The little girl was too shy to ask for fish. After declining a few times and under the strong pressing of Ling Chengyan, she finally had to accept the fish and went home happily.
The noise in the yard was a bit loud, and Xiao Juan peeked her head out to watch the fun. Seeing the curled green onions, she exclaimed with surprise, "Such fresh green onions, and in this cold weather, they've grown so well!"
"They said they planted these in front of their house, sheltered from the wind and facing the sun, so they grew early." Ling Chengyan looked at the green, tender onions in her hands, also liking them very much. She's been here for a long time and hasn't seen any leafy greens.
Lately, while working in the fields, many women have been keeping an eye on the edges of the fields and ditches, searching for newly sprouted wild vegetables in early spring, hoping to get some to satisfy their cravings. It's truly been a hard winter without vegetables, and they're all worn out from it.
Ling Chengyan smilingly said, "There's still quite a bit of winter melon paste, do you want to take some and eat it?"
Xiao Juan nodded repeatedly, "Sure, sure."
After saying that, she went into the house, brought out a bowl, and poured some winter melon paste. She also took a handful of curled green onions, and Ling Chengyan urged her to take more, but she kept shaking her head, "That's enough, that's enough. If you ever go out, just leave the child in our house, and we'll watch over them."
Ling Chengyan smiled and agreed, then turned back inside to prepare the meal.
In the evening, with Xiao Xing and Shi Tou both asleep, Ling Chengyan went outside for a while and returned half an hour later.
The next day, at dawn, only the elderly villagers with little sleep went out, carrying dung baskets to gather manure.
Ling Chengyan quietly slipped out and quietly returned. When Xiao Xing opened her eyes, she saw a plump and enticing smoked rabbit on the table.
Ling Chengyan came in with some flatbreads and porridge, seeing the little girl awake, she called out, "If you're awake, hurry up and get dressed, it's time to eat."
For breakfast, Xiao Xing had a rabbit leg and barely touched the flatbread, drinking only half a bowl of porridge before feeling quite full. Afterward, she sneakily fed half of the remaining flatbread to Dahuang, wagging at the door.
"The rabbit leg bones are too hard, you can't feed them to the dog." Ling Chengyan said, seeing Xiao Xing a bit disappointed. She then reached out to touch Xiao Xing's braids, adding, "I just fed him when I prepared the rabbit."
Xiao Xing joyfully squinted her eyes, nudging her head against Ling Chengyan's palm, "Mm-hmm."
Before heading to her grandma's house, she didn't forget to call Dahuang along.
After lunch, with about an hour before work, Ling Chengyan borrowed a horse from the team and went to the commune.
The packhorse had no experience carrying a person and lacked saddle and stirrups. Ling Chengyan made do with a cloth cushion on the smooth horse's back. The four or five miles to the commune took only a dozen minutes.
She tied the horse to a tree, hurried into the procurement station, and sold the seven or eight rabbits she'd accumulated over two days. From the station's warehouse, she grabbed a few old items and hurried out to lead the horse back.
Two men stood by the horse, one in his early thirties and the other, still a bit green, looking under twenty.
"Is this horse yours?" the older man asked with a smile as Ling Chengyan walked over.
Ling Chengyan nodded, "I borrowed it from the team."
After speaking, she led the horse, bypassing the two men, mounting the horse, and hurried home.
With no stirrups yet mounting deftly, and able to ride at speed…
The man watched with hands behind his back, smiling and praising, "Good skills."
The young man ran into the procurement station and back out, saying, "They said she's from the Nanli Team, coming to sell wild rabbits."
"A hunter? No wonder."
Ling Chengyan ignored this little episode and returned to the team just in time for work, settled the two kids, and quickly headed to work.
During the day, she worked, while at night she set snare traps, catching wild rabbits. She even got two badgers, which fetched some money.
The weather gradually warmed, and by the end of February, willows were greening, and peach blossoms were blooming. Children picked willow branches to make willow whistles, the sound of which added a touch of life and vitality to the hard days.
After work one day, Xiao Xing held up several willow whistles for Ling Chengyan to see, saying Sister Hong Zhi and Brother Hongbing made them.
Ling Chengyan took a thick and short willow whistle and blew it at her lips—whoa!
The whistle's tone was low and bold, like a horn blast!
Xiao Xing giggled, "This one is like an ox horn, sounds bad. This one sounds nice, Mom, blow this one."
The sound of her silver-bell laughter scattered the melancholy in Ling Chengyan's heart. She took the willow whistle and blew it, a happy lively sound like a child's smiling face in spring.
She laughed too, hugging the little girl, pinching her now slightly chubby cheeks, "Alright, time to eat!"
"Time to eat, time to eat!" Xiao Xing ran inside, leaning on the edge of the hearth to look at the baby Shi Tou in the wrap, "Mom and I are going to eat, little Shi Tou, do you want to eat? Oh, you just had milk, mm-hmm-mm..."
Watching the little girl talking to the baby, Ling Chengyan's mouth turned upwards, revealing a genuine smile.
After a busy half month with fertilizing, plowing, and sowing, the hectic period of spring plowing and planting ended. The commune issued a notice for each team to recommend five militia members to participate in training, followed by a competition to select participants for the county's spring militia contest.
Militia captain Wang Lianqi was scratching his head when he got the notice. He went home to discuss it with his father Wang Futang, "We only have a few good hands in our village, and recently Liu Shoucheng twisted his back, so he can't participate. Who else should we recommend? I thought for a long time, and there's really no one as good as Liu Shoucheng."
Wang Futang was puffing on his old pipe, also worried. For years, they hadn't focused much on militia training. There weren't many young ones who'd even handled guns, and if they were sent out, they'd amount to nothing. The older ones might have the skills but from years of hard labor were prone to back or leg injuries, and it wasn't easy to find a standout.
While the father and son were fretting, the second son Wang Lianfa suddenly suggested, "Recommend the fourth daughter-in-law, she even knows how to ride a horse, she must have trained with her father..."
Wang Futang glared at his second son, "Don't talk nonsense!"
Wang Lianfa mumbled quietly, "Didn't you say her father was in the old saber squad that fought the Japanese? It's nothing shameful, why isn't it okay to mention it..."
Wang Lianqi stifled a laugh and kicked his brother lightly, "You're too old to be acting like a young brat talking back!"
Wang Lianfa patted his butt and ran to the kitchen for food. In the room, Wang Lianqi looked at his father and said, "Dad, what the second brother said might work. The fourth daughter-in-law is very capable. Besides, in the meetings the county always says women hold up half the sky!"
Wang Futang pondered this, finding no better option. So he reluctantly nodded, "Alright then, submit her name and see if they'd accept a female militiaman."
Unaware of another "enlistment" opportunity coming her way, Ling Chengyan continued her work as a scorekeeper in silence.
Spring plowing and planting completed, they had a few leisurely days. The team gave two days off, letting the members tend to their private plots.