Chapter 12: Wisdom

Chen Xiaomi called from behind, “Sister-in-law, wait for me, I’ll go with you.”

Seeing her mother and aunt leave, Chen Zitong blinked her big eyes and stared intently at her father’s sallow complexion.

Chen Gaoyuan pondered for a moment and said to his youngest daughter, “Don’t tell your sister about this.”

Chen Zitong pouted, “Dad, it’s no use just telling me. Aunt and Mom will definitely stir up trouble in front of my sister. You’ll see. This is the perfect opportunity for them to exaggerate, create discord, and meddle.”

Outside, Chen Gaoyuan looked composed, but whenever family matters arose, he felt a headache coming on. There was never a moment of peace.

As for what his wife and sisters truly felt, Chen Gaoyuan knew all too well: they simply wanted to sever his eldest daughter’s attachment to Li Heng once and for all.

…

Next door, at the Li family’s house.

Thinking about the several days of eating meat at the Chen home with her husband, Tian Run’e began to worry about her own children. She grabbed a kitchen knife, climbed onto the stove platform, intending to slice some cured meat for dinner. She planned to stir-fry it with garlic sprouts and tofu to improve the siblings’ meals.

But when she looked up, something felt off—why had the pork leg and pork belly swapped places? And why was the pork belly shorter by a chunk?

Tian Run’e was meticulous by nature; she always knew exactly how much rice was stored, how long the sewing thread was, and how many cabbages were in the field. In all her years managing the household, she had never made a mistake.

Especially with the few cured meats they had—their only source of cash—she treated them like her lifeline. There was no way she would forget such details.

Her gaze shifted back and forth between the two cured meats several times. Then she switched the knife to her left hand and pressed her right thumb against the cross-section of the pork belly.

Sure enough, after brushing off some soot, a fresh white cut appeared inside.

Staring blankly at the shortened pork belly, Tian Run’e felt a sudden tightness in her chest. She then went back down from the stove, gathered some soot, and restored the cured meat to its original appearance.

In the backyard, she quietly asked Li Jianguo, who was watering the cattle, “Jianguo, did you touch the cured meat?”

“What cured meat?” he replied.

Li Jianguo turned around, suddenly alarmed. “Did the cured meat at home go missing?”

Tian Run’e shook her head and recounted her discovery.

After hearing this, Li Jianguo fell silent.

After a long moment, he said bitterly, “Erbao must have been too greedy.”

Tian Run’e agreed.

Neither of them suspected theft, because if a thief was involved, it wouldn’t be just a small piece missing—they would have taken whole chunks.

Dinner was surprisingly abundant: chives with river shrimp, crispy tofu fried on both sides.

There was also a shallow bowl of cured pork ribs.

Ah! These were all Li Heng’s favorites. He scooped a bowl of rice, piled some shrimp and tofu on top, and began eating heartily.

Being family, there was no need for formality—he ate as freely as he pleased, devouring two large bowls of sweet potato rice in one go, filling his belly to the brim.

It was the most satisfying meal since his rebirth. Rubbing his round belly, he felt completely content.

The only flaw was the sweet potato rice. He was truly tired of it; he didn’t like it at all. If only it could be replaced with white rice.

After enduring over twenty days of hardship, he had come to realize the truth: he didn’t need a view of the ocean. As long as every meal was white rice with some meat, that would be a springtime in bloom.

After dinner, the second sister surprisingly pulled out a pack of five-spice sunflower seeds that cost a dime. She just glanced at her brother but didn’t call him over, sitting on the doorstep and cracking seeds by herself.

Honestly, if Li Heng hadn’t behaved well recently, she wouldn’t have even spared him a glance—she was used to eating alone.

At that moment, Tian Run’e suddenly asked Li Jianguo, “Jianguo, have you been drinking sweet rice wine? Why are there two fewer bowls of it?”

Two fewer bowls?

Wasn’t the second sister only sneaking one bowl of sweet wine that night? When did she secretly drink another?

Li Heng instinctively looked at his sister.

Catching his gaze, Li Lan turned her head expressionlessly but didn’t stop cracking the seeds.

Her upper and lower lips pressed together, and—pop!—a seed husk fell to the ground.

Pop! Another seed husk neatly dropped.

Seeing the look in the boy’s eyes, Li Jianguo understood everything. He knew his wife was sending a warning to Erbao not to drink more sweet wine, fearing her stomach would relapse.

Li Jianguo smiled and admitted, “I couldn’t control myself and ate a bit too much.”

Before the matter was over, Tian Run’e brought up another issue: “The twenty yuan under the pillow is missing. Did you take that too?”

Upon hearing this, Li Heng’s eyes dropped to his sister’s palm and the five-spice sunflower seeds.

Li Lan ignored him, turned her head a bit more, and nonchalantly continued cracking seeds.

Li Jianguo glanced at his second daughter out of the corner of his eye, then reassured, “When I tidied the bed this morning, I found twenty yuan on the floor and picked it up. I forgot to tell you because I was busy with Spring Grandma’s affairs.”

He then pulled two ten-yuan notes from his inner pocket and handed them to his wife.

Tian Run’e took the money, put it into her pocket, and said to her husband, “Since we just finished eating, I’ll take a walk with you. Your health can’t handle long sitting.”

“Alright.”

The deeply affectionate couple left, strolling along the road.

Li Heng, not wanting to be a nuisance, wisely went upstairs to his single room and continued writing *To Live*.

He was only six hundred words short of a perfect forty thousand today and was determined to finish.

Later, when they returned from their walk and found the main room empty, Tian Run’e went straight to her bedroom and searched under the pillow.

Just as she expected, two twenty-yuan bills lay there on the bedspread.

The bills looked a bit old, with blue pen marks, seeming to have passed through many hands.

Picking up the money, Tian Run’e told her husband, “A few days ago, Erbao said she wanted to buy a set of clothes that cost sixteen yuan. She asked me for the money.”

“I thought about it, but with both children soon returning to school and all the expenses, we didn’t have enough. So I refused.”

She paused, tears suddenly welling in her eyes. “Erbao confided in me, saying all the girls in her class dress beautifully, but she’s the worst dressed…”

Her voice broke. Tian Run’e couldn’t continue, her heart aching as she leaned on her husband’s shoulder, choking back sobs.

Li Jianguo held his wife with his left arm, gently patting her back with his right. While comforting her, he too couldn’t hold back tears.

At that moment, his heart was heavy with sorrow and guilt, cursing his own incompetence.

Not only had he failed his beautiful wife, who had been weather-beaten and dulled by hardship, but he had also let down their three children, who suffered from poor food and clothing, sharing in his misery.

P.S.: The rural chapter has come to a close, with the groundwork laid. A new journey will begin soon. (Please follow along. The Sunday trial push depends on your support and decides the fate of this book. I humbly ask for your help.)