Chapter 108: Chapter 105: Who’s the Father?

Li Xiangyang rolled his eyes at him. “That must be Dongzi running his mouth off to you.”

Brother Yong looked at him seriously. “You should be looking for a girlfriend, too. Guys your age already have kids.”

Li Xiangyang pursed his lips. “Talk to me about this after you’ve had a kid of your own.”

“Nah, a guy like me should probably just forget it.” Brother Yong shrugged self-deprecatingly. “Women and children get scared the moment they see me.”

Li Xiangyang patted his shoulder. “Take your time. The right woman will come along and see the good in you.”

The two went inside and sat down. Li Shuqing walked in. “I saw your bicycle outside, so I knew you were here.”

Li Xiangyang smiled and looked at him. “What did you find out?”

After sitting down, Li Shuqing said, “That guy, Liu Guozhi, from the Lexing Team… he can be a bit overbearing, but in all his years as team leader, he’s never actually stolen and sold off team property. Other than giving the easy jobs to his own family, he’s been pretty fair about everything else.

“Liu Jinbao is a big gambler. He’s supposed to be guarding the storage room for sub-team one, but he’s stolen peanuts and fish from the pond to sell a few times. At the end of March or early April, he was acting like a hooligan and tried to kick in a widow’s door, and she nearly hacked him to death for it. Then, just the other day, someone threw a sack over his head and beat him up.

“Lately, he’s been gambling a lot at Old Gui’s place over in the Construction Team. The word is, Old Gui set him up in a rigged game and fleeced him for a lot of money. Old Gui also got a beating from Team Leader Yang’s widowed sister-in-law and her cousin. His face was all black and blue, and it still hasn’t healed.”

After listening, Li Xiangyang thought for a moment. “Let them keep at it. Wait until Liu Jinbao has lost nearly everything, then tell him that Old Gui set him up. It’s best to let them go at each other, dog-eat-dog style. Let them have a huge blowout.”

“Okay!” Li Shuqing agreed. After a moment’s thought, he glanced at him again. “Xiangyang, I don’t recall Liu Jinbao ever doing anything to us.”

“It’s a personal matter,” Li Xiangyang said, glancing at the other two, who were exchanging knowing looks. “I’m heading out.”

“Oh!” Brother Yong said, pulling Li Shuqing aside. “I heard from Dongzi that the old iron tree is finally about to bloom.”

Li Shuqing’s face lit up with gossip. “Who is she? Do you know?”

Brother Yong shook his head. “Dongzi wouldn’t say. He just told me not to ask.”

Li Shuqing laughed. “Sounds like he hasn’t won her over yet. But hey, as long as he’s trying, that’s a good thing.”

Li Xiangyang rode his bike to the vehicle factory, then continued straight for another ten to fifteen minutes. He reached the alley next to the commune building across from the silk factory and turned into it. After riding for three or four minutes down the long, quiet lane, he saw Yao Xiuyun up ahead, holding her son’s hand.

“Little Hai, school’s out!”

The skinny little boy, who bore a strong resemblance to Xu Dong, turned around. “Uncle Xiangyang, I want a ride!”

Li Xiangyang stopped. “Alright, come on and give it a try.”

Little Hai took off running, but Yao Xiuyun darted forward and grabbed him. “We’re right at our doorstep, no need for a ride now. You can try next time.”

“Alright, next time!” Li Xiangyang waved to them, then turned right into the courtyard across the way. He called out to a portly, fair-skinned old man sitting at a small square table with a large bowl, “You heartless old man, you started eating without me.”

Old Li chuckled. “I waited for you for over half an hour. I couldn’t wait any longer, so I started without you.”

Li Xiangyang parked his bike, took a knife, a hook, and a steelyard balance from his satchel and put them away. After washing his hands, he sat down at the table. When he saw the braised pork intestines, he immediately picked up the dish and moved it to one side.

He looked at him and said in a serious tone, “Dad, the doctor said you can’t eat offal or anything greasy.”

Old Li glanced at the dish of pork intestines now in front of his son and guiltily shoveled two mouthfuls of rice into his mouth. Seeing his son frowning at him, he held up three fingers. “I only had three pieces. I only made it because you like it.”

“Yeah, right,” Li Xiangyang said, looking at him helplessly. “I’ll let it slide this time. But if I catch you eating pork intestines again, you’ll be eating nothing but greens for a week.”

Old Li nodded, muttering discontentedly, “You little brat. Who’s the father here, you or me?!”

Li Xiangyang laughed. “Of course, you’re the father!”

Old Li’s eyes flew open. “If I’m your father, then why don’t you listen to me? Hurry up and find a wife! I’m waiting to hold my grandchildren, you know!”

“Didn’t you used to say that finding a wife is a matter of fate? Like with you and Mom—when the time was right, it just happened.”

“Bah! Don’t give me that nonsense!” Old Li was so mad he rapped him with his chopsticks. “You might not be in a hurry, but I am! I want grandchildren! Your aunt came by, and I…”

“Have you forgotten how Aunt used to treat us?” Li Xiangyang stared at him. “Please don’t ask anyone to play matchmaker. I won’t go.”

Old Li shot him a glare. ’Fine, you won’t go. I’ll just invite her to the house. We’ll see if you look then!’

****

Lin Lan and Lin Yuezhen went home and had dinner. Afterward, one fed the pigs and chickens and cleaned the pigsty, while the other washed a large piece of pork fat, cut it into small cubes, and put it in a pot with two ladles of water to render into lard.

Yang Liying came in with a satchel, beaming. She took out two bolts of aqua-colored Dacron, a bolt of watermelon-red thin cotton, a set of children’s clothes, a pair of cloth shoes, a pair of cotton-padded shoes, and two pairs of plastic sandals.

She sincerely thanked Lin Lan for all her help and insisted that she accept the gifts.

After accepting the gifts, Lin Lan saw Yang Liying out. ’With all this,’ she thought, ’my son and I won’t need to buy any fabric or shoes for the next two years.’

Once Yang Liying was gone, Lin Yuezhen came out from the pigsty. She washed her hands and brought over a back-basket to show Lin Lan the wide-stemmed greens inside, explaining that the old madam had sent them over for her to make pickled vegetables.

Lin Lan nodded. “Alright, let’s wash them and make the pickled greens.”

Lin Yuezhen took the greens to the drainage ditch to clean them. After rinsing them once more with well water, she cut them and hung them over a bamboo pole to air-dry. To make pickled greens, the vegetables had to be completely dry and must not come into contact with even a speck of oil, or else the entire jar would be ruined.

Lin Lan finished rendering the lard and scrubbed her hands with soap. She went to the woodshed and brought out a large pickling jar left by the previous owner, one big enough to hold over thirty catties of vegetables. She cleaned it thoroughly, scalded it with boiling water, and set it out in the courtyard to dry.

The two of them cleared a space against the wall opposite the door and set up a large work board. They then pasted a few sheets of kraft paper onto the earthen wall behind it to prevent any dust or dirt from falling down.

With the work board, they could work side-by-side, which sped things up considerably.

After finishing the crispy fava beans and kidney bean rolls, the sisters washed up and went to bed. Lin Lan reached out and touched the pillow where Little Douzi used to sleep. A sudden emptiness washed over her as she realized just how much she was starting to miss her son.

The next day, after Lin Lan got back from work, the two sisters ate dinner, cleaned up, and then started trimming and steaming the broad beans.

Lin Lan was thankful she’d bought such a large steamer basket. ’Otherwise,’ she thought, ’there’s no way I could have steamed all these beans in one batch.’

All three of her products were selling well, so her demand for ingredients had also grown. Lin Lan spoke with Li Wu and negotiated a wholesale price for him to supply everything she needed.

In the afternoon, before heading out with her stall, she set aside a basin of the whey from pressing tofu. She ladled two scoops of water into a pot, added Sichuan peppercorns, dried chilies, mature ginger, white sugar, and a little salt. After bringing it to a boil, she left it in the pot to cool and went out to set up her stall.

When she returned from her stall, the greens were fully air-dried, their leaves wilted and soft. She gathered them into a basin and gently rubbed them with a small amount of salt. The old folks called this step “breaking the green.”

She packed the “broken” greens into the jar. Then she ladled in the cooled, completely oil-free seasoned water, followed by the tofu whey, until the greens were fully submerged. She placed the lid on the jar and filled the outer rim with water to create an airtight seal. In a week, the pickled greens would be a beautiful golden yellow and ready to eat.

Minced pork with pickled greens, vermicelli soup with pickled greens… ’Vegetables that are naturally grown and free from pollution just taste so much better,’ Lin Lan thought.

She sent two heads of the greens to the old madam. After trying them, the old madam sent another dozen or so heads of the wide-stemmed greens for Lin Lan to pickle.

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