After Chen Haichao made plans with his two friends, he let them go home to bathe while he continued wandering around.
The village's small, low stone houses stood scattered in an orderly arrangement. With the production team off work, the women at their doors were either mending clothes, knitting sweaters, or sweeping and cleaning their homes.
Some of the men had put up ladders to repair their roof tiles. They worked every day and normally had no time to spare, so they could only take advantage of the break.
Some families were also busy with weddings. The New Year holiday was the peak season for marriages.
Every household was busy. Only the children were carefree, running and playing to their hearts' content.
He walked over to a group of women and stood quietly nearby, pricking up his little gossip-loving ears.
"Haichao, aren't you working today?"
"I just got back from delivering some things to my sister for my mom," he said, making up an excuse on the spot.
"Oh, you went through town? If I'd known, I would've asked you to pick up some needles and thread at the supply and marketing cooperative."
"The New Year's almost here, and there's plenty of stuff. Aunties, you can go have a look yourselves and buy whatever you want."
"Listen to you. How could we possibly buy whatever we want?"
After a few casual replies, he no longer had their attention. Instead, they eagerly began gossiping.
"Did you see? Liu Chunlan brought back a big piece of red floral fabric this afternoon, and she bought two jin of cotton too. For a widow, she sure wasn't afraid to spend."
"At her age, she's almost ready to hold a grandson, yet she's still dressing in reds and greens. Where did she get so much money? Must've blown in on the wind."
"Exactly. With that money, she could've bought another ten or twenty jin of meat to build up the whole family's strength, but instead she spent it all on herself..."
Something clicked in Chen Haichao's mind. Now he knew the name of Wang Zhiwen's lover: Liu Chunlan. The name matched the old face in his head.
Sure enough, he had known he would definitely pick up something if he stood around where the village women gathered.
Satisfied, he strolled home again.
Outside the house, Lin Zhiyu was helping Chen Sidi turn the quilts, and the two were chatting and laughing.
"You really came to my house to work?"
Lin Zhiyu's face reddened again, and she gave a proud little huff. "I'm giving Sidi a hand."
Chen Sidi asked too, "Why do I get the feeling you've been darting all over the place today?"
"I could say the same about you."
"I've been working the whole time, and I'm finally almost done. Zhiyu and I are going out for a bit. We'll come back and bring in the quilts later."
With that, the two girls walked away arm in arm.
"College students really are fresh and lovely..."
Chen Haichao watched their retreating figures as they chatted and laughed, then muttered to himself and went inside.
Chen Pandi was helping cook while his mother tended the fire, her face flushed red in the glow from the stove.
The moment mother and son met eyes, their brainwaves connected. Mother Chen immediately understood that he had found something out, and before he could speak, she tried to send Chen Pandi away.
"Pandi, go call the twins home. I haven't seen a trace of them all day. They have to be called in for every meal, and even though it's almost dinnertime, they still don't know to come home. Their hides must be itching for a beating. I'll have to give them one over the New Year."
Chen Pandi laughed. "Could you bear to? If you dared hit them, Grandma would come running right over."
"Mom, you don't have to send her away. I told her already. She knows what kind of thing Wang Zhiwen is, and she knows he has a lover who's almost forty and old enough to be his mother."
"She knows? Never mind, then." Mother Chen asked impatiently, "Who's that old woman?"
"It's Liu Chunlan."
When Mother Chen heard that, she slapped both hands even harder against her thighs and said through gritted teeth, "Well, well, that old widow really has no shame. She's always putting on powder and rouge; I knew she couldn't behave herself. She can't sleep without a man, and she almost brought disaster on our family. Shameless! An old hag like her actually latched onto a pretty boy..."
"After her man died, she kept saying she'd stay chaste and never remarry, but in the end she found herself a younger one. Her heart's greedy enough, all right. She looks down on the old ones and wants to eat the young ones. Her son's the same age as Wang Zhiwen, and she's not even ashamed..."
Mother Chen was practically grinding her back teeth to pieces as she rattled off a string of curses without using a single dirty word.
"Just wait till I catch her. See if I don't skin her alive. At her age, she's got wantonness in her bones, and she's picky too, knows just how to choose one. Isn't she afraid she'll crack those big yellow teeth of hers..."
Father Chen came out bleary-eyed, wrapped in his padded jacket with his neck hunched, still yawning. "Who's upset you now? What are you cursing about? I could hear you cursing even in my dreams."
"Sleep, sleep, sleep, that's all you know how to do. Why don't you just sleep yourself to death? Once you get that horse piss down your throat, you don't even know how much you weigh. You even wanted the brigade captain to call you big brother. What a joke."
She was redirecting her anger, and Father Chen had walked right into her line of fire.
Father Chen's old face reddened. "Nothing of the sort. Don't talk nonsense."
"Ask your son whether it happened."
Chen Haichao was already grinning so wide his mouth nearly reached the back of his head. "Dad was just short of pulling the brigade captain down to kowtow and become sworn brothers. He even said he cast a vote for Brigade Captain Wang when he became brigade captain."
"You remember it wrong." Father Chen looked thoroughly embarrassed and ill at ease. He rubbed his forehead and went to find his water pipe.
Mother Chen stood by the stove, rolling her eyes. "Want me to award you a first-class merit citation?"
"What nonsense are you talking? Is the food ready? I'll go call the two little ones back to eat. The sun's already gone down and they're still running wild outside. They'd better not catch a chill, not when the New Year's almost here."
Father Chen greased the soles of his feet and headed outside first.
Chen Haichao sat at the table with his feet propped up, peeling shrimp. The boy-girl twins certainly came in handy. They could be brought up for anything, used as an excuse to smooth things over.
Although Chen Pandi had already prepared herself mentally, she was still shocked to learn that Wang Zhiwen was having an affair with Liu Chunlan, an old widow almost forty years old.
Now that they had a name, it couldn't be wrong. Her younger brother definitely hadn't been talking nonsense.
As Mother Chen stir-fried the food, she said, "It'll probably be dark by the time we finish eating, and the tide will be starting to go out. Your dad, your sisters, and I will go to the shore first and scoop them up while the tide's just starting to ebb and there are plenty of them. More hands make for greater strength."
"You take Xiao Qi and keep watch. If you catch them, make a big fuss and call everyone out to watch. We're not the ones who'll lose face anyway. Then have Xiao Qi come to the shore and fetch us, and we'll hurry over."
"If you don't catch them, never mind. Keep watch again tomorrow. We have to catch that shameless pair of dogs sooner or later, so they don't ruin some other family's good daughter. Your sister was almost ruined."
"If it weren't for this, after the two of them met today, his family could have come over tomorrow to discuss the bride price and wedding date, and they would've married after the New Year."
Chen Haichao chewed his shrimp and nodded. "That works. I also asked two friends to help. I'll have them keep watch with Xiao Qi, and I'll go to the shore with you to scoop up shrimp. If they spot anything, Xiao Qi can come get me. With more people, we can scoop them up faster. Otherwise, by the time the tide's all the way out, the shrimp will have gone back to the sea."
"That works too. Those are all money. One more person can scoop up a little more, and there have been plenty lately."
Mother and son had worked everything out nicely.
Mother Chen went on reminding Chen Pandi not to have any more contact with Wang Zhiwen. She would turn down the matchmaker herself.
"Good thing your brother found out in time. Otherwise, you'd have jumped into a fire pit and been laughed at by the whole village."
"I won't have anything to do with him. You can know a person's face but not their heart. Someone like him is disgusting."
"Mm. Don't tell anyone else for now. Telling them wouldn't help anyway. It's enough for us to know. Let's wait until your brother catches them first."
At dinner, Mother Chen told the whole family that they would all go to the shore to scoop up shrimp afterward.
Father Chen had just woken up and knew nothing, so he said casually, "Haven't we already dried a whole pile? Why dry any more? We can't finish eating them anyway, and there's a pile of dried fish too. It's enough to last us through the New Year."
Mother Chen looked at the twins' curious eyes and didn't say much, afraid the children were too young to keep their mouths shut.
"We'll scoop up some more. We're not working anyway, and we'd just be sitting idle. We'll go whenever the tide goes out these next two days. Apart from the two little ones, the whole family has to go."
The older twin was Xiao Liu, named Chen Xixi, and her younger brother was Xiao Qi, named Chen Haisheng. Everyone at home called them Xiao Liu and Xiao Qi.
Chen Xiaoliu gazed at her pleadingly. "I want to go..."
Mother Chen said kindly, "You can't. Didn't you see that child get swept into the sea by a wave this morning?"
"But Big Brother saved him."
"That was because the King of Hell wouldn't take him. Not every child has his luck. If I see either of you going to the shore, I'll break both your legs."
Chen Xiaoliu pouted, not daring to make another sound, and went back to eating with her head down.
The youngest, Chen Haisheng, spoke up sweetly in his babyish voice, grains of rice still stuck to his cheeks. "Mommy, I listen! I'm the best-behaved! I won't go to the shore!"
Chen Xiaoliu glared at him. "All you know how to do is act good!"
"I am good."
As soon as he said that, he tattled, "Mommy, Xiao Liu kicked me."
"I didn't! He's lying!"
Mother Chen put on a stern face. "Both of you, eat your food properly. No little tricks, or I'll beat you both."
Chen Xiaoliu: "Hmph!"
Chen Xiaoqi: "Hmph!"
The two looked at each other, each gave a huff, and turned their heads away.
Chen Haichao found it funny. His mom really knew how to have children, and his dad was damn impressive too. The two old folks had given him a younger brother and sister fifteen years his junior.
The two little ones had to compare everything they did, and there were endless cases to settle at home every day.