**Chapter 51**

  Zhao Zhiguo pursed his thin lips in a somewhat sarcastic tone, looking at the paper in front of him, not knowing what to say. After a moment, he looked at Da Niu and nodded. "Alright, Comrade Ma Shun, that concludes this inquiry." He then gathered his things and left quickly with his team.

  Daniu stood up and walked out of the interrogation room. Yang Hui, who had been waiting outside, asked, "How did it go?"

  Daniu shook her head. "It’s fine. They made a mistake."

  "Director Zhao, are we just leaving like this?" The young man who had been taking notes asked.

  Zhao Zhiguo, visibly frustrated, replied, "Look at this. What’s the point of staying? Someone like her doesn’t need to cheat." He handed the papers to the young man.

  The young man took the papers and was stunned to see that the two documents were identical, down to the punctuation marks.

  It took him a moment to recover before he hurried to catch up with Zhao Zhiguo.

  Earlier, to prove that Ma Shun hadn’t cheated, Zhao Zhiguo had handed her a document she couldn’t have seen before—a file that had just arrived that morning and hadn’t been distributed yet. Da Niu had only gnced at it for half a minute before returning it and then writing it down word for word on the spot.

  Now, Zhao Zhiguo realized what she had written. The young man was equally astonished. How could someone memorize an entire document in half a minute? He couldn’t even finish reading it in that time, let alone write it down from memory. No wonder the director had stopped the investigation.

  * * *

  This incident didn’t cause much of a stir for Daniu, but she still called her uncle, Ma Yunting, to inform him about the investigation. While it seemed like they were targeting her, the real aim was likely Ma Yunting. A small-town police officer like her wasn’t worth such troubles.

  After receiving the call, Ma Yunting assured her that he would handle the situation. He also advised her to stay steady at the commune, as the current political climate wasn’t good.

  Daniu could sense the tension. While things were retively calm in their area, the situation in the county and city seemed more precarious.

  * * *

  By September, the harvest season had arrived, and Daniu and her colleagues got busy. They worked in the fields with the production teams, resolving disputes and ensuring that the harvest proceeded smoothly. The busier the season, the more conflicts arose, and it was their job to maintain order.

  They left early in the morning and didn’t return until after dark, working tirelessly. Zheng Sen was also busy, as everyone, including children, was mobilized to help with the harvest.

  By mid-October, the main fieldwork was mostly done, but people didn’t rest. The production teams organized vilgers to forage for wild goods in the mountains—items like mushrooms, hazelnuts, pine nuts, and monkey head mushrooms. The forest was abundant with such resources.

  The outer areas of the forest were divided among the teams, but deeper in, it was first-come, first-served. Every year, teams ventured further into the forest to gather more. The harvested goods belonged to the collective and were sold to the state, and the earnings are distributed to each household at the end of the year.

  The busy October was coming to an end when the first snow fell.

  Daniu finally had a day off on the weekend, but she couldn’t sit still. Her family was preparing to make pickled cabbage, and early in the morning, Zheng Sen arrived on his bicycle.

  "Why are you here?" Da Niu asked. He had already visited two days ago after returning from a trip. "I heard you’re making pickled cabbage today, so I came to help."

  "You don’t need to," Da Niu said. "But since you’re here, can you go to the commune and buy some things for me?" She went inside, found a piece of paper, and grabbed some ration tickets and money. "My brother’s wedding is the day after tomorrow, and we still need to get a few things."

  Zheng Sen gnced at the list, which included small items like red paper. "Sure, I’ll go right now," he said and stuffed the list and money into his pocket before hopping on his bike and riding off.

  "Hey, why did Xiao Zheng leave?" Ma Hongmei asked, while holding some vegetables and watching Zheng Sen's retreating figure.

  "I asked him to go to the commune to buy some things," Daniu replied casually.

  "Why did you send him? He finally has a day off, and you’re making him run errands," Ma Hongmei said disapprovingly.

  Daniu didn’t know what to say. They weren’t even married yet, and her mother was already taking his side.

  "Listen, you can’t take Xiao Zheng for granted just because he treats you well. Look around our vilge—what man is as thoughtful as him? He always thinks ahead for you. You need to treat him well too, or you’ll regret it if he leaves."

  "Mom, what are you talking about?" Daniu was baffled. Why was her mother talking about him leaving? "We’re fine, Mom. Everything’s good between us."

  Ma Hongmei gave her a look. "Anyway, make sure you know what you’re doing."

  Da Niu quickly went to move the cabbages, not daring to continue the conversation. She had noticed that as Zheng Sen visited more often, his status in the family had steadily risen. She was losing her pce as the favorite.

  Every year, the family prepared three rge vats of pickled cabbage, and it was always a busy time, but this year was even busier. Early in the morning, several aunts from Third Grandpa’s and Sixth Grandpa’s families came to help. Besides preparing the pickled cabbage, they also needed to get ready for the wedding the day after tomorrow.

  According to local customs, the family would host a dinner for retives the night before the wedding. On the actual wedding day, there would be at least three banquets: one for guests, one for the bride’s family, and then have their own reunion dinner.

  Nowadays, simple weddings were encouraged, so they only pnned to host the banquet on the morning of the wedding day for close retives and friends. Dali was given a wedding leave, but his colleagues couldn’t come. Originally, they pnned to distribute wedding candies at his workpce the next day, but coincidentally, his workpce was holding a group wedding that evening.

  This way, they could attend both events without conflict. After the family banquet, the newlyweds would join the group wedding.

  The aunts were all quick and efficient. By the time Zheng Sen returned, the pickled cabbage was already prepared. He arrived just in time to help tidy up the new house.

  The new house was in the two western rooms of the backyard. The entrance hall had been redesigned with a gss partition, creating a small room about three meters deep and two meters wide. Against the west wall stood a 1.2-meter-high cabinet. Next to it, by the gss window, was a brand-new washbasin stand with a double-happiness enamel basin decorated with peonies. The iron stand also held a soap dish containing an unopened bar of soap.

  The kitchen door was on the east side of the gss partition. Inside, the kitchen had been redesigned. The rge stove, originally used for cooking, had been moved to the back of the west room, and a rge cabinet was pced against the west wall. Although the cabinet was a single unit, it was divided into sections. The lower part was a drawer cabinet with a wide surface, perfect for pcing cutting boards. The middle section had wooden pegs for hanging utensils, and the upper cabinet doors were fitted with gss panels decorated with crabapple flowers. The wooden cabinet was coated with a clear varnish, giving it a simple yet elegant look.

  It was the first time for several aunts to see this style of cabinets. When they learned it was Daniu who designed it, they all asked her to help them create something simir for their homes.

  Daniu naturally agreed. The stove, located at the back of the west room, was two meters wide and consisted of two connected stoves—one rge and one small. Earlier, Zheng Sen had brought over some gss, and after discussing it with her parents, Daniu had the back wall of the backyard rooms opened up. They rebuilt the low wall and hired a carpenter to install a rge ttice window with double yers for insution and brightness. A back door was also opened on the west kitchen side, and a double door was installed so that firewood could be brought into the house without going through the front door.

  It was only after spending time together that Daniu realized her future sister-in-w, Yingchun, was very particur about cleanliness. After cooking, she would clean the kitchen thoroughly before resting.

  Ma Hongmei, after observing this a few times, thought her daughter-in-w was good but worried she would exhaust herself. That’s why she suggested adding a back door to make things easier and reduce her workload.

  After inspecting the kitchen, the group moved to the new house. The walls were painted snow-white, and the north kang (heated bed) had a window separating it from the kitchen. With the gss windows, the room felt exceptionally bright.

  "This room is so bright! But gss is so hard to come by these days. You need industrial vouchers, and luckily our Daniu is capable, getting industrial vouchers every month. Otherwise, where would we get so much gss?" Said Third Grandpa’s daughter-in-w enviously.

  "Gss is so hard to get now. Last time, we finally managed to buy a piece for my father’s room, but my clumsy son dropped it on the way. We had to patch it up with tape, and it looks terrible," said Sixth Grandpa’s second daughter-in-w.

  Da Niu smiled. She knew about this incident. Gss was scarce, and only a few households in the vilge had it. Sixth Grandpa’s wife had passed away long ago, and with many children, the family struggled financially. The daughters-in-w managed the household, each more frugal than the st. Last year, they finally bought a piece of gss for Sixth Grandpa’s birthday, only for it to be dropped and broken, which infuriated them.

  During the New Year, the Aunties had brought some industrial vouchers, saying they should exchange them for gss. But even now, they hadn’t done so. In truth, Sixth Grandpa’s family should have been well-off. Although they had many children, Sixth Grandpa was skilled in bone-setting, and many people still came to him for treatment, especially during the busy farming season when people strained their backs or shoulders. While they don't ’t pay with money, they often brought eggs or cornmeal as gifts.

  However, with so many children—four or five boys aged fifteen or sixteen alone—the family had to be frugal to avoid going hungry.

  The furniture in Dali’s new house was designed by Daniu. The Zhou family didn’t have many specific requests, except that Zhou Yingchun wanted a new kang cabinet (a traditional cabinet pced on the heated bed), and everything else was up to them. Zheng Sen took Daniu to the city’s furniture factory, where she came up with several ideas. Since they were near the forest, getting wood wasn’t difficult, so they commissioned the factory to make custom pieces.

  The partition in the outer room and the kitchen cabinet were all her work. As for the kang cabinet in the room, it followed a traditional design, but Daniu found ceramic tile paintings at the furniture factory. The upper cabinet doors featured seasonal flowers, while the lower tiles depicted birds, fish, and insects, creating a festive and beautiful look. The cabinet’s body, like the kitchen cabinet, was coated with clear varnish, giving it a clean, natural wood finish.

  The room had a kang bed with a narrow section on the west side, where a long, matching drawer cabinet was pced. The cabinet had double doors on both sides and three rge drawers in the middle, each adorned with diamond-shaped ceramic tile paintings. On the south side of the kang stood a tall, pin wardrobe.

  The light-colored cabinets looked clean and beautiful. When they were brought in a few days ago, Zhou Yingchun came to see them and was absolutely delighted. As someone who loved cleanliness, this set of furniture was perfect for her, and it made her look forward to her future life even more.

  The new house left the aunts who came to help in awe.

  They all gathered around Daniu, asking questions. When they learned that the furniture was made by craftsmen from the city factory, they understood it wasn’t easy to replicate. However, their vilge also had carpenters who could take on such work. They could make a set in this style, which would surely stand out. They even asked Daniu about the cost of the ceramic tile paintings.

  Da Niu answered their questions one by one.

  After touring the new house, everyone got to work. They cleaned the house again, and Ma Hongmei had asked a "complete person" (a woman with both parents and children living) to make new quilts, which were neatly folded and pced in the kang cabinet. The new kang mat was cleaned again to the point that it looked especially bright. The red paper Zheng Sen had bought was cut into "double happiness" characters and pasted on the rge mirror of the drawer cabinet.

  A door curtain embroidered with mandarin ducks pying in water, made by Tianxiang’s wife, was hung on the door. The house was filled with "double happiness" decorations, ready to welcome the bride.

  On the wedding day, early in the morning, Dali, Zheng Sen, and several cousins set off on bicycles. They were able to borrow so many bicycles thanks to Zheng Sen’s connections at the forest farm. In those days, riding seven or eight bicycles to fetch the bride was as impressive as driving a fleet of luxury cars in the future—it was sure to attract attention.

  After waiting for nearly an hour, they saw children running over, shouting, "The bride is here! The bride is here!"

  The bicycles rode slowly, followed by two rge carts carrying the bride’s retives.

  The bride entered the courtyard. Today she was wearing a thin red cotton jacket as the weather had started to turn cold.

  The bride’s retives were welcomed into the courtyard and the new house. Everyone marveled at the house, inspecting every corner and praising it endlessly. Guests who came to the wedding banquet brought small gifts, usually a dime or two in cash. Close retives gave items like towels or pillowcases, most of which had been delivered the night before. They were the test and most festive styles, and they were all pced on the table. The Song family had even sent a pair of thermos bottles and a complete set of enamel bowls, ptes, and basins—28 pieces in total.

  These items were also pced on the cabinet, not stored away, and the bride’s retives couldn’t stop praising them.

  The wedding banquet was also carefully prepared, and the bride’s retives left happily.

  After seeing off the bride’s retives, the family was exhausted. The wedding was a great success and would surely be talked about for a while.

  In the afternoon, Dali had to ride his bicycle with Zhou Yingchun to his workpce for the group wedding. They wouldn’t return until evening. Fortunately, the farm had given him three days of wedding leave so he could rest properly.

  Daniu took Zhao Xi, the second daughter-in-w of the Song family, to the front yard. She held Zhao Xi’s son, Jiankang, and said, Sister-in-w, Jiankang seems much stronger now. He’s gaining weight."

  "Exactly! The old doctor prescribed some mild tonics for him. After three doses, his appetite improved, and he started gaining weight. His bones are stronger now too," Zhao Xi said, beaming with pride as she talked about her son.

  They entered the room and pced the child on the kang. "Once children start eating well, they grow quickly," Daniu said while taking some knucklebones (a traditional toy) from the chest and tossing them on the kang for the child to py with.

  "Speaking of which, we all have to thank you. My sister-in-w asked me to bring you something," Zhao Xi said, pulling a small package from her pocket. "This is something she embroidered herself."

  Daniu opened it to find a small wallet made of blue velvet cloth, about the size of a palm. In one corner, yellow daisies were embroidered, with a few small flowers adding to the beauty. The wallet had a lining and a fp with a snap button. Though simple, the craftsmanship was exquisite.

  "I didn’t know Sister-in-w had such skills," Daniu said as she was genuinely pleased.

  "She doesn’t do this often. It’s quite time-consuming," Zhao Xi expined.

  "How is Sister-in-w doing? Is she having a hard time with the pregnancy?" Da Niu asked.

  "She’s doing well. A while ago, my brother invited the old doctor to check on her. He said her health is good, but he didn’t expect her to get pregnant so soon. He advised her to be careful, especially in the first three months, and to go to the hospital for delivery instead of giving birth at home."

  Sister-in-w Liu Yue hadn’t come to the wedding because she was pregnant, which was a delightful surprise. The old doctor had previously said her body was damaged and she might not conceive, so this was unexpected.

  "She really needs to be careful. When it’s time to deliver, she should go to the county or city hospital early," Da Niu said.

  "Don’t worry, the whole family is looking forward to it and is being very cautious. We’re all worried something might go wrong," Zhao Xi said.