Lin Changyou nodded. "Alright. I’d heard the educated youth in our brigade say there were people inside TVs, singing operas and fighting wars. Now that I’ve seen it for myself at your house, I get it. It’s not that different from a radio."

"Ours is a little smaller, this one is bigger." Li Xiangyang recalled the color TV Uncle Da had brought in last time. "TVs are getting so advanced now. The pictures are in full color—you can even make out the color of their clothes."

Little Douzi glanced at the two of them. "Uncle Xiangyang, is it like in picture books, where some illustrations are black and white and others are in color?"

Li Xiangyang beamed at him. "Exactly! Our Little Douzi is so smart."

Lin Changyou also looked at him, pleased. "Little Douzi has a better memory than Little Jun and the others, and he learns things fast. If you study hard, you can go see Beijing someday."

Looking at them both, Little Douzi said proudly, "Our teacher says the scientists in Beijing are incredible! They can build airplanes and cannons, and even build spaceships to fly to the moon!"

Seeing him puff out his chest and stand ramrod straight, Li Xiangyang laughed. "So, our Yang Xiaoguo wants to be a scientist now, does he?"

Little Douzi shook his head without a moment’s hesitation. "No. I’m going to study hard, get into the police academy, and become the greatest police officer, the kind that catches all the bad guys."

He still remembered those people who had bullied his mother and broken their courtyard gate. It was only when his uncle arrived that the bad guys had gotten scared.

Lin Changyou looked at him, grinning from ear to ear. "Great. Our Little Douzi is going to be the greatest police officer."

Li Xiangyang glanced at his watch. "If you want to be a police officer, you have to be healthy. It’s nine-thirty now. Our future little officer should go wash up, brush his teeth, and get to bed."

Little Douzi yawned. "Okay, I’m going to go wash up."

Li Xiangyang watched him put down the large fava beans and head to the kitchen, then said to Lin Changyou, "Dad, I still think we should send Little Jun and the others to study in the city if we get the chance. In the future, it’s the educated people who will go further in life."

"If they come to the city for school, we won’t be able to look after them at home." Lin Changyou thought for a moment before looking at Li Xiangyang. "I believe a teacher can open the door, but you have to walk through it yourself. If you aren’t serious and don’t put in the effort, it doesn’t matter where you study."

"That’s true. Little Lan told me something once. She said, ’Thirty percent of your life is destined by fate, but seventy percent depends on your own hard work.’ I think there’s a lot of truth to that."

Li Xiangyang thought back to his family’s most difficult years. If he hadn’t pulled himself together and given it his all, he might have ended up as one of those delinquents on the street.

Or worse, he would have been nothing but a lapdog, completely at Li Jing’s beck and call.

Lin Changyou chuckled. "Where would she come up with something so profound? She must have picked it up from one of those random books she’s always reading."

Li Xiangyang smiled. "Liking to read is a good thing. My dad always says that wisdom comes from books. People who read a lot have broader horizons and can see further than we can."

"What are you two talking about so excitedly?" Before he could finish, Wu Shufen walked into the main hall carrying a basin.

"We’re just shooting the breeze!" Lin Changyou took the wooden basin from her. "You can put that down. Bring over the pestle, and Xiangyang and I will mash the beans."

Li Xiangyang thought of their mixer. "Once we move to the south side of the city in a few days and get the mixer set up, we won’t have to work so hard mashing beans anymore."

Lin Changyou nodded. "That’s right. The market has been renovated, so we won’t have to set up a street stall every day."

Lin Lan finished preparing the ingredients for the pumpkin cakes and started to form them.

Tong Xinglan helped shell beans for a bit. When Wu Shuqin went into the main hall, she slid over to sit beside Lin Lan, watching her knead the dough with effort.

After a long hesitation, she said in a low voice, "Cousin, I don’t like learning how to make pastries. I’d rather be a salesclerk."

Lin Lan stopped what she was doing and looked at her. "Being a salesclerk isn’t as simple as you think. He Li at the department store has to get there half an hour early every day just to clean. And Little Xue and Little Mei have to iron the clothes."

"You’ll run into difficult customers who will give you a hard time, or even insult you, and you won’t be able to say a word back. On top of that, all the merchandise in the shop is accounted for. They take inventory twice a month, and if anything goes missing, the salesclerks have to pay for it out of their own pockets." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Tong Xinglan stared blankly at Lin Lan. "But the clerks I see at the supply and marketing co-op are always just sitting around knitting or chatting and eating sunflower seeds."

"That’s a state-run enterprise. I’m just a private business owner; I can’t afford to pay people to sit around." Lin Lan glanced at her before returning to her dough. "Think it over. If you really don’t want to learn to make pastries, you need to tell Auntie soon."

Tong Xinglan was torn, her thoughts racing. ’Making pastries means dealing with all that smoke and heat, but if I’m a salesclerk, I’ll have to pay if something goes missing!’

’Should I just go back to the countryside? But it’s so nice here at my cousin’s place. They have electricity, it’s close to the city, the food is good, the clothes are nice... even Qiaohui, that girl from the mountains, is more stylish than me now...’

Lin Lan glanced over at Tong Xinglan. ’She’s just like Mom,’ she thought. ’Aunt Shuqin spoils her daughter rotten.’

By the time Wu Shuqin returned from the main hall, Tong Xinglan still hadn’t decided what to say and had dozed off in her seat.

At ten o’clock, all the fried fava beans were done. The group finished packing them, and Wu Shufen led Wu Shuqin and her daughter to a side room to sleep.

Lin Lan had already arranged the unbaked pumpkin cakes on a baking sheet. She put them in the oven, asked Qiaohui to keep an eye on it, and then started on the kidney bean rolls.

Wu Shuqin and her daughter tasted some of Lin Lan’s pastries. If they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, they never would have believed that Lin Lan was capable of making something so delicious.

Wu Shuqin felt as if Lin Lan was like a character from *Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio* who’d had her mind swapped—she had changed so completely overnight.

Li Xiangyang and Lin Changyou finished mashing the red bean paste. Wu Shufen carried the pea puree, which had been simmered to a thick consistency, over to the worktop. While it was still hot, she poured it into greased molds and carried them out to the washboard in the backyard to cool and set.

With two clay pots simmering at once and Li Xiangyang helping out, the pea cakes were soon ready to be removed from their molds.

Wu Shufen brought over a bamboo basket and began to gently place the pea cakes inside, stacking them neatly in layers.

By the time they finished making the kidney bean rolls, pumpkin cakes, and pea cakes and packing them into baskets, it was already a quarter past twelve.

Lin Lan walked Li Xiangyang to the courtyard gate. "It’s getting late. Ride carefully."

Li Xiangyang nodded. "I’ll talk to Brother Shuiqing and the others about the shares and dividends tomorrow. Then, the morning after, I’m heading to Yangcheng City with Uncle Da."

Lin Lan thought for a moment. "You should ask Dad what he thinks before you talk to them. He’s been doing this for many years; he’ll think of things we might miss."

"Okay. I definitely won’t be back by the first of the month. I’ll make sure everything is clear with Brother Yong and the others at the market." Li Xiangyang took Lin Lan’s hand. "I’ll take care of things. Don’t push yourself too hard."

She looked at him softly. "I’ll watch myself. I just want to take advantage of these good years for business to build up some capital. Then, in the future, we can do the things we really want to do."

"Okay," Li Xiangyang said, pulling her into a brief, reluctant hug. "But your health is important too. The old man is still waiting for a grandchild, you know!"

"Oh, you!" Lin Lan gave him a light slap on the arm. "Just ride carefully."

"I will!" Li Xiangyang hopped on his bike, glanced back to blow her a kiss, and rode off.

With a smile still in her eyes, Lin Lan turned and went back inside, closing the door behind her.

At three in the morning, Wangcai, who was lying under the eaves of the porch, let out a furious, wolf-like howl, startling everyone awake.