Bai Fumei in the 70’s

When Zhao Lanxiang took out the rice, He Songbai did not come over to eat immediately.

Instead, he squatted by the well to wash his face and wipe his sweat. The clear well water poured over his head. Coldwater ran down his forehead, all the way down to the collar of the undershirt beneath his neck. The wet clothes clung to his skin and outlined his lean upper body. His rough palms wiped his face. He shook his head, flinging a circle of water droplets about him, then walked back to the room silently.

The food seller put away his dumb expression, narrowed his eyes, and walked over to Zhao Lanxiang's side. He asked abruptly, "Why are you looking at my brother Bai?"

This sentence sounded like thunder to her ears and surprised Zhao Lanxiang, who had been watching people with intent.

She turned her head to see that it was the young man who had sold food on the black market previously.

Fortunately, the young man's focus was not on this. He said happily, "I didn't expect to meet you here. It turned out that you lived in brother Bai's house. It is really a coincidence. Hey! I've been to brother Bai's house, but I have never seen you before."

Zhao Lanxiang said, "I am an educated youth on the brigade. The dormitory collapsed a short while ago, and now I live in the He family for the time being."

The food seller looked at her.

"You made the mung bean cake that was sold this morning? I knew it as soon as I saw you... After all, since when did He Songbai have this kind of craftsmanship? I used to persuade him to come and work with me. He refused and looked down on bad speculators like us! You're quite capable, and we can support my brother. I'm willing to help you sell things."

Zhao Lanxiang was a little surprised. When this young man mentioned He Songbai, he always said, "Brother Bai." His tone was natural and respectful, unlike the villagers in the village, who were scornful whenever they mentioned him.

It made Zhao Lanxiang have a good impression of this food-selling young man.

"The customers who bought duck meat from you last time come to my food stall every day to ask for your news. People have their necks craned waiting for you, this entire time, and you only gave vague words before; when will you sell it again? Er- take another jar for sale? I really saw a ghost last time. Was it really that delicious?"

Zhao Lanxiang laughed involuntarily. She had no long-term plan to make duck meat. "No, I will sell something else next time."

It's not that she didn't want to make money, but that when she sold duck meat last time, she hadn't paid attention and accidentally exposed her face. For personal safety, she will not make duck meat again shortly.

Besides, buying duck meat was not easy. Others would only buy one or two ducks at a time and would be satisfied, but she had bought a dozen pounds in one go. It was hard not to be eye-catching. Together with queuing in the marketing cooperative, which was also a problem. It depends on your luck whether or not you would be able to buy it. In this era with this kind of economy, where would there be so much meat for everyone to eat?

In summary, selling duck meat as a business would not be easy to accomplish, so Zhao Lanxiang decided not to make duck meat anytime soon.

Zhao Lanxiang smiled and asked, "Have you eaten yet?"

She led the food seller to the kitchen. The young man stared at the savory braised pork in the pot and swallowed. "You are pretty good, no wonder the duck meat sold out so fast that day. Can I have a bowl of rice?"

The seller of food was very conscious. Even if he and He Songbai call each other brothers, he had never thought of freeloading a meal. Before coming to the He family, he had already prepared himself to eat bran and wild vegetables, but he did not expect such a surprise! The life of the He family has become better, and the food has completely changed; they could eat meat wealthily!

This kind of fried rice with meat and vegetables was already a luxury meal in the eyes of this food seller.

Zhao Lanxiang filled another bowl for the food vendor. Fortunately, the people of this home were the kings of giant stomachs. So whenever she cooks, she makes large portions. Otherwise, when one or two people come home, they would have to share a cup of soup.

The food seller said, "Brother Bai and I hurried all the way back, and he didn't eat anything. You can give me the food, and I will bring it to him."

Zhao Lanxiang said with a smile, "Okay."

The young man scratched his head and said, "Actually... My name is Liang Tiezhu. You can just call me Tiezhu."

Tiezhu held a bowl of rice in one hand and went to He Songbai's room. He used to be a loafer in the Green Valley brigade and owed a debt. His family was not as well off as the He family.

A few years ago, he was beaten by a group of gangsters and was almost killed. However, He Songbai had saved him. As if he had fallen from the sky, He Songbai arrived and beat everyone who bullied Tiezhu with his bare hands. The gangsters were pulverized into tears and begged for mercy. Tiezhu's heart had been shocked, and he was so grateful that he just cried aloud while clinging to He Songbai's thigh.1

The friendship of men was built through fighting. Whoever had the hardest fist was the boss.

From that day, this rascal who was beaten like a weak chicken, regarded He Songbai as his elder brother.

When Tiezhu brought the rice to He Songbai's room, He Songbai was changing clothes. His only decent outfit was dirty and torn.

He Songbai had only ridden a bike twice, once with the supervision of his brothers just to have the experience. The second time was this morning. With such poor cycling practice, how could he know how to control this "foreign vehicle"? However, in front of Zhao Lanxiang, he wouldn't show his weakness, so he had rode head-on daringly.3

Unexpectedly, he hadn't even reached the main road when a small turn made He Songbai lose balance and fall. He tightly guarded the delicate mung bean in his arms, and so it didn't get bruised at all. However, he sustained scrapes that had ripped off patches of skin all over his body, blood spilling everywhere.7

He Songbai was just thankful that he didn't ruin someone else's golden bike. This type of surface flesh wound was not a problem for a man. He had chewed up some smelly grass from the roadside and applied it to his wound before continuing to the market.

Tiezhu happily held the rice bowls and shouted, "Brother Bai, come have dinner. There is some fat pork. It's so fragrant!"

He saw the broken skin on He Songbai's legs, and he was astonished and ashamed. "What's going on here? You were riding like that all the way back, did it hurt?"

Seeing those bloody legs, Tiezhu admired He Songbai in his heart. Although he was with him when he was selling food, he had not noticed anything wrong.

He Songbai sold things while bleeding and endured riding a bicycle all the way back, without saying a word. He was a man as strong as steel.

But Tiezhu couldn't help but sigh, and said a little angrily, "If I had known, I would have taken you back. You still treat your brother as an outsider!"

Tiezhu's income had doubled because of his early black market deals. Not only did he become the first cyclist in his village, but he also bought his mother another "luxury" which was a sewing machine. She was now doing some seam work repair for the village. His elder sister was also learning to make clothes. He admired He Songbai's ability to ignore people, especially those who looked down on him because of his family's past.

He Songbai ignored him and continued to apply stinky grass on his wound, finally cutting a tattered cloth to wrap his legs.

Stinky grass was a kind of folk medicine to cure all kinds of diseases. It could be used for fever and cold. It could be used for falls and injuries, for nosebleeds and constipation, even for roundworms in the stomach. It grows everywhere, it's cheap, and easy to use. It was He Songbai's most loyal "doctor".

He Songbai raised his eyes, looking at the bowl of rice held in Tiezhu's hands.

He saw at a glance that Tiezhu brought the food from the woman. He Songbai didn't like to always freeload meals off the woman, but today he shed so much blood for her. It was not bad to eat her food a few times.

He Songbai took his chopsticks, moved his legs to the side, and ate quietly.

The food was very fragrant. He knew that the woman's craftsmanship was very good. Food that is generous in oil and salt are always delicious!12

Tiezhu ate a mouthful of this fragrant delicacy. He looked enviously at the slice of braised pork lying on the rice in He Songbai's bowl. It looked like he had more meat in his bowl than he had.

Tiezhu picked up the meat and ate slowly, contentedly, and cheerfully.

He squeezed his eyebrows at Song Bai, "It's delicious. Brother Bai, you say... Is that girl interested in you?"