Originally, Jiang Lei’s idea had just been to use Zhang Hong to provoke Bai Ling—to drive her away in anger the moment she saw Zhang Hong. For that, he had even handed over his allotted jujubes and apples to Zhang Hong, just to get her to cooperate in this little play.
But now that Bai Ling refused to leave, Jiang Lei instantly decided: he would treat Bai Ling exactly the way she had once treated him!
Wasn’t Bai Ling stringing him along before? Then he’d do the same! Bai Ling wanted him to tutor her so she could secure the math teacher position—well, he’d just play along and mess with her. He would rather give it up himself than let Bai Ling get it!
Zhang Hong was speechless. She felt Jiang Lei hadn’t changed at all—before, he had no brains when Bai Ling was fooling him, and now, even when he wasn’t being fooled, he still had no brains.
The math teacher’s position!
What a great job that was!
And he could just throw it away like it was nothing. Truly a wasteful man.
Still, it worked out in her favor. Zhang Hong wisely decided not to say more.
When Bai Ling returned with the rabbit-fur gloves, her eagerness earned her a rare smile from Jiang Lei. Bai Ling smugly glanced at Zhang Hong, her expression clearly saying: See, I’m better than you.
Zhang Hong: …
Two big idiots!
Winter days were short. After Wang Ying had followed Old Lady Xu a few times to the meeting room to listen to the radio, she quickly grew bored. She stayed at home fussing with her little medicine cabinet.
Ever since the house next door was merged with theirs, Xu Shuang had rushed to make her a medicine cabinet.
It was the kind you see in a pharmacy—the drawers labeled with herb names, each one pulled out to dispense medicine.
The difference was that this one was much smaller, about three or four sizes smaller than a pharmacy cabinet. The drawers didn’t have labels, and even the handles were made of wood.
But just looking at it lifted Wang Ying’s spirits. Before, most of the herbs she had prepared were scattered about, messy and disorderly. Now, with this cabinet, she stored all her processed herbs neatly inside, and the joy of organization made her feel refreshed.
After rummaging through the drawers, Wang Ying sighed again.
The household finances really weren’t much to speak of.
Just making this cabinet had cost ten yuan. With all the spending in recent weeks, their savings had shrunk rapidly—only fifty yuan remained now.
Wang Ying felt some pressure at this sudden shift from overnight “wealth” back to near poverty. Xu Shuang had also suggested that at the start of next year, he would sell more mountain goods. Once they had saved enough, he would buy Wang Ying a job placement. If she entered the city, his own wages should rise as well.
By then, with both of them earning wages plus side income, their monthly expenses should be manageable.
Wang Ying also decided to put herb cultivation on the agenda, planning to speak with the brigade leader in the spring.
For the first year, she didn’t intend to ask the brigade to plant anything too valuable. She decided to start with honeysuckle.
Their brigade’s land was especially well-suited for honeysuckle cultivation—the back mountain was covered with it. As long as they set aside a small plot at the foot of the mountain to plant, within three months they could harvest the first batch.
“Wang Ying? Are you home?”
Wang Ying quickly pulled herself out of her thoughts and answered.
Several people came in, led by an old acquaintance.
Comrade Old Dog.
These days, Old Dog shrank back whenever he saw Wang Ying and her husband. But today he had no way to avoid it—after all, he was an injured man.
Wang Ying, however, didn’t dwell on past grievances. Old feuds were one thing, but when it came to treating the sick, a healer couldn’t choose their patients.
“What’s wrong?”
One of the young men who had brought Old Dog stood there staring blankly at Wang Ying, his face instantly flushing red.
“H-he-he, he said he can’t see anymore.”
Doctor Wang Ying is so beautiful, he thought, her skin’s as white as if she’d just stepped out of the snow itself.
Wang Ying: “Snow blindness, right?”
Old Dog swallowed hard. “I don’t know either. I was patrolling at the foot of the mountain, and I saw what looked like a pheasant on the slope. I kept staring at it… then suddenly I couldn’t see anymore.”
Old Dog was nearly scared to death. He really thought he’d gone blind. Crying, he begged one of the patrol members to bring him to Wang Ying.
He couldn’t have come alone anyway, and wouldn’t have dared to—he was too afraid.
Wang Ying was exasperated: “Didn’t we just say this at the assembly this year? Don’t keep staring at the snow—the ultraviolet rays can easily cause snow blindness. Did you not listen, or did you just ignore it?”
Last year, Wang Ying hadn’t paid much attention and luckily hadn’t encountered any cases of snow blindness. But this year she had taken precautions, telling Tian Youfu and Wu Guihua in advance, especially stressing they remind the children and the patrol members to avoid it.
And now, only a few days later, here was a case already.
Old Dog wept while being scolded by Wang Ying. The others standing by shrank back nervously. The young man who had just thought Wang Ying was so beautiful didn’t dare speak either.
Doctors usually spoke like this when it came to their profession, and Wang Ying didn’t think anything of it.
She brought Old Dog into the newly built room. To make things convenient for her medical work, Xu Shuang had already divided it with a curtain—inside was their household area, while outside was set up with a rattan bed and the medicine cabinet behind it.
Wang Ying had Old Dog sit on a stool, then took a magnifying glass to examine him. After finishing, she said impatiently: “It’s nothing serious, just ordinary snow blindness. It’ll be fine in five or six days.”
Then she gave Old Dog a small basin filled with clean water for him to wash his eyes.
Old Dog was still timid: “Doctor, no medicine? Will it really be fine without medicine? I feel dizzy, my eyes won’t open, and it feels like I’ve got a fever.”
Wang Ying: “What medicine? If it were serious, I’d give you some anti-inflammatories, but yours isn’t that bad. You don’t need them. Just go home, tie a black cloth around your eyes, and from now on in winter, cover them whenever you go out.”
Old Dog fidgeted, unwilling to leave. He had no peace of mind. He’d heard of people getting snow blindness before, but now that it was happening to him, of course he was terrified.
Especially when it came to problems with the eyes—when everything suddenly went black, and you couldn’t see anything, how could you not be scared?
Wang Ying finally gave in to his dithering and suggested a folk remedy: “If you’re still not reassured, there’s an old home remedy. Drip some boiled-and-cooled milk, or fresh human breast milk, into the eyes—it can help them heal a few days faster.”
She mentioned it casually, but Old Dog took it to heart.
He fumbled through his pockets and found only five cents. Wang Ying didn’t mind; all she’d really given him was a bowl of spiritual spring water, so five cents was five cents.
Old Dog left thanking her profusely. Wang Ying thought that was the end of it.
In just a few days, a shocking piece of news spread.
“What did you just say!? Old Dog is going around looking for breast milk?”
Wang Ying was utterly dumbfounded. When she had mentioned that folk remedy, she had only been thinking that Old Dog would never be able to get it and would give up. His condition wasn’t even serious—he probably wouldn’t need to wait five or six days; maybe three days would be enough. And with the effect of the spiritual spring water, two days might already do it.
But this man actually went around trying to get breast milk?! Wasn’t he afraid of being arrested for hooliganism?
“But wasn’t he blind? How did he even go out?”
Old Lady Xu explained: “He had one of the patrol boys go to Widow Yu’s mother and tell her… Didn’t Widow Yu bring her daughter back for the winter? Her daughter just gave birth yesterday, so she happened to have milk. You didn’t see it—Widow Yu’s mother nearly beat him to death right then and there.”
Wang Ying: “…”
Old Lady Xu continued: “And what’s even stranger, Widow Yu herself gave birth this morning too—and it was a premature delivery. Those two, one right after the other. Tian Dazhu didn’t even bother calling Doctor Xinghua, he said he delivered the baby himself at home. This morning he just announced to everyone that they’d had a boy and a girl. Widow Yu had a boy.”
Wang Ying’s focus shifted immediately: “Both at once? But I remember Widow Yu’s due date was still a month away, wasn’t it?”
Old Lady Xu: “Exactly, she was supposed to have another month to go. They said yesterday she had some kind of fall, and that caused the premature birth.”
Old Lady Xu: “You should’ve seen Tian Dazhu this morning, strutting around, telling everyone proudly that he finally had heirs.”
The more Wang Ying thought about it, the stranger it seemed. A fall causing premature labor? With how carefully Tian Dazhu had been guarding this pregnancy, would he really have let her fall?
And on top of that, one boy and one girl, just perfect…
Wang Ying kept her suspicions to herself, but resolved to go talk to Qian Juhua later.
Even though Qian Juhua hadn’t gone to the meeting hall that morning, her daughters, Mai Miao and Mai Sui, had gone. Recently the girls loved listening to the radio—the children’s songs that came on fascinated them. After hearing them a few times, Mai Sui could already sing along, her voice sweet and clear like a little oriole. When she came home, she would sing to her baby sister, who was just over a year old.
So by the time Wang Ying arrived, Qian Juhua already knew the news.
Now that Qian Juhua was earning money and her daughters were so well-behaved, she was in excellent spirits.
“Let them be. Now that he’s got a son, if he still turns out useless, he can’t blame anyone else.”
The only thing that irritated Qian Juhua was the gossipers who always pestered Mai Miao and Mai Sui with questions—ridiculous ones at that. Today, neither of the girls had gone to listen to the radio.
Gritting her teeth, Qian Juhua said: “Wang Ying, when spring comes, could you help me buy a radio set?”
She spoke as if she had seriously thought it over: “It’s not really about Tian Dazhu. It’s just that Mai Miao and Mai Sui are growing up. I think what you said before was right. What’s wrong with being girls? My two may be daughters, but they’re no worse than anyone’s sons. Teacher Cheng even praised Mai Miao for learning so quickly, and said Mai Sui is bright-minded. Come spring, I’ll send them to school. And I’ll buy a radio too, so they can listen to more about the outside world at home.”
Qian Juhua declared, “I’ve had enough of the frustration of being illiterate. If Mai Miao and Mai Sui can study, they’ll keep studying! And I’ll buy a radio too—once they see more and know more than me, their lives will definitely be better than mine!”
Wang Ying sighed inwardly. Qian Juhua might say she didn’t care, but clearly she was still holding in a lot of resentment. Tian Dazhu, acting as though having a son solved everything, had turned all of Qian Juhua’s years of sacrifice into a joke. Now Qian Juhua was determined to raise her daughters into something worthwhile.
Just then, Cheng Yu, who had been nearby playing cat’s cradle with the two girls, chimed in: “Auntie Juhua, I want to buy one too. Why don’t our families get one together?”
Cheng Yu looked a little embarrassed: “I want to listen to Peking Opera.”
She was currently studying opera with her teacher, but since Cheng Shufen’s voice had been ruined, she could only give guidance, not demonstrations. Sometimes Cheng Yu got such a craving to hear opera, but she had no way to listen. The commune had a radio, but it wasn’t easy for her to go there—her status always made things awkward.
Qian Juhua didn’t hesitate at all. With a wave of her hand, she said, “Buy what? Just come over whenever you want to listen. Mai Miao and Mai Sui will be at school during the day anyway. You can just take it and listen.”
But Cheng Yu shook her head earnestly: “That won’t do. I have money too. It’s one thing for Mai Miao and Mai Sui not to use it, but if I use it, I have to pay my share.”
Qian Juhua started to argue again, but Cheng Yu insisted: “Auntie Juhua, you really have to accept. Otherwise, I’ll end up buying my own separately, which would be such a waste and so inconvenient.”
With no other choice, Qian Juhua agreed in the end—they would each put in half, and take turns buying batteries.
Wang Ying said, “That’s settled then. When spring comes, I’ll go buy it.”
She was already thinking to herself that this time, she had to haggle the price down to thirty yuan. After all, this was already their second big order—shouldn’t a loyal customer get a discount?
A few days later, it was already the Laba Festival. As soon as it began, the commune members started clamoring to divide up the pigs and sheep. This year there was even one extra sheep to go around, so dividing them early meant everyone could enjoy some proper meat before the New Year.
Tian Youfu decided simply to get it over with—there was a lot of meat to distribute this year, and it would make for a better holiday if they split it early.
Wang Ying’s eyes sparkled—she had been craving lamb for so long!
“I want lamb ribs and lamb belly! If no one wants the spine, I’m willing to pay extra for it!”
Hot pot lamb, lamb spine stew, roasted ribs, lamb soup—here I come!
