Chen Mo returned home to find the house in darkness. Opening the door and noticing the tidy interior, he knew no one else had been there, and his sister-in-law was still in the cellar.
Zhang River was very sensible. Upon having some work in hand, he quickly lit the oil lamp inside and went to scoop rice from the storage tank to cook dinner.
Chen Mo placed the burlap sack in his parents' room, crawled under the kang, lifted the mud board above, and pulled the latch on the door inside while calling out, "Sister-in-law."
"Is it Uncle? I'm here!"
In the cellar, Han Anniang held a hatchet, looking warily upward, until she saw Chen Mo's face and breathed a sigh of relief, climbed up the ladder, and was pulled out from the cellar by Chen Mo.
"Uncle."
