Chapter Seventy-Two: Drinking Soda (Three Updates Today—Please Keep Reading)

Today, the brigade leader spoke about the dangers posed by wild boars, and several educated youths immediately requested to join the autumn protection team. Even Jiang Xiaoli, seeing Sun Yong join, refused to be outdone and applied as well. For a piece of news that was still uncertain, she was truly holding up half the sky at that moment. However, the autumn protection team would not be activated right away; it would officially start in a few days when the soybeans began to flower and the corn pollinated.

During this period, everyone needed to prepare their own handy tools. Those with hunting rifles had to get bullets and gunpowder ready. Other firearms required maintenance, and even if one only used a knife, it had to be sharpened to a gleaming edge. The horse rack shelters had always been there, but after a year had passed, they only needed some extra straw and branches around them. Such simple repairs had already been completed smoothly by Han Li and his companions yesterday afternoon.

So today, Han Li once again managed to blend into the group slacking off, and a single day away felt like three years. Listening to the aunties gossiping—who in the east had a daughter-in-law with wide hips, whose wife in the western village was particularly fertile, and so on... The conversations were peppered with blush-inducing topics. The young folks pretended indifference, but in truth, their ears were nearly perked up, secretly wishing the talk would become even more explicit.

Barely feeling the passage of time, the bell signaling the end of work sounded. Han Li stretched, fanned himself with his straw hat, and headed home. Before he reached his doorstep, the Yun sisters called out to him from behind.

“Han Li, slow down, we need your help,” they said.

Han Li turned and saw the Yun sisters approaching with He Mi. He wondered what this was about.

“Han Li, have you taken your two days off this month?” they asked.

“Not yet, why?” he replied.

Yun Yingying said, “Could you take a day off and accompany the three of us to the county town?”

He Mi explained, “Our house is almost finished, and we want to buy some things in town to reward the villagers who helped us.”

Yun Jingjing added, “We also need to buy a water jar and other items. The three of us can move them, but we’re worried about dropping them.”

“Is that alright?”

Four sentences from three people made Han Li realize he needed to go to the county town as well. He wanted to send some things home to his family, ideally have a photograph taken to include with his next letter. He also planned to buy a good knife for use in the autumn protection team or for hunting in the mountains later. Additionally, he needed some plastic sheeting—useful for sealing jars when making wine, or for insulation when winter came, nailed over the windows. Plastic sheeting was indispensable.

If plastic sheeting was easy to buy, he would definitely get extra, for it had another major use in his mind, directly related to his comfort throughout the winter.

Han Li said, “Since you all need to go, I’ll ask the village chief for leave this afternoon.”

“So, after work, we’ll go together?” they asked.

“Alright,” he agreed.

Han Li returned home, munching on a cucumber, when Tie Dan arrived with several children, carrying a snakeskin bag.

“Tie Dan, aren’t you kids supposed to be in school today? What’s that you’ve got?” Han Li asked.

“Brother Han, our teacher is sick, so we got two days off,” Tie Dan replied. “We gathered the others and went to the riverbank to catch eels. These are what we caught this morning.”

Well, that was a solid reason, and quite normal for the times. To Han Li’s surprise, the kids had caught a whole bag full of eels.

Han Li picked up the bag and said to the little ones, “Come in and sit. How about I make you some soda?”

“Soda?”

“You mean the kind sold at the supply and marketing cooperative?”

“Brother Han, you have soda?”

“It tastes similar, just no color. But today, there’s plenty of soda here,” Han Li assured them.

Under their expectant gaze, Han Li brought out his largest enamel mug, usually used by his mother to boil eggs or cook noodles—though it had never actually been used. He added white sugar, baking soda, squeezed juice from some not-quite-ripe wild grapes, filled it almost to the top with water, covered it, and shook it vigorously. Then he poured each child half a bowl, the bubbles making them stare wide-eyed.

“Soda’s ready, drink up before the fizz goes flat,” Han Li urged.

Only then did the children start to drink. Most of them had probably never tasted soda, but the sweet and tart flavor delighted them all. The result was that one big mug wasn’t enough, and Han Li had to make two more large batches to satisfy them.

In the end, their little bellies were round and full, and they left belching contentedly, likely skipping lunch, though Han Li wondered if they’d get scolded at home.

That afternoon, when it came time to ask for leave, the original group of four had grown to six. The village chief’s face darkened when he saw so many asking for leave, prompting Han Li to explain quickly.

“I mainly need to go to the county town to buy a handy weapon, or else I’ll be useless in the autumn protection team.”

Yun Jingjing reacted swiftly; seeing the chief’s expression, she chimed in, “Village chief, our food supply will only last two more days. The house is nearly finished, but we don’t even have enough grain to host a meal for everyone who helped. Could the village lend us some? That way, several of us wouldn’t need to ask for leave.”

Hao Hongmin added, “Um... we also need to buy some grain, otherwise we’ll have no strength for the autumn harvest.”

Well, none of these reasons could be faulted, and Chief Zhao, though still scowling, approved all their requests.

The group arranged to set out the next day. Han Li traded with another aunt for a cloth bag, then packed it with dried rabbit and chicken he’d brought from the capital, carefully wrapped birch fungus, snow frog, eel powder in oil paper and newspaper, topped off with assorted dried mountain goods—pine mushrooms, hazel mushrooms, morel, porcini, and so forth. The bag was stuffed full, with a letter to his family tucked inside, detailing the uses and effects of the birch fungus, snow frog, and eel, along with a rough inventory.

After finishing all this, Han Li was about to ask someone from Hao Hongmei’s courtyard to help sew up the bag when Qi Zhaodi came through the door. Han Li was slightly surprised to see her.

“Comrade Qi, you’re here. Sit on the kang and have some water,” he offered.

Qi Zhaodi quickly waved her hand, “No, no, I just wanted to see if you had any dirty clothes needing washed today.”

“Dirty clothes? So it was you who washed my clothes yesterday?”

“That’s right. You helped me so much. I just want to do whatever I can to assist you.”

Thanks to the generous patrons, and a humble request for continued reading and all kinds of votes. Special thanks to: Sui Feng for 500 points, may15 for 100 points, Qing Leng Yu Ye for 100 book coins.