Lin Guoqiang flexed his strong arms at him. "Your uncle will teach you kung fu!"
Little Lin Qing tugged his little hand. "Douzi, I’ll take you to school. The teacher is teaching Pinyin now!" He was in the first grade this year but preferred cutting grass on the mountain and foraging for fruit to studying.
Lin Gang rolled his eyes at him. "So embarrassing! You don’t even know as much Pinyin as Little Douzi!"
Lin Jun and Lin Hong also chid in, saying they would take him to the ditch to catch fish and loaches.
Little Douzi looked at them, completely torn. After a mont of thought, he said resolutely, "Mom, I’ll stay at Grandma’s and learn kung fu from Uncle to protect you."
"Okay. When you want to co ho, just have Grandma bring you back." Lin Lan then said to her nephews, "When you’re on break, take the bus to your aunt’s house."
Lin Guoliang finished tying up the things and shouted, "Hurry up! If we delay any longer, we’ll miss the four o’clock bus."
Lin Changyou reached out his hands to Little Douzi. "Co here, my good grandson. Let Grandpa hold you. Let’s go to the school."
Lin Lan patted Little Douzi, who was clinging to her neck and wouldn’t let go. "Go on!"
"Okay!" Little Douzi finally let go, his eyes red and his little face full of reluctance.
Lin Changyou took him and led his other grandchildren to the school to play.
Lin Lan and her three brothers left the house and walked toward the ferry.
Wu Shufen took out the dacron fabric Lin Lan had brought and divided it between her two daughters-in-law, who both happily took it and went ho.
Little Douzi followed his grandpa and his cousins to the school, whose gates were already open.
The large playground outside the school was filled with students. Rural schools back then weren’t equipped with sports equipnt, so the children made their own toys and gas.
The students were gathered in groups of all sizes. So were jumping rope, playing with sandbags, playing jacks, leapfrogging, playing pick-up sticks, or playing hopscotch...
Little Douzi felt like he couldn’t take it all in, his big, dark eyes darting everywhere.
The mont Lin Jun arrived, his classmates pulled him away to play chicken fighting. Lin Hong took Little Douzi by the hand to watch so other students jump rope.
A little girl sang as she jumped, "Malan flower, malan flower, the malan flower blooms on the twenty-first. Two-five-six, two-five-seven, two-eight, two-nine, thirty-one..."
Little Douzi watched for a mont before Lin Gang and Lin Qing ca over and took his hand. "That’s a girls’ ga. Your cousins will take you to watch Brother Jun’s chicken fight."
Lin Changyou nodded, took his tobacco pipe, and walked to the side to watch the children play.
Chicken fighting was a boys’ ga that required no equipnt. The boys, regardless of height or build, would split into two teams.
They would each lift one leg and rest it on the other thigh, all balancing on one leg.
To attack, they had to hop on one leg, holding the knee of their raised leg tightly as they tried to knock others over. If your raised foot touched the ground and you couldn’t maintain your one-legged stance, you lost.
When Little Douzi saw Lin Jun almost get knocked over, he quickly shouted, "Go! Go, Cousin Jun!"
Lin Jun’s spirits lifted. He hopped forward and slamd into his opponent. The other boy wobbled a few tis, and then his raised leg hit the ground. He gracefully admitted defeat.
Little Douzi looked at him, his eyes shining. "Cousin Jun, you’re amazing!"
Lin Jun ran over, hoisted him onto his shoulders, and laughed. "When you’re bigger, Cousin Jun will teach you!"
****
It was already past five when Lin Lan got ho. Lin Yuezhen had already gone to the Eucalyptus Forest, and Old Chen and Li Hongi were helping unload things from the vehicle.
Her next-door neighbor, Li Guizhi, saw her while she was outside washing vegetables and quickly called her husband over to help move the rapeseed oil and beans from the vehicle to the eaves of the house.
After seeing Old Chen and Li Hongi off, Lin Lan scooped out so large white beans for Li Guizhi to thank her.
Li Guizhi initially refused but then accepted them. She said to Lin Lan, "Little Lin, my family also has rapeseed oil. Are you trading for it?"
Lin Lan nodded. "I am! Co take a look at my rapeseed oil. If it’s the sa as this, I’ll give you the sa price I traded for at my parents’ place.
"I also need fava beans, peas, mung beans, soybeans, and peanuts. As long as the kernels are full and there are no insect holes, I don’t care what price you got them for, I’ll trade with you at the sa rate as last ti."
’Now that there are four people working the stall, and Zhilin and Zhixue are doing two shifts a day, our sales volu is much higher than when it was just and Zhou Xiaohong,’ she thought. ’Our consumption of raw materials has increased several tis over. I have to stock up on more beans and rapeseed oil.’
’Every little bit helps,’ Li Guizhi thought happily, nodding. "Little Lin, rapeseed oil is so expensive, I’ll definitely have them filter it cleanly. And I guarantee every single bean will be plump."
Lin Lan smiled and nodded. "Great. Just bring it over once you’ve traded for it."
"Thank you, Lin Lan." Li Guizhi left happily, carrying the large white beans.
Lin Lan put the cutting board in the kitchen, tidied up a bit, and grabbed so dried mushrooms. She called Dahuang into the courtyard, closed the gate, and quickly rode her bike toward the Eucalyptus Forest.
Li Xiangyang was standing in the vegetable patch. He smiled when he saw Lin Lan riding over on her bike. "You’re back so soon?"
Lin Lan got off her bike and said, "I just made a round trip. How was business today?"
Li Xiangyang nodded. "Not bad today. I saved so leaf lard for you and gave it to Yuezhen."
"Thanks!" Lin Lan pushed her bike toward the stall.
Yang Liying was busy scooping jellied tofu for a custor, and Lin Yuezhen was busy getting kidney bean rolls for another. They both smiled happily when they saw Lin Lan return.
After the Dragon Boat Festival, the weather turned muggy. People sensitive to the heat were already wearing short sleeves, and even the market hours had been extended a bit.
With more stalls, they were earning more each day than before. The only downside was how exhausting it was; they always felt like they couldn’t get enough sleep.
As soon as it was past six-thirty, the evening market began to clear out. The Lin sisters started packing up their stall. Zhao Dehai had also co to the Eucalyptus Forest to help Yang Liying pack up the tofu stall.
When he learned that the Lin family had helped them procure more beans, he was so grateful he didn’t know what to say. Without the Lin family’s help, their tofu stall would have gone out of business long ago.
Yang Liying thought about how the amount of tofu and jellied tofu they’d been making had been increasing. Lin Lan had also been giving them half of the okara to take ho to feed their pigs and chickens. She decided that the next ti they bought coal, her family would pay for half of it.
After packing up the stall, Lin Lan took the dried mushrooms and went over to the eucalyptus tree where Li Xiangyang was squatting. She smiled. "So dried mushrooms from ho."
"Thanks!" Li Xiangyang accepted them with a smile. "I heard from Grandma Yang that your family started a pig farm. If you need bone al, you can co to ."
Lin Lan smiled. "Didn’t your family start a pig farm?"
Li Xiangyang nodded. "I started a pig farm in the countryside." He hesitated for a mont before asking, "Why does your family use paper mulberry leaves to feed the pigs?"
"My third brother is in the army’s cooking squad. He said that if you use a fernted feed made from paper mulberry leaves, ramie leaves, rice bran, and corn flour, the pigs are less likely to get sick. Their coats are shinier, their at is more tender, and they gain weight faster.
"It also saves on rice bran and corn flour, which increases inco. I’m not clear on the specific ratios, but I’ll ask next ti soone from my family cos to visit."
Li Xiangyang nodded repeatedly. "So paper mulberry leaves can be used for pig feed. I’ll send a ssage tomorrow and have the people at my farm plant more.
"My family has always grown ramie near the pig farm to pick the leaves for pig feed. Every year, we have to dig up a batch of ramie roots to sell to the Chinese dicine hospital. If your family wants to sell ramie roots in the future, I can connect them."
"Okay, I’ll co find you then." Lin Lan smiled and handed him the money for the leaf lard. "Thanks! We’ve packed up, so we’re heading out now!"
"Okay!" Li Xiangyang waited for her to turn around, then picked up his back-basket and walked toward the vegetable patch.
When he reached the alley by the vehicle factory, he unlocked his bicycle with a key and rode to the clothing factory.
When Brother Yong saw him arrive, he walked up with a smile and looked at him. "I hear soone has a crush!"
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