Bai Fumei in the ’70s Chapter 29
Translated by Serena Love
Grandma let out a faint hum, then turned her head and continued to stare at the window outside in a daze.
Zhao Lanxiang silently put the steamed trotters on the table and retreated silently.
After she left, Grandma turned her head, pick up the bowl and tasted the trotters. The smell is so fragrant that it fills the whole room, and it's hard to be ignored.
The steamed meat is very soft and smooth. Grandma's teeth are not very good, but she could bite off half of it in one bite. The burgundy trotters are shining like a layer of high-quality enamel. When she took a bite from the outside to the inside, the color of the meat layering from red to white. A circle of snow-white and greasy fatty meat was wrapped in dark lean meat, tender and moist. It can awaken the most hungry desires in people's hearts. For people who have not seen meat or oil for a long time, it seems like seeing water in the desert.
Grandma sullenly sucked up the soft fatty meat and slurped it slowly.
'Humph.'
'It's not too bad. Worth to trade it with Songbais gold lock.'
...
The millet in the field is ripe, and everyone is harvesting it. Zhao Lanxiang, a weak laborer, was assigned to the easy job of looking at the drying valley. Those strong laborers in the village are harvesting grain, threshing the millet, and cleaning the field. The roar of diesel tractors in the fields sounded throughout the blue sky.
The hot sun has tanned everyone's skin from morning until evening. Zhao Lanxiang brought light saltwater from home to replenish the electrolytes. She had put the light saltwater inside the cold well water for the whole night, so it is especially cold and can quench her thirst.
Zhou Jiazhen also participated in the harvest with the men in the village. From morning to night, she was exposed to the sun all day, and the dark blue shirt on her body was soaked with sweat. Zhao Lanxiang admired her.
"Are you tired? Why don't you come and watch the millet with me tomorrow?"
Zhou Jiazhen's ruddy face contained a slight smile, "Not tired, work can create a purpose."
She wiped her sweat and proudly said, "I think a person's life should be spent like this. Then when one day they recall the past, they will not regret it that they wasted their years, nor will they be ashamed of being inactive."
Even Zhao Lanxiang, who had never finished the book "How Steel Is Made", couldn't help but laugh when she heard her sentence. "You are completely lost in the book."
Zhou Jiazhen said sincerely and gratefully, "It is a good book that can affect people's lives. I used to lament my fate, but now I only feel ashamed. There is a very good saying in it, I'll share it with you."
"'Steel was tempered by fire and rapid cooling, so it's hard and not afraid of anything. Our generation is also tempered by struggles and terrible tests. You will learn not to succumb to life.'"
"You can share this sentence with He family's second son." Zhou Jiazhen's smile mixed with a trace of shame and relief.
Her view of He Songbai started with labor and ended with labor. How can a man who can take care of farm work carefully and patiently like looking after his own child is the legendary idler?
He Songbai did not work together with everyone before but worked hard in a remote place. This time, he was transferred back to the paddy field. She saw his performance with her own eyes. He is as diligent and sincere as an old cow.
"His review was really good. I used to be biased about him..." Zhou Jiazhen said with emotion.
Zhao Lanxiang handed her a bowl of light saltwater to drink, and quickly interrupted Zhou Jiazhen's words, "Hurry, why are you always mentioning him?"
Also telling this to her face!
This caused Zhao Lanxiang's heart to be lifted high. Were they that obvious? Can people see it clearly?
She has tried to get along with him in private as much as possible, and she almost never spoke to him when someone was there.
Zhou Jiazhen blushed and explained in a low voice, "Did you forget? When I was at the He family, I once said bad things about him in front of you. Now I regret it."
Once Zhou Jiazhen mentioned it, Zhao Lanxiang remembered it.
It was only after Zhou Jiazhen left that she discovered that He Songbai had been squatting in the backyard. Under the shadow of the green pea seedlings on the fence, his deep eyes were dull.
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Zhao Lanxiang said, "Don't worry, he will hear this. I'll tell you this. Bao'er is an iron fighter, but you are a woman made of flesh and blood. Don't be too stupid and rest when you should rest."
Zhou Jiazhen nodded vigorously.
Zhao Lanxiang turned to deliver water to Sister He.
When everyone finished work in the evening, it was Zhao Lanxiang's time to guard the drying valley. Sun-exposed grains will not mold easily in the warehouse, but there must be people watching at night. The whole brigade's grain is on the field. If it rains in the middle of the night, she can notify everyone to grab them.
Zhao Lanxiang slept during the day and stayed in the middle of the night. Then there will be another person to pick up her shift in the middle of the night. This job could not be any easier for her.
As night fell, Zhao Lanxiang listened to the sound of the frogs in the fields, and the sound of cicadas kept rising and falling in her ears. She lit an oil lamp, chewed candy in her mouth, and slowly turned the pages of a book in her hand, which happened to be "How Steel Is Made."
Recently, Zhou Jiazhen likes to read it so much, citing a few words from it all day long, Zhao Lanxiang has to read it to catch up with her.
As the sky became darker, the dim light of the stars in the night sky became brighter. As long as Zhao Lanxiang raised her head, she could see the sky full of stars.
After a while, there was only a sound of learning on the grass.
A touch of figure quickly ran over, Zhao Lanxiang put down the book and widened her eyes in surprise.
"Hush. Don't call out."
There is unshakable hoarseness in the man's low voice.
"Why do you come?" Zhao Lanxiang touched her face, and she is very happy to see him at this moment.
He Songbai lowered his head and wiped his sweat with his sleeve. "I came after dinner."
"As a girl, it's not safe for you to watch during the night. I'll do it for you. You go back."
Zhao Lanxiang shakes her head violently.
"You worked so hard during the day and helped me stay vigil during the night. What is this! I won't go. Hurry back to sleep, there will be more heavy work tomorrow!
It is only He Songbai's black face that responded to her, his tight lips revealing a seriousness that she couldn't refuse.
Zhao Lanxiang paused, thinking seriously about the possibility of persuading He Songbai to dispel his idea.
The possibility is zero.
He is more terrible than she is when he is being stubborn.
She said, "Otherwise... I won't go back, you won't go back. You sleep a little bit here, if I have anything, I will call you, is it okay?"
He Songbai accepted it reluctantly.
Zhao Lanxiang led the man to a hut by the valley, took out her cool summer quilt, pressed the man on the bed, and covered him with a quilt. A touch of mischief leaked from her brisk voice, "This is my first time... staying overnight with Brother Bai."
He Songbai, who was forced to sleep on the bed, has a trace of red on that tanned face.
He coughed, "I'm sleeping, you must call me if there is something."
Zhao Lanxiang responded simply.
She watched He Songbai close her eyes and went to bed. She went to the valley outside with the lamp, and read the book with relish.
The man in the room opened his eyes, and his ears listened carefully to every move outside.
A dim circle of light cast the woman's slender shadow on the window, and the fire is dancing faintly, and her shadow is also moving, rippling like the water in the well.
The thin summer quilt is light and cool, full of the faint fragrance of gardenia from her body, which wrapped He Songbai tightly, making him have the illusion of being tightly surrounded by the woman.
He Songbai opened his eyes and stared at the woman's shadow in the window, and saw the person who changed shifts with her in the middle of the night.
He Songbai is nervous, and he got up lightly and left the house carefully on tiptoe.
Unexpectedly, the person who came on duty in the middle of the night was Teacher Gu, and He Songbai's tense nerves suddenly relaxed.
Teacher Gu is also surprised when he saw He Songbai.
But when he saw the girl squatting at the door reading a book, his eyes become clear.
The reason why Teacher Gu is called that way is not because he is a teacher, but that he was the chief engineer of paddy terrace construction. He was responsible for designing ditches, blasting the terrace, and road planning. He Songbai heard that he was an intellectual transferred from city B. He is not locals, and he can speak fluent Mandarin.
He Songbai was so surprised so he was silent for a moment and asked, "How come you are here?"
Teacher Gu's rumpled face couldn't even squeeze out a bitter smile, and the smile on his brow corners grew deeper. He only said, "You go back to bed, young man."
With a trace of doubt in Zhao Lanxiang's eyes, He Songbai patted her on the shoulder, "Come on, I will send you back."
Zhao Lanxiang stayed awake in the middle of the night and feeling sleepy. She quickly washed her face, rubbed her eyes, and said good night to the man. She soon lay in bed and fell asleep.
...
On the valley, the youth sat on the concrete floor and chatted with the middle-aged man.
He Songbai rolled a cigarette and handed it over, "Smoke a bit. Otherwise you won't have the energy to work during the day."
Teacher Gu looked at the black mountain range in the distance and sighed with emotion, "There are many hills but less cultivated land. Building terraces can expand the cultivated land area and increase food production."
He Songbai yawned silently.
Teacher Gu continued, "But this place's soil belongs to karst landforms. Although the groundwater source is rich, there are also many rocks and caves. The main component is carbonate rock..."
He Songbai tried his best to chat with Teacher Gu, but after sitting for a while, he soon became dizzy.
He Songbai took a suck of cigarette, and the refreshing smoke dipped into his throat, stimulating him and make him sober again. He said lightly, "If you can't do so much work, you can take a nap."
Teacher Gu wiped his face in silence, the wrinkles in the corners of his eyes deepened.
---
Author's note:
In this era, speculation is illegal.
So as a farmer, Brother Bai's way of spoiling a girlfriend is...
Help her work hard. Help her work hard. Help her work hard!
---
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Translator Note:
In this era, running private businesses are illegal.
The Chinese government at that era labeled it as "speculation", which means it is high risk and only done by unscrupulous merchants which hoping to gain profit at the expense of the public. This is deemed as capitalist means and they consider it "shameful".
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