Chapter 72: Chapter 72: Zhong Ziyan and Bai Jie

“Having a meal?” A deep, hearty man’s voice came from the doorway as the tattered burlap sack hanging over the entrance to the cave dwelling was lifted aside.

“Secretary Li, you’re here?” Zhong Ziyan hurriedly put down the steamed bun in his hand and stood up.

Li Dacheng walked in, carrying a large bundle.

“I went to the commune post office today and saw a package for you, so I brought it back.”

Zhong Ziyan didn’t have time to wonder who had sent the package and quickly thanked him, “Thank you for the trouble.”

Li Dacheng was an honest, unpretentious man. He wasn’t old, but his face was already weathered by the elements.

“No need to thank me, it was on my way.” Li Dacheng set down the bundle, dusted off his hands, and was about to leave.

Zhong Ziyan wanted to invite him to stay for a meal, but he was too embarrassed—there were only two coarse wheat buns left at home. He could only awkwardly see him out.

“Who sent this? Last time Ning Ning wrote, she didn’t mention sending anything,” Bai Jie asked curiously, eyeing the large package on the ground.

Who could have sent such a big parcel?

“It can only be one of a few people. Who else would send us something these days?” Zhong Ziyan squatted down, picked up the package, and examined it carefully.

“It’s… from Qinghuan?” Zhong Ziyan was a little surprised as he read the label. He had thought it might be from his daughter or perhaps his wife’s family, but he hadn’t expected it to be from his niece.

In the past five years, his niece had rarely even written, let alone sent anything. This was truly unexpected.

Of course, he didn’t blame her. On the contrary, he was grateful to the girl.

He knew she was having a tough time herself, especially after being sent down to the countryside. She could barely make ends meet, and still had to take care of her parents and her mother.

Eagerly, he opened the package to see what she had sent.

A pungent, foul smell wafted out, making both of them quickly cover their noses.

Enduring the stench, Zhong Ziyan pulled out a smaller bundle. When he opened it, he found two tattered cotton jackets inside. They felt soft to the touch.

Judging by their length… Zhong Ziyan suspected they were repurposed army coats, though he couldn’t imagine why they smelled so bad.

Sure enough, Bai Jie turned the jackets over and found an opening inside. She was able to peel off the ragged outer layer, revealing two brand new army coats underneath.

These were long enough not only to keep out the cold, but also to double as quilts in winter.

Bai Jie touched the jackets, feeling something odd. She checked them again and found some bulging spots in the corners.

She fetched a knife and carefully cut one open—inside was a five-yuan bill.

She repeated the process, finding ten such bulges in the two jackets, for a total of fifty yuan.

The two of them stared at the army coats and the fifty yuan on the kang bed, dumbfounded.

Had the girl struck it rich? Why would she suddenly send so many valuable things?

Zhong Ziyan couldn’t shake a sense of unease.

“Ahem, isn’t there more in the package? See if there’s a letter,” Bai Jie said calmly.

“Oh, right, I almost forgot.”

Zhong Ziyan rummaged through the package and pulled out two more bags—ten jin of black flour, ten jin of cornmeal, and a bundle of black “sticks.”

Finally, at the very bottom, he found a letter.

He opened it and read, a knowing smile spreading across his face.

Bai Jie thought there must be good news in the letter and quickly snatched it: “What did Huanhuan write? Let me see.”

She read it and was instantly confused.

What did this mean?

“If you can help exchange for refined grain, please reply to my letter.

Even numbers.”

“Huanhuan wants you to use these things to trade for refined grain and send it to her?” Bai Jie guessed.

Zhong Ziyan shook his head, intrigued. “No, this is a code I taught her when she was little. I didn’t expect she’d actually use it after all these years. Look, it says ‘even numbers’ at the end. It means you only read the even-numbered words. So the letter actually says: ‘If you can receive the grain, reply.’ Even if someone else got this letter, they probably wouldn’t understand her meaning. Huanhuan must have her concerns, so she wrote this as a test. As for the stench on the jackets, I bet she did that on purpose too, to make sure the package would reach us safely.”

“Huanhuan is so thoughtful. But… can we really accept all this?” Bai Jie was uneasy. She knew her husband was proud and wouldn’t want to rely on his niece for help.

She touched the brand new army coats on the kang. With these, this winter wouldn’t be so hard.

Their old cotton jackets and quilts had long since lost their warmth. Every winter, the two of them had to wear all their clothes and still shivered, huddling on the kang to save food and firewood.

Here, even water was a luxury, and firewood was hard to come by. They had to rely on the straw distributed by the production team, which was barely enough for cooking, let alone heating the kang.

After a moment’s thought, Zhong Ziyan gritted his teeth. “We’ll accept it!”

When you’re on the brink of death, dignity doesn’t matter.

He owed his niece a debt of gratitude, but he could always find a way to repay her in the future. If his wife didn’t have these supplies, she might not survive the winter.

With this food and money, they could get by for a while, and maybe even treat her cough.

“There’s also twenty jin of grain and these black sticks. I think they’re edible.” As he spoke, Zhong Ziyan took a bite, nearly breaking his teeth.

“So hard?”

Unconvinced, he tried scraping off a layer of flour. A rich wheat aroma filled his mouth.

It seemed to be some kind of dried food made from grain.

“This actually tastes pretty good—much better than those coarse wheat buns. You eat it.” Zhong Ziyan packed everything away.

“Ziyan, why do you think Huanhuan suddenly sent so much? She thought of food, clothes, even money. And from her letter, it sounds like she plans to keep sending things?”

After all, she’d never sent anything before, so this sudden generosity was suspicious.

Zhong Ziyan was puzzled too.

“I’ll write her a letter later and ask the Party Secretary to mail it for us when he goes to the commune tomorrow.”

The two of them put everything away, disguising the army coats with their tattered covers and leaving them on the kang, where they wouldn’t attract attention.

“Huanhuan is such a good girl. All the love I gave her back then was worth it,” Zhong Ziyan said with emotion.

“Ahem, yes. I just wonder how they’re doing now. And Ning Ning and little Youran—do you think Xu Jianguo is making things hard for them? Ning Ning hasn’t written in a long time.”

Mentioning their daughter, Zhong Ziyan sighed. “No matter how heartless Xu Jianguo is, he wouldn’t harm them. Even a tiger won’t eat its own cubs. Youran is his own daughter, after all.”

“Ahem, after Ning Ning gave birth to Youran, her health was ruined and she couldn’t have more children. Xu Jianguo never said it, but I know he wants a son to carry on the family line. Before, he put up with it for the sake of the Zhong family and us, but now that we’re like this, I’m afraid…” Bai Jie trailed off, but Zhong Ziyan understood.

As a father, he couldn’t help his daughter. As a husband, he couldn’t save his wife. Sometimes, he thought it would be better to just die.

“Sigh!”"