Perhaps out of a sense of camaraderie from being partners in crime, Li Aiping ended up talking a lot more with Yuan Si that morning. She chattered on about one family's business, then another's, or about the workplace where she would soon be starting her job.
Yuan Si was actually quite annoyed. But as they say, "When in Rome..." From her memories, she knew that gossiping about others like this was a normal form of social interaction meant to strengthen bonds.
As it turned out, their bond didn't strengthen much, and their conversation came to an abrupt halt when Li Yuan'ai returned at noon to find the bag in the cabinet empty.
Li Yuan'ai beat Li Aiping. Since she couldn't lay a hand on Yuan Si, she had to take her anger out on her own child. The house was thrown into chaos again at noon.
Yuan Si didn't miss a beat. At lunch, right under Li Yuan'ai's glare, she stubbornly ate two more bowls.
In the afternoon, after everyone else had left, Yuan Si got ready and walked out the main door to explore this world for the first time.
She was young, so no one on the street paid her any mind. She didn't feel like talking, preferring to silently observe everyone. When she overheard someone mention they were out of salt at home, she quietly followed them to the supply and marketing co-op. There, she listened to people whispering that things were too expensive and required ration tickets, and that they were going to check out the black market instead. So, she followed one of them for a look around the black market. When she finished her tour, she calculated that it was about time and headed back the way she came.
She truly retraced her steps, first walking back to the co-op and then to Li Yuan'ai's house.
When she walked through the door, the Li family members were already gathered around the table, ready for dinner. 'Good thing I got back in time,' she thought, 'or I would've missed dinner.' Pleased, she sat right down at the table, ready to eat.
Li Yuan'ai's face fell. A moment ago, she'd been worried her little sister had gotten lost after being out all afternoon. Now that she saw Yuan Si return safe and sound, her worries shifted to her family's food pot. Finally, she just placed the serving pot in front of her and began to serve everyone.
Dinner was congee, as usual, but today's cornmeal gruel also contained "little fish" made of sorghum flour. To make them, sorghum was ground into flour and kneaded with boiling water to form a dough. Then, as the congee simmered, long strips of dough were pulled off by hand and dropped into the pot to cook.
This was considered a pretty decent meal. It was a surprise that Li Yuan'ai was willing to make it, especially after the painful loss of the white flour at noon.
When Li Yuan'ai served her husband and the children, she dished out normal portions: full bowls with less gruel and more of the dough "fish." But when it came to Yuan Si's turn, she first stirred the pot several times with the large ladle. Then, she scooped some up, letting the ladle tremble a few times on its way to Yuan Si's bowl.
Yuan Si frowned, looking at the few lonely dough "fish" floating in her bowl of watery gruel.
She looked up and shoved her bowl toward Li Yuan'ai. "Second Sister, why are there so few 'fish' in my bowl? And why were your hands shaking when you served me? What's wrong with you, are you sick? If your hands are too weak, just give me an extra scoop. That'll fill it up."
Her words made Li Yuan'ai's face flush red, then turn pale. It wasn't a pretty sight.
Her lips trembled. "Didn't you and Aiping already eat so much extra white flour this morning? You should be eating light tonight to cleanse your system."
"That was this morning. What does it have to do with dinner now?" Yuan Si retorted. "Why does Ai Jun get so much, and I get so little?" She pointed from her own bowl to the one Li Aijun was already digging into.
"You're just a child, why are you comparing yourself to your nephew? You're from different generations," Li Yuan'ai said, grasping for an excuse.
"Then why does Brother-in-law get more than me? We're from the same generation, aren't we? And he's older than me, too." Yuan Si immediately found another target for comparison.
Zhao Baocheng hadn't started eating yet, and his full bowl sat there in plain sight.
"Little Si, your brother-in-law works hard every day. He needs to eat his fill..."
"I'm a growing child. I can't go hungry either, or I won't grow properly. Our mother told me so before I left," Yuan Si said, her little face stern. "Second Sister, if you don't want to feed me, just say so. I don't want to stay here anyway. I want to go home. Go send a telegram to Mom right now and tell her to come pick me up."
"What nonsense is that? When have I ever said I wouldn't feed you? Was all that grain you ate before just fed to the dogs? And stop threatening to go home at the drop of a hat. Who do you think you're scaring? You're lucky you're here with me, eating such thick gruel. Who knows how you'd be starving back home." Li Yuan'ai glared at Yuan Si, forcing down her rage. She scooped up another large ladleful from the pot. She wanted to shake it again, but remembering Yuan Si's earlier words, she resentfully plopped the entire scoop into the girl's bowl. "There, eat! Acting like I'm some kind of evil sister."
Yuan Si nodded, satisfied. She pulled the bowl in front of her with her small hands. Before digging in, she didn't forget to add, "You're not an evil sister. That's why I'll be having two bowls, just like Ai Jun. I'll need another full one in a bit."
When it was time for bed that night, Yuan Si waited until Li Aiping finally fell asleep before she began her cultivation.
Meanwhile, in the other room, Li Yuan'ai and her husband, Zhao Baocheng, were also wide awake.
"How did Little Si become so shameless?" Li Yuan'ai couldn't help but complain to her husband.
Zhao Baocheng remained silent, but he too was displeased with his tactless little sister-in-law. There had been several blowups at the dinner table just between yesterday and today. But as her brother-in-law, and with her being so young, it wasn't his place to intervene.
"She's eating so much more than before, too. It's like one of her now eats as much as three of her before. If this continues, our monthly rations really won't be enough," Li Yuan'ai continued. "Our own children can't even eat their fill. With another person here fighting for food, I don't know how we'll manage."
"Then what do you want me to do?" Zhao Baocheng asked, his worry growing. "Your sister is just a little kid. When she's asking for food, can we really say no? I told you not to agree in the first place. We wouldn't have all these damn problems if you hadn't let her move in." After all, a sister-in-law wasn't as dear as his own son. "Besides, she's your sister. You should teach her some manners when you get a chance."
"Bullshit. What could I possibly teach her? If I even tried, Mom would march over here and beat me to death." Li Yuan'ai's head throbbed just thinking about how their mother doted on her youngest. "Besides, did you see her attitude at dinner tonight? For every one thing I said, she had ten retorts waiting. Me, teach her? It's more like she's the one teaching me a thing or two!"
"Anyway, you figure it out," Zhao Baocheng said. "We only have so much grain, and you can't let my son starve." He didn't want to be the bad guy, so he left it for his wife to handle.
"That's what I'm trying to do, come up with a plan with you!" Li Yuan'ai said, then considered. "What if I find an excuse to send her home?"
"Send her back by herself? Or have your mother come get her?" Thinking of his shrewish mother-in-law, Zhao Baocheng was dead set against the latter. "No, we can't have your mother come. If she does, you'll have to buy her return train ticket. I say we just let Little Si go back on her own." Zhao Baocheng was not a generous man.
"Is that really okay? She's so little." There was a hint of uncertainty in Li Yuan'ai's voice. Even if Little Si was her senior in terms of generation, she was still just a six-year-old child.
"Why not? Didn't she get here all by herself? She's young and small, so she doesn't even need a train ticket." The more Zhao Baocheng thought about it, the more he liked the idea.
'If his wife is the one to send Little Si packing,' Zhao Baocheng thought, 'my mother-in-law back home will get the message. Even if she's unhappy, she won't make a special trip all the way here to settle the score with me. And hopefully, those poor relatives from home will stop coming around to freeload.'
"I think we should see if anyone we know is heading back home soon," Li Yuan'ai said. "It would be safer if someone could keep an eye on her." No matter what, this was her own flesh-and-blood sister; she couldn't feel at ease letting a six-year-old country kid take the train home alone.
"You're just too soft-hearted," Zhao Baocheng said dismissively. "She's a scrawny little girl. You could toss her on the street and no one would even bother picking her up."
"Alright, alright. Let's just wait and see for now. Time for sleep."