12.012 Peacefully Takes a Beating
It took Su Yu three days to gradually turn the soil at the base of a wall into a vegetable garden. She planned to go directly to Xinhe Brigade after get off work in the afternoon to get some vegetable seeds from her mother, and return quickly so that she could come back before dark.
"Ping An, let's go to Grandma's for dinner." Zhao Guixiang came to find her grandson again, as if clocking in.
"Is there any meat?" Ning Ping'an asked.
Zhao Guixiang choked. How could she eat meat every day? Besides, she had more than one grandson. But since she was already here and speaking loudly, with all the neighbors watching, she was bound to take this greedy child away.
“There’s an egg, I’ll boil one for you.” She said loudly, “It’s just for you. You’re pitiful because you don’t have a mother, and your brothers are all sensible and considerate of you.”
Su Yu, listening from inside the room, curled her lip. Is this what a biological mother is like? Not only is she rubbing salt into the child's wounds, but she's also labeling Ping An as immature.
She didn't know what was being said outside. Su Yu was sitting in the main room rolling out dough when she heard footsteps running in. She thought it was Xu Yuan and didn't look up. She said to the child who hadn't come in yet, "We're having dumplings for lunch, with egg and chive filling. You can learn to make them too."
"Dumplings for lunch? I'll come back for them, Mom. Remember to make my dumplings, I'll be right back."
Su Yu looked up and saw Ping An standing at the door. After he finished speaking, he turned around and ran out of the gate. Xu Yuan had just entered the yard and was scooping water for Xiao Hei to drink.
"Grandma, let's go." Ning Ping'an called out to the person who was talking to Er Ya's mother as he went out, urging, "Hurry up, it's so hot."
"You little rascal, you're so fast just because there's food." Zhao Guixiang laughed and scolded, then followed her grandson home.
"Where are the eggs? Are they cooked?" Ning Ping'an shouted as soon as he stepped into his grandfather's house. He went straight to the kitchen and saw his stepmother tending the fire. He asked, "Stepmother, where are the eggs my grandma cooked for me?"
"Where are the eggs? You've already eaten them all." Qian Xiaofang said irritably. There were still about ten days left in the month, and the eggs were all gone.
"My grandma said she boiled an egg for me, but only one." He, oblivious to the danger, reached into the pot and rummaged around in it. He even opened the lid of the pot that was steaming cornbread a crack. He yelled as the hot steam hit him, and he covered his hand and stuck it into the water vat.
"You brat!" Qian Xiaofang saw that the steamed cornbread had been blown out of the steamer and the water she had just carried that morning had been dirtied. She was already irritated by the fire, and now she was even angrier. She kicked him twice in the butt. "You're so disgusting! All you do is eat, eat, eat, eat! I'll eat you to death! You're a good-for-nothing who was born of a mother but not raised by one."
Beaten and scolded, Ning Ping'an was too frightened to speak when he saw his stepmother's gritted teeth. He pulled his arm out of the water vat, covered his mouth which was stuck against the vat, spat out some red saliva, and immediately opened his mouth to howl. Zhao Guixiang, who was still outside chatting with others about "poor grandson without a mother," ran into the house in fright. "What's wrong? What's wrong? Why are you crying?"
Thinking that a powerful backer had arrived, Ning Ping'an ran out, grabbing his grandmother's clothes and crying, "My second aunt kicked me, she kicked me onto the water vat, and my mouth bleeds."
Qian Xiaofang was still angry when she saw two long-mouthed neighbors in the yard looking at her reproachfully. She immediately cried out, "This kid came in and said he wanted to eat eggs. Where are there any eggs? I said there weren't any, so he started turning them over with his hands. He even let the steam out of the steamed buns that weren't even steamed yet. He breathed steam on his hands and then put them directly into the vat. He ruined the whole vat of clean water and made it inedible."
“It’s not that I’m stingy as his stepmother. We only have four or five pounds of eggs a month, and there are so many mouths to feed. These past few days, whenever Ping’an comes over for a meal, his grandma either steams or fries eggs. Ping’an doesn’t have a mom or dad and he’s not home, so I felt sorry for him and didn’t say anything. But we’re so short on eggs that we don’t even have any shells left. He came over like a tyrant and made a scene, so I kicked him in the bottom a couple of times. I didn’t mean to hurt his mouth.” She continued to explain, pointing to Ping’an, who had stopped crying, and said, “You’re eight years old now, you should be more sensible. Your little brother is only four and he doesn’t cry and make a fuss over an egg.”
"Look at you, child. Your second aunt is only hitting you for your own good. Nobody else would bother with you." Zhao Guixiang patted her grandson twice. "If you hadn't lifted the pot lid, you wouldn't have been hit. You're so ignorant. Oh well, I won't blame you. Someone is deliberately trying to raise you badly."
"Alas, it's a tragedy for children without mothers, so pitiful."
"That's right, he's eight years old and still doesn't understand anything. Xiao Wuzi is also carefree, he just married a random woman and dared to leave the child with her."
The two neighbors muttered amongst themselves, having had their fill of gossip, then looked at the child with snot stuck to his mouth, staring blankly ahead. They shook their heads, sighed a few times, and walked out the door.
Ping An was a little confused about what was going on. He was the one who was hit, so why was he being scolded? It was his grandma who called him to eat eggs, and his second aunt said that if there weren't any, then she must have hidden the eggs that his grandma had cooked.
"Grandma, where are the eggs?" he asked his grandma, reaching out his hand.
"There are no eggs, but your second aunt steamed some chive buns, they're delicious too. Go wash your face, we'll eat when your uncles come back." Zhao Guixiang felt sorry for her grandson whose lips were a little swollen, and seeing that his sleeves were still dripping wet, she took off his clothes to dry them.
"Why did you trick me into coming to your house if there are no eggs?" Ping An broke free from his grandmother's hand, sniffling as he walked out. "My mom is making dumplings. I'm not going to eat cornbread at your house."
"Hey, you brat, get back here right now!" Zhao Guixiang tried to grab him, but Ping An ran even faster. "You lied to me! Cornbread is nowhere near as delicious as chive and egg dumplings!"
Zhao Guixiang dared not chase him away again, fearing that this ungrateful brat would shout loudly, and that many families along the way would know that she was calling her motherless grandson to eat eggs.
Ping An jogged back, pushed open the door, and then closed it again. He carefully lifted his foot to avoid stepping on the little black dog wagging its tail beside his leg. Hearing voices coming from the main room, he hesitated for a moment before washing his hands and face in the basin. His stepmother had been very clean lately.
"You're back so soon?" Su Yu glanced at the child who came into the house, noticed the water droplets on his face, and pointed to the towel on the back of the chair. "Hurry up and dry yourself off, don't splash water into my basin."
"oh."
When he came over, Su Yu noticed that half of his sleeve was wet and his upper lip was a little swollen. While making dumplings, she asked, "Did you get into a fight while eating an egg?"
"I didn't eat any eggs. My grandma lied to me. My second aunt said there were no eggs left. I didn't fight. My second aunt kicked me. My mouth hit the water vat and bled." He rolled up his sleeves, wanting to learn from Xu Yuan and make dumplings.
"Take off your clothes and change before you come back." Su Yu pushed him out with her leg to change his clothes.
"No, it's strange to feel cool in wet clothes."
"If you don't switch, you can't eat the dumplings I made," Su Yu threatened.
"Troublesome." He turned and went out, taking off his clothes as he went.
When Su Yu arrived, she threw him a piece of dough and asked him why his stepmother had hit him. She was afraid that someone would take their anger out on this child whose biological mother had died and whose biological father was not at home.
Ning Ping'an recited it to him from beginning to end. He couldn't remember all the things his second aunt and his grandmother said, so he only picked out the things that impressed him the most. At the end, he asked, "My second aunt said that I was born but not raised by my mother, and my grandmother said that someone deliberately wanted to raise me badly. What does that mean?"
"What a bunch of snakes and rats," Su Yu cursed inwardly. "A man in his thirties is cursing a child who died but had no mother to raise him. He's utterly immoral and heartless. They're both relatives of this child. One is cursing him while the other is stirring up trouble."
Su Yu glanced at Ping An, who seemed embarrassed. If this child were sensible and could distinguish right from wrong, she would immediately put down the dumpling wrappers and go to seek justice for him. But he seemed to be ungrateful. She might start arguing with him, and he might be coaxed away by someone else, only to blame her in the end.
“It’s an insult to have a mother who gave birth to you but didn’t raise you. If anyone insults you like that again, you should insult them back. When your father comes back, you can tell him about this.” She shook the dumpling wrapper and said to Xu Yuan and Ping An, “Whether you’re at your own home or at someone else’s, you can’t rummage through things. You can only accept food and drink if someone offers it to you. Trying to snatch or rummage through things is the behavior of a beggar and will get you beaten and scolded.”
“I don’t flip through them. When I go to my grandma’s house, she always gives me food,” Xu Yuan said earnestly to his mother.
"You're a polite child, no wonder your grandparents like you so much," Su Yu praised him.
Xu Yuan grinned, his mouth showing two missing front teeth.
Ping An didn't reply. If he didn't find something to eat himself when he went to his maternal grandparents' house, he wouldn't get anything to eat.
After having dumplings for lunch, Su Yu said to the two boys with protruding bellies, "I'm going to Xinhe Brigade after get off work this afternoon. I should be back before dark. Don't wander around tonight. Come back as soon as other people start cooking, and don't be tempted to eat."
"Okay." Xu Yuan nodded in agreement. Ping An tapped the table as if he hadn't heard. Su Yu didn't insist that he answer. In this era, there were no cars, and everyone around was someone she knew. She wasn't afraid of child abductors. What she feared most was that the child would fall into the water.
Su Yu's job was to unload baskets, pick, wash, and chop vegetables. Once the kitchen started smoking and cooking, her work was considered finished. She went to say goodbye to Aunt Qiu: "Aunt Qiu, I've almost finished my work. I have something to do at home, so I'll be leaving now. Don't save any dinner for me. I'll just share my cornbread with others."
"Okay, next time if you have something to do at home, you can leave after you finish your work, you don't need to come and tell me again." This clueless troublemaker Aunt Qiu didn't want to have a conflict with her. Su Yu was barefoot, while she was wearing shoes. Working in the canteen, she was never completely clean, and she was afraid of being labeled a landlord's wife.
"Thank you, Aunt Qiu."
Su Yu walked quickly back to her parents' home. When she entered the house, she saw that only her niece was home. "Xiaoyue, where is your grandma?" she asked.
"My grandma went to check on the sweet potato vines; they're in the field on the north hill."
Su Yu went to the field without even drinking water. Her mother was not one to work in the fields, so why was she suddenly going to check on the sweet potato vines?
She arrived at the sweet potato field and, before even finding anyone, already knew what the problem was. "Mom, I need to talk to you. Go back now," she said to the old woman carrying the rotten roots of the sweet potatoes.
"Why are you back at this time?" Su Yu's mother threw away the rotten sweet potato root and said to Su Yu, "Come on, let's go back. Be careful not to step on the rotten sweet potatoes, the pulp will be hard to wash off."
"Do you have any vegetable seeds that can be planted this season? I'll dig a small vegetable garden in the yard and plant some scallions, garlic, cabbage, and radishes."
"Yes, I'll go back and get it for you."
"Where's my dad? What's he doing? Pulling peanuts or picking corn?" Su Yu asked.
"We were talking about it in the brigade. The five mu of sweet potatoes in the Beigang field have rotten roots, and half of the leaves have died. They were fine in previous years, so why is there a problem this year?" The old lady shook her head. Their brigade was known for its large-scale sweet potato growers. The soil in their fields was perfect for growing big, sweet sweet potatoes. This was the first time they had encountered such a situation.
“It’s soft rot. I read in a book that if fertilizer is applied to the sweet potato field but it doesn’t fully decompose, or if the water in the field isn’t drained in time, the sweet potatoes will easily rot.” Su Yu repeated what Shu Manpo had told her, while also thinking about finding a few books with profound content as evidence tomorrow.
"I'll go call your father. Tell him I don't understand what you're saying." The old lady looked bewildered; she had never heard of composting fertilizer.
"I'll come again tomorrow. By the time my father gets back, it will be dark. I still have two children at home." Su Yu dared to travel in the dark, but she didn't dare leave her two children alone in the house.
Meanwhile, Ning Jin also drove back. He went to the cafeteria for a meal, planning to come back to pick up his things and go home after dark.
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