Chapter 43: Who’s Bullying Whom? ③
Nie Qiu almost let out a cold laugh, “My mom’s life is naturally priceless, but Li Kai… are you perhaps suggesting I repay life with life? Or are you saying you want all my family’s possessions in exchange for saving my life?”
Nie Qiu’s aggressive tone left Li Kai speechless. He looked at the completely different Nie Qiu before him and fell silent.
Seeing Li Kai didn’t speak, Nie Qiu snorted and turned back to the book in her hands.
After school, Nie Qiu had long forgotten Wang Chao Lei’s request for her to stay behind. She only remembered that Nie Aiwen had said they would be eating at their house, so she hurried back to join them for the meal.
Nie Aifang served Nie Qiu some food and said with a smile, “Eat slowly, there’s more in the pot.”
Nie Qiu buried her head and took a mouthful of rice, eating the dish Nie Aifang had served her. She then smiled and served her mom a chopstickful of beef, looking up and saying, “Mom, you eat too.”
“Qiu Qiu, that’s not fair. Why does your mom get some and I don’t?” Nie Aiwen smiled, extending his bowl and looking at Nie Qiu.
Nie Qiu smiled and served Nie Aiwen a chopstickful of stir-fried fatty intestine, saying, “Uncle, eat slowly. Make yourself at home, don’t be polite.” She had already noticed that her uncle didn’t like fatty intestine.
Yet, fatty intestine was one of the cheapest cuts of pork, so Nie Aifang buying it didn’t surprise Nie Qiu.
As expected, the moment Nie Qiu placed the fatty intestine in Nie Aiwen’s bowl, his face darkened. He looked at Nie Qiu with a hint of gritted teeth.
“What’s wrong? Aiwen, didn’t you used to like fatty intestine? I bought three catties today and stir-fried a lot, eat up!” Nie Aifang, completely oblivious, smiled and served Nie Qiu and Nie Aiwen each a bowl of soup, placing them in front of them.
“Sister, stop fussing and sit down to eat with us!” Nie Aiwen picked up the fatty intestine in his bowl and, bracing himself, ate the chopstickful Nie Qiu had given him, looking as if he were going to the execution grounds.
“There’s one more dish, I’ll serve it and then I’ll eat. You guys eat first!” Nie Aifang, who was turning towards the kitchen, didn’t hear. Nie Qiu, however, lowered her head and kept eating, trembling with suppressed laughter.
Nie Aifang served a dish of stir-fried peppers with shredded meat and sat down to eat with Nie Qiu and Nie Aiwen. During the meal, she kept serving beef to Nie Qiu and fatty intestine to Nie Aiwen. Nie Qiu watched Nie Aiwen force a smile and eat it, finding it amusing.
After dinner, Nie Aifang was still washing dishes when Nie Aiwen announced he had to leave. Nie Qiu was ordered to escort Nie Aiwen downstairs.
“Uncle, why do you eat the fatty intestine when Mom serves it, even though you clearly don’t like it? If it were me, I wouldn’t eat it.” As they went downstairs, Nie Qiu looked up at Nie Aiwen and asked.
Nie Aiwen smiled and ruffled Nie Qiu’s hair, saying, “Children of your generation, even if you suffer, it’s nothing compared to the past. Your maternal grandmother, back then, was so hungry she ate dirt, and couldn’t even pass stool afterward. But there was no choice then, people were starving! When we were young, things were already much better; at least we could eat coarse grain cakes. But still, we wouldn’t have meat for two or three months at a time. Your maternal grandfather worked at the pig slaughterhouse, and stealing pork would get him fired. But every month, the foreman would give us some pork intestines. I liked them back then, and your mother would let me have them. As I grew older and ate more meat, I didn’t like fatty intestine as much. I’ve had too much of it since childhood.”
Nie Qiu was stunned. She hadn’t experienced the events of that era. Neither her parents’ generation nor her grandparents’ generation were from the countryside; they were intellectuals. Intellectuals were highly regarded then because Chairman Mao was promoting Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, advocating for the rejection of superstition and the embrace of science. She didn’t understand how people at the bottom of rural society lived, nor how hard life was for them back then.
“Tell me more, tell me more about the past.” Nie Qiu looked at Nie Aiwen, her eyes filled with longing.
Nie Aiwen pinched Nie Qiu’s nose and smiled, saying, “Your maternal grandfather’s job of slaughtering pigs was a public sector job, like a civil servant today. Everyone wanted to curry favor with our family. He got this luck after retiring from the army. Without military service, it wasn’t easy to get a public sector job. Our family was actually doing quite well. Back then! You needed cloth coupons to buy cloth, grain coupons to buy grain, and liquor coupons to buy alcohol… Sellers of cloth, sellers of rice, haulers, and workers at the supply and marketing cooperatives all had public sector jobs. Having someone in the family working for the public sector was something many people envied!”
Nie Qiu nodded, looking up at Nie Aiwen, “And then?”
“Later, the Reform and Opening Up happened, and more people went out to work. Having a public sector job wasn’t considered that special anymore. Your maternal grandfather got old and retired, receiving a monthly pension of over ten yuan. Later, because our family were outsiders in the village, we were only allocated two mu of land. Raising me and your mother wasn’t easy.”
As for what happened later, Nie Qiu could actually guess without Nie Aiwen saying it. Nie Aifang and Nie Aiwen grew up and both came to this city to work. She hadn’t heard Nie Aifang mention her parents back in their hometown, her maternal grandparents, so she assumed they had also passed away.
“Alright, this is as far as I go!” Nie Aiwen stopped and smiled at Nie Qiu, “You hurry back, get to bed early, you have class tomorrow!”
Nie Qiu smiled and nodded, waving to the departing Nie Aiwen under the streetlight, “Goodbye, Uncle.”
Nie Aiwen turned and waved back at Nie Qiu, “Go back! Be careful walking, there are no lights in the residential area stairwells.”
Nie Qiu smiled and nodded, “Okay.” With that, Nie Qiu turned and went home.
Nie Aifang had just finished washing the dishes and heard Nie Qiu enter the house. She quickly wiped her hands on her apron and said, “Come here and let Mom see, did your uncle buy you this skirt?”
Nie Qiu smiled and nodded. At Nie Aifang’s signal, she lifted the hem of her skirt and twirled around, listening to Nie Aifang’s exclamations, “Good, very good, it’s different from what we buy. Qiu Qiu, don’t worry, when it’s New Year, Mom will buy you a skirt like this too.”
Nie Qiu smiled and shook her head, “One skirt like this is enough, how can we buy another one?” She had only noticed the brand of the skirt when she changed. It was a brand she had always liked. A skirt like this would probably cost two to three thousand yuan. Their family couldn’t afford such extravagance, so Nie Aifang’s thoughtfulness made her very happy.
“Oh, Qiu Qiu, where did you buy the vegetables you bought yesterday? I’m setting up my stall outside the university entrance this morning. The university students there said it wasn’t as delicious as what I made at the night market last night. I think it’s the vegetables. I went to the market today too, and I couldn’t find vegetables as good as what you bought yesterday.” Nie Aifang didn’t answer Nie Qiu’s question but instead asked. She also secretly decided that she must buy her daughter some decent clothes for the New Year. Nie Qiu was young before and didn’t know how to dress up, but now that she does, she’s even happier.
“I bought them from a classmate’s house. I don’t know where they set up their stall.” Nie Qiu forced a smile. In fact, lying didn’t feel good. For every lie told, another lie had to be used to cover it up. The words spoken couldn’t be changed. There was nothing more uncomfortable than this.
After returning from her stall at night, it was past midnight again. Nie Qiu lay in bed and entered her space. The first thing she saw were some rotten vegetable patches. Nie Qiu stared blankly. She remembered Nie Aiwen saying how difficult things were back then. These vegetables didn’t need to rot. So much, so much food! What a waste.
“Nie Qiu, don’t be sad.” Seeing Nie Qiu staring blankly at a patch of withered vegetables, Dao Qing gently comforted her, “Look, tender shoots are growing from the withered leaves.”
