Chapter 7 The Most Vulnerable Time

After lunch, Granny Chen took a hoe and went to the field to weed.

Old Master Chen already needs a cane to walk. He can't even walk fast enough to work in the fields, and he'll fall down. He can only stay at home all day.

Grandpa Chen had several grandsons, but none of them got married, let alone had children.

On the contrary, several of her granddaughters who are already married have children.

However, since his granddaughter got married and moved away, he only sees his great-granddaughter occasionally.

As for the eldest granddaughter, Chen Fangmin, who is Shen Xuewei's mother, she has never even met the children she had with her husband who married far away.

Today was also the first time he had seen Shen Xuewei.

As the old man got older, he enjoyed the company of his family. He held up a bag of candy and teased Shen Xuewei, making her call him "Great-Grandpa."

Shen Xuewei is now very good at pretending to be a child.

When Grandpa Chen gives her a piece of candy, she calls him "Grandpa" every time, until she tricks him into giving her all the candies in his hand.

With no candy in his hand, Old Man Chen also began to doze off.

Shen Xuewei helped Chen Taigong and took him back to his maternal grandfather's house next door.

As she left her maternal grandfather's house, her maternal grandmother slipped a red envelope into her pocket.

"Weiwei will be going to study in Fuman Village from now on, right? Second Grandma is giving Weiwei a red envelope. May Weiwei be smart in her studies and walk smoothly in the future. When you come back for vacation, come and visit Second Grandma often, okay?"

After Shen Xuewei obediently responded, she stuffed a handful of melon seeds into Shen Xuewei's hand, and chatted with Shen Xuewei outside for a while before letting Shen Xuewei leave.

When Shen Xuewei returned home, Da Huang immediately came over to her.

She had only rolled the rhubarb over twice when she heard movement coming from inside its belly.

She clutched her stomach, pushed away the big yellow dog that was stubbornly pressing against her instep, and shouted towards the back door:

"Grandma, I need to go to the toilet to poop!"

Here, the large and small sizes go to different places.

If it's a small urinal, then go to the abandoned pigsty below the drying ground, where there are urine buckets.

This urine will be used to fertilize the vegetable garden.

If you need to defecate, you have to go to the natural toilet in the back mountain.

Grandma Xi brushed the chicken feathers off her body, washed her hands by the water vat, picked up two corn cobs from the pile of matches in the corner of the stove, and then led her towards the back door.

"Come on, Grandma will take Weiwei to the toilet. After this, Weiwei will be able to find the place by herself from now on."

A strange smell wafted from the back door. Shen Xuewei held her breath and was led quickly past by her grandmother.

My maternal grandmother's family raised twenty or thirty chickens, and the stone house next to it was the chicken coop.

Going out the back door leads to the territory of the Chen family's back mountain.

After walking a few steps, they arrived at the toilet, which was surrounded by wood, only to find that there were already people inside.

Grandma Xi slapped her forehead, "Oh dear, I almost forgot, your grandfather just passed by."

She pulled Shen Xuewei to another spot, saying, "Come on, let's go this way."

Shen Xuewei was being pulled along by her, and she could barely hold her poop in.

Fortunately, after passing through a certain area, they arrived at the woods, where Grandma Xi told her that she could relieve herself there, and she would stay there and watch over her.

Shen Xuewei has the soul of an adult; how could she possibly defecate in front of Grandma Xi?

She snatched the two corn cobs from her grandmother's hands. "Grandma, turn around... no, you go back first. I know the way, I'll go back by myself later."

Grandma Xi glanced at her flushed face, found it amusing, but didn't go far, just turned her back.

"It's okay, Grandma is with you. Grandma will turn her back and won't be able to see you."

Although she was still a little embarrassed, Shen Xuewei's stomach was already very upset, so she took off her pants and squatted down.

Just as she was enjoying a good time taking a dump, she suddenly became acutely aware of a gaze fixed on her.

She looked up and saw that it was Big Yellow following her.

Shen Xuewei snapped, "Go away, get out of here!"

Big Yellow took two steps back, but just as she was about to feel relieved, it darted forward two steps, eager to eat.

At her most vulnerable moment, encountering such a thing, Shen Xuewei no longer cared about her newly established friendship with Da Huang, and grabbed a small stone next to her and threw it at Da Huang.

He roared in near-collapse, "Get out!"

Grandma Xi also picked up a dry twig and flicked Big Yellow's bottom.

Big Yellow whimpered, tucked its tail between its legs, and ran away looking aggrieved.

Shen Xuewei didn't care about being embarrassed anymore; she just wanted to finish emptying her bladder before Da Huang revisited the place.

When she finally finished relieving herself, she took a corncob and wiped it on her buttocks, her whole face contorting in pain.

When she returned to her grandmother's house, the thing she hated most was going to the toilet.

She's wiping her bottom with corncobs now, so when she starts school, she can use discarded notebooks to wipe her bottom.

She hastily pulled up her pants and slowly left with her grandmother.

They had only taken a few steps when a yellow figure that had been waiting for a long time darted out like lightning.

With a somber expression, Shen Xuewei decided that she would not approach Da Huang for the next few days.

Next to the back of the house, there was a patch of land with about ten peach trees.

Today is still the tenth day of the Lunar New Year, and the temperature is still low. The peach trees are still dormant and look dry and bare, lacking any aesthetic appeal.

However, in about a month, when the temperature warms up slightly and the peach trees begin to bud, this place will soon be adorned with peach blossoms, creating a breathtakingly beautiful scene.

Shen Xuewei glanced at the few bare peach trees and followed her grandmother back home.

No sooner had they returned than Da Huang followed them over, trying to rub against Shen Xuewei.

Shen Xuewei held a bamboo stick to keep it away.

As soon as it gets close, hit it.

Big Yellow looked at her with disappointment in his eyes. Seeing that she remained unmoved, he turned around and went to play with the neighbor's dog.

Once it was far away, Shen Xuewei put down the bamboo stick in her hand and breathed a sigh of relief.

It dares to come near her after eating shit; she'll cripple it.

The tenth day of the Lunar New Year passed peacefully and warmly.

On the eleventh day of the Lunar New Year, Grandma Xi packed most of Shen Xuewei's clothes into a bag, leaving only a few sets at the Chen family's house.

Grandpa Chen carried the bag and led Shen Xuewei out of the mountain.

There are no more primary schools in these mountains, so Shen Xuewei has to go to another village to attend school on weekdays.

Fuman Village, which has a primary school nearby, is about a two-hour walk from Xiaoli Village in the mountains, making it inconvenient for students to go to and from school on weekdays.

Therefore, although Shen Xuewei said she lived at her maternal grandfather's house, she actually only stayed there on weekends and during winter and summer vacations. When she had to go to school, she stayed at her second aunt's house.

My second aunt, Chen Fangli, married into Fuxing Village, which is about one kilometer away from Fuman Village.

When Shen Xuewei later attended Fuman Elementary School, she lived at her second aunt's house.

Of Grandpa Chen's three daughters, only his youngest daughter, Chen Fanglan, is still unmarried. His eldest daughter married far away, while his second daughter, Chen Fangli, married very close by, about an hour's walk away.

Next year, the road construction will extend into the mountains. Once the road is open, there will be dedicated minibuses and vans to carry passengers along this route, greatly reducing distance and travel time.