Rebirth in a Courtyard: I Am a Little Hunter

"What a load of bull!!" Jia Zhangshi was so angry that her fat trembled all over, her face turned a liverish color, and she slapped her thigh hard with a "smack" sound. "That damned Jia Laogen! That ungrateful wretch! Who put together the coffin when his father died?!"

"It's my father! It's our Zhang family! Now he's some nobody village chief, and he dares to shit on my head?! He's gone too far! The land belongs to the collective? Bullshit! The land deed is in black and white, it says my father's name! It says my name, Jia Zhangshi's name! No way! I have to go back myself! I want to see who dares to embezzle my mother's grain!"

Qin Huairu's face turned pale when she heard that her mother-in-law wanted to go back to the village to make a scene. She knew her mother-in-law's ability to throw tantrums and knew the current situation in the village.

She hurriedly put down the stick, rushed forward, and grabbed Jia Zhangshi's arm, her voice trembling with tears and pleading: "Mom! Mom, don't go! You can't go! Don't you know what the village is like now? Everyone's starving! If you go and cause trouble... what if... what if they really start a fight... what will you do then! Dongxu was scolded and sent back, and if you go..."

"Get out of my way!" Jia Zhangshi was furious and flung Qin Huairu's hand away with such force that Qin Huairu staggered and almost fell.

"You useless thing! All you do is cry! What are you afraid of? I'm in the right, no matter where I am! I'd like to see who dares to lay a finger on me!" She cursed and started rummaging through drawers and cabinets, looking for her "decent" old cotton-padded jacket, as if she was about to storm back to Jiajia Village.

Qin Huairu was thrown against the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), her arm aching, and tears finally streamed down her face. She looked at her furious mother-in-law and her husband, who was squatting on the floor, head in his hands, silent. Then she looked at her son on the kang, too weak from hunger to cry. A wave of immense despair and helplessness overwhelmed her. She knew that her mother-in-law's departure would be disastrous.

Sure enough, two days later, Jia Zhangshi returned. She didn't come back arrogantly with grain; instead, she was dragged back to the courtyard gate in a dilapidated cart, looking like a dead pig, her face covered in dust.

Her hair was disheveled like a bird's nest, and her face had several suspicious gray marks. Her "decent" old cotton-padded jacket was torn, revealing the blackened cotton inside.

She lay on the cold cart, her eyes closed, but her mouth kept emitting pig-like howls and curses: "Oh my God... I can't live like this... The people of Jiajia Village are going to kill us... They're bullying orphans and widows..."

"Jia Laogen, you damned bastard... You'll die a horrible death... And those little brats... They dared to push me... They dared to hit me... My back... My legs... They broke them all... Old Jia... Open your eyes and see... After you left, they bullied my son and me like this... Dongxu... My son... Your mother is going to be beaten to death..."

The cart stopped at the entrance of the courtyard, and Jia Zhangshi's earth-shattering wails immediately attracted everyone in the courtyard. People from the front and back yards, and neighbors on the left and right, all put down what they were doing and peeked over, their faces showing undisguised surprise, curiosity, and, most of all, an interest in watching the spectacle.

The cart driver was an honest man from the same village. Looking at the crowd gathering, his dark face was full of embarrassment and difficulty. He rubbed his hands together and explained to Jia Dongxu and Qin Huairu, who had rushed out after hearing the commotion: "Dongxu, Huairu… that… auntie… she… she insisted on getting an explanation from the village chief, and she caused a scene at the village office… saying some… unpleasant things… the village chief ignored her, so she… she sat on the ground and threw a tantrum… swearing terribly…"

A few young men couldn't stand it, so...so they came up and pulled her...pulled a few times...Auntie...she lost her balance and fell into the ditch...Nobody hit her...she was just...just angry...The village chief told me to bring her back...to tell her...to tell her not to come again..." After the man finished speaking, as if afraid of getting some bad luck, he shoved the cart handle into Jia Dongxu's hand, lowered his head, and ran away in a flash.

The crowd immediately erupted in a buzz of excitement.

"Oh! So you went to Jiajia Village to ask for grain but failed, and were even 'invited' out?"

"Tsk tsk, I knew it! Where's there any private land left in the village? The cooperative's been around for years!"

"That's right! Jia Zhangshi used to brag a lot about how clever she and her daughter were to keep their household registration in the village, getting hundreds of kilograms of grain every year for free, and laughing at us for being stupid to move our household registration to the city and get that meager ration... Well, now look what happened, karma has caught up with us!"

"Exactly! She used to be so smug, but now she's completely lost, isn't she? Still thinking she can do things according to the old almanac? Dream on!"

"Serves him right! He tried to steal a chicken but lost the bait! He wanted to get something for nothing? Pah!"

The whispers and jeers pierced Jia Zhangshi's ears without any attempt to conceal them. Lying on the cart, she howled even louder, pounding the cart floor: "You heartless bastards... it's easy for you to talk when you're not the ones suffering... laughing at our family... you'll all die a horrible death... Heaven... open your eyes..."

Qin Huairu blushed crimson with embarrassment, wishing she could disappear into the ground. Jia Dongxu, his face ashen, struggled under the scornful and gloating gazes of the crowd, and together with Qin Huairu, finally managed to drag the still struggling and cursing Jia Zhangshi off the cart and pull her back into the house.

Closing the door shut out the jarring sounds from outside, Jia Zhangshi's wailing gradually turned into desperate sobs. She slumped onto the kang (heated brick bed), staring blankly at the dark rafters, muttering, "It's over... Jiajia Village... it's all over..."

Suddenly, as if grasping at a last straw, she sat up abruptly, her eyes fixed on Qin Huairu: "Huairu! And your home! Qin Family Village! Your father and mother are still there! What about your few acres of land? Surely the Qin family won't turn their backs on you too? Quick! Send Dongxu to Qin Family Village again! Ask your parents! Where's the grain?!"

Qin Huairu's heart sank. She knew better than anyone the situation in her family's Qin Village—it was poorer and more difficult than Jia Village. But looking at her mother-in-law's almost murderous gaze and her husband's pleading eyes, she could only grit her teeth, clinging to the last glimmer of hope, and nod.

The next day, braving the cold wind, Jia Dongxu went to Qin Family Village, which was even further away. This time, he didn't even get to see Qin Huairu's parents before being stopped at the village entrance by the village officials.

He was greeted by the deputy leader of Qin Family Village, a dark-skinned, lean, and wiry middle-aged man whose tone was even more impolite than Jia Laogen's from Jia Family Village: "Comrade Jia Dongxu, what brings you here? Asking for grain?" The deputy leader, with a pipe dangling from his lips, didn't even lift his eyelids. "We've heard about what happened in your Jia Family Village. What? You ran into a snag over there, so you've come to our Qin Family Village now?"

"No... Captain, I mean... my wife Huai Ru, her household registration is still in our village, and so is her land..." Jia Dongxu said cautiously.

"It's true that her household registration is in the village!" the deputy team leader interrupted him, his voice suddenly becoming stern. "But where is she? She's been living in the city for years! How many years has the cooperative been established? Has she ever come back to work a single day? Has she ever earned a single work point? Without work points, where will the food come from?!"

Distribution according to work—that's an ironclad rule! Don't even mention Qin Huairu; even if the King of Heaven himself came, without work points, he wouldn't be able to take a single grain of rice from the cooperative's warehouse!

The deputy team leader exhaled a puff of smoke, his eyes flashing like knives as he swept over Jia Dongxu: "Besides, it's true that Qin Huairu's parents are commune members, but the few work points they earn are barely enough to feed themselves! Do you really expect them to support your whole family in the city? What are you thinking! Go back now! Don't cause trouble here! The village is busy organizing production to help itself; we don't have time to argue with you about this useless stuff!"

Jia Dongxu was rendered speechless by the rebuttal and slunk away amidst the equally indifferent and even hostile gazes of the Qin Family Village residents.

His last shred of hope was shattered. Dragging his leaden legs back to the courtyard, the news he brought plunged the Jia family into utter despair.

This time, Jia Zhangshi didn't even have the strength to curse anymore, and collapsed completely onto the kang (a heated brick bed). Qin Huairu held Banggeng, who was groaning from hunger, and tears streamed silently down her face. Jia Dongxu held his head, squatted on the ground, and let out a trapped animal-like whimper.

What could he do? His monthly ration was so meager that even if he carefully budgeted and made thin porridge, it wouldn't last until the end of the month! The pigeon market? The price of grain there changed daily, frighteningly high, and his meager salary was a drop in the ocean! Besides, there were often no buyers even when prices were high; he couldn't buy anything even with the money!

Seeing her husband's pathetic state, Qin Huairu's heart sank to the bottom. She bit her pale lower lip and moved closer to Jia Zhangshi, who was still lying on the kang (a heated brick bed) with a blank stare. With a sob in her voice, she cautiously reminded her, "Mom...Mom...don't just lie there...our family...our family is really at its wit's end...how about...how about we go find that old man? He's Dongxu's mentor, and he's the oldest man in the courtyard...he can't...can't just watch us starve to death, can he? Let him...let him help us think of a way? Let's beg the neighborhood committee?"

Jia Zhangshi's cloudy eyes moved slightly, and a faint glimmer of light flashed across them.

Yes, Yi Zhonghai! That old man with no descendants! He's counting on Dongxu to take care of him in his old age and see him off in his final days! He can't just ignore him! She suddenly sat up on the kang (a heated brick bed), ignoring her aching back and legs, and yelled at Jia Dongxu, "What are you still squatting for? Are you a dead person? Didn't you hear what Huairu said? Hurry up! Go find your master! Go now! Make him stand up for us! If he dares to ignore us, I'll go to the factory and make a scene! I'll go to the neighborhood committee and make a scene! Let everyone see how Yi Zhonghai treats his apprentice's family!"

As Yi Zhonghai dragged his weary body through the moon gate of the central courtyard, he was immediately blocked by Jia Dongxu and Qin Huairu, who were waiting at the entrance.

"Master!" Jia Dongxu cried out as if grasping at a straw, his voice trembling with tears, "You...you're finally back!"

"Grandpa..." Qin Huairu burst into tears before she could even speak, clutching the stick, her body trembling slightly, looking as pitiful as could be.

Yi Zhonghai's heart skipped a beat. Looking at the two people's miserable appearance and then at the tightly closed door of the Jia family's house, he immediately guessed seven or eight parts of the truth.

His brow furrowed, a surge of intense impatience and disgust welling up inside him. He truly didn't want to get involved in this mess of the Jia family! Especially that troublemaker, Jia Zhangshi!

"Come inside and talk." Yi Zhonghai said with a stern face, pushing open the door of his house and gesturing for the two to come in. An old woman was cooking a thin cornmeal porridge on a small coal stove, so thin that you could see your reflection in it. Seeing this, she sighed and silently turned down the fire.