Liu Fen was clearly distracted, lost in her own thoughts. She didn’t even greet her sister-in-law when she arrived.

If it weren’t for the strip of gauze still stuck to Xia Xiaolan’s forehead, Li Fengmei might have thought it was her sister-in-law Liu Fen who had smashed her head against a pillar.

She looked utterly dazed, slow to react. Pushing aside the questions swirling in her mind, Li Fengmei hurriedly laid her son on the bed and went to help Liu Yong move their things.

Under his breath, Liu Yong cursed the Xia family for being a pack of heartless bastards, then briefly recounted what had happened. How the three of them had tried to leave, only to run into Xia Dajun and his two brothers on the way back, and how they had barely fought their way out of Dahe Village.

“Make up the bed in the west room.” Liu Yong said.

“Let Xiaolan and her mother stay there.”

What he meant was clear. Xia Xiaolan and Liu Fen would stay here from now on. There was no need for them to return to the Xia household and suffer more humiliation.

He didn’t say how long they could stay. Xia Xiaolan, well-versed in the unspoken rules of human relationships, immediately reassured Li Fengmei.

“I’m planning to do a little business.” she said.

“I want to save some money and move to the county town. There are more opportunities in Anqing County, and it’ll keep people here from gossiping.”

She had no intention of living at her uncle’s house forever.

Her uncle was genuinely willing to take them in, and her aunt didn’t seem petty... but Xia Xiaolan knew better. Even the closest relatives could grow resentful if people stayed too long. Since this was only a temporary stop, there was no harm in explaining things clearly to put her aunt at ease.

Liu Yong understood the implication in her words.

He didn’t object, though privately he thought Xia Xiaolan was being overly optimistic. Young people were always like this fearless, believing the world was simpler than it really was.

Yes, some people had made money doing business in recent years, but could Xia Xiaolan really endure the hardship?

Under the lamplight, Xia Xiaolan noticed her aunt’s smile had become noticeably warmer.

“You silly girl.” Li Fengmei said generously.

“We’re family, there’s no need to be so formal. Since your uncle said you can stay, then stay and rest easy.”

Her magnanimity wasn’t without reason. In the past few months, Liu Yong had been earning fairly well. Adding two more mouths to feed for a while wouldn’t break them.

Li Fengmei quickly tidied up the room. People weren’t particular back then, a bed made of straw with a mat on top is already good, it was still far better than the dilapidated shack the Xia family lived in.

Since being thrown out of the Xia house the day before, Xia Xiaolan and her mother had been running around nonstop. They were truly exhausted. After washing up, mother and daughter lay down. Xia Xiaolan patted Liu Fen’s hand.

“Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll make sure we live well. Both of us. Even if we’re not steaming buns, we’ll still fight for our pride! Live a vivid, satisfying life and show everyone.”

After a long pause, when Xia Xiaolan thought her mother had fallen asleep, Liu Fen finally replied softly.

“Mom only wants you to live well, Xiaolan. Don’t blame me too much… Mom made you suffer.”

Xia Xiaolan comforted her with a few gentle words, but she knew promises meant little without results. She was too tired and mid-sentence, she drifted off to sleep.

---

She woke the next morning to the smell of food.

Liu Fen had already been up for a while and had taken over the kitchen chores on her own initiative. Her little cousin Taotao was in high spirits, circling around her like a puppy.

Liu Fen pulled a steamed bun from the bamboo basket and handed it to him. It was scalding hot, making Taotao bare his teeth in pain, but he still refused to spit it out, mumbling flattery through a full mouth.

“Auntie's buns are way better than my mom!”

Anqing County lay on the boundary between north and south. In later years, it would be the awkward kind of place, freezing in winter, yet without heating. Its food culture was a mix of both regions.

For days now, the Liu family had been eating sweet potato porridge with plain white steamed buns.

Xia Xiaolan opened her suitcase to find something to wear, and discovered a pleasant surprise. Wrapped in a handkerchief was a small stack of bills, totaling eighteen yuan and thirty cents. It was the original Xia Xiaolan’s secret savings.

At the bottom of the suitcase were several letters, their wording bold and shameless… written by Wang Jianhua. Suppressing her disgust, Xia Xiaolan skimmed through them and laughed. So this man had once professed his love to Xia Xiaolan quite passionately. Xia Ziyu’s manipulations were truly impressive.

She had planned to burn the letters, but after a moment’s thought, she stuffed them back into the suitcase. They might come in handy someday.

Just as she closed the lid, Taotao ran in.

“Auntie! Sister Xiaolan’s awake!”

Taotao adored Xia Xiaolan. Even when she’d been ill-tempered before, it didn’t matter—she was beautiful. And children didn’t care about society’s standards of beauty. Their sense of what was pleasing was instinctive, pure, and direct.

Sister Xiaolan was pretty. Even when she was angry.

Xia Xiaolan hadn’t spent much time around children, but mentally she was far older than eighteen. Faced with a cute little kid, she had no resistance at all.

She reached out and touched Taotao’s forehead, smiling.

“Not hot anymore. Looks like the fever’s gone.”

Taotao beamed, sticking even closer to her. He followed her while she washed her face, stayed put as she combed her hair, stealing glances between bites of bun.

“Sister Xiaolan… does your head still hurt?”

Then, very seriously “You’re really pretty.”

She really was. Really pretty.

After tidying herself up, braiding her hair into two neat plaits and changing into a clean, patch-free outfit—even Xia Xiaolan felt she looked almost too good.

Once she was ready, she led Taotao into the kitchen.

Liu Fen looked normal again, her thoughts hidden deep inside.

“We’ll be eating soon.” she said.

“Your uncle and aunt went to check the rice fields. Harvest should be ready in a couple of days.”

As she spoke, Liu Yong’s voice sounded from outside.

“Sweet potato porridge?”

He took off the straw hat from his head and hung it on the wall, smiling when he saw Xia Xiaolan.

“Awake? I told your mom not to wake you. You’re injured! You need to rest properly. The neighboring village caught a wild boar. Your aunt went to buy some meat.”

Meat was a luxury in the countryside, especially when it wasn’t a holiday.

Taotao was practically drooling.

Xia Xiaolan was deeply moved.

Liu Yong had always been generously by nature even when dirt poor, and now that he had a bit of money, his hand was even looser.

Until the grain was stored, he wouldn’t be going anywhere, which meant his bicycle was free.

“Can you ride it?” he asked. Xia Xiaolan nodded.

She’d ridden this kind of old-style bicycle before. It wasn’t sleek, but it was sturdy, built for hauling cargo, originally designed for military transport. It could handle rough roads and carry several hundred pounds with both rider and load.

Liu Yong intended for her to use it for the egg business.

If she could get it going during the busy farming season, great. If she couldn’t endure the hardship, he could think of another solution for her.

Li Fengmei soon returned with two pounds of pork and a thick marrow bone. The slabs of fat were glossy and rich. People didn’t favor lean meat back then, everyone lacked oil in their diet. Fatty pork was what everyone wanted. Snagging such good meat made Li Fengmei quite proud.

The family gathered around the table to eat. Hearing Xia Xiaolan and Liu Yong seriously discussing business details lifted Li Fengmei’s mood even more.

“How are you going to transport the eggs to town?” she asked.

“Won’t the bicycle shake them to pieces?”

In 1983, there were no paved village roads, no concrete, no asphalt. Riding all the way to town meant endless jolting. A person could endure it, but eggs couldn’t. If ten out of a hundred broke, there’d be no profit left.

Xia Xiaolan had been thinking about this since yesterday.

In later years, eggs were shipped in trays over smooth roads. Distance wasn’t an issue. She didn’t have plastic trays, its impossible to find. But she had alternatives.

“We can weave small reed baskets.” she said.

“Each just big enough for one egg. Put the eggs in one by one, then string them together.”

The gaps could be stuffed with chopped wheat stalks or rice straw—crude, but it should work like shock-absorbing foam.

Liu Fen grew excited.

“I can weave them. Just tell me what they should look like.”

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I might just do the same on Chinese New Year!

Comment: Mass Update for Chinese New Year!

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