Chapter 1

  Ma Hongmei looked at the woman in front of her with a smile on her face. "Fifth Aunt, please take the trouble to make another trip. When the two children were engaged, they were still young. Now they are grown up. Please ask if the two families can sit together to discuss the marriage. I am thinking that the autumn harvest is over, and we can get the two children married before the New Year."

  "Leave it to me. I am a matchmaker, and that's what we do. I guarantee I'll get it done for you."

  After agreeing, Fifth Aunt hesitated and said, "Hongmei, speaking of this, I have something else I need to ask you. Well, don't worry about it. I heard it from others. You know there are a few gossipers in our vilge who love to spread rumors. I heard that your eldest son and the daughter of Old Guo's family..."

  Before she finished speaking, Ma Hongmei took over.

  "That's not possible. Fifth aunt, don't listen to what others say. There is no way our family and the Guo family can unite. I would rather our Dali be a bachelor than want to be with their daughter. If he has that idea in mind, I will break his legs."

  Ma Hongmei said with a red face and thick neck.

  "Okay, it's okay if there isn't one. Just wait and believe in me. The two children are a good match."

  Fifth aunt was about to stand up while speaking.

  At this moment, a shout came from outside, "Mom—Mom—please go and have a look. Eldest brother's leg got broken by a telephone pole."

  As he spoke, a boy of seven or eight years old wearing army green trousers and a light green cotton jacket ran over from outside. The boy shouted as he ran, and his loud voice could be heard clearly from inside the room.

  "What did you say, Old Seven? What happened to your brother?"

  Ma Hongmei swayed her body, then suddenly stood up and ran out.

  The boy saw his mother's face turn pale; his small eyes opened wide as he gasped for breath and had difficulty speaking. "Well, well..."

  Before he could finish his words, he saw his mother had run ahead.

  The brigade was erecting electric poles today, and if something happened, it must be there.

  "Don't worry, Mom. My grandpa asked you to harness the cart. Brother has a broken leg and needs to be sent to Sixth Grandpa to get his bones fixed."

  A slightly older child following behind said it clearly. He patted the boy in front of him and said, “You can’t even expin things clearly.” She thought her son was dying.

  But a broken leg was no small matter, so Ma Hongmei hurried to the barn to lead out the family's horse, harnessed it to the cart, and drove out. She knew that several horse carts in the vilge had been driven out to deliver grain yesterday, and only theirs was left.

  As soon as the car drove out of the gate, Ma Hongmei began to wonder why her son's leg got broken just when she said she would break it.

  "Pah, pah, pah—what a crow's mouth." She said and spped herself.

  The Northeast had entered winter in early October. Snow began to fall after dark. It was now ten o'clock, and the snow had fallen to the ankles. A huge bck shadow walked out from the green mountains in the north. Only by looking closely could you see that it is a person leading a horse, and the horse was carrying a half-grown wild boar.

  Entering the vilge, there was almost no light in the house. Everyone was asleep at this time. Arriving at the center of the vilge, her own house was brightly lit.

  "Eldest sister is back." Xiao Dazhi heard the dog barking and said happily while leaning against the window, then jumped off the kang and ran out.

  "Put on some shoes."

  A shout rang out as he got off the kang. "This bastard is not afraid of having his kidneys cut off."

  "Sister, what did you catch?"

  As soon as Dazhi opened the door, he saw his yellow horse carrying something.

  "I have hunted a wild boar. Why aren't you wearing shoes, little brat?"

  Ma Danniu said as she stretched out her hand to pick up Dazhi. "Is there something wrong at home? You haven't slept yet."

  Dazhi, weighing sixty or seventy kilograms, was as light as a cotton ball in her hand.　"Today, Big Brother's leg was broken by a telephone pole in the team headquarters."

  Dazhi said while touching the wild boar.

  Ma Daniu frowned and asked, "How is he?"

  "It's nothing. Your sixth grandpa has straightened his bones. It will take a hundred days to heal the broken bones. He will have to stay indoors this winter."

  Ma Hongmei came out and said.

  "Oh, that's fine. It's okay in winter anyway."

  Sixth grandpa had been setting bones for people all his life and had never made a mistake. If he says it can be fixed, it can be fixed.　"Mom, let me do it. This one is quite big, weighing nearly 200 pounds."

  Ma Danniu said as she put Dazhi down and reached out to take the wild boar down.

  "You little brat, hurry up and go to the house and put on your shoes." Ma Hongmei raised her hand and spped the boy on the butt.

  "Hey Sixth Brother, why didn't you take out my shoes?"

  "Go back and put them on yourself."

  Ma Dayong quickly took two steps forward to help.

  "Dayong, go to the lower room and see if there is any bean paste left. Get some for Dahuang, and light a fire in the stable. The temperature is going to drop tonight."

  "Yes, your grandpa asked Sanzhuzi to deliver a lot today," Ma Hongmei said. "You should also come into the house quickly. Dayong and I are here."

  Ma Danniu carried the wild boar back to the house.

  Entering the door, there were four rge stoves against the east and west walls and four stoves in the four corners connected to the kangs in the east and west rooms. She put the wild boar on the ground at the door, took the towel hanging on the water basin rack next to it, swept the snow off her body, and took off the hat on her head, revealing a beautiful face and a pair of clear dark eyes.

  "Sister, you're back. This wild boar is quite big."

  The speaker was Ma Xiaocui, the fifteen-year-old, the fourth child.

  "Well, boil some water to lean up the boar. Where's Big Brother?"

  "He is in the east room. Sixth grandpa has forbidden him to move, so our grandpa didn't let him come to the backyard."

  Ma Danniu lifted the door curtain; the door was open, and her grandpa was sitting at the edge of the south kang. She leaned over, and the two of them looked at each other. Ma Danniu couldn't help ughing and said, "Grandpa hasn't slept yet."

  "I thought you would be here by now, so I thought I'd wait a little longer since Eldest just came back. I've been tossing and turning for a while..." The old man said as he knocked on his pipe and prepared to go to sleep.

  Ma Danniu looked towards the north kang and said, "Is everything okay?"

  Her eldest brother, Ma Dali, was sleeping on the kang with a red face. She went up to him and touched him but found that he didn't have a fever.

  "It's okay. When he was fixing his bones, your Sixth Master gave him some liquor to drink, and he fell asleep halfway through. It's nothing serious."

  "That's good then. You can go to sleep too. I've hunted down a half-grown wild boar. I'll cut out its heart for you to eat with your wine tomorrow morning."

  "Yes, let Dayong call your third grandpa and the others over in the morning so we can have a drink."

  "Well, I'll ask Dayong and Dazhi to go pick them up. I guess it's going to snow a lot tonight." Ma Danniu said and left the room.

  At this time, the water in the pot was already hot.

  Ma Xiaocui took out two dles and added cold water. "Sister, you wash your face first."

  Ma Danniu took off her fur coat, washed her face and hands in warm water, and combed her hair. She had been away for two days, and it was different outside than at home. She felt indescribably comfortable as soon as she touched the hot water.

  Just after she finished washing her face, Ma Hongmei and her two sons came in and said, "It's getting cold these days."

  "Sister, we finished feeding Da Huang, and the fire in the stable has been lit."

  "You two should go to bed quickly. Go call third grandpa and sixth grandpa when tomorrow morning. Forget about Fourth Grandpa; we will just wait until the snow stops and send some meat."

  Fourth Grandpa was in town and would not be here until noon.

  "Okay, I'll go when the snow stops." Dayong said and pulled Dazhi, who still wanted to watch the fun, back into their room.

  "Keep an eye on him at night, and help him when he goes to the toilet, and so on." She continued.

  "I understand, sis."

  Styvetass