had the ability, after all.

Back in the day, they might have done things secretly, but now that the village was united as one, there was no need to sneak around about what they were doing or eating.

“Oh! Such big shrimp? What kind are they?” the old man’s eyes went wide when he saw the two large lobsters.

In all his years, it was the first time he’d seen shrimp that big. How could he not be amazed?

“Grandpa! These are lobsters—they live in the ocean.”

Upon hearing they lived in the sea, the old man stopped being surprised.

Laifang was curious too. She reached out to touch one and, bold as ever, asked, “Big Brother, are lobsters tasty?”

For kids, it was all about the food.

Zhou Yimin chuckled. “Very tasty. I’ll make some for you later. But don’t touch them! They might poke you.”

Lobsters have a well-developed, spiny carapace with a pair of strong spines in front of their eyes. While they don’t bite, it’s still best to avoid getting pricked. Some types even have strong claws that can pinch.

Hearing this, Laifang withdrew her hand and made a scared face.

Just then, Laicai came running over with Qianqian in his arms.

Zhou Yimin took Qianqian from him. The little girl’s eyes sparkled as she looked at her big brother. Though she still couldn’t speak, her eyes seemed to say it all.

Laicai squatted down to look at the two big lobsters with great interest.

Zhou Yimin held Qianqian for a while before placing her in the little crib he had specially commissioned.

“Grandma, I’m going to cut the meat. We’ll wrap zongzi later. It’s just a shame we don’t have red and blue leaves.”

That confused the old lady.

Meat for zongzi? What were red and blue leaves?

In all her years, she had never heard of red and blue leaves.

As for meat zongzi, at least she’d heard of those—people in the south made them that way.

“What are red and blue leaves? We hardly ever put meat in zongzi,” she said.

Zhou Yimin replied, “They’re probably a kind of spice? They also add color. I heard some places in the south do it like that—putting in meat, too. I just want to try something different.

Of course, we have red dates and such too, so we’ll make a mix of flavors.”

The old lady nodded.

Whatever her grandson liked, she was happy to make. It didn’t matter. Meat zongzi were fine!

Like her grandson said—trying something new wouldn’t hurt.

“You’re wrapping all that glutinous rice?” she asked again.

These days, she was much more easygoing and not stingy anymore. She understood her grandson was planning big things.

Zhou Yimin nodded and explained his thoughts to his grandparents.

The old man laughed. “Go ahead and do it! With the support of the party secretary, the team leader, and the respected elders of the village, you’re safe in Zhoujiazhuang.”

The whole village was counting on his grandson to lead them to a better life—who would ever report him?

Even if his grandson did break the law, the village might pick someone to take the fall for him!
(End of chapter)