In the morning, after Guan Ailan did as her mother told her—harvesting two pole-loads of corn from their private plot and carrying them home—she came looking for Xiao Man, just as she’d promised. She brought three pages torn from a workbook. On them were fifth-grade math problems she had recopied the night before. She said that if Xiao Man could solve them, she should be able to skip to the fifth grade.

There were only math problems, no language arts. The girl was clearly biased toward one subject, but she had a ready excuse: "Language arts isn’t a big deal. As long as you know Pinyin and can fluently recite a few fifth-grade texts, you’ll be fine!"

Watching Xiao Man calmly and steadily finish all the problems, Guan Ailan’s jaw dropped in surprise. After a long moment, she nodded like a seasoned expert. "I think you’re good to go! If you do this when the principal tests you, you’ll definitely pass!"

Grandma, who was sitting nearby and listening, let out a long sigh of relief and smiled. "Ai Lan, hearing you say that sets my mind at ease! You really have the makings of a teacher. You’ll surely have a great future. Thank you for guiding Xiao Man!"

Guan Ailan was not one to take a compliment humbly; her pride was about to swell to the heavens. While offering a few modest words to Grandma, she picked up the textbook and began "guiding" with even more self-important fervor. Xiao Man was speechless but had no choice but to play along and listen attentively to the "teacher’s" lecture.

When Guan Ailan was about to leave, Grandma went to the main hall, grabbed a handful of the candies she had been saving for Xiao Man to eat slowly, and stuffed them into her hands, urging, "Come visit often! Xiao Man’s academic foundation isn’t solid, so she needs a lot of help from you kids!"

Guan Ailan couldn’t refuse, so she accepted them. She said a few honey-sweet words to Grandma, made a funny face at Xiao Man, and left gleefully.

When Grandpa returned at noon, Xiao Man said during the meal, "Grandpa, where is the private plot they divided off for us? A lot of families have already harvested their corn and brought it home. We should harvest ours too. Before I start school, I can shuck the kernels and dry them. Then we can take them to be ground and mix them into our rice—we’re almost out of rice!"

Grandpa nodded. "It is time to harvest the corn. But you don’t need to worry about it. It’s only a three-fen plot. I won’t be going to the reservoir in September, so I can finish harvesting it in a few mornings and evenings."

Grandma added, "You just stay home and read your textbooks. Once school starts, you’ll be busy with classes. Grandma can shuck the corn kernels! Our family only has the old and the young, so we won’t use a stone mortar. We can spend twenty cents to take it to the water mill by the river and wait in line. It’ll get ground in a day or two!"

"I’ve already skimmed through those few books. Besides, I can’t just sit and read all day, I’ll get nearsighted. Grandma, I have to do something. You’re treating me like one of the Guan Family, not letting me do anything. The others will laugh at me!"

"Who would laugh? It’s not like you don’t do any work. You’re the one who takes care of our backyard vegetable garden, watering the plants every day, cooking, and doing laundry. My Xiao Man is very diligent!"

Grandma said with a wide smile, and Grandpa chimed in, "That’s right. Our Xiao Man is very capable. She does chores and takes good care of her grandma. I can work outside without any worries."

Xiao Man didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It seemed her two elders were determined to praise her to the heavens.

After much persuading, Grandpa finally agreed to take Xiao Man to pick the corn. Grandma instructed her to wear a long-sleeved shirt to avoid getting her skin cut by the corn leaves. While not deep wounds, the cuts were painful, itchy, and very uncomfortable. Some children couldn’t bear it and would scratch them raw, causing inflammation and swelling that took a long time to heal.

Xiao Man carried two bamboo baskets on a pole, while Grandpa carried a pair of large wicker baskets. The two of them first went to the two-fen plot that Mo Laoer’s family had partitioned off for Grandpa and Grandma. When they reached the edge of the field and saw it, Xiao Man pressed her lips together, speechless. Grandpa’s face turned livid with rage, and he cursed, "Ungrateful beasts!"

The plot was a total mess. Forget the corn—even the stalks had been uprooted. The soybeans that Second Aunt Mo had boasted were the best-growing in the entire village were also gone, long before they were ripe. All that remained was a field of sweet potato vines, torn and scattered everywhere.

Then they walked over to the one-fen plot that Liu Fengying had given Xiao Man. It was in even worse shape—there weren’t even any sweet potato vines left.

The grandfather and granddaughter returned home, fuming. Grandma was chatting with Fifth Auntie, Second Granny Qiu, and two other neighborhood grannies. When they heard what had happened, they all started cursing the Mo brothers and their wives for being so heartless. Fifth Auntie said to Grandpa, "I’ll go back and tell my old man. You need to go report this to the production team leader!"

Grandpa sighed. "Let’s just forget it. This is a family disgrace."

"You can’t just forget it!" Fifth Auntie said. "What kind of family disgrace is this? They’re the ones who are a disgrace, not us! They’re young, yet they’re capable of abusing the old and the young like this. They should be exposed so everyone can see them for what they are. If anyone’s going to be cursed, it should be them! This has nothing to do with us. We can’t let people think the whole Old Mo Family is full of bad seeds like them, tarring everyone with the same brush. The ancestors of the Old Mo Family would be so furious they’d climb out of their graves!"

Xiao Man instinctively flinched, a cold chill running down her spine. ’Fifth Auntie,’ she thought, ’you’re incredible!’

Grandma said, "She’s right, you should report it to the production team leader. Otherwise, whatever we plant next, there’s no guarantee they won’t just come and pull it up!"

Second Granny Qiu also chimed in, "Exactly! And there’s the autumn planting to think about. I heard the higher-ups are sending down wheat seed this year. After the production team plants its share, they’ll distribute some to each family for their private plots. That harvest has to be turned over to the state. If they get a wicked idea and ruin your crop, you’ll be the one paying for the seeds!" 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Second Brother, if you won’t go to the production team leader, I’ll go for you!"

Fifth Auntie was incredibly zealous. Grandpa quickly waved his hands. "No, no, Fifth Sister-in-law, I’ll go myself. I’ll go and report it!"

Grandpa did indeed go find the production team leader, who in turn reported it to the brigade headquarters. The next day, the brigade and the production team sent people to accompany Grandpa to inspect the fields. They also summoned Mo Guoqiang and Mo Laoer to the scene. The two brothers stalled for a long time but finally admitted their wrongdoing. They formally apologized to Grandpa and, under the supervision of the militia, compensated him with a corresponding amount of corn, soybeans, and sweet potatoes.

In those years, not many people dared to argue or deny their mistakes, especially with the militia standing right there watching.

The Mo brothers had always taken advantage of their status as the male heirs who would carry on the family line. No matter how angry they made Grandpa, his response was always more bark than bite; he could never bring himself to truly punish them. They assumed Grandpa would never be willing to lose face by actually coming after them. But this time, they not only lost their grain but also their dignity. On top of that, they were harshly reprimanded by the brigade’s Party Secretary, who was also their clan uncle. They were left completely dejected and humiliated.

This, however, made Grandma and Xiao Man secretly rejoice. They didn’t even have to go to the fields to pick corn or dig up sweet potatoes, nor did they have to haul everything back home—it all came to them on its own! They even received twenty jin of clean, golden, plump soybeans. These obviously weren’t from the fields, as those hadn’t ripened yet. These were last year’s beans, the ones Second Aunt Mo had been hoarding for a year!