RIRW – Chapter 12

Some Chapters are password protected, please use - rirw2025c to unlock these chapters. This is to top theft of translations.

Zuo Dan had prepared the food to exchange for money, which was naturally the food her grandmother had left for her in the orchard. With the little food the Zuo family had, she couldn’t even eat enough, let alone save anything.

She had checked the food herself; if she ate alone, it could last her two or three years.

She planned to take a portion and exchange it for some money to keep on hand for emergencies. Later, she could sell the fruit from the orchard when the opportunity arose.

Zuo Dan’s ambitions were small. She wasn’t expecting to live a life of great wealth through the mysterious orchard. She only hoped for a life of comfort.

She made an arrangement with Li Chenliang to meet at the threshing ground after work, and Li Chenliang took Gao Wei back home.

As for whether Li Chenliang would tell others about this, Zuo Dan wasn’t worried.

First, she was a local. Could Li Chenliang, a newcomer, have more credibility than her, the local insider? Second, if Li Chenliang wanted to trade food with her, the matter had to remain secret.

Meanwhile, Li Chenliang walked with his hands in his pockets toward the commune’s youth dormitory.

Gao Wei, a little worried, said, “Do you think that girl will tell others?”

Li Chenliang snorted, “She’s not like Li Hongbing, that stubborn mule. She’s clever, don’t worry. Maybe, in the future, we’ll rely on her for food.”

Gao Wei relaxed and sighed, “You just work and do your thing. We’re not even getting enough to eat. If you hadn’t reminded me, I wouldn’t have thought about how we’re going to survive after the harvest.”

His family lived well in the city, and they never had trouble getting enough to eat. So coming here, they hadn’t considered this problem. If they had known, they wouldn’t have come to this godforsaken place.

Li Chenliang didn’t think too much about it. He was just a little puzzled that a young girl had outwitted him today.

“This girl…” He chuckled to himself.

After a long day’s labor, the newly arrived young people were exhausted. After eating, they lay down on their beds in the dormitory to rest.

Su Xue lay on her bed for a while, then got up, put on her shoes, and went outside.

Li Suli, watching her leave, called out, “Su Xue, where are you going? Don’t be late for work later.”

Su Xue didn’t respond.

Li Hongbing snorted, “Why do you care? She’s so delicate. I’m starting to suspect she’s a bad element infiltrating our working class. Just look at her bourgeois behavior.”

Li Hongbing glanced at Liu Lili, who was applying something to her face, and sneered, “Always fussing over her face. With a face like that, what good is it other than to seduce people?”

Liu Lili shot her a cold look, turned her back, and continued applying the stuff to her face.

Li Suli sighed deeply as she watched them.

At the Grandmother Zou family home, Li Hui was sharpening the sickle. She listened to Xu Fengxia’s complaints but didn’t say a word.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the courtyard door. She looked up and saw Su Xue’s head popping around the corner.

“Xue?” Li Hui whispered in surprise and quickly covered her mouth. Then she looked around to see if anyone was outside. Seeing no one, she hurried outside to meet her.

At that moment, the villagers were all inside preparing to go out. Li Hui didn’t want anyone to see them talking, so she grabbed Su Xue and pulled her into a small grove behind the house.

“Xue, it really is you. I thought I saw you this morning.”

Li Hui said in surprise.

Su Xue bit her lip. “Aunt.”

“Seeing you is such a relief. How have you and your mom been all these years? No news at all. Everyone has been worried about you two,” Li Hui said with a worried expression.

The Li family had few members, and with the recent hardships they had faced, seeing family members safe was a great comfort.

Su Xue took a few deep breaths, her eyes reddened. “These years haven’t been easy. My mom told me we were going on a trip, but we never came back. Later, I found out the family had fallen apart, and my parents divorced. My mom remarried a worker from a slaughterhouse to transfer my household registration.”

When Li Hui heard that Su Xue’s mother had remarried, she was taken aback but quickly understood. In those days, women with such backgrounds and children had a tough life.

But she figured that since her mother had remarried and was raising a child, things were probably not going well for her either. Li Hui, feeling a pang of sympathy, patted Su Xue’s shoulder. “It’s okay now. You’re in the village, and I’ll take care of you from now on.”

Su Xue nodded, her eyes still red.

After work in the afternoon, Zuo Dan noticed that Su Xue had gone back to her cold, aloof self and hadn’t bothered her again.

But Zuo Dan was actually relieved to keep some distance from her.

The afternoon passed quietly, and after work, Zuo Dan was the last one to leave. It was almost dark, and only a few birds were heard calling in the distance.

Zuo Dan responded with a few bird calls of her own, feeling as though she were part of an underground movement.

Soon, Li Chenliang came running over.

“Where’s the stuff?” Li Chenliang asked eagerly. He had a big appetite, and the little food he ate every day was never enough. He was already so hungry he couldn’t stand it.

Zuo Dan turned around and went into the haystack, took out a small burlap bag that was hiding something, and inside it was some cornmeal.

“You can just boil it with hot water and eat it.”

Fortunately, her grandmother thought coarse grains had high nutritional value and prepared some for her. Otherwise, she would have to exchange rice and refined flour instead.

Li Chenliang looked at it; it was almost two jin (about a kilogram). He and Gao Wei could share it and have several meals.

He reached out to take it, but Zuo Dan quickly withdrew her hand, saying, “Money first, goods second. Silver for goods.”

“Quite the capitalist,” Li Chenliang said, widening his eyes. He thought this girl didn’t look like a country girl at all; she seemed more like a sly merchant engaged in shady business.

Wait, isn’t that exactly what they were doing right now?

He pulled out some money from his pocket. “Here, five cents in total.”

Zuo Dan took the money and checked it—four bills: two two-cent notes, and one one-cent note.

Don’t be fooled by the five cents; its purchasing power was quite significant. At this time, rice cost only 1.3 cents per jin (half a kilogram), and meat was about 6 cents per jin.

For this two jin of cornmeal, selling it at this price was actually quite high.

She handed the goods over to Li Chenliang and reminded him, “Don’t lose the bag. After you finish eating, give it back to me, or next time I won’t have anything to put the food in.”

“I know, you sound like a landlady,” Li Chenliang said with a lazy smile.

Zuo Dan curled her lip. “Go, go, go. You better leave before someone sees us. Otherwise, it could lead to some big misunderstandings.”

Once Li Chenliang left, Zuo Dan looked at her first earnings and sighed lightly. “Still too little, though. I need to find a chance to go into the city, sell some good stuff, and make more money.”

When she got back home, it was already completely dark.

The meal at the Zuo family had been set on the table, and seeing that Zuo Dan had returned late, Xu Fengxia made a sarcastic remark. She felt uncomfortable looking at Zuo Dan, as if she was a cannonball ready to explode.

Zuo Dan sat at the table eating and listened to Xu Fengxia’s words, smiling, “Since when has doing more work become a bad thing? If Aunt doesn’t like it, I’ll work less next time, is that alright?”

“You answer me back with every word. Do you have any respect for your elders?” Xu Fengxia shouted.

“Don’t be angry, Big Sister. Dandan didn’t mean anything by it,” Li Hui quickly interjected.

“Exactly, I think Dandan is great, so well-behaved,” Zuo Chengcai, the third son of the Zuo family, added.

Xu Fengxia slammed her chopsticks down. “Oh, really? What are you two trying to say? Do you no longer respect me as your sister-in-law? Is this how you treat your brother’s wife? Do you want to split the family?”

“Fine, let’s split!” Zuo Chengcai retorted angrily.

“Bang—”

Just as she finished speaking, Grandmother Zou suddenly slammed her hand on the table, glaring at everyone, “Who said anything about splitting?”

Everyone jumped in surprise. Zuo Chengcai shivered and said, “Mom, I didn’t say anything about splitting the family. It was just Sister-in-law who brought it up.”

Grandmother Zou looked at Xu Fengxia.

Xu Fengxia quickly avoided her gaze.

She had just been testing the waters, trying to bring up the idea of splitting the family. She didn’t expect the old lady to react so strongly. She looked to Zuo Hongjun for help.

Zuo Hongjun pretended not to notice and continued eating his meal.

Seeing this, Xu Fengxia gritted her teeth, turned to look at Grandmother Zou, and said, “Mom, it’s not that I want to split the family, but look at how we’re living. Every day is chaos. The second and third sons don’t treat us like family. Even Dandan, a younger generation, can talk back to me. How am I supposed to live in this house? It’d be better if we split, each living our own way, at least for some peace. Don’t worry, Mom, even if we split, you can still live with us.”

Zuo Huan chimed in, “Grandma, Mom’s right. This life is unbearable. The constant fighting is embarrassing, and the whole village is laughing at our family.”

Hearing these two speak, the others began to understand. The idea of splitting the family hadn’t come out of nowhere; it seemed like they had been talking about it for a while.

Li Hui glanced at Zuo Dacheng, her heart feeling complicated.

She had never dared to imagine the family splitting up. In this family, she didn’t dare ask for anything, just living day by day with a roof over her head and raising two children.

Now that Xu Fengxia had brought up the idea of splitting, she felt a little panicked, and at the same time, a strange feeling settled in her heart.

Zuo Dan, on the other hand, was looking at Xu Fengxia and her daughter with gleaming eyes, almost wishing she could run up and kiss them. She had never seen them so pleasing before.

Everyone was silent, waiting for the old lady’s decision.

Grandmother Zou looked at Zuo Hongjun, “Oldest son, what do you think? Did you know about what your wife just said?”

Zuo Hongjun finally raised his head and looked at Grandmother Zou, his eyes flickering for a moment. “Mom… I think it doesn’t matter how we live.”

For someone who had never bothered to manage family affairs, this answer was already clear. He was in favor of splitting the family.

Grandmother Zou gave him a deep look, then glanced at the other two sons.

Zuo Dacheng furrowed his brows but didn’t speak, and Zuo Chengcai had a nonchalant expression.

“Eat, just eat,” Grandmother Zou said after a long pause. She picked up her chopsticks and began eating without mentioning splitting the family again.

Seeing that Grandmother Zou didn’t bring it up anymore, Xu Fengxia was a bit anxious. She wanted to continue speaking but was pulled back by Zuo Hongjun.

Everyone could see that Grandmother Zou wasn’t in a good mood. Bringing up the subject again would only make her upset.

Zuo Hongjun wanted to split the family, but he didn’t want to make his old mother angry.