Chapter 5: Mom, Do You Have Any Money?

Afraid of being late, Lu Xiangnan didn’t linger. He rode his bicycle toward town.

All the way there, he pondered the changes in Qiao Ni and Xia Xiaofang. Only belatedly did another question occur to him: where had his sister-in-law gotten that chicken leg?

He’d heard their rooster crowing before dawn. Hadn’t it fallen quiet afterward?

When Qiao Ran and Xia Xiaoqi got home, a crowd had gathered around the gate and outside the courtyard wall.

Their mother-in-law, Liu Chunhua, sat on the ground, wailing.

Qiao Ran asked a villager what had happened. Someone had stolen the family’s big rooster, she was told.

Xiaoqi wiped the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand and put on a grief-stricken expression. “Who would do such a thing? Have they no conscience?”

Qiao Ran, the woman with no conscience, said nothing. That wasn’t what Xiaoqi had said while eating it.

Lu Hongli stood in the doorway, yelling at the top of her lungs. “You shameless thief! You stole our rooster! May it rot your guts and your mouth when you eat it!”

Xiaoqi thought, *Pah! Curse you right back!*

Once the two entered the courtyard, Liu Chunhua asked through her tears and snot, “Our rooster’s gone. You two were up early. Did you see anyone suspicious?”

Xiaoqi and Qiao Ran shook their heads together. “No.”

They answered so quickly and in such perfect unison that Liu Chunhua eyed them suspiciously. “What were you doing out so early?”

“Taking a walk.”

“Going to the fields.”

At the crucial moment, their coordination deserted them.

Seeing Liu Chunhua grow more suspicious, Xiaoqi explained, “We walked to the fields to check on the crops. Mm, the harvest looks good this year.”

“Yes,” Qiao Ran agreed. “The corn’s growing beautifully.”

Liu Chunhua was bewildered. “Whether the harvest is good or bad is the production team secretary’s concern. What are you two butting in for?”

The friends put their heads together and whispered.

“I think we messed up,” Xiaoqi said. “It’s 1978. Reform and opening up isn’t until next year.”

“Oh, look at you, knowing about reform and opening up.”

“There’s a song: ‘It was spring in 1979, and an old man drew a circle by the South China Sea.’”

“Fair enough. Strictly speaking, fields started being allocated to households in 1978, and the system was promoted nationwide in 1982. Obviously the spring breeze of reform hasn’t reached here yet.”

Xiaoqi’s almond eyes widened. “You secretly studied history behind my back?”

“Is that what we should be discussing right now?”

“Why not? You’re making me look stupid.”

Qiao Ran rolled her eyes. “You were born stupid. You don’t need me to make you look that way.”

Seeing them whisper endlessly, Liu Chunhua pointed at them. “What are you muttering about behind my back? Explain yourselves! What were you doing out there so early?”

Her voice wasn’t particularly shrill, but somehow it was grating. When she shouted, it was like fingernails scraping glass, irritating enough to make a person want to jab her a couple of times.

Xiaoqi shrugged. “Didn’t we tell you? We went to check on the crops. Neither of us is the production team secretary, but people shouldn’t be selfish. If the crops grow well and yields are high, everyone gets a bigger share at the end of the year. Isn’t that good for everybody?”

“Exactly,” Qiao Ran chimed in. “We’re only truly well-off when everyone’s well-off.”

They talked Liu Chunhua in circles until she couldn’t make sense of it. Village Head Zhao, however, was so moved by the stirring speech that he led the applause.

“The Lu family’s younger daughter-in-law may not have much schooling,” he told the crowd, “and her tantrums usually make her unpopular, but when it matters, her words have real wisdom. We should all learn from her: care for everyone and pull together. That’s how we’ll become a model village and a civilized village.”

How had she suddenly ended up being praised?

Flattered and startled, Xiaoqi waved at the crowd. “It’s my duty. Um, serve the people!”

Beside her, Qiao Ran was nearly hurting herself trying not to laugh.

Her best friend was a little goof. A bit silly, perhaps, but adorable.

Liu Chunhua scrambled up and grabbed Village Head Zhao’s sleeve. “Village head, you can’t just ignore our missing chicken. You have to see justice done.”

“Don’t worry, sister-in-law. We’ll certainly investigate—”

Before he could finish, Xiaoqi hastily interrupted. “Forget it. Why investigate? We all live in the same village. Give them a break.”

Liu Chunhua grew agitated. “What are you saying? That was our chicken! We raised it with our own grain and water. Even if it’s cooked, we should be the ones eating it. Why should it end up in someone else’s belly? Have you got a screw loose, siding with outsiders?”

There were no surveillance cameras in this era, but someone might still have noticed something suspicious. Even if the odds were slim, they couldn’t rule it out.

Thinking of that, Qiao Ran said, “Let it go. Look how this has become the talk of the village. Everyone’s come to laugh at us. It’s just a rooster. I’ll buy you another one—no, two. Let’s leave it at that.”

Liu Chunhua’s eyes shifted. “All right, then. When will you buy them?”

“Three days. I’ll bring the chickens home within three days,” Qiao Ran promised solemnly.

Xiaoqi’s eyes sparkled. Wow! Her best friend looked so cool when she boasted.

Since the owner wasn’t pursuing the theft, Village Head Zhao was happy to leave it alone. He led the onlookers away to their homes to prepare breakfast.

When only Qiao Ran and Xiaoqi remained in the courtyard, Xiaoqi asked, “What are you buying them with? Do you have money?”

“No,” Qiao Ran admitted, staring at her without blinking.

“Why are you looking at me?” Xiaoqi panicked. “I don’t have any either. I’m not a rich heiress anymore. I’m a village girl, same as you.”

She added, “It’s one thing to promise me the moon, but are you addicted now? Do you have to make grand promises to everyone you meet?”

“I was afraid the village head would investigate the theft. We’d lose face if we were exposed.”

“So what if we did?” Xiaoqi pouted. “It’s not my face anyway.”

Qiao Ran had no reply to that.

They were still deep in conversation when a basin of cold water came flying out of the house, splashing their feet.

Liu Chunhua glared at them. “What are you muttering about? Get in here and make breakfast!”

“We’re discussing the chickens,” Qiao Ran said.

“Right. Deciding whether to buy males or females,” Xiaoqi added.

“Hens,” Qiao Ran said. “The kind that lay eggs.”

“All right. Mom, do you have any money?”

“I do,” Liu Chunhua said.

An autumn breeze swept dust across the courtyard. The three stared at one another in a moment of silence.