Bai Fumei in the 70’s

The air was full of freshness after the rain, but He Songbai only smelled all the sweetness of the light and sweet gardenia scent wrapped him tightly and the unbelievably soft touch came from her thin clothes.

He Songbai suddenly feels his throat is itchy.

He coughed, "You don't have to hold so tight."

"It's stable."

Zhao Lanxiang couldn't help but laugh.

"Are you shy?"

Zhao Lanxiang's hand around the man's waist is holding a flashlight, illuminating the dark mountain road.

The road was silent, and the muddy mountain road left deep ruts.

...

Before dawn, the two arrived home smoothly and safely.

He Songbai parked the car in the cow shed and took the pork hanging on the bicycle. He suddenly asked, "Did Tiezhu call you today?"

Zhao Lanxiang shook her head and said vaguely, "I found you myself."

Although she found it with some means and ordinary people would not be as "diligent and observant" as her, but she hoped that He Songbai would be more careful in the future, so she deliberately concealed the details of how she tracked him.

The relaxed look on He Songbai's face was swept away and suddenly became solemn.

He said after a long while, "I know, go back to bed."

Zhao Lanxiang nodded.

At this time, there was a little noise in the bullpen, and He Songbai suddenly said, "Wait, go wake the elder sister."

As he said that, he rolled up his sleeves and walked into the bullpen.

Zhao Lanxiang suddenly remembered that Sister He said yesterday that the cow would deliver a baby, but she didn't expect the amniotic fluid would break so soon. She went to the kitchen to put the pork away before waking up Sister He.

Sister He quickly got up and came to the cow shed to take a look, "First baby, the production is difficult, it takes a long time."

She suddenly looked at her younger brother in the bullpen, and this educated youth Zhao. Her thin brows frowned, as if thinking about how the two were both awakened at the same time.

He Songbai coughed and turned back to his room to sleep.

Zhao Lanxiang quickly said, "It was very noisy just now and I slept lightly. When I woke up, I came to find the elder sister."

She followed Sister He for a while, only to see the elder sister put the chopped forage into the trough and mixed with corn feed to feed the cows.

Sister He glanced at the dark black sky, "You sleep, look again when you wake up."

Zhao Lanxiang squatted for a long time without seeing the birth of the calf, and her enthusiasm that just started soon dissipated. The sleepiness caused by not getting enough sleep started, and she yawned and quickly went back to the room to sleep.

When Zhao Lanxiang woke up again, the sun was already high. She immediately ran to the cow shed after washing, but the cow has finished. At the moment, she was licking her wet child tenderly.

A middle-aged man is packing up the mess. He has a serious and straight face, and a thick and stiff thumb joint, and is meticulously packing up the afterbirth of the cow that has fallen off.

He said, "Sister Ye, I will take it back and cook it for you."

The placenta of cattle is no different from beef, and it looks very precious in this bitter year of meat shortage. Especially now that the country prohibits slaughtering of cattle, there is almost no beef on the market, and the taste of beef is even more rare.18

Sister He shakes her head, "You take it back."

Uncle De suddenly noticed a stranger coming, he gave Zhao Lanxiang a vigilant look.

Because Sister He can't speak, she did not introduce the two to each other.

Sister He pulled the sleeve of Uncle De, "She is not a bad person."

Zhao Lanxiang had no choice but to say, "I am an educated youth living in the He family, surnamed Zhao."

Uncle De responded with a grimace, and he said to Sister He, "I'll greet my old madam."

Sister He nodded.

Uncle De walked to the door of Grandma Li's room and didn't enter. Instead, he bowed a few heads respectfully.

Sanya opened the door and walked out. The man who kowtowed at the door was startled.

Grandma sat on a high stool and turned her head to glance. She lowered her face and was very angry: "Knocking what head."

"Still so old-fashioned, don't you think my life is not hard enough?"

Uncle De wiped his sweat and said, "It's fine if madam is happy, I won't bow."

He stood up, took out the rice and pork in his cloth bag, and quickly went into the kitchen to make a good lunch for his madam who he had "served" for a lifetime. But soon he found a few skewers of pork lying on the table, and saw a shallow layer of rice in the rice jar. He looked around a few times.

A bag full of white flour, rich and high gluten flour, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar are everywhere. The hut which is usually so poor that the mice refuse to patronize, at the moment, there is a feeling of "the sparrow is small but he is full of guts".1

[T/N: It's an idiom which means the size of thing is small, but it has complete content.]

Uncle De's eyes are undoubtedly full of shock.

He remembered the educated youth who lived in the He family's house. He quickly put away his shock, washed the rice in a muffled sound, and picked a handful of sweet potato leaves from his own reserve. He fried a plate of pork slices and a plate of green vegetables. After the hot rice was ready, he yelled at everyone to eat.

At noon on this day, Zhao Lanxiang was rarely "laid off", she glanced at the Uncle De and found that his attitude towards the He family was very respectful. He didn't eat after the meal was prepared, and just watched them eat.

She ate a piece of pork, and the taste was unsatisfactory. It felt hard in her mouth. It was not like the freshly slaughtered pork brought back by He Songbai. The pork that she could not finished yesterday was already cured and made into braised meat. The pork in the plate must have been brought by this middle-aged man.

But Zhao Lanxiang looked at him. He is also wearing shabby patched clothes, so he is very poor, and the situation at home was not very good.

He Songbai said, "Let's eat, there is no shortage of this meal. When you are full, you will bring a piece of pork back."

Uncle De excitedly hummed, and gouging away the rice.

After lunch, Uncle De took the initiative to do farm work. After finishing his work, he wiped the sweat between his foreheads, and he walked to Grandma Li's room.

The tall and honest man bowed his head and said, "Madam, I came here for the fourth girl of my family."

"I brought her here to greet madam a few years ago. Does madam still remember her? Although she is not clever, she follows me, but her strength also follows me. She's diligent and honest. My wife loves her most. She is provided with delicious food and drinks at home. She is chubby and good at health. She is almost at that age this year..."

"If Brother Bai can see Si Ya, I will send her to madam at the end of the year.1

Grandma Li has been silent for a long time.

She said, "Where is there anyone who asks a wife without a bridal gift, what are you doing?"

Uncle De's head was lower, and he said, "Si Ya has three older brothers. I didn't want to raise another girl, but I kept her. She was raised for Brother Bai."8

Uncle De was originally a long-time worker of the He family, who raised cattle and horses for the He family, and was loyal and honest. When he was a child, he almost starved to death because of famine. He was fed by a few bags of millet from Grandma Li and brought home to became a worker in the He family.

Grandma Li sighed and said, "You are just a dead brain."1

"There is no such thing as a madam in the current society. You are a free person, living for yourself. Don't come to the He family's house again..."