Chapter 2: The 'Father' Picked Up by the River
“Little friend, have you mistaken me for someone else?”
Li Feng, recovering some of his energy, forced a smile and placed his hands on his waist, slightly propping himself up to appear as gentle as possible.
Perhaps the two girls were startled by Li Feng's forced smile; for a moment, they remained silent, just looking at Li Feng with an unclear look of anticipation in their eyes.
“You are our Papa.”
The older girl, a little bolder, met Li Feng's gaze and said through gritted teeth, seemingly convinced this was the truth. “Little friends, stop playing. I don't know you at all.”
“You are our Papa.”
As she spoke, the older girl started to wipe away tears, and the younger one, seeing her sister cry, immediately began to wail.
“Little friends, don't cry, don't cry…” This left Li Feng at a loss for what to do, but fortunately, people arriving from outside the house came to his rescue.
“Oh, you're awake.”
Three to five men walked in, led by an old man in his fifties or sixties with bronze-colored skin and a dry tobacco pipe tucked into his waist. Behind him were several middle-aged men in their thirties and forties, most with tanned, weathered faces, clearly showing the effects of being exposed to the elements.
Li Feng observed that most of them wore cloth jackets without sleeves and old-fashioned cloth buttons. He had seen such clothes in museums, and he vaguely remembered his grandparents wearing them when he was a child.
What was going on with these people, dressed like this? Li Feng was momentarily confused.
“Elder, where is this?”
“It's good that you're awake. Don't get up yet, you just…”
Li Feng frowned slightly, looked at everyone, and asked his question. When he received the answer, Li Feng was dumbfounded. “I jumped into the river? What kind of international joke is that? How could I be so foolish? Maybe there's a mistake?”
“That's not right. Wasn't I organizing appliances in the video room? It seems I got an electric shock?”
For a moment, Li Feng even wondered if he was dreaming and had made a mistake. He slapped his head twice. “No, no, I must be dreaming…”
“Dad, is this person perhaps drowned and gone silly?”
“Fifth Uncle, he can't really be silly, can he? What are we going to do? We've rescued a fool, and our team doesn't have enough grain to feed a fool.”
“Why don't we send him to the Commune? I see his clothes and suspect he might be an educated youth from the city.”
For a moment, Han Fuguo hesitated. Their Han Family Dam was not wealthy; half of the people ran deficits every year. Not to mention the family of Da Ya and Xiao Ya right in front of him. Originally, the mother and two daughters could earn some work points, but a few days ago, Da Ya’s mother went to the river to fish during the rain and unfortunately fell in and drowned.
Now, only ten-year-old Da Ya and five-year-old Xiao Ya are left in the family. This year, they are definitely going to run a deficit. Thinking this, Han Fuguo indeed considered sending Li Feng away and letting the Commune handle him.
“Papa is not silly.”
The little girl wiped away her tears, stood in front of Li Feng, and spread her small hands, trying to protect her Papa. “My Papa isn't silly, my Papa isn't silly…”
“Ah.”
Li Feng was a bit dumbfounded and didn't know what was going on. He wanted to slap himself twice again, thinking that might wake him up, but this dream felt too real.
“This girl, this is not your Papa. He's just someone you picked up by the river…” Han Anmin hadn't finished speaking when his father, Han Fuguo, interrupted him.
“Mama said Papa was someone she picked up by the river. This is the Papa I picked up.”
Good heavens, Li Feng looked at the girl speaking. What do you mean, someone you picked up is your father? How did this child's mother educate her? Is a father just someone you can pick up anywhere? If that's the case, I'll go pick up a Ma Huateng.
“Da Ya, take Xiao Ya to find Sannai. There's nothing for you two here.”
Han Fuguo thought for a moment and decided to send Li Feng to the Commune. Han Family Dam was not wealthy and didn't have food to support a fool. It was better to hand this trouble over to the Commune.
“No, Third Uncle, this really is my Papa.”
“Mama said Papa was picked up from the river. This is the Papa I picked up, Third Uncle. I don't want Papa to go to the Commune.”
Da Ya became even more agitated. Although Li Feng didn't understand the situation, he realized that being sent to the Commune was probably not a good thing.
“Oh, my head hurts.”
With that, Li Feng pretended to have a headache and lay down. He couldn't just let them send him to the Commune without considering his own life.
“Papa…”
“Let's wait and see.”
Han Fuguo saw Da Ya and Xiao Ya crying so sadly and couldn't bear it. These two children had a hard life. First, their educated youth father from the city ran back to the city a few years ago and was never heard from again. Things had just started to get better in the last two years, but last month, their mother drowned.
Only these two children were left in the family. If it weren't for the care of the people in the dam, they probably wouldn't have survived. Alas, Fu Guo's brother might be left without an heir. Alas, Guo Qing's brother left early to fight the Japanese, leaving Qing Wa to fend for herself. He didn't take good care of her; first, she was deceived by that city boy, and now she has drowned, leaving only Da Ya and Xiao Ya, his two granddaughters. Alas, he was always a bit soft-hearted and sighed, deciding to wait and see.
“Papa, this won't do.”
Han Anmin on the side was anxious. Wouldn't such a fool be a burden?
“Alright, let's leave it at that for now. I'll come back to check later tonight. He's probably just woken up and isn't clear-headed yet.”
Han Fuguo pulled out his tobacco pipe, rolled some crumbled tobacco, struck a match, lit it, and took two puffs of dry tobacco, sighing. Let's leave this matter as it is for now. In fact, Han Fuguo hoped that Da Ya could find a 'father' to bring back.
Otherwise, these two children might not make it through this winter. No family had extra food; helping with a mouthful or two was fine, but when food was scarce in winter, everyone was barely feeding themselves, so where would the help come from? Besides, this thatched hut needed repairs in autumn, or people would freeze to death in winter.
Without an adult, it would be difficult for the two children to get through this winter. Without food or firewood, they wouldn't survive. It's likely that by spring, there would be two more mounds on the hillside. “Alright, let's go.” Han Fuguo led the somewhat reluctant Han Anmin and the others out of the hut.
Li Feng finally opened his eyes. This was bizarre. Now he was pretty sure this wasn't a dream; he didn't know how he had ended up here.
Unfortunately, there was nothing with writing in this house, otherwise he might have been able to figure out the timeline.
“Papa, you're awake.”
Da Ya saw Li Feng open his eyes and sit up, her face full of joy. She ran over and, imitating her mother, pulled the patched quilt over Li Feng. “Cough cough.” Li Feng gave a wry smile. Being called Papa made him feel awkward all over, but he couldn't afford to upset the girl when he didn't understand the situation.
“Papa?”
“It's nothing, nothing. Do you have any water?”
Li Feng was careful, afraid the girl would start crying again. He got annoyed when he saw children cry.
“Papa, I'll get you water.”
As she spoke, she didn't forget to instruct Xiao Ya. “Xiao Ya, you watch Papa.”
“Mm.”
Xiao Ya blinked her eyes, staring at Li Feng. This girl's eyes were quite large, but her hair was yellow, dry, and messy, and her face was dirty, making her look dark and thin. Where was this place? How could there still be children with such severe malnutrition now?
Could it be a mountainous area in the west? How strange. Li Feng saw Xiao Ya, who looked two or three years old, and a plan formed in his mind. Little kids are easy to trick. “Little friend, how old are you?”
“Five years old.”
“Five years old?”
Li Feng was startled. That couldn't be right. How could a five-year-old be so short? His own Li Yi was taller than this girl at three years old. “Five years old, huh? Besides your sister, are there other people in your family?”
“Sister, Mama, Papa.”
Xiao Ya counted on her fingers. “Papa, Third Uncle said Mama went to live in a dirt mound in the mountains. Why doesn't she come home to live? Xiao Ya misses Mama.”
“Live in a dirt mound?”
Li Feng was stunned. What did that mean? Could it be… a grave? Otherwise, why would she be in a dirt mound? “That, I don't know either…” For a moment, Li Feng felt some sympathy for the child. Mama was dead, and as for their Papa, he was probably in grave danger too, otherwise why would they pick him up to be their father?
Forget it, he couldn't afford to be sympathetic yet. Just as Li Feng was about to ask more questions, Da Ya returned with a gourd dipper full of water. “Papa, drink water.”
“Good, good, good.”
Although Li Feng felt that being called Papa was inappropriate, he had no other choice for the moment. He would observe the situation first. He figured he shouldn't be a human trafficker selling people, otherwise why would they send him to the Commune? ‘Commune, hmm, that term sounds like something from decades ago?’
‘This is getting more and more unsettling.’
Li Feng took a sip of water, which was surprisingly sweet. He couldn't help but drink a few more sips. Who would have thought that the more he drank, the hungrier he became, and his stomach started to rumble. “Papa, you must be hungry. I'll go get you some steamed buns.”
As she spoke, Da Ya ran off to get the steamed buns. Xiao Ya's eyes lit up when she heard this. “Sister, I'm hungry too.”
“Let Papa eat first.”
Da Ya brought two dark, lumpy steamed buns and handed them to Li Feng. Li Feng was really hungry, so he didn't pay much attention and bit into one. But as soon as the bun entered his mouth, he almost gagged. What was this? It cut his mouth, tasted bitter, and was so hard it threatened to break his teeth.
“Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey.”
What was this stuff? It had a sour, rotten smell. Could this actually be eaten? Even a dog probably wouldn't touch it. Li Feng felt like the girl was playing a trick on him. “What is this?”
“Wheat bran and cornmeal steamed buns. Sannai gave them to us for lunch.”
As Da Ya spoke, she stared at the steamed bun and swallowed. Xiao Ya even squatted on the ground, picking up the crumbs of the steamed bun that Li Feng had spat out and putting them in her mouth. Li Feng looked at the steamed bun, a bit dazed. “This is your lunch?”
Was this even human food? Li Feng felt that unless there was a gun pointed at him, he wouldn't eat this dog-unwanted steamed bun even if it killed him.
“Mm.”
“So you usually eat this?”
Da Ya shook her head slightly. Li Feng thought, sure enough, who would eat this every day? It was worse than pig slop.
“And we also have a meal of wild vegetable soup.”
“Wild vegetable soup?”
Li Feng thought, green food, huh? When Da Ya brought over a broken clay bowl, Li Feng was dumbfounded. This wild vegetable soup had no taste at all. Not only was there no oil, but was there no salt either? And the wild vegetables were bitter, for goodness sake.
“Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey.”
Li Feng quickly spat out the so-called wild vegetable soup. Are you kidding? This was worse than pig slop, and this was really these two children's meal. “Besides steamed buns and wild vegetable soup, what else do you eat?”
Da Ya shook her head. They ate one steamed bun and wild vegetable soup a day. They usually had wild vegetable soup in the morning and steamed buns around three in the afternoon, two meals a day.
“Ah, Xiao Ya, you can't eat what's on the ground.”
Li Feng hadn't been paying attention, and Xiao Ya was actually picking up the steamed bun and wild vegetables he had spat onto the ground and eating them. How could she eat that? This wasn't concrete or tiled flooring; it was a dirt floor, dirty and inedible.
“Are there any more steamed buns?”
Li Feng's words seemed to have some effect. Da Ya pulled Xiao Ya up, but Xiao Ya still grabbed a handful of steamed bun crumbs mixed with dirt and put them in her mouth. The girl was clearly hungry. Were these two steamed buns their lunch?
Da Ya shook her head slightly. Li Feng understood at a glance. “I see. Then you two eat these steamed buns. I'm not hungry.” One reason was that this stuff was too unpalatable, even a dog wouldn't eat it. Another was that even if he could eat it, he wouldn't have the heart to eat the two little girls' lunch.
“Papa, you eat. I'm not hungry.”
Da Ya shook her head, pushing Xiao Ya. Xiao Ya swallowed and licked the dirt-covered steamed bun crumbs from her fingers. “Papa, you eat. I'm not hungry either.”