Chickens and dogs fly in chaos and rebirth

Chapter 4

She rolled her eyes with a playful chuckle and said, "That's right, who knows, you might even get into university and become a high-ranking official someday!"

After straightening her braid and putting on her shoes, Shanglin lowered her head, expressionless. University? Absolutely. A high-ranking official? She had no interest. She was only interested in money—enough money to ensure her family's comfort and security, so they would never be apart!

As they were making a ruckus, Zhang Chunhua became displeased and spoke in a shrill voice across the yard: "Oh, sister-in-law, going back to your parents' home!"

Li Hongwei smiled and agreed: "That's right. I discussed it with my parents last week. The children haven't been back for almost half a year."

“My sister-in-law stays here longer; she can spend a whole day just visiting her parents! I’ve been married into this family for almost a year and haven’t been back even once!”

Hearing the provocative words, Li Hongwei was furious.

You didn't go back? Your family lives in the next village, and you work at the same supply and marketing cooperative as your father. You see each other all the time! Every night after get off work, you go to your parents' house to eat something before coming back. How can it be that you've never been back even once?

She was angry, so her voice naturally turned cold: "That's right, my family lives far away, and I can't come back for a long time. My parents are kind, so they specially allowed me one day!"

Zhang Chunhua forced a smile, which looked awkward no matter how you looked at it: "That's right, our parents love Xia Lin so much! Xia Lin, when you went back to your grandma's house, did you bring all the good food back for her?"

It sounds like they're just joking with the kids, but their words imply that they're bringing all the good things from home back to the wife's family.

Li Hongwei was furious; she wanted nothing more than to tear that gossipy mouth off! Just as she was about to retort, her husband stopped her. Qiu Jianguo gently shook his head and whispered, "Don't bother with her!"

But before she knew it, Shanglin walked to the door, patted her younger brother's head, and said softly, "Auntie, don't worry, the leaves haven't fallen yet. My grandma's house is in the mountains, there are plenty of leaves to burn, we don't need this little bit—or, I can bring you some when I come back, the fallen leaves there are great for burning!"

Without waiting for anyone's reaction, he lowered his head and said to Xia Lin, "Good little brother, go get an old basket from our house. When we get to Grandma's, we'll collect fallen leaves. That'll be enough for Auntie to burn for a few days!"

Xia Lin was honest; after his sister gave him a good scolding, he did exactly what she told him to do. He happily ran outside, grabbed a bamboo basket from under the wall, and handed it back to his sister.

Shanglin patted his head and praised, "Good boy!"

He was overjoyed.

Zhang Chunhua was choked and her heart trembled. She hadn't expected Shang Lin, who had always been taciturn and introverted, to suddenly change like this. She turned around fiercely and shouted into the house:

"Get up! There's so much work to do today, don't say I didn't warn you, you won't be back by sunset!" This was the excuse Shang Lin used to avoid working.

Without pausing, Shanglin asked his younger brother, "Xialin, can you count?"

"Yes!" Xia Lin looked up at her sister, feeling that her figure was incredibly tall and imposing, leaving her aunt speechless. You see, even Grandma didn't dare utter a sound when her aunt threw a tantrum!

With earnest and persuasive words: "Count how many people are in our family?"

The little finger pointed around the room: "One, two, three, four, plus me, there are four of us!"

"How many people are in your uncle's house?"

"Two!" Without hesitation, he announced the number.

Shanglin nodded in satisfaction: "You don't count, you don't do any work, so there are three people in the house. I often help pull weeds and deliver meals, while you just play with your aunt. So, you don't count!"

He deliberately drew out the last syllable, glanced meaningfully at Zhang Chunhua, and tapped his finger on Xia Lin's head to indicate that he had indeed not done any work.

After walking out of the courtyard gate and along the main road for a long time, Li Hongwei suddenly burst into laughter, clutching her stomach, tears streaming down her face. Qiu Jianguo, who had initially kept a straight face, couldn't help but laugh too, grinning broadly. Xia Lin looked at this and that, then tugged at her sister's hand and asked:

"Why are you laughing? Why are you laughing?"

Li Hongwei tapped his son's forehead, laughing as he spoke, his words slurred: "You still have the nerve to say that? You and your sister are working together so well, you almost made your aunt cry!"

Shang Lin waved his hand and said solemnly, "I wouldn't dare to upset my aunt. I'm just telling the truth!"

Li Hongwei glared at her daughter: "You! No matter what, she's still an elder. You can't keep talking back to her!"

Qiu Jianguo waved his hand: "It's nothing, it's nothing. The girl said it's not called talking back, it's just telling the truth!"

Ever since his sister-in-law married into the family, she's given him no shortage of trouble. As the older brother, he doesn't want to argue with her for our parents' sake, but nobody's perfect, and even a clay figure has some backbone! Besides, he's a respected figure in the village, working for the government!

"Just keep indulging her! See if she dares to talk back to you one day!" Li Hongwei's generation lived in a contradictory era. Old ideas had not yet been broken, and new ideas had not yet formed. From a young age, she was taught to respect the elderly and care for the young, to endure hardship and be hardworking, and to have the submissive side of women in feudal society. At the same time, amidst various revolutionary trends, she experienced the liberation of thought and status, daring to venture and act, but due to her limited vision, she dared not do anything boldly.

She was also angry with her sister-in-law, but she didn't want her daughter to learn to disrespect her elders.

Qiu Jianguo waved his hands repeatedly: "It's a new society, with new ideas! As long as there are mistakes, girl, feel free to point them out, Dad will never be angry!"

Shanglin asked plaintively, "Really?"

With a wave of his hand, brimming with boundless pride, he declared: "Nothing could be more genuine!"

"Can I voice my opinion now?"

Qiu Jianguo was taken aback. Oh, you already have a problem with what you just said? He couldn't go back on his word in front of his wife and children, so he readily agreed, "Go ahead!"

"Are we going to Grandma's house? If so, can someone help carry Qiu Xialin? He's so heavy!"

The two looked at each other, glanced down, and couldn't help but burst into laughter again.

Qiu Xialin clung tightly to Shanglin's legs and arms like a koala. If she moved a step, he would move a step as well, otherwise he would refuse to move no matter what!

Qiu Jianguo said with a laugh, "Quickly, quick, where's the donkey cart we agreed on? We can't let my daughter get tired!"

Looking around, Qiu Shanglin saw a donkey cart parked under a big tree at the village entrance. His eyes were glazed over as he followed his parents closer. Listening to them chatting with the old man driving the cart, he felt a pang of indescribable sorrow.

Donkey carts... In 1986, even slightly well-off families owned Golden Deer brand bicycles. My family originally had one; it was part of my mother's dowry when she married into the family. Earlier that year, my uncle got married, and my aunt brought a brand-new bicycle as part of her dowry. Because of my uncle's job, it was used as a gift, and my aunt made a huge fuss about it. My family had no choice but to discuss it with my parents and give her our Golden Deer bicycle. My grandfather compensated us with only a wooden plank bed that we had used for many years!

To put it in 21st-century terms, it's like trading an Audi A6 for a half-new, half-old Xiali; a huge LCD screen TV for a radio; or a thousand-year-old turtle for a lively, jumping carp!

What does it mean to be biased? What does it mean that the squeaky wheel gets the grease?

This is the bloody truth!

Strangely enough, Qiu Shanglin had completely forgotten what happened when she was three or four years old, not even a trace of it after she grew up. But after only one day back home, the events that occurred after she was three years old came flooding back into her mind. Recalling the unfair treatment her family had received after her aunt came into the family, the grievances and injustices her mother had endured, and her terrible behavior in the years that followed, Shanglin was filled with rage and wanted nothing more than to grab Zhang Chunhua and give her a good beating!

In my mind, I imagined Zhang Chunhua sobbing on my left knee and Qiu Xialin begging for mercy on my right knee. Even though I knew it was just a daydream, I still felt a surge of pleasure.

It's okay, we'll get a bicycle! As long as the whole family is united and works together, she doesn't believe her family is much worse off than others, and there's no reason for them to be poor their whole lives!

A few days ago, it was arranged to hire a donkey cart from a merchant in another village. In this era, a specific profession existed: 'peddlers'! Unlike the earliest peddlers, they didn't carry loads from village to village; instead, they drove donkey carts, transporting grain from one village to another, exchanging it for vegetables, chickens, and ducks, then selling them back. They went wherever there was a market, working almost year-round, except for a few years around the Lunar New Year. As a side job, the donkey carts also carried passengers. No one wanted to travel the dozens of miles of mountain roads; these remote and impoverished areas were inaccessible by road, so people either relied on bicycles or donkey carts!

The structure is simple: a donkey, a flatbed cart, a few large baskets on it, and people sitting at the back with their legs dangling in the air. If you saw this in a movie, you would probably be very envious. Flowers and plants line both banks, butterflies flutter, and green trees provide shade. People are on the cart, and the driver cracks his whip and shouts, and the cart moves slowly forward. What a leisurely and poetic pastoral life!

Once on board, Shanglin groaned incessantly. Leaving aside the smell of the donkey, the chicks and ducklings in the basket were chattering away. The road was relatively flat at first, but it became increasingly rugged as they went deeper into the mountains. Every now and then, the wheels would roll over a rock, giving a jolt that made his backside ache. If he wasn't holding on tight, he might have been thrown off.

Shanglin held tightly to her younger brother, trying her best to maintain her balance. She admired her parents for still being able to chat with the old man driving the cart in such harsh conditions. After walking a while longer and enduring countless ups and downs, she finally couldn't help but call for a stop. The old man pulled on the reins in surprise, and with a long "whoosh," the donkey slowly came to a stop.

Li Hongwei asked, "What's wrong?"

Shang Lin slowly slid down the cart, holding onto the platform, and let out a long breath: "It's nothing, I'll walk around, sitting is too tiring!"

"You silly child, don't you love riding in a donkey cart the most?"

"Things are different now, hehe, things are different now!" He laughed awkwardly, completely unaware that he had used an idiom, which surprised his parents. The two looked at each other, both noticing the other's surprise, but Shanglin acted very naturally. They assumed it was Qiuru's doing and didn't ask any further questions. Li Hongwei picked Xialin up and carried him in his arms. The driver shouted "Giddy up!" and the donkey started moving slowly again, with Shanglin following behind.

Xia Lin squirmed uncomfortably in his mother's arms: "I want to go down too, I want to go with my sister!"

Shanglin glared at him: "You dare! You'll need someone to carry you after a short while, I can't carry you!"

Xia Lin pouted, looking like he was about to cry. Shang Lin rolled his eyes, casually picked a few foxtail grasses from the roadside, and coaxed him, "Don't be silly, I'll make you a little rabbit!"

Children will be children; a little coaxing and they'll smile and stop fussing. They'll stay obediently in Li Hongwei's arms, facing backward, watching their sister walk and weave. Before long, the abstract little rabbit with two upright ears is finished. He holds it in his hands, looking at it from left to right, and can't put it down.

Shanglin also became interested: "If only we had colored pencils, we could draw red eyes on it, and it would look just like a little rabbit!"

Xia Lin couldn't wait to say it and immediately turned to his mother, pleading, "Mom, I want colored pencils! I want colored pencils!"

Colored pencils? She doesn't even have a single white pencil, yet she dares to ask for colored pencils! Realizing she'd misspoke, Shanglin quickly tried to cover it up: "I can fold origami cranes too, how about I fold one for you?"

My parents both work in a printing factory, so there's no shortage of waste paper.

Shanglin had folded paper airplanes, puppies, and kittens, but had never heard of origami cranes, let alone knew what they were. After calming down, he tilted his head and asked, "What is an origami crane?"

He casually pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, tore it into a square, folded it in half, then in half again, and then in half again, carefully smoothing out the diagonals as he answered, "A crane is a bird that flies in the sky. Oh right, the painting 'Longevity of the Crane' hanging in the main hall has a big white bird on it, that's a crane!"

Xia Lin suddenly realized and became interested, calling out anxiously, "Hurry, hurry, I want a thousand paper cranes!"

Gou Sheng?

Zhang Hongwei's family home was nestled deep in the mountains, more than ten miles away. In later generations, thanks to the "every village connected" road network, access was made much easier with paved roads. However, currently, there was only one main road into the mountains, a bumpy, dirt track. They set off very early in the morning, arriving at their destination when the sun was already high in the sky. Surrounded by layers of mountains, the village was a small village on a flat plain. Driving from the outside in, they passed many hillsides. Few people were around; the villagers, busy catching pests, fertilizing, and pruning the fruit trees, curiously glanced at the donkey cart. When they saw that it carried Zhang Hongwei's eldest daughter, they all greeted her warmly.

"Da Ni'er is back!"

Zhang Hongwei smiled and greeted them one by one: Third Uncle, Fourth Aunt, Fifth Uncle, Eighth Uncle, Seventh Aunt, Sixth Grandmother—the whole village was her maternal family. Since Zhang Hongwei's father wasn't from this village but had settled there from another, marrying a girl from the village, they were even more like her mother's family. When maternal family met, they were incredibly close! There weren't many successful people in the village, and she was the only one who had married well—married into a family in town with government jobs. Everyone looked up to her.

Not far along, he found himself carrying several more handfuls of fruit given to him by the villagers.

Xia Lin ignored everything, grabbed one and stuffed it into his mouth. Shang Lin, with sharp eyes, scolded, "It's covered in pesticide!"

He paused for a moment after saying that, then laughed. In modern society, people are used to not daring to eat any food directly, for fear of pesticide residue. But now they are not afraid. It's not that there is no pesticide residue, but the villagers are poor and rarely willing to buy large amounts of pesticides to spray on the fruit trees.

Fortunately, my parents were busy greeting and exchanging pleasantries and didn't pay attention to them for a moment.

Shanglin then snatched the apple from Xialin's mouth, carefully wiping it with his clothes before handing it back to the disgruntled Xialin: "Here you go, you little glutton!"

Xia Lin was overjoyed, snatched the apple, and devoured it in a few bites, casually tossing the core aside. Then she pestered Shang Lin to fold origami cranes.

After getting off the bus at the village entrance and paying the fare, the driver went to the market, while Shanglin followed his parents into the village and arrived at his maternal grandmother's house. His grandmother, who had come upon hearing the commotion, saw Zhang Hongwei, and the two of them laughed and cried at the same time.

Grandma brewed tea and served snacks to her son-in-law and two nephews. She stroked Xia Lin's breasts repeatedly, but Xia Lin, impatient with her constant touching, tried to struggle several times, only to be glared at fiercely by his sister. He could only look on with annoyance as Grandma showered him with kisses. Grandma, observing this, was somewhat surprised. She carefully examined Xia Lin for a few moments, then turned to her daughter and said:

"I think Shanglin is different from last year."

Zhang Hongwei laughed and replied, "That's right, growing a year older has obviously made a difference. She helps me with housework at home, and she's very efficient! She also takes care of her younger brother, and her words carry more weight than the two of us combined!"

Xia Lin protested, "I did the work too, I helped out!"