1983, Northeast China

Chapter 21: If we move again, we'll have to retrieve the corpse.

As dawn broke, Chen Shi rolled up the net he had repaired the night before, tucked two old urea bags under his arm, and carried the pickaxe in his other hand.

The rim of the water vat was frozen, so he used the ladle handle to break half of it, scooped up a mouthful of cold water, and drank it down to his heart's content.

After returning from the brigade yesterday, no one in the family slept soundly. Xiaoman cried twice in the middle of the night. Chen Xiulan couldn't carry her, so Aunt Wang Er got up to change her diaper.

Ya Ya lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), a tuft of hair sticking up, and asked, "Uncle, can the bag be filled?"

"Fill it halfway first." Chen Shi thought for a moment and decided to exaggerate a little, since he really had no experience with this. "If it's full, I can't lift it."

Ya Ya believed her and nodded seriously, "Huang Er and I will look after the house, so don't worry about it."

"Acting like a little adult, who did you learn all this from?"

Aunt Wang took two pieces of bread and said, "Keep these. Our livelihood depends on you. If you fall, then the sky will fall."

The sound of a baby nursing came from inside the house again. Chen Xiulan instructed from the inner room, "Don't be rash, watch the ice before you step on it."

Li Cheng arrived at this time as well.

He was wearing the old cotton-padded jacket that Aunt Wang had found for him last night.

His cotton-padded jacket was too short, and his wrists were showing through the cuffs. He still forced his chest out.

"Let's go," Li Cheng said, pulling down his sleeve. "I've been thinking about this all night. Breaking ice is just swinging a pickaxe, right? I'm strong enough."

Chen Shi handed him the net, saying, "You take the net, that's really something. You'll have to chop it up for firewood when you get back."

The two of them came out early; not all the chimneys were smoking yet. Only a few early risers could hear some noise in their yards.

As Chen Shi passed by Tian Guizhi's house, he glanced in that direction.

The door was closed, and there was no light behind the paper window; she was unusually well-behaved for a while.

Chen Shi glanced at the dark window again.

Li Cheng followed his gaze and asked, "Why are you looking at her house?"

"Just browsing. Today is the sixth day of the lunar new year, and I have a feeling of unease."

"There's no peace with someone like her." Li Cheng curled his lip. Last night, his mother told him the whole story. After hearing the whole thing, he sent his mother to sleep at Chen Xiulan's house. "Don't be fooled by her acting like she's afraid of Uncle Zhao. If you really want to teach her a lesson, no one in the village will be the first to step in."

Chen Shi looked at him. "Why?"

Li Cheng's eyes widened. "You don't know?"

Chen Shi remained silent.

He truly didn't understand. In his past life, Tian Guizhi had caused quite a stir, and everyone avoided her. He simply felt it was bad luck. Later, he left the village, and after hearing about many things, he simply let them go.

Li Cheng gestured towards the forest farm with his lip. "She has a brother there, who owns land and mountains, and leads a forest ranger team that controls the passage of vehicles and sleds along the timber road. Isn't that scary enough for us ordinary folks?"

A gust of wind swept by, and Li Cheng tightened his cotton-padded coat even more.

"Who doesn't collect fallen logs in winter? Who isn't afraid of having their sled confiscated? A few years ago, Old Liu's son hauled two dead pine logs, but before they even reached the village, Tian Youshan confiscated them, saying he was stealing timber. Not only did he have to pay for a chicken, but he also had to work for them for three days."

Chen Shi nodded. He vaguely remembered this incident; he had even joked about the kid for a while, saying, "Is her brother a high-ranking official?"

"Not really," Li Cheng said, "but he wears a forestry farm overcoat, can talk inside the forestry farm's buildings, and is somewhat familiar with people in the commune. We're just ordinary folks, who wants to really mess with someone like that?"

Chen Shi didn't ask any more questions.

It turns out there's more to the story behind Tian Guizhi.

If Zhao Defa really pressed her down and pushed Tian Guizhi to the edge, she would call people from the forest farm, putting the village in a passive position.

Moreover, the timber road leads to the forest farm.

The human traffickers arranged to meet the person at the timber road, where Tian Guizhi had an older brother who managed the timber road.

Chen Shi didn't think about it any further.

As they were talking, the two left the village.

Laopaozi is not far from the village. In spring and summer, it is a puddle with tall reeds that can hide people. In winter, it is a vast expanse of white.

The wind blew out of the woods and onto the pond, with nothing to block it.

As soon as Li Cheng reached the side, he tucked his hands into his sleeves, saying, "It's colder here than in the village."

"Above the pond," Chen Shi said.

"Even in this freezing weather, there's no way we can escape this!" Li Cheng stamped his foot. "Where should we start throwing the bomb?"

Chen Shi was also watching. He had heard Chen Mancang talk about it in his previous life, but hearing about it was one thing, and actually standing on the ice was quite another.

Looking at it, some parts were bluish, and some were white; he couldn't tell what was underneath.

He can feel the patient's pulse.

Ice didn't extend her wrist to him.

Chen Shi walked on it, his shoes getting heavier and heavier with each step. He didn't rush onto the ice; instead, he used the tip of his axe to tap the ice around his feet.

"If we actually catch fish, where will we sell them?" Li Cheng asked.

"Not for sale yet."

"Why not sell it? Selling it means making money."

"We're not even getting enough to eat at home, and everyone's exhausted." Chen used the handle of a pickaxe to push aside the reeds. "If we have too much, we'll sell it; if we don't, we'll still have to drink cold water at night."

Li Cheng lowered his head and pondered, the pancake in his arms sticking out from under his clothes, so he tucked it back in. "Will my bowl be enough to fill me up?"

"Hold the net tight, and you'll get a good meal when we get back."

"Where should we smash it?" Li Cheng asked confidently, but Chen Shi still hadn't given him a definite answer. "You've never smashed anything before, have you?"

Chen Shi slammed his pickaxe into the snow. "You know how?"

"No," Li Cheng replied confidently, "but I have the strength."

The pickaxe tip was chipped, and when it struck, it couldn't break the ice; it just shook my hand.

Li Cheng swung the pickaxe three or four times, but apart from making his hands ache, it had little effect. Yet he remained stubborn, saying, "I'll give you two more pickaxes."

"Save your energy. I still have to carry the fish back."

"Where's the fish?" Li Cheng stared at the Blackwater Estuary. "I didn't even see a fish's tail. This piece of ice isn't suitable for me. Let's try another one."

After he finished speaking, he picked up his pickaxe and walked onto a flat-looking ice surface.

The surface of that ice was whitish, with a hint of gray mixed in, like frozen rice porridge.

"Come back, don't step over there."

Li Cheng's foot had already landed.

A thin white crack appeared on the ice surface with a snap.

Li Cheng froze on the spot, his other leg dangling in mid-air. He didn't dare move his neck, and could only strain his eyes to look at Chen Shi. "Chen Shi?"

"Don't move."

Chen Shi put what he was holding aside, placed his palms on the ice, and crouched down to move forward. He didn't dare to step firmly, and could only feel his way forward little by little.

Li Cheng's face turned pale. The iron pickaxe that he had been gripping tightly just moments before now wobbled in his hand.

The pickaxe tip struck the ice with another soft sound.

"Don't put the pickaxe down," Chen Shi immediately stopped him. "Hold it steady, don't break the ice."

Li Cheng's lips trembled, "I...I didn't use any force."

Chen Shi took two steps forward and reached out his hand to Li Cheng, "Give me the pickaxe, hand it to me slowly, don't fling it."

Li Cheng's fingers were frozen stiff, and it took him a couple of tries to turn the pickaxe sideways.

The pickaxe handle was too short for Chen Shi to reach.

"Don't lean forward, stay still," Chen Shi said quickly when he saw him about to move.

"My...my legs...are sore."

"I'll endure the sourness."

Chen Shi turned around, reached for the net pole, handed over the long end of the pole, and stepped on the tattered net. "Grab the pole, but don't pull too hard yet."

Li Cheng reached out to grab it, his fingertips digging in a little, and he instinctively tried to move forward.

"If we move forward even half a step, we won't be able to save the person; we'll have to retrieve the body."

Just then, someone spoke up from the reeds.

The sudden sound startled Li Cheng, who was already terrified, so much that he almost sat down.

Chen Shi suddenly turned around.

There was a person standing behind the reeds.