The girl's voice startled her mother, who was tidying things inside the bridge opening. Hearing her, the woman immediately ran out.
Then she saw the girl shouting toward the north.
"Lan'er, what's wrong?"
"Mom, that uncle gave me two strips of meat..." Knowing she couldn't catch up with him, Lan'er ran anxiously toward her mother and showed her the two strips of meat in her hands.
Her expression wasn't joyful but frightened, and she kept explaining:
"I didn't ask for them. That uncle pushed them into my hands. He said he was trading with me... for my three fish..."
As she spoke, her voice was already taking on a tearful edge.
"Lan'er, it's all right. It's all right." The woman knew why her daughter was acting this way-she had been a little too strict with her before about not accepting things from other people.
"That uncle... is so nice." Seeing that her mother wasn't blaming her, Lan'er finally relaxed and held up the meat for her to see. "There's so much meat on these bones!"
"Yes." The woman looked north. By now, Li Long was only a black speck. She knew he was a good man, and her feelings were complicated.
When would she ever be able to repay this kindness?
Li Long hurried home and saw that the wheat stacks on the Threshing Ground had grown taller.
The Li Family's horse-drawn cart was there too. The roller rumbled loudly; threshing had already begun.
When he entered the yard, Li Juan was sorting through the wheat heads she had just gleaned.
Li Qingxia was cleaning fish in the yard, while Du Chunfang tended the fire at the stove, cooking pig feed.
Hearing Li Long's bicycle, all three turned to look.
"Xiao Long, you're back?" Du Chunfang spoke first. "What good