Shen Laifu, with dark circles under his eyes, limped home at dawn, supporting his aching back.
This brat, he doesn't know when to get tired.
In this world, only oxen get tired to death, never a field that's plowed too much.
He doesn't know how to pace himself.
"What's wrong with you? You look like you've been punched twice, with two panda eyes."
Shen Laifu's wife, Li Lanhua, looked at his haggard face, puzzled. He hadn't been collecting fish these past few days, what was wrong with the old man? He looked like he hadn't slept all night.
"Nothing, just couldn't sleep. Smoked a whole night by the wall."
Shen Laifu felt stifled. That brat was still lying in someone else's house. He didn't dare tell his wife, in case she went and caused trouble. If people saw, it would be even more embarrassing.
"Go get some more sleep. Come up for food later, I'll save you a sweet potato and a bowl of wild vegetable porridge."
Li Lanhua didn't notice anything unusual. Shen Laifu was just like that, you couldn't get a single word out of him with a stick.
After cooking, she had to immediately save food for the old man. With so many children in the family, and a few elders, one spoonful each and the big pot would be empty.
Adolescent boys can bankrupt their fathers. With so many children in the family, no amount of food is enough.
Even now, even though Shen Laifu had earned a lot of money with Chen Yang, the family still had to go out and gather a lot of wild vegetables to cook with every day.
There was no choice, they were too afraid of poverty.
They didn't dare to spend carelessly.
Every cent was calculated meticulously, for the long run. If the harvest was bad in the future, saving money could save their lives. If they spent all their money now, and something happened later, they would starve again.
Shen Laifu slept soundly, a dream of being the laughingstock of the village. Everywhere he went, people mocked him for not being able to marry his son, and in the end, he had to marry a widow and become a stepfather.
In his dream, everyone mocked his son for being foolish, insisting on marrying a widow.
Shen Laifu felt a dizzying sensation. He wiped his eyes and saw that the sky had just dawned.
He had probably only slept for an hour. Outside, the younger children were already scraping the bottom of the pot with their spoons.
That's how it was with many children in the family. Eating was a matter of grabbing, if you were late, you wouldn't eat enough and would go hungry.
His youngest son was also eight this year. He was licking the bottom of his bowl with his tongue. Judging by his appearance, he probably hadn't eaten enough either.
Shen Laifu felt around on the cupboard and saw a bowl full of thick porridge and a fist-sized sweet potato that his wife had saved for him.
The children around him looked on enviously. Shen Laifu sighed and beckoned the little rascals over.
He scooped out a couple of mouthfuls of porridge from the bowl and gave each of the little rascals a bite.
Finally, he left a bit of rice water and gulped it down.
He also broke the sweet potato into several sections, chewed the tail end a few times, and swallowed it. The rest were also given to the children.
"Dad, I'm full."
His youngest son, Shen Bayong, licked the bowl clean again and nimbly took the bowl from his hand to wash it.
"When you're full, go find your mother in the fields. Take her the water jug. The sun is strong, drink some water to cool off."
"Go with your brother and sisters, cut the pig feed for the team, then come home. Tell the old Party Secretary for me that I have something to do today and won't be going to work."
Shen Laifu didn't care about his empty stomach. How could a father watch his children go hungry? Seeing them looking at him with hopeful eyes, he couldn't eat his own meal.
"Okay, Dad. I'll remember everything you said."
The little rascal rinsed the bowl in the water bucket, put it in the cupboard, grabbed the water jug and sickle, and with his brothers and sisters wearing straw hats, they headed to the fields.
In those days, children in the countryside were also laborers, working alongside adults for work points.
After the children left, and he was alone in the house, Shen Laifu grabbed his dry, grass-like hair and squatted helplessly by the wall, staring at Zhao Chunyan's yard in a daze.
He had no one to discuss this with, and he didn't know how to face his son and that young widow.
"Yangzi is back, why don't I go ask him?"
Just as Shen Laifu was feeling helpless, a figure flashed through his mind.
It was Chen Yang, who had helped him make money and prevented his family from starving to death.
"Yangzi is educated, he must know more than a simple farmer like me."
Shen Laifu felt as if he had grasped a life-saving straw. Chen Yang was the one who helped him make money and change his family's destiny, so he could only trust Chen Yang.
When Shen Laifu arrived, Chen Yang was teaching the two children to count. Since he was free, it was time to let the children experience the hardship of learning.
Watching the two little ones with their big eyes, struggling to count their ten fingers, the old man covered his mouth and chuckled.
Seeing Chen Yang, Shen Laifu told him everything. Listening to him, Chen Yang was a little surprised.
"No wonder Er Meng looked a bit off when he saved someone last time. He was risking his life to save them."
"So he's interested in Zhao Chunyan."
Chen Yang had sensed something was off last time, but he hadn't thought much of it. Now, listening to Shen Laifu's words, he understood.
"Yangzi, what should I do? That Er Meng is stubborn as a turtle eating a scale. He's set on marrying Zhao Chunyan. Why couldn't he marry someone else, why a widow? I was even preparing to build him a room for the wedding."
Shen Laifu's heart ached. Although they had earned some money, their family was still living frugally, wasn't it all to save money to help Shen Er Meng get married first?
"Uncle, widows are people too, just like us."
"Setting aside other things for now, what do you think of Zhao Chunyan as a person? Judging solely by her character and personality."
Chen Yang only knew that it was difficult for Zhao Chunyan to raise three children alone, but he didn't know her specific situation very well, so he didn't dare to jump to conclusions.
Marriage was a lifelong matter, and it had to be approached with extreme caution.
"Putting other things aside, Chunyan is a capable woman, inside and out."
"She works at the same time, takes care of three children, and never asks for anyone's help. She can be considered a good woman."
Shen Laifu was silent for a moment, then said this.
Even though Shen Laifu was very dissatisfied with Zhao Chunyan now, if it weren't for Shen Er Meng, he would have admired this woman in his heart.
"Uncle, isn't that right? Since you think she's a good woman in your heart, then what's there to be unhappy about?"
"Is it because of those three children and Chunyan's status as a widow?"
Chen Yang knew that widows were not treated kindly in those days.
Moreover, Zhao Chunyan had three children, which was indeed difficult for ordinary families to accept.
However, with Shen Er Meng's situation, Chen Yang was afraid that if Shen Laifu truly tried to break them up, it would lead to irreversible mistakes.
"If we marry a widow, how can our family hold our heads up in the village?"
"That foolish boy will probably be mocked wherever he goes in the future. Moreover, Zhao Chunyan has three children, and feeding these three mouths is not an easy task."
Shen Laifu sighed deeply. He knew best how much hardship he had endured over the years to raise his own brood of children.