When Lin Wanqiu planted the last row of spinach into her space, the sun had just climbed to the treetops outside the window. The Shanghai bok choy in her space was ready for a second harvest; the tender green leaves were so fresh they seemed to drip with water. She picked a full basket and then rummaged through the warehouse for half a carton of eggs—these were common boxed eggs in modern supermarkets, with a long shelf life, perfect for nourishing Nian Nian's body.
"I need to boil the eggs quickly while no one's around during the day," Lin Wanqiu thought to herself. Grandma Shen and Zhang Lan were watching her house like flies; if they found out she was boiling eggs, they'd probably cause a huge scene. She hid the vegetables and eggs in her apron pocket, then with a thought, she exited her spatial dimension. Just as she turned around, she bumped into a warm little embrace.
"Mom!" Shen Nian'an held up a blade of grass, her little face covered in dirt from rubbing against her apron. "I saw a little butterfly in the yard just now, it flew so fast!"
Lin Wanqiu smiled and gently pinched his little nose. The skin her fingertips touched was smoother than when she first arrived. "Did Niannian catch up with Little Butterfly?"
“No…” Shen Nian’an hung his head, then his eyes lit up again, “But I made a grass ring for Mother!” He proudly held up his finger wrapped with foxtail grass and carefully slipped it onto Lin Wanqiu’s hand, “Mother looks so beautiful on it!”
Lin Wanqiu's heart felt as if it had been soaked in warm water, melting completely. She knelt down and hugged her son, kissing him on the forehead: "Niannian is such a good boy. Mommy will cook you an egg today. If you eat the egg, our Niannian will grow faster than a little butterfly, and then he'll be able to catch up with it."
"Eggs?" Shen Nian'an's eyes widened, her little hands gripping her clothes tightly. "Is it the one Da Bao ate last time? It was golden yellow and smelled so good."
"Yes." Lin Wanqiu stroked his dry, yellow hair, a pang of sadness gripping her heart. When the original owner of this body was alive, Old Mrs. Shen kept all the eggs for her eldest grandson, Dabao. Niannian, who was four years old, had only ever smelled the aroma of eggs from afar. She carried her son into the kitchen, put the eggs in the pot, and added a few more pieces of firewood to the stove. The orange flames licked the bottom of the pot, making Niannian's eyes sparkle.
"Mom, how long do you need to boil the eggs?" Shen Nian'an lay by the stove, her little head bobbing up and down in rhythm with the flames.
"Once the water boils, it'll be ready in a little while." Lin Wanqiu stirred the vegetables in the pot while keeping an eye on the activity outside the courtyard gate. It was the time when the commune members were going to work, so no one should be coming, but she still felt uneasy, as if a pair of eyes were watching her from the shadows.
Sure enough, just as the water started bubbling, Zhang Lan's dragging footsteps came from outside the courtyard gate, mixed with her chatter with her neighbor, Aunt Wang: "...That's right, my sister-in-law, ever since she fell into the river last time, she's been like a different person. She hides at home all day and never comes out. Who knows what good things she's hiding!"
Lin Wanqiu's heart tightened. She quickly covered the pot tightly and added more firewood to the stove, hoping the eggs would cook faster. Shen Nian'an also sensed something was wrong. She gripped Lin Wanqiu's clothes tightly with her little hands and whispered, "Mom, is Auntie here? Will she steal our eggs?"
"Don't be afraid." Lin Wanqiu patted his head and lowered her voice, "Mom's here, no one can take our eggs away." She quickly scooped the cooked vegetables into a bowl, hid it in the back of the cupboard, and wiped the stove with a rag, pretending that she was just cooking wild vegetables.
Just as she finished tidying up, the courtyard gate creaked open, and Zhang Lan peeked in. When she saw Lin Wanqiu by the stove, she immediately put on a fake smile: "Wanqiu, are you home? I was just passing by with Aunt Wang and we smelled something delicious coming from your house, so we came to check on you."
As she spoke, she moved closer to the stove, sniffing around like a dog: "What are you cooking? It smells delicious, is it meat?"
Lin Wanqiu stood calmly in front of the stove, holding a spatula in her hand: "There's no meat, just some wild vegetables, I wanted to fill Niannian's stomach. Why didn't you come to work today, sister-in-law? Are you feeling unwell?"
Zhang Lan's smile froze for a moment, touched on a sore spot. She had originally planned to skip work today, but Lin Wanqiu had seen through her, so she could only bite the bullet and say, "I... I was just worried about you. You were just injured, what if something else happened to you if no one took care of you?"
As she spoke, she tried to peek into the pot from behind Lin Wanqiu. Lin Wanqiu, anticipating this, deliberately stirred the pot with a spatula, releasing the aroma of wild vegetables that temporarily masked the smell of eggs. Zhang Lan wrinkled her nose, clearly disbelieving: "Just wild vegetables? I smell something else too."
"If you don't believe me, sister-in-law, just look for yourself." Lin Wanqiu took a step back, revealing the wild vegetables in the pot. "I dug these wild vegetables by the river this morning. If you don't mind, I'll serve you some later."
Zhang Lan peeked into the pot and saw only bright green wild vegetables. A little disappointed, she wasn't giving up and began scanning the room again. When she saw a corner of a bowl peeking out of the cupboard door, her eyes lit up instantly: "Wanqiu, what are you keeping in this cupboard? Are you hiding something delicious?"
Lin Wanqiu's heart skipped a beat. She quickly went over to close the cupboard door, but Zhang Lan was a step ahead and flung it open. When she saw the bright green vegetables in the bowl, her eyes widened: "This...isn't this green vegetable? What time is it now? Where did you get this green vegetable?"
By the end of October in the 1960s, the vegetables in the fields had long since frozen to death. Only some remained in the commune's cellar, reserved for the cadres; ordinary commune members had no access to them. Zhang Lan, her mouth watering at the sight of the tender greens in her bowl, reached for them, exclaiming, "Wanqiu, where did you get these greens? Did you secretly buy them from the black market? You're really something! You have good things but don't share them with us. Don't you have any respect for your family?"
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