Ma County, Fourth Team.
A heavy snowfall had blanketed the land in silver.
The young people in the village arranged to chase rabbits out in the fields, while most of the middle-aged and elderly visited neighbors or listened to the radio beside their own stoves, chatting about the hardships of the past.
Ordinary people never lacked for joy. However hard life was, they still knew how to find pleasure amid hardship. Besides, life was so much better now. They recalled those straitened or unforgettable days and spoke of them jokingly, both in remembrance and as a sign of a new beginning.
In the Li family's east room, Dong Xiaojuan held her child as she chatted with Du Chunfang about the past back home.
Most of the time, Dong Xiaojuan spoke and Du Chunfang listened. Occasionally, when something differed from her memories, Du Chunfang interrupted to ask about it.
The area Du Chunfang had lived within all her life was very small. Back home, it had been the area around the old house, and she had seldom gone out to work in the fields.
In Northern Xinjiang, her range was a little wider. She had to check on both the front and back courtyards-especially the front courtyard, which was her youngest son's home. She had to keep an eye on it for him.
"Once our family gets our household registration settled, we'll build a place on that alkali flat diagonally across from Uncle Xiao Long's courtyard. Living close together will make life easier."
Dong Xiaojuan wore an unmistakable smile. Although the children still had no household registration, Li Junfeng had already said that if they could get land allocated and settle their registration this time, they would pay whatever fines were required, register all the children, and then live peacefully here.