"You little beast! You dare try to snatch it back?"
Liu Guifang had never expected the wretched girl, who usually never fought back or talked back, to suddenly find such nerve today.
Feeling a pair of little hands clamped around her waist from behind, Liu Guifang drove an elbow backward.
Thud!
The blow landed squarely on the bridge of Nuannuan's nose.
A stinging ache and searing pain exploded at once. Blood spurted from her nose, staining the worn cotton-padded jacket over her chest red.
Nuannuan's vision went black, but she refused to let go even if it killed her. Her little hands dug fiercely into the fabric of Liu Guifang's pocket, where the medal lay.
"Give it back! It belongs to Nuannuan!"
The five-year-old's voice was shrill and anguished, carrying a ferocity that would drag them both down together.
"Good grief! You've really turned rebellious!"
Liu Guifang was startled by that ferocity, then grew even more furious in her humiliation. She was a notorious shrew in Li Family Village. If she couldn't even control a five-year-old brat, how would she ever hold her head up in the village again?
She seized Nuannuan by the back of her collar, lifted her like a chick, then slammed her hard onto the ground!
Thump!
Nuannuan's forehead struck the sharp threshold stone at the woodshed entrance.
Blood ran down her brow, instantly covering half of one eye.
The world turned blood-red.
"I won't give it up... I won't..."
Even dizzy and reeling, Nuannuan kept crawling across the ground. Her blood-covered little hands clawed shocking red streaks into the snow as she continued toward Liu Guifang.
The look in her eyes made Liu Guifang's skin crawl.
Why did this wretched girl's eyes look just like a wolf cub's from the mountains?
"Auntie Guifang! What are you doing?"
Just as Liu Guifang raised the fire poker to strike again, a furious shout suddenly came from the courtyard gate.
Several men in military overcoats and Lei Feng hats walked in.
Leading them was Li Family Village's old Party secretary, followed by two bespectacled male educated youths.
The old secretary's face turned black as the bottom of a pot the moment he saw the terrible sight on the ground.
Such a tiny little child lay facedown in the snow, her face covered in blood. Her thin clothes were nearly worn to strips, and her little feet, purple with cold, didn't even have shoes.
Even the rich landlords of the old society had never been this cruel!
"Oh, Secretary!"
Liu Guifang's expression changed faster than the turn of a page. She tossed the fire poker onto the ground, plopped down, and began slapping her thighs and wailing.
"I can't live like this anymore! This wretched girl stole money from the family, and when I tried to stop her, she bit me! Look at my hand! She bit it till it bled! She's nothing but an ungrateful wretch!"
Liu Guifang held out the plump hand that had been bitten. There was indeed a set of tooth marks on it.
Frowning, the old secretary ignored her tantrum and hurried to Nuannuan. He took off his overcoat and wrapped it around the child.
"Nuannuan, are you all right?"
Nuannuan trembled. The moment the coat enveloped her, that trace of warmth sent her tears pouring out.
"Uncle... the star... Granny took my star..."
She stretched out her mangled little hand and pointed at Liu Guifang's pocket.
The old secretary paused. "What star?"
Liu Guifang's heart lurched. If the secretary saw that it was a lump of gold, he might confiscate it as a remnant of feudalism, or call it stolen property.
"Oh! It's just a worthless piece of copper!"
Liu Guifang hurriedly covered her pocket, her eyes darting. "Who knows where this girl picked up that rubbish? She insists it's a treasure. I was worried the rust on it might cut her hand and give her tetanus, so I put it away for her. But she wouldn't have it and came at me like her life depended on it."
The old secretary gave Liu Guifang a suspicious look.
Just then, the little mouse tucked against Nuannuan's chest darted out in fright and vanished in a flash.
"Oh! I told you there was something wrong with this girl! She even keeps mice on her!" Liu Guifang seized the chance to shout and change the subject. "Keeping filthy things like that in the house will give our whole family the plague!"
The two educated youths behind him frowned as well.
In those days, mice were one of the Four Pests that had to be exterminated.
The old secretary looked at the child in his arms, so weak she was about to pass out, and sighed.
Even an honest official had trouble settling family disputes.
After all, Nuannuan was a foundling Liu Guifang's family had adopted. Even if they abused her, as long as they didn't beat her to death, the village could do little more than criticize and lecture them.
"Enough! Stop wailing!"
The old secretary stood up and pointed sternly at Liu Guifang. "The child is still so young. Whether you found her or gave birth to her, she's a human life! If I catch you beating this child within an inch of her life again, forget about being named an exemplary individual this year! You'll also be publicly criticized before the whole village!"
At the words "exemplary individual" and "publicly criticized," Liu Guifang shrank back. This was a serious matter that affected her share of the year-end meat distribution.
"Yes, yes, yes. I just lost my temper," Liu Guifang said with a placating smile.
"If the child likes that thing, give it to her." The old secretary pointed at her pocket.
The corners of Liu Guifang's mouth twitched with the pain of parting with it.
That was gold!
But faced with the old secretary's stern gaze and the pens in the hands of the two educated youths behind him, she didn't dare defy him.
"Fine, fine! Who wants that worthless junk anyway?"
Reluctantly, Liu Guifang took out the medal, but she kept one trick up her sleeve. Instead of handing it straight to Nuannuan, she flung it hard into the pile of straw in the corner of the woodshed.
"Find it yourself!"
The medal traced an arc through the air and fell deep into the thick straw.
The old secretary gave Liu Guifang a warning look, comforted Nuannuan a little more, and had someone fetch gentian violet to dab on her wounds. Only then did he leave with the others.
After all, heavy snow had sealed off the mountains, and there was plenty to do in the village. He couldn't stay here watching forever.
Once everyone had gone, the courtyard fell quiet again.
The false smile instantly vanished from Liu Guifang's face, leaving it utterly venomous.
She walked to the woodshed entrance, watched Nuannuan lying in the straw and desperately searching for the medal, then sneered and lowered her voice.
"Go on, look. Look as hard as you can."
"You can sleep holding that scrap metal tonight. Tomorrow, when the human trafficker... hmph, when that old widower comes tomorrow, let's see how you protect your precious treasure!"
"Once you're sold off to some mountain backwater, that lump of gold will still be mine!"
With that, Liu Guifang fetched a heavy padlock and locked the woodshed door firmly from outside.
Darkness fell.
The woodshed was as cold as an ice cellar.
At last, Nuannuan's fingers found the icy medal deep in the straw. She pressed it tightly against her cheek, blood and tears mingling together.
"Daddy... Nuannuan hurts so much... Nuannuan's so scared..."
Night deepened.
Li Family Village sank into deathly silence, broken only by an occasional bark.
Nuannuan's head swam, and her forehead was frighteningly hot. She had developed a high fever.
In her haze, she felt something nudging her hand.
It was the little mouse with the missing ear.
And it wasn't alone.
Rustling filled the space around her, as though dozens of mice had gathered beside her, warming her with their bodies.
It was very strange.
Before, she could only guess what little animals meant. But today, ever since her blood had spilled onto the medal, strange voices seemed to have suddenly appeared in her mind.
They were the mice talking to one another.
"That woman's bad."
"Chew up her money."
"It's in the cabinet in the main room."
Delirious with fever, Nuannuan thought she was dreaming.
Suddenly, a burst of frantic barking came from far away.
It was the big yellow dog at the village entrance.
Before, it had sounded like nothing more than "woof, woof, woof." Now, in Nuannuan's ears, it became unmistakably clear human speech, filled with extreme terror and warning:
"Someone's entered the village! That's killing intent!"
"They're not good people! They smell of blood!"
"They're coming toward this courtyard!"
Nuannuan's eyes flew open.
In that instant, a faint, eerie glimmer actually flashed through her childish eyes, which had been somewhat clouded, in the darkness.
She understood.
Big Yellow was saying that bad people were coming.