The winter of 1995 did not seem as cold as previous years.
Fourth Team bustled all winter. Li Zhiqiang's courtyard almost never went without visitors, and every few days he would go to Old Ma's Place to slaughter a sheep.
Inspired by him, Old Zhang added two tables to his general store. Besides drinking loose liquor, people could now order dishes and play mahjong or cards.
The longtime residents who had not moved out of the East-Side Settlement still preferred hanging around Old Zhang's general store, people like Ma Jinbao.
Ma Jinbao had also put his land into the cooperative. He kept his sheep penned up and had no intention of letting them out over winter. He scattered some of the cotton stalks and other fodder he had hauled back early in the morning and again at night. As long as they did not starve, that was enough.
He drank loose liquor there but never ordered food, though he would help himself when others did.
He could not play mahjong, and although he had learned to play cards, he tended to renege. When he lost a few jiao, his face would grow as long as a donkey's, so nobody wanted to play with him, leaving him only to watch.
He was thick-skinned, and nobody could do anything about him. So when business at Old Zhang's picked up, people had complaints about him and sometimes took a few digs at him.
Of the three settlements, the New Settlement where Li Long and his family had originally lived had the fewest people, and now only a handful of households remained. With fewer people around, wildlife increased in the abandoned courtyards that had not yet been demolished. Li Junhai and the others would come over when they had nothing to do, catching rabbits