Jiang Cheng stood against the wall as Grandma Shen came out with the remaining bit at the bottom of the DDT bottle.

"Just a drop diluted with some water, don’t use too much!"

"And you need to use the nit comb on her, scrape it all off or it’ll just grow back!"

Li Chunhua’s mother replied, "I’ll scrape it clean, I just can’t believe who’s got such bad morals, having lice and still going to the bathhouse!"

Seeing Li Chunhua’s mother about to leave with the DDT, Jiang Cheng couldn’t help but say, "Aunt Li, maybe it’s better to get some sulfur from the pharmacy, DDT is a bit dangerous."

"It’s alright! We’ve done this plenty of times before!"

Li Chunhua’s mother left with the DDT.

After a short while, Li Chunhua emerged with wild, unruly hair, looking distressed.

Her mother had her pinned to a stool, using the dense nit comb to scrape her hair.

"Ahhh— it hurts, it hurts!"

Li Chunhua cried out from the scraping.

Each strand of hair was being pulled against her scalp, making her face flush with pain.

A bunch of kids were chattering beside them, some were even lighting matches to burn the lice and nits for fun.

Afterwards, several households started scraping off lice and nits from their kids.

The girls could keep their hair, but the boys were shaved bald, which was more hassle-free and quicker.

Standing against the wall, Jiang Cheng only felt that no place was safe, her whole head became itchy too.

By the time Shen Que returned, the courtyard had a few more bald heads.

He looked around and finally found Jiang Cheng in the corner.

That expression was one he’d never seen before.

Shen Que shook his head and chuckled.

Turns out there are things Jiang Cheng is afraid of!

He strode over, stood next to Jiang Cheng, and lowered his head.

"Let me take a look for you...."

Shen Que examined Jiang Cheng’s hair very carefully.

"Don’t worry, you don’t have lice."

"Really?"

It was the first time Jiang Cheng felt so insecure, because her head really itched.

"Really, I promise!"

"Phew— I was scared to death!"

Jiang Cheng let out a long breath and said in a daze, "Everything happened so fast, one moment Shen Yue was telling me a classmate had lice, and the next moment the whole courtyard was full of lice."

In Shen Que’s eyes, there was only Jiang Cheng.

His itchy palm reached up to touch her head.

Jiang Cheng now looked so cute.

The lice battle ended after dark.

Jiang Cheng expressly forbade Li Chunhua from studying with her until the lice were gone.

Without Li Chunhua, Sun Aiguo didn’t feel right about coming either.

In the end, Jiang Cheng took her books to the Shen Family to study with Shen Que and Shen Xing.

Shen Yue was reading the newspaper and learning words on the side.

Reading on, Shen Yue pointed to a name and said, "This person is amazing, they’ve published several articles!"

"Which person, I didn’t see it?"

Curious, Jiang Cheng, who read the newspaper daily, leaned over, and twitched her eye.

The name Shen Yue pointed at was—-Anonymous.

According to Shen Yue’s logic, she wasn’t wrong either.

Jiang Cheng shook her head and laughed, explaining to Shen Yue the meaning of Anonymous, and Shen Yue suddenly understood.

"So that’s it!"

The group laughed heartily, ending the day with joyous laughter.

Early the next morning, those going to school went to school, those going to work went to work.

Jiang Cheng concentrated on translations at home, learning a new language.

She had received responses from Elder Xu, Uncle Zhong, and Director Leng.

Elder Xu often sent her new materials, recently some foreign materials too.

Uncle Zhong managed strictly, only talking about domestic matters.

Director Leng, however, brought Jiang Cheng some good news: that in December, she could go to the Canton Fair.

Even though it was just a translator’s role, just going meant opportunity.

Jiang Cheng had been studying all along; she wanted to put in simple yet pure effort during this special era.

Mid-morning immersion in study was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Coming!"

Jiang Cheng opened the door.

"Principal Wang?"

"Whew— well— that Ma Chunhua you mentioned— called you!"

Ma Chunhua!

Quite possibly the daughter of Old Ma’s family!

"Principal, let me put on a jacket, could you wait a moment?"

Principal Wang wearily waved his hand, plopping down on the steps mumbling, "Next time, better send the young ones. My old bones and joints, you know."

With a thud, Jiang Cheng donned her coat, helping Principal Wang up.

"Take your time behind me, I’ll head off first!"

"Go ahead, I’ll catch my breath."

As Principal Wang took a break by Grandma Shen’s door, Jiang Cheng sped away, practically sparking the pedals.

She hadn’t yet gone to see Old Ma.

Mainly unsure if Ma Chunhua would come.

At the night school gate, Uncle Wang had already opened it early, calling out succinctly, "Hurry on in!"

Jiang Cheng waved with one hand, as she rode her bike inside.

She parked by the office building entrance, running upstairs.

In Principal Wang’s office, Jiang Cheng saw the number left and dialed back.

Transfer, waiting.

"Hello— this is Ma Chunhua."

"Comrade Ma, this is Jiang Cheng, are you ready?"

"Yes! I’m taking the train tonight, arriving tomorrow morning. My family wants to come with me, everyone took leave... so it took a bit of time."

"I understand, I understand, they care about you too."

Ma Chunhua acknowledged, saying a few more words before they hung up.

After hanging up, Jiang Cheng sat in contemplation, wondering whether to inform Old Ma.

Too much surprise might cause a heart attack.

Also, with so many people coming, maybe the place should be tidied up.

Actually, Jiang Cheng felt a bit nervous too, as much as all the information matched, what if it didn’t? 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

After considering, she decided to mentally prepare Old Ma.

Having decided, she locked up the office and rode off on her bike, sparks flying.

She rode all the way to Old Ma’s house, and the gate was open.

"Big brother— Ma Cheng is your nephew, what’s the difference if he were your own son, let him and his wife stay here, they’ll look after you in your old age."

"Uncle, I’ll definitely take care of you."

Ma Cheng clunked down on his knees, kowtowing sincerely.

Old Ma, sitting on a stool weaving a basket, remained unmoved.

"My house is for Yue Ya, if I can’t find her, I’ll donate it to the community."

"No need for you to mull over it."

Old Ma’s words turned the expressions of the two men and two women in the courtyard sour.

The older man huffed angrily, glaring at Old Ma, "Big brother, why are you so heartless? We share the same family name, you’d give your house away to outsiders rather than us!"

"Exactly, uncle! We’re blood relatives, why give it to outsiders!"

They took turns berating Old Ma for being cold-blooded, neglecting family ties.

Old Ma remained equally unmoved.

The two women standing beside joined in.

"Big brother, forgive me for speaking bluntly, but you’ll never find Yue Ya!"

"Even if you did find her, there’s no guarantee of giving the house to your daughter."

Old Ma’s hands paused, his cloudy eyes fixed on the woman speaking.

The woman instinctively stepped back, her eyes flickering with unease.

Old Ma’s deep voice resonated.

"My Yue Ya will come back."