On the evening after eating roasted cow’s hooves, before it got dark, Bahu silently went into the kitchen to wash rice and cook bean porridge. Surprisingly, he also voluntarily picked a bowl of green vegetables. Hearing the movement, Mi Niang came out from the house and saw him washing the mud off the vegetables. She squatted down and asked, “You want to eat green vegetables? What are you cooking in the pot?”
Bahu didn’t even lift his head. “Bean porridge that you like.”
Did she like it? Even if she liked it, there was no reason to have it twice in one day; she had already eaten bean porridge in the morning. She was planning to braise two pieces of beef shank and make braised noodles for dinner.
Only then did the man raise his head, his face showing some discomfort. Slowly, he said, “I’m not hungry yet.” Not hungry was already an understatement. He had been drinking water all afternoon, and his stomach was still bloated, completely unable to eat anything else.
He earnestly argued that eating too many roasted cow’s hooves would cause internal heat, and eating meat again at night would be bad for the intestines, so it was good to have some vegetables for a change.
“I’m cooking mung bean porridge, which is cooling.”
Mi Niang didn’t expose his noble excuses and went inside to get some coins. “I’ll go get two pieces of tofu. We’ll have tofu mixed with chopped green onions for dinner.”
Bahu put down the vegetables in his hands. “I’ll go. The snow outside is thick.”
“I’ll go out for a walk. Habul is playing with his nine-linked rings on the kang. Remember to check on him later.” She put on her knee-high leather boots, gloves, and sheepskin hat, and took the soup bowl as she walked outside. When she stepped out of the door, the accumulated snow on the ground suddenly deepened, sinking half of her calf into it with one step.
“Mom? Brother, is that our mom?” Qiqige and Jiya came back from the sheep pen and happened to see a familiar figure at the gate. When the figure turned around, the siblings, holding hands, rushed over, only to suddenly sink into the snow, with only their lower bodies sticking out, exposing their bottoms.
“What are you two following for? I’m just going to buy two pieces of tofu.” Mi Niang retraced her steps, seeing the two of them stuck in the snow unable to move their legs, she couldn’t help but laugh. She placed the soup bowl on the snow, then pinched Qiqige’s giggle nest and pulled him out, one was pulled out, and there was another one. “Your dad is still at home, go back and play with him. I’ll be back soon.”
“I want to go too.” The little girl pouted, holding onto Mi Niang’s leg and refusing to let go. “Mom, wait for me for a while. I’ll go back to get a wooden board. My brother and I will sit on the board, and you can pull us.”
“Okay, you two go back and get it.” Mi Niang planned to wait for the two children to enter the house before she ran off.
Qiqige hesitated and glanced at her, feeling that she had agreed too readily. She held on tighter to her hands. “Brother, you go back and get it. I’ll stay here with Mom.”
Mi Niang lowered her eyes and stared at her, then looked at Jiya who had rushed into the house. She sighed softly, “Don’t you trust me?”
“No, not really.” Qiqige grinned but still didn’t let go.
The wooden board was the sled that Bahu had taken her sliding on in the river two years ago. It could just fit two children, with the front slightly raised and the back flat. Mi Niang stepped into the snow holes, dragging the two tails to buy tofu.
“Auntie, are you cooking? Is the meat stewed?”
“Big brother, are you scraping snow and boiling water to feed the cows and sheep?”
“Auntie, where are you going? To buy tofu? Give me the coins, I’ll bring them back for you. My mom is also going to buy tofu.”
Passing by other households, as long as there was someone standing outside the door, Qiqige and Jiya recognized and could strike up a conversation with them. Mi Niang walked over and took the coins and the black pottery bowl. “I’ll call you when I come back. Don’t wait outside.”
“Sure thing, young sister-in-law. Buy two pieces.”
Mi Niang waved her hand, trampled on the snow, and handed the bowl to Jiya before turning the sled.
“How do you two still know the old lady?” This was already towards the west, and Qiqige and Jiya rarely played in this area.
“We came to wish her a Happy New Year last year when it snowed, don’t you remember? This old lady even gave us some syrup candy.” Qiqige pursed his lips and threw a handful of snow into the air. “It’s snowing again, we can wish her a Happy New Year again.”
Just meeting once and they could strike up a conversation? Mi Niang sighed, shook off the snow on her feet, and said, “We’re here, get off.”
The old man selling tofu is Han Chinese, married to a local girl, and they have a son and a daughter, both of whom are already married. Now it’s the old man’s son who has taken over his tofu shop. Before entering the door, Mi Niang had Qiqige call out first. Walking into the gate, the old man came out from the backyard. “Buying tofu? What a coincidence, there are only five pieces left. How many do you want?”
“Then just give me all of them. It’s getting late, the sooner you sell out, the sooner you can close the shop.” Hearing the sound of a millstone in the backyard, Mi Niang casually asked, “Are you still busy?”
“Washing the millstone and soaking the soybeans. There’s never a moment of leisure when grinding tofu.” The old man handed her the tofu and patted the heads of the two children. The children born to the Central Plains girl and the man from the Mobei inherited their father’s eyes and nose. His two children also resembled the old lady very much. People from the Mobei are indeed domineering.
Qiqige and Jiya held the bowls of tofu and sat on the sled, not daring to move around. They urged Mi Niang to hurry up when they arrived, but on the way back, they shouted to slow down.
“Grandma, here’s your tofu!”
The sled continued on its way back. Snowflakes began to fall slowly from the sky again. When the tofu was taken out, it was still soft. After walking halfway, a thin layer of ice formed on the outer layer, but when a piece fell onto the sled, it remained intact.
Before reaching home, Mi Niang saw someone standing at the door, holding a baby in his arms who babbled upon hearing voices.
“Crybaby!” Qiqige shouted loudly, showing off that she was sitting on the sled.
“I’ll definitely hit someone if the tofu falls again,” Mi Niang grumbled lightly.
“I just went to buy tofu. How come it’s already dark and you haven’t come back yet? Why did you take them with you?” Bahu reached out and touched her face. “Are you tired?”
“I’m okay, not really tired.” Mi Niang leaned her head against his back, shook her hand, and the two of them entered the house first. Qiqige carried the bowl and ran in to put the tofu down first, then ran out again to help Jiya carry the sled up the steps.
Once inside, Habul opened his arms to be picked up. Mi Niang sat in a chair and let him nestle in her arms. “You’ll cook the dishes and mix the tofu.”
Bahu agreed. He waited for everyone to come back before cooking. He took the tofu and put it in warm water to thaw, then said to Jiya, “Go to the courtyard and loudly call Ajima to come back for dinner.”
When dinner was served, each person had a bowl of mung bean porridge, a plate of white tofu drizzled with chili oil and sesame oil, and a plate of green vegetables. Qiqige bit the spoon, unsure how to start. “Is this all? Nothing else?”
Jiya also looked into the pot, seeing smoke rising from it, her eyes filled with hope. “Are there still meat patties in the pot?”
Bahu stirred the rice soup in front of him, not finding a single grain of rice. “This is all we have. We had a heavy meal at noon, so we’re having something lighter for dinner.”
The faces of the two children instantly lost their smiles, and they scooped some porridge into their mouths with a dejected air. After chewing for a while, they swallowed, still complaining about being hungry.
Ajima was more understanding. He also wanted to eat meat but could settle for vegetarianism. He scooped some green onions onto the tofu in his bowl. The cold tofu with warm porridge was quite flavorful in winter, and he also encouraged Qiqige and Jiya to eat like him.
Mi Niang got up and brought the jar of brown sugar. “Do you want sugar with your porridge?”
“Yes, yes, yes,” came the reply with three bowls handed over.
One bowl each, Mi Niang asked the man holding the child drinking rice soup, “Do you want some?”
“No,” Bahu reached out to block the bowl. “Just clear soup is comforting enough.”
Mi Niang scooped some sugar into her own bowl. Sweet porridge and salty tofu, eating them together surprisingly filled her stomach. With half a pot of porridge left, she scraped it all into a basin. If no one ate it tomorrow, it would be fed to the dogs.
“Don’t frown. Go to bed early. When you wake up tomorrow, we’ll have braised noodles with big pieces of beef.” She scooped water and asked Bahu to go first to help the three children wash up. She refilled the pot with water, added Sichuan peppercorns, chili peppers, star anise, and cinnamon to the broth, and boiled it to cook the beef. Two large pieces of beef shank, a basin of beef neck, and some tough and smelly beef kidney.
“I’ll carry it.” Bahu strode in. “Is this for the dogs?”
“Yeah, I figured since we’re braising beef anyway, might as well cook the dog food too. After stewing overnight, it’ll be cooked.” Mi Niang closed the door and followed the man into the snowy field. Cutting the beef froze her hands stiff, and they only regained feeling after being soaked in hot water.
“How did your ancestors survive the winter when there were no warm beds or brick houses?” Just thinking about it made her shiver, and it was difficult to sleep at night when it was so cold.
Bahu chopped the beef neck into small pieces and filled the pot with water again. Washing the beef fat off his hands with the water she used to wash hers, he said, “Back then, there were also fire pits in the felt bags and fire pits dug on the ground, burning day and night. But many people still froze to death every year. They also used sheep oil to cover their bodies to prevent frostbite.”
The stove was filled with cow dung, and he carried two buckets while Mi Niang carried a copper kettle out of the kitchen and into the bedroom. “So, we of the Mobei admire Dame Ke Dun. It was her willingness to marry from the wealthy Central Plains to the Mobei that gave us the good life we have now.” A voice full of gratitude seeped out from the crack in the door.
—
Porridge didn’t stave off hunger, and before dawn, Qiqige and Jiya woke up sniffing the smell of meat. As soon as they opened their eyes, their stomachs growled. They pressed against the wall, listening to the noise next door. When they didn’t hear anything, they crawled back into bed, counting whose stomach growled the most and how many times it growled.
Bahu was also awakened by the smell of braised meat, and his first reaction upon waking up was that he was finally hungry. He wouldn’t dare to eat like that again.
“Dad? Mom?” Jiya knocked on the brick. “Are you awake?”
Bahu glanced out the window. It was just light out. He tapped on the wall, and the noise from the other side immediately quieted down. He tucked the little guy back into bed and put on his clothes to go next door. Opening the door, he heard a loud growl.
“Are you hungry? Let me help you get dressed. Can you help me light the fire while I cook?” When putting on their clothes, the two children’s stomachs had not stopped growling, making more noise than jumping porridge. Tiger was both amused and regretful. He should have made some fried egg pancakes last night. “When did you two wake up?”
“A long time ago. We woke up, but you and Mom were still asleep.” The room was lit by an oil lamp, and it was impossible to see the outside sky. Jiya couldn’t tell either.
Once outside the door, they could see the sky clearly. The snow had stopped, and the sky was hazy, with blue mixed with white, and white mixed with black. Jiyaa followed into the kitchen, taking a deep breath of the meaty aroma, and her stomach growled again. “Dad, let’s keep a rooster for crowing next year. Otherwise, when I wake up, I’ll think it’s still midnight.”
She spoke as if she often woke up at night and couldn’t be awakened even by thunder. She could hold her pee all night and only go after getting enough sleep.
Bahu hadn’t responded yet; his thoughts were already on the pot, thinking of sneaking a bite of the meat first.
“First, wash your face and rinse your mouth. Do it yourself. Don’t get your clothes wet. I’ll take out the meat.” Fishing out the meat, cutting it, and pouring the broth into a basin, they could braise meat again the next day.
Qiqige and Jiya sat at the table eating meat with their bowls in their hands, while Bahu occasionally leaned over to be fed a bite, busy kneading dough in his hands.
Mi Niang was awakened by the noise. She glanced outside; it was still early. How come Qiqige and Jiya were already up? Looking at the youngest, his eyes were wide open, nibbling on his toes.
“You’re such good kids, knowing Mommy is sleeping, huh?” Mother and daughter tidied up, and opened the door and windows to let the smell out.
“Awake? I was just about to call you.” Bahu shook the noodles into the pot, asking her if she was hungry. “Both the kids and I woke up hungry.”
“I’m not hungry.” Mi Niang listened to the bustling noise outside the front door, hugged the little one, and turned to leave. Qiqige and Jiya were too engrossed in their play to notice the footsteps. They were jumping into the snowdrifts, trying to outdo each other in jumping distance, and were jumping into the half-leg-deep snow, creating a pit.
“Are you all full and looking for trouble?” Mi Niang looked around, and picked up the hitching post behind the door, ready to hit someone. “Get in here, did your boots get filled with snow?”
Qiqige and Jiya screamed and ran away, crawling and rolling into the distance. Da Hu and Xiao Mo also rushed to join the fun, running away and shaking their tails as they sat in the snow, watching the mistress at the door.
“Mom, you’re awake? Did little brother wake up too?” Qiqige looked dejected, she looked down at her boots, it seemed like snow had gotten inside.
Bahu heard the angry voice and scooped a ladle of cold water into the pot. He ran outside as if his tail was on fire. “What’s wrong? Don’t be angry so early in the morning.”
“Look at that pit, they jumped out of it, competing with each other to jump into the snowdrifts, their boots filled with snow, and their cuffs are wet too.” Mi Niang gritted her teeth, complaining to him.
“No, no, no, I didn’t get snow in them.” Qiqige, emboldened by someone backing her up, tried to bluff her way out with her hands behind her back.
“Come here, let me see. If there’s no snow, I’ll change my surname to yours.”
“Even if you change your surname, it’s still Jiqi,” Bahu muttered, taking the hitching post from her hand. “Forget it, forget it, they’re just kids, they don’t know any better. After breakfast, I’ll teach Da Hu and Xiao Mo a lesson. How can they let the young master and missy run wild like this?”
Mi Niang swung the post back at him. Teach Da Hu and Xiao Mo a lesson. She couldn’t believe he could say such nonsense. “Let me teach you instead. How have you been raising children? And how have you been raising pine martens?”
Bahu, holding his head after being hit, saw the two fools in the snow still grinning, deeply resenting that he had pleaded for them.
Playing with fire, what a mistake.
