Juhua laughed. "Listen to you, Dad. How could we make sausages without pigs?"

The next day, the Zheng Family bought over a hundred pounds of pork from the market to make sausages, planning to compare this new batch to their own and see how big the difference was.

In preparation for making more sausages, Zheng Changhe started going to Xiatang Market early every morning to buy up all the pig intestines. Juhua would clean them thoroughly, use chopsticks to scrape off the fatty layer until only a thin membrane remained, and then leave them to partially air-dry for later use.

At the same time, Zheng Changhe also let the villagers know that if they were slaughtering a pig, they could sell the pork to the Zheng Family. He offered two cents more per jin than the market, which delighted the villagers.

Big Mouth Zhao, who was preparing for his son’s wedding, was the first to take the offer. He slaughtered a pig and sold more than half of it to the Zheng Family. With that, Juhua and her mother made another hundred-odd jin of sausage.

Once winter set in, Zheng Changhe and Mother Yang were both home, so Juhua wasn’t as busy as she had been the year before. With her parents looking after things inside and out, she was able to spend her time on needlework.

For one, their family’s circumstances had improved. For another, she had grown taller, and her old, tattered clothes no longer fit. She had no choice but to make new ones. She also made clothes for her brother and parents, so she was constantly busy.

One day, as she was sewing clothes for Qingmu, he returned from the fields with a hoe on his shoulder. He dropped the hoe under the eaves and said to her, "The carrots are about as thick as a finger. They’ll be ready to eat in a few more days." He had gone to check on them since there was no school today.

Juhua looked up, pleased. "Really? How’d they grow so fast? I thought it’d be at least another month before they were big enough."

Seeing how far off her estimate was, Qingmu figured she didn’t know much about growing carrots. He chuckled and said, "You think this is fast? We barely used any fertilizer—Dad put all the compost on the wheat fields—that’s why ours are still small. Huai Zi said his are almost ready to eat. He used a fair bit of compost when he planted them."

Juhua asked incredulously, "They can’t be ready that quickly, can they? Are they really big enough to eat?"

Qingmu laughed. "His plot is right next to ours. Haven’t you noticed? Why don’t we go take a look?"

Juhua hurriedly set aside the clothes she was mending, pushed off the small cotton quilt from her lap, and said to her brother, "Okay, let’s go see! I’ve only ever seen the patch of green from afar; I’ve never gone up close. If they’re really ready to eat, we’ll have to be much more meticulous when we plant them next year."

Qingmu nodded, and the siblings headed out of their courtyard toward Zhang Huai’s building plot.

Juhua had often seen Zhang Dashuan and his wife, Mother He, busying themselves on that plot. She’d watched them till the soil, plant carrots and cabbage, and then seen a layer of green slowly emerge. The cabbages had even grown to form heads. Yet, she had never gone for a closer look.

Now that she was up close, she could see neat rows of cabbages standing tall, their "bellies" full and round. The carrot tops were a vibrant, lush green, a stark contrast to the withered grass and bare trees all around.

Staring at the lush green carrot tops, Juhua felt a strong urge to go down and pull a few up just to see how big they were.

As she was thinking this, she heard Qingmu laugh and say, "You came to see the carrots too?"

She turned and saw Zhang Huai approaching, an empty basket in his left hand and a hoe over his right shoulder. A delighted smile spread across his face when he saw her and Qingmu. "What brings you two here?"

Qingmu joked, "We saw your field was empty and thought we’d come steal some carrots."

Zhang Huai smiled. "Be my guest. If you take them home, it’ll save me the effort. I’ll just come over to your place to pick them out later."

Juhua asked, "Huai Zi, are your carrots really ready to eat? I want to pull a few up and see how big they are."

Zhang Huai set down his hoe and basket. "They really are," he told her. "Go on, pull some up to take home and try!"

As he spoke, his eyes fell on her clean clothes and shoes. He quickly turned, grabbed a bundle of straw from the edge of the row, and spread it in the furrow. Only then did he offer her his hand to help her down. It was the same straw they had used to protect the seedlings from frost when they first sprouted.

Juhua was touched by his thoughtfulness. ’I’d hate to get my shoes dirty,’ she thought gratefully. She took his offered hand for support and hopped down into the furrow.

Suddenly, it hit her. ’Why am I being so careless about appearances again?’

But the thought came too late. Her hand was already enveloped in Zhang Huai’s broad, lightly calloused one as he led her into the straw-lined furrow.

Juhua’s mind raced. ’Is this some lingering instinct from the original Juhua, or have I started to trust Zhang Huai so much that I’ve completely let my guard down?’

She glanced at Zhang Huai, but he seemed completely oblivious, acting as if it were the most natural thing in the world. It was clear he hadn’t deliberately tried to take her hand. Even Qingmu hadn’t paid any mind, or perhaps he simply didn’t think anything of it.

Juhua sighed in resignation and turned her attention to the carrots.

Zhang Huai had intended to let Juhua pull the carrots herself, but on second thought, he didn’t want her to get her hands dirty. He bent down and tugged up a few of the ones with the thickest-looking tops. As expected, the roots were already quite large.

He knocked the carrots together to shake off the loose dirt, then gathered the green tops and tied them into a knot. "See?" he said, smiling at Juhua. "They’re this big already. Still think they’re not ready to eat?"

Juhua gazed at the bright red carrots, still flecked with soil. She loved how they looked and, not minding the dirt, eagerly took them from him. ’When I get home,’ she thought, ’I’ll steam these next to the rice pot. They should be wonderfully fresh and sweet.’

Qingmu eyed the carrots. "These are much bigger than ours," he said to Zhang Huai. "That fertilizer you used really did the trick."

Zhang Huai said, "It was compost we got from raising earthworms. There wasn’t much, so my dad just put a little bit in each hole when he planted the seeds. I didn’t expect it to work so well either."

Juhua looked out at the field of lush green carrot tops. "You all worked so hard to cultivate this land," she said. "It’s a shame you won’t be able to plant anything here next year if your family builds the house."

(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian.com to vote for recommendations and monthly passes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)