A busy and stressful week has passed. Teachers are now even more demanding; there's no holiday for the Mid-Autumn Festival, and no weekends after October. It's all about sprinting towards the college entrance exam.
Zhang Hongmei didn't even pick up the newspaper on Saturday; she rushed home to catch the first bus at six o'clock. She had to be in a hurry. If she had something to do, she could stay home; that wouldn't bother her so much. But if she was forced not to go home, that would be a different story.
I was carrying a bag of peanuts. I forgot to ask Wang Hongxi to take them back last time, so there wasn't any mooncake filling to begin with. If there weren't any peanuts, the mooncakes wouldn't taste like mooncakes at all.
I got off the bus before nine o'clock and went straight to the supply and marketing cooperative. I saw Xiao Jiang lazily leaning on the counter.
"Sister Jiang, I'm bothering you again."
"Hongmei, you're back! I haven't seen you for months."
"Studying is so intense now, there won't even be weekends left in the future."
"Poor kid, what do you want from me?"
Do you have brown sugar, sesame seeds, or anything like that?
"Yes, the maximum is three jin per person. There are no sesame seeds or anything like that."
"Okay, give me three catties." Zhang Hongmei took out money and tickets and handed them to Xiao Jiang.
"Little Jiang, wait for me to bring you mooncakes. This year, you can only have a taste; you'll have to give them as a gift."
"We still have eggs, do you want some?"
How many can you buy?
"There's no limit, but there's only one basket available; I can't sell you the whole thing."
"Can I have ten pounds?"
“Okay, I’m willing to take the scolding for the sake of mooncakes.” Zhang Hongmei likes Xiao Jiang’s cheerful and straightforward personality.
In the end, Xiao Jiang had no choice but to lend her a basket, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to get it back.
Upon arriving in the village, without even going home, he carried ten pounds of eggs, thirteen pounds of brown sugar, and a bag of peanuts weighing over twenty pounds, and went straight to the old lady's house. He was exhausted this time.
"Grandma, I'm back. What are you doing?"
"Peel chestnuts and walnuts to use as filling for mooncakes tonight."
"I also brought back peanuts, brown sugar, and eggs."
"Where are my grandma and the others?"
"They've gone to make bean paste. You take the peanuts, eggs, and brown sugar to the canteen. We'll make mooncakes tonight."
I heard from Wang Hongxi that you promised to send mooncakes to someone, so I made extra this time.
"Grandma, I promised Xiao Jiang from the township supply and marketing cooperative that I would send her mooncakes."
"It's okay, it's just stretched open."
"Grandma, I'll go straight up the mountain. Everyone else is waiting for the pork, but the piglets in our village are too small. Let's save them for the New Year. I'll go up the mountain and take a look."
“People go to check every day, but there have been no prey in the traps this year.”
"Hehe, I'm lucky, I might just run into a big one."
"Go ahead, be careful, and tell your third uncle."
Zhang Hongmei carried a basket and a bag to the canteen.
He handed everything over to Li Cuihua, saying, "Third Aunt, put more sugar in the mooncakes. Otherwise, they won't be satisfying and won't taste good."
"Okay, I'll only make a little bit of the red bean paste filling, as it spoils easily. I'll definitely make more of the brown sugar filling, and add more sugar."
"Third Aunt, I'm going up the mountain. If I haven't returned by the time I finish dinner, please have my Third Uncle and the others send a few more people to look for me."
"You little rascal. You've got it. Go now, but be careful."
Zhang Hongmei went home, then set off with a basket, sickle, machete, and rope. She wasn't sure if she would find any prey today, but she was certain she would find wild boar.
I haven't been up the mountain much this year; I've always been in a rush, and I haven't had a chance to find any good things there.
The sweet potatoes on the mountain are growing quite well, and there are even more radishes and cabbages planted, giving everyone hope.
When we arrived at the pond, the water level had risen several meters due to the two recent rains. Seeing the pond reminded me of boiled fish, fish balls, pickled fish, braised fish, and steamed fish.
Zhang Hongmei swallowed hard. "Never mind," she thought, "my skills aren't good enough. Even if there were fish, I couldn't catch them." Looking at the water, she thought, "I'll come back for the New Year and eat you all."
All the traps were checked, and there was really nothing there. It would be too unreasonable for me to have caught a wild boar.
Thinking about it, I headed towards the pine forest opposite the pool.
We picked a lot of wood ear mushrooms and pine mushrooms; it was a really unexpected bonus.
I've been walking for over half an hour, and there's still no progress. How come there are no animals? I'm completely baffled.
Looking at my watch, it's getting late. I'd better hurry up and disguise the battlefield as a wild boar's territory.
It's difficult to fake it in the woods, so let's go to the pond instead, but this side of the pond will do.
Once out of the woods, we released the wild boar, took out a sickle, and stabbed it in the neck several times. Seeing the blood on the ground, we tried to drag it away, but we couldn't move it. So we cut down four pine trees as thick as an adult's arm, put the wild boar back in, and placed it on the pine trees.
She took out a rope and tied it to the wild boar's two front paws and head, then pulled it forward. It was incredibly difficult. After walking only a meter, she had to put the exposed pine logs in front of her. It took more than ten repetitions before they finally reached the water's edge. Looking at the wretched state of the wild boar, Zhang Hongmei turned away.
Zhang Hongmei was soaked through in just twenty meters of walking.
It's already dark, so I reckon Liu Maocai should be here by now.
Less than five minutes later, I saw the beam of a flashlight and heard voices.
"Uncle, I'm here, come over quickly."
When Liu Maocai arrived with ten men and saw the wild boar on the ground and the disheveled Zhang Hongmei, his heart pounded. He thought that if this were his own daughter, he would definitely beat her up.
Liu Maocai said with a stern face, "How dangerous is it? Why did you insist on coming up the mountain?"
"Hehe, not next time." Zhang Hongmei could also see that Liu Maocai was unhappy. But there was nothing she could do but accept it.
The remaining ten people were particularly excited; were they going to get meat to eat?
It was almost ten o'clock when I returned to the village. The old butcher slaughtered pigs that very night.
When Zhang Hongmei returned, the mooncakes were all ready. This time, she made 340 mooncakes for 210 people in the village, regardless of age or gender, even newborns. She also reserved some for those who weren't home.
The next morning, Wang Hongxi and Liu Maocai were not at breakfast; they had gone to deliver groceries again. Liu Changhe spoke during the meal.
"This time, our village will keep all the offal, bones, and forequarters of the pork. The rest will be taken back by Hongmei. We've already eaten several of the wild boars that this child brought back."
Besides, a large portion of this meat is given as gifts to the people who helped him find a job.
Zhang Hongmei hadn't expected things to turn out this way. She felt she shouldn't do this; why make everyone unhappy over such a small thing? She understood the saying "a little kindness is appreciated, but too much kindness breeds resentment." She was leaving after the New Year, so why not make it a proper last time?
But wouldn't saying it directly offend Liu Changhe?
After thinking for a moment, she walked over to Liu Changhe and whispered a few words to him.
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