Chapter 6

The number remained still, and Li Dong scratched his head, puzzled. What was going on with this number? It didn’t budge at all.

"Tomorrow, I have to keep a closer eye on it."

Li Dong rubbed his sore wrist. As for his legs, forget it; they were so swollen and uncomfortable that he wished he could chop them off. Xiaojuan had massaged his legs all night, but it didn’t help at all.

He groaned all night, and the next morning, he couldn’t bear it anymore. He called for Han Xiaojuan, saying he couldn’t go to work and operate the water wheel today.

Han Xiaojuan pouted. Her new father was greedy, lazy, and couldn’t endure hardship. What was she supposed to do? Their food supply was dwindling, and she didn’t know how to handle it.

"Go tell Uncle Captain that your father can’t move anymore. If he keeps moving, his legs will be useless."

Li Dong sighed, wondering why he was so unlucky. He couldn’t do the job of operating the water wheel anymore, and he wouldn’t get the twelve points for it. "Ask Uncle Captain to find a lighter job for Dad, something that doesn’t require running around, preferably something he can do while sitting."

Han Xiaojuan stared blankly at Li Dong, who spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world. What kind of job could he do while sitting? He wasn’t an official, and even the team’s accountant and scorekeeper had to run around. Only the commune officials could sit and work. Han Xiaojuan, though young, understood this. It was embarrassing to say such things, but Li Dong seemed to think it was reasonable. Helpless, she went to Captain Han’s house.

"What, he can’t work after just one day?"

"This guy can’t do anything. He eats everything he gets."

"Old man, what are we going to do? We’ve taken in a big eater."

Han Guofu’s wife, Li Chunhua, slapped her leg. "What are we going to do? This person is your responsibility, and everyone will blame you. Your son is about to take over, and we can’t afford any trouble."

"What can we do? I don’t know what to do."

Han Guofu looked gloomy. Yesterday, the eldest son had taken Li Dong to operate the water wheel, and he did most of the work. Li Dong did only a third of it, which was why the eldest son had taken him along to ensure he could do the job.

Who would have thought that he couldn’t even handle that much? He was like a hollow cabbage, tall but useless. Han Guofu squatted in the corner, smoking his pipe and thinking. "Slap."

Suddenly, Han Guofu stood up and said to his wife, "Today, the team is digging sweet potatoes. Take him to dig sweet potatoes; it’s a lighter job."

"What, isn’t that a job for the elderly and children?"

Digging sweet potatoes wasn’t too light or too heavy. Women, the elderly, and children could all do it. Usually, it was assigned to women with less strength, along with the elderly and children.

"What can we do? It’s better than doing nothing."

Han Guofu was helpless. Carrying water was out of the question. If he made Li Dong carry water again, he would jump into the water. Operating the water wheel was also out of the question. The eldest son was already exhausted from yesterday, and he might be worn out in a few days if he kept taking Li Dong along.

Other jobs, like weeding, were also problematic. Li Dong couldn’t tell the difference between seedlings and weeds. He had pulled out more seedlings than weeds in the afternoon. Han Guofu was afraid that if Li Dong weeded again, they would lose their food supply.

"Captain Grandpa."

Han Xiaojuan tugged at Han Guofu’s sleeve, seeing his furrowed brows. "What’s wrong, Xiaojuan?"

"I want to earn work points."

...

"You, no."

Li Dong heard Han Xiaojuan’s request and slapped the table. "Xiaojuan, you’re still so young. I plan to send you to the commune school when it opens. Don’t worry about work points; your father will take care of it."

Seeing Han Xiaojuan about to speak, Li Dong finished his rice porridge in a few gulps. "That’s settled. Dad, I’m going to work."

He patted his hands, put on his old hat, and stepped out. It was scorching, and he was suffering. He had to find a way out of the village, at least to the county town, to look for a way to earn money. Farming should be left to professionals.

Li Dong didn’t look down on laborers; he truly admired them. But he wasn’t cut out for it and would die of exhaustion.

The morning work went well. Digging sweet potatoes, the field was near the hillside. Li Dong wanted to find a shady spot, but he noticed something strange. Whenever he was in the sun, the number on the screen increased rapidly. But when he moved to the shade, the number slowed down and eventually stopped. Was it a solar panel? Li Dong had no choice but to work in the sun.

He left the shade for the children and pregnant women. Li Chunhua saw and thought, "This kid has good character."

She didn’t know why Li Dong was working in the sun. He was exhausted, sweating profusely. "What is this thing? It increases the number by being in the sun."

By noon, the number had increased by nearly five points, and it was almost ninety. Li Dong muttered and glanced at the women preparing to leave work, noticing they had rolled up their pants legs. "Hmm?"

Good grief, they had stuffed sweet potatoes into their rolled-up pants legs. Though they were small, they still weighed a couple of pounds. Li Dong quickly followed suit, rolling up his pants legs to the thighs and stuffing in at least ten sweet potatoes.

Li Chunhua wanted to slap him for being so obvious, but Li Dong didn’t care. For roasted sweet potatoes and sweet potato porridge, he was willing to take the risk.

He ran home and shouted, "Xiaojuan, Xiaojuan, look what Dad brought back."

"What?"

Li Dong grinned, lowered his pants legs, and revealed over ten small sweet potatoes. Xiaojuan was delighted. "Happy? Dad will roast sweet potatoes for you tonight."

"No."

Han Xiaojuan immediately hugged the sweet potatoes. "We’ll dry them to trade for oil and salt."

"Alright, alright, keep these. Dad will dig more this afternoon."

Li Dong waved his hand. This kid, he thought, but he let it go. He was an adult and wouldn’t argue with a child.

Han Xiaojuan hid the sweet potatoes and served lunch: rice, pickled vegetables, and a dish of greens with no oil. Li Dong muttered, "No cooking oil?"

Usually, Li Dong used more oil when cooking, at least enough to see the oil. Now, there was none.

Never mind, he thought, and ate three bowls of coarse rice. He was getting hungrier, probably because of the physical labor and the lack of fatty food, let alone snacks.

After lunch, Xiaojuan cleaned up, and Li Dong lay down to rest and think. "What does this number mean? It only increases in the sun."

"90:02:54."

"Is ninety a time, ninety hours?"

Li Dong jumped up, wishing he had a watch. He went outside, where the sun was strong, and the number started to change.

"One, two, three..."

Li Dong slapped his leg. It was indeed time.

Understanding the first line of numbers and knowing the third line, 2018.8.15, was the date he arrived, he was still puzzled by the second line, 200. What did it mean?

In the afternoon, while digging sweet potatoes, Li Dong was still thinking about this. He was distracted and damaged many sweet potatoes. Li Chunhua saw and thought, "This guy is worse than the sweet potatoes he’s digging. He seemed fine in the morning."

She decided to let him pull sweet potato vines instead. When they got home, Li Chunhua complained to Han Guofu, "He can’t do anything. He’s only good at stealing. Others take one or two, but he took seven or eight."

Han Guofu smoked his pipe and frowned. His eldest son, who was nearby, suggested, "Dad, why don’t we let him go?"

"No."

Han Guofu shook his head. "Not now. When you take over, we can talk about it. We can’t afford to lose anyone right now."

"What should we do?"

Han Guofu thought for a moment and said, "He said he has relatives in the city. Why don’t you take him to the commune to send a telegram and see if they can take him in?"

Li Dong didn’t know about this. He was thinking about the number, which had passed ninety-five, but nothing had happened. "What is this thing? Forget it, I won’t think about it."

"Xiaojuan."

"Can you roast two more?"

In the afternoon, Han Xiaojuan had taken the sweet potatoes he brought back. He had managed to convince her to roast two. They were so fragrant, and the sweet potatoes were delicious.

Han Xiaojuan looked at Li Dong warily. He had already eaten two. "I’ll bring more back tomorrow."

"Alright."

Han Xiaojuan took two more sweet potatoes, and Li Dong happily accepted them. "Xiaojuan, let’s go to the reservoir later and catch some fish for tomorrow."

Han Xiaojuan was scared. They only had less than two ounces of cooking oil left. If they ate fish, the oil would be gone. She hugged the oil and said, "I don’t want to eat fish."

Li Dong was speechless. This kid, he thought, but he decided to get ten or eight pounds of oil later to fry fish every day. "Forget it, forget it."

They still had two turtles at home. He would stew them, he thought, and went to sleep.

Seeing that Li Dong wasn’t planning to go fishing, Xiaojuan breathed a sigh of relief, hid the oil, and climbed into bed. She fanned Li Dong, as he couldn’t sleep without it. She also massaged his hands and feet.

Before long, Li Dong fell asleep. The next day, he was assigned to cut pig grass, which was worth six points, down from eight points the previous day. He didn’t mind.

"Uncle Captain, you’re serious? That’s great."

"See, we’ll go to the commune tomorrow, okay?"

Going to the commune, Li Dong was excited and waved his sickle, scaring Han Guofu. "Alright, Wei Guo is going to the commune for business. You can go with him."