Chapter Eighty-Three: The Pots Were Smashed Too (Please Keep Following)

The plastic sheeting of this era was far too hard to come by. If he could have laid a layer of it over the timber, that would have been best of all.

It would have kept rainwater from seeping into the cellar far more effectively, but for now Han Li could only heap on thick layers of earth.

In order to turn the spot into a mound once the cellar was finished, he had no choice but to dig it a little deeper.

He planned to make either a sloping stairway with a doorway left outside, or simply leave a small square opening and use a ladder to go up and down.

For Han Li, a ladder was enough. A sloped stairway was far too troublesome, and in summer it would easily funnel water inside.

By the time Han Li had fixed all eight posts and laid more than half of the roof beams, he heard the workers coming back from the fields.

When he had finished laying the upper beams and was in the middle of filling in the earth, Yang Xiuying came charging in noisily.

"Hey, Han Li, let me tell you, you really shouldn’t have gone up the mountain today. At noon, things were lively over by the educated youth compound."

"The ones who joined the autumn guard and the ones who didn’t got into it, and in the end it turned into a complete brawl."

"Sun Yong and Jiang Xiaoli went up to break it up. Sun Yong got slapped across the face, and Jiang Xiaoli was kicked to the ground."

"During the fight, somebody smashed the pot in the educated youth compound, and even the clay pot the village chief Zhao lent them got ruined."

Han Li asked in surprise, "What happened in the end?"

By then the other girls had come in too, even Qi Zhaodi followed along at the back.

Yun Yingying was still at the doorway. She answered Han Li’s question first.

"What else could happen? The three big bosses in the village all came. Both sides were each given twenty strokes of the board, those who were too scared to join the autumn guard but still stirred up trouble had thirty work points deducted, and the cost of those two pots was charged to them."

Han Li said, "That iron pot isn’t cheap. Did they agree to that?"

"Of course they didn’t. But Team Leader Liang and Village Chief Zhao both said the same thing: if they weren’t convinced, they could go complain wherever they liked. If they refused, they’d be sent straight back, and if they had no money, this year’s work points would be used to pay the debt. Only then did they finally calm down, at least for the moment."

Hao Hongmin said indifferently, "Calm down? I doubt it. I saw several of them with bad looks in their eyes. This probably isn’t over yet."

After hearing that, Han Li stood up at once, clapped his hands, and quit for the day.

"You girls go sit in the house first. It’s better if we talk about this inside. I’ll wash my hands and bring you something good to eat."

"What good thing?"

"You’ll know in a bit."

He couldn’t possibly finish all that honey by himself anyway, so he might as well bring it out and share it.

If he ever ran short, he could go look for more up in the mountains. The first year after going down to the countryside, an educated youth wasn’t allowed to return home.

Besides, after the autumn harvest he wouldn’t need to work much, so he had plenty of time to wander the mountains.

After washing his hands, Han Li opened the cabinet, first taking out a small jar filled with honeycomb pieces.

Then he took out six bowls, put one portion of honeycomb pieces into each bowl, and called the girls out to take them.

At the same time, he muttered to himself that it was fortunate he had bought half a batch of ten bowls back then, or else he wouldn’t have been able to entertain them all at once.

In the old days, bowls fired at the porcelain kiln factory were bundled with straw rope, twenty to a bundle, commonly called a batch.

Had he somehow foreseen this day when he bought the bowls? But Han Li dismissed the thought immediately.

He had bought ten bowls purely out of habit from his previous life. Besides, the bowls made by the Shenyang May Seventh Ceramic Factory really were beautiful.

He Mi was the first to come out. Looking at the food in the bowls, she asked in surprise, "Fresh honeycomb? How did you get this? Did you get stung?"

Upon hearing that, Yun Yingying reached out to inspect it, but Han Li took half a step back and said, "Not only did I not get stung, I moved the hive to the back courtyard. From now on, everyone can have a little honey from time to time. But if you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s best not to touch it yourselves, so you don’t end up stung into pig faces."

"I want to mix it with water and drink it."

"You should eat it plain first. The taste really is excellent. There’s still some in the jar in the outer cabinet. Later, take some back with you. A cup before bed will help you sleep more soundly."

The girls sat on the kang, eating the honeycomb pieces and talking about what had happened at the educated youth compound that morning. Not long after, Jiang Xiaoli’s voice came from outside.

"Is Comrade Han at home?"

"Team Leader Jiang, I’ve only just come down from the mountain. Come sit inside."

Jiang Xiaoli said, "Comrade Han really is diligent. I won’t come inside. I remember you seem to have a spare clay pot. Could we borrow it for two days?"

"Of course. I’ll go get it right now."

Han Li handed her the clay pot. After the other woman thanked him and said evening study would be suspended for tonight, she left.

Yun Yingying poked her head out at once and said disdainfully, "The educated youth compound can’t cook dinner tonight, so they had to come borrow a pot from you. I’m extremely grateful they had that fight with me. Otherwise, this morning we might have been dragged into it."

He Mi said, "For the past couple of days, Zhaodi has been eating with us. Otherwise she’d be worrying about how to eat too."

Yang Xiuying said, "Wasn’t it? Given the situation, there was no way you could stay neutral. What they were saying was even harsher than what people used to say back in the city. Thinking about it now, I’m still a little scared."

Han Li shrugged lightly. "That’s one of the benefits I’ve talked about. Think back to school—once a day was already exaggerated, and three times in five days was unavoidable. How could we ever have such peace and quiet now?"

"We can’t stay here forever, though, can we?"

"We should read more books and newspapers. In the future, it will still be up to young people like us to build things."

Everyone fell silent.

Qi Zhaodi lowered her head and said nothing. She felt a little disheartened because she couldn’t read.

During this period, the evening study sessions were nothing more than her shouting along with the others; she recognized hardly any of the characters in the book.

Should she find someone to teach her? Otherwise, sooner or later, she would be exposed.

What if she were sent back? She had no desire whatsoever to return to the place she had come from.

They chatted a while longer before heading back to cook dinner, making use of the remaining daylight to get the meal into their stomachs.

After they left, Han Li had no intention of doing anything else.

Yesterday they had butchered a pig and divided the meat. Today he had found honey.

There was still braised offal at home. No matter what, he had to drink a couple of cups tonight and relax a little.

While Han Li was at home eating meat, drinking liquor, and lying on the bed reading, Zhang San had only just returned from outside, pushing a manure cart.

He had not even reached the educated youth compound when several educated youths blocked his way.

This time, none of them minded the smell on Zhang San anymore. One by one, they looked astonishingly friendly.

It was as if Zhang San’s long-lost relatives had finally come searching for him.

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