The 1970s: Married First, Fell in Love Later-Chapter 25 - 24: Holing Up for the Winter

After several gloomy days, snowflakes finally began to drift down from the sky this afternoon.

Xue Yue watched the snow fall harder and harder, growing worried enough to periodically check the courtyard gate. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"The snow is really coming down. What are you doing out here?" Mrs. He asked, standing in the doorway.

"Mom, He Lang went to town. With the snow falling this heavily, the roads are sure to be slippery."

Mrs. He came to the gate and glanced out. "It’s fine. The third son often used to run to town in the winter. You should go back inside before you catch a cold."

Xue Yue nodded. "Okay. You should go back in too, Mom."

That evening, just as Xue Yue had finished making dinner, He Lang returned.

When He Lang came in, his hair was dusted with snow, he brought a chill with him, and he was carrying something in his hand.

"Here, wipe yourself off." Xue Yue handed He Lang a towel so he could brush the snow from his hair.

Xue Yue quickly poured a bowl of hot water and placed it in He Lang’s hands for him to hold and warm them.

It took a while for He Lang to thaw out.

"I sold the ginseng, then went straight to Big Brother’s place to give him the money. I just came from there."

"How much did you sell it for?"

He Lang took a sip of water from the bowl. "Three hundred yuan."

Xue Yue’s eyes widened. "That much?"

He Lang chuckled. "It’s not that much. That’s just the price in a place like ours. If we sold it in a big city, it would have fetched at least double. That ginseng root looked to be over thirty years old."

Xue Yue nodded. "Still, that’s a lot."

He Lang then went over and opened the bag, revealing the meat inside.

"Big Brother gave me this. He hunted a roe deer but didn’t sell it. He said he’s keeping it to eat this winter and gave us half."

(Roe deer are sometimes called "silly roe deer" because when they encounter a threat, they don’t react immediately. Instead, they first stare blankly, a result of their innately slow-tempered nature.)

Xue Yue glanced at it, no longer surprised that her brother could get his hands on such things.

Xue Yue told He Lang about Second Sister-in-law’s suspicions from the afternoon.

He Lang’s eyes narrowed slightly. "What did you say?"

"I said I used my dowry money, that there was some left over after paying for my brother’s medical treatment."

There was indeed a portion of the 500 yuan left over, but He Lang had never asked Xue Yue for any of it.

"We should be more careful from now on. If we keep this up, the money will eventually run out. When that happens, you won’t have an excuse for where your money is coming from. If someone reports you, we’ll be done for." Xue Yue was, in fact, a little scared by the thought.

He Lang nodded. "I know. I’ll be as careful as I can."

The next morning, they discovered the snow had stopped. The accumulation on the ground was already past Xue Yue’s ankles.

After getting up, He Lang went to get He Nan. The two brothers carried a ladder up to the roof to sweep off the snow.

Around here, people had to clear the snow from their roofs after every snowfall in the winter. Because the houses weren’t built with bricks, they couldn’t bear too much weight.

While they were at it, they also shoveled the snow in the courtyard.

After breakfast, He Lang lit the new stove he’d bought. Xue Yue had already started heating the kang a few days earlier when it got cold.

A few days later, the village’s elementary school and the town’s middle and high schools all started their winter break.

He Ziqing came home as well.

Hibernating for the winter was quite comfortable. You could sleep in as late as you wanted. He Lang stopped going out, spending his days holed up at home either sleeping or asking Xue Yue what she was making for dinner.

Today, for a rare treat, Xue Yue decided to make dumplings with pickled cabbage and roe deer meat.

The family hadn’t eaten dumplings in a long time. Xue Yue made a huge batch, wrapping them together with He Lang.

Once they were boiled, she sent a bowl each to Mr. He and Mrs. He, as well as to the families of the first and second brothers.

He Lang couldn’t stop praising the filling Xue Yue had mixed.

"Wife, I think you could open a restaurant."

Xue Yue smiled. ’If it weren’t forbidden right now, I’d actually consider it,’ she thought.

In the afternoon, He Ziqing came to visit with Tuanzi.

"Third Aunt, your dumplings are delicious! This is a snack Grandma gave me. You can have it." He Ziqing offered a pastry to Xue Yue.

Xue Yue smiled and declined. "Thank you, but Third Aunt doesn’t want it. You have it."

He Lang, leaning back against a pile of folded quilts, drawled lazily, "You little rascal. Only for your Third Aunt, and nothing for your Third Uncle? Just think of all the tasty things I’ve given you kids. Tsk tsk, it breaks my heart just thinking about it."

He Ziqing laughed. "Third Uncle, I just figured you wouldn’t care for something like this. Third Uncle, wait until I’m earning money. I’ll buy you meat to eat."

"Now that’s more like it."

Xue Yue gave a helpless smile, went to get a few candies, and pressed them into Tuanzi’s and He Ziqing’s hands.

"Thank you, Third Aunt."

Little Tuanzi also mumbled with a grin, "Thank you, Auntie."

Xue Yue fondly picked up Tuanzi, placed him on the kang, and beckoned for He Ziqing to come up as well.

"Third Aunt, your room is so warm."

He Ziqing looked at the stove on the floor, thinking about how her family didn’t have one. She really envied her Third Aunt.

He Lang, still lying lazily on the kang, casually pulled Tuanzi into his arms.

"Ziqing, how long is your school break?"

"School doesn’t start again until mid-February next year."

Because the school was far from home, He Ziqing lived in a dormitory, only coming back on Sundays.

Now that the college entrance exam had been canceled, people didn’t place as much importance on their children’s education. Some families even pulled their kids out of school altogether.

The He Family was doing better than most. Xiao Yang and Little Chen attended the village elementary school and got out early in the afternoon, while He Ziqing was in middle school.

"Third Aunt, did you ever go to school?"

"I made it to the first year of middle school, but then my stepmother wouldn’t let me continue."

He Ziqing gasped. "Third Aunt, your mother is a stepmother? I heard that all stepmothers are evil. Third Aunt, you poor thing."

Xue Yue smiled. "Not all stepmothers are bad; there are good ones, too. Third Aunt was just unlucky and didn’t meet one."

"So, do you still want to study, Third Aunt?"

Xue Yue nodded. "You can study anytime, you just can’t go to a school."

He Lang watched Xue Yue. ’She has so many sides to her,’ he thought. ’She’s a penny-pincher, yet she generously offered 200 yuan to build a house. She didn’t get along with her stepmother, yet she can say that not all stepmothers are bad, just that she was unlucky. She dislikes Second Brother and Second Sister-in-law, but when she makes dumplings, she still sends some over for their children to try. You could say she’s good-tempered and kind, but that doesn’t seem to be the whole picture either.’

At that moment, He Lang felt that Xue Yue’s face seemed to glow, making her impossible to read.

Later, when they were alone, He Lang asked Xue Yue, "Do you like to read?"

Xue Yue nodded.

’What good does liking it do?’ she thought. ’Books are expensive; ordinary families can’t afford them.’

Xue Yue had no idea that He Lang took her answer to heart.

Another half month passed. He Yun and Liu Jian Country arrived with Daya. Oh, and He Yun was also carrying a little one in her arms.

It turned out He Yun was pregnant again and had come home to stay for a while.

Liu Jian Country dropped off He Yun and the children and then left, saying he’d only taken a short leave and had to get back to work.

Xue Yue and He Lang went over as well.

Mrs. He asked He Yun, "How many months along are you?"

He Yun rubbed her belly. "Not quite two months."

Mrs. He looked at the frail Daya, then at Erya, who was lying on the kang. At just over six months old, she too was thin and small.

"Now that you’re pregnant, what is Erya eating?"

He Yun gave a bitter smile. "My milk dried up as soon as I got pregnant with this one. Erya has been drinking cornmeal paste."

"Nonsense! Feeding a six-month-old cornmeal paste? Even if you can’t afford formula, surely you can afford malted milk extract and rice porridge, can’t you? And to think your husband and father-in-law are both workers! What’s the point of earning money if you’re not willing to spend it?" Mrs. He fumed, looking at the frail mother and her two children, and now another one on the way.

"I don’t even know what to say to you. You could have at least waited until Erya was a year old before getting pregnant again. She’s still so little, and now you’re carrying another one."

He Yun looked weakly at her mother. "Mom, I was just hoping to have a boy sooner rather than later."

"You’re already raising these two like this, and you want to have a boy? What for? So he can inherit the Liu family’s throne?"

He Yun glanced awkwardly at the others in the room.

Mrs. He was too angry to speak to her anymore. She’d told her so many times, but He Yun never learned.

After everyone else had left, Mrs. He opened a cabinet on the kang, took out some candy and cookies, and gave them to Daya to eat.