Chapter 13 Thirty Jin Food Coupons

When the scent of locust flowers wrapped in gossip emerged from behind the curtain of the convenience store, Xu Yao was holding the Codonopsis pilosula she had just picked up from the health center.

A few drops of brown medicine seeped out from the corners of the oil paper package, forming a crooked crescent at the base of her thumb.

"If you ask me, what the Sun family gave back then was a whole bunch of wild ginseng!"

Aunt Wang, the tofu beauty, had a shrill voice that made the glass counter buzz. "The girl from the Xu family is so good. She broke off the engagement and even extorted thirty kilograms of food coupons from the other party."

Xu Yao stared at the faded "Develop Economy" slogan on the door curtain, and the burn on her wrist suddenly started to itch again.

She touched the stiff oil paper bag in her trouser pocket. It was the astragalus that she had found in the depths of the chest of drawers this morning - a medicinal herb that her mother had hidden as a dowry. Now it was more valuable than the ginseng roots that were used to soak in wine at the Sun family.

"That's right. Third sister was helping the Sun family fetch water the other day..." Uncle Zhao from the grocery store had just started to speak when Xu Yao suddenly lifted the blue cloth curtain.

The sunlight chased her floral shirt into the house, startling the sparrows on the counter and causing them to flutter and crash into the abacus.

The people in the room were like quails with their necks strangled, and Aunt Wang had half a handful of melon seeds scattered.

Xu Yao's eyes swept across the crowded enamel jars on the shelf, and finally stopped on the orange-red hard candies in the glass jars - the candy wrappers printed with "Serve the People" were exactly the same as the faded collection on her father's pillow.

"Uncle Zhao remembered it wrong."

Xu Yao took out the oil paper bag from her pocket and peeled off the three layers of coarse burlap paper. "Third sister picked out the water tank from my family."

The curled up slice of Astragalus lies in the palm of my hand, the aroma of the medicine overpowering the smell of soy sauce on the counter. "The Sun family's ginseng whiskers have been soaked in wine for three years, but the aroma of ginseng chicken soup wafts from the stove of my third sister's house all year round."

The sound of porcelain bowls knocking against each other came from the shadows behind the shelf. Xu Yao didn't need to look back to know that it was the place where her third sister usually hid.

She turned around and placed the astragalus slices on the glass counter. The residue left a light brown circle on the "Ensure Supply" slogan.

"Last year on Laba Festival, Sun Zhiqiang said he was going to the commune to collect his labor insurance."

Xu Yao's fingertips traced the thin dust on the glass jar. "The bundle of fresh bacon on the beam of Third Sister's house is hung with a red cotton string that is only available at the supply and marketing cooperative."

She suddenly raised her voice, "Aunt Wang, didn't you say at the time that the codonopsis roots drying on the windowsill of my third sister's house were thicker than those in the state-owned medicine store?"

There were rustling sounds of gasps from the crowd, and a few wives sewing shoe soles secretly moved their benches towards the door.

Xu Yao touched the jagged edge of the candy wrapper in her trouser pocket, and her throat suddenly choked as she recalled her father holding the candy wrapper last night and saying, "Nannan loves orange flavor the best."

"You are slandering me!" The third sister flashed out from behind the shelf, her red shirt knocking over a row of clam oil, "It's obvious that Brother Zhiqiang felt sorry for me, an orphan and a widow..."

"Sun Zhiqiang was too lazy to even fix the leaking roof of his own house."

Xu Yao interrupted the conversation and took out a blue notebook, "This is his attendance record at the agricultural machinery station. He has taken 23 'helper leave' in the past six months."

As the paper pages were turned, a piece of candy wrapper fell out, just covering the new patch on the third sister's shoe.

The crowd suddenly went wild, and Uncle Zhao's pipe slammed heavily against the glass cabinet: "Good fellow!

Last month, the team rushed to harvest and he said he was going to the county to study. It turned out that he was......"

"No!"

Sun Zhiqiang had blocked the doorway at some point, with half a movie ticket sticking out of his work clothes pocket. "What I'm doing is serious business! Xu Yao, don't think that just because you're hooking up with Xue Han..."

"Comrade Xue helped my family change the tiles yesterday."

Xu Yao suddenly pointed out the window.

In the threshing yard, Xue Han was inserting the last green tile into the eaves of the house, and the sunlight rolled into golden beads on his bronze back.

Someone chuckled: "It's much more serious than some people's movie tickets."

The third sister suddenly pounced on the astragalus slices on the counter, but Aunt Wang grabbed them with a melon seed plate: "Oh my, this herb is precious, don't let it get stained with clam oil!"

Sun Zhiqiang blushed as he tried to pull his third sister. The movie ticket in his work clothes pocket fell lightly to the ground. The screening date of "The Red Detachment of Women" was printed on the front - it was the day he said he would go to the county to study.

When Xu Yao bent down to pick up the candy wrapper, she heard the rustling sound of a shovel shoveling wheat grains coming from the threshing ground outside the door.

Xue Han's shadow was reflected obliquely on the door curtain, like a silent ruler measuring the hearts of people in the room.

She suddenly felt that the burn on her wrist had formed a scab, and even the orange candy that Aunt Wang handed to her had the aroma of wheat from the threshing floor.

A cloud of yellow dust suddenly rose at the end of the village road, and Sun's mother's indigo smock fluttered like an angry sail in the wind.

The rustling sound in the threshing yard stopped, and Xue Han walked towards the store with a shovel in his hand. The blade of the shovel scraped out tiny sparks on the bluestone slabs.

The villagers crowded at the door automatically made way for them. Someone stepped on the movie tickets on the ground and crushed them. The smile of the film heroine was split in two.

As the tip of Xue Han's shovel touched the threshold, Sun's mother, covered in dust, rushed into the crowd.

The indigo smock swept across the glass jar of malted milk, bringing up a choking sweet smell. "You little whore is spreading rumors!"

Her dry branch-like fingers poked Xu Yao's forehead, and the silver bracelet on her wrist banged against the enamelware pot, "My son Zhiqiang is an advanced worker, and the county's red list..."

"Is the red list the attendance record of the agricultural machinery station?"

The village chief's deep voice interrupted the curse.

The old man's bamboo-like fingers pinched the cigarette box paper that Xue Han had just handed to him, and the densely packed leave records on it were clearly visible in the sunlight.

Xu Yao noticed that the pockets of Xue Han's overalls were stained with mud, and there was a half locust leaf stuck on his trouser legs - she was afraid that it was evidence that he had climbed over the wall to get from the village committee office.

Sun's mother's silver bracelet froze in mid-air, and the third sister suddenly covered her stomach and fell into Sun Zhiqiang's arms: "Oh, my old stomach problem..."

The hem of his red shirt was stained with scattered Astragalus slices, and the brown medicinal juice looked like dried blood.

"If you have an attack, go to the clinic." The village chief tapped the pottery jar of brown sugar with his pipe. "Doctor Zhang said yesterday that San Yatou's chicken stewed with codonopsis pilosula was greasy and smooth."

He bent down to pick up the crumpled movie ticket. Wu Qionghua's eyes on the film were just looking at another ticket stub sticking out of Sun Zhiqiang's pocket. "Zhiqiang, the study experience you submitted last month was about "On the Maintenance of Agricultural Machinery during the Double Harvest Period"? "

Someone in the crowd burst into laughter, and the hemp ropes used to sew shoe soles made a crackling sound.

Xu Yao felt the serrations of the candy wrapper in her trouser pocket and suddenly remembered that her daughter made the same sound when she tore the medical record book in her previous life.

She took a deep breath, and the scent of medicine mixed with the smell of wheat waves rushed into her chest.

"This is the gift list given by the Sun family that year."

Xu Yao took out a blue cloth bag. The ink marks of "a branch of wild ginseng" on the faded red paper had turned gray. "What I actually gave you is a receipt from the medicine store. It's the hairy ginseng I bought after the frost in 1975. The supply and marketing cooperative priced it at two yuan and thirty-seven cents."

As the yellowed bills were spread out on the glass cabinet, Aunt Wang's melon seed plate clattered down at Mother Sun's feet.

Xue Han suddenly turned sideways to block the slanting sunlight from the door, and his bronze shadow just covered Xu Yao's trembling fingertips.

She glanced at the fresh abrasion on the back of his hand, which was covered with dark red blood scabs - probably caused by a tile scratch when he was repairing the roof early in the morning.

"There are still thirty kilograms of food coupons."

Xu Yao took out another crumpled IOU and said, "Uncle Sun borrowed it in the spring and said he would pay it back in the fall."

She deliberately waved the piece of paper with the red fingerprint in the direction of her third sister. "But the cornmeal that her family dried was wrapped in oil paper from the supply and marketing cooperative - the same packaging as the relief food that the Sun family received last month."

Sun Zhiqiang's face turned purple, and the movie tickets in his work clothes pocket were shaking.

The third sister suddenly broke free from his embrace, and her maroon shirt knocked over the clay pot of salt. The snow-white grains scattered on the IOU, like a layer of frost covering the lie.

“What a sin!”

Sun's mother's silver bracelet suddenly smashed towards the glass cabinet, but was caught in mid-air by the village chief's pipe.

The old man held the bracelet with his pipe and shook it. "The words 'Sun's Silver Shop' engraved on it, wasn't it a joint venture between the public and private sectors in 1966?" His cloudy eyes swept over Sun's mother's instantly pale face, "Zhiqiang's father was an accountant in the silver shop back then, and the items he kept privately..."

The crowd suddenly exploded, and several old men who had been huddled in the corner suddenly squeezed forward.

Xu Yao felt Xue Han move half a step towards her. The heat from the threshing floor mixed with the smell of grass on his body made her ears feel hot.

She hurriedly lowered her head to sort out the evidence, but found that there was an orange candy in the blue cloth bag at some point - the candy wrapper was folded into a crane with spread wings.

"Let's all go." The village chief knocked on the edge of the soy sauce jar, "It's time to turn the wheat a second time."

He suddenly turned around and winked at Xu Yao, "Your father had a bad cough this morning, so he asked you to get some Fritillaria..."

Xu Yao's heart trembled violently, and the hand holding the oil paper bag suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.

I don't know when most of the locust flowers outside the door had withered, and the remaining fragrance wrapped in the scorched wheat grains penetrated into the house.

Xue Han's shovel had blocked the Sun family's retreat path at some point, and the mud on the shovel blade happened to fall on Sun's mother's cloth shoes embroidered with gold thread.

As dusk crept up the threshing ground, Xu Yao groped in the dark and broke open the door of her own yard.

The medicine pot was bubbling on the stove, but there was no trace of the white mist that used to rise from it.