"Let go!" Chuntao's face instantly flushed red all the way to the tips of her ears.
Zhou Zhijun was too shameless. Whenever he saw her, his hands and feet wouldn't behave, his mouth was filthy, and no matter the time, he would always lean in to lust after her.
Chuntao's small face felt hot and spicy. She twisted her body vigorously, "Xiaohong is about to wake up, let me go!"
Zhou Zhijun simply refused to let go. "Let me hold you for a while. In broad daylight, what could I possibly do?"
Chuntao's entire body went stiff. Facing such a shameless man, she couldn't yell or scream; she could only endure it.
It wasn't until footsteps came from the doorway of the main room that Zhou Zhijun finally loosened his grip. He helped her pour the two buckets of water into the water vat, then strode away without saying a single word.
While Chuntao had been fetching water, Zhou Zhijun had already cleaned the pigpen spotless.
A fresh layer of dry wheat straw had been spread on the ground, and the little piglets were snuggled up against the mother pig, sleeping soundly.
After months of anticipation, the sow had finally given birth smoothly, and all eight piglets had survived. Chuntao couldn't be happier.
She was even more meticulous with feeding the sow than before. Besides feeding it the slop carried back from the oilfield, she even made a special trip back to her maiden home to borrow half a sack of wheat bran.
In her spare time, she would also go to the field ridges outside the village to cut some tender green grass, chopping it up to feed the sow.
She calculated in her mind that only by feeding the sow to be strong and sturdy would it produce more milk.
With enough milk to eat, the piglets would naturally grow fast and well.
One day, a chick vendor came to the village, carrying two bamboo baskets on a shoulder pole, filled with chirping little chicks.
Chuntao looked on enviously, wanting to buy a few to raise, but when she felt her pockets, she didn't have a single cent.
A few days ago, she noticed that an old hen at home had become broody. It squatted in the chicken coop every day, refusing to come out, and was even too lazy to eat.
Before, she had been entirely preoccupied with the sow giving birth and hadn't had time to tend to the hen.
Now that the sow had delivered safely, Chuntao thought about letting this broody old hen hatch a brood of chicks.
She took out the thirty or so eggs she had saved up at home and held them up one by one behind the door to candle them against the light.
Fertilized eggs that could hatch into chicks would have a small dark shadow inside. To her surprise, upon candling them, almost half turned out to be fertilized.
Chuntao felt puzzled. She only had four hens at home and not a single rooster. How could there be so many fertilized eggs?
Zhou Zhijun's family had several large roosters; it must have been his roosters that did the deed.
For the eggs without a dark shadow, Chuntao thought about going to the neighbors to exchange them for fertilized ones.
Hatching more chicks in the spring meant keeping the hens for laying eggs, and selling the roosters during the New Year to buy festive goods.
Zhou Zhijun's family had over a dozen hens, and two of them were broody, having been sitting on their nests for over half a month.
They must have saved up quite a few eggs these past few days. Chuntao wanted to go to his house to exchange eggs, but she was afraid of running into him and feeling too embarrassed to ask.
After thinking it over, she decided to go check at Zhou Zhiguo's house in the front yard.
Zhou Zhiguo's family were all honest people, and Wang Xiaohong had a good relationship with Zhou Hongxia, so she took her eggs and headed over.
After explaining her intentions, Zhou Zhiguo's wife, Wang Haiying, said with some regret, "Why didn't you say so earlier? We just went to the market yesterday and sold all our eggs. There isn't a single one left!"
As she spoke, she reached into the chicken coop and pulled out a freshly laid, warm egg.
She candled it behind the door, smiled, and said, "This one is fertilized. You take it first, and when they lay more, I'll bring them over to you."
While passing by Wang Chunxiao's yard, she saw Wang Chunxiao sitting on a stool in the yard, parting her daughter's hair to catch lice.
Holding a fine-toothed comb, she squeezed the combed-out lice to death one by one with her fingernails, making a faint cracking sound.
Wang Chunxiao saw Chuntao carrying a shallow basket filled with eggs.
Her eyes instantly widened. "Jieshi's wife, what have you been up to?"
"One of my hens is broody, so I went to exchange for some fertilized eggs." Chuntao's voice was a bit soft.
Wang Chunxiao was the village's famous loudspeaker. Any gossip that reached her mouth would spread throughout the entire village in less than half a day.
Chuntao usually avoided her. Even though they were next-door neighbors, they hadn't interacted much.
Her family raised over a dozen hens and two or three roosters, so they definitely had plenty of fertilized eggs, but Chuntao hadn't planned on exchanging with her.
Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, she smiled. "You should have come to me! I've saved up forty or fifty eggs and was just planning to take them to sell tomorrow.
You came at just the right time! I'll exchange them with you!" Hearing her say this, Chuntao found it hard to refuse, so she carried her eggs into the yard.
Just then, footsteps sounded from outside the yard. Wang Chunxiao's husband, Zhang Jinzhu, returned from the fields carrying a hoe, followed by Baldy Zhang.
Baldy Zhang was carrying a wild rabbit in his hand. The rabbit's legs were tied with a straw rope, and it was still twitching.
"Chunxiao! Quick, boil some water! Uncle Baldy caught a wild rabbit today. We'll stew it for lunch and have a few drinks!"
Before Zhang Jinzhu even stepped into the yard, his booming voice had already preceded him.
Baldy Zhang shook the rabbit in his hand. "Look at this rabbit, it's nice and fat! Add some glass noodles when stewing it, it'll be delicious!"
He walked into the yard and saw that Chuntao was also there. His triangular eyes roamed all over her, his gaze making her skin crawl...
Chuntao shuffled closer to Wang Chunxiao and said very softly, "Sister-in-law Chunxiao, you go ahead and busy yourself with preparing the rabbit. I won't hold you up."
"Alright, alright..." Wang Chunxiao's eyes were glued to the fat rabbit, and she was already reaching out for it.
"This rabbit must weigh three or four catties! I'll chop it up and stew it with glass noodles!" Rarely getting a taste of meat all year round, Wang Chunxiao completely forgot about exchanging eggs with Chuntao.
"Exchanging eggs?" Baldy Zhang leaned in, squinting as he glanced at Chuntao, his tone carrying a hint of frivolity.
"Her old hen went broody, so she came to exchange a few eggs to hatch a brood of chicks," Wang Chunxiao casually replied as she took the rabbit.
After hearing this, Baldy Zhang looked toward the east. A few days ago, Zhou Zhijun's family had built a west room and conveniently put up a courtyard wall as well.
When he passed by Zhou Zhijun's gate earlier, it was locked.
Knowing Zhou Zhijun wasn't home, Baldy Zhang's courage swelled. He raised his voice and said, "Go find Zhou Zhijun!
He has two old fertilized eggs saved up at home, waiting especially for you!
If you go to him, he might even give you an extra one!" Anyone with a discerning eye could hear the dirty innuendo in his words.
Ever since Zhou Ergan ended up walking upside down, the people in the village who always thought about bullying Chuntao had restrained themselves a lot. But today, Baldy Zhang's mouth was itching for trouble again.
Chuntao blushed and turned to leave immediately, with a few more of Baldy Zhang's filthy remarks trailing behind her.
Her hand gripping the hem of her clothes tightened, and a wave of dread washed over her heart.
As for Zhou Zhijun, he had been leaving the house before dawn these past few days to build houses, not returning until dark.
The house that was half-built before the New Year had been delayed by the snow. After the holidays, the client had rushed him several times, asking him to try and finish it before the wheat harvest.
Zhou Zhijun was a master mason. Although it wasn't as physically exhausting as being a laborer, wielding a trowel all day long was no easy feat, leaving his arms sore and aching.
However, to him, physical exhaustion was nothing; a good sleep would fix it. The most tiring thing was his empty, hollow heart.
Having not been able to get close to Chuntao recently, his heart felt as if a piece of flesh had been carved out. It was cold and painful; he couldn't sit or stand still, always feeling restless.
When passing by his own front gate, his hand touched the door, but he pulled it back. His feet turned, and he headed toward Chuntao's house instead.
Chuntao was feeding the old sow. Watching the chubby, round little piglets, she could not help but let the corners of her lips curl into a slight smile.
All the hardships and suffering she had endured lately were instantly washed away by the soft grunts and squeals of the piglets. A smile slowly blossomed across her face, and even her eyes sparkled with a bright light.
Carrying the empty slop bucket, she turned around to head back to the kitchen, only to realize that someone was standing right behind her. He was so close that she nearly bumped into him.
Startled, she gave a violent shudder and stumbled a step back. The bucket in her hand struck a stone at the edge of the pigpen, letting out a loud clatter.
Staring at the man before her, Chuntao's voice trembled. Zhi... Brother Zhijun... what brings you here?
