1983, Northeast China

Chapter 23 Uncle will earn you a white steamed bun

Chen Shi ran home as fast as he could.

He couldn't care less about the brigade's sleds or the forest farm's markers; they were all drowned out by the barking of the dogs in the yard.

The snow on the road was already shiny from being trampled. He was running so fast that when he turned into his own yard, his foot slipped, and his knee hit the threshold, causing him to feel a sharp pain that made his vision go black.

But he didn't care, he pushed himself up and rushed into the house.

"sister!"

No one answered from inside the house.

In that instant, Chen Shi's mind went blank. Fish, cloth—all he could think of was: Is the person still alive?

All those chaotic shadows from his past life crowded up to him, and he rushed to the door, almost breaking it open.

Aunt Wang stood in the outer room, guarding the door to the inner room, still clutching a wooden stick in her hand.

She didn't yell like she usually did; instead, she was tense like a drawn bow, her eyes fixed on the doorway.

"You're finally back! Someone climbed over the fence, but they didn't get inside." She relaxed immediately when she saw Chen Shi, her voice hoarse.

She stepped aside, making way for Chen Shi to enter the inner room. "Everyone's here, Ya Ya is here, Xiao Man is here too, Xiu Lan is frightened."

Chen Xiulan held Xiaoman tightly in her arms, and Yaya was also protected behind her.

They're all there.

Everyone is here.

Chen Shi leaned against the door frame, and the breath he had been holding in suddenly eased. His legs went weak, his knees started to hurt, and his palms were scraped.

But he was only looking at Chen Xiulan, then at Ya Ya, and then at Xiao Man.

"Are you hurt?" Chen Shi asked.

The people present all shook their heads.

Chen Shi turned around and looked around before realizing that Huang Er was not there. "Where's Huang Er?"

Upon hearing this, tears immediately welled up in Ya Ya's eyes. "Huang Er went to chase after the bad guys."

Chen Shi squatted down by the kang (a heated brick bed), trying to appear as gentle as possible. "Tell me slowly, your uncle is back. Tell him what happened?"

Ya Ya cried so hard she was trembling and could barely speak. "Uncle, I didn't want to go with him. I just wanted to see what a white flour bun with brown sugar filling looks like."

Chen Shi only understood what was going on after listening and guessing for a while.

Someone called her from outside the wall, saying they would give her a white steamed bun with brown sugar filling, and even broke it open in front of her. She saw that the brown sugar was oozing out, and the white bun was so soft that it could be pressed into a dent.

Ya Ya remembered what Chen Shi had said: she couldn't go out, and she couldn't take things from outsiders.

But she had never seen a white flour steamed bun, let alone a white flour steamed bun with brown sugar inside.

She didn't want it; she just wanted to see if it was as soft and sweet as others had described.

She had just taken a small step toward the fence when someone outside the fence laughed and said it was fine if she didn't eat it, she could just take a look.

Then a hand reached in and grabbed her arm, and another person followed, climbing over the wall and stepping half a leg into the yard.

Aunt Wang heard the commotion and had just picked up a fire poker when Huang Er pounced on her and bit her.

Chen Xiulan held Xiaoman in one arm and dragged Yaya into the house with the other.

Ya Ya was terrified, her eyes still fixed on the half-eaten steamed bun.

She was too close to the steamed bun.

It's within easy reach.

Upon hearing this, Chen Shi, who always thought he had seen enough and had a hard heart, felt a lump in his throat and tears uncontrollably streamed down his face.

The closest a child has ever come to white flour and brown sugar is when a human trafficker uses it to lure her.

Seeing Chen Shi cry, Ya Ya panicked even more and reached out her little hand to wipe Chen Shi's tears. "Uncle, don't cry. I didn't take it. Uncle, I really didn't take it."

"Uncle knows." Chen Shi grabbed her frantic little hands and pressed them against his face. "You did the right thing."

Ya Ya cried as she said, "Huang Er went to chase after it, but didn't call it back."

Aunt Wang continued, "I chased them into the yard and only saw three figures running west outside the wall. Huang Er followed them out, and I couldn't call them back no matter what I said."

Chen Shi stood up, feeling as if something was stuck in his throat, unable to go up or down.

Li Cheng's voice came from outside the courtyard gate, "Chen Shi, what's going on? I brought everything back... Hey, Huang Er, you went to fight? What's that thing in your mouth?"

Huang Er followed Li Cheng in from the courtyard gate, running with a limp and a gray cloth in his mouth.

It already had a notch in its ear, and now it's been cut open again. There's also blood on the hair on its front legs; I don't know if it's its own or someone else's.

After entering the courtyard, he spat the strip of cloth at Chen Shi's feet.

Ya Ya rushed out of the house, shouting, "Yellow Ear!"

Chen Shi stopped her, squatted down and touched Huang Er's leg. The wound wasn't deep, but the skin was torn open, and blood had stuck the hair together in a clump.

Huang Er was in so much pain that he was panting heavily, and he kept pressing his nose against the gray cloth.

Chen Shi picked up the strip of cloth, didn't look at it carefully, and put it aside.

The broken white steamed bun still lay on the ground by the wall. Now the bun was frozen solid, and brown sugar seeped out from the cracks and stuck to the snow.

Ya Ya stood by the threshold, her eyes falling on the white steamed bun again. This time she quickly looked away, as if afraid Chen Shi would misunderstand.

Chen Shi saw it.

It's not wrong for a child to want something to eat; the wrong thing is for people to deceive children with food.

"Ya Ya, it's not shameful to want to eat steamed buns."

Ya Ya bit her lip. "I just want to see."

"Uncle knows," Chen Shi said, putting his arm around her. "Take a look today, and from now on, Uncle will earn it for you. Uncle promises."

Ya Ya looked up at him.

Chen Shi said, word by word, "Uncle will go fishing, hunting rabbits, gathering firewood, exchanging flour for brown sugar. We'll steam it ourselves, break it open, and add as much brown sugar as we want. You don't need to stand behind the threshold to watch, and you don't need to worry about being cheated. Uncle will bring it to you."

Tears welled up in Ya Ya's eyes. "Mommy, do you want some too?"

"Eat," Chen Shi said. "Your mother will eat, and Xiaoman will eat when she grows teeth. Huang Er did a great job today, so give it some too."

"Is the steamed bun sweet?"

Ya Ya had never eaten white flour noodles. Let alone white flour noodles, the Chen family usually mixed wild vegetables into their cornbread. Brown sugar and white flour, sugar triangles—things that even children in the village might not get a bite of during the New Year.

Aunt Wang watched from the side, wiping away her tears, "That damned kidnapper, why does he have to target Ya Ya? Such a good girl."

"Let's clean the fish first, then eat it. The steamed buns are still nowhere in sight." Li Cheng dumped the fish into the wooden basin all at once, the fish tails slapping against the basin, and the fishy smell immediately wafted out.

Chen Shi ran away, leaving behind half a bag of fish and some other utensils. He could only carry them by hand, and his hands were so cold they turned purple. "Eat the fish first. Steamed buns are a long way off. The fish are in the basin. Let's fill our stomachs today."

"Not far." For the first time since his rebirth, Chen Shi had the desire to make money.

Chen Shi washed his hands, but his palms were cut and bleeding. The pain was excruciating as soon as they touched water.

He didn't say anything, first picking out the ones for Li Cheng and Zhao Defa and putting them aside, then picking out two crucian carp seeds to cook, and putting the small willow roots on the other side.

We should go check the traps on the mountain too. We can't run out of food, drink, or firewood. If we want Yaya to eat white flour buns, just talking about it won't do. We'll have to go up the mountain again tomorrow. Chen Shi thought to himself.

Steam soon rose from the pot, and the delicious aroma of the fish soup wafted from the stove.

Chen Xiulan drank half a bowl of fish soup before her hands stopped shaking so badly.

Ya Ya clung to Huang Er and wouldn't let go, even eating next to it while carefully avoiding its wounds.

Chen Shi cleaned Huang Er's wounds and then chopped up the fish offal and mixed it into the bran.

He carefully put away the strips of cloth and the white steamed bun that Huang Er had brought back, preparing to send them to Zhao De later.

But what he valued wasn't the piece of cloth, but the look in Ya Ya's eyes when she looked at the white steamed bun.

Children can't always live by enduring and being sensible.

He had to go into the mountains, cross the ice, and replace everything in his house with better ones.