Chapter 94: Comfort

When everyone heard the phrase “Guoshu’s wife,” they all found it funny and turned to look at Zhang Meili. Zhang Meili rolled her eyes at them. “What are you all looking at me for? That was ages ago, I’ve already forgotten about it. That woman only bullies the weak and fears the strong. It’s just that her husband is such a pushover. If it were me, I’d grab her and give her a beating every day until she was scared to act up. People like her are just spoiled.”

Huang Cuilan chuckled and shook her head. “Her husband isn’t a pushover. If he really was, he’d be the only one in the family wearing clothes without patches.”

Everyone looked at each other, realizing they hadn’t noticed that before. Zhang Meihao quickly urged her sister-in-law to continue.

“I hadn’t paid attention at first. Your big brother asked me to see what was going on when she made a scene about splitting up the family—what they had at home, what Guoshu and his brothers got. Every time his wife made a fuss at home or with others, he never stepped in. Everyone said he was honest and let things slide because of him.

Whenever Guoshu’s wife argued with someone, he’d just squat there silently with his head down. But if someone came to apologize, he’d accept it himself, never letting his wife take it. If the other person didn’t apologize, thinking they weren’t in the wrong, he’d just squat there and watch his wife argue, never standing up, just keeping his head down and not going home. That’s his way of backing her up. He’s honest, but he’s not stupid. If he’s not there, everyone knows no one in the village wants to deal with his wife. When she starts making a scene, everyone disappears.

Later, I thought about it and realized it was true. Once, when we were working in the fields, his wife latched onto someone over a single comment, lay down on the ground, and shouted that she didn’t want to live anymore. Guoshu, who was quite far away, ran over—not to pull her up, but just squatted down next to her, holding his head and repeating, ‘It’s all my fault, it’s all my fault.’ I was dumbfounded.

Normally, wouldn’t you pull your wife up and take her home, or just quietly get on with your own work? But when he shows up, things only get worse. Just a single sentence, and it’s like their marriage is falling apart in front of everyone.

After that, whenever I saw the two of them, I’d steer clear. They’re just too much. A few times when I was washing clothes by the river and his wife came over, I’d wash as fast as I could, just in case she tried to start something. Not that I’m afraid of her—I just hate the trouble.”

Zhou Jiao asked curiously, “Doesn’t that make her even more arrogant? If no one can handle her, she must feel invincible.”

Mother Zhang smiled at her but didn’t say anything. Lin Juhua glanced over and said, “There’s someone who can deal with her—your Xiao Wu. She’s afraid of Xiao Wu. She used to be scared of your eldest sister, but not anymore. She’d even lie down at the village entrance and shout that the cadre’s family was bullying her, that there was no justice. Your eldest sister just ignores her—no point ruining her own reputation.

As for why she’s afraid of Xiao Wu, once, when Xiao Wu came back from hunting and ran into her, she tried to stop him, pestering and demanding meat. Xiao Wu just dragged her away and tossed her far off. When Guoshu arrived, Xiao Wu said, ‘If she keeps making a scene and demanding my meat, you’d better keep your wife in check, you useless good-for-nothing, making your own wife fight for food.’ If she shouted again, he said he’d hit Guoshu every time she yelled.

His wife didn’t believe him and shouted loudly, so Xiao Wu really did punch him. After that, Guoshu’s wife didn’t dare shout anymore. Xiao Wu told Guoshu, ‘If you keep letting your wife make trouble and annoy the whole village, don’t blame me for kicking your whole family out.’ Then he just left. We only found out about this later.

Otherwise, you see, every family in the village is afraid of her. Guoshu’s wife barges into people’s homes without caring if they want her there. But our courtyard gate is never closed, and she never comes by. Why? Because she’s afraid of Xiao Wu. She’s really scared he’ll beat her husband. If you ever run into her, just ignore her—everyone knows she’s not above stealing.”

Zhou Jiao couldn’t help but snicker. She thought Huang Zhaodi was already outrageous, but this was something else. “Some people are just shameless. Those two never think about leaving a way out for their own kids. Who would want to be friends with their children or marry into their family in the future?”

Mother Zhang replied, “Kids in the village already don’t play with their son. Like they say, dragons give birth to dragons, phoenixes to phoenixes, and rats’ children know how to dig holes. Their kids are just like their mother. If they can’t snatch someone else’s wild fruit, they’ll roll on the ground and throw a tantrum. Marrying a wife like that ruins at least three generations.”

As Zhou Jiao listened to their conversation, she was thinking about how she needed to hurry and stock up on supplies after the baby’s one-month celebration. Luckily, aside from grain and meat, which were strictly controlled, other things were still relatively easy to get in the countryside.

While there were still markets, she had to prepare well. If next year everything required ration tickets, it would be even harder. Grain was hard to get, but she could stock up on taro, potatoes, vermicelli, and eggs. Her son’s monthly ration wouldn’t be enough. When spring came and there was no more pig feed, she’d have to raise more chicks for eggs.

After the baby’s first month, she could go up the mountain to see what could still be gathered in the winter. When the village sent parcels, she could collect and stash away things like mushrooms, wood ear fungus, pine nuts, and sunflower seeds—these were all valuable. Once ration tickets were strictly enforced, it would be even harder to buy them. No rush—she’d make a note of it later.

“Mom, can we order chicks for next spring now, or should we do it before the New Year?” Zhou Jiao asked, not afraid to admit what she didn’t know.

“There are people in the village who hatch chicks. If you only want a few, you can just buy them, no need to order. If you want a lot, you can find someone at the big market before the New Year and place an order for spring delivery. When it’s time to buy things for the New Year, everyone goes to the market—there’s everything there.”

“Mm. Mom, if you’ve already harvested the fields, what kind of work do you still have to do?”

“Now it’s mostly weeding, plowing, and clearing out roots. If we don’t, we can’t plant in the spring. As soon as you clear one side, the weeds grow back on the other. There’s plenty of work. Once it snows, we stop working in the fields and leave the rest for others. Our family has earned enough work points this year. After a year of hard labor, we’ve just about earned enough grain to eat. This year’s rain was good, so there’s a good harvest and everyone gets a share.”

“Do people still work when it snows? What do they do? Wouldn’t everyone freeze? Isn’t the ground frozen solid?”

“In heavy snow, we still have to collect manure for spring, and we still have to plow. That’s the hardest work, but it earns the most work points. Families with many mouths to feed and not enough labor can’t afford to rest, or they won’t have enough grain to eat next year.

Our family has plenty of labor, so when it snows, we just do lighter work for fewer work points. At the pig farm, there are no holidays all year, but you earn more points. When there’s less fieldwork, we make rope, which never stops all year. The team needs rope, and so do we at home. You can never have too much rope—it’s always useful.

In a few days, our family will be making rope too. Farm work never really stops, which is why everyone wants to move to the city. Our basic grain ration is only 300 jin per person per year. If you want more, it depends on whether the production team has surplus grain. Otherwise, you can’t even buy it with money.

We have to trade our fine grain for coarse grain just to have enough to eat. In the city, each person gets 40 jin a month, and even children get 22 jin, plus wages and ration tickets. Us country folk have to exchange work points for cloth coupons at the end of the year, so you see, hardly any village kids have clothes without patches. All year long, the only time we eat white rice or dumplings is at New Year.” Mother Zhang spoke with deep envy of city life.

“It’s really not easy. I’ve never seen you all stop working—you’re always busy. In April, May, September, and October, you work so hard you practically shed a layer of skin, and everyone gets so thin they never recover. The whole village is dark-skinned from the sun—only our family doesn’t mind getting tanned. Otherwise, if you went out at night without a kerosene lamp, you wouldn’t be able to find anyone.” Zhou Jiao sighed.

Zhang Meili burst out laughing. “Go to the market during New Year and see the crowds—that’s really something. There are people from the city and the countryside, and in the sea of people, you see patches of white among all the dark faces. It’s hilarious.”"