MAC’60s Chapter 33.2

Qian Juhua’s New Year’s Eve dinner was late, not because her cooking was particularly good or refined, but because her leg still hadn’t healed properly, and it was difficult for her to get out of bed.

She insisted on killing a chicken, but even handling the chicken was a struggle. In the end, Daya took over, helping her mother and also handling the chicken feathers with her younger sister.

Qian Juhua sat on a small stool beside them, wrapping dumplings. Since there was no pork at home, she used potatoes and eggs to make the filling, wrapping a whole plate of potato and egg dumplings.

Qian Juhua was now somewhat resigned to her fate. After all, who knows when these miserable days will end? So, she decided to live day by day, just getting through one day at a time!

She firmly decided to slaughter the family’s small rooster first and kept a small hen.

However, she didn’t plan on keeping the hen for too long either. She intended to slaughter it around the fifth day of the new year. Lately, she had noticed that if she ate a little better, it reflected in her milk production. Just after two or three days, the little girl at home had noticeably become less fussy.

In the earlier days, the baby kept crying, and the crying sounded weak, giving the impression that it wasn’t a good omen for long life.

Qian Juhua didn’t want her daughter, who was born with her blood and flesh, to not survive, so she had to eat better and nourish herself.

After plucking the feathers, Qian Juhua supported herself to make chicken soup and stir-fried chicken.

She put half a chicken into a clay pot to stew, and the remaining chicken meat, aside from what she reserved for Wang Ying, was all chopped up to stir-fry.

The chicken skin was fried in an iron pan, releasing oil, and she added potatoes and cabbage to stir-fry.

The aroma wafted out.

Er Ya was so happy she jumped up and down. Although it had only been two or three days, she had already felt how wonderful it was to live without a father at home.

She had eaten eggs, and today, she could even eat chicken!

This was the best life she had ever had!

In the past, if there were eggs, they were mostly snatched away by Da Bao. As for the meat, she could never even see it cooked because her father would take it to give to her grandmother, who would spit in her face and say she wasn’t worthy of eating chicken.

Now, things were different. With her father gone, she could eat chicken!

Qian Juhua felt heartbroken. The eldest daughter had it better; her mother-in-law hadn’t been too unreasonable during that time, and the eldest daughter could still eat some meat during the holidays. But after Er Ya was born, she really hadn’t eaten anything good.

Not to mention meat, she had barely even had eggs.

Qian Juhua said, “You two, bring a big bowl, let’s serve the chicken and then make the dumplings.”

Er Ya cheered and ran off quickly.

Just as Qian Juhua was serving the dish, someone knocked on the door.

It was Tian Dazhu’s voice from outside.

“Juhua? Juhua! Open the door!”

Er Ya was so anxious when she heard her father’s voice that she immediately tried to grab the chicken.

She was scared, scared that her father would come in and take the chicken away.

Qian Juhua slapped her daughter’s dirty hand and yelled towards the door, “What do you want?”

Tian Dazhu’s voice sounded aggrieved. “Juhua, it’s the New Year, I’m back for the holiday.”

Qian Juhua wasn’t soft-hearted at all. “We agreed that you’d stay at your brother’s place. We’ll be splitting the family soon, and I’ll spend the New Year with my daughters.”

Tian Dazhu sounded wronged, “Juhua, it’s just a little time, can’t you let me in to see Da Ya and Er Ya? After all, I’m their father.”

Qian Juhua sneered. The reason Tian Dazhu could come back was probably because his sisters-in-law were causing trouble and didn’t want to make his New Year meal. If she wanted to think more negatively, she might even think Tian Dazhu’s biased mother wanted to give the younger son and eldest grandson the better food, afraid Tian Dazhu would get some of it, so she sent him away.

What a joke, was she, Qian Juhua, just someone who picks up scraps?

“No need, your daughters don’t want to see you.”

He hadn’t even seen the younger daughter when she was born, and now he says he wants to see her? Isn’t that laughable?

After saying that, Qian Juhua ignored the pounding at the door and continued cooking and preparing dumplings. She sat down contentedly with her three daughters, eating dumplings and meat on the warm kang.

Er Ya was still scared, eating the meat fiercely, with a piece in her mouth and holding onto another piece, afraid that in the next moment, her father would rush in and take all her chicken.

But Qian Juhua didn’t stop her daughter. She kept adding more food to her two daughters’ plates. “Finish eating, there’s still chicken soup, save some space in your stomach.”

Da Ya still seemed troubled, but Qian Juhua didn’t care anymore.

Since she had the courage to tear the face off a few days ago, she wasn’t going to back down now.

The three mothers and daughters sat in the room eating meat and dumplings while Tian Dazhu kept banging on the door. After a while, with no response from Qian Juhua, Tian Dazhu, cold and hungry, angrily turned back to his brother’s house.

Unfortunately, when he arrived back, he found only an empty table with clean bowls.

When Tian Dazhu’s mother heard that Qian Juhua wouldn’t let him in, she slapped her legs and cursed.

Tian Erzhu’s wife gently said to her brother-in-law, “Sister-in-law is really harsh. On New Year’s Eve, it’s really too much to put you in this situation… We ate too fast and didn’t leave anything for you. How about this? You go to the kitchen, there’s still some cabbage and tofu, you can make yourself a soup.”

They didn’t plan to give Tian Dazhu any more dumplings.

Tian Dazhu’s mother rolled her eyes. “Fine, it’s snowing again. Hurry up and get the kang heated up to sleep.”

She turned around and left, not caring at all how her eldest son would eat or sleep tonight.

Tian Erzhu’s family dispersed and went to bed, leaving him facing the leftover scraps: a small piece of tofu and half a cabbage in the kitchen.

Tian Dazhu, sitting by the stove, made himself some soup. As he boiled it, tears started falling.

He didn’t even know why. Maybe… it was because he didn’t have a son.

New Year’s Day.

After half the night’s snow, the ground was covered in snow by morning. Xu Shuang got up early, first visited the homes of some senior villagers to pay New Year’s greetings, then visited a few more elderly relatives, and after completing the rounds, it was just in time for the firecrackers.

The sound of firecrackers at the village entrance announced the arrival of the new year.

Xu Shuang put the dumplings into the pot and hurriedly prepared to finish eating before heading out to shovel snow.

The village roads couldn’t be cleared, and with everyone running around visiting during the New Year, it was easy to slip.

Wang Ying ate the morning dumplings and suddenly had nothing to do.

Xu Shuang also felt bored lately. The two of them had paused their previous matters, and now, they just sat under the quilt chatting. The topics were all over the place. Xu Shuang would complain about his brother, and Wang Ying would tell stories about strange patients and family situations she had seen in her past life, changing the background and making a mess of it. Often, her stories didn’t make sense, but Xu Shuang still listened enthusiastically.

Now, while Xu Shuang was out sweeping the snow, Wang Ying had nothing to do.

With nothing to do, Wang Ying was eager to create a surprise for Xu Shuang.

She felt that after watching Xu Shuang cook every day for a while, she had received unprecedented influence, greatly improving her cooking skills.

So, she decided to make a dish for Xu Shuang to contribute to her household value.

Xu Shuang had no idea. After he left, Wang Ying went down to the cellar. She rummaged around and finally decided what to make.

She planned to steam some rice and stir-fry some napa cabbage.

They were having yellow-braised chicken for lunch, and she thought a vegetable dish would be a good addition.

Wang Ying thought her plan was perfect. If the stove space weren’t so tight, she might have even made a soup.

Without hesitation, she picked up the napa cabbage and went into the kitchen.

Half an hour later, while Xu Shuang was still sweeping the snow, someone reminded him.

“Xu Shuang, look, is that black smoke coming from your house?”

Xu Shuang immediately dropped his tools and ran back, his lips tightly pressed together as he ran.

Soon, someone went to find Xu’s grandmother, and she hurried to Wang Ying’s house as well.

When they entered, Xu Shuang saw smoke billowing from the kitchen. He rushed in, pulled Wang Ying out, and quickly opened the windows to air out the smoke.

Wang Ying looked embarrassed, her face covered in soot.

Xu Shuang quickly checked her over, relieved when he found no injuries.

“What happened?”

He remembered he had set everything on the stove properly when he left, and the small fire was supposed to be controlled. How could there suddenly be black smoke?

Wang Ying, rarely unable to lift her head, mumbled, “Well… the rice didn’t steam properly…”

Xu Shuang was confused, “How could steaming rice cause black smoke?”

He had looked inside earlier, and nothing seemed to have caught fire.

Wang Ying: “I think… maybe the rice got burnt.”

Xu Shuang: … “Don’t fool me, can burnt rice produce black smoke?”

Wang Ying wasn’t lying, though. She really had caused black smoke while steaming the rice. She couldn’t explain the exact reason, but the rice had simply started to smell burnt for no apparent reason.

Xu Shuang facepalmed. Now he understood why Wang Ying preferred to spend money at a state-run restaurant rather than cook at home.

What kind of talent does it take to do this?

Wang Ying still thought it was a one-time accident. “I didn’t steam it properly this time, but I’ll definitely get it right next time.”

Xu Shuang pushed her back, “Give up on that idea. From now on, just wait for food to be served.”

He wasn’t willing to risk a second disaster like that. The next time something like this happened, it would probably scare him to death.

Xu’s grandmother also arrived, equally startled. After hearing Xu Shuang explain the situation, she hurriedly patted Wang Ying’s hand, “You child, I told you to let Xu Shuang handle the kitchen, why did you try to do it yourself?”

God knows, when I heard there was something wrong here, my heart nearly jumped out of my chest!

After the false alarm, Xu Shuang quickly tidied up the scene. Tian Youfu, who had arrived a little later, thought something had gone wrong with someone’s brazier, as there had been similar accidents in the past.

Once he got there, Xu Shuang explained, “It’s fine, it was just a soup simmering on the stove, I forgot about it, and it burnt dry, that’s all.”

Xu Shuang, holding Wang Ying’s hand behind her, managed to gloss over the situation.

Tian Youfu was relieved to see that no one was injured. He gave Xu Shuang a few words of caution about fire safety.

Before leaving, Tian Youfu briefly looked around and his eyes lit up.

He saw the pig that Wang Ying’s family was raising!

“Is this the pig from Wang Yongshun’s family?”

Tian Youfu: “How did you feed it to grow this big?”

Goodness, it hadn’t been long, but it looked like it had been inflated!

Wang Ying seized the opportunity to set up her answer, “It’s the method I saw in a book… This spring, when we’re ready to sell the pigs, you can come see for yourself. I also want to see how big it can get.”

Tian Youfu nodded repeatedly, “Okay, okay, if you can raise it to over 200 jin (about 100 kg), we’ll nominate you as one of the advanced workers in our brigade this year!”

Even if it were someone from the livestock station raising the pig, they wouldn’t necessarily do as well.

Wang Ying modestly replied, “The method in the book is great. If I manage to raise this pig well, I’ll report back to you with all the details!”

Tian Youfu was very satisfied. If Wang Ying hadn’t worked as a barefoot doctor, he would have considered appointing her as a women’s director or some other small official in the village.

After that, the matter of Wang Ying cooking was put to rest. Not only did Xu Shuang stop asking Wang Ying to enter the kitchen, but even Xu’s grandmother started saying, “You just wait to eat!”

“Don’t bother, little one’s cooking skills are good, let him do it!”

Wang Ying had been stripped of the right to cook, and at one point, even her right to assist in cooking was taken away…

She felt very lonely.

But this loneliness didn’t last long.

Because the snow started to slowly melt.

Speaking of it, the winter in Kaoshan Village was like this. After the New Year, within half a month, as long as it didn’t snow, the snow would gradually start melting. This process wasn’t immediate. It went back and forth, taking at least half a month before the snow would melt enough for people to leave the village.

This was also the time when most people would fall.

Wang Ying’s skills, after being tested by Qian Juhua during her difficult childbirth, were quickly recognized by everyone.

Almost every day, someone would come to find her.

Either someone had fallen or had already fallen. The injuries varied—some had broken arms, some broken legs, others had fallen on their backs, and some even fell face-first…

Wang Ying’s days became noticeably busier.

In just a short time, Wang Ying found herself in a very awkward situation.

She was running low on herbal medicine. Some people who had fallen weren’t just injured but had broken skin. Many places where the snow was melting quickly had turned into mud, and those with broken skin had to be careful to prevent infection.

The anti-inflammatory pills she had prepared earlier were also running out.

Wang Ying thought for a moment and decided to go out to the brigade first, then head to the county town to buy more medicine.

Originally, she should have applied at the health center, but given the situation in their brigade, it was much easier to go to the nearby town rather than to their own commune. After all, this area was surrounded by mountains, and getting to the commune required crossing not only their own brigade’s muddy roads but also those of other brigades.

Wang Ying wasn’t willing to go through that trouble.

She applied for a referral letter from Tian Youfu and planned to take it to the county hospital to get the medicine.

Xu Shuang also wanted to go with her.

Wang Ying said, “It’s not necessary. I’m just going to buy some medicine.”

Besides, the road was slippery, and she wasn’t planning to ride her bicycle.

But Xu Shuang’s gaze, full of meaning, stayed on her.

After staring at her for several seconds, Wang Ying immediately understood.

Alright, then, let’s go together.

Wang Ying and Xu Shuang, hand in hand, woke up early to catch the bus.

Little did they know, after they left, things had already stirred up in the brigade.

“I told you I saw someone stealing chickens the day before yesterday! You little scoundrel, still stealing chickens, huh? I’ve been wondering why so many people in the brigade have been losing chickens this year! Turns out, they all ended up in your mouth!”