Chapter Thirty-Five: Lunar New Year

"Oh, go on, go on! Lin is a big-city girl now, do you really think she'd have eyes for your son who lays bricks? Lin, I have a nephew who delivers mail in town—a proper government job, you know? The Post Office! Yes, the Post Office. You two should get to know each other."

Lin Ke felt she had never experienced such overwhelming hospitality. She had only just returned to the village and hadn't even reached the paved road yet. If it hadn't been for the government’s poverty alleviation efforts to build roads a few years ago, this place would still be nothing but a pit of yellow dust.

Lin Ke’s mother took most of the items from her hands, her face beaming as she pushed through the crowd. "Alright, everyone, the girl is exhausted. Let her go home and rest. We’ll gather after the New Year! We’ll all get together then—everyone come over to my place!"

"You got it! The third day of the New Year, we'll be there!"

"Visiting relatives on the first, back to the mother's home on the second, and a feast at the Lin house on the third!"

After a lively trek, they finally made it home. Lin Ke hurriedly helped her father sit on the bed. Seeing the fine beads of sweat on his forehead in the dead of winter, she knew he was once again enduring the pain in his back.

Rummaging through her bag, Lin Ke pulled out a bottle covered in foreign labels. "Dad, take this. It's glucosamine. My colleagues all say it’s great for the joints of elderly people."

Her father waved her off, looking disgusted. "No, no, I'm fine. What good could come from a bunch of bird-talk labels? I’ll just take a couple of painkillers."

"That won't do, Dad. Painkillers only treat the symptoms, not the root cause. You can't keep putting off your back surgery. This is glucosamine, here is calcium citrate, vitamins, protein powder... once you’ve had the surgery, you’ll need to take all of these."

"Why are you wasting money on such useless things!"

"How could it be useless? Dad, you have to listen to me this time! Your back can’t wait any longer! I want you to be healthy!"

Lin Ke reached into her pocket, pulled out a bank card, and turned to her mother. "Mom, there’s a hundred thousand yuan here. With the family’s rural cooperative medical insurance, it should be enough for Dad’s surgery. If it’s not, I’ll find more. Go after the New Year, and have Yun accompany you."

Lin Ke’s mother froze. "You girl, where did you get so much money!" In their small corner of the world, every family farmed, and a year’s harvest might not even net ten thousand yuan. A hundred thousand was a sum she had never managed to save in her entire life. "You haven't done anything illegal, have you? That’s not how we do things in the Lin family!"

"What are you thinking, Mom!" Lin Ke pressed the card into her mother’s hand. "Your daughter is a college graduate! I work in a big city! I make tens of thousands a month! This is just a small amount. I haven’t been working for very long yet—our family will only get wealthier from here!"

As she spoke, Lin Ke began opening the other items one by one. "Mom, I bought you a down jacket. It’s light, thin, and warm—much better than a cotton-padded coat!"

"Cashmere scarf, snow boots, cotton gloves, and this—it’s hair dye. You used to use those one-yuan-a-bag dyes from the market, but that’s not good for you. Use this from now on; you’ll look beautiful!"

"Sister! Sister! Sister!!!"

Just as she was speaking, Lin Yun’s loud voice echoed from over a hundred meters away. She had been out cutting hay for the sheep that morning and only heard on the way back that Lin Ke was arriving today. She had hurried as fast as she could, but still missed her at the entrance of the village.

"You’re finally back!!"

Lin Yun collided with Lin Ke in a hug, her small, dusty face flushed bright red from the cold.

Feed was expensive, so even in winter, they couldn't keep the sheep on it all the time. That was why the village children would head to the mountains to scavenge for hay during winter break. When they were younger, they used to gather firewood, but now that the forests were protected, everyone had switched to honeycomb briquettes.

Lin Ke gave a wide smile and shoved the smallest box into Lin Yun’s hands. "For you. A new phone. It might not be the top-of-the-line model, but it’s still a good brand."

"Ahhhhh!!! Sister! Sister! I love you so much!!"

Lin Yun screamed in excitement. If she had owned a phone, she would have known her sister was coming home all morning. Even though she had mentioned wanting a phone to her sister over video call, thousands of yuan was a huge sum to her; she never truly expected her sister to buy it.

A big brand! Domestic, too!

Lin Yun couldn't put it down; it was the best gift she had received in all these years. But Lin Ke wasn't finished yet.

"And this—it’s face cream. Put some on before you go out in this winter weather; your face looks like a little tabby cat."

The children in the mountains always had rosy cheeks, but it wasn't until Lin Ke went to college that she learned this so-called "mountain glow" was often looked down upon, carrying an inherent "village air."

"A thermos, so you can take hot water to school in the winter and avoid stomach aches during your period. And this—a whole new outfit, in the pink you like."

Lin Yun was dazzled. "Oh my god, so many good things! My own sister, you really have made it big! Is college really that good? I want to go to college too! I want to go to the big city and make big money!"

Lin Ke’s smile faltered for a fleeting second, but then she saw her mother weeping again.

"Mom, what’s wrong? Why are you crying again?"

"Mom is fine." Lin Ke’s mother wiped her tears with her rough palm, still struggling to compose herself. "Mom just feels heartache for you. My child hasn't been back in three years—I don't know how much hardship you’ve endured out there to be able to bring all this home."

Lin Ke froze.

Her nose felt sour. She hadn't expected that after so long away, her mother wouldn't care about how much money she had made, but rather how much she had suffered.

"Mom, what are you saying! Yun and I studied hard precisely so we could get into college and earn money in the city! I work in an office! Being able to earn this much money—it’s not nearly as hard as manual labor in the city."

But Lin Ke’s mother continued to wipe away her tears. She knew everything; the internet was so advanced now, and even they, the villagers, had phones and had seen the news. She knew her daughter was out there struggling all alone, and the bitterness of it was something only she could truly feel.

Lin Ke embraced her mother. "Mom, don't worry, I’m doing just fine! After the New Year, I’ll take Dad to get his surgery. Once Yun finishes college, we’ll all move to the city together. There’s central heating in the city—the house is so warm in the winter. We’ll be a happy family living together."

"That’s right, Mom!" Lin Yun jumped up and joined the hug. Since she was little, she had loved squeezing in between her parents and her sister. "Why are you crying on the New Year! It’s a good thing Sister is back, and it’s a good thing she’s making big money. We should all be happy!"

"Yes! You're right, let's have a good New Year. It’s rare for Ke'er to be back. Mom made your favorite fried meatballs and steamed pork with rice flour! Your dad even ran to the big market to buy you fireworks—you always loved setting off fireworks when you were little."

"Okay, Mom, let’s do it together!"