Translator: Fan Translation Studio

  Proofread by Claire.KK

  “Ma, we’d better……talk about this next time around,” said Xiao Baoshan. He did not think it was the best time for this. At the moment, Ye Xiaoxian was planning to open up a restaurant and he had just promised Third Xing to work for him in the dock.

  It was alright for them to have a child, preferably a baby girl, but when the girl was born he could not let her experience what he had been through from his childhood; starving, living on other’s favor and living in a shabby house made of earth, and even their quilts were patched up several times without a single good one left. Still, he was supposed to think about this after they got a bigger house to live in.

  Li Hongmei did not know what Xiao Baoshan was thinking. She just thought he was a big fool, a very big and pedantic fool.

  She then scolded Xiao Baoshan. “If you are still that passive I promise you’ll regret in the future.”
……

  Ye Xiaoxian was still looking for things in the wood. She knew that the staff in the county would not allow them to find pumpkins and hyacinth beans so easily, so she kept looking for remote and hidden areas. She had searched every possible place where things could be hidden, such as in bushes, on branches or inside tree hollows.

  She thought that the people who had hidden it all were very cunning. If they were hired to make camouflage or shelters the enemy would never find them.

  Although Ye Xiaoxian had been searching in hidden areas for a long time she did not find anything.

  It was true that people were suffering from nutritional deficiencies and shortage of products at this time, so even if this activity was held by the county landlords they would not prepare too much. If everyone was allowed to find a lot of pumpkins and hyacinth beans once they came in, those landlords would surely be bankrupted.

  Ye Xiaoxian and Baozhu came in together but Xiao Baozhu was the first one to find anything. Baozhu spotted something strange on the top of a tree and she climbed it resolutely. As expected, she found a pumpkin hidden in the leaves.

  Luckily Xiao Baozhu knew how to climb a tree. If it had been Ye Xiaoxian she surely would not have been able to climb it.

  Ye Xiaoxian gave up her hunting in the wood and focused on looking for things in bushes. After a while Ye Xiaoxian suddenly found a spot of newly dug mud on the ground.

  ‘Have they hidden things in the ground?’


  She picked up a stick, began to dig the mud and after a while she found half basket of hyacinth beans.

  After she got the hyacinth beans she focused on digging in the mud. Wherever there was newly dug mud she would use a stick to dig it up and after a while she also found a pumpkin.

  After the activity was over Ye Xiaoxian had actually got two baskets of beans and three pumpkins. Xiao Baozhu, since she was able to climb a tree, also found one basket of beans and two pumpkins.

  Both of them carried their stuff and went out happily.

  Li Hongmei asked Ye Xiaoxian once they met, “How’s it going, little Ye? What was the first thing you found?”


  Ye Xiaoxian said, “Hyacinth beans.”


  “So it seems that you’ll have a baby girl first. Ha-ha a girl is not bad. Girls are sensible and she can help to babysit her young brothers and sisters in the future.”


  Ye Xiaoxian. “.……”


  Luckily Xiao Baoshan was not here with them.

  Ye Xiaoxian ran her eyes over the crowd, seeing Xiao Baoshan talking to some of the villagers who were all his team members from the tug of war contest this morning……

  At dusk, Ye Xiaoxian cooked a thick pumpkin soup, some fried pumpkin pancakes and a pot of pumpkin porridge together with a plate of fresh, jade green stir-fried hyacinth beans. The whole family enjoyed a delicious dinner.

  While eating, Li Hongmei discussed with others about going to see the opera in the county.

  She asked everyone, “Little Ye, Baoshan and the two little ones, the county landlords have invited an opera band to the performance tonight. It’s a rare opportunity. Do you want to go and have a look?”


  Xiao Baozhu said right away, “I’m going!”


  She was a big fan of opera, and besides, she had read a novel in which the hero and the heroine became acquainted while watching an opera. She was hoping that she could meet Scholar Wong during the opera that evening.

  Ye Xiaoxian was not interested at all.

  She had watched all kind of performances in the modern era including some concerts with tens of thousands fans, but the traditional Chinese opera was nothing but sleep music to her.

  Also, for that kind of opera in the county they did not even provide seats. All the villagers were crammed together and only people who managed to squeeze through to the front could have a chance to see the performance while others could only listen, which would be terribly boring.

  “Ma, I’ve been selling cold jelly and finding pumpkins all day and feel pretty tired, so I’ll just give the opera a miss. Off you go.”


  Xiao Baoshan did not take an interest either so he said to Li Hongmei, “I’m not going either. I’ll stay home and wash the dishes.”


  Xiao Baofeng said that Scholar Wong had homework for them and he was going to revise everything he’d learned, so he would not go either.

  Seeing this, Li Hongmei did not force them. She took a lantern and went with Xiao Baozhu.

  It was after dark, although they did not have to worry about the danger of walking at night as a lot of people in the village would go to watch the opera, and once they reached the lane outside of the yard they would meet other acquaintances.

  Li Hongmei shouted to her next-door neighbour, Mrs. Zhao, and after a short while Mrs. Zhao and her son went out together as well, and so together they went to the county joyfully……

  The day was getting dark. Xiao Baoshan was washing dishes and Xiao Baofeng was wiping the table while Ye Xiaoxian seemed to not have very much to do. She went back to her room and still had no idea what she should do next. Embroidery? She was an absolute blockhead at this and wasn’t into it either. Reading a novel?

  Forget about it. She had already outgrown those romantic novels in her previous life. She knew that in all ages those novels had always been the same clichés, neither realistic nor readable.

  What she empathized the most were some fictional tales of farming in which the heroines were great women, as they were diligent and steady, accumulating their wealth step by step and didn’t care if their husbands were willing to marry them or not so long as they were rich themselves.

  Ye Xiaoxian was daydreaming for a while then fetched some water and got ready to go to bed. However, lying in the bed, she could not fall asleep. She then thought why not go and sit in the courtyard.

  The day had been replaced by complete darkness. Ye Xiaoxian opened her door but found someone sitting outside. She only saw a dark silhouette and it took her several minutes to recognize Xiao Baoshan.

  “What are you doing here? Feeding mosquitoes?” asked Ye Xiaoxian.

  Although it was already after Liqiu, there were still mosquitoes in the south of China, especially when one was sitting in the courtyard alone.

  Xiao Baoshan simply said, “Baofeng was reciting texts inside so I just came and sat outside.”


  “You don’t want to disturb Baofeng, do you?” asked Ye Xiaoxian.

  It was so dark that she could not see Baoshan’s expression but she guessed that he had nodded.

  Xiao Baoshan then asked Ye Xiaoxian, “Aren’t you tired? Why haven’t you gone to bed?’


  Ye Xiaoxian said, “Ma isn’t at home and both aunties must have gone to the county too. It’s always noisy here but now, when it becomes quiet, I feels kind of lonely so I can’t sleep. If I’d known this I would’ve gone with them. I haven’t seen an opera in county before.”


  After Ye Xiaoxian finished talking Xiao Baoshan was silent for a short while but Ye Xiaoxian saw him immediately stand up. “I can accompany you to the county.”


  “You?” Ye Xiaoxian could not see his face but several scenes flashed through her mind. Walking with him in the dark, watching the opera with him and then walking back together. This was nothing but a date for modern couples. She even hoped that they wouldn’t come across Li Hongmei and others when they arrived at the county.