Chapter 5 - 005 Yuequan Village

Tian Manjin laughed heartily as his daughter showed concern for him, while Zhu Aiqing fiercely glared at her husband and then stared at Tian Sisi, her eyes filled with the message "I'll deal with you tonight". Tian Sisi wasn't scared at all, guessing that Zhu Aiqing's anger might subside by the evening, and if not, she could always stall by staying up late at Mr. Tian's place. After smoking a cigarette, Tian Manjin got up and headed to his uncle's home, feeling it was high time to sort out his daughter's matters early to prevent any upset from her. Mr. Tian didn't like smoking cigarettes; he smoked a water pipe with tobacco grown from their own fields. It required quite an effort to take a puff, producing a "gurgling" sound as he smoked. Tian Sisi, trying to curry favor with her grandfather, diligently packed the tobacco and filled the pipe with fresh water, busily running around. Having finished smoking a pipe, Mr. Tian sent Tian Sisi out to play, saying, "Off you go, you're making my head spin. Go out and play." Granny Zhao had just washed her hands and brought out a large basin with mostly sticky rice flour mixed with some regular rice flour. Pure sticky rice flour was too soft; the added regular flour made the rice balls chewy—a favorite texture for the Tian Family, be it in rice cakes or rice balls. Granny Zhao poured hot water into the basin. Seeing Mr. Tian putting on a look of disdain despite obviously enjoying it, she scolded laughingly: "Old man being capricious. Ah Nan, go play outside, don't mind your grandpa. It's pitiful; he's been bedridden for so long, let him get some fresh air." Tian Sisi had intended to help Granny Zhao make rice balls, but the grandmother, doting on her granddaughter, shooed her out of the house with hands covered in rice flour, telling her to take her younger brothers out to play. Zhu Aiqing, following behind Tian Sisi, warned, "Ah Nan, don't run off to the river again." "Oh, got it." Tian Sisi put on her rain boots, pulling her two brothers along, and dashed outside. She was eager to see what Yuequan Village from the 1970s looked like and if it was truly as beautiful as her mother described, with lush mountains and charming waters. Outside, the sun was already high in the sky, the accumulated snow on the roof, road, and trees quietly melting into droplets. The roof was adorned with clear, sparkling icicles of varying lengths, the longest stretching a foot, casting a spectrum of colors in the sunshine. Encountering these long-missed icicles, Tian Sisi joyfully ran to the woodshed, removed her gloves, and broke off an icicle, crunching it in her mouth, relentlessly hissing as the cold numbed her lips, yet unable to resist biting into it. Donghua and Qinghua had also snapped off a couple of icicles and couldn't stop biting into them, their breaths visibly frosty, unbothered by the cold. Tian Sisi, having only had a few bites, threw her icicle away, wary that her body, having just recovered from a severe illness, shouldn't risk ending up in bed again. Seeing Donghua and Qinghua reaching for more, she quickly stopped them, reminding that children have delicate stomachs and shouldn't eat too much ice, especially in such severe winter. Tian Sisi surveyed her family's house—an ordinary farmhouse with five rooms spread over two wooden floors, with yards at both the front and the back. The backyard housed pigs, chickens, and ducks, while the considerably larger front yard included a large threshing area and two small vegetable patches filled with cabbage and Swiss chard. From what she could see, her family's house was quite decent, at least it was a two-story building! "Sister, are we still going to play?" Qinghua, seeing his sister standing motionlessly, urged her on. "Sure, where do you guys want to go?" Tian Sisi asked for her brothers' input. "Let's go to the old camphor tree in Zhongjia Bay and play in the snow," suggested Qinghua excitedly, delighted that his sister was willing to take them out to play today. Both younger brothers were willing to go snow-blasting, so Tian Sisi went along with them. The Tian Family lived on the westernmost side of Yuequan Village, backed by Yuequan Mountain, in a detached courtyard unconnected to other homes in the village. Zhongjia Bay was situated on the eastern end of the village, with Crying Girl River lying directly between the east and west ends. Qinghua and Donghua happily led the way at the front while Tian Sisi ran to keep up, splashing mud around, some of which even stained her trousers. Tian Sisi frowned, grabbing Donghua and Qinghua, who had even more splatter on their trousers. The boys refused to walk slowly; if they were too late, they wouldn't get a good spot. Tian Sisi threatened them, "If you dirty your trousers, wait and see how Daddy will beat you when we get home!" Tian Manjin was only affectionate towards his daughter; he was always stern with his sons. Thus, in Donghua's and his brother's eyes, their father was far more terrifying than Mama. Immediately, they slowed down and carefully avoided the deep, muddy areas. After walking a short distance, they reached the field. The houses, of varying heights and scattered about, were mostly single-story, with very few two-story buildings and many still thatched-roof cottages. Compared to their own house, it was like comparing a European villa to a rural thatched cottage. Tian Sisi's second uncle also lived here, right by the roadside. Although it was a bungalow, the courtyard looked notably more distinguished. The field was primarily inhabited by the Tian surname families, apart from a few other surnames. Families with the Tian surname were poor in the old society, working as long-term laborers for the Zhong family across the river. Thus, the field was largely filled with crumbling walls and dilapidated courtyards. Although it had been more than twenty years since the new society emerged, the average villager couldn't even dream of building a new house. A creek, as thin as a rope, emerged from Moon Spring on Yuequan Mountain and gathered into a river, the Crying Girl River, five or six meters wide, at the field. Originally named Yuequan River, it was renamed after over a decade of incidents where children from Yuequan Village drowned in the river. Grieving parents would weep by the riverside on the anniversaries of their deaths, heartbreaking to hear, thus giving rise to the name Crying Girl River. There was a stone bridge over Crying Girl River, quite old, said to have been built during the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty by several landlords from Zhongjia Bay. It still stood solidly, though Tian Sisi knew that in the flood of 1998, the bridge would collapse, a fact her mother had lamented for a while. Crossing the stone bridge led to a vast area of Zhongjia Bay. Unlike the uneven terrain of the field, Zhongjia Bay was all flat, close-knit, like the plains of the north. Here, mostly families with the Zhong surname lived, along with a few other surnames. Houses huddled close together, mostly two-story buildings, and dozens of families connected in a large circle, surrounding a big courtyard in the middle. The largest courtyard belonged to landlord Zhong Yubai, who wasn't just the biggest landlord in Yuequan Village but was also well-known in Sui City. Logically, a prominent landlord like him would have been executed, but Zhong Yubai was a decent man who had treated his laborers kindly, unlike other cruel landlords. Additionally, he was skilled in medicine, saving many lives in the village. Although he was categorized as a landlord, only his land and properties were confiscated; when the Rebel Faction came to the village, they only symbolically criticized him, sparing him severe hardships. Before liberation, the Zhong family had dominated Yuequan Village, owning most of the land and everything on it. During the land reform, there were two landlord and three well-off farmer families in Zhongjia Bay, along with five or six middle farmer families; most others were still poor or low middle farmers. Then, a girl in an old floral-padded jacket with two braids tied with red flowers, just like the ones Tian Sisi wore, approached from the opposite side. Although her face was red and chapped from the cold, it didn't detract from her beauty. She represented a different type of beauty from Tian Sisi, who had a vibrant, mainstream charm, while this girl had the much sought-after "cone face" in later generations, which was deemed a "mean look" and unpopular, especially among the elderly. It seemed the girl was heading to the river to wash clothes; her hands swollen like bread from holding the basin, the cracked skin exposing raw, red flesh, a pitiful sight. Noticing the brand-new ski jacket on Tian Sisi and her pretty red rain boots, a hint of jealousy flickered in her eyes. Though she hid it well, she couldn't fool Tian Sisi, who possessed the soul of an adult. The girl greeted Tian Sisi warmly, "Zhaodi, you're feeling better? Why haven't you come to play with me?"