Chapter 34 The Person Chen Ling Likes

Back at the Chen family home, Chen Ying and her two siblings were already asleep, but Yu Guizhi was still awake, sitting at the wooden table in the living room doing needlework with a dim oil lamp on, waiting for them to return.

Seeing that they had returned, Yu Guizhi didn't ask any more questions. She just told the three of them to take a bath and asked Cheng Ying if she could take a bath in the cold water from the mountains. If not, she would go to the kitchen to boil some hot water for her to take a bath.

Cheng Ying was perfectly comfortable taking cold showers. In the sweltering heat of summer, many villagers would take cold showers to save firewood. Cheng Ying had been doing this since she was a child; she wasn't the type to be fussy.

Yu Guizhi then asked her if she had any clean clothes to change into. When she said she didn't, she asked Chen Ling to get her a clean set of clothes and some toiletries. She then led her to a babbling mountain stream next to the Chen family's courtyard to bathe.

Ma'anshan has several streams that meander down the mountain from the top, following large, flat, sloping, dark red rocks.

To solve the problem of drinking water and water for rice cultivation in terraced fields, villagers build ditches and branching points along the streams. When water is not needed, they block the branching points with large stones or mud. When water is needed, they open these things, and the stream water flows into each household's fields or home.

To the left of the Chen family's house is a stream less than half a meter wide. They built a fork in the stream so that they could divert the clear water into their home when they needed water, and block the fork when they didn't need water.

When the weather gets hot in the summer, the Chen family would bathe in the stream after nightfall.

The stream water is clean and clear, and it's flowing, making it very comfortable to wash in.

Ma'an Village has only a little over a hundred households, and each household is more than a hundred meters apart. There's no need to worry about anyone peeping at you while you're bathing. Everyone else bathes like this, so it's not unusual.

Chen Ling carried a wooden basin with toiletries and led Cheng Ying to the back of the Chen family's house. There was a protruding rock that could block outsiders from peeping at the stream and ravine. She then pulled Cheng Ying into the water to bathe.

The sky had completely darkened, and a nearly full moon hung in the sky. Some thick clouds obscured the moon, and the hazy moonlight spilled onto the mountains and land, allowing people to vaguely see the ground without being too bright. This was extremely convenient for Cheng Ying and her companion who were bathing in the ravine.

As night fell, the temperature in the mountains dropped, and the icy stream made Cheng Ying shiver the moment she entered the water.

However, after her body adapted to the temperature of the stream, Cheng Ying comfortably squinted her eyes and, imitating Chen Ling, washed herself and then leaned against the waist-high rock for a short bath.

The nights in the mountains are very peaceful. A cool night breeze blows down from the mountains, carrying the scents of nearby crops such as corn and sorghum, as well as the branches and leaves of tall trees, swaying gently and bringing with it the fresh fragrance of crops.

This tranquility did not last long. Cheng Ying heard crickets and insects chirping incessantly in the nearby grass, and frogs, toads, and croaking in the terraced fields not far away, turning this peaceful summer night into a symphony of the mountain village.

Chen Ling muttered under her breath, "These insects and frogs are so noisy. I really want to catch them all and roast them."

When the children in the mountains have nothing to do, they will go out to the fields at night with their brothers, sisters, or friends, carrying kerosene lamps, buckets, and fire tongs to catch wild game such as frogs, eels, loaches, and grasshoppers to bring home and roast or cook for the adults.

This is not only fun for the children, but it also provides the adults in the family with some "meat and vegetables" to satisfy their cravings. Most importantly, catching a lot of insects like grasshoppers can also help eliminate pests in the village.

The adults in the village wouldn't object to the children catching wild animals at night, but they would tell them not to catch them in the villagers' private fields, because those were their private property, and if they caught them, conflicts would inevitably arise. They were only allowed to catch them in the village's collective fields.

This period is the harvest season for crops such as rice, corn, and peanuts. Every household, young and old, works together. The children are so tired that they don't have the energy to go out at night to catch insects and frogs. The frogs are able to live and breathe, but Chen Ling finds them noisy.

Cheng Ying lay on her back, looking at the few scattered, twinkling stars in the sky, and said, "I don't find it noisy at all. I think it's quite nice. I love the sounds of insects chirping and frogs croaking on summer nights. It's a familiar rural symphony from my childhood, a memory that helps me fall asleep peacefully. After living in the city for so long, hearing these sounds when I return to the countryside brings tears to my eyes."

In her past life, she spent most of her life in steel-like houses built by the military and in the city. Even though the living conditions were very good, she could not sleep well at night.

She was used to the city's nights, the bustling traffic, the cold machinery, and the various urban noises from her neighbors. She always felt that the city was too noisy and chaotic to be suitable for her to live in.

In the dead of night, she would dream of lying on a straw mat in her old house back home. In the days before air conditioning, her mother would always hold a palm-leaf fan and fan her and her sister until they fell asleep.

As a child, she would often hear frogs croaking in her dreams, whether in ditches, paddy fields, or lotus ponds...

Now reborn, Cheng Ying has embarked on a completely different path from her previous life. She also heard the summer cries she had longed for in her previous life. Suddenly, Cheng Ying's eyes reddened, feeling extremely happy, yet also having the illusion that she was dreaming.

Chen Ling teased her, "I didn't realize you were such a sentimental person. Everyone in our village dreams of going to the city, settling down, getting a government-subsidized food ration, and living a good life without worries about food and clothing. But you, you gave up a perfectly good female officer job and insisted on coming back to do this grueling job as a postman after being discharged from the army. I really don't know what you were thinking!"

Cheng Ying smiled and said, "People are different, so what they pursue is naturally different. People in the countryside all want to go to the city, but they don't know that in the future, people in the city will also want to go to the countryside."

Chen Ling tilted her head to look at her: "Why are you talking so strangely? Will city people run to the countryside in the future? Are they crazy? They eat well, live well, dress well, everything is good in the city, why would they want to run to the countryside?"

Cheng Ying naturally couldn't explain to her that with the rapid development of technology in the future, high-rise buildings will rise one after another in the city, and roads will be interconnected, making life and transportation more convenient, but at the same time, the pressure of life will also increase.

For ordinary people, mortgages, car loans, and various other loans are already overwhelming, while the cost of living continues to rise. Coupled with the unsafe additives in every aspect of life, such as food, clothing, housing, and transportation, many people want to give up everything they have and move to the countryside.

Although the farmers living in the countryside live a poor life, the crops they grow, the daily necessities they produce, and the poultry and livestock they raise are all free of additives and pesticides, making them very healthy and safe to eat and use. This is something that city dwellers envy and admire.

Those who can't make a living in the city, or those who are rich and powerful, will always try to buy some land in the countryside, build their own houses, and live a leisurely rural life of eating melons and growing vegetables, and being self-sufficient.

Cheng Ying said, "This is just my guess. Things change, and no one can predict the future. I'm just saying."

Seeing that it was getting late, Cheng Ying put on the long cotton and linen dress that Chen Ling had given her. And it has to be said, since the two of them were of similar build, the dress fit her quite well.

Chen Ling looked at her and smiled, "I thought this dress was a bit small, but it fits you perfectly and looks quite good, especially the chest area, you're much fuller than me... By the way, Sister Xiaoying, do you have a boyfriend, or someone you like?"

“I broke up with someone before, and now I don’t have a boyfriend or anyone I like.” Cheng Ying used the soap pods that Chen Ling brought, along with a small rock, to crush the soap pods and rub them onto her work clothes, washing them all clean.

In the hot summer, when clothes are thin, if you wash your clothes at night and hang them under the eaves, they will be dried overnight by the night breeze and you can wear them again the next day.

This was Cheng Ying's first time running this postal route. She had no experience and hadn't brought a change of clothes. She thought she could just make do with the clothes she was wearing, like Cheng Jiantong, and wash them when she got home after finishing her postal run.

Looking back now, it's really unreasonable for her to run the mail in such hot weather wearing this same work uniform. When she goes back this time, she should bring a change of clothes when she runs the mail again, otherwise she will feel bad about always wearing Chen Ling's clothes.

Chen Ling also washed her own clothes, carried them in a wooden basin, and went back to the Chen family's courtyard with her. They hung the clothes in the courtyard, and then led Cheng Ying to her room. The two lay on the bed and continued to talk.

Chen Ling, fanning herself with a palm leaf fan, asked, "What did your ex look like? Why did you break up with him? If you're not going to date him anymore, what kind of person do you plan to date in the future?"

"If I don't like someone anymore, I'll break up with them. There's no particular reason. Who knows what will happen in the future? I can live a good life on my own. I don't necessarily need to be in a relationship."

Cheng Ying didn't want to talk much about her own affairs. She pulled the old mosquito net over Chen Ling's bed to keep the buzzing mosquitoes from flying in, then turned to change the subject and asked Chen Ling, "What about you? Do you have a boyfriend? Do you have someone you like? At your age, shouldn't Aunt Yu and Uncle Chen introduce you to someone?"

Chen Ling is already eighteen years old. Girls in the mountains usually get married quite early, and she is at the age where it is time to find a husband.

"Well, I actually have someone I like, but I don't even know his name. It's just wishful thinking on my part, and my parents don't know anything about it. They said they'd be looking for young men from a few nearby villages to introduce me to sometime soon, and I'm really worried about it," Chen Ling said, looking troubled.

Cheng Ying immediately became interested: "What does the person you like look like? Where have you seen him before? How could you like someone without knowing his name?"

Chen Ling thought for a moment, then blushed and said, "I fell in love with him at first sight. He had thick eyebrows and big eyes, and his features were quite handsome. About two years ago, my second sister had a heart attack. My dad couldn't save her, so our whole family rushed her to the county. We traveled overnight along the main road, hitching a ride on the village's oxcart. But my dad was in such a hurry that he didn't notice and drove the oxcart into a ditch. Everyone in the family fell and got bruised and battered. My mom was newly pregnant at the time and almost miscarried. That man found us, rescued us, and took us to the hospital. He kept helping us, but when I asked him his name, he wouldn't tell me and quietly left."

Cheng Ying suddenly realized why Chen Ling's younger sister, Chen Ying, looked unwell, sickly, and frail; it turned out she had a heart condition.

She said that Chen Ying was only three years younger than Chen Ling. Logically, Chen Ying and Chen Yue should have gone to work in the fields with Chen Ling and his daughter to earn work points. Why were they staying at home doing needlework? It turns out there was this reason.

“He passed by on the main road from your village to the town, which proves that he is from one of the nearby villages. Aunt Yu and Uncle Chen are going to introduce you to someone, so you should ask them to go to the nearby villages and inquire about him. Maybe they can find him.” After analyzing the situation, Cheng Ying seriously offered her opinion.

Chen Ling hesitated for a moment, then said, "Actually, I think about the same thing as you. In the past two years, I've asked around about that person in several villages around here. But no one has seen him or heard of him. I have a vague guess in my mind."

"What guess?"

"That person might be from Ayishan-Pucang Village."

Cheng Ying immediately rolled over, propped up one arm, and rested her cheek on it, looking at her and saying, "Why did you make that guess? The person who saved you was wearing Miao clothing and spoke Miao language?"

"No, he was dressed in Han Chinese attire, wearing a gray Zhongshan suit, and he spoke Han Chinese, but I just felt that he was from Pucang Village."

Chen Ling thought back to the details of that time, "His every move had an inappropriate and strange feeling. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I always felt that although he was dressed in Han Chinese clothes and spoke Han Chinese, he was not Han Chinese."

Cheng Ying frowned. "Lingling, don't blame me for reminding you, but the Miao people of Pucang Village live in the remote Ayi Mountain. They rarely go out and have little interaction with outsiders, giving them a sense of isolation. I've heard that the Miao people of Pucang Village are all born Miao, know how to use and refine Gu poison, and basically don't intermarry with outsiders. If the person you like really came from Pucang Village, then he's most likely a Miao. I advise you to give up on that person, lest you end up being crushed to pieces."

When the Miao people are mentioned, especially the raw Miao, who live deep in the mountains in this era, Han people always show a sense of awe.

The reason is simple: the Miao people have been famous throughout the country for their mysterious methods of making, casting, and administering poisons. They are an ancient and mysterious ethnic group. They usually show no mercy to outsiders who intrude into their secluded places. They will either use poisons, try to eliminate outsiders, or administer poisons to make them mute and shut them up completely.

Although it was just a rumor, it was spread by outsiders in great detail.

In fact, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, local government officials went to Pucang Village to investigate and persuade the Miao people there to collectivize their land, make contact with the outside world, and send their children to schools outside the village.

Several years passed, but the Miao people of Pucang Village still lived a self-sufficient life in the valley at the foot of Ayi Mountain, following their own way of life.

When the public officials' persuasion failed, the government could only rely on the preferential policies of the state to send relevant public officials to Pucang Village every year to contact the village chief and set up some national infrastructure equipment to facilitate the lives of the Miao people. For example, they installed two power lines to provide electricity for the Miao people and set up a post office and mailbox so that postmen could deliver mail to them by trekking through mountains and rivers.

Outsiders who are unaware of the inside story feel more awe than curiosity towards the Miao people of Pucang Village.

Those who know the inside story, such as Cheng Jiantong, are reluctant to discuss it.

Cheng Ying wasn't afraid of the so-called "raw Miao," but she had at least a sense of awe for them. After learning about Cheng Jiantong's experiences in Pucang Village from his colleagues, she made up her mind. When she arrived in Pucang Village, after delivering the mail she needed to deliver and thanking the Miao people who had helped Cheng Jiantong, she turned around and left without lingering, lest she cause any trouble.

Hearing this, Chen Ling remained silent for a long time before saying sullenly, "I know you mean well, and I know that person's identity is not simple. I will try my best to forget that person and choose a man who suits my heart and my parents. I won't do anything irrational. I'm only eighteen years old, and I have plenty of time to choose a man. If I don't want to get married, my parents won't force me to. So I'm not in a hurry to find a partner and get married. But you, Sister Xiaoying, you're a woman, and an unmarried and very beautiful one at that. You have to be careful when you go to Pucang Village to deliver the message alone. Don't let the Miao people there take a liking to you, put a curse on you, and force you to stay in Pucang Village to get married and have children."

Cheng Ying yawned, lay back on her pillow and said, "I'm a postman, which is a public servant. Even if the Miao people of Pucang Village take a liking to me, they'll have to think twice about what the consequences would be if they used a curse on me. Don't worry."

Chen Ling thought about it and agreed. No matter how mysterious or powerful the Miao people of Pucang Village were, could they be more powerful than the state? If they dared to touch the people of the state, wouldn't that be courting death? So she felt at ease and fell into a deep sleep next to Cheng Ying.

Big Yellow slept under the two people's wooden bed, curled up in a ball, and fell soundly asleep with them.

When it used to run the mail with Cheng Jiantong, whenever Cheng Jiantong came to the Chen family to stay overnight, he would stay in a small storage room that the Chen family had specially vacated for him. Cheng Jiantong would let Da Huang sleep at the foot of his bed, mainly because he was afraid that someone outside the yard would be hungry and come to steal Da Huang in the middle of the night, kill it and eat it.

Many years ago in the 1960s, when the whole country was suffering from famine, Qingqu Town was also affected, and many people starved to death at that time.

When Cheng Jiantong got his first dog, he took it into the mountains to deliver mail. The dog was sleeping outside the yard when a group of hungry villagers came to steal it in the middle of the night.

Fortunately, the dog was very clever. When the group of people ran over, it barked wildly and kept scratching at Cheng Jiantong's door, waking up Cheng Jiantong and the Chen family. They opened the door and came out to protect the dog.

Even after many years, Cheng Jiantong still remembers that night when he stepped out of his room and saw a group of hungry people glowing green, staring intently at his dog in the Chen family's courtyard.

From then on, whenever he came to the mountains to deliver mail, he wouldn't allow his dog to leave his sight, and it had to sleep in the same room with him at night, for fear that his dog would be beaten to death and eaten.

Dahuang had lived and eaten with Cheng Jiantong for four years and was used to wherever Cheng Jiantong was.

Although it is now running mail with Cheng Ying under Cheng Jiantong's orders, its old habit of following Cheng Jiantong has not changed. The Chen family does not object to Da Huang coming into the house to sleep. It sleeps in Chen Ling's room, and the two girls feel at ease.

I had a good night's sleep.

Around five o'clock in the morning, Cheng Ying heard the soft 'tap tap tap' sound of Da Huang running around in the room. Not long after, she, who was sleeping on the outside of the bed, felt her right hand hanging by the bedside being licked by Da Huang's warm tongue. Then Da Huang made a very soft humming sound, as if it was calling her to get up.

Cheng Ying opened her eyes, raised her hand to look at the quartz watch that emitted a faint glow in the night, the hour hand pointing exactly to five o'clock.

In previous years, Cheng Jiantong would get up at five o'clock to deliver mail. Da Huang was used to his biological time. If Cheng Jiantong didn't get up at the appointed time, Da Huang would wake him up in his own way. He did the same for Cheng Ying.

Cheng Ying reached out and patted Da Huang's head, saying softly, "Okay, Da Huang, I know. It's time to leave."

She tiptoed out of bed so as not to disturb Chen Ling's sleep, went to the outer room, changed into her work clothes that had been dried by the evening breeze and hung in the yard, neatly folded Chen Ling's coat and placed it on her pillow, then quickly washed up. Just as she was about to leave, she heard the sound of the door opening in the east room of the Chen family.

Yu Guizhi, still half asleep, came out of the house and called to her, "Xiaoying, there's some porridge and vegetables I left for you last night in the kitchen. It's in the water vat there. Eat before you go, so you won't go hungry on the way. Don't be shy, it's just leftovers, please don't mind. When your dad used to be a mail carrier, I always left him food like this. Your Uncle Chen specifically asked me to leave it for him. If you don't eat it, your Uncle Chen will wake up and see it, and he'll blame me for being stingy."

"Thank you, Aunt Yu." Cheng Ying knew that she meant well. In these days, everyone is starving, and no one has leftovers. It makes sense to give food to others. Yu Guizhi and her husband were just being kind and specially saved food for her. She couldn't refuse their kindness.

Cheng Ying didn't stand on ceremony and went into the Chen family's kitchen. She opened the bamboo hat covering the water vat and saw a large bowl of porridge made from sweet potatoes, corn, and rice, along with some leftovers from last night. The food was being frozen in the spring water at the bottom of the vat. In the mountains, where there are no refrigerators, using such cold spring water with the food bowls floating on top to freeze the food prevents it from spoiling too quickly.

Cheng Ying carried the large bowl of porridge, found two large corn leaves and placed them on the ground. She then poured half of the porridge onto the clean leaves and fed it to Da Huang.

The man and his dog quietly finished their meal in the darkness before dawn.

Cheng Ying washed the dishes and returned to Chen Ling's room, carrying her crossbody bag and mailbag on her back.

She left the house, closed the Chen family's gate, and, as the morning mist began to lighten, followed Da Huang to continue delivering messages to the remaining two villages.