Courtyard houses: Those who are capable are rewarded, and many children bring many blessings.

"Dazhuang, didn't you bring home an M1 semi-automatic rifle this year? With it, everyone's safety will be guaranteed," Niu Dashan reminded him.

"Uncle Dashan, why don't we just apply to the brigade and bring the rifles that the militia usually use for training? They're much better than muskets," Niu Deshui suggested.

Da Shan patted Niu Deshui on the head: "You think you're so smart? How are we going to divide the game? If we don't discuss it properly, we'll run into trouble. It's better if we do it ourselves; it'll save us a lot of trouble."

After eating the roasted potatoes, Niu Dazhuang tallied up what he needed to buy and then went to the next store.

After counting five more households, Niu Dazhuang arrived at the east end of the village, which is also the entrance to the village. There were two small, isolated courtyards at the foot of a small hill.

Because Niujiazhuang is located in a mountainous area, the houses of the villagers are all built against the mountain. There are three or four houses on a small hillside, and only one house on a small hillside.

Between two small hills, the closest is twenty or thirty meters apart, while the furthest is over a hundred meters apart.

Ye Chunmei and Chen Xia's home is right at the entrance of the village, more than 100 meters away from their nearest neighbor.

Since both women were widows, rumors circulated in the village that the feng shui of the area was bad. Chen Xia had only been married a few days when her husband was conscripted and his fate was unknown; she hadn't even left behind any children.

Her family advised her to remarry. At first, she hoped her husband would come back, but six or seven years have passed since liberation and there has still been no news.

Chen Xia was considering remarrying, but her age was a bit awkward; people her age already had children old enough to run errands.

Ye Chunmei's husband died a few years ago. It is said that Ye Chunmei jumped into the White Tiger Gorge and killed her husband.

The power of rumors is immense; some people climbed over Chen Xia's wall, but no one dared to climb over Ye Chunmei's wall.

Behind her back, they even gave Ye Chunmei a nickname: Ye Baihu (White Tiger Ye). They joked that with a white tiger guarding the village, ghosts and demons generally wouldn't dare to come.

Niu Dazhuang's knocking on the door sounded particularly loud in this quiet little mountain village.

Because their families lived at the entrance of the village, their walls were relatively high, made of stone, only about two meters high. The walls inside the village were even lower, and people standing outside could see into the courtyards.

Chen Xia, wearing a red and blue floral-patterned padded jacket, opened the courtyard gate for Niu Dazhuang: "Dazhuang, hurry up and come inside to warm up for a while. It's so late at night, and I still have to make you come all this way."

"Sister-in-law, I won't go in. What would you like to buy for the New Year?"

"Why is there a tiger at your house, sister-in-law? Are you afraid to even go inside? Or are you worried about what the villagers will say?"

Seeing that she was unhappy, Niu Dazhuang figured there was no need to offend her over such a small matter. So he stepped inside.

"I'm doing this for work, what's there to gossip about?"

"That's right! If you don't come in here, how can you come in next door?" Chen Xia said deliberately to her neighbor.

Once inside, she whispered, "Dazhuang, did you see that? Normally, if there's any commotion here, Chunmei would crane her neck to watch. But tonight, did you see that no one has left the house?"

"Oh! Why?" Niu Dazhuang asked, feigning ignorance.

"Silly brother, she's waiting for you to come inside. You said she came out to see what was going on, and you asked her through the wall. Does that mean she'll tell you or not?"

Niu Dazhuang didn't want to talk about this topic with her. "Sister-in-law, your house is spotless!"

Chen Xia replied, "It's alright. Nobody comes all year round, of course it's clean!" As she spoke, she was about to pour water for Niu Dazhuang.

"Sister-in-law, no need to trouble yourself. What are you planning to buy for the New Year?"

"Actually, I had already planned this. I didn't want you to make a special trip tonight, so please don't blame me, sister-in-law!"

Niu Dazhuang hadn't expected her to be so blunt.

"No problem, it's just a matter of convenience, not a hassle at all!" Niu Dazhuang said, sitting casually on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).

Clearly, Chen Xia had made special preparations for tonight; a table was placed on the kang (heated brick bed). A neatly folded quilt sat alone at the foot of the kang.

This kind of coldness and loneliness seeps into the depths of the soul; it cannot be warmed by the coal fire in the room.

Niu Dazhuang softened for the moment and took the initiative to ask, "Sister-in-law, what are your plans for the future?"

Chen Xia placed a bowl of hot water on the kang table and turned to sit on the other side of the table.

"Sigh! Now that we're all part of the commune, I can earn work points on my own and not starve. I'll just live one day at a time!"

"Are you still waiting for Brother Dajiang?"

"Well, to be honest, I really did have that hope a couple of years ago, but it's been six or seven years since liberation. Even if he's gone to the ends of the earth, as long as he's alive, he should be able to send back a message. I guess he's died out there. My family has also been urging me to remarry, but..."

"Can't find a suitable one?"

"How can you say it's suitable or not! It's just that my ambition is gone, and my desire to remarry has faded! I'm quite content living alone now. Dazhuang, thank you for thinking so highly of your sister-in-law."

"Look at what you're saying, no one else would dare to look down on your sister-in-law!"

"Don't try to fool me. We've heard what they're saying about us behind our backs."

"That's because their feudalistic thinking hasn't been eradicated!"

Chen Xia wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes: "Don't comfort me. I've gotten used to it over the years. Let them say whatever they want!"

You're different from them; I can tell from the way you look at us!

"Hehe, sister-in-law, I never knew you had this special ability! We should send you to catch spies. You'd definitely catch them every time!"

"You're just kidding me. I'm the one who catches spies! I'd be lucky if I didn't get caught by them."

After chatting for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Chen Xia felt much better and offered, "Could you please bring me back two pounds of brown sugar and three feet of hemp gauze? That's all. I'll pay you."

Niu Dazhuang didn't ask any more questions. He wrote down the bill, took the money, exchanged a few more polite words, and went next door.

Looking back at Chen Xia's room, the lights were already off.

Ye Chunmei is younger than Chen Xia, probably only two or three years older than her. In this day and age, it's perfectly normal for women to get married at seventeen or eighteen.

Ye Chunmei, always eager for gossip, immediately asked, "Dazhuang, what were you all talking about just now?"

Niu Dazhuang teased her deliberately, saying, "Just now, Sister-in-law Chen Xia said that someone climbed over your wall last night! You even brought a ladder for that man!"

Ye Chunmei's almond-shaped eyes widened: "She released..." She stopped mid-sentence, glancing at Dazhuang who was suppressing a laugh, and realized she had been tricked.

She reached out and shoved Dazhuang, scolding him playfully, "You're just teasing me! There are men climbing over my wall, but not a single male mouse in my house comes. They're all afraid I'll kill them."

However, during the autumn harvest this year, someone actually climbed over Chen Xia's house wall.

The two were close in age and got along very well, and had a close relationship with the original owner of the body.

"Really? I've never heard of that before."

"She's not from another village, so Sister-in-law Chen didn't make a fuss back then. Of course, none of you know what happened." She then held up three of her slender, white fingers.

"You're the fourth person to know. If there's gossip in the village tomorrow, it'll be because of you!"

"I'm not taking the blame for this. I didn't hear anything. Hurry up, what do you need me to bring?"