Once out of the town, the roads turned to dirt. The donkey cart creaked and swayed along the village path, while Qiao Suiman’s body jostled up and down with the uneven stones. He found it amusing and prepared himself for the next bump when he saw a dip ahead.
Having a donkey cart truly made a difference. Before, pulling the cart home from the East Market took nearly an hour. Now, in less than half an hour, they could already see the entrance of Xiahe Village from afar.
Spring had begun, and it was the busiest time in the fields. As they entered the village, the road was full of people. When the villagers saw them driving a donkey cart back, everyone’s jaws dropped in astonishment.
An elder woman asked, “Man-ge’r, Lu-xiaozi, you’ve bought a donkey?”
Good heavens, just how much did they earn?
An old man nearby then asked, “How much did this donkey cost?”
Qiao Suiman chatted and laughed with them for a while. Eager to hurry home with the meat, they didn’t linger on the road too long. Lu Dongqing drove off again, leaving the villagers behind, marveling at the scene.
“I almost didn’t recognize him. Is this really Man-ge’r? He looks like an entirely different person.”
“It’s only been a little over a month, yet they’ve already bought a donkey cart. Is that shop really making so much money?” asked the auntie who had spoken earlier.
“You weren’t there that day, you didn’t see it. Those customers, oh! They were buying those ten wen drinks in several tubes at a time, as if it didn’t cost anything. I could only bring myself to buy the three wen one,” The one replying was another auntie who had gone along to watch the excitement in town.
“I thought you were exaggerating, but who would’ve thought it was really so profitable!”
“Why would I lie? Their craft is truly good. All those customers kept praising them after drinking. Otherwise, money wouldn’t be so easy to earn.”
“To think we never came up with this idea before. Such a big, juicy piece of pie[mfn]香餑餑 xiāng bōbō – lit. “fragrant steamed bun,” an idiom meaning something very popular, sought-after; hot item; in demand[/mfn], and it just slipped right out of our hands.”
“You shameless one, weren’t you the same person saying Man-ge’r‘s life was unlucky before? And now that he’s doing well, it’s too late for regrets,” one of the women teased.
“I was just talking, only talking. Don’t go around spreading it.”
–
West of the village.
Before they even reached the gate, Qiao Suiman shouted, “Mother! Songzi!”
“Ai!” Miao Lianhua’s delighted voice came from inside.
“You’re back, you’re back! Mother missed you two so much! Come in quickly, Yu-ge’r is here too!”
Miao Lianhua walked out of the courtyard gate and saw the donkey cart, which startled her. Qin Yu, who had followed her out, was also startled. The two of them said in unison, “You bought a donkey cart? When did you buy it?”
“Mother! Qin Yu-ge!”
Qiao Suiman hopped off the cart, grabbed the bamboo basket from the cart and the two strings of meat and a bundle of marrow bones he just bought from the Wang family, and said excitedly, “We bought it on the fifth. It’s really obedient, so we named it Da Guai.”
“Da Guai,” Qin Yu repeated then laughed. “Only you would give a donkey a name. Obedient is good, saves a lot of trouble.”
The group entered the house. Lu Dongqing took off the cart, led Da Guai to the backyard, tied it to a post, and only then returned to the main room at the front.
Miao Lianhua filled two bowls with water. He gulped one down noisily and said, “Mother, Qin Yu-ge, I’m going to check on the bamboo grove. You talk with Xiao Man first.”
With that, he turned and went out.
Qiao Suiman knew his heart was set on the bamboo grove matter, so he didn’t stop him. Grinning, he pulled out fabrics from the bamboo basket to show them, along with the pastries he bought.
“Why did you buy these?”
Qin Yu knew best how hard Qiao Suiman worked to earn money. Just one look at the fabric and pastries told him they weren’t cheap, so he couldn’t help but nag a little.
“Qin Yu-ge, Mother, it didn’t cost much. Madam Liu rewarded me with an extra tael of silver, that’s why I bought them.”
Qiao Suiman said this, but even without the extra tael, he still would have bought them.
“Qin Yu-ge, what did the physician say? Your belly looks more obvious than last time.”
Qiao Suiman touched Qin Yu’s belly, changing the subject.
“Everything’s fine. I can eat and drink well.”
Qin Yu lowered his head, gazing at his own belly. His brows and eyes softened.
“That’s good. I’m in town and don’t know anything. I heard an a-mo nearby say some people can’t eat when they’re pregnant, so I bought some hawthorn cakes, they’re good for the appetite.”
Qiao Suiman grinned. “But it seems they’re not needed now. You can have them as a snack.”
Miao Lianhua looked delighted, staring at them endlessly. Qiao Suiman told them a lot of interesting things about the town, and the two of them couldn’t stop smiling as they listened.
After a while, Qiao Suiman asked, “Where are Songzi and Da-ge?”
“Busy with the fields and raising seedlings. It’ll soon be time for transplanting the rice.”
On hearing this, Qiao Suiman quickly asked, “Can you manage? When is the transplanting? Dongqing and I will see if we can make it back.”
Miao Lianhua shook her head. “No need. Our family doesn’t have much land. Xuesong and I can manage. Besides, we and your Da-ge help each other. Once one household is done, we go help the other. We can handle it.”
“Songzi and Ruifeng have already discussed it. You two don’t need to worry,” Qin Yu also said.
Miao Lianhua felt deeply comforted. With the two children gone to town, only she and the second son were left at home. Fortunately, Qin Yu often came over to chat, sew shoe soles, and embroider uppers together. When she has the time, she also visits the Qiao or Chen families to chat. Her days were quite comfortable.
But not seeing her eldest son and his fulang for a long time sometimes made her miss them dearly. Now that the two had returned, she was so overjoyed she didn’t know what to do with herself.
“Right, you don’t know yet. Our hens have started laying eggs!”
Qin Yu suddenly remembered this. The hens started laying a few days ago. That morning, after feeding the chickens and ducks, he took a look at the chicken coop and was surprised to find four eggs.
They looked like first lays, not very big, but once they started, there would be a steady supply of eggs from then on. He was so happy that he immediately went to the west side of the village to tell Miao Lianhua. When Lu Xuesong heard, he hurriedly searched their coop and found two eggs as well.
“Really?!” Qiao Suiman’s eyes went wide. He stood up and headed for the backyard. Just as he arrived, two yellow dogs started barking at him.
“Shoo, shoo.”
Miao Lianhua, who had followed, waved her hand at the yellow dogs, and they immediately stopped barking.
“They haven’t seen me so, they don’t recognize me.”
Qiao Suiman laughed. “Where’s Heijin? I bought plenty of bones with meat still on them. Once I stew some and feed him, he’ll recognize me.”
“He’s at the other house.”
Miao Lianhua shook her head with a smile. “He left early in the morning with Rui-xiaozi. Likely training those two dogs again.”
“Quite the spirited one.”
After checking the chickens and ducks, Miao Lianhua and Qin Yu circled around Da Guai, finding him indeed gentle and tame. Both laughed. “Truly obedient.”
Not long after they sat back down in the hall, distant barking sounded outside. Qiao Suiman knew immediately it was Heijin returning.
He had just stepped out of the main room when Heijin rushed in like the wind, pouncing on Qiao Suiman and licking his hands with its tongue.
“Woof woof woof!”
Heijin kept circling Qiao Suiman, with his tail curled up, obviously very excited.
Qiao Suiman hugged Heijin tightly, rubbing it vigorously for a while, until both the man and the dog finally calmed down.
“Mother, I’ll stew the bones now, so later the dogs can eat.”
Qiao Suiman spoke as he picked up the bone wrapped in a lotus leaf, which still had a little meat on it, and headed toward the kitchen.
“All right, stew them now. By the time we cook lunch, the pot won’t be occupied. They must be hungry, too. This morning, I only gave them a steamed bun each.”
Miao Lianhua thought for a moment and said, “How about this: I’ll marinate the meat, and we can have fried meat dipped in chili powder at noon.”
“Alright. Then you marinate the meat, Mother, and I’ll stew the bones.”
The two of them bustled about in the kitchen for a while.
–
Bamboo grows easily. After checking the grove and finding no issues, Lu Dongqing closed the fence gate and headed home. At the gate, he ran into Lu Xuesong and Qiao Ruifeng. After they entered the house, they talked with the family for a long time.
When the bones were cooked, Qiao Suiman first fed a piece to Heijin. The two yellow dogs, watching eagerly, lifted their heads and gazed at him with longing eyes, no longer showing the slightest intent to bark.
Qiao Suiman smiled and patted the two yellow dogs on the head, “Don’t eat anything given to you by strangers!”
Heijin barked twice, as if scolding the puppies. The two little yellow dogs whined softly in reply.
Qiao Suiman’s eyes curved. “Our Heijin is a big dog now.”
After the dogs had all gnawed on bones, Qiao Suiman saved a few pieces for the little yellow dogs at the other house. The meat broth wasn’t wasted either. It was saved to mix into chicken feed or to soak steamed buns for the dogs. A touch of meat flavor made them eat more eagerly.
After preparing lunch with Miao Lianhua, the family gathered around the table, eating and laughing in harmony.
In the afternoon, Lu Dongqing went up the mountain to cut bamboo. Qiao Suiman went with Qin Yu to the Chen family for a visit. Qiao Suiman brought a packet of sugary crisp cakes. It took a long time of persuasion before Zhou Shuifen finally accepted them.
Qiao Suiman didn’t hide the fact that he had also given a packet to Chen Xuesheng. There was nothing to hide anyway. The help they’d given over the years couldn’t be repaid with just two packets of sugary crisp cakes.
The tea for the village chief’s family and Feng Jie had also been delivered. It was Tieguanyin. When they received it, they smiled so broadly that their mouths stretched from ear to ear.
Lying on the bed in the western part of the village after so long, Qiao Suiman turned over, climbed on top of Lu Dongqing, buried his head in his chest, and nuzzled. “I didn’t expect so much to have happened during this time.”
First, they heard that Li Yue was also pregnant. Wang Ming’er was quite happy about it. Lin Xiuhua came back several times, saying that her parents’ family was struggling financially and asking Wang Ming’er for money. She also wanted Wang Ming’er to bring Wang Ling’er back.
Lin Xiuhua made a scene several times, and Li Yue’s pregnancy had become unstable several times. Finally, Old Man Wang made Wang Ming’er sever ties with Lin Xiuhua, gave her a beating, threw her back to Hexi Village, and had the Hexi Village village chief draw up a document stating they would no longer recognize the Lin family. Only then did the matter rest.
Among the Lin family members, the young ones were crippled, and the two old ones’ health declined after being beaten with the board[mfn]板子 bǎnzi – a board, paddle, or plank used for corporal punishment often by authorities like yayi[/mfn]. Lin Xiuhua wasn’t capable of hard labor either. The entire family lived in Hexi Village like rats in the street[mfn]过街老鼠 guò jiē lǎo shǔ – lit. “a rat crossing the street”; an idiom meaning someone detested or despised by everyone; a public enemy[/mfn], no one wished to associate with them.
When they did those despicable acts, they brought great shame upon Hexi Village. Several families in the village had arranged marriages with other villages, but those marriages fell through. The villagers hated them even more.
As for Wang Ling’er, after the Fang family sold her to another county, no one in the village heard any news of her again.
Instead, Qiao Suiman heard Erfu mention once that she still didn’t behave herself after reaching the other place. She provoked the wrong people, and in the end, no one knew where she was thrown. Likely into some desolate, poverty-stricken corner.
“Everyone has their own fate. If their hearts were not righteous, retribution was inevitable.”
Thinking back to when the Lin family tried to forcefully take Qiao Suiman, a flash of ruthlessness crossed Lu Dongqing’s eyes.
“They deserved it. A bunch of bastards. The more miserable they end up, the better.”
After saying that, Qiao Suiman kissed Lu Dongqing on the corner of his mouth and said, “Thankfully, you were there at the time.”
Lu Dongqing tightened his embrace, flipped them over, and pressed him beneath. “I will always be here.”
Qiao Suiman’s eyes twinkled like starlight. With a bright smile, he said, “I know.”
–
Happy days always passed quickly. Before long, Qiao Suiman and Lu Dongqing were driving their cart loaded with bamboo and half a basket of fresh wild vegetables and spring bamboo shoots, creaking along the road back to town.
Qiao Suiman remembered something that Miao Lianhua had whispered to him. There were many people raising livestock in Hedong Village. Some time ago, Miao Lianhua went there to buy medicine for the chickens and ducks and ran into Tang Guo’er. The two of them chatted for a while.
While buying medicine, she overheard villagers mentioning that the Tang family was arranging a marriage for Tang Guo’er.
Qiao Suiman understood Miao Lianhua’s meaning. After his recent interactions with Tang Guo’er, he also felt his temperament was good. But he just didn’t know if Xuesong had any interest in him.
As soon as Qiao Suiman asked, Miao Lianhua clapped her hands and said, “Ah, that child, Lao Er! I casually mentioned it to him, and he ran off to Hedong Village. When I asked him what he was doing, he wouldn’t tell me.”
Now it was Qiao Suiman’s turn to be surprised. In his impression, Lu Xuesong and Tang Guo’er had only met twice at most. Why would he run off to Hedong Village?
When Tang Guo’er and his elder brother delivered fruit to the shop, there was no sign of anything unusual.
As they rode, Qiao Suiman relayed this to Lu Dongqing, who chuckled and shook his head: “Songzi told me. He ran into Tang Guo’er twice later when he went to town to sell chicken and duck eggs. They talked a bit.”
“So there was such a thing.”
“He likes him, but he doesn’t have his own livelihood yet. Hearing Mother say the Tang family was seeking a marriage arrangement, he panicked and rushed over. Halfway there, he felt he had no standing to ask about it, so he slunk back home dejectedly.”
Lu Dongqing sighed. He understood Lu Xuesong’s thoughts. Although he and Qiao Suiman were earning a lot now, it wasn’t Lu Xuesong’s money. Songzi knew this truth well, so he told him everything honestly and asked for some money to raise more chickens and ducks. Whether selling eggs or poultry, he could earn a living.
“Then I’ll try to find out what Guo’er’s older brother thinks next time.”
Qiao Suiman thought for a moment. The two brothers’ minds worked the same way, that without a family foundation, they feared making someone marry over to suffer.
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