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墨書 Inktalez
On the sixteenth day of the Lunar August, Hu Ruoyun heard from Uncle that his father had returned and mentioned that the children of Second Uncle had also been accepted into Annan County's Eight Middle School this year.
As the saying goes, "A good appearance is three parts distant," especially when it comes to the children of relatives from the previous generation. Coupled with her prejudice against her three cousins and uncles, Hu Ruoyun had no desire to engage with them at all.
Let them be; didn’t they look down on us poor folks? We’ll just keep our distance; we neither eat nor drink from them!
Days passed, uneventfully. Before she knew it, the beginning of winter had arrived. By this time, there was hardly any farm work left at home, and riding her bicycle back was too cold, so Hu Ruoyun decided to stay at school over the weekend.
On this Saturday, after two self-study classes, most students had gone home to their families, leaving only about twenty students on campus. The school cafeteria opened just a small window to provide simple meals.
In Hu Ruoyun's class, Liu Shuiwang was the center for the School Basketball Team. He lived in Geda Ying Township and hadn’t gone home for the weekend. The school beauty, Wang Bingbing, and another girl named Tong Caiying also stayed behind.
Shuiwang's family owned a small convenience store, which provided them with better financial conditions than most of their classmates. Wang Bingbing's family lived in the county town; her parents worked as a technician and an accountant at the Agricultural Machinery Factory, so they were even better off.
Tong Caiying came from Wangdian Township. Hu Ruoyun had seen her father once during summer when he delivered grain using a donkey cart. The old man wore a sweat-stained coarse cloth shirt, his skin a deep red-black hue, and he had a dull expression.
In Hu Ruoyun’s memory, Tong Caiying seemed not to have changed clothes all summer long; she always wore a pair of gray wide-legged trousers that matched her colorless demeanor.
As time went by, she gradually learned more about Tong Caiying’s situation. Tong Caiying had two older brothers; the eldest had just married two years ago, spending all their family savings on a new house and wedding gifts. The second brother was studying at university in the Provincial Capital, and his tuition and living expenses made life even harder for their already struggling family. There was also a younger brother who was about to graduate from elementary school (at that time, there was no Compulsory Education) — all of them depended on their family for support.
The clothes she wore were hand-me-downs from her older brother repurposed by her mother.
Hu Ruoyun heard from her female classmates that while others would eat in groups — one would get rice, another would buy bread, and someone else would get vegetables — Tong Caiying always ate alone. She would first get her rice and then buy bread; often she wouldn’t buy any vegetables at all but would eat with pickled radish strips or garlic shoots brought from home.
In her, Hu Ruoyun vaguely saw a reflection of her own past...
In an imagined future where this girl lived a hard life despite working diligently in her studies and achieving good grades, she still dropped out before graduation. Later on, Hu Ruoyun heard that she soon got married to a worker six years older than her who had a slight limp. Her bride price was used by her family to support her brother and older sibling’s education!
Hu Ruoyun felt a pang in her heart.
As the dinner bell rang, Wang Bingbing went to call Tong Caiying, who was studying at her desk: "Caiying, we’re the only girls left today; come on, let’s eat together."
Tong Caiying shook her head in panic: "Bingbing, I’m not hungry; you go ahead!"
Wang Bingbing was an easygoing girl and didn’t insist: "Then I’ll go. Do you want me to bring you some buns?"
Tong Caiying shook her head again: "No need! Don’t bring me anything!"
Suddenly remembering that this girl hadn’t moved from her seat during lunch earlier when they ate together — even after they returned from their meal — Hu Ruoyun wondered if perhaps she didn’t have any meal tickets but felt too embarrassed to say so?
Shui Wang was not doing well in his studies, but his performance was similar to Brother Biao's. He was straightforward and loyal, insisting on taking Hu Ruoyun out for dinner.
Though he called it a restaurant, it was really just a makeshift stall set up by local villagers at the school gate. There were no elaborate dishes—just bowls of noodles paired with meat and some baked flatbreads. The school meal tickets were accepted there, and while it was slightly more expensive than the school cafeteria, the taste was better. The place operated only on Saturday and Sunday afternoons to evenings.
The two of them linked arms as they entered the Small Eatery, where they enjoyed two bowls of shredded pork noodles for a total of one dollar twenty cents. As they were leaving, Hu Ruoyun noticed some buns in the owner’s steamer and asked, “Uncle, how much are your buns?”
The owner smiled broadly, “These are filled with white radish and pork. Normally, it’s five for a dollar, but since there are only these six left and they’re still warm, I’ll give them all to you for a dollar.”
Shui Wang looked puzzled. “You’re not full after one bowl of noodles? I’m stuffed!”
Hu Ruoyun handed the owner a dollar. “Pack them up for me.”
He turned to Shui Wang and said, “Take them with you; you can eat them later if you get hungry.”
Around eight o'clock that evening, Wang Bingbing hummed a tune as she headed back to the dormitory. Not long after, Liu Shuiwang pulled out a copy of "Heavenly Dragon Eight Parts" from his desk and told Hu Ruoyun, “I’m going to lie down in the dorm and read.” He then left as well.
Only Hu Ruoyun and Tong Caiying remained in the classroom.
Hu Ruoyun took out four of the buns and walked over to Tong Caiying. “Here, I bought too many; I really can’t finish them.”
Tong Caiying looked up, her delicate face showing signs of malnutrition. Without waiting for her to respond, Hu Ruoyun placed the four buns down and took the other two back to the dormitory.
He recalled the scene from "Ordinary World" where Sun Shaoping was taken by Sister Runye to Tian Xiaoxia's home for dinner, as well as Zhang Yonglin's first experience eating steamed buns at Corydalis's house in "Greening Tree."
His act of avoidance at that moment was a sign of respect for this female classmate.
What he didn’t know was that after he left the classroom, Tong Caiying sat at her desk, eating the buns with large tears falling onto her textbook.
On this early winter evening, after being hungry for most of the day, a boy had given her four buns under the pretense of having bought too many—along with an endless warmth.
Back in the dormitory, Hu Ruoyun tossed the remaining two buns to Shui Wang on the upper bunk. “Here you go; I took four for myself and saved two for you.”
Liu Shuiwang caught them and bit into one while chewing. “Dude, you’re such a glutton!”
The next morning, Liu Shuiwang slept in late in the dormitory but reminded Hu Ruoyun to save him two buns.
After thinking it over, Hu Ruoyun bought four buns to take to class. Sure enough, Tong Caiying was already there studying. When she saw Hu Ruoyun enter, she shyly smiled at him with gratitude.
Hu Ruoyun placed two buns in Shui Wang’s desk drawer and handed the other two to Tong Caiying. “Here, these are for you.”
Tong Caiying graciously accepted them and even took a bite right in front of him.
Once she finished her bun, Tong Caiying sat across from Hu Ruoyun. “Do you want to hear my story? It might give you some material for your writing!”
Tong Caiying had been picked up by her parents!
She heard her mother say that in the year she was born, when she was still less than a month old, someone wrapped her in a small blanket and left her on the grinding stone at the edge of the village. Her father, who went out to collect manure that morning, found her and brought her home.
At that time, her grandmother was still alive and remarked that the family already had two grandsons (her younger brother had not yet been born). Life was tight, and they wondered why they should take in another girl from who knows where.
Seeing the little girl crying hungrily, her parents thought that since they had brought her back, they couldn't just let her starve. The couple quickly prepared a bowl of noodle soup with a spoonful of brown sugar and fed it to her bite by bite. To their surprise, after eating her fill, the child began sucking her fingers and smiled sweetly at them! That one sweet smile made it impossible for her parents to consider sending her away.
Later on, the family welcomed a little brother, and life became even tighter. The eldest brother spent all the family's savings on his wedding, and then he and his wife moved out to live on their own. The second brother went to university in the provincial capital, and the family's autumn harvest barely covered his tuition for a year; they had to scrape together his living expenses from whatever they could find.
Her parents treated her well, but the burden on the family was too heavy. It was already a significant financial strain for them to support a daughter in high school. She worked hard at her studies and scrimped on food using her ration tickets.
In these past few days, she had less than a pound of ration tickets left and had no idea when her family could send more food.
Tong Caiying spoke with a smile as she shared this, but Hu Ruoyun could clearly see tears glistening in her eyes. Hu Ruoyun opened her desk drawer and took out 20 pounds of ration tickets along with a note from Great Unity, handing them to Tong Caiying. "Consider this a loan; you can pay me back whenever you have it!"
Tong Caiying accepted them with a radiant smile. "Thank you!"
Then she added, "Do you know why I usually keep to myself? I just don’t want others to pity me! But with you, I feel like I can let go of those concerns and pressures."
Hu Ruoyun pondered for a moment. "Do you believe I've been through something similar? So I understand!"
Tong Caiying listened without nodding or shaking her head.
This scene felt reminiscent of Sun Shaoping and Hao Hongmei during their high school days in "Ordinary World."
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