“Hey, hey, young man. We’re here, we’re here. Don’t leave just yet—take a few pears.”
Xu Jianbei helped Bai Lan’s grandmother to the Bai family’s doorstep, and the old lady enthusiastically grabbed hold of him and started calling out, afraid she wouldn’t have time to give him her thanks.
Looking at the round pears being thrust in front of him, Xu Jianbei didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Just then, the Bai family was drawn outside by the commotion. The moment Xu Jianbei saw Bai Lan appear, he immediately shot her a pleading look.
Bai Lan still had a half-eaten steamed bun in her hand. Seeing this scene, she burst out laughing.
Bai Lan’s grandmother was a bit confused, but when she saw her youngest granddaughter, she grinned from ear to ear.
Other neighbors in the courtyard who were up early doing chores saw this and started laughing too.
Widow Hu, who loved to gossip, immediately started shouting, “Oh my, isn’t that Aihong’s mother? Hey, Grandmother Bai, that young man is Bai Lan’s boyfriend! Your future little granddaughter’s husband!”
The relationships were quite a mouthful, but the aunts and older women in the courtyard loved watching young people squirm. Hearing this, they all roared with laughter.
Miao Daju was also in the courtyard. She couldn’t help but cover her face and turn to mutter to her husband, “Isn’t Jianbei usually pretty sharp? How come he looks like a dumbstruck fool right now?”
—
Xu Jianbei, who was being silently criticized by his own mother, had already composed himself by now. He gently greeted Bai Lan’s grandmother: “Hello, Grandmother. My name is Xu Jianbei. My home is right over there in the west wing room. I’m 19 years old and work as a skilled technician at the screw factory.”
Bai Lan rarely saw Xu Jianbei so nervous. She leaned against the doorframe and continued watching the show.
Xu Jianbei understood what Bai Lan was doing. A flash of affection crossed his eyes. He thought to himself, when this girl gets mischievous, she’s both lovable and impossible to handle.
Bai Lan’s grandmother clearly took a liking to this handsome young man. On the road earlier, she had praised him repeatedly. Now, hearing that he was her youngest granddaughter’s boyfriend, she happily reached out and patted Xu Jianbei on the back.
“Very good, very good. Sturdy frame, and so handsome.” Saying this, Grandmother Bai gestured for Bai Lan to come over.
Bai Lan immediately walked over and called out, “Grandma, why are you here so early?”
Bai Lan’s grandmother laughed. “Xiaolan, you have excellent taste. Found yourself such a handsome young man. Your eldest sister’s taste was no good—that Qin Shengli looked like a bear, not the slightest bit handsome. And now he’s divorced your sister!”
One moment she was all smiles; the next, her face changed completely. When she said Qin Shengli’s name, her voice dripped with murderous intent.
The old lady, back in the day, had been a heroine who had chopped up quite a few Japanese soldiers with a machete. As soon as these ferocious words left her mouth, the normally lively courtyard fell silent for a beat.
Some of the older women knew about Bai Lan’s grandmother’s exploits. Hearing her tone now, they knew that news of Bai Lian’s divorce had reached the suburbs. The old lady had come to find out what had happened—and they weren’t sure if she might go looking for trouble at the Qin family’s door.
Bai Mama and Bai Baba had already arrived at the entrance. Hearing the old lady’s words, Bai Mama quickly stepped in. “Mother, let’s talk about this inside.”
Bai Lan’s grandmother let out a cold snort, then turned back with a smile to address Xu Jianbei: “Young man, Grandmother has some matters to attend to. You stay in the yard with Xiaolan for now.”
With that, the old lady clasped her hands behind her back and marched into the house.
Bai Lan and Xu Jianbei were left standing at the door, looking at each other. Both were a bit exasperated by the sudden shift in tone.
Xu Jianbei broke the silence. “Grandmother is truly formidable!” That murderous aura had actually stunned him for a moment.
Bai Lan also felt her grandmother was amazing—a rural village elder and a Japanese-killing heroine, transitioning between identities as smoothly as silk.
He Xuejun, who had been carrying the two baskets of pears and was completely overlooked in the corner, finally couldn’t take it anymore. “Little cousin!”
Bai Lan: Oh right—I completely forgot about this cousin…
—
Inside the house, Bai Lan’s grandmother had already extracted the entire story of Bai Lian’s divorce from beginning to end. Upon learning that Bai Lian was doing better after the divorce, her anger vanished without a trace.
“It’s a pity that eldest sister took the two kids out early. Otherwise, seeing Grandma would have made her happier than anything.”
Bai Lan had sent Xu Jianbei home to wait for now, while she led her cousin inside. As soon as she stepped in and saw that the old lady’s expression had improved, she immediately chimed in playfully.
“You shouldn’t have kept this from the family. If your eldest uncle hadn’t seen the newspaper and come back to tell us, we’d still be treating that Qin fellow as a relative. This year’s pear crop was good—lots of fruit. Your eldest uncle even said he was going to send some to the Qin family.”
Just thinking about it—her eldest granddaughter had gotten divorced, and the grandmother’s family was still sending gifts to the Qin side. Anyone who didn’t know would think the Bai family regretted the divorce and were shamelessly trying to curry favor. Now that would be a massive loss of face.
Hearing this, Bai Mama looked sheepish. “I was worried that telling you outright would scare you and Dad.”
“Afraid of what? It’s just a divorce. During the Republican era and after Liberation, how many people got divorced? Back then, your father and I chopped up Japanese soldiers without batting an eye. I’m not like these inexperienced kids like Xuejun who’ve never seen anything.”
Once again caught in the crossfire, He Xuejun was deeply depressed. He should have let his older brother come today. He had been looking forward to a trip into the city. Instead, he’d been nagged by his grandmother the whole way.
“What’s with that face? You and your older brothers—you’ve never seen the world. It’s a pity jobs are hard to come by in the city these days. Otherwise, you few wouldn’t have such a hard time finding a partner!”
The topic immediately shifted to the marriage prospects of Bai Lan’s cousins. Bai Lan listened with a wry smile.
…
Come to think of it, her mother’s family wasn’t particularly large by the standards of this era.
The He family lived in Honghe Production Brigade, part of Sanhe Commune on the outskirts of the capital. The entire Sanhe Commune was a cultivation area for Jingbai pears. The commune members’ income wasn’t high, but their lives were definitely better than those in many rural areas.
Grandmother and Grandfather had once guided the Red Army and had killed several Japanese soldiers, so they commanded great respect in the commune. The two elders had two sons and one daughter. Bai Mama was the middle child.
The eldest uncle stayed in Honghe Production Brigade, living with Grandmother and Grandfather. He was now the brigade captain. Bai Li, the second Bai sister, had been sent to the countryside back in the day, and the family used their connections to place her there. If she hadn’t been assigned to her maternal family’s village, Bai Baba would have fought tooth and nail to keep his daughter from going down to the countryside. Many people’s daughters who went to the countryside reportedly had a terrible time.
The eldest aunt-in-law was from the neighboring Changhe Production Brigade. Her family had carpentry skills, so they didn’t struggle to get by.
The eldest uncle and aunt had three children: He Xuegong, He Xuenong, and He Xiumei. Of them, only 18-year-old He Xiumei was still unmarried.
The youngest aunt-in-law’s father worked as a butcher at the commune slaughterhouse. As an only daughter, the youngest uncle’s family lived in the slaughterhouse’s housing compound after marriage. The youngest uncle now worked as a butcher at the commune slaughterhouse too.
The couple had a set of twins, both 19 years old. The son was the cousin who had come to visit, He Xuejun. He also worked at the slaughterhouse, responsible for receiving the chickens and ducks sent in from various production brigades. The daughter was He Xiuli, currently a temporary clerk at the commune office.
Overall, the He family’s circumstances were fairly good locally. But Grandmother, who had seen the world, knew they were nothing special. And because their situation was neither particularly good nor particularly bad, finding suitable spouses was even more difficult.
And so, with He Xuejun and He Xiuli now 19, and the eldest branch’s Xiumei 18, all three were starting to think about marriage prospects.
—
Hearing his grandmother’s words, He Xuejun shot Bai Lan a helpless look.
Bai Lan burst out laughing. This little cousin of hers was quite funny. He looked a bit slow, but a person who could handle receiving chickens and ducks at a slaughterhouse wasn’t stupid.
“Alright, Grandma. Let’s focus on the main matter here. The main matter is important.”
Bai Lan’s grandmother shot her young grandson a glare, then said, “Well, the commune slaughterhouse recently got a batch of wild ducks. I don’t know where they came from, but there were quite a lot. They’ve already been distributing them privately. Your little uncle’s father-in-law asked if our family wanted any. I figured I needed to come here anyway because of Xiaolian’s divorce, so I thought I’d ask if you want these wild ducks.”
Wild duck meat wasn’t considered particularly delicious compared to pork, beef, or mutton back then. But since meat was hard to come by, having wild duck meat was still a treat!
Bai Baba, being a cook, got excited as soon as he heard about the wild ducks. “Of course we want them. Now that autumn’s here, duck soup is good for the body.”
“If you want them, then let’s go. The sooner we get there, the better our choice.” With that, Grandmother stood up, ready to leave immediately.
This whirlwind, no-nonsense attitude caught Bai Lan off guard once again. Her grandmother really was decisive—say it and do it.
Knowing her grandmother’s personality, Bai Lan knew there was no talking her out of it. So she simply said, “Jianbei borrowed a car. Grandma, why don’t we have him drive us over?”
Bai Lan’s grandmother didn’t stand on ceremony. Hearing this, she praised Bai Lan again. “Xiaolan, you’ve really found a good boyfriend. Xiaoli, Xuejun—when you’re looking for a partner, look for someone handsome and sharp. That’s how you make life interesting.”
Bai Lan couldn’t help but want to laugh again. She realized her grandmother was quite an amusing and straightforward old lady.
Seeing Bai Lan’s expression, the old lady reached out and tapped her. “You, you’re still young, you don’t understand. Look at me—I found a handsome old man like your grandfather. My eyes have been happy my whole life just looking at him.”
—
They set off right away. When Xu Jianbei got behind the wheel, he was still a bit dazed.
Normally, when visiting relatives, wouldn’t you at least have a meal before leaving? Especially since Bai Lan’s grandmother had come all the way from the suburbs early that morning, transferring buses several times. He heard she’d only eaten two mixed-grain steamed buns for breakfast. But this old lady was now directing everyone into the car, heading back to the suburbs to buy wild ducks.
“Are there a lot of wild ducks?” Xu Jianbei asked Bai Lan quietly from the driver’s seat.
Bai Lan nodded and looked at the four people crammed into the back seat. Grandmother and Xuejun were going. Her father, hearing about the wild ducks, wanted to go too. And her mother naturally had to come along. So the car ended up that packed. Luckily, the back seats of these jeeps were quite spacious back then.
The group moved fast. In about two hours, they arrived at the Sanhe Commune slaughterhouse. Since it was exactly lunchtime, they found a state-run restaurant, ate a meal, and then headed to the youngest uncle’s home.
When the youngest uncle saw that his mother and son had gone out and brought back his youngest sister’s entire family, he got a fright. He quickly pulled Bai Mama aside and asked what was going on.
Seeing this, Bai Lan stood with Xu Jianbei at the side, observing the slaughterhouse’s residential compound.
But then, Bai Lan’s grandmother mysteriously beckoned to her.
“Grandma, what’s up?”
—
The old lady was quite direct. “Your mother was around the whole time, so I didn’t ask. Where’s little Ping? Why wasn’t she at home? Did she do something bad?”
Otherwise, her daughter wouldn’t have gone from the moment they met until now without mentioning Bai Ping even once. She knew her daughter well—that lingering guilt she felt toward Bai Ping, always feeling sorry that she hadn’t given her a strong, healthy body.
Bai Lan truly admired her grandmother. Here she was, dodging her own mother to get the real story! She had already gone through her memories and knew that her grandmother had never liked Bai Ping, ever since they were little. She didn’t quite understand why, but since Grandma asked, she wouldn’t hide anything.
So Bai Lan told Bai Lan’s grandmother, step by step, everything Bai Ping had done recently.
After hearing all this, the old lady took a deep breath. “I knew that child was selfish.”
Bai Lan didn’t feel comfortable adding her own opinion, but the little person in her heart was nodding vigorously. Exactly—selfish. And extremely selfish at that.
“Be careful when you deal with her in the future. Don’t be like your second sister, helping her count the money after being sold by her.”
Bai Lan understood exactly what she meant. Back in the day, her second sister actually didn’t need to go to the countryside. But she ended up going because of Bai Ping. And then Bai Ping, after getting the job that was originally meant for second sister, didn’t even treasure it. She promptly had the Qiu family find her another job.
If it weren’t for the fact that second sister’s placement happened to be right at their grandmother’s village, Bai Lan believed everyone else in the family would have held a serious grudge against Bai Ping.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry. She’s moved out now, so there will be even less contact. Even Mom, after all the back-and-forth with her lately, is running out of patience.”
—
While the grandmother and granddaughter were chatting, Bai Baba and Bai Mama had already finished picking out the wild ducks they wanted to buy with the youngest uncle. There were quite a lot of ducks—they bought ten in one go.
They had originally planned to drive Grandma back to Honghe Production Brigade, but she said she wanted to stay overnight at the youngest uncle’s place before returning. In the end, the Bai family, along with Xu Jianbei, took the ten wild ducks and headed straight back.
In the car, Bai Mama asked Bai Lan directly, “Did your grandmother ask you about Pingping just now?”
Bai Lan replied, “Yes, Grandma asked, so I answered.”
Bai Mama was silent for a moment but ultimately said nothing. She had always known that her own mother didn’t like Bai Ping. Even though Xiaoli and Pingping were twins born together, her mother had disliked Bai Ping from the very first look. And Pingping had been a newborn then, no bigger than a fish. Having been out-competed for nutrition in the womb by Xiaoli, she had been a full size smaller than her twin.
Such a pitiful child—her mother never understood why she couldn’t like her.
Now that her mother knew about Bai Ping’s behavior, she would probably dislike her even more.
Thinking about all this, Bai Mama sighed. Bai Baba, who had been so happy about the wild ducks, also grew gloomy.
—
The car made it back to the courtyard without incident. Aside from the somber atmosphere, everything went smoothly.
But Bai Lan was immediately proven wrong.
Because the moment they got out of the car, before they could even unstrap the wild ducks from the roof, Bai Ping came storming toward them.
It had been many days since Bai Lan had last seen Bai Ping. Seeing her now, she barely recognized her.
The usually polished and put-together Bai Ping now looked haggard, with dark circles under her eyes and pale lips. She was a complete mess.
“Bai Lan, do you know an older woman surnamed Cai?”
Bai Lan frowned. There were actually quite a few older women named Cai. Just in Xinghua Alley alone, you could find three. But Bai Lan’s first thought at Bai Ping’s sudden question was that particular Aunt Cai.
But Bai Ping didn’t wait for her to speak. She immediately started rattling off, “You went and provoked someone outside, and they took revenge on me! Did you know that? That old hag sent a whistleblowing letter to Qiu Chengcai’s mother. If it weren’t for that, we wouldn’t have broken up.”
At the very least, not so quickly. She still had many things she needed Qiu Chengcai’s help with.
Now, without Qiu Chengcai, she had fallen into a pit, spending her days surrounded by piles of moldy, stinking old newspapers. After sticking it out for a while, Bai Ping was seized by the fear that she would spend her entire life like this.
Today, on her day off, a disgusting old woman named Cai had jumped right in front of her, babbling on about her grudge with Bai Lan and proudly spilling everything she had done.
It was only then that Bai Ping learned most of her recent misfortune was Bai Lan’s fault.
—
After listening to all this, Bai Lan was speechless. She had no idea Aunt Cai was still stirring up trouble! But that said, Aunt Cai’s meddling had accidentally rescued Qiu Chengcai.
So what was the point of Bai Ping’s endless ranting? Bai Lan wasn’t getting involved.
Still, Bai Lan couldn’t help but note the irony: just moments ago, she had told her grandmother that she’d have less to do with Bai Ping going forward, and now here Bai Ping was. It stung a little.
Bai Baba and Bai Mama had just been sitting in heavy silence in the car. Now, seeing Bai Ping pointing accusingly at Bai Lan, they found it completely unreasonable. They felt so disappointed they couldn’t even say a word.
Bai Ping turned and saw this, which made her even angrier. She had come today to get justice from Bai Lan. Ideally, to make Bai Lan compensate her with a good job. But now, without her parents’ support, there was no way she could pressure Bai Lan.
And Bai Lan certainly wasn’t about to give her the slightest chance.
Because Bai Lan had already called out toward the courtyard, summoning Datou and a few other young men to help carry the ten wild ducks inside. She also gently nudged her parents to head home.
As for Bai Ping, still jumping up and down in fury, she was completely ignored by everyone.
Even the neighbors who usually loved a good spectacle were completely captivated by the sight of so many wild ducks.
Who had time for Bai Ping’s stale old drama anymore?
Abandoned by everyone, Bai Ping trembled with rage. Since when was she worth less than a few wild ducks? If everyone looked down on her, she would make them all regret it!
But no one cared. Everyone had already rushed off to grab the wild ducks!
Leave a Reply