Chapter Eighteen: Radishes

Chen Tang, Sanli Canal.

Wang Lin was watching Dream of the Red Chamber with Hua Ling, while Xiao Ya and Dou Dou were outside in the yard, building a terribly ugly snowman, occasionally giggling with delight.

They returned late today; by the time Zhang Huacheng and Tie Zhu came back, the sun was already high in the sky.

Seeing their father arrive, Dou Dou happily rushed forward, performing a snowy tumble, while Xiao Ya kept calling out incessantly. Wang Lin and Hua Ling came outside as well.

“Come inside, isn’t it cold out there?” Zhang Huacheng said, carrying Dou Dou into the house.

Xiao Ya followed behind, crying loudly.

Tie Zhu went inside to change his shoes, then quickly greeted them before rushing home to fetch water; otherwise, he would be in trouble.

Chen Youde would never fetch water.

Besides, after lunch, he was going to the Fu Zhuang Brigade, saying he had to join them for a meal at noon.

“Erguo, there are eggs!” Xiao Ya spotted the eggs, swallowing hard with eyes glued to them. She hadn’t eaten eggs often; last year, the family still had a hen that laid eggs, but it was painfully sold off to pay for their father’s treatment.

She cried the entire afternoon, and her mother shed tears for days.

Dou Dou hurriedly stood on tiptoe to look at the eggs.

“Linlin, boil four eggs — one for each of you,” Zhang Huacheng handed the eggs to Wang Lin.

Wang Lin was delighted but soon felt a bit sorry for the money. “Eggs are so expensive; how many cents each?”

Currently, eggs sold for five or six cents apiece. Even in the city, ordinary families were reluctant to eat eggs regularly.

“They were exchanged for fish and crabs!” Zhang Huacheng produced a packet of greaseproof paper and handed it to Hua Ling. “The meat buns you wanted — go warm them up, and you can all eat together.”

After hearing from Xiao Ya that she had eaten meat buns at Erge’s house, Hua Ling was quite tempted. Zhang Huacheng had promised to bring her meat buns that morning.

“Thank you, Erge!” Hua Ling happily accepted the package, carefully opening it to smell the aroma, her eyes sparkling.

Suddenly, she felt weight on her legs and looked down to see the two little girls hugging her legs on either side, staring longingly at the meat buns in her hands.

“Mine!” Hua Ling protectively held the buns.

“Erguo said we eat together!” Xiao Ya snapped and tried to bite her sister’s thigh in frustration.

Dou Dou mimicked her and repeated, “Erguo said we eat together,” also going to bite.

Boiled eggs and warmed buns.

Zhang Huacheng took the cabbages and radishes out of the bamboo basket, then put some cabbages, radishes, salt, and chili back in. After a moment’s thought, he stuffed in a piece of pig liver and pig stomach.

“Hua Ling, take this pig liver home to fry, and the pig stomach should be stewed by Mom,” he said. Wild boar internal organs weren’t sold, only pig liver and stomach — one for nourishing blood, the other for strengthening the stomach.

Zhang Huacheng called Hua Ling over.

“Erge, this pig stomach has bumps on it—is it sick?” Hua Ling looked at the bumpy pig stomach with some fear.

“This is a sore. It forms when a wild boar is bitten by a poisonous snake inside the stomach. The snake’s venomous fang lodges there, creating this sore. It’s a rare and precious medicinal ingredient you couldn’t buy with money. You must stew it into soup. Forget it, I’ll do it myself and bring it over once it’s cooked.”

Worried his mother might not stew it properly, Zhang Huacheng took out the pig stomach. If poorly cooked, pig stomach is unpleasant to eat.

He had originally kept half to prepare a pig stomach chicken stew for his wife and child — a rare delicacy.

“The buns are ready!” Wang Lin lifted the lid, and the fragrant aroma of meat buns wafted out.

“I want to eat!” Zhang Hua Ling ran over gleefully.

“Eat!”

“Mine, mine!” Despite having corn grits for breakfast, nothing compared to meat buns.

Wang Lin brought Zhang Huacheng some hot water for foot soaking, then glanced back at the three of them eating buns on the kang, quietly saying, “Huacheng, this morning I saw Hua Ling talking to the village rascal.”

“Ergou?” Zhang Huacheng’s heart stirred.

“Yes,” Wang Lin nodded, then whispered, “Hua Ling seemed pretty happy; Ergou looked like he was escorting her and Xiao Ya here.”

Ergou...

Zhang Huacheng knew that once Chen Qiuyang took a widow, the whole brigade would know, and the widow’s ex-husband even brought people to block the door — Ergou was the one behind it. Unfortunately, in the previous life, Hua Ling still married Chen Qiuyang.

After marriage, she often suffered domestic abuse.

Chen Qiuyang was often beaten by Ergou for no apparent reason, with bruises all over his face, never knowing what he had done to offend him.

The year Hua Ling died of illness, Chen Qiuyang was beaten into the hospital by Ergou and nearly died. Ergou was imprisoned for nearly twelve years and disappeared after release.

But it was the year Ergou was released that Chen Qiuyang died.

Zhang Huacheng learned these facts when, twenty years later as a special forces instructor, he accessed records using his authority.

The ‘rascal’ Wang Lin mentioned was obviously Ergou.

Ergou never worked in the production brigade, skipped collective labor, and ranked last in work points across the brigade. However, because of the era’s communal dining, he was tolerated and lived well, much to the fury of everyone else — the brigade’s negative example.

“Ergou is actually a decent person,” Zhang Huacheng said, only to see Wang Lin give him a strange look.

He was somewhat speechless.

Ergou’s reputation was terrible.

He was a child picked up by Old Uncle Wang of Chen Tang, Sanli Canal, but the uncle died when Ergou was ten, leaving him without guidance.

Perhaps sensing something, Hua Ling looked up at them.

“Erge, sister-in-law, what are you talking about?”

“Food!” they replied.

“Oh.”

Zhang Huacheng didn’t dare mention the industrial coupons to Wang Lin but quietly counted them in the outhouse — three hundred and fifty coupons in total. Fifteen coupons could be exchanged for one bicycle ticket, so this was the equivalent of twenty-three bicycle tickets!

But these were only valid in cities and required a certificate from a work unit to purchase. If they couldn’t be sold, they were worthless.

He also didn’t know where the black-market vendor had stolen them from. The vendor’s silent, murderous demeanor suggested the owner of these coupons was likely in serious trouble.

Dabao and Xiaobao had new cotton shoes and ran around the yard every day.

“It’s freezing outside, go inside!” Chen Xiuying opened the window and shouted.

The two little ones reluctantly went inside.

“Mom, I want meat,” Xiaobao drooled while hugging Chen Xiuying’s leg, having become even more craving for meat these days.

“Where’s the meat? Should I cut a piece off your father’s leg for you?” Chen Xiuying’s words made Zhang Huchen, who was lying in bed enjoying a lazy morning, jump up in fright.

“Mom, I want water!” Xiao Ya rushed back, thirsty after eating buns and eggs and sneaking a few extra pickled vegetables. She shouted before even entering the room.

“Your mom went to your grandmother’s. Let your eldest brother get it for you,” Zhang Hu replied from the kang. In winter, he couldn’t get off the kang due to leg pain.

Zhang Huchen heard and went to fetch the water.

Xiao Ya burst in, tossing the partially eaten radish onto the table and eagerly gulping from an enamel cup.

“Xiao Ya, where did you get the radish?” Zhang Huchen looked at his wife, who gestured silently, and only then did he notice the radish.

Before Xiao Ya could answer, he grabbed a knife from the stove and chopped the radish into a dozen pieces.

Winter radishes were precious.

“Erguo gave it to me; I’m going out to play!” Xiao Ya, satisfied, took the radish chunk with tooth marks from Zhang Huchen and dashed out.

“Dad, I want some!”

“Give me a piece too!” Dabao and Xiaobao immediately scrambled for the radish, which was rare fruit for them.

“Well, I’ll go to Huacheng’s house to see. If they have plenty of radishes, I’ll bring back a couple for you,” Zhang Huchen said after catching Chen Xiuying’s glance, understanding what she meant.

His wife loved radishes the most.

Just as he put on his coat, Hua Ling returned.

“Sister-in-law, I have something good! Come see!”

Hua Ling entered carrying a basket.

“What good thing?” Chen Xiuying was intrigued and quickly put on her shoes.

“A big pig liver, some cabbage and radishes, salt, and chili. Huh, how come there’s one less radish? I remember there were seven. Where did you get these radishes?”

Hua Ling counted again as she took the basket outside. Did she miscount?

Looking up, she saw her eldest brother and Dabao and Xiaobao all gnawing on radishes, confused. When did the family ever have radishes?

Their few cabbages were eaten leaf by leaf, counted carefully. When did they ever have such a delicacy as radishes?

Zhang Huchen knew exactly where the radish Xiao Ya was holding came from...

“Pig liver!”

“Eat pig liver! Eat cabbage!” Dabao and Xiaobao shouted joyfully.