1983, Northeast China

Chapter 18 Li Chengzhang Arrives

The fur on Huang Er's neck was slightly ruffled, and his lips were slightly lifted, revealing his yellowish canine teeth.

Hearing the dog bark, Tian Guizhi pulled her hand back half an inch. But before the candy could be taken away, her sleeve squeezed through the crack in the door again, half of her arm stretched into the yard, and her fingers grabbed Ya Ya's cotton-padded jacket cuff.

"uncle!"

Chen Shi grabbed Ya Ya's arm with his left hand, pulled her back from under her grasp, and shielded her behind him.

He grabbed a stick with his right hand and smashed it down on the fence.

Tian Guizhi loosened her grip, and the piece of candy fell to the threshold, rolling halfway around.

Her arm was stuck in the door crack, unable to go in or back out.

Chen Shi pressed the stick down on her arm. "Don't you want your hand anymore?"

"I...I just gave the child a piece of candy."

Ya Ya hid behind Chen Shi, clutching his cotton-padded coat with both hands, her eyes wide open, staring at the piece of candy on the ground.

"Keep making things up, and see if I believe you or not." Chen Shi wasn't going to believe his nonsense. "I don't care if you're a widow or not. What did I say yesterday? You've probably forgotten."

"Tian Guizhi! You really dare to lay a hand on me!" Aunt Wang's curses came first.

She was holding fire tongs in her hand. She had just been changing the hot water for Chen Xiulan when she heard Ya Ya call for her uncle. She didn't even put the basin down properly, and the water spilled all over the floor.

Aunt Wang rushed to the courtyard gate and yanked open the latch.

"Huang Er, go and call for help."

Huang Er squeezed out through the crack in the door and ran along the alley toward the brigade. When it arrived, Zhao Defa was squatting on the ground, cleaning the hooves of the brigade's mules.

He's been annoyed because the mule hasn't been feeding him these past couple of days.

Huang Er rushed up to him, barked twice, and then grabbed his trouser leg and dragged him outside.

"Hey, you old geezer, why did you bite me?"

Zhao Defa raised his hand to pat it, but Huang Er opened its mouth, turned around and ran two steps toward the Chen family's direction, then turned back and barked.

Zhao Defa's legs were numb from squatting. He stood up and stomped his feet twice. "What happened to the Chen family?"

Yellow Ears cried out again.

Zhao Defa threw down the iron hook used for cleaning hooves and shouted into the shed, "Sanzhu, keep an eye on the mule for me, don't let it kick the feed trough! I'm going to Xiulan's house."

When Zhao Defa arrived at the Chen family's door, sweat was dripping from his forehead, and a man with pig feed on his hands was following behind him.

The man was mixing bran for his pig when he heard Zhao Defa shout, and immediately followed.

Yellow Ear crawled back into the yard and stood in front of Ya Ya, looking like it would bite anyone who touched her.

"Tian Guizhi! What are you doing again? Why are you always making such a fuss?"

Tian Guizhi immediately shouted, "Don't listen to their nonsense! I just gave the child a piece of candy because he was greedy."

"She said there was a family outside the mountains who had a rare daughter, and she wanted me to go with her," Ya Ya said, pointing at Tian Guizhi.

Aunt Wang poked her shoulder with the fire tongs, "Did you hear that? How old is the child? How could she make up such a thing?"

Chen Xiulan stood at the door, not daring to come over. She couldn't carry Xiaoman out, and she didn't dare to let Xiaoman leave her side.

"Uncle Defa," Chen Xiulan said, "take her to the brigade, and take the candy to the brigade too. Today she can reach out and grab Yaya, tomorrow she can say the child went with her on her own."

Zhao Defa bent down and wrapped the piece of candy in an old cigarette box.

"Alright. Tian Guizhi, let's go to the brigade headquarters. The security chief and the women's chief are there. If you have any grievances, you can tell them there."

Tian Guizhi stepped back, "I'm not going! I still have sweet potatoes simmering on the stove, and the chickens haven't been fed yet!"

Zhao Defa was so angry he wanted to beat her to death with a pipe stick. "A chicken won't die from missing a meal, but if the child is lost, you can't afford to compensate even if it starves to death."

Tian Guizhi wanted to shout again, but Aunt Wang Er raised her fire tongs and pointed at her mouth, "If you shout any louder, we'll call the whole village to hear how you use candy to lure children."

This time, Zhao Defa didn't say anything more. He and the villagers, whose hands were full of pig feed, grabbed her arms and led her towards the brigade.

After they had gone far away, Chen Shi closed the courtyard gate again.

Ya Ya wanted to pick up the half of the tofu dregs pancake that had fallen on the ground, but Chen Shi stopped her.

"It's covered in mud, don't eat it."

"Do you want to eat the yellow fungus?" Ya Ya picked it up anyway, intending to wash it when she got home.

Yellow ears stick out their tongues, and their chests rise and fall.

Chen Shi scooped half a bowl of warm water from the stove and placed it in front of it.

It lowered its head, took two sips, and then looked up to listen to the sounds outside the courtyard.

Aunt Wang went back into the house to clean up the spilled water, still cursing Tian Guizhi. In the end, she still called out to Chen Shi, "Shizi, put the door bolt back in and seal the cracks in the wall."

It's being processed.

Ya Ya moved closer to Chen Xiulan. "Mom, I didn't go with her."

Chen Xiulan touched her cold hands. "Mother knows, Yaya has grown up and become sensible."

Aunt Wang added, "From now on, no one can give you candy, not even acquaintances. Only acquaintances know which way your door faces."

After noon, before Dahai returned from the commune, someone banged on the gate of Aunt Wang's courtyard.

Each knock was faster than the last, the door knocker slamming against the wooden board, making the chickens in the yard cluck wildly.

Huang Er, annoyed by the vibrations, barked twice in that direction.

A young man called out, "Mom! Open the door! It's me, Li Cheng!"

Upon hearing this, Aunt Wang hadn't even left the house when she started cursing, "Which scoundrel is using my son's name to scare people? In broad daylight, do you have a death wish?"

The two houses are not far apart, separated by a low fence, and you can usually hear each other if you speak loudly.

The voice called out again, "Mother, it's me! It really is me!"

This time, the voice sounded a bit like Li Cheng's, with a slight tremor from the cold in it.

Aunt Wang's anger froze instantly.

She put down what she was holding and rushed out.

Upon opening the door, I saw a young man standing outside my own courtyard gate.

The man stood at her door, his hand still on the door panel, frantically banging on it.

He also had a tattered bag hanging on his back, so flat it looked like there was only two wisps of air inside.

Aunt Wang stared at him for a couple of seconds, then suddenly slapped him on the shoulder. "You brat!"

Li Cheng was swayed backward by the slap, almost sitting down in the snow, but his mouth broke into a grin, "Mother."

Upon hearing this, Aunt Wang, her eyes red, slapped him again. "So you finally decided to come back? Weren't you going to the South to make your fortune? Didn't you say you'd take me out for a meal of steamed buns when you made your money? What, you've made so much money in the South that your cotton shoes are practically begging for it?"

Li Cheng shrank back as he was scolded, saying, "It's not all white flour buns over there."

"What's that?"

"We're hungry too."

Aunt Wang's lips trembled. "Come inside."

Huang Er, who had come with Aunt Wang, came over and smelled Li Cheng's scent.

Li Cheng was startled. "Whose dog is this? Why is it sniffing me?"

Chen Shi looked at him and said, "It was my family's previous one, and it's always been kept by Uncle Zhao."

Li Cheng then recognized Chen Shi and paused for a moment, "Chen Shi?"

"Um."

"Huh? How did my mother come from your house?" Li Cheng asked belatedly.

Aunt Wang gave him another slap, "Why are you talking so much nonsense? Come inside and warm up."

Li Cheng was dragged into her house by her. The house was cold and the stove was empty, and there was hardly any warmth on the kang (a heated brick bed).

Aunt Wang has been staying in isolation with Chen Xiulan. The stove here has been sealed off for a long time, so there's hardly any warmth left.

Chen Shi glanced at Li Cheng and said, "Second Aunt, take him to my sister's room to warm up first. There's still some hot soup in the pot."

This time, Aunt Wang didn't stand on ceremony and pulled Li Cheng to walk next door.