Rebirth in a Courtyard: I Am a Little Hunter

"Aunt Li?" an older woman called softly, afraid of startling the old woman.

Grandma Li raised her head blankly, squinting her dim old eyes, and looked for a while before recognizing the person. Her voice was hoarse: "Is...is it the Zhonghai family?"

An older woman gently placed a small scoop of cornmeal, also wrapped in cloth, and two grain coupons into Grandma Li's calloused and dried-up hands: "Aunt Li, please keep this grain. Use it to make do with some food. Old Yi said the weather is getting colder every day, so please take good care of yourself."

Grandma Li looked down at the golden cornmeal and precious grain coupons in her hands. Her withered hands trembled violently, and cloudy tears welled up instantly, streaming down the crisscrossing wrinkles on her face. "This...this...this can't be...Uncle Yi...Aunt Yi...you...you are such good people...this useless old body of mine...is a burden to Shitou...I...I..." She struggled to get up and bow, but Aunt Yi held her down firmly.

"Please don't do this! You're making me feel terrible! Please rest and don't move!" The old woman felt a pang of sadness and quickly helped the old man up. She then squatted down, touched Shi Tou's sparse, yellow hair, and stuffed the last piece of hard candy in her pocket into the child's hand.

Stone looked timidly at the candy, then at his grandmother, and didn't dare to move. The old woman's nose stung even more; she quickly said a few words of comfort and fled from the heartbreaking little house as if escaping.

Although Yi Zhonghai and his wife's act of "providing timely help" was deliberate, Liu Xiufen and Grandma Li, who actually received the food, could not hide their gratitude.

Some people in the courtyard who had previously been quite critical of Yi Zhonghai, such as a few households who were also struggling financially, noticeably softened their stance. Of course, some disagreed, feeling that Yi Zhonghai was trying to win people over, feigning benevolence.

Inside the Jia family house, Jia Zhangshi slammed her fist on the kang table in a fit of rage, making the enamel mug bounce. Her triangular eyes were filled with resentment and jealousy: "Bah! You old dead man! What are you pretending to be, this great philanthropist! All that cornmeal used to belong to our family! Every single month! And now, you're using my things to pretend to be a good person! Giving it all away to those unrelated outsiders!"

"What is that little hussy Liu Xiufen? And that coffin-stuffed Granny Li! Yi Zhonghai is just taking advantage of us orphans and widows because Dongxu is gone! He has no conscience!" She got angrier and angrier as she cursed, and grabbed the broom handle on the kang (a heated brick bed) and wanted to throw it on the ground.

"Mom!" Qin Huairu grabbed her hand, her voice weary and helpless, "Keep your voice down! Someone might hear..."

"So what if he heard? Am I afraid he'll hear?" Madam Jia's voice rose even higher, spittle flying everywhere. "He's just guilty! He used our things to buy things! Qin Huairu! You're useless too! You didn't even bother to talk to him!"

Qin Huairu silently lowered her head, biting her lower lip hard, her hands gripping the needlework tightly until her knuckles turned white. What could she say? Yi Zhonghai's assistance this time was indeed for the two most impoverished families in the courtyard, and even she couldn't find fault with it. But... thinking of the "care" that had previously belonged exclusively to the Jia family, she felt an emptiness in her heart, as if a piece of her heart had been ripped out.

Uncle Liu Haizhong paced back and forth at home, his hands behind his back, listening to his wife, Aunt Erda, excitedly recount how Yi Zhonghai had delivered grain to their courtyard, especially how Liu Xiufen and Grandma Liu were so grateful. His heart was filled with a mixture of emotions, like a spilled spice bottle—sour, bitter, and anxious. His ambition for officialdom grew wildly like weeds.

"Hmph! Old Yi played his hand well! Sending some cornbread to salvage his reputation? If he can send it, why can't I, Liu Haizhong?" Liu Haizhong slammed his hand on the table, making the teacup lid jump. His small eyes gleamed with a defiant and calculating light. "He sends coarse grains, we'll send something more precious! Let him see what real power is!"

"Something even more precious? What do you want to give? Our family doesn't have much money!" As soon as Aunt Er heard "precious," she immediately became alert, her voice rising eight octaves.

"Buy it!" Liu Haizhong waved his hand, displaying a bold and reckless spirit. "You can't catch a wolf without risking your cub! Tomorrow I'll get up early and go to the ghost market! Buy some fine grains! Flour! Rice! We'll share them with those families in need!"

Old Yi gives cornmeal, we give wheat flour and rice! Let's see who's more practical! Let's see who's more considerate! These days, food is the most important thing! Sending out piles of white rice and wheat flour, how could our reputation be inferior to Old Yi's?"

Although the second aunt was reluctant to spend the money, seeing her husband's "ambitious" demeanor and knowing he could outmaneuver Yi Zhonghai, she ultimately grumbled and acquiesced.

The next evening, just as darkness fell, Liu Haizhong indeed sneaked back from outside, carrying a small, bulging old flour sack on his shoulder, looking nervous yet somewhat excited.

He first went to Liu Xiufen's house, then to Grandma Li's house. Under the cover of night, he stuffed a small half-bag of things into each house—snow-white flour for Liu Xiufen's house and glistening white rice for Grandma Li's house. Although each house only received about two pounds, the snow-white and glistening color was a rare and precious thing in this era when coarse grains were the main staple!

"Second Uncle! This...this is too precious! You can't use it! You really can't use it!" Liu Xiufen touched the fine flour, her hands trembling as if she were holding a bag of gold, her voice trembling with tears.

Grandma Li was overcome with emotion, tears streaming down her face as she held the small bag of white rice as if it were a sacred object: "Second Uncle...you...you...how can we, her grandson and I, possibly accept this..."

Liu Haizhong, his belly protruding, tried his best to adopt the solemn posture of a "leader caring for the masses," a warm smile plastered on his face, his voice deliberately raised to sound robust: "Take it! Take it all! It's just a small token of my appreciation! We live in the same compound, so we're all family! Family doesn't stand on ceremony! Seeing you all struggling, how could I, Liu Haizhong, feel good about it? Eat up! If you need more, just let me know! With me, Liu Haizhong, around, I can't let my neighbors go hungry!"

He reveled in the other person's grateful, almost worshipful gaze, and the money he had spent in the ghost market with bated breath didn't seem so painful anymore. Instead, it transformed into a heavy sense of satisfaction, making him feel elated and elevating his own image.

Liu Xiufen and Grandma Li had always had a good relationship with the Wei family. The two families were naturally grateful for the huge benefit they received from Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong, but they also felt a little uneasy.

That evening, when Grandma Li saw Wei Chen pushing his bicycle home from get off work, she and Liu Xiufen quickly and quietly pulled him to a secluded spot in the front yard.

"Xiao Chen," Aunt Liu rubbed her hands, her face filled with gratitude, but also confusion and unease, "You know... what's going on with these two uncles lately? First it was cornmeal, now it's wheat flour and rice... especially the second uncle, that ghost market is such a dangerous place, and he still went to buy such precious grains to give away... this... this grain smells good, but why do I feel so... so uneasy? It feels like... like something's missing?"

Wei Chen had just propped up his bicycle and was stroking the fur of the large yellow dog that had come to greet him when he heard this. He looked up, his face showing no surprise, just a faint smile as he dusted off his hands: "Aunt Liu, Grandma Li, just relax and take it. They're giving it to you, so just eat it. Don't overthink it. They're paying for this reputation!" He paused, his gaze calmly sweeping over the closed door of Yi Zhonghai's house in the middle courtyard and the window of Liu Haizhong's house in the front courtyard, which shone with light and seemed to still carry the air of its owner's pride. His tone was calm, yet carried a clear-eyed understanding of the world:

"They just want to spend some food to buy back some things they threw away before. These days, food is precious, and so is reputation. Everyone gets what they need. You're having a hard time, so it's good that you can get some real subsidies. As for what they're after, that's their business and has nothing to do with you. Eat well, drink well, make a good living, and raise your children. That's more important than anything else."

After hearing Wei Chen's words, Aunt Liu and Grandma Li's heavy doubts and unease dissipated like dark clouds blown away by the wind.

Yes, Xiao Chen is right! Who cares about the profit? As long as the real grains are in the pot, the child can eat a little more dry food and have more color in his face. That's the most important thing! The two left with profuse thanks, their steps much lighter.

Wei Chen watched their departing figures, then glanced at the window of Xu Damao's house in the backyard that still stubbornly emitted a bitter medicinal smell, and listened to the deliberately raised voice in the front yard, which carried a hint of boastfulness and satisfaction.

He seemed to be boasting to Yan Bugui about how dangerous it was to buy grain at the ghost market and how "generously he donated," before his gaze finally fell on the quiet door of Yi Zhonghai's house in the central courtyard, a door that seemed to be accumulating something. He gently pushed open his own door.

Inside, the aroma of food filled the room, warm and familiar. Wei Chen's mother was placing a steaming bowl of cabbage stew with vermicelli on the small kang table. Wei Ran sat at the table, her little hand supporting her chin, her big eyes sparkling as she looked at her brother, full of curiosity: "Brother, did Second Uncle really go to the ghost market to buy flour to give away? Wasn't he afraid of getting arrested? Is the ghost market really scary?"

Wei Chen's mother looked at her son with concern: "Chen, your second uncle is too reckless. What if..."

Wei Chen washed his hands, sat down at the table, picked up his chopsticks, and placed a piece of vermicelli in his sister's bowl. His tone was calm and gentle: "Eat. Don't pry into adult matters. The Ghost Market is not something children should ask about." He picked up his own bowl, shoveled a mouthful of steaming millet rice into his mouth, and chewed. The dim light in the room illuminated the peaceful figures of the family of three.

Outside, the autumn night in the courtyard was chilly. In the backyard, Xu Damao's medicine pot was still bubbling, brewing his unspeakable secrets and morbid calculations; in the middle courtyard, Yi Zhonghai's family exuded a deliberately maintained low profile and scheming; in the front courtyard, Liu Haizhong's voice faintly carried a sense of smug satisfaction.

A new balance was silently established amidst food and calculation. Wei Chen ate his meal quietly, knowing that the water in this courtyard had never truly been calm. And all he needed to do was hold tight to the power in his hands, protecting the peace under this roof and the warmth in his bowl.