Yun Tangyin slipped a key into Zhou Desheng's wife's hand: "It's hanging behind the kitchen door, the one woven from bamboo strips. Go get it yourself."
She watched as the other person carried the cabbage to the corner of the wall, a thin layer of snow clinging to the back of their blue cotton jacket, like a fallen cloud. "Just taken from the cellar? It looks so fresh."
Zhou Desheng's wife straightened up and patted her apron, snowflakes falling softly from her shoulder: "The temperature in the cellar is just right, the cabbage hearts are so tender you could squeeze water out of them."
She pointed at the rabbit in the bamboo cage and laughed, "This little thing really knows how to enjoy life; the cotton quilt is thicker than my child's mattress."
As they spoke, he glanced at the locust flower cake on the stove and suddenly swallowed hard. “The cake you made is so good. My son Desheng was talking about it last night, saying it’s ten times more fragrant than the white flour steamed buns in the canteen.”
Yun Tangyin stuffed a piece of cake wrapped in oil paper into her hand: "Take it back for Desheng as a late-night snack. Fu Yucheng said he added three spoonfuls of sugar when making the dough, so it's very sweet."
Zhou Desheng's wife carried the cakes to the kitchen, the bamboo wicker basket making a rustling sound as it dragged on the ground: "Thank you, thank you. Tomorrow I'll bring you a jar of spicy cabbage, pickled with freshly sun-dried chilies. It's absolutely delicious with porridge."
Fu Yucheng was nailing wooden hooks to the wall, the fresh scent of pine mixed with the chill of the snow spreading out.
“It’s for hanging wintersweet,” he said, wrapping a red string around the hook. “When the flowers are in full bloom, I’ll pick a couple and hang them by the bedside so you can smell their fragrance while you’re embroidering.”
Yun Tangyin touched the burrs on the wooden hook and laughed: "You said the same thing last year, but the winter plum blossoms didn't last long before a rabbit gnawed half of one branch."
The rabbit in the bamboo cage seemed to understand, and suddenly perked up its ears.
Fu Yucheng threw a carrot into the cage: "This time I'll find you a companion, so it can watch over you and stop you from being greedy."
The rabbit, with a carrot in its mouth, turned and burrowed into the pile of cotton wool. Its round body bumped against the cage, making a creaking sound, like it was carrying a small ball.
As the sun sank below the treetops in the west, Fu Yucheng squatted in front of the chicken coop, picking up eggs. The mud on his military boots mixed with straw, leaving a trail of flower-like footprints on the snow.
“Mom said to pickle these eggs into salted eggs,” he said, putting the eggs into the jar. Then he turned around and smiled, “They’ll be perfect for you to eat with porridge in the morning when you’re in confinement.”
Yun Tangyin added a handful of pine needles to the stove, and the fragrance of pine resin wafted out: "We still need to save a few for the children. Director Wang said that children grow strong by eating egg yolks."
From outside the courtyard came Aunt Li's loud voice, mixed with the children's laughter: "Yinyin! I'm bringing you the new shoe soles!"
Yun Tangyin stuffed a piece of locust flower cake into Aunt Li's hand: "Try it quickly, Fu Yucheng steamed it fresh, it's sweeter than last time."
Li Sao, biting into a cake, glanced at the kang (heated brick bed) and saw a light blue floral fabric spread on cotton wadding. Suddenly, she clapped her hands and laughed, "This fabric will look beautiful as a swaddle. When the baby is a month old, I'll make a tiger-head pillow for your family. It'll be a lucky set."
She slipped a bag of peanuts into Yun Tangyin's pocket. "They're roasted until crispy. Peel and eat them whenever you have free time; they'll help replenish your energy and blood."
The moonlight shone through the frost-covered window at night, spreading a layer of silver frost on the kang (a heated brick bed).
Yun Tangyin leaned against Fu Yucheng's chest, listening to him talk about raiding bird nests when he was a child. Suddenly, the little one in her belly kicked her, as gently as a feather brushing against her heart.
“Look,” she said, taking his hand and pressing it against her lower abdomen, “the baby loves to hear stories too.”
Fu Yucheng pressed his ear against hers, the collar of his military green cotton-padded jacket brushing against her fleece: "He's saying 'Dad didn't say it nicely'."
Two more wintersweet blossoms have opened in the celadon vase on the stove. The tender yellow petals are covered with moisture, and the fragrance is so sweet that it makes your bones melt.
Yun Tangyin suddenly remembered the shoe soles that Aunt Li had given her during the day; there was a red thread hidden in the tiger-striped stitches, like a red ribbon in the snow.
“Let’s wear these shoes to pick locust flowers in the spring,” she snuggled closer to Fu Yucheng. “You can stand on the stool and pick them, and I’ll catch them from below, just like last year.”
Fu Yucheng added a piece of coal to the stove, the firelight casting a flickering shadow on the wall: "I won't let you take any more this year. Just stand by and watch. Don't tire yourself out."
Before dawn, Fu Yucheng went out with two locust flower cakes in his pocket.
The crunching sound of military boots on the unmelted snow startled the sparrows under the eaves, and the gray shadows swept past the red silk lanterns like rolling ink.
When he hurried to town, the cakes in his pocket were still warm, and the oil paper was slightly damp from his body heat.
That was specially reserved for Zhang the butcher's youngest son. I heard that his female rabbit had just given birth and he knew the tricks of breeding.
Icicles were still hanging on the fence of Zhang the butcher's house. When Fu Yucheng lifted the curtain, he saw Aunt Zhang feeding rabbits.
The grayish-brown mother rabbit pricked up her ears, snatching food, her red eyes shining like two cherries in the morning light. "Comrade Fu, what brings you here?"
Fu Yucheng placed the locust flower cake on the table, and snowflakes from his military green cotton-padded jacket fell onto the oil paper: "My wife says that my white rabbit is always alone and she wants to find a female rabbit to breed with."
He scratched his head, his ears turning red. "She mentioned it casually yesterday, and I was thinking that spring would be a good time to have a baby."
Aunt Zhang chuckled as she pinched the cake, the brown sugar melting on her fingertips with a sticky sweetness: "Your wife is pregnant, the house will be lively with a new litter of little rascals."
She pointed into the rabbit cage, "That gray one is the most prolific. Last year it had five kittens in one litter. Should I send it to your house for half a month?"
Fu Yucheng nodded quickly and stuffed two feet of blue cloth into Aunt Zhang's hand: "Make a little jacket for the child, thank you for your help."
On the way back, the gray mother rabbit huddled in the bamboo basket, trembling, her red eyes timidly glancing at Fu Yucheng.
He unbuttoned his military overcoat, took the rabbit out of the bamboo basket, and tucked it into his coat to warm it; the soft fur tickled his chest.
When I passed by the supply and marketing cooperative, I bought a bag of dried carrots. The oil paper bag rustled in my hand. Yun Tangyin always said that the rabbits at home love to eat this, and it smells especially good when mixed with alfalfa.
When the courtyard gate was pushed open, Yun Tangyin was embroidering tiger-head shoes in front of a bamboo cage.
The white rabbit clung to the railing, circling around, its three-lobed mouth sniffing the ball of yarn near her hand, a few threads clinging to its fur.
"Why are you back?" As she looked up, the needle pricked a small hole in the cloth. "Didn't you say you were going to the cafeteria to get flour?"
Fu Yucheng didn't say anything, but first put the bamboo basket in his arms on the ground.
As soon as the gray female rabbit landed, she darted to the edge of the cage. The two rabbits rubbed their noses together through the bamboo strip, like old friends who had been separated for a long time.
"It's from Aunt Zhang's family," he said, stuffing dried carrots into Yun Tangyin's hand, his palm still warm from the rabbit fur. "You said yesterday you wanted to find it a companion, and I thought it would be perfect for it to have babies in the spring."
Yun Tangyin suddenly laughed and poked the rabbit fur on his military green cotton-padded jacket with her fingertip: "You made a special trip for such a small matter?"
The white rabbit had already passed a piece of alfalfa over the fence, and the gray mother rabbit took it and burrowed into the pile of cotton wool, as if she were building a new nest.
Fu Yucheng added firewood to the stove, the flames licking the bottom of the pot, casting their shadows close together on the wall: "I remember everything you said."
Suddenly, a rustling sound came from inside the bamboo cage. Two rabbits huddled together in the cotton wadding, munching on dried carrots, their red eyes shining brightly in the shadows.
Yun Tangyin added a handful of straw to the cage and suddenly noticed that Fu Yucheng's face was covered in rabbit fur. She smiled and reached out to brush it off for him.
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