Chapter 101: Tidying the Threshing Floor

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“Han Li, are you all right?”

Before she had even entered the house, Yun Yingying’s voice had already reached them.

Hearing her, He Mi hurriedly climbed off the kang and quickly straightened her clothes, though they were hardly wrinkled to begin with.

Han Li was still under the quilt. He was wearing very little, so it would be terribly inconvenient for him to come out.

He was just about to say something when Yun Yingying rushed into the room.

Han Li gave an embarrassed laugh. “I’m fine. I just got back from the mountains a little late last night and didn’t feel like getting out of bed.”

Only then did Yun Yingying notice He Mi. She asked, somewhat puzzled, “As long as you’re all right. Oh, He Mi, you’re here too?”

“I didn’t hear Han Li practicing his punches this morning, so I came over to check on him. I just got here—just walked in.”

“Haha, I’m the same way. Since Han Li isn’t feeling well, I’ll make breakfast for you.”

He Mi said, “Then I’ll help you.”

The two of them were still talking when Hao Hongmin and several others arrived as well. Lying beneath the quilt, Han Li was now overwhelmed with regret.

Why had he forgotten to latch the street gate when he came home?

But at the moment, he had to consider how to get out of bed.

Under ordinary circumstances, it would have been easy. His clothes would have been lying on the kang, and he could simply have reached out, pulled them beneath the quilt, and put them on.

But the clothes he had worn the previous night were covered in an unpleasant smell. After washing himself, he had tossed them directly into the courtyard.

His other clothes were stored in the kang chest, and in his current state there was no way for him to fetch them without being seen.

“Han Li, why are you still lying under the quilt?” Yang Xiuying said. “I’m telling you, you should give those wolf-dog hybrids away. When we came over, they pulled their ropes taut and bared their teeth like they wanted to tear us apart. I was terrified the ropes might suddenly snap and they’d take a couple of bites out of me.”

From the outer room, Hao Hongmin called, “Xiuying, come out and give us a hand.”

“Isn’t it just lighting the stove? How many people do you need to do that?”

Muttering under her breath, Yang Xiuying went outside. Han Li immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

He quickly wrapped himself in the quilt, retrieved his clothes from the kang chest, and dressed at top speed.

He had no idea whether the others felt awkward. He certainly did.

Once he was dressed, he thanked everyone for their concern and hurried outside to brush his teeth.

He had not yet finished when the girls came out of the house.

“Han Li, there’s cornmeal porridge. Go eat after you finish brushing your teeth. We’re heading to work first.”

With his mouth full of foam, Han Li waved casually.

He wondered whether he should find another opportunity to talk to He Mi. What if she agreed this time?

After breakfast, Han Li hurried to the threshing ground. The work assignments had not yet been handed out, so he was not late.

He had assumed it would be another day of idling away in the fields, but the moment Captain Liang opened his mouth, that hope was dashed.

“The autumn harvest is almost here. We’ll adjust the assignments today. The Third Squad will move out the remaining grain from the granary and spread it out to dry. Remember to carry it somewhere farther away instead of spreading it directly on the threshing ground. Then inspect all the grain bins. Repair whatever can still be used, and quickly make new ones for anything beyond repair.”

Grain bins were storage containers made from wood and sorghum stalks. They were generally round and varied in size, though other shapes existed as well. The bins were raised about a yard above the ground. Once the grain had been stored inside, the tops were covered to prevent moisture from getting in. However, the grain had to be checked regularly for signs of heating. If it began to heat up, it had to be emptied immediately and, in some cases, spread out to dry.

“The threshing ground also needs to be leveled again. The First Squad will fetch water and soak the ground. The Second Squad will chop grass and collect wood ash. Later, everyone will work together to level the threshing ground.”

In those days, cement was scarce, so most rural threshing grounds had to be refurbished every year.

First, the ground had to be soaked with water. Then livestock were brought over, hitched to a plow, and used to turn the soil.

Only a shallow turning was needed; there was no need to plow deeply. Where livestock were unavailable, the work had to be done by hand.

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Next, straw and stalks were mixed into the soil, much as when building a house. They had to be spread evenly throughout the ground.

In some places, the ground was plowed once more to ensure an even mixture. Finally, it was smoothed with a rake.

After all that, more water was poured over the ground to give the earth a certain stickiness.

Once wood ash had been scattered across it, livestock pulled a massive stone roller over the surface. The ground might need to be rolled three times, or five, or even ten.

It had to be rolled until it was level and firm. Only after drying completely would the threshing ground become smooth, even, solid, and durable.

A threshing ground made this way would not crack easily. Without cracks, grain would not fall into them and be wasted.

With straw and stalks mixed into the earth and wood ash spread across the surface, the entire threshing ground now looked rather like a giant scallion pancake.

The Third Squad’s work was not tiring, though it was somewhat dirty. Cleaning the granary raised clouds of dust.

After the grain had been carried outside, two older people were left behind to watch it.

Everyone else continued sweeping the granary. There were plenty of mouse droppings beneath the grain bins, and all of them had to be cleared away.

Any mouse holes found inside the granary had to be filled with rat poison before the openings were sealed shut.

Repairing the grain bins was relatively simple. The wooden frames were basically intact; it was only the sorghum-stalk fencing around them that had been gnawed through in places.

The villagers brought over some new stalks and wove them into place. By afternoon, they would move the grain back inside.

As Hao Hongmin of the Third Squad carried grain toward the granary, she glanced at the newly leveled threshing ground. She lightly ran her tongue over her lips and said, “Han Li, don’t you think the threshing ground looks just like one enormous scallion pancake? It looks delicious.”

Scallion pancakes were a specialty of Lu City. Either the girl was feeling hungry, or she was thinking of home.

The second possibility seemed more likely. Looking at this girl, who was always so strong, Han Li felt a pang of sympathy.

“I’ve never had a scallion pancake, but I’ve eaten plenty of scallion flatbread. How about this? I’ll provide the ingredients, and you provide the skill. Let me try one of the scallion pancakes you’re talking about tonight.”

Hao Hongmin said regretfully, “I can’t make them properly. Without lard and cracklings, they don’t count as real scallion pancakes.”

Lard and cracklings? What were they talking about? He was a man who owned eighteen pigs. Surely he would not be short of such things.

“Come on, it’s only lard and cracklings. Leave finding those two things to me.”

Hao Hongmin’s eyes lit up. “Really? If you can get those two things, I’ll take care of the flour. After work, I’ll borrow an iron griddle from Village Chief Zhao’s house. Then we can have scallion pancakes tonight.”

An iron griddle was a tool used for cooking pancakes. In some places it was called a pancake griddle, and in others a pancake pan.

But in those days, an iron griddle was a rare treasure. Usually, if one household owned one, the entire village borrowed it.

Before the workday ended, the threshing ground had already been leveled, so everyone was dismissed a little early.

Before they left, the captain repeatedly warned everyone to keep an eye on their children and not let them play on the threshing ground over the next few days.

After work, Han Li went straight outside the village and wandered around, pondering how to turn his pork into cash.

There was far too much pork for him to eat alone. Besides, after the autumn harvest, he might have even more meat.

Should he sell it himself at the black market?

But there were no kindhearted people there. Only two kinds of people could establish themselves in the black market: one had younger brothers at his beck and call and was involved in shady dealings; the other had a powerful backer.

If someone belonged to neither category yet still wanted to operate in the black market, reality would soon teach him how to behave.

He already owed Auntie Liu far too many favors. From now on, he should rely on her only when absolutely necessary—at least until 1977.

Should he go to the county town and seek out the people in charge of the cafeterias at various government offices and institutions?

That would be even worse than selling through the black market.

The people in government institutions were all shrewd operators. Working with them meant guarding against every possible trick. One careless mistake could leave a person utterly ruined.

The black market was risky, but its channels were relatively straightforward.

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If he happened upon a black market backed by someone powerful, the process might be even simpler.

After turning the matter over in his mind from every angle, Han Li concluded that the black market seemed to be the only way to turn his pork into money. Perhaps he should try it sometime.

After wandering around for a while, Han Li put a piece of leaf lard wrapped in oiled paper into his shoulder bag.

By the time he returned home, dusk had begun to settle. He had just entered the house and sat down on the kang when everyone except Qi Zhaodi arrived.

So they all knew already.

The moment Yang Xiuying stepped through the door, she hurriedly asked, “Han Li, did you manage to trade for it?”

“Yes. I traded for a piece of leaf lard.”

“Really? Leaf lard? If you were gone for so long, the person you traded with couldn’t have been from Shanghe Village, could he?”

“Heh. I promised him I wouldn’t tell anyone about him. But he’s very skilled and often has good results. If there’s anything you want to eat, as long as he has it, I can help you trade for it.”

“Xiuying, come over and help. It’s getting late.”

Hao Hongmin timely called Yang Xiuying over. Yang Xiuying went to help, but Yun Yingying came and sat beside him instead.

“Did you go into the mountains with him last night?”

“I ran into him halfway there.”

“Then next time you go hunting in the mountains, can you take me with you? I just want to experience the fun of hunting.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“It’s too dangerous deep in the mountains. I can’t even guarantee my own safety, so how could I dare take you in there? We can walk around the outer mountains, though.”

“But there are only wild rabbits in the outer mountains. And there aren’t even enough rabbits for the villagers to catch with snares. This morning, I saw someone come back carrying just one.”

Seeing the determined look on Yun Yingying’s face, as though she would never stop until she achieved her goal, Han Li could only placate her for the moment.

“How about this? After the autumn harvest, I’ll take everyone to smoke out wolverines. By then they’ll have put on their autumn fat, so it will be the perfect time to catch them.”

“Really? The wolverines you mentioned—can their fat be rendered into burn ointment?”

“That’s the ones. If we manage to catch any, you can have all the burn ointment we render.”

Yun Yingying did not truly care about the burn ointment. What she wanted was the experience of going hunting with dogs.

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End of Chapter

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