This year Gaijiatun had a good harvest, so after the autumn harvest, every family's grain was distributed in fixed quantities. What followed were some wrap-up tasks, which the villagers would deal with leisurely, making sure they would finish before the first snowfall in November.
One day, an outsider came to Gaijiatun, heading straight for the Shen patriarch's house and shouting before even entering, "Is Old Brother Shen at home?"
At home were only the Shen matriarch and Shen Yunxiu; the patriarch had taken advantage of the busy farming period to help his two sons build houses, and Fang Chengjian had gone to the commune.
"Who could that be? It doesn't sound like someone from our village," said the Shen matriarch as she rose from the kang, peering out the window.
The person at the door shouted again, and she, shuffling into her shoes, headed outside, "You stay inside, I'll go and see what this is about."
