By the time Shen Yunfang heard the gong signaling the start of work, she had already prepared the sweet potatoes, tidied herself up, and was heading to the production team.
She planned to take advantage of going up the hill today to gather more firewood to bring back.
The evening before, she had tidied up the backyard and had come up with a plan. Of course, the completion of the plan required some preparation, and today's firewood was part of it.
After leading the flock of sheep to the spot where they had grazed the day before and tethering the lead sheep, she then began to get busy.
There weren't many trees on the small hillside, making it unlikely to find firewood there, so she had to head deeper into the mountain. She followed a small dirt path that was clearly trodden by the villagers uphill.
Along the way, any branches she saw, she picked up, making a small pile before stashing the firewood in her space. Not being familiar with the terrain, she didn't dare to venture too far, so she ended up wandering around without collecting much firewood. Mainly because this area was close to the village, many children would come here to pick up branches when they had nothing else to do, so there really weren't many branches lying on the ground.
Shen Yunfang sweated profusely and looked at the sky, mainly feeling the degree of hunger in her stomach, and judged that it must be nearing noon. So, she gave up gathering firewood in this area, as she needed to go home to cook. Only by eating well could she have the strength to work.
Just like yesterday, she left the flock behind and slipped back home to cook.
With only cornmeal at home, she had no other choice but to cook cornmeal porridge, placing a steamer rack on top and washing a few sweet potatoes to put on it.
She then went to the backyard to pull an old cucumber and peeled a couple of potatoes. Only after the porridge and sweet potatoes were ready did she start to cook, making a dish of stir-fried old cucumber with potato slices.
Her home had only one stove and one large pot, so she could only cook the meal first and then prepare the dishes, which took some time.
Accompanying the yellow soil sweet potatoes, she drank two large bowls of porridge.
In the afternoon, she was still wandering near that hillside, not collecting much, and realized if she were to gather firewood at this pace, she wouldn't need to do anything else before winter but collect firewood.
She drove the flock of sheep back, thinking that she needed to prepare some dry food to take with her the next morning, as she intended to walk further away.
After herding the sheep back to the pen following the usual procedure and cleaning up the sheep pen, she also took the opportunity to check the cowshed.
Oh, it was dirtier than yesterday, indicating that nobody had cleaned it.
Thinking of her plan, Shen Yunfang didn't mind getting dirty or tired as she wielded the iron shovel and began to clean the cowshed for someone, not aiming to be a selfless volunteer. She simply wanted some cow dung.
How she wished someone could tell her the good news, "There's plenty of cow dung."
Meanwhile, Shen Yeqing sitting inside the production team's house was getting a little anxious, continuously glancing out the window. He had just seen his niece driving the sheep back, and typically, Yunfang would come back home after cleaning the sheep pen. He could take this opportunity to intercept her and talk things over.
Why didn't he stop Yunfang when he first saw her, you might ask. Mainly because Shen Yeqing was a bit too contemplative. If he saw his eldest niece working hard, he, as an uncle, would feel compelled to lend a hand. However, considering his status, it would be somewhat inappropriate to clean the sheep pen himself, so normally, if Shen Yeqing had something to discuss, he would wait in the production team's house and intercept Yunfang when she came out from the backyard.
But today, after seeing the child go in, he had been waiting for half an hour, and the girl still hadn't come out. What was going on? Cleaning a sheep pen shouldn't take this long; she's been spoiled by their youngest brother and his wife.
Shen Yeqing was getting a bit anxious, concerned that the child might have some problem, and he did not hold on any longer but quickly went to the backyard.
The production team's house was well constructed, but it faced the backyard wall, which had no windows, so from inside one could only see the front yard.
By the time Shen Yeqing reached the backyard, he saw his eldest niece busily working in the cowshed with her head down.
Ah, what can you say about this? He hadn't expected the child to have such qualities.
"Yunfang, why are you still cleaning the cowshed? Ergouzi did not come again, did he?"
The cleaning of the cowshed was the responsibility of another mischievous boy from the village. Initially, to take care of his own younger brother's family, and also with consideration for the families of martyrs, he had Yunfang, this little girl, herding sheep, and keeping in mind the influence, he had also asked for the help of another family facing difficulties in the village, the family of Ergouzi, assigning their mischievous boy the responsibility of cleaning the cowshed every day.
Ergouzi, however, was somewhat unreliable, and it was considered good if he cleaned once a week.
Startled by the sudden voice behind her, Shen Yunfang was mainly surprised that someone was still not home for dinner at this hour and was wandering outside aimlessly. A sense of relief then washed over her—thank goodness she hadn't yet transported the cow dung away with her "space" ability, otherwise she might have been caught red-handed.
"Well, I saw it was dirty and not looking right, and since I had nothing else to do, I just took care of it casually." Seeing that the visitor was her eldest uncle, she felt somewhat relieved, but still a bit guilty. She wasn't a person of noble character; if it weren't for the cow dung, she wouldn't want to do this task at all.
To her surprise, Shen Yunfang's stammering words actually pleased Uncle Shen.
Shen Yeqing was very contented, realizing his niece had done the work without seeking credit. What an attitude and mindset that was! However, what had to be done, had to be done. The niece had no need to do tasks that weren't meant for her.
So, he stood outside the cowshed, hands behind his back and face stern, and said to Shen Yunfang, who was holding a shovel inside, "Enough, stop working. Come out; your uncle has something to discuss with you."
Immediately, Shen Yunfang instinctively thought to follow her uncle, but she halted at the sight of the pile of cow dung beneath her feet.
Glancing at her uncle outside and then at the cow dung she had already gathered, you would think, by sheer coincidence, couldn't he have appeared later? She hadn't managed to sneak any cow dung yet. If she obeyed and stopped working now, wouldn't her previous efforts have been in vain?
Shen Yeqing didn't hear footsteps following him from behind, so he turned his head and saw his niece gaping at him, her big eyes glancing down at her feet and then back up to him.
From his angle, he couldn't really see anything valuable under her feet. He leaned forward a bit and, seeing what his eldest niece was staring at, he became irritated.
It's just a pile of cow dung; what is there to be reluctant about?
"What's the problem with this cow dung?" Shen Yeqing's face turned stern, his own authority apparently not outweighing a pile of cow dung, which really frustrated him.
Shen Yunfang didn't even lift her head, "No problem; I just wanted to take it home."
"Nonsense!" Shen Yeqing shouted sternly, "Even if this cow dung isn't worth much, it's public property. What kind of moral consciousness is that? How can you take the public's cow dung for yourself? Our production team needs fertilizer for farming. If everyone would take public property for their own use like you, what would become of us?"