Chapter 31: The Worried Liu An
Qingyan returned home with Qiu Henian, and Liu’s family’s house was bustling with a crowd of people. Liu Fa’s wife didn’t need to cook; as soon as she said she would, those who came to help were already busy in the kitchen, and now the dishes were all placed on the big round table.
Liu Fa’s wife kept holding onto Shen Min, who was planning to leave, urging, “Don’t go, stay until we finish eating. Everyone who came to help is eating here; we won’t miss you.”
Shen Min shook his head, “I have to go back to cook; my mother-in-law is still at home.”
Liu Fa’s wife sighed, “She’s a grown person; she won’t starve. Listen to me, stay and eat here.”
Others also persuaded her, so Shen Min reluctantly nodded.
On the dining table was a large basin of pork stew with cabbage and vermicelli, a plate of deep-fried vegetarian meatballs, a pot of noodle soup, a pot of wild vegetable stew with tofu, and a large plate of pickled vegetables.
The staple food was steamed buns made from a mixture of white flour and cornmeal, enough to fill two big pots.
Looking at the mostly vegetarian dishes, which were already considered good food not commonly eaten by ordinary families, everyone sat around the table, each holding a bun in one hand and using chopsticks to pick up dishes, chatting and laughing.
Only Shen Min remained silent, nibbling on a bun and occasionally picking at the wild vegetables and tofu in front of her with chopsticks.
Liu Fa’s wife took an empty bowl and served Shen Min a bowl of pork vermicelli, intentionally adding extra slices of pork belly into her bowl. Shen Min looked up shyly and smiled at her.
Liu Fa’s wife looked at her thin figure, which highlighted her bones, and sighed inwardly, showing a comforting smile on her face, whispering, “Eat more, until you’re full.”
Shen Min nodded slightly, took a bite of the bun, and before he could pick up the chopsticks to eat the vegetables in her bowl, there was a grumbling voice from outside the courtyard.
Shen Min’s expression changed instantly, her chopsticks stopping halfway, trembling slightly.
Liu Fa’s wife’s face also turned cold.
She put down her chopsticks, stood up, walked to the door, and confronted the woman who had just entered the courtyard, saying, “Mrs. Wang, whom are you cursing at?”
The woman was in her fifties or sixties, with not a fat cheek in sight, but all her skin hung loosely around her mouth, her face full of flesh.
When she saw Liu Fa’s wife, she gave a fake smile, speaking politely, “Mrs. Liu, she’s eating. I’ve come to take my daughter-in-law home.”
Liu Fa’s wife heard footsteps running up behind her and knew it must be Shen Min.
She stepped aside, blocking the doorway, and said to the woman, “Aunt Wang, Shen Min has been helping here all morning and is now eating. Let her finish eating before I let her go back.”
Mrs. Wang’s face darkened as she cursed, “Eating? He dares to eat here? The chickens and ducks at home are squawking, the laundry isn’t done, and the food isn’t cooked, yet he dares to eat!”
Liu Fa’s wife’s face also hardened, saying, “It’s not like your daughter-in-law is the only one capable of working. Other daughters-in-law are eating here; why can’t yours?”
Mrs. Wang sneered, “Other daughters-in-law can still bear children! This worthless thing was chosen for his good looks, and our family liked her. I spent a lot on betrothal gifts, only to end up worse than a chicken that lays eggs!”
“You!”
Liu Fa’s wife’s face turned pale with anger.
Shen Min pushed past her and walked into the courtyard. Mrs. Wang glared at him viciously, raised her hand, and slapped him across the face, causing the frail boy to stagger and almost fall into the mud.
Ignoring Liu Fa’s wife’s displeasure, Mrs. Wang dragged her daughter-in-law away.
Liu Fa’s wife cursed from behind, “Aunt Wang, you’re not young anymore; accumulate some virtue for yourself. Don’t fear retribution!”
Mrs. Wang turned back and slapped her daughter-in-law again, making his head hit the wall, sneering, “If there’s retribution, it should fall on this childless jinx!”
Dragging her stumbling daughter-in-law, Mrs. Wang walked back, leaving Liu Fa’s wife fuming.
Several other women nearby tried to persuade her, “Don’t bother with this nonsense. This old lady and her son are not decent people. If you interfere too much, it might cause trouble for you!”
Liu Fa’s wife sighed helplessly, stood at the door for a while, cursed a few times, and returned to the house with her head down.
Inside, while they continued eating, there was one less person at the table. A bowl of pork vermicelli, intentionally filled with extra slices of pork belly, remained untouched, sitting there alone.
Shen Min was pushed and dragged all the way home. As soon as he entered the house, he hurriedly washed his hands and started cooking. The rice jar and oil pot in the house were almost empty.
He wanted to talk to his mother-in-law, but he was afraid that his mother-in-law would get angry and beat him again. He had no choice but to cook a pot of rice with some sorghum mixed in and hastily stir-fried some vegetables, just managing to finish cooking.
He had barely eaten at Liu Fa’s house before being dragged back. Shen Min was still hungry, but Mrs. Wang didn’t say anything, so he didn’t dare sit down to eat.
Standing by the table for a while, Mrs. Wang’s face changed while eating.
She scolded, “Are you a block of dead wood? Can’t you hear the chickens and ducks in the yard? Go and work!”
Shen Min hurriedly ran out to feed the chickens and ducks. He heard Mrs. Wang scolding behind him, “My son and I are really unlucky to raise such a useless eater!”
In the afternoon, Shen Min washed everyone’s dirty clothes, tidied up the house, and then went up the mountain to dig wild vegetables for the chickens and ducks to eat. After finishing digging, he hurried back to make dinner.
Still, Old Lady Wang didn’t let him sit down to eat. Shen Min was so hungry that his vision blurred. While washing dishes, he secretly drank a couple of sips of the water used to clean the rice pot.
But this was considered a good day. At least Wang Heyao wasn’t at home; perhaps he went gambling somewhere. He often didn’t come back all night. So after his mother-in-law went to sleep, Shen Min could at least have some peace.
However, he couldn’t steal any food. The old lady would lock all the cabinets with padlocks. Under her pillow, there was a large bunch of keys. If she didn’t open the cabinet door, no one could take anything out.
Today Shen Min was unlucky. Just as his mother-in-law lay down, there was a noise at the front gate. Before long, a staggering figure, hiccupping from alcohol, came in.
Old Lady Wang stormed out like a bull, keys clattering in her hand. She kicked Shen Min’s leg as she came out to see, thrusting the keys at him.
“You blockhead, didn’t you see your man coming back? Hurry up and make him some sobering soup.”
Dizzy-headed, kicked in the leg like that, Shen Min fell to the ground, his knees scraping on the gravel. It hurt so much his cheeks turned pale, gasping for breath.
But he dared not delay. Enduring dizziness, he got up and stumbled to the kitchen shed. All the while, he could hear his mother-in-law fussing over her son, “Oh my, oh my.”
Shen Min opened the cabinet, grabbed a piece of salted vegetables from a plate, hastily stuffed it into his mouth, then anxiously went to gather ingredients for the sobering soup.
After the soup was made and the keys were taken away, his mother-in-law carried the soup to her son in the inner room. Shen Min sat outside, adding coal slag to the stove. He could faintly hear the commotion inside, his face gradually turning pale with fear, a weight like a giant rock pressing down on him.
His mother-in-law was reporting to Wang Heyao, saying he had been lazy at Liu Fa’s house, even causing trouble between Liu Fa’s wife and herself, and coming home bold enough not to work properly.
Sitting on a low stool, Shen Min curled his small, thin body into a ball, burying his head in his knees. Tears soaked through the worn cotton pants legs, his body trembling slightly with fear.
Before long, the door to the inner room banged open. The smell of alcohol wafted out. Shen Min trembled violently all over.
Footsteps followed, and the soles of shoes whipped across his shoulders and back like a storm. The man’s hoarse curses of “bitch, useless” stabbed into his ears like needles.
At first, Shen Min endured it, but eventually, the pain became unbearable. He fell from the stool, and Wang Heyao didn’t stop.
His shoes whipped across Shen Min’s face, chest, and thighs. Shen Min couldn’t help but scream in pain, rolling on the ground.
In the midst of Wang Heyao’s curses, his mother-in-law cheered him on, “Hit him hard! Beat this useless freeloader to death! Beat him to death, and I’ll find you a new daughter-in-law!”
The beatings continued, Shen Min’s head buzzing. His vision blurred gradually. On the icy floor, he finally passed out.
…
In the afternoon, Qiu Henian brought back apples but didn’t eat at home and left. Qingyan ate a whole large apple and wasn’t very hungry, so he went to feed the chicks first.
The chickens were growing up; they couldn’t be kept in cages anymore. They would also smell in the house, so with the warming weather, Qingyan let them roam freely in the yard.
Qiu Henian had built the chicken coop with old wooden boards. The materials were makeshift, but the coop was functional, like a small house with a roof and eaves.
At the bottom of the coop, there was a net woven with ropes, with a beam above it. After the chicks returned to the coop at night, they could stand on the beam or lie on the net, and their waste would fall through the net to the ground below. With regular cleaning, the chicken coop remained dry and tidy.
Qingyan crushed the picked wild lettuce on a chopping board and mixed it with cornmeal. As soon as he poured it into the trough, the chicks all crowded around, pecking at the food.
Qingyan squatted nearby, watching them happily. In just over a month, these chicks would grow up, and then they would have their own eggs to eat.
After dinner, Qingyan went to town.
He inquired everywhere and found a few traders, but the farthest they had been was to the Central Plains. There were no traders willing to pay a high price to go further south.
One trader told him that there was a caravan near the county town that sometimes headed south, but it wasn’t clear exactly where south or if they planned to go this year.
The county town was far, so he definitely couldn’t go there today.
Qingyan was somewhat disappointed but understood that this matter couldn’t be resolved overnight. Even if he found traders willing to help, it would likely be months before he got news back. This couldn’t be rushed, so he returned to Liuxi Village.
In the afternoon, Qiu Henian stayed in the shop. After delivering the apples, he quickly ate the meal the apprentice had left for him and immediately resumed his work. He had almost finished making a pot, and a customer was coming in the afternoon to pick it up.
After the pot was finished, the customer arrived right on time, paid satisfactorily, and took it away.
There was no rush for the next task, so Qiu Henian began teaching Xiao Zhuang how to wield a hammer.
This child had been eager to learn for a long time, but Qiu Henian had hesitated because he was young and not very strong.
When he was looking for an apprentice, there were quite a few children he considered. Xiao Zhuang was weak and timid, not the most suitable candidate.
However, with many children in his family and pressures mounting, including an elder brother and three younger siblings, their financial situation was dire. Xiao Zhuang himself was willing to endure hardships, honest in character, and had decent endurance. So, Qiu Henian chose him.
Today happened to be a slow day, so Qiu Henian decided to let him have a try. After explaining the basics to him, Xiao Zhuang swung the hammer once, nearly straining his waist, and then refused to strike a second time, claiming he couldn’t do it.
Qiu Henian sighed inwardly, shaking his head, but didn’t scold him, only saying they’d try again later. Xiao Zhuang sat outside the door with a mournful face, lost in thought.
He heard a coachman’s call, and an ox-cart stopped at the shop’s entrance. Liu Fa, beaming, got down from the cart.
He sent the coachman away and went into the shop, casually handing Xiao Zhuang a handful of copper coins, saying, “Kid, go treat yourself!”
Xiao Zhuang stared blankly at the coins in his hand, then glanced at his master. Seeing Qiu Henian nodding at him, Xiao Zhuang’s face broke into a smile. He transformed his worries into happiness and ran off cheerfully.
Liu Fa plopped down on a chair and asked, “Not busy now?”
Qiu Henian grunted in agreement, eyeing him, “Off to town to get some things?”
Liu Fa exclaimed, “Of course! Been busy with that lately. When my father passed, he was most concerned about this youngest son of his. He held my hand, repeatedly urging me to take care of him. Once he’s married and has a wife, I’ll have fulfilled most of my father’s wishes!”
The two continued chatting. Liu Fa remembered something, picked up a package from the floor, and rummaged through it.
He said, “Oh, by the way, I went to the bookstore in town and brought back something good for you.”
Finally finding what he was looking for in the package, Liu Fa mysteriously handed it to Qiu Henian.
Qiu Henian took the item and unwrapped the cloth covering it. Inside was a nameless book, not too thick or thin, not too big or small.
He glanced at Liu Fa, who encouraged him with a smile, saying, “Go ahead, take a look.”
Qiu Henian bowed his head and opened the book’s cover. After just one glance, he snapped it shut.
Liu Fa chuckled, “Pretty good, right? Originally picked it out for Liu Cai, and grabbed a couple more. This is usually something the elders prepare, but with our parents gone, us elder brothers have to handle everything.”
Noticing Qiu Henian’s silence, seeming not to understand, Liu Fa leaned closer and lowered his voice, explaining, “Every new couple needs this. Otherwise, those clueless kids might cause trouble and harm each other!”
Qiu Henian’s eyelids twitched slightly as he looked at him.
Liu Fa’s voice dropped even lower, saying, “For those who are married, it’s even more important to look at,” winking, hinting at something, “If they can’t perform well, after a while, their wives might just run off!”
Then, Liu Fa vividly recounted how the eldest son’s wife from the neighboring Li family had eloped.
He didn’t notice Qiu Henian’s persistent and unusual silence.
All he knew was that after he finished telling the story of the wife running away, Qiu Henian had already put away the book he held in his hands!
Spoiler for the Next Chapter:
The warm lips kissed his earlobe, and only after letting go of his blushing cheek, did the person pour the soup.
