The car left the city and drove on an asphalt road for half an hour before starting up a winding mountain road.
After driving for an hour on the winding mountain road, they arrived at the Ping Mountain Commune police station.
Yao Xiuyun told the group that cars couldn’t make it to the Jin family’s village, so they had to park at the police station.
It was the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, and only two officers were on duty at the police station. They knew Yao Xiuyun, and when they heard the group was heading to the Jin family’s village, they invited them to have a al before leaving.
Yao Xiuyun smiled and declined.
The group got out of the car. Once Xu Dong had parked and rejoined them, Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang held Little Douzi’s hand and followed Yao Xiuyun off Ping Mountain Street onto a country path.
On the street, one could occasionally spot a brick-and-tile house. But once they left the street and started walking on a tractor path, all they saw were low, thatched-roof houses with ramd-earth walls scattered by the edges of the fields.
After starting up the mountain, Little Douzi only walked for a short while on the narrow path before putting his hands on his knees, saying he couldn’t go on.
Li Xiangyang handed his backpack to Lin Lan and squatted down. "Just a few more steps. Co on, I’ll carry you."
Little Douzi ran up, flopped onto his back, and wrapped his arms around his neck, rubbing his head affectionately against his shoulder. "Uncle Xiangyang, Uncle Xiangyang!"
Li Xiangyang smiled and glanced back at him, asking softly, "Getting hungry?"
Little Douzi hugged his neck tighter. "I’m not hungry. I just wanted to say your na."
"Mhm! I hear you." Li Xiangyang held him tighter.
Watching the two of them act so affectionately, Lin Lan’s eyes welled up with tears before she even realized it.
The mountain paths to the Jin family’s village were even narrower than those at Shishanling, twisting and turning, nothing more than goat tracks.
When the group reached a flat spot, they gathered so firewood from the path, heated the flatbreads they’d brought, and ate them wrapped around sausages. They also had so cold-dressed shredded radish, cured chicken, and cured pork.
Little Douzi took a bite. "Mom, this flatbread with sausage is so yummy!"
Lin Lan flicked his forehead with a knuckle. "I told you not to co, but you just had to. And now you can’t even walk a little ways."
Little Douzi pouted. "But I walked for a long ti!" He looked at Li Xiangyang’s long legs, then shuffled over to sit beside him. "My legs are short, so I can’t walk fast."
"This kid of yours is too clever," Xu Dong and Yao Xiuyun said, bursting into laughter.
Li Xiangyang laughed and ruffled the boy’s hair. "Alright, you little rascal. Finish eating so we can get back on the road."
"Okay!" Little Douzi took a huge bite and chewed with all his might.
The group continued up and down over several mountain ridges, walking for the better part of the day before they finally arrived.
Lin Lan noticed that the environnt here was much better than at Shishanling, but for so reason, there were even fewer households.
Yao Xiuyun explained to Lin Lan that almost all the commune mbers in the Jin family’s village were surnad Jin. Years ago, when a reservoir was being built, a portion of the families had been relocated elsewhere.
The families whose hos weren’t affected by the project remained, making up about twenty households in total.
As they walked through the village, Lin Lan noticed the houses were all made of ramd clay with thatched straw roofs.
The commune mbers they encountered were wearing clothes covered in layers of patches, despite it being the New Year festival, and they watched the visitors with curiosity.
Yao Xiuyun led them to the ho of the team captain.
The captain’s surna was Jin. His ho was slightly larger than the others, with seven rooms and a fairly large courtyard.
On one side of the courtyard was a stone-walled pigsty, and on the other, two mules were tethered.
Captain Jin ca out of the main room and did a double-take when he saw Yao Xiuyun. "Eh? Mr. Yao, what brings you here?"
Just as Yao Xiuyun was about to speak, an elderly woman with graying hair ca out and shot Captain Jin a reproachful glare.
"Old man, what kind of way is that to talk? Quickly, invite Mr. Yao and the others inside to sit!"
"Ah, I was just caught off guard," Captain Jin said, sheepishly tapping his own head. "Please, please, co in and sit for a bit."
Captain Jin and his wife enthusiastically invited the group into the main room. The ceiling was very low, and even with a charcoal fire burning, the room felt dim in the middle of the day.
Four people who had been warming themselves by the fire quickly pulled their children aside to make way. One of them, a very honest-looking man nad Jin Dachun, hurriedly set out two long benches.
"Mr. Yao, please, have a seat." Captain Jin smiled bashfully at the group, then glanced at the sleeping Little Douzi. "Should we put the child on the bed to sleep?"
Li Xiangyang shook his head. "Thank you, Uncle, but he’s slept for a bit already. He should be waking up soon."
Lin Lan grabbed a handful of candy from her bag and smiled, waving to two small children hiding behind an adult. Their faces were ruddy and dark from the heat of the fire. "Co here, I have so candy for you."
The little boy stared with wide, deer-like eyes, looking from the colorful candy wrappers in Lin Lan’s hand up to Jin Dachun. He licked his lips, swallowed hard, and shook Jin Dachun’s arm, calling out again and again, "Daddy, Daddy."
Jin Dachun patted his son on the head, embarrassed. "Go on, take it. Say, ’Thank you, Auntie.’"
"Thank you, Auntie." The little boy led a younger child out. They each snatched a handful of candy and darted back behind Jin Dachun, peering curiously at Little Douzi in Li Xiangyang’s arms.
Lin Lan placed the rest of the candy on a small, square table nearby, also taking out so sachima and puffed rice candy. She looked at the two children. "If you want so, you can co get it yourselves, okay?"
"Thank you, thank you!" Captain Jin said again and again.
Just then, Captain Jin’s wife returned to the main room with another woman, carrying a large, dark pottery kettle and a stack of clay bowls. "Mr. Yao, please have so water."
"Thank you, Auntie!" Lin Lan and the others took the bowls, took a large gulp, and smiled. "This is delicious!"
Seeing that his guests didn’t show the slightest bit of disdain, Jin Dachun’s smile beca much more sincere. He cupped a handful of chestnuts and placed them near the fire pit. "Mr. Yao, please have so chestnuts. We just roasted them."
Captain Jin looked at the group apologetically. "We’re in a very remote place, and with it being the New Year, we don’t have much to offer honored guests. I’m truly sorry."
"You’re being too kind, Captain Jin. We’re the ones who are bothering you by showing up unannounced."
Yao Xiuyun exchanged a few more pleasantries, then gestured to Lin Lan. "This is my friend, Lin Lan. She wants to buy large white beans, red beans, soybeans, and old pumpkins... Well, I’ll let her tell you about it!"
"You buy old pumpkins, too?" Captain Jin asked, turning to Lin Lan.
"That’s right, we buy old pumpkins. Also caokou cardamom, Sichuan peppercorns, dried mushrooms..." Lin Lan rattled off a list of things she wanted to buy. "As long as your quality is the sa as what you sell to the supply and marketing co-op, my price will be twenty percent higher than the co-op’s, and it will adjust according to the market rate."
When Captain Jin heard Lin Lan’s prices, he thought about the high yield of pumpkins and how they could be planted all over the mountainsides. If they could really be sold for cash, everyone could earn a lot more inco each year.
With the other prices also being twenty percent higher, he did a quick ntal calculation and was tempted. "We normally haul our goods to the Ping Mountain supply and marketing co-op. If we haul them to sell to you instead, will the joint defense team arrest us?"
Lin Lan smiled and shook her head. "The East Market has already been opened up. Everyone is allowed to bring their goods to the market to trade freely. It would be illegal for them to arrest you. If you don’t believe , ask Mr. Yao."
Yao Xiuyun smiled. "I guarantee no one will arrest you. If they try, just go to the Ping Mountain police station and find Gu Jianguo."
Captain Jin nodded. "We know Mr. Gu. He’s the young fellow who ca with you last ti."
He paused for a mont before looking at Lin Lan. "Mr. Lin, where would we find you in the East Market?"
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