LW chapter 32

 

Zhou Yuan left very early the next day. Chen Qing woke up to the sound of a rooster crowing. When he arrived at Zhou Yuan’s courtyard, it was silent.

He returned home in a gloomy mood. Aunt Sun was also awake. When she saw him return, she knew Zhou Yuan had left.

She shook her head and smiled. Chen Qing was becoming more lively. All of his emotions were written on his face. “Ah Qing, it’s time to eat.”

He said, “Oh,” patted his face, and suppressed his emotions.

After breakfast, Li Xin came to play with him. In the end, the two of them decided to help herd Zhou Yuan’s livestock. After all, everyone in the village knew about the relationship between the Li family and Zhou Yuan, so it was not unusual for Li Xin to come help herd the livestock.

“He came to our house before he left. My father asked him to take a few things.” Li Xin pouted. “Besides asking him to bring some medicinal herbs for my mother, my father also asked him to bring some books from the capital for Qi Shuning. He said the books would help Qi Shuning with his imperial examination.”

Chen Qing nodded. He wasn’t interested either. He just stroked the back of the cow while it grazed.

Li Xin smiled. “It’s rare to see Ah Qing like this.”

Chen Qing lifted his eyelids but quickly lowered them again. “What have you been busy with lately?”

“Nothing, just keeping my mother company.” The smile on Li Xin’s face faded slightly. His mother’s health was not very good. She had once caught a cold and never fully recovered. She had been bedridden for a while. Today, she was feeling a bit better and was able to get up, so he came out to meet Chen Qing.

“Has the doctor seen her?” Chen Qing was very worried.

Li Xin nodded. “Yes, they all say the same thing: just physical weakness. She needs to be well cared for.”

“I’ll go with you to visit her.” Zhang Yin was also very kind to Chen Qing. When Chen Qing first arrived, he didn’t have any friends. Li Xin was his first friend, and Zhang Yin was also kind to him back then.

They brought the cow to Li Xin’s house. Zhang Yin was basking in the sun in the yard at the time. When she saw them bring the cow back, she stood up, walked over to the cow, and gently patted it. “Is this the cow Ayuan raised?”

Chen Qing nodded.

Zhang Yin knew about the relationship between Chen Qing and Zhou Yuan. She patted Chen Qing’s hand, took some dried fruit, and gave it to him. “Aqing, eat this.”

“Thank you, Aunt Yin.”

“Why so polite? We’ll be family from now on.” Zhang Yin coughed twice.

Chen Qing looked at her; her face was pale. The last time he had seen Zhang Yin, she hadn’t looked this thin. He glanced at Li Xin, who only forced a smile, looking concerned.

Chen Qing sat in their house for a while. On the way home, he met Blacksmith Li. Blacksmith Li greeted him when he saw him.

Chen Qing’s heart felt heavy. When he arrived home, Aunt Sun was tending to the vegetable garden. He helped her and then told her what he had seen at Li Xin’s house. Aunt Sun paused for a moment and sighed.

“I’ll find time to go see her.” Aunt Sun and Zhang Yin weren’t close. In fact, Zhang Yin wasn’t close with anyone in the village. Since getting married, she rarely went out.

She only interacted more with the villagers in the years when Blacksmith Li went out to forge iron.

Chen Qing pulled out the remaining weeds in the garden and looked up at the sky. He felt that the sky had become much more stifling since Zhou Yuan left.

Winter was coming soon, and there were many dead branches and leaves on the mountain. The next day, Chen Qing asked Li Xin to go up the mountain with him to collect firewood.

There were fallen branches and leaves scattered across the mountain. The fallen yellow pine needles were the most commonly used. Dry pine needles were easy to ignite and were typically used to start fires at home.

They went to a farther mountain. Since it rained less in the fall, there was no need to worry about what happened in the summer.

Each of them carried a large backpack containing a bundle of rope and held a bamboo hoe. The front end of the hoe was made by splitting and bending the bamboo. While collecting firewood, they moved back and forth along the ground, gathering all the pine needles.

People could talk the most while working, but Li Xin spoke very little today. Sometimes he was absentminded while working. Chen Qing put down his hoe and moved to Li Xin’s side. “Is Aunt Yin’s condition still not good?”

Li Xin nodded. “It seems a bit more serious lately. My father has closed the shop and taken my mother to the city for treatment.”

“Huh? Is it that serious?”

Li Xin sighed. “The colder the weather gets, the worse it becomes. The doctor in the city said that if we make it past the New Year, there’s still time. But if we don’t make it past the New Year…” Li Xin choked up. “I’m afraid…”

Chen Qing reached out and gently hugged Li Xin. He didn’t know how to comfort him. Li Xin buried his head in Chen Qing’s shoulder and cried. He had been holding it in at home. He had to take care of his mother and avoid Niu Niu. Now that he was out, he dared to cry out loud. “Aqing, I’m scared. I understand now why my mother took me back to my grandfather’s house at the beginning of this year. She seemed to know about her health, as if she were saying goodbye.”

Li Xin cried bitterly. “I don’t want to be without a mother.”

Chen Qing’s eyes were red too, but he wasn’t good at talking or interacting with others. He especially didn’t know how to comfort people. All he could do was gently pat Li Xin’s back and cry with him.

Fortunately, Li Xin was good at adjusting. He wiped his eyes and said, “I’ll definitely go to the capital with my parents, but Niu Niu…”

“It’s okay. I can take care of Niu Niu.” Chen Qing said. “Don’t worry about the family.”

Niu Niu was a very good child, and the Li family had raised him well.

Li Xin nodded. He didn’t thank Chen Qing. There was no need for such a strange word as “thanks.”

After he recovered, Li Xin worked harder. Soon, they filled two baskets with pine needles and leaves. Now, they walked down the mountain.

Li Xin poured his basket of firewood at Chen Qing’s house. Chen Qing said he didn’t need it, but Li Xin said that Niu Niu would rely on them for care in the future and that his family didn’t need much firewood.

When Li Xin arrived home, Aunt Sun had just returned from outside. Li Xin talked to her briefly, but seeing that she wasn’t in a good mood, he didn’t stay long and went home.

Chen Qing looked at Aunt Sun. “Mom, what’s wrong?”

“I went to see Zhang Yin.” Aunt Sun sighed. “Her condition isn’t good.”

Chen Qing nodded. “Li Xin just told me.”

Aunt Sun then said, “At first, Li Tiejiang didn’t want her to give birth to Niu Niu. Childbirth is like walking through the gates of hell. She insisted on leaving a son for Li Tiejiang. When she gave birth, it was difficult. Li Tiejiang has taken good care of her all these years, but her health was never good. It’s hard.”

Chen Qing’s heart felt heavy, too.

“She told me today that she’s still worried about Li Xin and wants to see him get married.” Aunt Sun looked in the direction of the Li family and said, “They said that if you survive the winter, you can live. If you can’t, it will be hard.”

“Li Xin said that Uncle Li is going to the city to find a doctor. I hope he can find a good one.” Chen Qing clung to that small hope.

The two talked for a while, then went back to their tasks.

In the blink of an eye, ten days had passed since Zhou Yuan had left. On a day with good weather, Blacksmith Li took Zhang Yin and Li Xin to the provincial capital. Chen Qing saw them off and brought back the cow that Zhou Yuan had raised at Li Xin’s house.

Qi Shuning was there too, and he said he could help take care of Niu Niu because the academy was recently on holiday and he had time.

However, Li Tiejiang was worried, so he entrusted Niu Niu to Chen Qing and asked Qi Shuning to help take care of the house.

In fact, Qi Shuning had already left the academy. He had even asked the dean to refund part of his tuition and put the money in the bag taken by Li Tiejiang and the others. However, Li Tiejiang didn’t know this yet.

Seeing Niu Niu say goodbye with tears in his eyes, Chen Qing held his hand until they were out of sight. Then, he nodded to Qi Shuning and brought Niu Niu back home.

“Brother Qing, is my mother going to be okay?” Niu Niu hugged Chen Qing’s leg and sobbed. Niu Niu had tried hard not to cry when he saw Li Xin and his parents off earlier.

“Everything will be fine, Niu Niu. Don’t worry.” Unable to comfort a child, Chen Qing offered to make him something delicious. “Shall we go herd the livestock first?”

Niu Niu nodded, he liked Zhou Yuan’s livestock very much. When they raised them at home, Niu Niu was the one who went to herd them. There wasn’t much grass, so they walked the livestock around the village before going home.

At home, Aunt Sun had already prepared everything for Niu Niu. Since Niu Niu had turned six, it wasn’t appropriate for him to sleep with either of them. Aunt Sun had prepared a small bed for him and let him sleep in the same room.

At first, Niu Niu was very quiet at home and seemed a little unaccustomed to the bed. Although he was being careful, Aunt Sun could still hear him rolling around. She lit the lamp and walked over to his bed and found him crying under the blanket.

Aunt Sun picked him up, gently patted his shoulder, and hugged him. After all, Niu Niu was only six years old. It took a while for him to stop crying and fall asleep.

Chen Qing watched the fire. He knocked on the door, came in, and saw Aunt Sun holding Niu Niu and leaning on the bed.

Niu Niu’s nose was red and his eyes were slightly swollen; he had just been crying.

Aunt Sun said to Chen Qing, “It’s okay. You go to sleep. He just misses his parents.”

Chen Qing went back to his room. After he turned off the light, he stared at the dark ceiling and missed Zhou Yuan a little.

Li Xin and his parents had been gone for ten days. When they returned, the whole village would start making smoked meat pickles.

Aunt Sun and Chen Qing had never done that before. They saved as much as they could and bought a pound of meat just a few days before New Year’s Eve to celebrate the holiday.

Life was better this year. The rice harvest was good, and thanks to Meng Tao, the family didn’t have to pay much tax. They had enough food; the rest was sold, and the family had extra money.

So, Aunt Sun decided to smoke pork this year. Chen Qing had been at home for a long time but hadn’t eaten much smoked pork. He used to eat it at banquets, but he rarely went to them, so he rarely ate it.

He have to make some for Zhou Yuan too. After all, he’s not a local, so he probably hasn’t tasted it.

Li Xin came to the house to pick up Niu Niu, bringing back snacks from the city. Chen Qing didn’t want them, but Li Xin stuffed them into his hand and dragged him into the house because he wanted to talk privately.

Aunt Sun was playing with Niu Niu in the yard. Seeing Li Xin’s expression, Chen Qing felt that the trip to the city hadn’t gone well.

“How is Aunt Yin? What did the doctor say?”

Li Xin looked at him for a moment, then covered his face with his hands. “It’s the same as what the doctor in town said.”

Chen Qing’s heart sank.

“Ah Qing, I’m going to get married.” Li Xin dropped another bomb on Chen Qing.

Chen Qing dropped the cake he was holding onto the bed. “What?”

“I’m getting married on the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month.” Li Xin replied, but there was no joy in his words.

Chen Qing stared at him in disbelief, stammering, “No, so suddenly? Who are you going to marry? Didn’t you say you didn’t want to get married?”

“I don’t have a choice, Aqing. The doctor in the city said my mother won’t live past the New Year. I don’t want to see her die, so I asked the Bodhisattva for help. The people at the temple said it could bring good luck.”

Chen Qing didn’t know what to say. He hugged Li Xin. “But Aunt Yin wouldn’t agree with you. She loves you so much.”

Li Xin shook his head. “It’s because she loves me so much that I want to try.”

“Then who are you going to marry?” That was the most important thing.

“Qi Shuning.”

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