Chapter 21: Chapter 21: Eldest Uncle, Wild Chickens and Hares

Over at the Xu family, Liu Guifang was making a scene at home, pestering everyone to go ask Gu Qinghuan for more grain. Xu Mingshan stepped in to put an end to the commotion.

He was a man who cared about his reputation. Since the grain had already been given away, it should be done in a dignified and generous manner, preserving a bit of face and goodwill. If they kept making a fuss after giving it away, wouldn’t that just be slapping themselves in the face?

Although Liu Guifang was fierce, she didn’t dare go against Xu Mingshan’s decision and could only accept her bad luck. In the end, no one believed her story about the grain being stolen; everyone just thought she was making trouble for no reason. But the Xu family wasn’t really short on grain anyway.

Gu Qinghuan only managed to rest for a while—the kang bed was too hard, and she couldn’t get comfortable. She got up and started sorting through the belongings left by her predecessor.

All the food in the house was now stored in her room, piled up in bags big and small. Without a cabinet, it was really inconvenient. There was a carpenter in the village, wasn’t there? He should be able to make some cabinets. She’d have to go order a few tomorrow.

The bedding and sheets from her predecessor’s luggage had already been given to the east room, leaving only some odds and ends: a battered army canteen, a toothbrush, a cup, a few patched-up old clothes, a pencil, and a notebook.

Seeing the army canteen suddenly triggered some memories from her predecessor’s life. Gu Qinghuan had an uncle—her mother’s older brother—who was also a soldier. This canteen was a gift from her uncle, Zhong Ziyan, who had doted on her and her brother, giving them whatever they wanted.

Unfortunately, because of some trouble at home, her uncle and his wife were implicated and sent down to the remote northwest to reclaim wasteland. That place was plagued by sandstorms and couldn’t grow any crops. She couldn’t imagine how they were surviving out there.

Luckily, their only daughter had already married by then, so she escaped that fate. Her maternal grandparents, her mother, and herself could still look after each other, but her uncle’s family must have had it ten times harder. She had to find a way to send them some supplies.

Winter was coming, and food and warm clothing were both necessities. Food was easy—she could buy it from the vending machine—but as for warm clothes, she couldn’t just buy new ones and send them over. As “rightists” who’d been sent down, they couldn’t wear clean, comfortable new cotton-padded jackets.

Thinking of this, Gu Qinghuan decided to make two “patched cotton jackets” herself and send them off with the food when she went to pick someone up tomorrow.

She opened the vending machine and bought two military coats, one for men and one for women. In these times, nothing was warmer than a military coat—it could be used as both clothing and bedding.

She’d almost forgotten: there was a big item in her villa’s storage—a sewing machine her grandmother had brought as part of her dowry. Her grandmother used to say that when she was young, she’d supported the whole family by pedaling that sewing machine. After her grandmother passed away, Gu Qinghuan had kept the sewing machine as a memento. Now it was finally coming in handy—no need to buy a new one.

She hauled out the old machine and got to work. She took apart all her predecessor’s old clothes, pieced them together into a patchwork cover, and sewed it onto the outside of the military coats. She didn’t sew it on permanently, so the patchwork could be removed and washed—convenient and clean.

After finishing the two “patched cotton jackets,” the two kids woke up. Gu Qinghuan gave them a few instructions, left a handful of White Rabbit candies, grabbed her axe and canteen, and hurried off to the mountains to chop firewood.

On her way up the mountain, she ran into a few people from the educated youth compound gathering branches halfway up. They ignored her, which suited her just fine—she went on her way.

In the afternoon, she took a different route, heading deeper into the mountains as usual. The scenery along the way was different again. She even ran into a snake out foraging, which scared her so much she ducked into her space and only came out once it was gone.

After that, her luck seemed to turn. She came across two wild chestnut trees and a whole grove of persimmon trees. The chestnut burrs hung thick on the branches, and the persimmons were ripe, with many fallen on the ground and birds pecking away at the ones still on the trees.

She couldn’t pass up such a good find, but picking them one by one would take forever. Children make choices; adults take it all.

Gu Qinghuan tried touching the trunk and silently willed it into her space. In an instant, the whole tree vanished, leaving only a deep hole in the ground. She did the same with the other chestnut tree and the entire grove of heart-shaped persimmon trees, transplanting them all into her space. After giving them a splash of spring water, they were settled in.

Having finished her “dirty work,” Gu Qinghuan moved on and found a thicket full of dead branches. She started hacking away, chopping up more firewood than she had that morning—probably enough for seven or eight bundles. Too tired to tie them up, she plopped down on the ground to catch her breath. This kind of work was really exhausting.

She took out her army canteen and gulped down a big mouthful of spring water, finally feeling a bit better.

Gu Qinghuan thought that after such a hard day, she deserved a good meal tonight. Just then, she heard a strange sound. Looking down, she saw a gray rabbit practically throwing itself at her, bumping right into her axe and instantly spraying blood everywhere.

“Waiting by a tree for a rabbit”—the ancients weren’t lying!

Was she really this lucky?

Gu Qinghuan raised her axe and finished off the gray rabbit, which finally stopped moving. She tossed it into her space, delighted—she’d have rabbit meat for dinner! Now, what should she make? Spicy diced rabbit? Cold rabbit? Double chili rabbit? Braised rabbit?

Just then, two wild pheasants flew over to where she’d just been sitting, pecking at the ground as if drawn by something. Gu Qinghuan realized she’d spilled some spring water there when she drank earlier.

She strode over boldly. The pheasants, as if mesmerized, didn’t react at all. She grabbed one in each hand, tied them up, and tossed them into her space.

Was this stuff really so attractive to animals?

Thinking of the snake she’d seen earlier—and maybe wild boars with tusks—Gu Qinghuan shivered. She hurriedly bundled up the firewood, tossed it into her space, and made her way back down the mountain.

Not long after she left, a leopard came sniffing around but found nothing and eventually left empty-handed.

As she neared the halfway point down the mountain, Gu Qinghuan took out a bundle of firewood and slung it over her shoulder to avoid suspicion, struggling her way home. It was hard enough just walking in these mountains, let alone carrying firewood. She had to stop and rest every few steps.

Along the way, she ran into the group from the educated youth compound, still gathering firewood. Their efficiency was low, with most people just going through the motions. As the saying goes, “One monk carries water, two monks shoulder it, three monks have nothing to drink.” There wasn’t much firewood left on the mountainside, and with most people slacking off, they’d only managed to gather two bundles after all that time. All of them together hadn’t collected as much as Gu Qinghuan had on her own.

Gu Qinghuan continued down the mountain with her firewood.

Suddenly, someone called out, “Comrade Gu, hello! Could I borrow your axe for a bit?”

It was Lin Shengnan, the female educated youth who’d helped deliver grain yesterday."