"Oh, we’ll eat a little later then!" Wu Shufen said. Thinking of how long Li Xiangyang’s family had been running their pig farm, she figured he must be very experienced. "Xiangyang, why don’t you go take a look at our pig farm and see if there’s anything we need to change?"
Li Xiangyang smiled. "Little Lan already told about it. I think the pig-raising thods your third brother figured out are already very good."
Wu Shufen looked at him with a cheerful smile. "Go on, have a look. What you read in a letter can’t compare to seeing it with your own eyes."
"Alright. I’ll go take a look and learn from Big Brother and the others."
After Li Xiangyang and Little Douzi left, Wu Shufen looked at the two wicker baskets and playfully smacked Lin Lan. "Spending money recklessly again!"
"I didn’t! Xiangyang bought them. The rest are salt, sugar, and dicine for my aunt," Lin Lan explained, then added that she wanted to go take a look in the mountains.
Aunt Lin was standing at the courtyard gate, watching the mother and daughter. "Well, well! I told them it was Little Lan! They didn’t believe . Just look at you, all dressed up like you’re from the big city!"
Lin Lan gave a faint smile but didn’t say anything. In her mory, this aunt was even more thick-skinned than Xiang Hongxia and was the person Wu Shufen detested most.
As Aunt Lin spoke, her eyes darted around the courtyard. "Where’d that handso young man from just now go? Is that Little Lan’s boyfriend?"
"That’s none of your business!" Wu Shufen pulled Lin Lan along, and the two of them carried the wicker baskets toward the main hall.
Seeing the wine, at, and fabrics in the baskets, Aunt Lin’s heart clawed with jealousy. "Pah! Acting so high and mighty! Sooner or later, you’ll be dragged off for labor reform!"
Aunt Lin muttered curses as she walked away. ’Thinks she’s a city slicker now, does she? Daring to look down on people. Just wait till I tell that young man all about your scandals. We’ll see if he still wants a corrupt, shaless hussy like you!’
"What did you say? Say that again!"
Aunt Lin spun around as if she’d seen a ghost and saw Lin Changyou standing behind her, holding a ledger and staring at her coldly.
Aunt Lin showed no sign of embarrassnt or sha at being caught bad-mouthing soone. She gave a dry laugh. "Big Brother, you must have misheard! I didn’t say anything, not a thing!"
"You’d better have said nothing. Otherwise, we’ll settle old scores and new ones all at once!"
Lin Changyou enunciated every word, his eyes full of scorn. "Song Cuihua, do you know why, among brothers from the sa family who started with similar conditions after splitting the household, so do better and better, while others are like Wang Xiao’er celebrating New Year’s—worse off every year?"
’After the brothers had split the family property, their mother had said he and his wife were down-to-earth and she wasn’t worried about them. She gave all the best things to the second brother’s family. But Song Cuihua was not only petty, with a heart smaller than the eye of a needle, she also loved to stir up internal strife and spread gossip.’
’The second brother never looked for the cause in himself. Instead, he listened to his wife’s instigations and fought with his own kin, making them a laughingstock for the entire production brigade.’
’Their relationship as brothers grew worse and worse. When their own children grew up and divided the household, she even tried to turn them against each other. Her family life was a chaotic ss, and their days beca increasingly difficult.’
Aunt Lin rolled her eyes and sneered, "What other reason could there be? It’s because the old folks were biased and gave all their private savings to their favorite!"
’That old woman said nice things to our faces but secretly gave all her savings to the eldest branch of the family, leaving us with a bad reputation. Heaven has no eyes! The ones with a good conscience live poorly, while the eldest, with his black heart and ruthless thods, gets to live the good life.’
Lin Changyou looked at her and shook his head. "It’s because so people are as petty as the eye of a needle, their world no bigger than the tip of their own nose!" With that, he turned and walked into the courtyard, ignoring her completely.
"Pah!" Aunt Lin spat at Lin Changyou’s back. ’You black-hearted old fox! Don’t think I don’t know you were cursing .’
When Lin Changyou entered the courtyard and saw the wicker baskets in the main hall, he heard the voices of Wu Shufen and Lin Lan talking in their room. He finally understood why Song Cuihua had co over and why she had been cursing at the gate.
He walked to the door of the room and saw the mother and daughter unpacking. "Little Lan, didn’t Xiangyang and Little Douzi co?"
Lin Lan smiled and nodded. "They ca. They went to the pig farm out back." Noticing the ledger in his arms, she asked, "Are the brigade’s accounts still not settled?"
"The commune has instructed us to take stock of the brigade’s land, population, and finances. After the rice harvest next year, if your area gets good yields, we’ll also be dividing the land among the households." Lin Changyou said this as he went into the house to put down the ledger, then ca back out. "I’m going to the pig farm to have a look."
"Old man," Wu Shufen called out to him, "have our eldest son ride his bike over to the Yu family’s place and see if they’ve been netting fish in the river today. If they have, buy a few to bring back."
"Alright!" Lin Changyou walked off with his hands behind his back.
Li Xiangyang led Little Douzi out the back door and saw a large patch of paper mulberry and ramie planted outside the backyard wall. It looked like they had all been planted this year.
When they reached the pig farm, Little Douzi pointed at it. "Uncle Xiangyang, there are so many pigs in Grandpa’s pigpen! Does your pigpen have this many too? You ca to Grandma’s house with us, so can Grandpa Li manage all by himself?"
Li Xiangyang chuckled. "Grandpa Li can’t manage it all. How about Little Douzi goes to help him in the future?"
Little Douzi nodded readily. "I can’t carry the pig feed bucket, but I can help Grandpa Li pick ramie leaves."
"Good boy!" Li Xiangyang smiled and ruffled his hair.
"Auntie!" Little Douzi shouted, running toward a woman walking out of the courtyard.
"Oh! Little Douzi’s here!" Zhang Xiuqing put down her carrying pole and picked him up, then looked at Li Xiangyang with a wide smile. "You must be Xiangyang!"
Li Xiangyang smiled and nodded. "Sister-in-law, I ca to see Big Brother and Second Brother."
"Guoliang and the others are piling up earthen manure at the foot of the mountain. I’ll take you there," Zhang Xiuqing said, carrying Little Douzi as she walked toward the mountain’s base.
This type of manure had to be relatively dry. It was made by layering soil mixed with plant ash, then a layer of withered grass and rotten leaves, followed by a layer of pig and chicken manure. The whole thing was piled into a small mound, sealed with mud, and left to compost.
Co spring, when it was ti to nurture seedlings and plant rapeseed, this earthen manure would be used for the seedbeds, for transplanting rapeseed sprouts, and for planting beans. It was similar to the organic fertilizer of later generations.
The longer the earthen manure composted, the better. Diligent families would dig several manure pits and make a few of these compost heaps every year to use the following spring.
As they neared the foot of the mountain, they could see Lin Guoliang and his brother in the distance, prying at sothing with a pickaxe and then shoveling the prepared mud slurry onto a small, dark mound. Even in the bitter cold, the two of them were working in just red cotton vests, seemingly unfazed by the chill.
Little Douzi asked Zhang Xiuqing to put him down, then waved and shouted, "Eldest Uncle, Second Uncle, I’m here!"
The two brothers, who had been engrossed in their work, looked up. Seeing Little Douzi run over, Lin Guodong said with exaggeration, "Well, look at you! Little Douzi, you look so handso today!"
Little Douzi puffed out his chest. "Mama is wearing pretty new clothes today too. Uncle Xiangyang made them for her."
Lin Guodong held up his hands, which were caked in mud slurry, and bent down to look at him. "Is that right? Your uncle will have to go back and see later!" He looked up at the distinguished-looking Li Xiangyang, the smile in his eyes widening.
Lin Guoliang watched Li Xiangyang stride over, held up his own muddy hands, and said with a hearty laugh, "Xiangyang, you’re here!"
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