Translated By April

He Dongdong was listening at the side, his mouth hanging open, “Is that for real?”

“Then if I sleep under that, wouldn’t I end up giving birth to a bunch of babies!”

He Dongdong blurted out. Realizing what he had said, his face turned bright red, and he hurriedly lowered his head to embroider his pair of mandarin ducks.

Right now, he wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. He was an unmarried ger, what was he even saying!

Lin Yu also felt his face heat up a little. “No, no, it’s just a coincidence.”

Ba Jin’s husband left somewhat disappointed. He had been married for three years and still hadn’t had any movement in his belly—he was anxious. Lin Yu nudged He Dongdong’s arm. “He’s already gone.”

Only then did He Dongdong lift his head. “What did I just say?”

Lin Yu cleared his throat lightly. “They’re just talking nonsense.”

The days slipped by one after another, and the grain in the fields had ripened. Every household in the village entered the busy farming season, with the whole family, young and old, heading into the fields to harvest rice before dawn.

That day, Shi Tou came looking for them. He wanted Wei Qingshan to help hunt a few rabbits to use for his wedding banquet. Shi Tou ordered ten rabbits in one go, and Wei Qingshan readily agreed.

Anyway, summer was about to arrive, and it was the perfect time to hunt freely. Lin Yu also went along. While Wei Qingshan and Dahei hunted rabbits, Baixue followed him around the mountains to find rare wild vegetables or whatever else they could.

Lin Yu walked with Baixue in the forest. He remembered there should be quite a few wolfberry bushes around here. He had come here in the spring to pick wolfberry shoots.

Following his memory, Lin Yu quickly found them. He was pleasantly surprised to see that these wolfberry bushes had produced quite a few bright red berries. He picked one and put it in his mouth—it was sweet.

When he was little, he used to find wolfberries to eat. Village children didn’t have much to eat, and malt sugar was expensive, so they liked finding sweet wolfberries to eat.

Lin Yu set down his basket on the ground, carefully avoided the thorns on the vines, and picked the wolfberries one by one. Baixue wanted to follow him, but Lin Yu pushed him gently to the side. “You’ll get poked.”

Only then did Baixue squat down to the side with little whimpering sounds. Lin Yu happily picked away, and in no time, he had a handful. He carefully placed them into the basket, afraid they would get squished.

Picking here, picking there, once this small patch was done, he took Baixue to look elsewhere. He only picked the big ones—the big ones could fetch a good price, and the small ones were left for the birds.

Lin Yu searched along the small path. Wei Qingshan was nearby today. Dahei was sniffing around for rabbit holes, so Lin Yu wasn’t worried and was happily picking wolfberries in the forest.

By noon, the two of them sat under a tree to eat lunch. Each had a minced meat flatbread with pickled vegetables. Lin Yu showed Wei Qingshan what he had picked that day. “Look, the wolfberries on the mountain are just ripe. Once we dry them, we can sell them to the herb shop.”

Wei Qingshan casually popped one into his mouth. “Pretty sweet.”

“I’ll pick more in the afternoon.”

Lin Yu’s eyes curved with his smile, and then he picked out the biggest one to give to Wei Qingshan. Wei Qingshan just bit it right up, and Lin Yu blushed a little—he meant for him to take it with his hand!

In the afternoon, Lin Yu continued searching for wolfberries. His fingertips were stained red, and his basket was already quite full. While picking wolfberries, he also discovered wild mountain peaches. He used leaves to wipe off the fuzz and took a bite. The sourness made his face scrunch up.

The peaches on this wild peach tree weren’t big. Each fruit was only about the size of an egg. The side facing the sun had ripened nicely, turning a reddish hue. Lin Yu thought about how Chun-ger was now pregnant, and he didn’t know if he’d want to eat some, so he took the cloth pouch from his waist and picked a small bagful.

By the time the sun was setting, the two of them headed back. Wei Qingshan had a pretty good haul today, too. Aside from one rabbit that Dahei bit to death, he had caught four wild rabbits. He had dug into quite a few rabbit nests today.

The two of them came home a bit late today. After Wei Qingshan cleaned up the wild rabbit, Lin Yu stir-fried it with chili peppers. He also picked a tender snake gourd from the vegetable garden and stir-fried it too.

The chili made Lin Yu hiss, but he couldn’t stop eating. He could handle spicy food now. The spicy diced rabbit was very appetizing. Wei Qingshan poured him some water to cool down. He could handle spice, too, and the two of them polished off the entire plate of rabbit.

The next day, Wei Qingshan didn’t let Lin Yu go with him. He would be running around the mountain all day and worried Lin Yu wouldn’t be able to handle it, so he told him to come with him every other day instead. That finally satisfied Lin Yu.

At home, Lin Yu first spread out yesterday’s picked wolfberries to dry. Then he chopped up wild grass to feed the chickens and rabbits at home. While cleaning the chicken coop today, Lin Yu found an egg in the straw nest. Holding the egg, he wanted to show it to Wei Qingshan. “Qingshan, look! Our chicken laid an egg!”

Only after speaking did Lin Yu realize—Wei Qingshan wasn’t home right now.

Still, he was happy. He searched around the chicken coop again and found another egg. Just one egg was worth three copper coins! He carefully stored them in the kitchen.

The chicks he bought in the spring had grown into ten chickens—eight hens and two roosters. They didn’t need so many roosters at home, so Lin Yu thought once they were grown, he’d have Wei Qingshan take one to town to sell.

In the morning, Lin Yu sat under the shade of a tree embroidering a silk handkerchief. When he heard the clucking of a chicken, he quickly put down the handkerchief and ran to the backyard. Sure enough, he saw a hen nestled in a straw nest, and under its feathers, there was another egg.

It was the first time Lin Yu saw his chicken lay an egg. He didn’t leave but stood outside the chicken pen watching. In his mind, he calculated—he had eight hens now. If each hen laid one egg a day, then he could collect eight eggs a day! That would be two hundred and forty eggs a month!

How could it be that many! If these eggs were converted into copper coins, that would be seven hundred and twenty wen, almost a tael of silver!

Lin Yu also knew that some chickens wouldn’t lay eggs every day, but just thinking about it made him happy, as if his chickens could lay one egg each per day.

He thought he needed to feed the chickens well. In the future, he would mix wild vegetables with cornmeal or wheat bran for them to eat. That way, his chickens would lay more eggs. When autumn came and the weather turned cold, chickens would stop laying eggs, so he needed to feed them better while he still could.

The hen that had laid the egg left not long after. Lin Yu hurried in to collect the egg. The white egg was still warm, smooth, and toasty in his hand. Lin Yu held the egg and stroked it for a long while before he was willing to place it in the kitchen.

In the afternoon, Lin Yu went to Chun-ger’s house to buy tofu and brought along the wild peaches he had picked the day before.

Before, there would often be idle people chatting at the village entrance, but now it was the busy farming season, and every household was out in the fields harvesting rice. Those idle people had disappeared. Lin Yu walked a long stretch and barely saw anyone.

When Lin Yu arrived, only Wang Er was busy in the courtyard. Wang Er greeted him, “Lin-ger is here.”

Wang Er handed over two pieces of tofu. “If Lin-ger wants tofu in the coming days, come in the morning. I’ll be out in the fields harvesting wheat tomorrow. The two mu of dry fields at home haven’t been harvested yet.”

“Alright. Where’s Chun-ger? I brought something for him.”

“Chun-ger isn’t feeling well and is lying in bed.”

Upon hearing that it was Lin Yu, Chun-ger called out, “Yu-ger, I’m here.”

Lin Yu carried the small cloth bag into the room. Chun-ger, looking a bit unwell, was leaning on the bed. “How come you’ve gotten thinner after not seeing you for a few days?”

“Don’t even mention it. The weather’s gotten hotter these days, and I’ve been throwing up more. That’s why I’ve lost weight. I can’t even help with chores at home now. I only help a bit with tofu-making in the mornings. I won’t be able to do any fieldwork this year.”

I went into the mountains yesterday and picked some wild peaches. I’ll wash them and bring them to you to eat.”

As soon as Chun-ger heard there were wild peaches, he instantly had an appetite.

Lin Yu washed them and brought them over. Chun-ger impatiently picked one up and began eating. “Mmm, delicious!”

Chun-ger ate two in a row. Lin Yu watched from the side, his mouth watering from the sourness. He had tasted those wild peaches himself yesterday, and they were so sour that he had frowned deeply. Chun-ger, however, didn’t seem to find them sour at all.

“Don’t eat too many in one day. If you like them, I’ll go pick more tomorrow when I head into the mountains.”

“I like them! Yu-ger, thank you! Oh, right, I mentioned before that I wanted you to help embroider a tiger-head hat and bellyband for my little one. Once Wang Er has time to get the fabric, I’ll send the fabric to you.”

“No rush.”

After checking in on Chun-ger, Lin Yu left. Being pregnant looked quite tiring. Chun-ger should be almost three months along now. His belly had only gotten slightly bigger.

After Lin Yu left, Chun-ger found out that Wang Er had accepted copper coins from him. He scolded Wang Er, “He was thinking of our family, came over specifically to bring wild peaches, and you still accepted his copper coins.”

Wang Er begged for forgiveness repeatedly. “Next time Lin-ger comes, I’ll be sure to give him some tofu!”

After buying tofu, Lin Yu returned home and began preparing dinner. He couldn’t bear to eat the eggs laid by their chicken yet, so he used the ones they had bought earlier. He picked some chili peppers from the vegetable garden and made a stir-fried egg dish, and also prepared a refreshing cold tofu salad with spring onions.

When Wei Qingshan came back, Lin Yu happily told him that the chickens at home had started laying eggs. From now on, they wouldn’t have to buy eggs anymore—and if they couldn’t finish eating them, they could even sell the extras!

Wei Qingshan listened to his little wife talking to him. Now his little wife spoke more than before. He remembered that when they had first married, he had to lead the conversation if he wanted to talk more with him. Now his little wife was finally willing to talk more.

He liked it when Lin Yu talked to him about the little things at home, like how the chickens had laid eggs, how the winter melons and gourds in the courtyard had started bearing fruit, or how Baixue had been mischievous again today.

Wei Qingshan felt happy hearing all of this and picked up some eggs with his chopsticks for his little wife.

“Wang Er said his family is going to start harvesting wheat tomorrow, too. From now on, I’ll have to go buy tofu in the morning.” Lin Yu was very envious that other families could now go out to work in the fields, while his family didn’t have any land. “Next year we can go work in the fields too!”

His little wife’s voice was gentle and cheerful. Wei Qingshan could almost see the two of them living better and better days together. Although their family didn’t lack food, they didn’t even have a piece of land. But then again, as a hunter, how could his family ever lack meat?

Today, both of them were in high spirits. They had been a bit busy lately, and it had been a long time since they were intimate. Under the moonlight came unbearable murmurs: “No, we can’t. My waist—my waist is going to break.”

“Be good. Let’s try this position. I’ll hold you.”

Wei Qingshan coaxed and coaxed. His little wife was so shy that he didn’t even dare look at him.

Wei Qingshan let out a long sigh of relief. The ointment at home was almost used up. In the next couple of days, he would go to town and buy a few more jars.

The next morning, Lin Yu had some trouble getting up—his waist was sore and his legs were weak. Wei Qingshan wanted him to stay home and rest, but Lin Yu felt it was nothing. “I want to go pick wolfberries.”

Wei Qingshan couldn’t persuade him, so he had no choice but to agree. Once they were in the mountains and no one was around, he scooped his little husband up onto his back. “I’ll carry you for a bit.”

Lin Yu obediently let Wei Qingshan carry him. Who told him to be so bad yesterday? He was even holding him from above yesterday, truly bad to the core!

But Lin Yu couldn’t bear to let Wei Qingshan carry him for too long. After all, mountain paths were hard to walk, and he was afraid Wei Qingshan would get tired. Lin Yu let Wei Qingshan carry him for a while before insisting on getting down.

“With your little bit of weight, what’s that? Why are you still so skinny—where has all the food you’ve eaten gone?”

Lin Yu muttered softly in protest, “Who says I haven’t gained weight?”

“You have, you have, all the meat’s grown on your butt.”

Lin Yu’s face flushed bright red. He flailed his legs and slid off Wei Qingshan’s back, then walked ahead quickly without looking back.

Wei Qingshan chuckled. It was over—he’d teased too much this time. He hurried to catch up. “I was just joking with you.”

That day, Wei Qingshan still hunted rabbits, while Lin Yu went to look for wolfberries. On their way down the mountain, they picked all the peaches from that wild peach tree.

Wei Qingshan managed to catch four live ones that day. They already had three at home. One more day of hunting, and they could gather the ten wild rabbits that Shi Tou asked for.

The next day, Wei Qingshan told Lin Yu to rest at home. Going into the mountains every day was quite tiring.

After breakfast, Lin Yu carried his basket and went to the back mountain to cut grass. He had chickens and rabbits at home to take care of. Since he hadn’t been home all day yesterday, he was pleasantly surprised to find four eggs in the chicken nest when feeding them that morning. That meant four of his hens were now laying eggs!

Lin Yu picked only the freshest, tenderest wild grass to bring home. When he got back, he scattered some of the wild grass seeds he had collected into the chicken pen.

It was currently the busy farming season. On his way home, Lin Yu saw people carrying basket after basket of rice back home. He felt very envious. Even Dong-ger hadn’t come to find him much lately; he was probably helping at home, taking care of his two little nephews.

Lin Yu didn’t idle at home either—he washed clothes, watered the vegetable garden, mended clothes, and the morning passed quickly. In the afternoon, he went to Chun-ger’s house to deliver the wild peaches.

Chun-ger was sitting in the courtyard threshing rice ears. When he saw Lin Yu coming, he quickly called him over to drink water. “I’ve been waiting for you all day, just hoping you’d come keep me company for a chat.”

“Why aren’t you resting?”

“Country folk can’t afford to be that delicate. I’m only doing some light work,” Chun-ger said cheerfully, then brought out a bowl of tofu from inside. “I knew you’d be coming today, so I specially saved this for you.” Lin Yu tried to pull out some copper coins, but Chun-ger stopped him. “Don’t be so distant. You don’t know—after I ate your wild peaches yesterday, my appetite improved a lot. I even ate an extra bowl of rice in the evening, and I didn’t vomit.”

Lin Yu was happy to hear that. “I picked a lot today—enough for you to eat for a while.”

This time, Lin Yu had brought a bamboo basket filled with peaches the size of chicken eggs. Chun-ger looked at it joyfully. “You worked hard carrying them down the mountain.”

“It was just on the way. Besides, these wild peaches aren’t worth much. Just enjoy them.”

Lin Yu sat with Chun-ger for a while. Chun-ger took a stalk of wheat, husked the outer skin, and put it in his mouth to chew. It was still a bit wet—after drying for a few more days, it would be too hard to bite.

“Yu-ger, the new grain is coming in now. You and Qingshan can take advantage of the timing to buy some. No need to carry it from town—that’s too much trouble.”

“Mm, I’ll tell Qingshan when I get back.”

Lin Yu had already been thinking about this for a few days. Their home didn’t have much stored grain. When they were about to run out, Wei Qingshan would carry more back from the town. But they had no stock at home. Now that they had some silver in hand, it was better to buy more and store it—it would feel more secure.

During dinner, Lin Yu brought it up to Wei Qingshan. Wei Qingshan nodded. “I was thinking the same. Now that the new grain is in, it’s better to take advantage of the low prices and buy enough for a year.”

“Buy that much?!”

“Buying more means we won’t worry about running out. And come spring, grain prices will rise again—better to stock up now.”

“Alright.”

Because they planned to buy grain, Wei Qingshan didn’t go into the mountains the next day. He delivered the ten wild rabbits he had hunted to Shi Tou. At the market rate of forty copper coins each, he also gave an extra wild chicken as a gift.

“Qingshan-ge, don’t forget to bring your husband to drink the wedding wine.”

“Of course.”

As the wedding date approached, Shi Tou couldn’t hide the joy on his face. His family had little land—just three mu—so they had already finished harvesting and were drying it in the courtyard. But he didn’t rely on farming for a living, so having little land wasn’t a concern.

The He family had more land—seven mu. After finishing his own, he went to help the He family harvest rice. He Dongdong watched over the two little nephews at the edge of the field while they played.

As the soon-to-be son-in-law, Shi Tou didn’t dare slack off. When working in the fields, he put in real effort, afraid that the He family might not be satisfied with him.

He Daniang was happy. This new son-in-law was good, honest, kind-hearted, and skilled. She wasn’t worried that her Dong-ger would have a hard life following him.

Wei Qingshan and Lin Yu tidied up the eastern room of their thatched hut that day, planning to store grain there after a few days.

Lin Yu brought out the wooden box where they stored their silver at home. He counted the small silver taels inside. With hunting and selling embroidered handkerchiefs, they now had twenty-five taels.

“How much silver does it take to buy a year’s worth of grain?”

“Probably four or five taels.”

“That expensive? If we buy the grain, we’ll only be able to afford one mu of paddy field.”

“If we stock up enough, we won’t be afraid of being trapped when snow seals the mountain in winter, and we also won’t fear the food shortage during the spring lean period.” Wei Qingshan knew Lin Yu felt distressed about the silver. It was not easy for the two of them to save silver, and now they would spend four or five taels all at once.

Wei Qingshan thought that after Shi Tou’s wedding was over, he wouldn’t go down the mountain to return home every day. He would just live in the mountains hunting, and once he had saved up enough game, he’d go down.

Although they now had a place to store the grain, every household had just harvested its rice. It still had to be dried, threshed, and milled, so they would have to wait a few more days to buy grain.

Lin Yu responded with an “mm.” He hesitated for a while before speaking, “Qingshan, I want to go see my mother, and also Yueniang.”

They had a custom: when the rice ripened, one had to go home to see their mother. When the rice is golden, go home to see your mother.

Wei Qingshan didn’t know about this custom. They should have gone some days earlier, but on those days, the household had been busy, and he hadn’t yet caught enough rabbits for Shi Tou.

“Alright, I’ll go to the market in a while and buy some things. You rest at home.”

Lin Yu nodded.

It just so happened that there was a market at the neighboring village that day, so there was no need to go all the way to town. Wei Qingshan bought incense and candles at the market and also bought some fruits for Yueniang.

Wei Qingshan noticed that many people at the market were selling steamed buns. When one old woman saw him looking over, she greeted him warmly, “Young man, is your little husband going back to his mother’s house? Take some date buns with you.”

“How did you know my little husband is going back to his mother’s house?” Wei Qingshan was a bit puzzled.

The old woman selling date flowers laughed, “You must’ve just gotten married recently, huh? You don’t know the saying, ‘When the rice is golden, go home to see your mother’?”

Wei Qingshan felt regretful. He truly didn’t know. He had actually missed such an important thing.

Wei Qingshan stepped forward and bought a few nice-looking date buns and had them wrapped up. Then, seeing someone selling roast goose, he bought one to take home too.

When he got back, Lin Yu took it and looked at it. “Why did you buy so many things?”

“Sorry, I forgot we had to go see our mother.”

“No, it’s okay. It was something my mother told me when I was little.”

The two of them left early in the morning, carrying the offerings, laid out the date flower buns, and roasted the goose at the grave. This time, Lin Yu’s mood was different, and his tone was much lighter when speaking to the grave, “Mother, I’m doing very well, don’t worry. Qingshan said in a few days, we’re going to buy grain—enough for a whole year!”

Lin Yu said a few words, then packed up the offerings back into the basket. The two of them walked together toward Dali Village. Seeing that his little husband wasn’t as sad as last time, Wei Qingshan finally felt relieved.

Because the atmosphere wasn’t as heavy as last time, Lin Yu was in a good mood. Though his family didn’t have land, it was still considered a harvest. Now they were going to see Yueniang—it had been a while since they last saw her, and they didn’t know how she was doing.

The two of them didn’t go into the village but stood at the entrance. When they saw someone they knew, they quietly asked them to help bring her out.

The two waited at the village entrance for a while before Zhao Yueniang came running over, “Brother!”

“Yueniang!”

Lin Yu hugged his younger sister, so happy he almost cried, “Yueniang, you’ve lost weight.”

Zhao Yueniang smiled, “Just a little tired. It’s okay, I still get to eat my fill.”

After all, she was her own flesh-and-blood daughter. No matter how harsh Cai Chunhua was, she wouldn’t go as far as not feeding her. It was just that all the chores had fallen on Zhao Yueniang’s shoulders, and during the busy farming season, she even had to go to the fields to harvest rice.

Seeing that Zhao Yueniang had lost weight, Lin Yu felt heartbroken and quickly took out the roast goose wrapped in oil paper, “Yueniang, eat. There are also buns. Eat till you’re full before you go back.”

Zhao Yueniang hadn’t had meat in a long time. When she saw the roast goose laid out in front of her, she couldn’t care about modesty and grabbed a goose wing to gnaw on. Lin Yu quickly tore off a goose leg, “Eat some more meat, eat some more.”

Zhao Yueniang didn’t hold back and ate, “Thank you, thank you, brother, brother-in-law.”

Zhao Yueniang held a goose leg in one hand and a date flower bun in the other, eating away. Seeing her like that, Lin Yu wiped his tears with sadness.

“Brother, don’t cry. I’m living much better now than you were when you were at our house. I can eat my fill—it’s just that I haven’t had meat in so long.” Zhao Yueniang’s little face was puffed up from eating, though her complexion didn’t look too good.

Zhao Yueniang gnawed on a goose leg before she finally slowed down. Lin Yu pulled off the other leg and gave it to her, and Zhao Yueniang slowly ate it, saying, “Ge, my older brother is going to get married in a few days. The new sister-in-law is from the town. I don’t know what she’s like.”

Lin Yu responded with a hum, only thinking in his heart that as long as the new wife did not bully Yueniang, it would be fine. “Take good care of yourself at home. Your brother-in-law even bought you some fruit, hide it and eat it yourself.”

Zhao Yueniang nodded repeatedly. She didn’t dare stay outside for too long either. Once she was full, she went back, carrying the fruit tucked in her arms. She didn’t dare take the roast goose back home—the smell of the meat was too strong. If her father and mother found out, they would definitely interrogate her harshly.

Lin Yu let out a sigh. Zhao Dazhi was about to take a wife, but he didn’t know whether the new woman would treat Yueniang better or not.

“When we go back, if we’re still worried, I’ll ask around when I go to town.”

Lin Yu nodded. The two of them brought the things and returned home.

The rice had only just been harvested a few days ago, and the weddings for the He family and the Shi family were about to be held.

Wei Qingshan and Lin Yu both went to help. On the He family’s side, the night before the wedding, they would hold a banquet. It didn’t matter whether there was much meat or not—the guests were all nearby relatives.