Chapter 4
As dawn approached and the thin mist lingered in the mountains, some diligent families had already gotten up to sweep and clean their courtyards.
Pang Zhishan got up at cockcrow today, dressed and washed, and then went from house to house to inform them: at the beginning of Chenshi (7-9 AM), each family should send one or two people to the threshing ground at the village entrance to discuss the resettlement of refugees.
As for the only two refugees, Shu Wanxiu and her niece, of course, did not need to participate in this meeting.
When Shu Wanxiu woke up, it was already late. She got up and checked the embers left from yesterday to make sure they could be lit later. Then she went inside, rolled up the straw curtain that blocked the wind from the window, and shook Shu Shouyi awake.
"Let's go down the mountain with Auntie. We need to borrow a pot from Aunt Chen so we can cook breakfast."
Shu Shouyi opened his eyes in a daze, looked at Shu Wanxiu's face for a couple of moments, and then obediently got up.
"Let's go." Shu Wanxiu carefully carried the earthenware pot for decocting medicine. The dregs from last night's decoction hadn't been thrown away; water could be added today to boil it again.
However, since she was carefully carrying the medicine pot in both hands, she couldn't hold Shu Shouyi's hand. She could only ask him to hold onto the hem of her clothes and be careful when he stepped down so that he wouldn't trip over a stone.
In fact, even a tiny child like Shu Shouyi developed considerable walking speed while fleeing famine for thousands of miles.
It hadn't rained all night, so the ground was much drier. They no longer needed to tiptoe, and soon the two reached the stream at the foot of the mountain.
This is a stream that is more than ten feet wide. It rained a lot in the past two days, so the water level is very high and the current is very rapid.
Shu Wanxiu dared not be careless in the slightest and called for Shu Shouyi to stop from a distance.
She found a dry, insect-free, and ant-free spot to place the earthenware pot, making sure the bowl on top was still firmly in place, before taking Shu Shouyi's hand and moving a little closer to the stream.
"Keep your head down, Auntie will wash your face clean."
He nodded, stood with his legs apart, and lowered his head and back slightly.
Shu Wanxiu felt it wasn't enough, so she simply pulled him into her arms, squatted down by the stream, then sandwiched him between her legs, pressed his back so that he lay on her lap, cupped his forehead with one hand, and used the other to scoop water to wash his face.
Shu Shouyi was already used to his aunt washing his face with her hands, so he skillfully closed his eyes and held his breath.
The stream water was a bit cool. After washing his face clean, Shu Wanxiu used her sleeve to wipe his face.
"Auntie, can you open your eyes now?" Shu Shouyi asked in a muffled voice.
"Alright, alright, you can open your eyes now."
Shu Shouyi let out a long breath before opening his eyes.
Shu Wanxiu looked at his sallow, thin face, which had turned red from holding his breath for too long, and said helplessly, "Next time when your aunt wipes your face, you can breathe out."
"Okay, Auntie."
It's always like this.
They agree verbally, but they still forget next time.
Shu Wanxiu shook her head weakly.
The child became somewhat dull due to the cause of his hysteria.
Fortunately, the doctor said it was only temporary and that everything would be fine once the hysteria was cured.
Reassured by these words, Shu Wanxiu thought: it's okay to be a little slow for now, she can accept it.
No longer emphasizing this point, Shu Wanxiu cupped his face and carefully checked for any areas that hadn't been washed properly.
I checked and confirmed that my face was clean, but my hair was a complete mess.
She used her fingers as a comb to smooth out her hair strand by strand, and used her fingers to wet the areas that were still unruly to flatten them.
This method is not very useful; if it is not properly tied up, it will become messy again in no time.
With no other option, they pawned the hair ties they used to tie their hair and the cloth bundles they used to wrap their belongings while fleeing the famine.
Fortunately, there are many plants in the mountains. When she is not busy, she will pick some long-stemmed wild grasses and weave them to make hair ties.
After helping her nephew get ready, Shu Wanxiu tidied herself up in front of the stream. Feeling that she had dressed herself up to be the most presentable she could manage, she stopped fussing and carried Shu Shouyi across the log bridge with sweaty palms.
Yesterday, Shu Wanxiu found out the location of Pang Lizhang's house. After crossing the log bridge, she did not delay and walked towards the middle of the village. After passing two or three intersections, she saw a blue brick house surrounded by a bamboo fence.
Along the way, all she saw were mud-brick houses, except for this one. Shu Wanxiu knew that she must have arrived at the door of Village Chief Pang's house.
Indeed, the bamboo fence, though dense, was not high, allowing Shu Wanxiu to see into the courtyard despite her height.
Inside, there were two figures, one standing and one sitting. Chen Sanhe was standing, drawing water from the well. Beside him was a pretty woman in her thirties, sitting in front of a wooden basin, washing clothes.
Shu Wanxiu glanced at her a few more times, and the pretty woman washing clothes looked up alertly.
"Huh!"
Upon meeting Shu Wanxiu's gaze, the other woman was surprised for a moment, then quickly turned her head towards Chen Sanhe and said, "Mother, they're here."
Chen Sanhe had just finished reeling in a bucket of water when he heard this and, distracted, looked up at the courtyard.
Shu Wanxiu quickly greeted her, "Aunt Chen!"
"Yes!" Chen Sanhe responded loudly, picked up a bucket of freshly drawn well water with one hand, turned around and poured it into the vat, neatly covered the well, and walked a few steps to the courtyard gate, where he opened the bamboo fence gate for them.
"Why are you only arriving now? If you had come any later, I would have already gone up the mountain to take a look."
After spending some time with Chen Sanhe last night, Shu Wanxiu knew that he was a straightforward person, but she was shy and blushed with embarrassment after hearing just one sentence.
Just as she was about to say that she had overslept, the pretty woman next to her smiled and came to her rescue.
"You just moved into your new home, so you probably aren't used to sleeping there yet? Or maybe you're scared living in the mountains?"
Chen Sanhe had only been worried that they might have gotten lost or something had happened since they were late, and had no other intentions. But when he heard his daughter-in-law say this, he hurriedly asked how she had slept last night and whether she had heard any wild animals howling.
While Chen Sanhe was questioning her, the pretty woman scooped up water to wash her hands and went into the house with her back turned.
A little while later, she brought out three wooden chairs with backrests in two trips and placed them in front of Shu Wanxiu, her niece, and Chen Sanhe, inviting them to sit down and chat.
Shu Wanxiu interrupted her conversation with Chen Sanhe and thanked her, "...How should I address you?"
Although it was speculated that she was Chen Sanhe's daughter-in-law, Shu Wanxiu did not rashly use the title.
The woman smiled gently, revealing a dimple on the left corner of her mouth, and replied, "You can just call me Sister Pang, no need to thank me."
Then Chen Sanhe introduced her: "I have two sons and a daughter. This is my eldest son's wife, and also my niece. She shares the same surname as me, Chen, and her given name is Lian."
Since they were already seated, they were bound to chat for a while, so Shu Wanxiu asked, "Aunt Chen, which village is your family from?"
"Look, Wuli Village."
Chen Sanhe raised his chin and gestured in the direction Shu Wanxiu had come from.
"Wuli Village?"
Shu Wanxiu said with great interest, "I know! My uncle's family settled in Wuli Village. Yesterday, Village Chief Pang took care of me and Shouyi and led us a short walk into Wuli Village."
Shu Wanxiu's grandparents had three children, all sons. Unfortunately, the eldest and youngest died young, leaving only Shu Wanxiu's father as an adult.
By the time of Shu Wanxiu's father, he only had one son and one daughter.
That uncle was a descendant of Shu Wanxiu's great-grandfather's elder brother. He was ten years older than Shu Wanxiu's father, and from a young age, Shu Wanxiu and her siblings were taught to call him uncle.
After his elder brother and sister-in-law passed away, his uncle took care of them a lot. Later, when they were settling down in the county, his uncle pleaded with the people in the county government to have their two families assigned to a neighboring village.
Yesterday, knowing that Wuli Village was in front and Wupai Village was behind, my uncle asked Village Chief Pang to take them along the way so that they could get acquainted with the area and seek help from Wuli Village if needed in the future.
The daytime was too rushed, and Chen Sanhe had only heard Pang Zhishan mention it once before going to bed at night, so he was not surprised. Instead, he said, "In the future, when Xiaolian and I go back to our parents' home, you two can accompany us to visit your uncle."
This was exactly the kind of good thing she wanted, and Shu Wanxiu readily agreed.
"Don't laugh at me, Auntie. Although I carefully memorized the route yesterday, I was still afraid of getting lost. It would be best if you and my sister-in-law could accompany me."
After a long chat, Chen Sanhe remembered the important reason why Shu Wanxiu had come here, so he quickly went into the kitchen and took out a small iron pot.
“I think it’s just right for the two of you to cook with one small pot. My family usually uses a large stove, so a small pot is not very useful. You don’t need to rush to return it. Wait until you save up enough money to buy a pot.”
Not only that, Chen Sanhe also packed several kinds of seeds and gave them to her.
"The imperial court has provided you with disaster relief grain, but you will definitely not have any vegetables to eat since you have just arrived. At this time of year, it is difficult to find even a single wild vegetable in the mountains. You should quickly cultivate the land in front of and behind your house and plant some vegetables."
"Yes!" Shu Wanxiu replied, her eyes reddening.
At that moment, she felt that Aunt Chen's tone of concern and guidance was exactly the same as that of her deceased mother.
"I'll listen to my aunt. I'll go back and have breakfast before I go pull weeds."
The girl, whose face was sallow, suddenly burst into tears. Her already dark eyes became even more moist and lively, making her even more endearing.
I guessed that this child must have suffered a lot on the way, and I wondered what sad thing he was thinking about now.
Chen Sanhe didn't ask any questions. She gently patted the top of her head and said very tenderly, "Good girl, go back quickly. Auntie will come to see you later."
Shu Wanxiu thought that Chen Sanhe's words, "I'll come to see you later," were just polite remarks, but she still said earnestly, "You can come anytime, Wanxiu will be waiting."
...
They arrived at the stream again, and this time neither the aunt nor the niece could come empty-handed.
Shu Wanxiu arranged for Shu Shouyi to carry the lighter earthenware pot, while she washed the small iron pot clean and filled it halfway with water before heading up the mountain.
The first thing I did when I got home was not to start a fire, but to check if the knot of straw tied to the door had been disturbed.
It took a lot of courage for her to leave the food at home.
Fortunately, no wild animals broke down the door, and no one stole the relief food for the two refugees.
I used half a pot of water to wash two bowls and rinse the rice once, and then used the rest to cook porridge.
Her uncle had secretly taught her that although the imperial court had posted notices to appease these refugees, saying that after they settled down, the government would distribute relief grain to them every month according to the number of people, but... as time went on, it was hard to say whether there would be any treacherous officials who wanted to embezzle the grain.
It's late October now, and in recent years, rice-wheat rotation has become popular in the south, meaning the fields are not idle all year round.
The spring wheat to be harvested in the first half of next year has already been planted in the fields, but they have neither wheat seeds nor allocated land, so they will miss the opportunity to plant this season's crops.
However, waiting until around May next year to receive the rice seeds, then planting and waiting until the autumn harvest in early October is too long! A whole year.
Just in case, we must eat the food we are given sparingly. If we get hungry, we should tighten our belts and save as much food as possible.
Even if the relief food runs out by August or September next year, they can still make it to the autumn harvest by relying on what they saved in the previous months.
Remembering her uncle's words, Shu Wanxiu cooked porridge that was 20% thinner than the porridge she received from the soup kitchen outside the county town.
After finishing his porridge, Shu Shouyi smacked his lips and asked with a confused look, "Auntie, why is there so much water in today's porridge?"
Shu Wanxiu's eyes darted around. She couldn't tell her nephew about her worries that corrupt officials might embezzle the grain, so she could only say, "There's not much grain, so we have to eat it sparingly. Although there's nothing your aunt can do right now, things will get better once the vegetables are grown. We can cook vegetable porridge, and then we'll be more full."
"Okay." Shu Shouyi nodded obediently.
Before he got sick, this child was very well-behaved, and even after he got sick, he remained obedient and easy to take care of. Sometimes he might not be able to do what he promised, but he would never contradict himself.
Seeing his obedient yet somewhat dazed appearance, Shu Wanxiu felt a surge of strength. She wished she could immediately clear away all the weeds in front of and behind the house and plant a bunch of vegetables so that she and her nephew would never go hungry again.
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