After fleeing the famine, my older sister and I married the brother next door.

The autumn sun shone warmly through the open door of the main room, spreading across the bluestone floor, carrying the dry yet satisfying atmosphere unique to the harvest season. In the morning light, Chen's father, along with Chen Dashan and Chen Xiaohe, carrying tools and empty baskets on their backs, went into the mountains again, their steps shrouded in morning dew—today's goal was to check for traps, set new snares, and gather some scattered firewood.

After seeing the men off, Chen's mother tightened her apron and called to her two daughters-in-law, "Xiaoyin, Xiaoqing, come here. Since the weather is nice today, let's tidy up the cellar again. We should move the cabbages, potatoes, and pumpkins down there."

"Hey, Mother's here." Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing came out of the east wing, rolled up their sleeves, and tied their headscarves. The three women worked together to carefully move out the autumn vegetables that had been dried and were firm on the surface, which had been piled up in the corner of the main room and the storeroom.

The cabbages stood tall and sturdy, their outer leaves peeled away to reveal tender hearts. The potatoes, yellow-skinned and each the size of a fist, were covered in dried mud. The pumpkins were this year's prized crop—flat and round, long and thin, orange-yellow and emerald green, heavy and plump, exuding the unique sweet aroma of sunshine. And then there were the radishes, sweet potatoes… all from our own garden, a sight that brought a sense of peace and security.

They carried these treasures, one trip at a time, to the entrance of the cellar in the backyard. The cellar had been dug by Chen's father and his sons a couple of years ago. The entrance wasn't large, and it was covered with thick wooden planks. When they lifted the planks, a cool, damp air mixed with the smell of soil and last year's stored grain rushed out. Going down the wooden ladder, the inside was more spacious than they had imagined, but it already felt crowded.

Chen's mother went down first, and by the light coming through the cellar, she gave instructions: "Stack the cabbages against the east wall, roots down, row by row, don't let them sway. Put the potatoes and sweet potatoes on that shelf on the west side, space them out, don't cover them up. Pumpkins... put the pumpkins on that dry patch of ground at the back, handle them gently, don't bump them."

Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing passed the vegetables upstairs, while Chen's mother helped arrange them downstairs. The three worked together seamlessly, and in no time, the usable space in the cellar was almost filled with these winter staples. Chen's mother stood in the center of the cellar, looking around: neat stacks of cabbages lined the east wall, piles of tubers hung on the west shelf, round pumpkins tucked in the corner, and strings of dried red peppers and corncobs hung overhead. In the corner, several half-person-high earthenware jars contained last year's pickled cabbage and salted duck and goose eggs, all tightly sealed. Further inside, on the shelves, were sacks of this year's newly harvested grain—wheat, corn, sorghum, and beans—all packed tightly in burlap sacks and stacked high.

"Finally, it's almost done!" Chen's mother patted the dust off her hands, her face beaming with an undisguised, sweaty, satisfied smile. "This year's harvest has definitely paid off; the cellar was dug for nothing! Look, it's completely full! I feel so relieved!"

Su Xiaoyin came down the wooden ladder and looked around. She smiled and said, "Mother is right. Looking at all this, I feel like I won't be afraid of a long winter." Her gaze swept over the room, and then she remembered something. "Oh, right, Mother, we're afraid we won't have room in the cellar for all the dried mushrooms, dried vegetables, dried green beans, and dried eggplants we've been drying."

Chen's mother also noticed that although the cellar was large, it couldn't be filled too full to keep it well-ventilated and dry. "The dry things that won't freeze can be put in clean baskets or burlap sacks and hung on the beams of the barn. It's dry there, and the mice won't have a good chance of reaching them," she thought. "When spring comes and the work in the fields isn't so busy, I'll have to ask your father and the others to think about digging a smaller cellar, or expanding this one a bit deeper and wider. Our family's fortunes are improving, and we're accumulating more and more stuff. This cellar is really starting to feel a bit too small."

The three of them talked as they climbed out of the cellar and covered it with wooden planks. They then sorted the dried mushrooms, wood ear fungus, and various dried vegetables, packing them into old cloth bags. Su Xiaoqing, being tall, stood on a small stool and hung them one by one on the sturdy beam of the storeroom. Looking at the bulging bags, it was another heavy harvest.

After finishing these tasks, the sun was nearly high in the sky. The three of them sat down to rest at the entrance of the main room, eating a few pieces of leftover bread with warm water. The four children climbed around on the mat next to them, munching on crumbs of hard bread, enjoying themselves immensely.

Looking at the children, Su Xiaoqing suddenly remembered something and said, "Mom, Shitou, Qingqing, Aji, and Afu will be one year old soon. Their nicknames are endearing, but their formal names... shouldn't we ask someone to give them a proper name?"

Mother Chen slapped her thigh: "That's right! Your father and I have been talking about this for a long time. A first birthday is a big day. Although we don't plan to have a big celebration, we can't be careless about the child's name. Your father and I have discussed it, and on the first birthday, we'll have Dashan and Xiaohe prepare some decent gifts and go to Scholar Chen's house in the village to ask them to give us a good name."

"Chen Xiucai?" Su Xiaoyin asked curiously, "Does our village have a Xiucai?" They hadn't been living here for very long and were busy making a living, so they weren't familiar with some of the families in the village who didn't visit often.

"Yes, of course there is," Mother Chen said, lowering her voice as she became more talkative. "It's that house with the blue bricks and tiles at the east end of the village, Chen Runzhi, the scholar Chen. He's the only son in his family and was sent to school in town from a young age. I heard he's very smart, but he had bad luck with the exams, only passing the county-level exam in his thirties. After passing, for some reason, he didn't take the exams again. Now he teaches at a school in town, and he's very knowledgeable. He only comes back to his old house in the village for holidays. In our village, any family with a little extra money who wants their child to learn a few words and not be illiterate is willing to send their child to him. He's from this village, and his tuition is much cheaper than going to school in town. He's also very kind."

As she spoke, Chen's mother's loving gaze fell upon her grandsons, especially the three chubby-cheeked boys: "Your father and I don't expect them to become like Scholar Chen, who passed the imperial examinations. That's a celestial being, something we country folk can't even dream of. We just hope that if we grit our teeth and save up some money these next few years, we can send them to Scholar Chen's school for their early education, so they can learn to read, understand principles, and do some math. When they grow up, even if they're farmers, they'll be able to read land deeds and calculate the harvest. If they're lucky, they might even be able to work as shop assistants or learn accounting in the county town. That's a better path than spending their whole lives toiling in the fields. In this world, being literate and understanding math is never a disadvantage."

Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing listened and nodded solemnly. They came from a once well-off family in Jiangnan, and despite their misfortune, they understood the importance of education better than ordinary village women. Su Xiaoyin said softly, "Mother, you and Father have thought things through. We understand. From now on, we will work harder, do more embroidery, and help out at home. We'll work together to save up money for the children's education as soon as possible."

Su Xiaoqing nodded vigorously, "Yes! Mother, we don't mind being tired. What's a little extra work for the children?"

Looking at her two sensible daughters-in-law, Chen's mother felt a warmth in her heart. She took their hands and patted them, saying, "Good children, as a family, if we work together and do the same thing, there's no obstacle we can't overcome, and no money we can't save. Life will always get better and better."