It was already the twelfth lunar month. One could imagine just how long Xiuxiu and Zhengyang had been in the hospital, which was honestly ridiculous.
Ever since Old Man Gao visited that one time, no one else from the Gao family had come. Bai Jiu didn’t actually want them to come anyway, but she felt a deep sense of injustice for the two children and their late father. Over these past few days, however, Gao Weimin and Zhou Qingshan’s family had visited quite frequently.
Upon learning they were being discharged today, Gao Weimin even drove his ox cart over just to pick them up. Of course, the ox belonged to the collective, but the cart was his own.
"Bai Jiu, is everything packed?" Gao Weimin asked. He had already carried some of the heavier luggage downstairs earlier. Now, he was just waiting for her to finish packing their lighter belongings.
"It’s all done. Thank you so much for the trouble, Weimin," Bai Jiu said, truly grateful to him.
"No trouble at all," Gao Weimin replied. He rarely interacted with Bai Jiu in the past, mainly because his brother had seldom come home ever since he started working for the state. As a result, he genuinely didn’t have much contact with her, though he had heard plenty of rumors. She seemed much better now than before. Perhaps it was because his brother was no longer around?
"Xiuxiu, Zhengyang, say goodbye to Sister Fang."
The two children obediently waved their hands and bid farewell to everyone. "Goodbye, Sister Fang! Goodbye, nurses!" The two little ones were quite sweet-talkers.
Sitting on the ox cart, Bai Jiu mentally planned out what she needed to do first upon returning to the village. She was absolutely not going to let Gao Erzhu off the hook. No one could use the "he’s just a child" excuse with her. No matter how young a child was, they couldn’t possibly do something so vicious.
"Weimin, stop the cart." Bai Jiu had been lost in thought, but the moment a savory aroma drifted into her nose, she immediately called out to him.
"What’s wrong, Bai Jiu?" Gao Weimin quickly pulled back on the reins and halted the ox cart. Fortunately, it hadn’t been moving fast, or else it would have been difficult to stop so suddenly. "Did you forget something?"
"No, no." Bai Jiu waved her hand and jumped off the cart. "Wait here a moment, I’m going to buy some steamed buns."
The morning market had just ended, and the bamboo steamers at the entrance of the state-run restaurant were still billowing with hot steam. The mouthwatering scent of the buns carried from quite a distance away. With that, Bai Jiu trotted over to the restaurant’s entrance.
"Give me twenty meat buns, and I’ll also take two large portions of lamb offal soup to go." Seeing that they were not only selling steamed buns but also lamb offal soup—a rare treat that was usually hard to come by—she immediately ordered two large portions.
The server glanced at Bai Jiu. Seeing that she was dressed quite decently, the impatience on her face faded slightly. "You have to bring your own pot for the soup. We don’t provide any here," she explained without moving to pack the food.
Bai Jiu genuinely hadn’t known this. She had never bought food from here before. While Xiuxiu and Zhengyang were in the hospital, she had always brought her own ingredients and paid the cafeteria chef to cook them. She would just slip him twenty cents for the trouble. She had never expected that buying food outside would require bringing her own containers.
"Give me a second." However, this wasn’t enough to stump her. Hurrying back to the ox cart, she dug out the large pot she normally used to hold soup for the children.
"Fill this up for me, please. Let me know how much it is, and I’ll still take the twenty large meat buns," Bai Jiu said, handing the pot over.
The server took it. "Filling the pot will be one yuan, no food stamps required. The buns are two yuan—ten cents each—plus five catties’ worth of food stamps."
Hearing the price, Bai Jiu didn’t hesitate. She pulled the money and tickets straight out of her pocket. She had plenty of ration tickets. The man from the black market hadn’t scammed her and had given her quite a few food stamps. The only pity was that very few of them were national food stamps; the vast majority were provincial ones.
"Here you go."
After collecting the money and tickets, the server began packing her order. Carrying the heavy pot of soup and a large paper bag full of steamed buns, Bai Jiu hurried back to the cart. Xiuxiu and Zhengyang were bundled tightly in a thick quilt, leaving only their two little heads poking out.
"It smells so good! Mom, what did you buy?" Zhengyang asked immediately upon catching the scent.
"You sure have a sharp nose. I bought some steamed buns and lamb offal soup. We got lucky today to actually come across some lamb offal." It truly was pure luck. Usually, getting ahold of beef or lamb was much harder than finding pork.
Climbing onto the cart, Bai Jiu carefully leveled the pot and then told Gao Weimin to drive on. The ox cart was entirely open without any windshield, leaving them completely exposed to the elements. Fortunately, she was dressed warmly, otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to withstand the freezing weather. God had been kind enough today to spare them from the snow, or else the journey home would have been much more difficult.
She took out some buns for the two children, then pulled out two more and handed them to Gao Weimin as he drove.
"I’m not hungry, Bai Jiu." How could he possibly accept something so precious?
"Just take them. They’ll get cold if you wait, and eating cold food isn’t good for your stomach," Bai Jiu insisted, ignoring his refusal and tossing them directly into his lap.
Afraid the buns would fall, Gao Weimin quickly caught them with one hand. Smelling the savory aroma, he couldn’t help but gulp. "Thank you, Bai Jiu."
"Don’t be so polite. If anyone should be saying thanks, it’s me. You’ve been running around helping us so much these past few days. I’m really grateful. Two steamed buns are hardly enough to repay that kind of favor," Bai Jiu joked.
Since the pot was still full of piping hot lamb offal soup, she didn’t want to let it go cold, so she pulled out a bowl. She scooped out a brimming bowl of the hearty soup. One had to admit, the best thing about this era was that everything was made with genuine, high-quality ingredients without the slightest bit of adulteration.
"Wash it down with some hot soup." She handed the very first bowl over to Gao Weimin.
Gao Weimin hesitated for a moment before accepting it. "Thank you."
"Stop being so polite and eat up. Even though it’s not snowing today, the wind is biting. It’s best if we hurry back to the village," Bai Jiu said. She knew he was thin-skinned and didn’t want him to constantly keep thanking her.
"Mm." Gao Weimin began to eat in large bites. Washing the steamed buns down with the hot soup, he devoured the entire meal in no time.
"Here." He turned and handed the empty bowl back to Bai Jiu. "Thank you, Bai Jiu."
There was no denying it—after a bowl of that rich, hot soup, his entire body felt wonderfully warm.
Bai Jiu didn’t say much more. She ladled out another bowl, pulled out a spoon, and began feeding the two children. "Lie back down as soon as you’re done eating so you don’t catch a chill."
After making sure the two children were well-fed, Bai Jiu finally took a steamed bun for herself. She had to admit, it was absolutely delicious.
The journey back to the village was neither fast nor slow. They arrived just past ten o’clock in the morning. Gao Weimin dropped them off directly at their house and even helped carry their luggage inside. The commotion caught the attention of the neighbors living next door, but none of them came out to greet them.
Instead, it was Aunt Peng who hurried over, bringing Peng Aiguo along with her.
"You’re finally back! Are Xiuxiu and Zhengyang feeling any better?" Aunt Peng’s heart finally settled upon seeing the mother and her children return safely.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t wanted to visit them over the past few days, but Aiguo had been worried about her walking the mountain roads and absolutely refused to let her go. He had also reasoned that her going wouldn’t be of much help anyway, and that it would be better for her to stay and keep an eye on Bai Jiu’s house instead. Meanwhile, he had gone up the mountain to chop some extra firewood so that they wouldn’t run short during the winter. Over the past few days, Peng Aiguo had hauled quite a bit of firewood to Bai Jiu’s house. The space next to the kitchen was now piled high, with enough stock to easily last them through the entire winter.
"Aunt Peng, you’re here! Xiuxiu and Zhengyang are all better now," Bai Jiu said, a genuinely bright smile blooming on her face at the sight of the older woman.
"Grandma Peng!" Xiuxiu and Zhengyang cheered happily when they saw her.
"Aiguo!"