Rebirth in Famine: She Thrives by Lucky Space

Li Yunqiang understood what his son meant. ”If I meet someone suitable in the future, we’ll talk about it then. Right now I don’t have that idea at all.”

”Dad, I mean if my mom wants to come back, would you agree?”

Li Yunqiang didn’t answer his son’s question right away; he hadn’t thought about this problem before.

”Xiang Dong, I won’t agree. No matter what happens in the future, once you’ve separated, you’re separated.”

Xiang Dong sighed inwardly. He knew it would be like this, and he had no idea how his mom was doing now.

There wasn’t anything really bad about Liu Cuilan. Staying at her mother’s home, she just helped her mom cook. After all, although Liu Family Village had already handed in the state grain quota, they hadn’t yet divided up grain for the people, so everyone still had to go out to work.

At night she lay on the same kang with her mother. ”Lanzi, what are you going to do in a few days? Your eldest sister‑in‑law is someone whose word is final. She said ten days, and when the time’s up she’ll definitely drive you out,” Old Mrs. Liu said, then let out a sigh.

Liu Cuilan didn’t know what to do either. Where else could she go?

”Lanzi, why don’t you go back? You didn’t run into anyone on the way. You, talk things over properly with Yun Qiang.

What couple has a grudge that lasts overnight? Go say a few soft words to Yun Qiang; maybe you can still go back.”

Liu Cuilan also felt this might work, so after breakfast the next day, she left Liu Family Village.

Today was the day Li Family Village went up the mountain. There was practically no one in the village, and she didn’t run into anyone when she went in.

Having lived in Li Family Village for so many years, of course she knew: they’d gone up the mountain.

When she got to her own gate, she saw it was locked. She took out her key, but she couldn’t open it. Had they changed the lock?

For so many years, Liu Cuilan had been spoiled by Li Yunqiang into being a bit proud and high‑strung. Seeing this, her eyes reddened and she turned around and left. As she walked she was still thinking, luckily I didn’t run into anyone in the village, otherwise how embarrassing would this be?

She went back to the Liu home in low spirits. Her three sisters‑in‑law treated her like she was invisible; even if they met face‑to‑face, they wouldn’t say a word to her.

But if she ate the family’s grain, that wouldn’t be allowed. Of course, they weren’t coveting anything of hers either.

Seeing her daughter like this, what did Old Mrs. Liu still not understand? In her heart she hated her for being so foolish.

Li Yungui led everyone up the mountain, but Jiang Xinyu didn’t let Jianbin and the other two go.

The three kids didn’t mind; they just stayed home playing with the three younger ones.

Old Yang and Wei Kaiyun both carried guns. When everyone saw this, they felt reassured. It was the same arrangement as before: the women cut firewood, the men hauled it down, and the children picked fruit within the designated area.

Wei Kaiyun and Old Yang didn’t do any other work, they just walked around everywhere. They were also afraid there might really be some wild animals. Since they had agreed to this job, they would definitely do their best.

But Old Yang had good luck and even shot two rabbits.

The educated youths seized every bit of time to cut firewood. They were really afraid of the cold now; normally, even if they wanted to go up the mountain, they wouldn’t be allowed.

So they didn’t go picking fruit; instead, everyone cut firewood.

No one could be sure whether they’d be given coal this year. So firewood was the most important thing right now.

Guodong and Zhao Xiaoqiang chopped for a while first, then carried a load down.

After all, even though there was coal at home, they still needed firewood, right?

The mountain was full of lively bustle. At noon they gathered in little groups of three or five, built fires, and heated up cornbread, steamed buns and such. Anyway, no one was willing to waste time going home to eat. Li Yungui had said they had at most five days.

Although they had cut a lot of firewood, the winter temperatures here were too low. That bit of firewood was simply not enough.

Jing Chu toasted some buns and had Guodong take them over to Wei Kaiyun and Old Yang, two each. As long as they didn’t go hungry, it was fine.

Wang Menglin followed behind Qu Xiaoli, but when it came time to eat, she sat with her cousins.

”Is there enough firewood at home?”

”There’s quite a bit.”

”My father‑in‑law said he can get you two tons of coal. It’ll probably happen soon, but Wei Kaiyun and Old Yang haven’t arranged it yet.

But there won’t be much to divide from the first load. The pig farm and the chicken farm need a lot.”

Tao Chunhe nodded. He understood this. In fact, the pig farm had already unloaded one truck of coal; ordinary people just didn’t know. If he hadn’t gone out to the toilet that day, he wouldn’t have discovered it either.

Their network of connections was really broad. It felt like whatever they ran into, they never had to worry. They could always settle it easily.

As soon as they finished eating, they went back to work. Because there were a lot of people, they pushed the cutting area further and further in bit by bit.

Old Yang had already scouted the area once and hadn’t found anything unusual. The weeds and branches here were even more abundant. The women all carried woven plastic sacks; they collected leaves too—anything that could burn, they’d take back.

If they waited until it snowed, it would be troublesome. Better to be tired now; once the snow came, they could stay comfortably indoors.

The children discussed it among themselves and decided that each of them would cut ten bundles of twigs so they wouldn’t be cold at school.

Actually, what Li Yungui wanted was: once the pesticide factory moved out, they’d clean that place up and use it as a school. But Li Cunshan couldn’t bear it, because the grain depot was really too dilapidated, and the two big warehouses of the pesticide factory were just right for storing grain.

Li Yungui agreed as well. Yes, there were still tens of thousands of jin of stored grain; it had to be well kept.

They’d all been scared by hunger. In everyone’s mind, keeping grain was better than keeping money.

So Li Cunshan kept leading people to clean up the pesticide factory. No matter what, they’d have to leave it for a year; the smell of chemicals was too strong.

Although he had already warned the villagers to try their best not to let any chemicals leak out, there would still be some, and the smell was too strong.

Li Cunshan had once said to Li Yungui that he finally understood why Xiao Wei had been so eager to give the pesticide factory away.

Just smelling this odor made you feel awful, let alone the people who had to stay around it long‑term.

It wasn’t until five in the afternoon that they let everyone on the mountain come down.

According to Old Yang, with so many people around, there was no way any wild animals would show up.

Today Jiang Xinyu had the children pick out the damaged and smaller sweet potatoes from the batch they’d been given, peel them, steam them until they were soft, then spread them out to dry outside. Sweet potato slices were good for gnawing on when they had spare time.

”Xinyu, what’s wrong with you?”

”I got a letter from Wang Ailing. These two letters are only two weeks apart, and she says our house hasn’t been occupied by the educated youths.”

”Then why aren’t you happy?”

”Wang Ailing says Kong Mengjie’s family wants that house.”

”Tomorrow you can go make a phone call and ask them to come over, can’t you?”

”Mm. Tomorrow I’ll take Xiao Li to the hospital for a checkup, and I’ll also take a few of the kids into the city for a bit of fun.”

Wei Kaiyun felt a bit regretful. He also wanted to go out with his wife and children, but there was really no way he could get out of what he had to do here. It just wouldn’t be right.

”You must come back, okay?”

”Of course we’ll come back. The house in the city is pretty cold too. How could it be as comfortable as home? What are you worried about?”