Chapter Twenty-Two: Knocking on the Door for Help

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After Yang Xingwu refused, Wang Zhaodi hurriedly tried to smooth things over.

“Guihua, you’ve gone to all this trouble. Xiaowu is much better now; with a little more rest, he should be nearly recovered.

“These two rabbits must weigh five or six pounds altogether, don’t they? They’re far too valuable for us to eat—it would be a waste. Why don’t you have Chunlei take them to the city and exchange them for some money? You could buy coarse grain with it, and your whole family would have enough for several more meals.”

Seeing the rabbits she had brought rejected, and hearing Wang Zhaodi say this, Zhang Guihua’s heart filled with bitterness.

Her husband had caught the two rabbits in snares a few days earlier while out in the mountains. They had originally planned to take them to the city and exchange them for money to buy food.

But the day before yesterday, the village chief had said there was a way to make money. After listening at the village committee office, her husband had immediately gathered the whole family to harvest wheat ears and take them to the city to sell. The rabbits had consequently been left at home, fed a few vegetable leaves each day, with the intention of dealing with them after the wheat ears had been sold.

Unexpectedly, after seeing how profitable the wheat ears were on the first day, her husband had grown insatiable. Though they had barely managed to sell one cartload the following day, he had gone out again early that morning and harvested another cartload. He had not returned until late at night.

By then, more than half the wheat ears on the cart were still unsold. There were several hundred pounds of them—far more than the family could eat. But if they sold them now, they would lose a great deal of money.

The thought was enough to break her heart.

Zhang Guihua had also heard about what had happened that evening. She sympathized with Yang Erniu and Yang Zhigao, but she did not approve of what those people had done.

Yang Xingwu had only told the village chief about the method because he pitied the villagers, who scratched a living from the soil all year long yet saved hardly any money.

But because certain people had allowed their greed to get the better of them, things had ended up this way. Instead of reflecting on themselves, they had come to curse and berate him.

They were acting like people who took up their bowls to eat, then put them down and cursed the cook.

Now that the wheat ears could no longer be sold, would cursing people at their door solve anything?

Besides, it was said that Yang Xingwu had come up with the method in the first place. His family had stopped harvesting two days earlier, and quite a few villagers had mocked them for being foolish. Now they knew who the real fools were.

After discussing it with her husband, Zhang Guihua had decided to visit Yang Chunsheng’s family and see whether she could ask them for an idea to help.

But when asking someone for help, one had to show the proper attitude. She could not simply arrive empty-handed and demand that they think of a solution for her. In these times, no one owed anyone anything.

That was when she had thought of the two rabbits still being raised at home. Although they were worth a fair amount, compared with several hundred pounds of unsold wheat ears, she could still tell which mattered more.

And so she had come late at night, ostensibly to visit Yang Xingwu.

Yet things did not seem to be going smoothly. Seeing so many people gathered in the room, she knew she had chosen the wrong time to come. But if she left now, she would have no excuse to return anytime soon. For a moment, Zhang Guihua found herself in a difficult position.

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Noticing Zhang Guihua’s expression, Liu Cuihua guessed what she was thinking and raised a hand to nudge her younger daughter-in-law.

Sun Chunni understood the hint and hurriedly spoke up.

“Sister-in-law Guihua, you’re too polite. Xiaowu is doing much better. Did you come so late because something happened?”

Hearing this, Zhang Guihua let out a long breath. At last, someone had given her a way out. She no longer cared whether it was dignified or not and quickly said,

“Oh, it’s because your Brother Chunlei was a little too greedy. The wheat ears at home can’t be sold. If there were only a few dozen pounds left, we could eat them ourselves and be done with it.

“But that wretched man harvested two whole mu this morning! When he came back, there was still more than half a cartful left—several hundred pounds! There’s no way we can eat it all.

“And if we sell it? They’re offering three ears for a single fen now. We’d lose forty or fifty yuan on every mu, and even then, we might not be able to sell everything.

“Every time I think about it, my heart aches!”

“Ah, Sister-in-law Guihua, don’t be so upset. Why not try selling them in the county tomorrow? Everyone’s been going to the city lately. Let’s try a different direction!”

Sun Chunni hurriedly comforted her.

“We thought of that too. But the streets in the city are already packed with people selling wheat ears, and the prices are frighteningly low. I’m afraid ours will end up stuck in our hands.”

As Zhang Guihua spoke, sorrow welled up inside her. She fought hard to hold back her tears.

Wang Zhaodi comforted her while using a handkerchief to wipe her eyes.

“Guihua, then why did you come?”

“I heard someone say that Xingwu was the one who came up with this method. He’s the educated man of our village, and he did so well in school. Just look at all the certificates covering this wall—he’s clearly no ordinary person. I was hoping Xingwu might come up with an idea. Even recovering a little of our loss would be better than nothing!”

In order to persuade Yang Xingwu to offer a solution, Zhang Guihua racked her brains for quite some time, piling praise upon him.

At her words, several people grew interested. Second Grand-Aunt and Fourth Grand-Aunt also wanted to ask him about it. Their families still had some wheat ears they had not managed to sell, and if there truly was a way to get rid of them, they wanted to sell theirs as well.

Wheat kernels might taste good, but if they could make a little money from them, they would still rather sell them. Having coarse grain to eat was enough.

With that thought, the two women looked toward Yang Xingwu.

Wang Zhaodi immediately turned to her son.

Yang Kaishan heard what had happened and thought of Zhang Guihua’s family situation. His hand, which had been holding his dry tobacco pipe, paused.

“Xiaowu, do you have a way to help? If you do, lend them a hand. We’re all villagers here, after all!”

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Hearing Uncle Kaishan speak, Zhang Guihua hurriedly thanked him.

“Thank you, Uncle Kaishan! Thank you!”

Seeing the entire family turn their eyes toward him, Yang Xingwu felt a terrible headache coming on.

“Grandpa, we all stopped ahead of time. If this were really such an easy business, would I have stopped our own family from making money first?”

“That’s true.”

Yang Kaishan found himself agreeing with his grandson. During dinner that evening, they had discussed what they could do if they encountered such a situation.

In the end, they had concluded that, apart from accepting their bad luck, there was nothing else they could do.

Hearing Yang Xingwu say this, Zhang Guihua was immediately filled with despair.

Still, she did not say anything more. She also felt that she had been grasping at straws in her desperation. Just as Yang Xingwu had said, if the wheat ears were truly so easy to sell, their family’s stock would have been gone long ago. How could half of it still be left?

After exchanging a few polite words with everyone, Zhang Guihua prepared to go home.

The others watched her retreating figure and sighed sympathetically.

Yang Xingwu noticed the two rabbits Zhang Guihua had left on the table and hurriedly called out,

“Aunt Guihua, you forgot the rabbits!”

“Keep them to build up your strength. Our family sold ours and made quite a bit of money. Let this be a lesson for us!”

Yang Xingwu was naturally unwilling to accept that. If he had actually helped them devise a plan and received payment, that would have been entirely proper.

But he had not helped at all and was now receiving two rabbits for nothing. Wouldn’t that be accepting a reward without earning it?

With that thought, Yang Xingwu quickly picked up the two rabbits and headed outside to return them to Aunt Guihua.

But the moment he lifted them, something felt wrong. He lowered his head, and suddenly an idea struck him. He immediately called out,

“Aunt Guihua, I’ve thought of something. I don’t know whether it will work, though.”

“It will! Of course it will! Xingwu, tell me—I’m listening!”