Dinner was at Secretary Mo's house. Grandpa Mo mentioned they had just received some white rice, so he scooped some out to take to the kitchen to cook. However, Secretary Mo and his wife both firmly pushed it back. Fifth Auntie was short but had a very warm personality. Granny Mo had taught Mo Xiaoman to call her "Fifth Auntie," so Mo Xiaoman figured Secretary Mo must be the fifth among his brothers in the clan.
Fifth Auntie said with a playful reproach, "If you act like this, you're making things difficult for us! My fourth and fifth boys were swimming in the reservoir back in the day when they both got leg cramps. They were pulling each other under, and if you hadn't arrived in time, would they still be alive? And over the years, how many people in the village have had their rheumatism treated by the medicinal wine you make? My old man here was careless in his youth and ended up with aching bones. Wasn't it you who gave him the herbs and taught him how to steep a jar of medicinal wine? He drinks it year-round, and while it hasn't cured him completely, at least it doesn't act up too badly when the weather turns, sparing him that pain... So don't be so polite! Just make yourselves at home!"
After hearing this, Grandpa Mo just chuckled and didn't say anything more.
Fifth Auntie had her daughters-in-law and daughters to help, so she didn't let Mo Xiaoman into the kitchen. Mo Xiaoman obediently sat next to Granny Mo and waited for dinner.
Taking the opportunity, she snuck a few more glances at Grandpa Mo. She remembered that Grandpa only knew about herbs and never treated people's illnesses. In her past life, after Liu Fengying had scalded her with hot oil, she had developed a fever and was left with barely a breath in her. At first, Grandpa hadn't known. When he found out, he urgently tried to get Mo Guoqiang to take her to the hospital. Seeing that Mo Guoqiang absolutely refused and that any further delay would be fatal, Grandpa had no choice but to make a dark, cool paste himself and apply it to her burns. He then brewed a medicinal soup and made her drink it. It was by a stroke of luck that Xiao Man survived. The burns slowly healed, but they left her body covered in ugly scars. She had always thought of Grandpa as a quack doctor who just got lucky. But now, hearing that he also knew how to make medicinal wine to treat rheumatism and bone aches, she couldn't help but be surprised. 'Does Grandpa actually know Chinese medicine or not?'
Dinner was served. There was no fancy fish or meat, but the aroma alone made Mo Xiaoman's mouth water. Secretary Mo's family was large, so the dishes weren't served on small plates but in large basins—the kind of earthy yellow earthenware basins a foot in diameter and five or six inches deep: a basin of scrambled eggs with chives, a basin of stewed pumpkin, a basin of stir-fried green beans, and a basin of cured pork with pickled mustard greens, plus a basin of loofah soup!
The staple food was a large pot of white rice—no coarse grains mixed in!
This was a spread fit for honored guests!
Mo Xiaoman's eyes swept across the table and locked onto the basin of cured pork with pickled mustard greens. There weren't many pieces of cured pork, but enough of its fat had rendered out to moisten the pickled greens. The aroma was simply irresistible!
Every household in the area knew how to make these pickled greens. You'd wash and sun-dry mustard greens, chop them finely, mix them with grains of rice and a little salt, then pack them into an earthenware jar to ferment. Who knew which ancestor had invented this pickling method and passed it down, but it had to be at least a hundred years old, if not a thousand. Every year, after the mustard greens were harvested, they would be pickled in large vats and jars, enough to last the whole year. In the summer, even without being stir-fried in oil, just eating them plain was enough to accompany rice or congee and fill one's belly!
Tonight, this basin of pickled greens had cured pork, a few cloves of crushed garlic, a sprinkle of scallions, and a few burst-open red chilies. The flavor was simply out of this world. To Mo Xiaoman, it was practically a delicacy from the mountains and seas!
Children weren't allowed at the main table. Granny Mo, being blind and afraid of being impolite, also firmly refused to sit at the table. Grandpa Mo was the guest of honor tonight, so he sat at the table with Secretary Mo, trading toasts and making conversation over wine. Granny Mo and Mo Xiaoman sat behind Grandpa Mo, each holding a bowl of white rice topped with a spoonful of scrambled eggs and a spoonful of the cured pork with pickled greens.
Granny Mo ate slowly, bite by bite, her expression calm, seemingly listening to Grandpa Mo talk. Mo Xiaoman's expression was much more animated. After so many years, eating the pickled greens from her hometown again made her so happy. She'd shovel in a mouthful of rice, then cherish a small bite of the pickled greens. It tasted wonderful, but she was so hungry she had to chew just a couple of times before quickly swallowing. She didn't even realize how her face lit up with joy as she ate!
Secretary Mo caught sight of Xiao Man's expression and couldn't help but chuckle. He walked over and added two more pieces of cured pork to her and Granny Mo's bowls, praising Grandpa Mo once again for making the right choice. Of all Mo Guoqiang's children, the others were no good—only this Mo Xiaoman was the best!
Once the women and children finished eating, they put down their bowls and left the table. The men, young and old, remained, drinking slowly and discussing everything under the sun. It wasn't bedtime yet, so Fifth Auntie sat with Granny Mo on the sun-drying platform by the door, talking. They each held a large cattail fan, fanning themselves to create a breeze and keep the mosquitoes away. Mo Xiaoman was invited to play by a few four- and five-year-old children. Unable to refuse their enthusiastic invitation, she had to tap into her inner child and run and jump around with them for a while.
Just then, the courtyard gate opened and Captain Guan walked in. He greeted Fifth Auntie and Granny Mo before walking directly into the main hall, where Secretary Mo invited him to sit down for a drink.
It was impossible to hear what the men were saying inside, but after about twenty minutes, Grandpa Mo suddenly hurried out, crouched down beside Granny Mo, and asked:
"My dear, I was originally thinking of taking you two to live by the reservoir for a while. Then, once autumn arrives and there's less rain, I'd have Boss Mo give us back our few plots of vegetable land. That was the foundation we bought years ago. The three of us could fence off a small courtyard and build a couple of rooms to live in. But just now, I heard Captain Guan and Secretary Mo discussing something. At the beginning of the year, all the educated youths fled back to the city and never returned. They're city folks, so the city will arrange jobs for them. There probably won't be any more educated youths in the village! The courtyard and rooms originally built for them are just sitting empty, so they said we can live there for now! That Youth Corps Courtyard is very nice and sturdy. The educated youths knew how to keep things tidy—it's clean and bright inside, with flowers and grass. It even has a well and a grain-sunning ground. It's twice as wide as the Mo Family Courtyard, with seven rooms—a main building and a side wing. The walls are thick, rammed earth, and they've been whitewashed several times. The roof is all red tiles... We can live there for now as a family, and later, if it's true that there will be no more educated youths, we can negotiate with the production team to buy it. What do you think?"
Before Granny Mo could react, Fifth Auntie slapped her cattail fan and exclaimed, "The Knowledge Youth House? Oh, that place is wonderful! It's at the west end of the village on slightly higher ground. On hot days like this, there's always a cool breeze. The house is well-oriented, too. There are only a few households behind the courtyard, and it's open and quiet on both sides. The main road is right outside the gate, so it's very convenient for getting around! In the morning and afternoon, the sun hits it from the east and west, but as soon as dusk falls, the cool breeze arrives! Every year when the team needs to sun the grain, I always fight to go there. Sitting under that big pear tree, enjoying the breeze... it's so comfortable! If I didn't have to shoo away the sparrows, I could fall right asleep sitting there!"
"There's a pear tree in the courtyard? Does it bear fruit?"
Granny Mo had been blind for over a decade and could no longer remember where in the village there might be a big pear tree, let alone what the Knowledge Youth House looked like. She was just asking casually.
Fifth Auntie said, "That pear tree is huge! It's a June pear, decades old, and it bears fruit every year. The pears have thin skin, small cores, and are so juicy and sweet. They're delicious! Hey, when the team picked the fruit this year, didn't every family get five pounds?"
Granny Mo just smiled. 'Living in the Mo Family Courtyard with Second Aunt Mo in charge, no matter what benefits the production team distributed, none of it ever made its way to her!'
Grandpa Mo asked again, "My dear, so, what do you think?"
Granny Mo said, "We should ask Xiao Man, too. See if she likes it."
Mo Xiaoman was already crouching beside Grandpa by this point. Before he could even ask her, she opened her big, bright and limpid eyes wide and nodded several times, making Grandpa burst into laughter. Granny Mo smiled too, and so the matter of buying the Knowledge Youth House was settled.
In 1978, the following year, the national college entrance exams would be reinstated, along with large-scale recruitment exams. As long as a young person had an urban, non-agricultural household registration, they would be given priority for admission if they passed the recruitment exams for various factories, mines, and enterprises. The era of the educated youth was gone for good. The vacant educated youth posts in rural production teams were almost all sold at a discount to the team's own members.
'In my previous life, Grandpa and Grandma must have also moved into the Knowledge Youth House first. Then, after getting some inside information leaked by Secretary Mo, they were able to buy the courtyard ahead of everyone else. It's just a pity that Grandpa had an accident soon after!'
'I remember going to see it after Grandpa and Grandma moved in. Mo Xiaosu, Mo Xiaofeng, and Mo Xiao Zhi went with me. The girls started arguing right there in the courtyard. Aside from me, who felt too inferior to think I was worthy, the other three were all fighting to claim a room. Because it used to be a dormitory for the educated youths, who were from the city and used to keeping their rooms nice and tidy, the walls were decorated with small portraits of movie stars or scenic posters. As country girls with little exposure to the outside world, we didn't know what "fashionable" meant, but we knew we wanted rooms like that. And that was enough.'
'But in the end, none of them got to move in. Grandpa wouldn't allow it. He spoke harshly to them and even chased them out with a whip.'
'In my past life, I didn't know why Grandpa was so angry that day, but now I think I understand. It must have been because Mo Guoqiang and Liu Fengying went back on their word. They took over Grandpa's half-room and took his money, but in the end, they didn't give him a daughter to live with him and Grandma as promised.'
'That's why Grandpa felt so resentful when he saw the girls. He was probably also afraid of hurting Grandma's feelings. After all, it was Grandma who had first mentioned wanting a girl to keep them company.'
'After leaving the noisy Mo Family Courtyard, Grandpa and Grandma spent two peaceful years in the Youth Corps Courtyard before they both passed away. The couple hadn't even reached sixty.'
'It was because Grandpa fell off a cliff while gathering herbs, and the blind Grandma lost her will to live. In this life, I must prevent Grandpa's accident. I hope that with the help of the Treasure Bead, I can cure Grandma's eyes and let this loving couple live for many more years!'