Zhou Shitou thought for a mont. "Chestnuts, dried mushrooms, wood ear fungus, Sichuan peppercorns... we have all of those. Every year, toward the end of winter, we make a trip out of the mountains to the Zhenjiang co-op to sell our dried goods and use the money to buy salt and such."
After hearing this, Lin Lan felt the variety of seasonings was still too limited. They could probably only collect dried mushrooms and wood ear fungus to sell. "Cousin, about how much foraged goods does each family have to sell?"
Zhou Shitou shook his head. "The more diligent families gather more dried goods, while the lazy ones have less. I’m not sure about the exact amounts, but I’ll ask around for you tomorrow morning."
Lin Lan smiled. "Thank you, Cousin."
Wu Shufang finished making the beds and brought over so hot water, telling Lin Lan and the other two to go wash up. She then went to the kitchen to help her eldest daughter-in-law, Xu Hongju, with dinner.
Xu Hongju looked at her and said in a low voice, "Mother, I heard from Cousin that they’re here to buy foraged goods."
Wu Shufang nodded. "Yes. Your cousin brought us dicinal plasters, dicine for coughs and fevers, a large bag of salt, a sack of white flour..."
Xu Hongju’s eyes widened in surprise. "That’s so much! It was the right decision for Qiaohui to go to our cousin’s ho. When Little Yu is a bit older, we should let her go too." ’All these things must have cost a fortune!’
"I know. Your Second Aunt has always thought of us, and of the children too. If her family hadn’t been helping us all these years, things would have been even tougher."
After a mont’s thought, Wu Shufang added a reminder, "Your cousin is here to collect dried goods, so make sure you two help her select them carefully. Don’t let any of those shaless people from the production team rip her off."
Xu Hongju nodded repeatedly. "I know!"
Wu Shufang took down the aged cured pork that Lin Guoliang had brought. Her two young grandchildren ran to the stove. "Grandma, I want to gnaw on a bone!"
Wu Shufang nodded, looking at the two of them. "Once Grandma’s done cooking it, I’ll chop it up and put it on a plate. You two can eat in the kitchen with your older brother, you hear?"
The two children nodded obediently. "We hear you. We won’t eat in the main room."
Xu Hongju glanced at their bulging cheeks and said, "You two, put away the candy your cousin gave you. Don’t eat it all in one day."
"Oh." The two children trudged dejectedly toward their room.
Watching them go, Wu Shufang sighed to herself. She thought about the lives her three younger sisters led and then about her own. ’The gap between life in the mountains and the world outside is just too vast.’
’The children can’t stay stuck in these mountains. It would be best if they could follow their cousin to the city and build a life there.’
Both the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were accustod to the work, and before long, the al was ready. They carried the dishes out and set the table in the main room.
Wu Shufang looked at them apologetically. "Little Lan, Xiangyang, this is your first ti visiting, and your aunt doesn’t have much to offer you..."
"Auntie!" Lin Lan cut her off with a smile. "You’re treating us like strangers. These mountain delicacies and wild ga are all wonderful things!"
Li Xiangyang chid in with a laugh, "Exactly! Where else could we eat such a plump wild rabbit? And look, there’s pheasant stewed with mushrooms, too."
Seeing the genuine smiles on their faces, Wu Shufang’s own smile widened. "We set a few snares in the woods. We’ll go check them tomorrow morning to see if we’ve caught any more pheasants or rabbits."
Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang feasted on spicy wild rabbit, soft and slippery taro and ginger noodles, and pheasant stewed with dried mushrooms. They even got to drink fruit wine that the mountain folk brewed themselves.
Wu Shufang explained that the fruit wine was made by soaking Japanese raisin fruit. Her family had a few of the trees down the slope from their house. Every year after the first frost, they would pick the ripened fruit and steep it in homade sorghum wine. It was said to be good for rheumatism.
After dinner, everyone gathered around the brazier in the main room, swapping stories about country life.
The farthest Zhou Shitou had ever been was Zhenjiang Commune, so he smiled and asked Li Xiangyang what East Market was like.
"The city is bigger than the commune, and the roads are much wider..." Li Xiangyang gave him a simple description and invited him to visit East Market soti.
Zhou Shitou happily agreed, promising he would definitely co to East Market next year for his and Lin Lan’s wedding celebration.
Lin Lan asked Wu Shufang, "Auntie, do they also grow crops like rice here in Shishanling?"
Wu Shufang shook her head. "Why do you think it’s called Shishanling? It’s because it’s all stone and very little soil. There’s hardly any flat land, so everyone’s houses are built right into the mountainside."
"There are a few small plots of land where we can grow rice and wheat. Everything else is sorghum, corn, and sweet potatoes. The diligent families can make a little extra by gathering more foraged goods, but the lazy ones don’t even have money for salt."
Lin Lan thought for a mont, then said to Wu Shufang, "Auntie, next year you should talk to the other mbers of the production team. Tell everyone to plant more pumpkins and beans."
"If you’re willing, you can collect all of it, and though it’s a bit of trouble, you can deliver it to my parents in Shilian. You’d earn a cent or two per jin, and if the volu is large, that’s not a small amount."
Wu Shufang gave a wry smile. "Actually, Guoliang ntioned this last ti he was here. He told us to talk to the other team mbers about planting more things like large white beans and other legus to collect and sell to you. But our family is just too poor; we don’t have any startup money."
Zhou Dashan, who was sitting nearby, added, "After Guoliang left, we talked to a few of the families we’re close with, but they weren’t convinced. They were afraid they’d deliver the goods and never see the money."
’They’d listened to Lin Guoliang and thought it sounded like a good way to earn money, but besides two pigs and a mule, their family didn’t even have five yuan to spare. How were they supposed to buy the foraged goods from others?’
Lin Lan understood after hearing this. ’Money gives a man courage,’ she thought. ’Auntie’s family is clearly dirt-poor. Everyone else is just gathering these things to earn a little extra for their own families, so of course they’d be worried.’
"How about this," Lin Lan proposed. "If you want to be the ones collecting the goods, I can lend you so money for the initial capital. I’ll write down a list of my purchasing prices for you later. After you collect the goods and deliver them, you’ll be able to earn sothing for your trouble."
Wu Shufang stood up, so grateful she was at a loss for words. "Little Lan..." ’Old pumpkins, the most worthless things in these mountains, actually sell for eight cents a jin out there! If we can make a few trips before the snows seal the passes, we could really earn so money.’
Zhou Dashan rubbed his hands together, his face flushing. "We couldn’t possibly... We couldn’t possibly accept that!"
Zhou Shitou also thanked Lin Lan and her companions profusely.
Li Xiangyang watched Lin Lan with a gentle smile. ’This is my woman,’ he thought. ’Kind and righteous, but not a fool with a bleeding heart.’
Just then, Xu Hongju ca over from the kitchen and said to Wu Shufang, "Mother, Second Aunt Zhou and Qiaoyan are at the door. They say they want to see Little Lan."
"I’ll go see." Wu Shufang stood up and went outside. When she opened the back door, a chubby woman and a pretty young woman were standing there.
She gave the pair a cool glance. "Second Aunt, is sothing the matter? It’s quite late."
’The last ti Guoliang ca to pick up Qiaohui, Second Brother Zhou’s family shalessly blocked his path, insisting that he take their Qiaoyan to East Market. I was just worrying that the mother and daughter would show up tomorrow to pester Little Lan, and here they are tonight.’
’How ridiculous,’ she thought. ’My Little Lan isn’t a human trafficker.’
Second Aunt Zhou looked at Wu Shufang with a fawning smile. "I heard Qiaohui’s cousin is here, so I brought Qiaoyan over to et her. Maybe she can help our Qiaoyan get to East Market too, to earn a little spending money. And there was that other thing I ntioned to you last ti... I wanted to ask her about it."
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