A century of poverty

Chapter 66 Treating Guests to Dinner

Less than ten miles from home, it started to rain heavily.

Back home, after the haul truck left, seeing the weather getting increasingly overcast, Mom borrowed some plastic sheeting from the team leader and the storekeeper. With rain on the horizon, she took her eldest and second eldest sisters to the yard to build a wall. They finally managed to erect the foundation, but the rain threatened to collapse it.

The third sister stayed home to take care of the children. After being beaten by her eldest brother, she hadn't eaten for several days. Later, with her mother's care, she ate a little, but her complexion was still sallow and she was weak, unable to do any work. When her eldest and second eldest sisters arrived, she felt a little better, but her body hadn't fully recovered.

The mother and her children quickly unfolded the plastic sheet and covered it up, then weighed it down with clods of earth. Just as the first sheet was put on and the second sheet was uncovered, the rain started pouring down.

The wind was strong and the rain was heavy. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the second piece of plastic over the wall. The second sister panicked, "I'll go up and pull it!" By then, she was soaked, as were the plastic sheeting and the wall. She caught the wind on the wall, slipped, and fell from the high wall. She scrambled to her feet. "Chunlian, are you alright?" the eldest sister asked worriedly.

Second sister: "It's okay!" She continued to cover and press down on him. His whole body was covered in mud.

I just got home and changed my clothes. Clatter! Clatter! Clatter! The twelve horses are back, stopping in front of the west wing. Dad and my eldest brother are also home, soaked to the bone. Mom is finding them clothes while asking, "Has the rafters been brought back yet?"

Big Brother: "We've brought it back."

Mom: "How much did you give?"

Eldest brother: "Seven in total, big and small."

After changing their clothes, Dad and my older brother pulled back the curtain separating the heated brick bed from the floor. Dad said, "Let's not talk about how much we lost. Our original intention was never to pay it back, but since they were so insistent, we gave them a few pieces of wood to make do. Don't even mention how much that piece of wood was worth; we should thank our ancestors for protecting us at least two hundred yuan!"

Eldest sister: "Li Feng, who speaks with such eloquence about morality and integrity, is this how he handles things?"

After the rain stopped and the sky cleared, Dad went to the east again to buy the necessary purlins. He also found two carpenters to work quickly and get everything ready. They chose an auspicious day to lay the paper.

The carpenter, along with several steady men, laid out the purlins. People stood side-by-side on the purlins, ropes hanging down, while those on the ground carried bundles of neatly bound floor paper and arranged them. At a signal, those on the roof pulled the cleaned floor paper up together, spreading it out onto the roof. Those on the roof had to be precise with their hands, feet, and eyes, ensuring the floor paper was laid flat and the ground was stable underfoot. The work was done well, but safety was paramount. The second layer of floor paper was laid, ensuring the purlins were not visible, and then a third layer was added, followed by unbound reeds, thickly layered until it was strong enough to support a person. Then, soil was thrown on top, a shovelful deep, and finally, straw mud was applied.

Captain Liu stood on the high ground directing the work, calling out to those on and off the roof to coordinate the number of people, and reminding them of safety. He only came down when he saw that the work on the roof was almost done.

Mom told Dad, "The food is almost ready, we can go see Captain Liu now."

Father headed east on the road, past the threshing ground, and along the embankments between the fields toward Captain Liu Shiya's house.

Entering the courtyard and arriving at the gate, he asked, "Is Second Brother home?" No one answered, so his father raised his voice again, "Is Second Brother home? I've come to invite Second Brother to my house for a lively gathering." With that, he went through the front door to the outer room.

At this moment, Captain Liu's wife, a tall woman with a square face and sallow complexion, one shoulder high and the other drooping, looked out coldly. Seeing someone enter, she asked, "What is it?" She hadn't heard what the newcomer said.

Father: "My family is going to have a good time today, let's invite my second brother to come and join in the fun."

Madam Liu tilted her head forward and asked, "Huh?"

Father repeated what he had just said, and Madam Liu probably understood his purpose: "Shi Ya isn't home; he went to his sister's house in Shaling. He'll come back tomorrow to discuss it!"

"Alright!" Father said goodbye and left.

Today, many men and women came to the team. Lunch consisted of four dishes and a soup. Two tables were set up inside the house; one was for Team Leader Liu and several elders, and the other was for the women. A simple table was set up in front of the house, and the young people found wooden stumps, stretched out bundles of straw, and sat around it.

Team leader Liu Hongpei laughed heartily: "Brother Zhang is really something, he built four rooms without saying a word."

Dad: "Not at all! This wouldn't have been possible without the support of you, brother, and our team."

Captain Liu: "We're not bragging, but our team helps out any outsiders. We can't just laugh at them when they're in trouble, that would be disrespectful, hahaha!"

At this moment, Mom noticed that two people were missing from the crowd and called out, "Shuangxing, go up and see why your second sister's husband and sister aren't here—call them to come and eat."

"Yes!" the eldest brother replied and walked forward. As soon as he entered the courtyard, he called out, "Second sister! Second brother-in-law! Dinner's ready, let's go!" When he got to the door, he saw that it was locked and felt something was wrong. He turned his head and looked out the window.

"Why are you looking for them? Isn't today your second sister moving? They've left. A car came this morning, and the whole family moved to the city. Didn't she tell you?" The speaker was from the empty house in the east courtyard.

The older brother said, "I don't know, I haven't heard of it! I came to find them to go have dinner."

"Everyone's gone, why are you still eating?"

Eldest brother: "Second sister-in-law, come over and have a bite."

"I'm not going. I have two children here! You should go back."

The eldest brother returned dejectedly.

Mom: "Why didn't they come?"

"Nobody's here."

Seeing that her older brother's expression was off, Mom didn't ask any further questions.

The helpers had all left, so Mom, my eldest sister, and my second sister folded up the remaining food together. Seeing that there was still quite a bit of braised pork with rice noodles left, Mom found a small bowl, filled it up, and brought it to the empty house in front: "Second sister-in-law, don't mind, I called you for lunch but you didn't come, so I brought you some."

Singing, she took the basin with a beaming smile and poured it into her own basin: "How much is there? You even brought it to me!" She pulled her mother to sit on the edge of the kang (heated brick bed) in her low, dark mud house, and placed the small basin in front of her: "I don't have hot water here, and I can't clean it properly. Aunt, you should go home and clean it yourself!"

Mom: "Okay, okay. His second sister-in-law, our second sister's family, why did they move away?"

Singing: "Yeah! They've been moving like crazy these past few days. A truck came this morning, loaded everything up, and left."

Mom: "We didn't hear about them moving. How could they just move like that?"

Singing: "I hadn't heard about it before. I thought it was just a joke, but I didn't expect them to move so quickly."

"Sigh—" Mom sighed.

"What's wrong, Auntie?" Kong asked.

"We came here for our niece. We've been so busy with this house lately that we didn't even know she was moving, and we didn't help her pack. Now that they're gone, it'll probably be hard to see them again."

"Aunt, I shouldn't have said that to you. Even if your family wasn't busy building a house, they wouldn't have told you about moving."

"Why?"

"Our eighth uncle said that he won't be helping the Zhang family with anything from now on, especially not with these nephews and nieces. They're keeping this from you!"

"Oh—" Mom seemed to have tasted something.

After finishing the first layer of paper, we plastered the walls, built the kang (heated brick bed), and gradually moved the furniture in. My eldest and second eldest sisters helped us settle in and move into our new home, a home that was entirely our own.

It's been almost twenty days since my two older sisters came, and they miss their own homes very much. Especially my eldest sister, who has three underage children at home. She's almost finished settling things here, but she can't bear to leave her own family. The two of them discussed when to go back. We were reluctant to see them go, so my eldest sister suggested, "Let's go to the city and take a group photo. We can look at it whenever we miss it."