Chapter 61: Chapter 59: Waking Up to the Rooster’s Crow

By the time she finished making all the kidney bean rolls and had arranged them one by one in a basket lined with a damp white cloth, she heard the rooster crow again.

Lin Lan stretched wearily, massaging her aching lower back and sore arms. Peeking out the back door, she saw that dawn was just breaking.

Just then, a knock came from outside. She walked into the courtyard and listened closely. It sounded like the old madam calling at the gate.

She hurried to the courtyard gate. “Is that you, Grandaunt?”

The old madam’s voice answered, “It’s me. You’re up?”

Hearing her aged voice, Lin Lan felt a sting in her nose. She quickly unlatched the steel bar and opened the gate to see the old madam holding a flashlight. “Why are you here so early?”

The old madam looked at her—wearing an apron, her hair tied up, her eyes red—and felt both pained and gratified. “I was worried you’d overslept and your customers wouldn’t be able to pick up their order.”

She had specifically set her alarm for five, afraid Lin Lan’s lazy streak would kick in and she wouldn’t get up early, so she’d come over just to wake her.

Lin Lan smiled and led the old madam into the courtyard. “I was half-asleep when I heard the rooster, so I rushed to get up. By the time I finished the kidney bean rolls, it was just starting to get light.”

The old madam had a soft spot for hardworking, ambitious young people. Seeing Lin Lan like this made her feel even more affectionate. She patted her hand. “You silly girl, you must have gotten up at three or four. If I’d known, I would have brought my alarm clock over for you.”

“There’s no need. I’ll just get up a little later tomorrow.” Lin Lan helped her into the kitchen, grinning. “I’m about to fry some crispy broad beans. Now that you’re here, you can help me tend the fire.”

The old madam nodded with a smile. “All right. Once we get them fried, you can go back to bed for a bit.”

Lin Lan shook her head, smiling. “I have too much to do today! I’m planning to sow some vegetable seeds along the edge of the rapeseed field, and I also need to plant a row of the taro my third sister gave me in the potato furrows.”

“That’s good, too. The taro stems can be used as pig feed, and the greens can be pickled or salted.”

With the old madam helping to tend the fire, Lin Lan’s work became much easier. Before long, the aroma of the crispy broad beans filled the kitchen.

A little after six, the two of them finished frying the broad beans.

The old madam scooped the beans into bags while Lin Lan sealed them. In no time, they had all sixty bags packed.

“Grandaunt, I’m making some sweet potato congee. Why don’t you stay and eat with me?”

“I can’t. I have to go back and feed the pigs. The caponizer is coming to do the chickens today.” The old madam looked at Lin Lan. “Those cockerels of yours are all uncastrated. I’ll just have them all caponized for you; I won’t bother leaving one as a rooster.”

Lin Lan’s face lit up with a smile. “Great! I’d also like two goslings to raise in the bamboo grove to watch over the chicks.”

She remembered from when her family used to raise chickens that capons grew faster than intact roosters.

Capons didn’t crow when they grew up and were too lazy to move much, so they were ready for market sooner than roosters.

A capon could grow to weigh over ten pounds. The meat wasn’t gamey, its texture was more delicate, and it was tender, rich, and succulent. Not only did it taste better, but it also sold for a higher price—a third to even a half more than a regular rooster.

The old madam’s face crinkled into a smile. “Don’t you worry! I’ve already set them aside for you.”

Lin Lan smiled and saw the old madam out of the courtyard. Back inside, she took two sweet potatoes, peeled them, cut them into small pieces, and put them into a pot along with some washed rice.

Just then, the loudspeaker on the tractor road blared to life. Lin Lan muttered to herself, ’Six-thirty.’

When the pot of rice came to a boil, she washed two eggs and added them in. She placed the lid on crookedly, letting the congee simmer slowly over the embers in the stove.

She sorted through a basket, picking out the taro corms that had sprouted or were budding, and carried them out into the yard.

The sky was bright now, with fluffy white clouds drifting across its pale blue expanse.

A gentle breeze blew past, making the melon vines on the trellis sway.

Lin Lan took a hoe to the potato patch. She walked along a furrow, digging a shallow hole every few feet, and dropped a handful of the soil fertilizer mixed with plant ash she had prepared yesterday into each one.

After she finished planting the taro, she took the vegetable seeds and sowed a circle of them along the edge of the rapeseed field. As she walked back to her door, she saw Little Douzi run out crying, with his little shadow, Dahuang, trailing right behind him.

When Little Douzi saw Lin Lan approaching with buckets of fertilizer on a shoulder pole, his tears turned into a smile. “Mama, I couldn’t find you!”

Lin Lan saw the tears on his face and the long trail of snot running from his nose. In his excitement, he even blew a little snot bubble. He looked so pitiful, like an abandoned puppy.

Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, she took out her handkerchief, wiped his nose clean, and led him home. She poured some warm water and washed his hands and face.

She looked at him and said softly, “Mama knew you were sleeping at home, so I didn’t go far.

If you wake up and don’t see me, you can sit on the little stool and wait for me to come back, or you can go look for me in the vegetable patch or our private plot.

You’re the little man of our house. You’re going to grow up to be a great policeman and protect me, right? Crying all the time isn’t very brave.”

Little Douzi lowered his head and sniffled. He looked up at her and said, “Mama, I was wrong. I won’t do it again.”

Lin Lan crouched down to look at him. “You said you were wrong, so tell me: next time you wake up and can’t find me, what are you going to do?”

Little Douzi looked at Lin Lan and thought for a moment. “Next time I wake up and can’t find you, I can take the little stool and sit and wait, or I can go look for you in the vegetable patch or our private plot.”

“That’s right!” Lin Lan smiled and gave him a kiss. “You have to use your head when something happens. Crying doesn’t solve anything.” She took his little hand. “Mama boiled some eggs. Let’s go have our sweet potato congee.”

Little Douzi nodded. “You eat too, Mama!”

“Okay, Mama will eat too!”

Lin Lan ladled out a bowl of cold water, fished the eggs out of the congee, and soaked them for a moment. She took one, tapped it gently a few times on the stovetop, then rolled it between her hands before giving it to Little Douzi.

“Peel it yourself, nice and slow. Mama’s going to get some pickled radishes.”

“Okay!” Little Douzi took it and began to peel it slowly.

Lin Lan washed her hands, ladled two bowls of congee onto the table to cool, and then fetched some pickled radishes and radish greens from the pickle jar. She chopped them finely and tossed them with a bit of chili oil and a pinch of sugar.

“Mama, take a bite!” Little Douzi tugged on the hem of Lin Lan’s clothes, standing on his tiptoes and holding up the peeled egg for her to eat.

“What a good boy!” Lin Lan took a small bite. “You eat it. Mama has one too.”

“Okay!” Little Douzi sat down at the table with his egg and started eating, taking a bite of egg and then a spoonful of congee.

Lin Lan put her egg yolk into his bowl and added some of the radish greens. “Eating your veggies will make you strong.”

Little Douzi looked at the yolk in his bowl. “Mama, I have a yolk.”

“Mama doesn’t like yolks. You can help me by eating it.”

Little Douzi looked at her. “Great-grandma says kids who aren’t picky eaters can grow as tall as Youngest Uncle.”

“Mama’s old, so I’m not growing anymore. But you’re still little. If you’re not a picky eater, you can grow even taller than your Youngest Uncle.”

Little Douzi looked at Lin Lan. “Mama’s hair is black. Great-grandma’s hair is white. Great-grandma is old.”

“You’ve got a lot of opinions for such a little guy, huh?” Lin Lan laughed. “Hurry up and eat. Mama has to go to work.”

“Okay!” Little Douzi began to eat in big mouthfuls.

The mother and son had just finished breakfast when Zhou Xiaohong arrived. She smiled and handed Lin Lan a paper bag. “Sponge cakes. They’re for my little nephew.”

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