Chapter Fourteen: The Youngest Sister’s Woolen Shoes

The three children stared longingly at the food on the table, swallowing their saliva repeatedly.

Tie Zhu tore open a pack of peach crisp biscuits and handed some to his younger sister.

“Brother, you eat first!”

The younger sister obediently took a piece of peach crisp and offered it to Tie Zhu, herself eagerly swallowing.

Tie Zhu hurriedly shook his head. “I eat every day, lots of delicious food every day.”

“Do you have meat to eat?” The little toddler, bare-bottomed, widened his eyes.

In the little one’s eyes, being able to eat meat was a great thing.

“Yes, every day there’s meat. This morning, I ate shredded pork noodles in the county town—such a big bowl, I ate two big bowls of noodles and four big bowls of soup. On the way here, I ate pork, cabbage, and vermicelli stew.”

Tie Zhu gestured to emphasize.

Several of them swallowed their saliva at once.

In Fuzhuang Brigade, even noodles were rare; buying noodles required ration coupons, and having coarse grains to eat was already a blessing.

As for pork cabbage stew with vermicelli, their family had never tasted it.

“Did Hua Cheng take you to the county town?”

“Yes!”

“Did he take you to do anything else?”

Zhao Xianglan hurriedly inquired.

Tie Zhu scratched his head, thought for a moment, and said, “Brother told me not to tell others, but he told me to tell you—that we don’t do illegal things, just handle some stuff to sell in the county town.”

Zhang Hua Cheng understood that if Tie Zhu’s mother didn’t explain clearly, she might suspect they were robbing or doing something illegal.

Sure enough, after hearing this, Zhao Xianglan breathed a sigh of relief. This was still better; poaching was only considered opportunistic speculation, not serious enough to go to jail or get executed.

“Does your dad know?”

Zhao Xianglan thought of Chen Youde. The hatred between the Chen and Zhang families ran deep, so deep they wished to destroy each other. If he knew about this, wouldn’t there be a huge quarrel?

Back then, even speaking a word to the Zhang family could get her beaten by Chen Youde.

“No, brother said not to tell. I can’t even wear the shoes he bought me back home.”

Tie Zhu shook his head.

Zhao Xianglan had already seen Tie Zhu wearing new cotton shoes and thought perhaps Chen Youde’s conscience had softened enough to make shoes for the child. But it turned out Hua Cheng bought them for his own son.

“Come, tell mom what you usually do. It’s okay; since Hua Cheng sent you here, he’s not afraid we’ll find out.”

Zhao Xianglan pulled Tie Zhu to sit down.

Tie Zhu scratched his head and then explained in detail about their trips to the county town to sell and buy things.

“Shoes made for your eldest sister?”

Zhao Xianglan wondered who the shoes were for; it turned out they were for the eldest sister, and her eyes reddened.

“Yes!”

Tie Zhu nodded.

“My shoes?” The eldest sister, cautiously eating peach crisp biscuits, widened her dark eyes in surprise, staring at the cotton shoes in Zhao Xianglan’s hand.

She only had a pair of patched cloth shoes on her feet, which she treasured and didn’t even dare to wear while working.

She has new shoes now?

New cotton shoes!

“Tie Zhu, you must not let others know about this,” Wang Fugui couldn’t help but remind him. Their family background wasn’t good and had suffered a lot. If it weren’t for the unity of Fuzhuang Brigade, they might have been crushed long ago.

“Yes!”

“Hua Cheng is smart. You listen to whatever he says, okay?”

Zhao Xianglan felt relieved. Since she married in, she had always worried about one thing: that one day when she secretly checked on Tie Zhu, she might hear the news that her son had already died.

Chen Youde was a brute; even if he beat Tie Zhu to death, he wouldn’t let her take him away.

Luckily, Tie Zhu was capable. Chen Youde kept him alive to help with work around the house, so he wasn’t starved.

“Mom, this is five yuan Brother asked me to give you to buy coal. This winter will be very cold; we can’t be without coal.”

Tie Zhu pulled out a small stack of scattered bills and handed them to Zhao Xianglan.

Zhao Xianglan looked at the loose money and couldn’t help but tear up.

She didn’t even have the courage to refuse it. There wasn’t much coal at home, and the roots and firewood they tirelessly gathered wouldn’t last through the winter.

“Tie Zhu, have you eaten? I’ll make you some corn gruel!”

Wang Fugui felt embarrassed and quickly got up to cook.

“I’ve eaten, at Brother’s house.”

Tie Zhu nodded.

“Meat!”

After finishing a piece of peach crisp, the little toddler shouted eagerly.

Another child also clamored for meat.

“All right, meat! I’ll cook some pork fat. Looks like there’s plenty of fatty meat.” Wang Fugui looked at the pork and gritted his teeth. Eating it would at least satisfy the kids’ cravings!

Zhang Hua Cheng didn’t realize that having Tie Zhu deliver grain had eased the urgent needs of the Wang family. It wasn’t until dusk that he saw Tie Zhu return to change his shoes.

“Happy?”

Zhang Hua Cheng patted Tie Zhu, who was beaming with a big smile.

“Yes!”

Tie Zhu nodded eagerly.

“Eat something. Later you’ll get beaten again, and they probably won’t even feed you. Eat well here, then go back to get beaten.”

Zhang Hua Cheng looked at Tie Zhu with pity. Poor kid—his brutal father had been howling outside for a while, searching everywhere for Tie Zhu to work.

But Tie Zhu didn’t care; getting beaten was as simple as drinking water to him.

“Brother, I want to make new clothes and shoes for my little brother and sister. I want them to eat meat!” Tie Zhu suddenly said before leaving.

“That’s easy. After you finish getting beaten, just sleep. Come find me at night; I’ll take you to get some meat!”

At night, they would go hunting in the mountains. With the moonlight and snowlight, as long as they didn’t venture deep into the mountains and had a gun, it was quite safe.

He wanted to make big money!

“Okay!”

Tie Zhu happily went home.

Soon, Chen Youde’s roar came from the house, followed by the crackling sound of whipping.

“Laugh?”

“Fine, you dare laugh at me? I’ll beat you to death!”

“Still laughing!!!”

“I’ll make you stop laughing!”

Why are you laughing...?

Zhang Hua Cheng rubbed his forehead. Tie Zhu really didn’t care about the pain?

But it was true: the only thing he remembered about Chen Youde was how exhausted he looked. No matter how harshly Tie Zhu was beaten, he would still be lively the next day.

If one day Tie Zhu punched Chen Youde, Chen Youde might be killed by that single punch. Tie Zhu was that strong—now he could carry a 200-pound sack and walk all the way to the county town.

“Hey, Tie Zhu, did you get beaten silly? Be careful, Tie Zhu’s strong. If he hits you with a punch and kills you, what will we do?”

Zhang Hua Cheng arrived at Tie Zhu’s house, pushed open the door, and called out loudly.

“Get lost, you little bastard!”

Chen Youde saw it was Zhang Hua Cheng and angrily pointed a branch at him, cursing.

When he turned around, he saw Tie Zhu raising a fist as big as a sandpot, seemingly gesturing.

“Bastard, you want to rebel?”

Did he really get beaten silly?

Chen Youde panicked inside but feigned calm. He felt Tie Zhu’s gaze was off. Could it be that this little bastard Zhang Hua Cheng had incited Tie Zhu to kill him?

Did he know he reported him?

“Go eat now!” Chen Youde shouted at Tie Zhu.

Tie Zhu scratched his head and went back inside to eat.

Soon, a woman’s complaint came from inside.

“Didn’t you say not to feed him? He doesn’t work and just runs around, not even fetching water anymore!”