Chapter 14: Just You Wait

“Dad, why haven't you cooked yet?” Tao Daqiang called out to his father in the inner room as he placed two fish in the kitchen.

Tao Daqiang's father, Tao Jian She, was leaning against the edge of the *kang* bed smoking a pipe. Hearing his youngest son's voice, he tapped the pipe against the edge of the bed and said

“I cooked. You didn't come back until so late, and your nephew Mao Dan came over saying he was hungry from playing, so I gave him the meal I saved for you. If you're hungry, there are still potatoes in the kitchen. Roast a couple under the stove to eat.”

Tao Jian She spoke in a calm and even tone, and Tao Daqiang felt it wasn't a big deal. Tao Daqiang's older brother, Tao Dayong, was already married and had a son, Mao Dan, who was the treasure of the entire family.

In the past, Tao Daqiang really would have enjoyed roasting a potato. Since childhood, he had been told by his family that he was stupid; his father, his brother, and even his sister-in-law said so, and he had grown accustomed to submissively accepting it.

But today, after eating *guagua* chicken and drinking fish soup at the Li family's house, and having caught fish himself, he felt that he was actually useful. He raised his voice and said

“Dad, I caught fish! I want to cook fish!”

“You caught fish? What kind?” Tao Jian She was somewhat surprised to hear this. He climbed up from the *kang* and shouted

“Bring it here, let me see.”

Tao Daqiang carried the fish and walked out of the kitchen with pride.

“Oh, these are decent fish!” Tao Jian She had originally thought his son would bring back nothing more than palm-sized crucian carp, as those were the easiest to catch. To his surprise, they were large fish weighing over a kilogram; that was truly rare. “Where did you catch them?”

“With Brother Long, at the Little Sea,” Tao Daqiang said proudly.

“Brother Long? Who?” Tao Jian She didn't understand.

“Li Long, Li Jianguo's younger brother,” Tao Daqiang said.

“You mean that hooligan?” Tao Jian She said disdainfully. “Does he have that kind of skill? Li Jianguo must have led him to catch them, right?”

Tao Daqiang thought about it and nodded.

“Fine. Regardless of who led him, take this fish to your brother's house,” Tao Jian She said. “We're running low on oil. You can't cook fish without oil, can you?”

“I don't need oil, I'm making fish soup!” Thinking of the fish soup he had drunk at the Li family's house that evening, a sudden inspiration struck him. “I'll just use water!”

Tao Jian She suddenly lost his temper and struck Tao Daqiang on the head with his pipe

“Why are you so stupid? Just water? Won't that waste coal heating the stove? You only think of yourself—what will you do later? Your mother died early, and when I'm gone, with you being this stupid, won't you have to rely on your brother to survive? If you don't curry favor with your brother now, you won't even have food to eat later!”

“I can feed myself!” Tao Daqiang grew stubborn today and refused to give in. “I follow my brother—and I haven't even eaten my fill all winter! My dinner was even eaten by Mao Dan! When I follow Brother Long, I can eat my fill, I can eat chicken, and I can eat fish!”

“I'll give you chicken! I'll give you fish!” Tao Jian She had not expected his usually obedient son to dare to argue and talk back. He was fuming with rage and began swinging the pipe wildly at Tao Daqiang's head. After taking a few hard hits, seeing that his father was showing no restraint, Tao Daqiang grew angry, flung the door open, and ran outside, leaving a furious voice in the wind

“I'm not eating fish anymore! Give it to whoever you want!”

Tao Jian She stood there holding his pipe, somewhat dazed. After a while, as the warmth of the room was swept away by the chill from outside, he felt a bone-chilling cold. Only then did he hurriedly close the door, cursing under his breath

“That brat, he's grown wings and stopped listening! He's actually rebelling against me!”

Looking at the fish at his feet, Tao Jian She sighed. He bent down, picked up the fish, and put it in the kitchen, intending to divide it into three pieces for Tao Dayong to take back when he visited tomorrow.

As long as he was still around, his eldest son would respect his face and agree to look after the younger one.

***

When Li Long returned from the horse stable, he saw a large, dark figure hovering outside his courtyard gate. He immediately became alert, looked around, pried a piece of earth from the back wall, and shouted loudly

“Who is it?”

“Brother Long, it's me, Daqiang,” Tao Daqiang's voice drifted over.

Li Long relaxed, thinking to himself that while the man didn't seem much in the daylight, he was quite imposing in the dark.

“What are you doing here?” Li Long approached and asked. “We're leaving early tomorrow morning. Why didn't you go to sleep earlier?”

“I... I can't sleep,” Tao Daqiang said haltingly. “I want to stay at your house so I can... go with you tomorrow.”

“Alright then.” Although Li Long found it a bit strange, since Tao Daqiang had come all this way, he couldn't exactly send him back. “Come on. I've already borrowed the horse carriage. Let's go tell my brother, then get some rest so we can leave early tomorrow.”

Seeing that Li Long didn't ask too many questions, Tao Daqiang silently followed behind him.

Li Long first went to the west room to tell Li Jianguo about borrowing the carriage and about Tao Daqiang staying with him tonight.

Hearing that the carriage was already arranged, Li Jianguo said

“Alright then. You've had a long day, so get some rest. We'll set off early tomorrow—get there and back quickly. Oh, Xiao Long, I've skinned that water rat. When you get to the county collection station tomorrow, see how many yuan you can get for it. Buy some food on the way.”

“I'll steam some steamed cakes for them to take tomorrow morning,” Liang Yuemei said. “Just wrap them in cloth and put them in a shoulder bag.”

“Okay,” Li Long nodded. “Then we're going to sleep.”

“Make sure to put more coal in your stove over there,” Li Jianguo added as a reminder. “Otherwise, it'll be cold in the middle of the night.”

He didn't say more; two young men sharing a quilt would certainly be cramped, but most households didn't have extra quilts these days. Fortunately, Li Long had a heavy coat that could make do.

Li Long had the same thought; if the *kang* was kept hot and combined with the cotton coat, they could manage the night.

The next morning, just as the sky was beginning to turn grey, Li Long woke up. He woke Tao Daqiang, and the two of them quickly dressed and went to the west room.

Liang Yuemei was already cooking, and both Li Juan and Li Qiang were up. Li Juan was sweeping the floor, and Li Qiang was washing his face.

Breakfast was the leftover fish soup from yesterday, some sautéed pickles, and cornmeal porridge.

Looking at the fish soup on the table, Tao Daqiang felt a sudden, inexplicable wave of sadness. He hurried to wash his face to hide his emotions.

After breakfast, Li Jianguo rolled up the skinned water rat hide and put it into a urea bag. Liang Yuemei handed the bag containing the steamed cakes to Li Long, instructing him

“If you two get hungry on the road, eat them. Don't be stingy.”

After saying goodbye to the family, Li Long took Tao Daqiang to the horse stable. With Old Luo's help, they harnessed the carriage, loaded two bundles of fodder, and set off toward the county town.

The mountains were to the south, but the road went west. They had to travel five kilometers west to the commune, then three kilometers south to the county. From the county, it was about ten kilometers southwest to Qingshuihe Commune. They would then have to go another five kilometers into the mountains—in reality, even with a horse carriage, the journey alone was nearly thirty kilometers.

And that was before even reaching their destination.

Shortly after Li Long left, the first visitor arrived at the Li house: Sister-in-law Lu from across the way.

As a guest, she was welcomed in. While Li Jianguo, Li Juan, and Li Qiang were in the east room cleaning the fish, Liang Yuemei let her in. Once she sat down, the woman in her fifties asked

“Auntie, I heard your brother-in-law is back? Was he fired? And he's going into the mountains to haul wood today? Isn't the village enough for him to mess around in? What a spectacle he's making!”

In the village, Li Long was actually quite a joke.

He worked so hard to get into the factory, only to be fired.

He finally managed to pursue the village's prettiest girl, only to be dumped.

And now he was making a fool of himself again, spending work points to buy a horse to drive a carriage into the mountains to haul wood—as if wood in the mountains was easy to haul? With his abilities, it was a question whether he could even find the path into the mountains!