The three women were all startled. "You little hellion," Tong Xinglan said. "I ought to get a bamboo switch and give you a good spanking. Then you won’t dare to cause trouble again."

"Mommy doesn’t hit." Little Douzi hid behind Lin Lan, thinking, ’My auntie is so mean, wanting me to get spanked. Good thing we don’t have a bamboo switch at home.’

Lin Lan looked at him and said, "Children who learn from their mistakes don’t get spankings. Only children who make the same mistake again and again get spankings. Mommy knows Little Douzi is a good boy and won’t do it again."

Little Douzi nodded vigorously. "Mhm!"

Lin Lan smiled and nodded. "Alright, go on and play."

"Okay! I’m going to my aunt’s to find the girls and play." Little Douzi ran outside.

Worried, Lin Yuezhen followed him outside. She only came back, relieved, once she saw him go into Yang Liying’s restaurant.

Lin Lan put the mixed dough into the noodle maker. Just as she finished rolling and cutting the noodles, Wu Shufen came in with Wu Shufang and her daughter-in-law.

Wu Shufang smiled. "Still busy, Little Lan?"

Lin Lan glanced over at them and smiled. "Mom, Auntie, come in and have a seat."

Wu Shufen smiled and waved her off. "Don’t mind us. You keep busy. Your aunt wants to borrow your pushcart for a few days."

Lin Lan looked at Wu Shufang and her daughter-in-law. "So you’ve decided to sell spring rolls?"

Wu Shufang nodded. "Spring rolls don’t require much capital and the turnover is fast, so I want to give it a try. Your mom gave me some flour, oil, peanuts, and sesame seeds. We have the sesame oil and everything else ready. We’re planning to make a batch this afternoon and try selling them at the intersection of Limin Road."

Lin Lan thought that was a good location. "That intersection gets a lot of foot traffic. If you sell some iced jelly along with them, business should be pretty good."

Wu Shufen nodded repeatedly. "The weather is getting warmer. If you sell them with iced jelly, business will definitely be good."

Wu Shufang looked at Lin Lan. "Do you know where to buy the seeds for the iced jelly?"

Lin Lan thought for a moment. "I think I saw some at the supply and marketing cooperative across from the entrance to the vehicle factory alley." Turning to Qiaohui, she said, "Ride your bike over and see. If they have them, buy a few pounds. Then, go to the Chinese medicine shop and get half a pound of lime."

"Okay!" Qiaohui untied her apron, grabbed the bike keys, and left.

The two sisters, Wu Shufen and her sister, discussed buying some small enamel bowls, a small folding table, and a few folding stools. Deciding to act immediately, they left in high spirits.

Xu Hongju was helping Lin Lan roll out noodles. She watched as Lin Lan and Tong Xinglan deftly scooped the fried noodles from the wok, poured them into a baking pan, added the other ingredients, and pressed the mixture flat. "Little Lan, what kind of pastry is this? The color is beautiful."

"We’re making Sachima!" Lin Lan said as she laid a sheet of oiled paper on top and used a rolling pin to flatten and compact the mixture.

Tong Xinglan added a ladleful of rapeseed oil to the wok. When the oil was hot, she poured in the cut noodles...

Before the second batch of Sachima was out of the wok, Qiaohui returned with a bag of iced jelly seeds. "Cousin, I got the seeds and the lime. How do you make it?"

Lin Lan glanced over. "Your aunt knows how. Just set it down. When they get back, they can take it to the restaurant and make it there."

Qiaohui nodded. She put the items down, tied on her apron, washed her hands, and said to Lin Lan, "Cousin, I’ll take over. You should go check on Little Douzi."

"Alright. I’ll get him and we’ll go to the market to buy some groceries."

Lin Lan said a word to Xu Hongju, grabbed her grocery basket, and went outside. There, under the tree in front of the shop, she saw Little Douzi playing Gomoku with the two sisters, Little Li and Xiaoyun.

Xiaoyun saw Lin Lan and politely stood up. "Auntie, are you going to the market?"

"I am!" Lin Lan beamed at her. "You’re starting middle school after the break!" Just as she’d hoped, the young girl had gotten into the city’s No. 1 Middle School and would be a junior high student in the fall.

Xiaoyun blushed and nodded. "Yes!"

"Keep up the good work when school starts!" Lin Lan patted her on the shoulder, then took Little Douzi and left for the market.

****

Li Xiangyang was already driving Zhou Shitou and Zhou Dashu out of the city toward Dashiqiao Commune.

Zhou Shitou had been to East Market a few times, so he was more at ease in the vehicle.

Zhou Dashu sat stiffly in the truck, watching the roadside trees fly past and the asphalt road stretch out before them. ’It would be wonderful,’ he thought, ’if we had roads this smooth back in the mountains.’

’Then we could bring our mountain goods into the city to sell, and our lives would be a little better.’

The truck was much faster than the bus, and the three of them soon arrived at the main levee.

Zhou Dashu and Zhou Shitou got out and went to the family that had been boarding their mules. After paying the fee, they led the animals toward the ferry crossing.

Li Xiangyang had already driven to the ferry terminal, where he saw that the floodwaters had completely receded from the river. In just a few days, a layer of tender green had covered the yellow mud flats.

’Sometimes people aren’t even as resilient as weeds,’ he thought. ’Washed over by floods, buried completely under mud and sand, yet after only a few days, they stubbornly sprout new shoots.’

The ferry’s whistle blew, interrupting his thoughts. As the ferry slowly docked, Li Xiangyang got out to pay the truck’s passage fee. Guided by the crew, he carefully drove onto the cargo barge beside the passenger ferry.

Once the truck was parked, he climbed out of the cab. Seeing Zhou Shitou and Zhou Dashu leading the mules onto the passenger ferry, he took a seat on a long wooden bench at the bow.

After reaching the opposite bank, Li Xiangyang drove the truck onto the levee and waited for the other two to catch up. "Cousin Shitou," he said, "you ride with me. We’ll go on ahead to Sister-in-law Zhang’s family home and ask Brother Zhang to find people to help us haul the supplies to Shishanling."

He had been to the Zhang family’s home before, when he’d driven the wedding car to pick up the bride for Wang Xueming and Zhang Yuru.

Zhou Shitou nodded happily. "Great. Dashu and I were just worrying about how we were going to move all this stuff."

Zhou Dashu quickly said, "Brother Shitou, you go on ahead with him. I’ll herd the mules and follow right behind."

"Alright." Zhou Shitou opened the truck door, climbed in, and left with Li Xiangyang.

They drove off the levee and up a slope, stopping a short distance from the Zhang family’s home. Li Xiangyang said to Zhou Shitou, "Wait here in the truck. I’m going over to Brother Zhang’s house."

"Alright," Zhou Shitou replied.

Li Xiangyang got out of the truck and walked along the ridge between the fields toward the Zhangs’ house. As he approached their front door, he saw Sister-in-law Zhang in the vegetable patch, building a trellis for winter melons. "Sister-in-law, keeping busy?"

Sister-in-law Zhang looked up, and her face broke into a wide, happy smile. "Well, if it isn’t Xiangyang! What a rare visitor! Please, come inside and sit down."

Li Xiangyang smiled. "Sister-in-law, I’ve actually come to ask Brother Zhang for a favor. Is he home?"

"He is. Come on in, I’ll get him." Sister-in-law Zhang led Li Xiangyang inside and called out toward the backyard. She then turned to Li Xiangyang and said, "You’re already here, so you must stay for lunch."

Li Xiangyang readily agreed. "Alright. There are two others with me, though. I hope it won’t be too much trouble for you, Sister-in-law."

"It’s no trouble at all! We owe so much to Little Lan for taking care of our Yuru and Xueming." Sister-in-law Zhang chuckled as she poured him some tea, then headed to the kitchen.

Brother Zhang returned from the backyard with a handful of pears. Upon seeing Li Xiangyang, the two men exchanged polite greetings.

Li Xiangyang explained the reason for his visit, adding that he would pay five yuan a day to everyone who helped transport the supplies.

Brother Zhang readily agreed. He took Li Xiangyang to the homes in their production team that owned mules, and they hired about twenty of the animals.

When the heads of the dozen or so families heard they would be delivering food and supplies to disaster-stricken families in the mountains, they firmly refused the wages Li Xiangyang offered.

After lunch, they all went to the truck, helped unload the grain and supplies, secured them onto the packsaddles, and set off.

Li Xiangyang watched the procession until it disappeared into the distance. He then bid farewell to the Zhangs and drove back to East Market with the fruit they had given him.