Xiaochenwa had a total of four households. Chen Jiawang's house had one household above and two households below. Due to the terrain, the houses were not adjacent to each other.
The houses faced south with the mountains behind and the fields in front. Further below were terraced fields, and the top of Xiaochenwa was a reservoir.
In this hilly area, residents lived scattered about. The reservoir and terraced field model destined that large-scale mechanized agriculture was not possible here.
Wen Qian declined by saying she had eaten lunch already. Auntie Chen could tell at a glance that she was making an excuse.
"Do you dislike the food at my home?"
"No, no, not at all."
"Then put your things away and come over." Auntie Chen then turned and went into the kitchen, "If you don't come, I'll go get you later."
So Wen Qian went home, put her things away, took some grapes from her storage space, and came down carrying a plastic bag.
Chen Jiawang’s house had three rooms on two floors. His son had brought his girlfriend home before, so the house had been newly renovated and looked quite new.
There were three rooms downstairs and two upstairs, plus a large balcony used for drying things.
To the left of the house were cattle and pig pens and the toilet.
Wen Qian walked down a slope and saw that their toilet had been demolished. It appeared that the toilet had been moved indoors.
When Wen Qian entered, the ceiling fan in the house was whirring. Uncle Chen was sitting below catching a nap. Auntie Chen could still be heard busy in the kitchen.
Wen Qian put the grapes on the table and went to the kitchen to chat with Auntie Chen.
Auntie Chen was stir-frying the last dish of greens. Seeing her come in, she smiled and said, "Your aunt didn't make many dishes."
This was a common humble phrase they used. Even if the table was filled with dishes during the holidays, they would still say to guests that there was no food.
Since there were still burning embers in the stove, Wen Qian did not help add fuel. Instead, she chatted with Auntie Chen.
Auntie Chen talked about her son and daughter-in-law. They had called yesterday to say the weather in Anshi City was extremely hot and told them not to work outside to avoid heat stroke.
Of the few households in Xiaochenwa, only Uncle Chen and Auntie Chen still lived here year-round, along with the two families below them. After the elderly passed away, the children and grandchildren all worked and lived elsewhere, only coming back for the New Year.
As for the household above them, the man worked construction and drove a motorcycle coming and going. The woman was in the city taking care of her grandson. Their house remained locked up all year.
When Auntie Chen heard that Wen Qian would be staying for a while, she said they had a new person around, as before it was only the old men and women from Dachenwa and Lijiawan coming over to chat.
She lamented that there were fewer and fewer elders in the village. She reckoned that when her daughter-in-law got pregnant, she would have to go to Anshi City to help care for the child.
The stir-fried greens were done. Auntie Chen brought out dishes from the cupboard to serve. Wen Qian also came over to help. On the table there was a bowl of greens, a bowl of egg drop soup with sliced cucumber, a plate of red braised small carp, and a plate of pickled radish and shredded pork.
Auntie Chen urged Wen Qian to sit down, repeatedly saying there was no food, just make do.
Wen Qian said that she had been missing the country cooking from the brick stove back home.
Uncle Chen, always a man of few words, simply told her to eat more.
When Auntie Chen saw the grapes on the table, she said Wen Qian was too courteous.
After lunch, Wen Qian returned home as there were still many things to tidy up. Auntie Chen did not ask her to stay either.
Back home, Wen Qian turned on the power and carried out a floor fan from the room.
The fan was covered by a dusty plastic bag. Wen Qian took off the bag and the fan was clean inside.
She turned on the fan, felt the breeze, and started working.
She opened the kitchen door, sprayed insecticide, then closed the door again.
In the central room she wiped two benches clean of dust, and took the quilts out from the cabinet to air out on the benches.
She then sprayed insecticide in the bedroom as well and closed the door before going back out.
She removed the lever from the well under the wash area and brought it outside to install. Wen Qian took out a bucket of water from her storage space and poured it into the well. With the primer, water started flowing from the well after a short while.
Every rural household had a well. Wen Qian's house was higher up so the well was in the fields below. Later they had hired someone to dig it deeper so it never ran dry.
When Grandma got older, they had installed a water pump in the well. On the flat roof they put a stainless steel water tank and ran pipes into the house.
When there was no water, they could just turn on the power to fill up the tank. By opening the faucet right above the water barrel, they could get water. This was much more convenient for the elders.
Although they rarely used the external well now, it was still in working order.
Other than the rooms where insecticide was sprayed, she opened all the doors and windows for ventilation.
In the central room she wiped three chairs clean and lined them up to take a nap after just having eaten.
She napped for half an hour.
Wen Qian roused herself and started tidying up the house.
Wearing a mask, Wen Qian first loosely swept down the high corners and cobwebs with a broom made of bundled sorghum stalks.
She fetched several buckets of water, added 84 disinfectant tablets, and began washing and scrubbing inside the house—the chairs, tables, and surfaces that would be used, giving them a rough wipe followed by a rinse with clean water.
Finally she swept the floors clean.
After finishing this, Wen Qian took out a popsicle from her storage space. Lying in front of the fan and eating it, she remembered that the refrigerator and washing machine also needed cleaning.
So she shifted the washing machine out onto the front porch.
These two appliances were purchased during the home appliance subsidies. They were fairly priced then, not too big or heavy that Wen Qian could move them herself.
The refrigerator just needed an extra scrub or two to be clean.
As for the washing machine, she poured in several buckets of water, added disinfectant tablets, and left it to soak first.
At this time she opened her bedroom door to tidy up her sleeping quarters.
Wen Qian's house had three single story rooms. The central room was the living room with two doors on each side leading to side rooms.
The front left room was Grandpa and Grandma's bedroom. The back left room contained the stairs and farming tools.
Up the stairs was the flat roof. Originally all three rooms were meant to be tiled, but in the end only two were done, leaving one cemented over with railings added—good for hanging laundry.
The front right room was Wen Qian's bedroom. The back right room was a guest room. As it was less sunny, Grandpa and Grandma would sleep there in the summer while finding the central room too stuffy when hot.
Outside the front door was a corridor. Going right passed Wen Qian's window was the kitchen, very spacious, with one stove for cooking and another walled off behind it for cooking pig feed.
Next to Grandpa and Grandma's room were the cattle pen and pig sty, only a wall separating them from the cattle. Grandpa said they could hear the cattle at night—alerting them if anyone tried stealing them.
As for the toilet, it was still inside the bamboo grove next to the cattle shed, quite a long way to go.
Wen Qian turned on the light and went upstairs. The flat roof was covered in fallen leaves that she swept up, preparing to hang things up to dry the next day.
Each time she came back, she would have to meticulously clean wherever she stayed, even if only for a night. No wonder people who went to the cities to work weren't willing to return home.
Of course, this was different if one still had family living there.
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