Xiao Lan smiled broadly, holding the locust flower cake. Snowflakes from her braids fell onto the cake, making it look like a layer of white sugar had been sprinkled on it.
"Really?" She tugged at Yun Tangyin's sleeve and shook it. "Then I'll go home now and weave a rabbit cage, and use the pink thread you gave me to make a flower base."
After saying that, he picked up the bamboo basket and ran out of the yard. The red ribbon left a red mark in the snow, like a rolling flame.
Yun Tangyin smiled as she watched her retreating figure. When she turned around, she saw Fu Yucheng filling a clay pot with locust flower cakes on the stove. Faint fingerprints were imprinted on the oil paper wrapping.
"Pack two more," she said, stuffing a piece of oil paper into his hand. "When we go to the canteen to chop firewood later, bring some for Director Wang's grandson; the kid's been craving something sweet."
Fu Yucheng wrapped the cake tightly in oil paper, his military green cotton-padded jacket cuffs smeared with flour: "I know, but we still need to save two pieces for Zhou Desheng."
The flames in the stove licked the bottom of the pot, making the New Year pictures on the wall even more vivid.
The chubby baby's koi fish had its tail sticking up high, its red scales shimmering in the light, as if it were about to jump off the paper.
Yun Tangyin touched her slightly protruding belly when she suddenly heard the creaking of a cart coming from outside the courtyard. Zhou Desheng's wife was carrying a bag of sweet potatoes and walking towards them, her blue cotton coat covered with a thin layer of frost.
“Just dug from the cellar,” she said, placing the sweet potato on the stove. Seeing the lotus scrolls on the silk, she said, “This fabric would look great in a padded jacket. Paired with the blue cloth trousers you made last year, no one in the regiment would look as good as you.”
Yun Tangyin stuffed a piece of locust flower cake into her hand: "Try it quickly, it's freshly steamed by Fu Yucheng, and it's sweeter than the last one."
Zhou Desheng's wife, munching on a cake, peeked into the bamboo cage and saw the rabbit munching on a sweet potato peel. She suddenly laughed and said, "This little thing, it can't move its legs when it sees food."
As Fu Yucheng carried the axe outside, his military boots crunched softly on the snow. "I'll make you some sweet potato porridge when I get back at noon," he said.
When he turned around, the frost on his eyelashes glistened in the sunlight. "Director Wang said that freshly dug sweet potatoes are sweet and are the best for making porridge."
Yun Tangyin stuffed a hand warmer into his pocket: "Chopping wood is tiring, this will keep you warm."
As the sun climbed up to the window frame, Yun Tangyin sat by the kang (a heated brick bed) embroidering a tiger-head hat, her stitches creating a round tiger eye on the blue cloth.
Suddenly, the rabbit in the bamboo cage scratched at the bars with its front paws, brought its three-lobed mouth close to her hand to sniff, and the snowflakes on its fur tickled her.
"Hungry?" She tossed a sticky rice cake into the cage, which the rabbit grabbed and ran off.
The sounds of laughter and chatter from the military families drifted in from outside the compound, mixed with the playful noises of children.
When Yun Tangyin lifted the curtain, she saw that Sister Li was leading several women toward her, each carrying a cloth bag.
“I heard you’re going to teach us how to make locust flower cake,” said Aunt Li, placing a bowl of pickled cucumbers on the table. “We brought some vegetables with us, so we’ll have lunch at your house.”
The women opened their cloth bags one after another, and the table was filled with pickled radishes, pickled cucumbers, and braised peanuts, like a bustling market.
Yun Tangyin added a piece of firewood to the stove and smiled as she stuffed locust flower cakes into their hands: "Try them quickly, they're freshly steamed. Fu Yucheng said that he added fermented rice wine when making the dough so it wouldn't be too sweet."
Director Wang's wife, holding a cake, suddenly laughed: "No wonder my son always says this tastes much better than the white flour steamed buns in the cafeteria."
She slipped a piece of brown sugar into Yun Tangyin's hand. "My mother sent this. Add two spoonfuls when cooking porridge; it's smoother than white sugar."
Just then, Fu Yucheng returned carrying a bundle of pine logs, his military green cotton-padded coat covered in sawdust.
"We have enough firewood for three days," he said, adding a piece of pine wood to the stove, and the flames leaped up. "Director Wang said that this afternoon, all the military families will come to learn how to make locust flower cakes, and the canteen will provide plenty of noodles."
Yun Tangyin stuffed a sticky rice cake into his hand: "Try it quickly, it's made by Xiao Lan's mother, it's very sweet."
Fu Yucheng, biting into a steamed bun, suddenly laughed: "Zhou Desheng said he wanted to trade with me. He would trade two jin of wheat flour for half a jar of locust flower cake."
The afternoon sun shone through the frost-covered windows, weaving a shimmering net on the ground.
Yun Tangyin led the women to pour rice wine into the basin, while Fu Yucheng squatted in front of the stove to add firewood. The snow on his military boots melted on the ground, creating a small puddle.
"The dough needs to be kneaded until it can be stretched into a thin film," Yun Tangyin demonstrated the kneading technique, "like this, soft and not sticky."
Sister Li tried to knead the dough like she did, getting flour all over her face, which made everyone laugh.
Director Wang's grandson peered through the door frame, his fingers in his mouth, his eyes fixed intently on the steamer.
Fu Yucheng stuffed a piece of locust flower cake into his hand, and the little guy immediately grabbed it and ran out, shouting, "Leave half a piece for Grandpa!" His childish voice carried far through the alley.
Director Wang's wife smiled and shook her head: "This child is just like his grandfather; he loves sweet things."
As the evening fell, the women carried steamed locust flower cakes home, their sweet aroma filling the alley.
Aunt Li slipped a pair of cloth shoes into Yun Tangyin's hand. The soles were covered with dense stitches. "I made these for you. They have a thousand-layer sole. They'll be perfect for spring. They're softer than leather shoes."
Fu Yucheng added a piece of coal to the stove and suddenly smiled as he watched Yun Tangyin try on her new shoes: "Sister Li's craftsmanship is better than that of the supply and marketing cooperative. They make your feet look small and beautiful."
Yun Tangyin snuggled closer to him, her nose brushing against the scent of soap on his woolen coat: "When spring comes, let's go to the back mountain to pick locust flowers, dry a whole vat of them, and we'll have something to eat in winter."
Fu Yucheng gently placed his palm on her lower abdomen, the warmth of his palm seeping through her sweater: "Let's plant more locust trees. When the child grows up, let him stand on a stool to pick locust blossoms, just like you did when you were little."
The rabbit in the bamboo cage had fallen asleep sometime earlier, curled up in the cotton wool like a ball of white fluff, its ear tips twitching occasionally like two trembling snowflakes.
Yun Tangyin added some alfalfa to the cage and suddenly noticed that the rabbit's belly was round and plump, and it looked a size bigger than it had in the morning.
“Look at it,” she said with a smile, pointing to Fu Yucheng. “It’s eaten a lot of good food all day, and it’s probably really going to have babies.”
Fu Yucheng threw a piece of cotton wool into the cage: "Make it thicker, so the little one doesn't get cold."
Yun Tangyin laughed out loud: "I was just kidding. How can it have babies without a companion? Why don't we think of a way to get a companion so we can raise it together?"
Fu Yucheng added a piece of hard coal to the stove, and the flames leaped up, casting the shadows of the two men on the wall, the outlines of their military green cotton-padded jackets flickering in and out.
“When spring comes, we’ll go to the market in town,” he said, poking the fire with tongs, sparks flying onto the blue brick floor. “We’ll find it a companion, one with white ears and red eyes, that would be a perfect match for it.”
Yun Tangyin laid a layer of dry straw in the cage, her fingertips touching the rabbit's warm fur, and suddenly laughed: "When it really has a litter of baby rabbits, the yard will be lively."
From outside the courtyard came Zhou Desheng's wife's loud voice, mixed with the rustling sound of shoveling snow: "Yinyin! Can I borrow your basket? Mine has a hole in it!"
When Yun Tangyin lifted the curtain, she saw her carrying a pile of cabbages into the yard, the frost on her blue cotton jacket gleaming in the sunset.
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