Shen Yunfang trudged through the creaking snow with cotton and cloth, heading to her uncle's house.
She had intentionally chosen to visit after dinner to avoid being a nuisance.
"Uncle, Aunt, are you home?" Shen Yunfang called out from outside the courtyard.
"Oh, Yunfang, it's you. Your uncle isn't home; he's gone off to chat at someone else's place," Aunt Shen yelled from inside upon hearing Shen Yunfang's voice and came out to open the courtyard door for her.
"Oh, why bring things with you when you come to visit?" Aunt Shen happily attempted to take the items from Shen Yunfang's hands.
Shen Yunfang handed them over directly and cut to the chase, "Aunt, this is the cotton I bought in the county today. You know my mother passed away, and I'm all alone at home now. I don't know how to make clothes for myself, so I thought I'd come ask if you could make me an outfit."
Aunt Shen's smile started to falter. She looked at the items in her hands, wanting to throw them to the ground, but feeling it would be inappropriate, she merely carried them with a stiff face and placed them on the kang bed inside the house.
Turning around, she forced a smile back onto her face, but the words that came out weren't pleasant, "Yunfang, we're close relatives, and ordinarily if you asked for a favor, I'd have to do it for you," she said, pausing mid-sentence as if to punctuate her point, annoyed Shen Yunxiu, who was cracking sunflower seeds atop the kang bed, chimed in.
"Mom, my little brother is getting married next spring, and we haven't even started on the bedding and clothes yet. You need to prioritize," rebuked Shen Yunxiu, her gaze provocatively fixed on Shen Yunfang.
Shen Yunfang couldn't be bothered to argue with someone so childish; she was only interested in what Aunt Shen had to say.
"Naughty girl, what are you talking about?" Aunt Shen scolded her daughter, then turned to Shen Yunfang with an apologetic tone, "Your cousin Yunxiu doesn't mince words, please don't take it to heart. But she's not wrong; I'd love to help you, but I'm really swamped. Yunxiu's little aunt's son is getting married soon, and I'm so busy that I wish I had four hands. Look at this... How about this, if you're not in a hurry, leave your materials here, and I'll work on them when I have the time."
Shen Yunfang smiled and picked up the bundle from the kang, replying, "You're already so busy, Aunt, how could I impose further? It's alright, I'll find another way. I will get going now." With that, she pushed the door open and exited the uncle's house.
"Tsk, as if it's possible, she even wants us to make her a cotton-padded jacket. She's dreaming," scoffed Shen Yunxiu. Shen Yunfang hadn't even left the uncle's courtyard when she heard these remarks. She snorted inwardly, thinking someone as foolish as her cousin probably wouldn't ever change in this lifetime.
"Shh." Aunt Shen stuck her head out of the window to see if Shen Yunfang had left the courtyard before saying with feigned authority to her indolent daughter, "You and your big mouth, have you forgotten what your mother told you?"
"I just can't stand it," grumbled Shen Yunxiu through her nose, "Starving and still fussing over new clothes. If she's so capable, let her make them herself at home. Showing off in front of me like that, really."
Seeing her daughter's lack of discretion, Aunt Shen smacked her on the bottom and lectured, "What have I told you? Everything about you is good, but that mouth of yours is too honest. You offend people without even realizing it. If you're like this in your husband's family, that won't do."
"Oh, Mom, what are you talking about? I'm not going to marry," the young girl blushed at her mother's mention of finding her a suitor.
"So you want to be an old maid forever? Your father and I won't support you," Aunt Shen climbed onto the kang, grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds from the basket, and began cracking them. "Girl, let's continue talking about that soldier boy..."
"Aiyah, stop it, I don't want to hear it," Shen Yunxiu brushed off her mother's prattle and turned her face away in annoyance.
As for Shen Yunfang, after leaving her uncle's home, she didn't head to the production team, but went straight to the Wang family's home instead.
A living person can't be stifled to death by their pee. If you won't make it for me, then I'll find another way.
"Wang Auntie, I've come again," Shen Yunfang said as she pushed open the gate of the Wang family's courtyard that was ajar.
"Oh, Yunfang, why come at this hour?" Wang Auntie was just getting ready to serve dinner to her son and hadn't even asked how his day was before a visitor came.
Seeing the table and bowls in the house, Shen Yunfang quickly apologized, "Brother Dashuan just got back? Go ahead and eat, I don't have anything urgent."
"Exactly, your Brother Dashuan just came back from your sister-in-law's mother's house, and it's only now he's getting to eat," explained Wang Auntie, afraid that Shen Yunfang might misunderstand.
In fact, Shen Yunfang wasn't concerned in the slightest.
"Yunfang, have you eaten, or do you want to join your Brother Dashuan for a meal?" the wife of Dashuan, who was setting the table, asked.
"No, I've already eaten. Brother Dashuan, you eat; I'm here to see your mother about something." Shen Yunfang wouldn't have dared to join them for a meal, even if she hadn't eaten already.
Of course, the old Shen Yunfang might have done so without a second thought.
"What's going on? What's the matter?" Wang's matriarch asked.
Only then did Shen Yunfang sheepishly explain her situation.
"Oh, that's no big deal; no need to ask that of me. Leave the things here, and I'll do it for you tomorrow," she said.
"Thank you so much, ma'am," Shen Yunfang replied, relieved that her cotton coat was now taken care of.
"Ma'am, I've grown some chives at home. I just harvested a batch, and I brought some for you to try," she said, taking a bunch of chives from the top layer of her bundle.
"Hey, why are you doing this? You better take it back," Wang's matriarch refused to accept her offering. That would be improper—the girl had just asked for a favor, and now to accept her gift? What kind of person would that make her?
"Oh no, it's not for you; it's mainly because I wanted Xiaojuan to have a taste. Xiaojuan, tell Auntie Fang if you want to eat chives with scrambled eggs," Shen Yunfang teased the little girl sitting on the heated brick bed.
"I do," Wang Xiaojuan said loudly, attracting her parents' teasing hands.
"You cheeky child," Wang's matriarch chided, her hand not quite pushing the gift away with the same firmness. It was tough, no matter what, but the hardships fell hardest on the child.
After a few back-and-forth gestures, Wang's matriarch eventually accepted the chives.
Shen Yunfang intended to take her leave right away since she still needed to feed the sheep at the production team. However, she got held up by Dashuan's wife, who insisted that Dashuan, having just finished his meal, should go to feed the sheep instead.
Dashuan's wife chatted about this and that for a while before getting around to asking what she really wanted to know.
"Yunfang, I heard from my mother that you've been growing chives at home?" she inquired.
"Yes, that's right," Shen Yunfang had anticipated this question and didn't bother to hide her affirmative response.
This left Dashuan's wife at a loss for what to say next.
Shen Yunfang, being considerate, didn't wait to be asked and shared a simplified explanation of the greenhouse vegetable growing concept.
"I had never grown them before either; just wanted to give it a go this year. Didn't expect it to actually work out," Shen Yunfang didn't mind if the Wang Family wanted to grow chives too.
"If you grow vegetables inside the house, won't that make the humidity worse? Can your house handle it?" Dashuan's wife was concerned, wanting to warn her in case she wasn't aware of the potential problem. After all, the choice between a few bundles of chives and a house was clear.
Shen Yunfang looked at Wang's family, thought for a moment, and decided to share a bit of her true thoughts.
"Ma'am, sister-in-law, you both know my situation. I'm all alone at home now, barely managing meal to meal. What I urgently need is to ensure I have enough to eat. Besides, I'm fifteen now; in a few years, I'll surely get married. By then, my house would be left empty anyway, so it's better to make use of it now. And if the house really can't stand it, well, when I'm capable, I'll come back and rebuild it with bricks and tiles," so basically, as long as the house could hold up for another five years, it would be enough.
Wang's matriarch and her daughter-in-law exchanged a glance. Although they didn't quite agree with Yunxiu's plans, they abandoned the thought of growing chives themselves.
The girl Yunfang would probably be married off in the next two or three years, so worrying about the house then seemed fruitless, but it was different for their family. With elders and youngsters to care for, they relied entirely on their home for shelter and couldn't afford to take such risks.