Chapter 86: One Life
The two husbands glanced at each other, their ears turning red.
There were footsteps and voices passing by outside the door. Both hurriedly looked away. Qingyan pushed his fallen bangs behind his ears.
At that moment, someone knocked on the shop door. Xiao Zhuang’s voice came from outside, “Master, a customer has come to pick up the finished iron pot.”
Upon hearing the knocking, Qingyan took two steps back, leaving Qiu Henian’s embrace. But as soon as he steadied himself, Qiu Henian stepped forward, grabbing his wrist.
The knocking continued outside. Qingyan was getting anxious, but before he could say anything, Qiu Henian lightly pinched his wrist and whispered, “I’ll try to come back early tonight.”
Only then did he let go. He quickly scanned Qingyan from head to toe with his eyes, adjusted his collar, then turned to open the door.
Xiao Zhuang led a middle-aged man inside. Qiu Henian pulled open the curtain on the ironware rack.
Qingyan said, “You’re busy, I’ll head back first,” and left the shop.
The cold wind blew on the way home, but Qingyan didn’t feel cold at all. Instead, there was an unmistakable joy in his eyes and brows. Both understood the meaning behind Qiu Henian’s words.
It had been a while since they had been intimate. Qingyan naturally thought about it. Not going to the shop today was also a deliberate plan.
Talking about wanting a child was one thing, but without even sharing a bed, how could they have a child?
Back home, Qingyan fed the little animals, then busied himself in the outer room, preparing dinner early. They couldn’t sleep in tomorrow. Both had to wake up early to be busy. So tonight, they couldn’t sleep too late.
Planning the time, they could have dinner earlier, and after eating, there would be time for a bath.
Qingyan remade the bed, placed the small mattress he made himself, and moved Ah Miao’s nest to the next room. Before it got dark, Qiu Henian returned home as agreed.
Qingyan quickly stir-fried the vegetables, and they sat down to eat.
Neither spoke much. They ate faster than usual.
After dinner, without any communication, they heated water, moved the bath bucket, and got busy separately.
When the water was ready, Qiu Henian usually let Qingyan go first, but Qingyan refused.
So Qiu Henian took off his robe first and sat down in the bathtub.
Qingyan bit his lip, took off his clothes, and then stepped into the bathtub.
While bathing, they were intimate, whispering sweet nothings.
After finally finishing bathing, they returned to bed.
Qingyan lay back, looking dependently at the man on his body.
Qiu Henian reached down and touched, his palm wet, the person under him softly humming in his throat, his face flushed, obviously already prepared.
Qiu Henian’s throat moved, then covered…
Bang! bang! bang!
A distant sound seemed to come from the sky, and Ah Miao’s anxious call rang out in the outer room.
Qiu Henian paused in his movements, looked towards the window, frowned and said, “Someone is knocking on the door.”
Qingyan was still immersed in the heat, not completely awake yet, but the knocking outside the door grew louder, and he heard it.
“So late, who could it be?” Qingyan asked vaguely.
Qiu Henian said, “Let me check.”
With that, he pinched Qingyan’s delicate chin, kissed his full, red, and moist lips fiercely, then with almost all his willpower, he stepped back.
Qingyan exclaimed, “Ah?”
His body suddenly felt empty.
Qiu Henian quickly wiped twice and got out of bed to put on his robe. Although his movements were urgent, his eyes were always on the person on the bed.
Seeing that white and tender body, he almost couldn’t resist kneeling back on the bed.
After putting on his robe, he knelt on the edge of the bed, covered the person on the bed with the quilt, and instructed, “I’ll be right back.”
Then he hurriedly left the room.
Qingyan covered himself with the quilt, his inner restlessness not yet completely settled.
He listened to the commotion outside. Qiu Henian’s footsteps reached the courtyard gate. Afterward, the courtyard gate was opened, someone hurriedly said something, and a familiar voice responded.
After a brief conversation, Qingyan heard footsteps returning, crossing the yard, and coming to the outer room door.
Immediately after, the inner room door was also pulled open, and Qiu Henian hurriedly entered, bringing in a chill.
He turned around and closed the inner room door, saying, “Quick, Qingyan, put on your robe. We need to go out.”
“What happened?” Qingyan sat up, covering himself with the quilt.
Qiu Henian’s face was tense.
“Liu Xiang died, and his body has just been taken to the Liu family.”
Qingyan’s face changed. “Wasn’t he about to give birth? How did he die?”
Qiu Henian looked at him and said, “He died in childbirth.”
Qingyan quickly pulled back the quilt and hurriedly put on his clothes. Qiu Henian washed a cloth in the basin, and when Qingyan put on his clothes, he said, “Wait a moment.”
Then he lifted the hem of his robe and quickly but gently wiped him under it.
Originally an ambiguous and intimate act, but in this situation, Qingyan didn’t have time to think too much. After wiping, he quickly put on his pants, coat, tied his hair casually, and went out with Qiu Henian.
On the way, Qingyan listened to Qiu Henian’s explanation and learned that the person who had knocked on the door just now was a neighbor of the old Liu family. They often played cards and chatted together, so they were quite familiar with each other.
That person said it was Liu Fa who asked him to help find the two of them. He had something to ask Qiu Henian for help.
Liu Fa’s wife cried so badly that she didn’t look like herself. Qi Yinglan was so scared he couldn’t even speak. He also asked Qingyan to go over and accompany them.
In early December in the north, winter had already arrived. It was especially cold at night, and tonight there was no moon, making the road very dark.
They rushed out too quickly and didn’t bring a lantern. Qiu Henian grabbed Qingyan’s hand and asked him to walk behind him. They walked with uneven steps until they reached the street where Old Liu lived.
There was still some distance to go. They saw that all the windows of Old Liu’s house were lit up. There were figures walking in the courtyard, along with heart-wrenching cries and sharp curses.
Qiu Henian’s steps paused for a moment, his brow furrowing. Qingyan also stopped with him.
Qiu Henian turned around and said to him, “Later, you stay in Qi Yinglan’s house. Don’t come out. I’ll find you after I’m done.”
Qingyan nodded. Qiu Henian raised his hand and lightly pinched his chin. Then the two of them stepped into the courtyard.
The courtyard gate was open.
Inside the courtyard, a lantern was burning. Several porters were sitting on low stools resting. Next to them on the ground was a door-sized board with handles extending from its four corners, covered with a dirty and worn-out mat.
As Qingyan passed by, he smelled a faint, indescribable odor—somewhat foul, somewhat sweet, almost nauseating.
When they reached the doorway, they stopped. Qingyan glanced inside and saw Liu Yongfu squatting on one side, Liu Yong also squatting next to him, both with vacant stares.
Zhang Ju was sitting on the ground, slapping her thigh while crying and cursing loudly. Liu Cai stood next to her, looking very upset, saying something to her.
In front of them, on the floor of the house, lay a person covered from head to toe in hemp cloth, with a prominent bulge at the belly, and one bluish-purple hand exposed at the edge of the cloth.
Before he could see clearly, Qiu Henian grabbed his shoulder and turned him in another direction.
By now, Liu Fa had seen them. He hurried out from inside and said to them, “It’s so late and you’ve come. I’m really sorry. My wife is in Yinglan’s room. Qingyan, my boy, sorry for troubling you.”
Qingyan agreed. Qiu Henian squeezed his wrist, gave him a light push from behind, and said, “Go.”
As they walked towards the next room, Qingyan heard Liu Fa and Qiu Henian speaking softly amidst the sharp cries, “The person has already been buried by the Yang family in the wilderness, dead for two or three days before we found out. It was Zhang Ju and Liu Yongfu who found someone to dig him out…”
He couldn’t hear the rest of what was said, but just that one sentence made Qingyan shiver all over, his back drenched in cold sweat.
He knocked on the door of the next room, and footsteps could be heard from inside.
Qi Yinglan opened the door with a crying child in her arms, her face pale. When she saw Qingyan outside, her eyes reddened.
She said, “Brother Qingyan, why is our family so unlucky!”
Qingyan patted his arm soothingly and said, “With the brothers here, nothing serious will happen.”
Saying that, he took the child from Qi Yinglan’s arms and said, “You go rest for a while. I’ll soothe him.”
Qi Yinglan was uneasy. Zhuang Zhuang was already over a year old and could sense the adults’ mood. Moreover, it was past his bedtime, so he kept waking up.
After comforting the child for a long time and still unable to calm him down, Qingyan couldn’t help but shout a few times, making the child cry even louder.
Qingyan took the child away, which relieved Qi Yinglan a bit. She wiped her eyes and went into the house.
Qingyan followed her inside. Liu Fa’s wife was sitting on the kang, leaning against the wall of the fire, silently shedding tears.
Seeing Qingyan enter, she quickly wiped her face with a cloth and said, “Qingyan is here”
Her voice was hoarse, almost unable to make a sound, like scraping a shovel against an iron pot.
She stood up to greet Qingyan and offer him water or something to drink.
Qingyan held the child and walked around the room, watching Liu Fa’s wife on the kang. He said, “Sister-in-law, don’t get up. I often come to your house and know where everything is. If I’m thirsty, I’ll pour water myself.”
Liu Fa’s wife sighed heavily, exhaustedly sat back down, and started shedding tears again.
Qi Yinglan sat beside her, leaning on her shoulder, also crying.
Qingyan comforted Zhuang Zhuang while watching these two, sighing deeply.
The child slowly fell asleep in his arms.
Qi Yinglan spread out Zhuang Zhuang’s small quilt on the kang head. Qingyan carefully laid the child down and covered him with the small quilt.
The child was over a year old and not light in weight. Qingyan’s arms were a bit sore from holding him for so long, but Qingyan didn’t mind. On the contrary, holding the child, his small, warm body softened Qingyan’s originally anxious heart somewhat.
He bent down to touch the mat on the kang and said, ‘The fire in the stove should be out. I’ll go and light it again.’
Qi Yinglan settled the child and hurried downstairs, joining him in the outer room.
They sat by the stove in the outer room, one cleaning the stove ashes, the other fetching firewood.
Qi Yinglan’s complexion remained poor; his hand, holding the flint, trembled slightly. Qingyan glanced at him.
He forced a smile and said, “Brother Qingyan, please don’t laugh at me.”
Qingyan shook his head to indicate he wouldn’t.
After a while, the stove finally started burning. Qi Yinglan covered his face and started crying.
Choking with emotion, he said, “That Liu Xiang probably will not die peacefully.”
“What happened?” Qingyan asked in confusion.
“Wasn’t it due to childbirth?”
Qi Yinglan shook his head.
“That’s what the Yang family says. When he was brought back, I saw it with my own eyes. His fingernails were full of dirt, his nose was full of dirt, his mouth wide open, also filled with dirt.”
Qingyan’s eyes showed disbelief and uncertainty.
He heard Qi Yinglan tremblingly say, “Zhang Ju said that when they dug him out, he was standing in the dirt.”
His face turned pale with fear, looking as if he had lost his soul.
He muttered, “How can someone be buried standing up after death?”
Qingyan widened his eyes, staring at him in shock.
“How can someone be buried standing up after death?”
This sentence echoed repeatedly in Qingyan’s ears, startling him so much that his inner clothes were instantly soaked with cold sweat!
Spoiler for the Next Chapter:
As they walked to the courtyard gate, Qingyan subconsciously wanted to turn his head to look towards the main house, but a large hand gently stroked his cheek, forcibly turning his head forward.
“Don’t look,” Qiu Henian said in a low voice.
