Ruan Tang and his companions came down from the mountain and happened to meet the villagers who were coming back from work.
They carried baskets of oil beans on their backs and dropped them on the threshing floor.
Seeing that the Ji family could only muster the energy to greet each other, they went home to rest.
The autumn planting season was approaching, but the oil beans on the ground had not yet been cleared away. They had been digging three feet deep day and night, and finally dug out three hundred acres of land. Just as they were about to plant, they found that the ground was covered with oil beans as soon as they used their hoes.
When will this day finally end? The entire village, young and old, depends on the harvest from the remaining 300 mu of rice paddies. If autumn plowing doesn't resume, people will starve to death tomorrow.
The threshing floor was piled high with oil beans.
"Oh, it would be great if all this could be exchanged for food." Grandma Ji shook her head. "In the past few days in the county town, I've heard a lot about people picking up children."
"Someone in our team also lost a girl." Liu Weifang heard about Ruantang Village, so he came back from the field, washed his face, and came here with his son on his back.
Grandma Ji teased Liu Weifang's son for a while, and when she saw the sun rising higher, she asked them to go home to reminisce about the past so as to prevent little Chenchen from getting sunburned.
Grandma Ji went to say goodbye to her old sisters who she was familiar with.
Seeing Ruan Tang staring at her face again and again, Liu Weifang wiped her face with embarrassment. "Am I tanned? It's August, and the weather is still scorching."
Ruan Tang found out that Liu Weifang had gone to bed after her confinement, so she brought her some Xueyi ointment and clam oil. "Are you not taking good care of yourself?"
"I have a good one." Although Liu Weifang was doted on by her family, she was ultimately a rural child. When they got engaged, Hu Jianshe gave her clam oil, but she only cared to dig a little in the winter. As for snow lily ointment, she wouldn't even dare to think about it.
Who would have thought that Ruan Tang would be so lucky that she, a woman who had given birth to a child, would actually use Xueling Cream.
"I know you'll be reluctant to part with it, so I've specially asked someone to replace it with a bagged one. Once your bottle is finished, you can squeeze the bagged one into your mouth."
Ruan Tang untied the bag, took out a stack of bags of Xueying ointment and stuffed them into Liu Weifang's hands.
Liu Weifang had no idea that Xueyi Cream was available in bags. Although she was delighted, she was worried that she wouldn't be able to pay for it. "I might not have that much money."
She hadn't paid for the Xueyi ointment Ruan Tang had brought her the previous day. After she told Hu Jianshe about it, the couple felt it was wrong to take advantage of her, so they saved a little every month and saved up the money.
"This much isn't even worth the price of that half jar. I have a relative at the Provincial First Hospital who works at the Xueying Cream Factory. These are employee benefits. I'll give you some more when you're done."
Peng Kangping's wife Bao Yuanyuan's elder sister works at the Xueyi Cream Factory. The factory distributes benefits in the form of bagged Xueyi Cream, but Xueyi Cream cannot be eaten as a meal, so people use it to exchange for other things.
"Then I'll give you the money." Liu Weifang accepted it happily. "I've saved all the money I earned from studying abroad, waiting for you to come and give it to you."
"If you keep being so reserved, I'll be mad. You stuff big bags and small bags into my pockets every time I go to the village, and I never refuse."
Hearing that Ruan Tang was about to get angry, Liu Weifang didn't dare to mention it anymore. He thought that he could let Ruan Tang take away the wild mushrooms he had picked after the rain earlier, as well as the dried vegetables.
Ruan Tang untied another cloth bag, took out two packets of baby formula and handed them to Liu Weifang.
"Is this for me? No, it's for my son?" Liu Weifang was so shocked that he didn't dare to take it.
"I received your telegram. I asked the head of pediatrics, and he said it's not a serious problem. He suggested giving Xiao Chenchen some nutritional supplements."
A few days ago, Ruan Tang received a telegram from Hu Jianshe, saying that his son Hu Chen was five or six months old and still could not lift his head. After checking with the county magistrate, it was said that he was malnourished.
Because she came in a hurry, she only had time to borrow two bags of milk powder from the staff quarters.
It's easier for them to change formula in the hospital. Some mothers have trouble producing milk, and doctors prescribe formula. Some families, reluctant to spend the money, secretly sell it.
"Xiao Chenchen is too thin." The five or six-month-old child looks like he is only three or four months old, with very little flesh on his body.
Talking about her son, Liu Weifang couldn't help but wipe away tears. "It's my fault I don't have breast milk. He ran out of milk at three months old, so I could only feed him corn porridge."
The fields had yielded no harvest, and the whole family had to work to earn money, but the little food they could produce was barely enough to feed the family for two months. Furthermore, her mother-in-law, convinced by Xu Yu's words that every household was about to get rich, sold the old grain as soon as spring planting began.
Hu Jianshe received a monthly grain supply; if his family only had to buy another 100 to 200 kilograms, they would have enough to eat. His calculations were sound, but he hadn't anticipated that the grain station would stop accepting oil beans.
There were many families in the village like Grandma Liu Weifang. Old grain was not tasty, so before the spring plowing, the villagers would sell the old grain for money. The money from the sales could be saved to help them prepare for their children's weddings.
Later, the Ji family secretly stockpiled food. Since they had just arranged their sister-in-law's wedding and did not have much savings, they used Hu Jianshe's newly received salary to buy one or two hundred kilograms of cornmeal.
"Because of selling grain, my mother-in-law's health has been up and down in the past few months, and she's suffering from a mental illness that's difficult to cure."
Liu Weifang sighed, "My mother-in-law cries every time she sees her grandson. She cries too when she sees Brother Jianshe. The atmosphere at home is so depressing that I don't even want to stay any longer."
Liu Weifang was a generous person. They hadn't stopped her mother-in-law from selling grain. Although she felt upset later, she saw her mother-in-law falling ill from self-blame, so she didn't remember any resentment. She just hoped that her mother-in-law would recover quickly so that she could save money on medicine and buy grain.
The whole family depended on Hu Jianshe's meager salary. Hu Jianshe's sister and brother-in-law were both barefoot doctors in the brigade. Their land was unproductive, so even if they were paid full wages, they wouldn't have much to eat.
If a large family like this doesn't have enough to eat, they can't work in the fields. If no one does the work, the oil beans will grow so fast that not a single blade of grass will grow.
"I can't stand watching my sister-in-law and her husband go hungry." Liu Weifang paused and sighed deeply. "My sister-in-law Tiantian found out she was pregnant last month, and she and her husband had an abortion at the hospital without telling us."
This further upset Liu Weifang's mother-in-law, who was already in good health, and made her collapse.
"Tiantian told my mother-in-law that the family relies on her brother's salary to barely survive. Even Xiao Chenchen is so hungry that he can only eat corn porridge. She doesn't have the face to give birth to a child at this time and feed Xiao Chenchen. They are still young, so it's not too late to have a child when they are older."
Pang Peng is a man of integrity. After the college entrance examination was resumed in 1992, he took the entrance exam for a university in Shanghai. Although Qu Wenli failed the exam, he did not abandon her and worked part-time to support her to repeat her studies.
During this period, he was taken care of by the Hu family, and Ruan Tang believed that he would repay the Hu family when he was able to do so.
Liu Weifang had always treated Tiantian as her own sister. After learning about this, she hid herself and cried.
"I've been talking about my family's rottenness, but I haven't told you why you suddenly showed up."
After Ruan Tang told Liu Weifang about their family's plan to move to the provincial capital, he instructed her, "Tell Hu Jianshe to come see me in Dama Lane tomorrow night. I'll get some fine grains for my godson, and you can make him some rice porridge."
Xiao Chenchen is still too young, and his digestive system is not yet fully developed. Eating corn porridge every meal will increase the burden on his stomach and intestines, causing diarrhea and bloating. Children of this month should still eat milk and infant formula.
"I still need my godson to be filial to me when he grows up, so you can't refuse."
Ruan Tang was worried that Liu Weifang would be embarrassed and her son would suffer with her. "We're moving to the provincial capital in a few days. The roads are very chaotic, and we can't bring all the food with us..."
Liu Weifang thanked Ruan Tang profusely. The two bags of milk powder were enough for Xiao Chenchen to eat for two months. If there were some fine grains, she would not have to worry about not being able to support her son.
After the two of them agreed on the plan, Ruan Tang carried Xiao Chenchen and Liu Weifang carried a big bag and went to Hu's house.
"Tangtang——"
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