Volume One, Chapter Six: Broadcast Announcement

The sun was gradually sinking in the west. As usual, the sparrows were chattering noisily in the nearby grove of wolfberry trees.

"Brother Shengli, let's go home for dinner. Godmother made alkali noodles, and she wants us back early to eat," Li Ying called out after washing the clothes, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear with a gentle smile.

"Alright," Zhang Shengli replied, finishing up the watering, tying up the lever, and placing the red willow basket back under the tomato trellis to keep it from cracking in the sun.

"Xuewen, you ride your eldest brother's bike and go ahead. I'll let him give me a lift. Otherwise, it’s hard to carry the clothes," Li Ying said.

In fact, the clothes could easily be clipped onto Li Ying's bicycle rack, and Zhang Shengli could have taken both her and Zhang Xuewen on his "stub-tailed donkey" bicycle as usual. But Li Ying just wanted Zhang Shengli to give her a ride.

"Alright!" Zhang Xuewen, being short, slipped his leg through the triangle frame of the bicycle and, straddling Zhang Shengli's "stub-tailed donkey," darted off ahead.

Zhang Shengli, bare-chested, pedaled with Li Ying riding behind, feeling a bit awkward. If they hit a bump or pothole, and Li Ying had nowhere to hold on, she might have to wrap her arms around his bare waist.

Luckily, Li Ying held tightly to the rack throughout and never put her arms around him.

Originally, both families had the intention of turning their bond as sworn kin into a real kinship through marriage. But a few days ago, when Zhang Shengli went to cook at the township office, he seemed to have become a public servant, which made Li Ying hesitant.

Now that the township no longer wanted Zhang Shengli to cook for them, and he had returned to farming in earnest, Li Ying felt reassured again.

That was why, as soon as her father Li Yuanzheng came back from the township, Li Ying hurried to find Zhang Shengli with the news.

Zhang Shengli naturally understood Li Ying’s feelings, and in his heart, he had long considered her his future wife.

Li Ying was renowned throughout the surrounding villages for her beauty, gentleness, kindness, steadiness, and competence. Her family was well-off, and she and Zhang Shengli had grown up together as childhood sweethearts. To marry such a good wife was a blessing earned over three lifetimes.

As the two of them rode past the southern wall of the village, the "gossip center" under the wolfberry trees immediately buzzed with excitement.

"I heard the public worker was sent back by the township and won't be cooking for them anymore..."

"They say someone took his place! No wonder he came back early today to water his own plot..."

"I said long ago, he wouldn’t last as a public worker. See? Not even three days and he’s done! Zhang Shengli’s destined to make a living from the fields. Being able to marry Li Ying is pure luck!"

The villagers pointed and whispered as Zhang Shengli and Li Ying passed by, saying all sorts of things.

Zhang Shengli ignored their sarcastic jibes as usual, rode home, and upon entering the gate, was greeted by the aroma of alkali noodles.

Alkali noodles were a unique specialty of Shacheng County.

Shacheng County was surrounded on three sides by desert. People would pile up dried saltbush from the desert and burn it, producing alkaline ash stones known as penghui. When mixed with water to make dough, it produced alkali noodles—golden in color, springy and delicious. Tossed with hot oil, chili, and chopped green garlic shoots, it was a delicacy that both adults and children could eat bowl after bowl of.

In the yard, a low table and small stools were set up. Zhang Yongtai sat by the table, silently smoking. Seeing Zhang Shengli and Li Ying return, he called out, "Yingzi, you and Xuanzi come and eat too."

"No, thank you. We'll eat in the kitchen with godmother," Li Ying replied, bringing Li Xuan and, together with Dongmei and Chunlan, headed into the kitchen.

According to the old village custom, women and children did not eat at the main table. In the new society, with gender equality, most families had everyone gathered around the table for lively, joyful meals. But Zhang Yongtai’s family had once been famous local gentry and landlords, and a host of rules from those days still lingered. Deep down, he still clung to some of those old-fashioned ways.

For example, when disciplining his sons, while other fathers might raise a hand or a foot, Zhang Yongtai would follow ancestral custom and select a smooth, straight stick from the wolfberry tree as the "family law" to educate his sons. Whenever Zhang Weidong got into trouble, Zhang Yongtai would shout, "Bring me the family law!" and someone in the house would have to fetch the stick for him to discipline Zhang Weidong. The solemn ceremony was, in fact, rather comical in its pretense.

As for meals, even Wang Taoxiang rarely ate at the same table as Zhang Yongtai, let alone Dongmei and Chunlan. Of course, they had no desire to sit at the table with him anyway.

Zhang Yongtai had a bad temper and was always grumbling for no reason, never quiet even during meals. Rather than listen to his complaints, Wang Taoxiang and her daughters preferred to eat comfortably in the kitchen, chatting and laughing as they pleased.

Zhang Xuewen came from the kitchen carrying bowls of alkali noodles, first serving his father and eldest brother, then taking his own big bowl and sitting down. Though he was still a child, Zhang Yongtai spoiled him and let him eat at the table. Zhang Shengli, now an adult and half the master of the house, naturally sat next to Zhang Yongtai.

"Where's the third one? Off wandering again?" Zhang Yongtai bellowed, not seeing Zhang Weidong at the table.

"Just eat in peace! If he skips a meal, isn’t it saving you some grain?" Wang Taoxiang shouted irritably from the kitchen.

"Hmph! It’s all because you spoil him—poor folks raising a pampered son..." Zhang Yongtai muttered, picking up his bowl and noisily slurping the noodles.

Everyone ate in silence, not a word spoken. Zhang Shengli had lost his job, Zhang Weidong had quit school, and a sense of gloom hung over each heart.

Darkness gradually fell.

"Ah, Shengli, it’s my fault I didn’t let you go to high school back then. Otherwise you’d have made it to college and become a big official! How could these petty bullies push us around?" Zhang Yongtai chewed his noodles fiercely, the muscles in his jaw bulging, his eyes glaring angrily into the night.

"Don’t dwell on it, Dad. I’ll just farm peacefully all my life," Zhang Shengli said. "Just wait and see with Wuzi—he told me today he’s sure he’ll get into college!"

"Oh? Wuzi, if you can get into college, I’d be so happy I’d laugh in my sleep!" Zhang Yongtai turned to Zhang Xuewen with a smile.

"I promise I’ll go to college and become a big official. Then no one will dare bully our family!" Zhang Xuewen declared, puffing out his thin chest, only to choke on a mouthful of noodles and roll his eyes.

"Good, all my spoiling wasn’t for nothing!" Zhang Yongtai laughed, patting Zhang Xuewen on the back.

Just then, the radio beneath the eaves crackled to life.

"Central People’s Broadcasting Station, Beijing time, seven o’clock sharp..."

Every household in Yangcao Village had a radio, strung up on wires, and listened to the news and entertainment programs morning, noon, and night. The radio also served another important purpose: broadcasting announcements. If the township government had any notice, it would go out over the radio, and the whole township would know.

As for television, it was a rare thing in the countryside at that time. Only the "ten-thousand-yuan household," the contractor Wang Zaya, had a fourteen-inch black-and-white TV in all of Yangcao Village. Every evening, his house was packed with people watching "Journey to the West," while his fat, dark-skinned wife from another region would puff her cheeks in anger like a toad.

For most families, listening to the radio while eating was the most pleasant time of the day.

After a round of news and opera, a flustered voice blared from the radio: "Attention! Attention! Zhang Shengli from Team Five, Yangcao Village—upon hearing this announcement, you must report to the township kitchen before seven o’clock tomorrow morning to cook!"