Bodhisattva's heart
The shacks outside Mingzhou City were crowded together, like festering scars on the earth. The cold wind blew in through the gaps in the thatch, whimpering. Wang Dayong's family of five huddled in such a corner that could barely block the rain.
Wang Dayong rubbed his numb hands and looked at his old mother wrapped in tattered quilt on the straw mat, and his wife Cuihua who was hugging her two little kids tightly.
The two children, the older one was six years old and named Shitou, and the younger one was four years old and named Dou Miao. They were both so thin that their faces were pointed and their eyes looked particularly big. At this moment, they were staring at the half piece of black multi-grain cake in their mother's hand.
"Mom, please have a bite first." Cuihua broke off a small piece of the pancake and handed it to her mother-in-law's mouth.
"Hey, I'm not hungry. Give it to the baby..." The old lady said weakly as she refused.
"Please eat it, Mom." Wang Dayong said in a muffled voice, took the remaining half of the pancake from Cuihua, and carefully broke it into three parts. He gave the big one to Shitou, the slightly smaller one to Dou Miao, and the smallest one to himself and Cuihua.
That little bit of food was not even enough to fill the gaps between teeth, but the whole family stared at it, chewing it bit by bit, swallowing it bit by bit, and that was all they had for the day.
The family's land had long been mortgaged to the village tycoon Wang for less than two dou of stale grain, which they had eaten up. Selling the child? Wang Dayong and Cuihua cried secretly at night, unable to bring themselves to do so. So the couple, along with their mother and child, followed the refugees to the outskirts of Mingzhou, hoping for some government relief or a chance to find work.
That afternoon, Li Ergou, who had gone out to look for food, came back panting and shouting, "Did you hear? Did you hear? The princess is hiring workers! To build a princess mansion! Twenty taels of silver a day! And two full meals!"
The people in the shack started talking in a buzzing voice.
"Twenty cents? Really?"
"Free meals? Is there such a good thing?"
"Building a princess's mansion? How big a garden would that be? Can a peasant like us go there?"
"Don't tell me you're kidding me? You're trying to trick me into doing hard labor, and then if they don't pay me, I won't be able to escape!"
"That's right, how can we guess what you are thinking? Don't take it away and never get it back..."
"Before, at Mr. Chen's house, wasn't it..."
Wang Dayong listened with his heart in turmoil.
Twenty cents! If you save a little, it's enough to buy some grains and mix them with wild vegetables to make porridge. It can keep the family going for a few more days and provide enough food. If only you could bring some back...
He didn't dare to think about it, but the thought was like a weed, which managed to sprout into a little green bud in the frozen soil of despair.
In the evening, the family shared the last bit of porridge they had begged for. Wang Dayong said to Cuihua in a hoarse voice, "I, I'll try it tomorrow."
Cuihua: "His father! Others say..."
"I can't care less!" Wang Dayong interrupted her. His voice was low, but it was filled with determination. "It's just like waiting to die at home. I'll go and give it a try. If I can really get money and food, even if I only work for one day, I can still earn some food."
Cuihua's lips trembled, and she wanted to say something, but in the end she just buried her head in her knees, her shoulders slightly shaking, as if she was crying.
At daybreak, Wang Dayong gathered up his last bit of courage and followed the sparse crowd towards the construction site in the west of the city mentioned in the notice.
Along the way, his heart was beating like a rabbit in his chest. When he arrived at the place and saw the huge crowd and the officials in uniform holding the list, his heart finally settled down a little.
After registering and receiving a wooden sign with "Bing Qi San" written on it, I was assigned to dig earth.
The work was truly tiring. In the dead of winter, the frozen soil was as hard as stone. A single blow with a pickaxe only left a white mark, and the shock made the palms of the hands numb.
But the whole grain rice with pickled cabbage dumplings at noon was enough! Wang Dayong devoured two large bowls of rice, and his stomach finally felt full and warm. He secretly hid half of the rice ball in his arms, wrapped in a rag.
When we finished work in the evening, the foreman called our names and gave us our wages, and also gave us two hard steamed buns for dinner.
It was Wang Dayong's turn. The heavy twenty copper coins fell into his rough palm. The cold, hard touch was more real than anything else! He clenched the money tightly, touched the warm rice ball in his arms, and his heart was burning.
In the shack, Cuihua was holding bean sprouts, staring at the dark road outside. When she saw Wang Dayong appear, she almost rushed out.
"His father!" The voice was filled with tears.
"Hey!" Wang Dayong responded, quickly getting into the shack. He took out the twenty coins and carefully placed them in Cuihua's hand. "Here! Really! Twenty coins!"
Cuihua touched the copper coin that still had her body temperature, and tears came to her eyes. She cried and laughed at the same time.
"And this!" Wang Dayong took out the rice ball and steamed bread from his arms as if he were presenting a treasure, although they were a little flattened. "Quick, share them with mother and child."
For the first time, the small shack felt a bit lively.
Dou Miao smacked his lips, and Shi Tou whispered, "Dad, the food smells good."
Wang Dayong watched his wife, children and mother eating, and felt that a ray of light seemed to have come into these hard days.
In the following days, Wang Dayong went out early and came back late every day. He earned every day and always saved some food to bring back at night. Although it was still watery, at least he would not starve to death.
Wang Dayong felt that as long as he was willing to work hard, he could probably get through the days.
That day, work ended a little later than usual. Wang Dayong was planning to take a break the next day and go to the city to see if he could buy some cheap salt and coarse grains.
He hummed a tuneless little tune as he trudged back to the shack area. From a distance, he sensed something was wrong. It was too quiet in his shack. Normally, by this time, Shitou and Doumiao would be waiting outside, watching.
He quickened his pace, his heart beginning to sink.
Lift up the tattered oilcloth curtain - there's nothing inside!
On the straw mat lay only the tattered quilt of my mother's bed; Cuihua and the children were nowhere to be seen! In the corner, Dou Miao's broken, chipped earthenware bowl lay tilted on the ground, the remaining thin soup inside frozen into ice.
"Cuihua? Shitou? Doumiao?" Wang Dayong's voice trembled and sounded unusually empty in the small shack.
He rushed out and asked everyone in the nearby shacks one by one.
"Have you seen my Cuihua?"
"Have you seen our two kids?"
The neighbors shook their heads in confusion and said they hadn't noticed.
He wandered around the chaotic shantytown like a headless fly, his cries becoming more and more mournful and desperate. The sky was completely dark, and the cold wind scraped at his face and his heart like a knife.
Just as he was about to collapse, two dark figures appeared silently behind him. A sack was suddenly put over his head and tightened! He tried to struggle but was knocked unconscious.
Wang Dayong felt as if his bones had been pulled out as he was dragged roughly by the two men, taking one deep step and one shallow step. He didn't know how long he walked. When the sack on his head was torn off, the dazzling light of the oil lamp made it impossible for him to open his eyes.
He found himself in an abandoned brick kiln. Under the light of the oil lamp, he was terrified. Cuihua, Shitou, Dou Miao, and his mother were all tied up tightly, with rags stuffed in their mouths, looking at him in horror.
Several men with their faces covered were holding shiny knives. There were traces of tears on Cuihua's face, and Shitou Dou Miao was so scared that he was shaking all over and making a whimpering sound.
"Mom! Cuihua!" Wang Dayong's eyes were bloodshot and he wanted to rush over, but the person behind him held his shoulders tightly.
"Wang Dayong," a masked man who looked like a leader walked up to him and said in a cold voice, "If you want your family to survive, do something for us."
Wang Dayong stared at the other person.
"In a few days, Princess Mingzhu will go out of the city on an inspection tour and will have to pass by the Anji Bridge in the west of the city." The masked man stared into Wang Dayong's eyes and said word by word, "We want you to make the bridge collapse when she crosses it."
Wang Dayong trembled all over as if struck by lightning.
A collapsed bridge? A princess?
"Listen," the masked man leaned closer, his breath puffing on Wang Dayong's face, "We've already tampered with the bridge, but it's not enough. That day, when the princess's procession goes up the bridge, you'll be under the bridge, pretending to be a bridge repairman. When the middle of the bridge is under the greatest load, use this hammer."
At his feet was a broken stone hammer. "Hit the wedge under that worst-looking bridge pier in front of you! Break it loose! Got it? Just one hit! Then run and hide among the reeds on the riverbank. Someone will pick you up. If you succeed, I'll give you one hundred taels of snowflake-patterned silver, enough to buy dozens of acres of good land, build a big tiled house, and keep your family well-fed and clothed for the rest of their lives!"
"No, I don't..." Wang Dayong shook his head subconsciously, and cold sweat instantly soaked his torn cotton jacket.
That's a princess! She's the one who feeds people like a living Buddha! Why would you harm her?
"Don't want to do it?" The masked man's voice suddenly rose, with a cruel smile.
He waved his hand violently.
A nearby man immediately pressed down the blade on Dou Miao's neck, leaving a bloody mark. Dou Miao was so frightened that her entire body stiffened, and even her sobs stopped. Only tears rolled down her face.
"Ah!" Cuihua struggled desperately, but was held down tightly.
"Are you going to do it or not? Either they die in front of you right now! Or, do as I say, get the money and leave!"
Wang Dayong looked at his son, trembling under the blade. All the strength in his body was drained away. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Finally, he nodded.
The masked man hummed with satisfaction and kicked the stone hammer on the ground. "Remember, Anjiqiao, hit the target accurately. I'll keep an eye on them for you for now."
He waved his hand, signaling his men to stuff the cloth in Cuihua and the others' mouths tighter and drag them into the deeper shadows of the cave.
The wooden bridge... the princess... everything was dark before his eyes.
It was already late at night when Wang Dayong woke up again. He appeared near the shack. He moved back to the shack with one foot deep and one foot shallow. The torn oilcloth curtain was thrown behind him, like a slap in the face.
He didn't turn on the light. In the darkness, the familiar smell of rotten grass roots had not yet dissipated, but the person was gone.
He stood straight in the middle, the mud beneath his feet frozen hard, the cold air seeping up through the cracks in his straw sandals and penetrating into the cracks between his bones. His ears were buzzing, the voice of the masked man, Cuihua's sobs with her mouth blocked, the cold light of the blade on Dou Miao's neck... all mixed together and banged against his head.
A few days ago, Old Zhang on the construction site puffed on his pipe and said, "The princess has a kind heart. Without her, we would have been fed to stray dogs long ago!"
The twenty copper coins were still in his arms, hanging heavy and scorching like a red-hot iron, making his heart sizzle and smoke.
He took out the copper coins tremblingly. They were cold. He wanted to throw them away, but he clenched his hand halfway.
Dou Miao's life and Cuihua's life depend on this few dollars.
On the straw mat in the corner, half of the black steamed bun that Dou Miao had eaten was still placed in a broken pottery bowl, hard as a stone. Wang Dayong crawled over, grabbed the bun, and held it tightly to his chest, as if he could cover the child's thin neck and block the knife.
His throat gurgled as if it was filled with prickly chaff. He couldn't breathe or cry out. Tears did flow, as if unconsciously, down his chapped cheeks and hit the cold mud ground without even a sound.
The wind outside howled even more fiercely, making the torn oilcloth rustle.
Wang Dayong huddled in the dark shadows, curled up into a ball. On the ground lay a crumpled piece of coarse cloth, which was used to wrap the brown rice distributed by the Princess Mansion.
Wang Dayong seemed to be stung and kicked the ball of cloth into the darkest corner.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
