Li Zhiyuan stirred his porridge a few times with his chopsticks, the soy sauce color lightened, and tender bits of meat floated to the surface.
Kids have sharp eyes, and what they persist in is not the scarcity but the unfairness of division. Hu Zi immediately said, "Granny, I want meat too, like what Yuanzi has in his bowl!"
"Granny, I want some too."
Other children also started to make a fuss.
"Get outta here!" Cui Guiying scolded them impatiently, "The little brothers and sisters don't know any better, but Panzi, Leizi, Yingzi, you older ones acting like big brothers and sisters, what's there to fuss about? You should know better. What we're eating today was all bought with the money given by Little Yuanhou's mom, and your parents haven't contributed a single grain of rice here, yet you still have the face to compete with others for food!"
Panzi, Leizi, and Yingzi bowed their heads in embarrassment. The younger ones looked at each other, laughed it off and moved past this episode.
Granny had hinted previously, and they even conveyed it back home, but their parents instructed them to play dumb.
At this moment, Shitou, an eight-year-old kid from the Third family, asked, "Is Little Huang Ying still around?"
Cui Guiying asked, "Who is Little Huang Ying?"
Hu Zi replied, "Granny, Little Huang Ying is the one who sang and danced at Big Beard's house yesterday. She sang really beautifully, and her dancing was great too."
"Really?" Cui Guiying had been busy helping wash dishes in the back kitchen yesterday, hustling so much she barely had time to stand, certainly not enough to watch the entertainment troupe perform after dinner.
Her husband, Li Weihan, also didn't go, under the pretense of being out on the boat. In truth, he was at home. The reason for not going was out of embarrassment; after all, he had already sent Panzi, Leizi to escort Yuanzi, Hu Zi, and Shitou, five children, to the feast. It would be unseemly for him to go and participate in the meal as an adult.
The five children not only ate themselves but also brought back quite a bit, especially those dishes from the feast which were served per person. Li Zhiyuan, imitating his older brothers, tore off a piece of the red plastic sheet spread on the table in front of him to wrap up the food.
Once they got home, they would share it with their younger siblings who hadn't been to the feast. Watching their younger siblings eat, they felt like they were generals returning triumphantly from battle.
Leizi said, "The singing was indeed beautiful, and she's pretty too. She told us to call her Little Huang Ying."
Panzi nodded, "She's really nice, pretty, and her clothes were pretty too. I want to marry someone like her in the future."
Cui Guiying lowered her head to ask Li Zhiyuan, who was next to her, "Little Yuanhou, is that so?"
"Yeah," Li Zhiyuan put down his chopsticks and nodded, "She's pretty."
Rural funeral troupes are known for versatility, suited for both the hall and the kitchen.
During rituals, they can don the Daoist robe or Kasaya and chant sutras, performing exorcisms with an air of celestial grace and dignified demeanor;
After the midday banquet, they must also organize a cultural performance, with singing, dancing, acrobatics, magic, and all sorts of acts.
For families who are well-off and like to show off, they might even hire certain funeral troupes for an evening performance, but before those performances start, adults would usually send the children home to sleep.
Little Huang Ying's real name is Xiao Huangying, her stage name also being Little Huang Ying. She's actually not young anymore, over thirty, and divorced.
When it comes to singing and dancing, she's really just mediocre, but she knows how to dress up. Wearing daring and trendy clothes, a tight black cheongsam with high slits, revealing those long white legs, and with her cordial and enthusiastic crowd control...
Using the nastiest insults but also the highest compliments from village women to describe her — sassy.
Nowadays, not many families in the village own TVs, usually huddling around to watch with no room left to squeeze in. Thus, in a rural area where popular trends haven't blown in extensively, Little Huang Ying's "sass" is like a dimension-reducing blow to the village girls and housewives.
It's not just about drawing the souls of the masters, even the half-grown boys are utterly spellbound.
Just then, a figure appeared at the doorway of the main hall — Zhao Simei, Cui Guiying's "sister" of many years. When their children were younger, they loved to sit on the dam and gossip when they were free.
"Eaten yet?" Cui Guiying asked, "Come on, add a pair of chopsticks."
Zhao Simei quickly waved her hands and laughed, "Oh, I'd be embarrassed to mooch off anyone, let alone you. Look at you, you're already down to thin porridge."
"This porridge is soothing on the stomach; I love it. Come on, I'll serve you a bowl. No matter how much I scrape the rice jar, it can't miss your portion, can it?"
"That's alright, I've eaten already. Hey, did you hear that the head of the funeral troupe went to Big Beard's house to make a scene just now? I heard they smashed things and almost came to blows."
Cui Guiying, upon hearing this, immediately picked up her bowl and chopsticks and stood up, shovelling porridge into her mouth as she moved towards the door, "What happened? Big Beard's house didn't settle the money?"
"It's not about the performance fee. Someone in the troupe is missing."
"What, someone's missing?" Cui Guiying slurped up her chopsticks, "Who's missing?"
"A woman, the one with the suggestive aura, who yesterday... you know, was shaking her butt so much you thought it would fall out."
"Is it Little Huang Ying?" Panzi asked.
The other children pricked up their ears too.
"It seems to be her, that flirtatious wench," Zhao Simei seemed almost happy about the misfortune.
"What exactly happened, did they find her?" Cui Guiying asked.
"They say someone saw that flirtatious wench from the troupe sneaking into the woods by the river with Big Beard's youngest son last night, and after that, she never returned to the troupe. It's only now that the troupe has come knocking at the door asking for her."
"What about Big Beard's kid?"
"He's home, claims he doesn't know anything; it's not true. But there are quite a few villagers who saw it: it was him and that sl*t going into the woods."
"Who knows? She just vanished. The troupe leader came to demand her back this time, but old Big Beard's household is adamant they haven't seen her, saying that the flirty wench must've skipped town on her own volition."