Chapter 109 Kindness is the shackles of sentimental people
The busy days passed quickly. After the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month, the festive atmosphere of the New Year became stronger among the people. Stalls were everywhere on the streets, and people who had been hiding at home to avoid the cold came out one after another, either to warm themselves by the fire or to go to the market. The lively voices drowned out the cold of winter.
The cold wind was filled with the aroma of cooking meat and stewing mutton, and smoke with a fishy smell rose from the chimney. The aroma of braised food in Sui Yu's shop was overshadowed by the meat, fish and other seafood. Her business became deserted, and the number of customers dropped significantly. Only nearby merchants came to patronize from time to time.
"We'll close the shop tomorrow. We've been busy for half a year, so it's time for us to take a break." Sui Yu untied her coarse apron and placed it on the table. She looked at Zhao Xiping and said, "Take the money and buy a leg of lamb. I'll go back and slaughter two chickens. We'll have a few good meals these days. After the Little New Year, you three siblings will prepare to return home for the New Year."
Zhao Xiping didn't say anything. The closer it got to the New Year, the less he wanted to go back home. He was thinking about spending the New Year's Eve with Sui Yu.
"Third sister-in-law, why don't we ask our neighbors to help feed the pigs and chickens, and the four of us can ride four camels back together." said Zhao Xiaomi.
Sui Yu refused without hesitation: "Everyone wants to have fun during the New Year, don't bother them. Besides, the two little camels can't carry people for a long time, don't tire them out. Liang Ge'er and I will be waiting for you at home, come back after the New Year."
Zhao Xiping could see that she didn't want to go back to her hometown at all. He raised his hand to signal Zhao Xiaomi to stop persuading her. If she didn't want to go back, then she didn't have to. It was understandable.
With the decision to close the shop and take a break, the next half day became long and difficult. Except for Tong Huaer who was still peeling eggs seriously, everyone else was a little absent-minded.
After delivering the last order, it was still dark, but the oil lamps had already been lit in the house. Sui Yu looked at the gloomy sky outside and said, "Let's close the door early to save some lamp oil."
Zhao Xiaomi ran out in two steps, quickly closed the wide-open wooden door, and refused to let any more guests come in.
The shop was closed, but the people stayed. The house with the stove was really warm, and no one wanted to go out and freeze. Sui Yu saw that there was still dough left in the basin. There was oil, salt, sauce and vinegar. She suddenly had an idea: "Let's roll out the noodles and cook some flatbread to eat. That way we don't have to cook when we get home. Xiping, go back and call my second brother, and then call Uncle Lao Niu, and have him bring Ah Shui over to eat. We can have a meal together."
Zhao Xiping immediately stood up and walked out. When he opened the door and saw someone coming, he waved his hand and said, "It's closed. Come back after the New Year."
"Closed?" The people who came over were a few businessmen living nearby. They looked up at the sky and were too lazy to cook for themselves, nor did they want to go out into the street in the severe cold. They stood on the road for a while and insisted on knocking on the door, asking Sui Yu to make them some food to fill their stomachs.
Sui Yu asked someone to come in and wait. There were still braised dishes and braised eggs, so she cut some noodles and cooked a few bowls of soup noodles.
Five bowls of hot soup noodles were served on the table. Sui Yu wiped her hands and started to cut and fry the stuffing. When she saw the radish, she stopped. She was tired of eating radish buns these days and wanted to change the taste.
"Xiaomi, you roll out the dough first, I'll go back." Sui Yu took down the wolf skin hanging on the wall outside the door and hurried out.
I met Zhao Xiping on the way. Zhao Xiping shook the pickled cabbage on his plate and asked, "Do you want to go back and get this?"
"Yes, yes, yes." But Sui Yu didn't stop and said hurriedly: "You go first, I'll go back to see if the chives that Aunt Du planted are still there. I haven't eaten chives for a long time."
It was already dark. Zhao Xiping stuffed the plate of sauerkraut into his second brother's hand and turned to go back with Sui Yu.
I went to the vegetable garden with Aunt Du to cut two handfuls of tender leeks. When we returned to the shop, everyone was already there. The five merchants from before had not left yet and insisted on staying to try some dumplings.
With so many people around, they worked quickly and prepared the two fillings. In just one incense stick's time, they had made half a basin of dumplings. They boiled the water in the pot, put the dumplings in and boiled them twice before eating.
The five merchants spent another hundred coins to buy five large bowls of double-stuffed dumplings. Sui Yu gave them a plate of the remaining braised dishes. More than a dozen people sat at two tables and ate their own food.
"Boss, the food you cook is delicious. You can sell dumplings when you open the shop again next year. Dumplings are more convenient to deliver than soup noodles, and you can sell them raw. For example, those of us who can't cook can buy them raw and take them home to cook them ourselves," said the businessman.
Sui Yu thought for a moment and said, "I'll prepare the flatbread when we open next year."
"That's right."
After the meal, the five businessmen left satisfied. Sui Yu and others packed up the pots and pans, closed the shop and went home.
It was dark and the road was difficult to walk on, so Uncle Niu asked Zhao Xiping to help him hold Ah Shui. Ah Shui was well-fed, chubby, and not shy about strangers, so she would accept anyone's hold. She lay on Zhao Xiping's shoulder, hugged his neck with a familiar look, and mumbled something that only she understood.
Zhao Xiping rarely held such a young child. He had held Xiaomi when he was a child, and later his nephews and nieces, but that was a long time ago. When he held the child again, his movements were a little stiff, perhaps because it wasn't his own. He felt the faint breathing in his ears, and he was very unaccustomed to it. When he returned the child to Uncle Niu, his movements were full of impatience.
"How does it feel to hold a child?" Uncle Niu laughed. He looked at Sui Yu and Zhao Xiping and said, "You've been together for more than two years, right? Still no news? It's time to have a child."
"It's not our destiny yet." Sui Yu stroked her belly and said, "When it's our destiny, the baby will come. You can't force it."
"Go see a doctor." This is what Uncle Niu meant.
"Okay, stop giving advice on things that are not your business." Tong Huaer pushed him away, and she turned around and said, "Ignore him, and don't call him to eat in the future. He's full and bored, looking for trouble. You guys go back, we're going in."
Sui Yu smiled, she took the man's hand, and they walked back hand in hand.
After leaving Shiqitun, she turned around and asked, "How does it feel to hold a child?"
Zhao Xiping shook his head, "Not really."
He may only like his own kind.
"You've been back for a few months, busy every night, but why is there no movement in my belly?" Sui Yu was also a little puzzled.
Zhao Xiping clenched her hand and said with a stifled laugh, "It's too cold in the winter, so the seeds won't germinate. They'll start to sprout in the spring."
"You are quite confident."
"I understand my species."
Sui Yu thought he was rude and raised her hand to hit him.
There were even more vulgar words waiting for her late at night. Sui Yu covered her ears to avoid listening, but the vague words still reached her ears. She blushed with embarrassment, and her fair skin was stained with a thin crimson color.
For the next three days, they ate meat every day, including stewed lamb legs, chicken soup, and fish soup. Zhao Xiping ate well during the day and had nothing to do, so he gathered all his strength and used it all on Sui Yu at night.
Sui Yu always felt that she would not live to see the dawn, but after dawn, she could open her eyes and look quite healthy.
On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, Sui Yu's face was flushed early in the morning. She excitedly sent Zhao Xiping and his two siblings to the east city gate, and watched them go away. She walked with Sui Liang in the cold wind outside the city for a long time.
This was the first time, except for New Year's Eve, that she and Sui Liang walked out of the majestic city gate. They stood in the wilderness and looked at the ochre-colored city wall. The long wall was like a sleeping dragon.
Sui Yu thought of the Great Wall and Aunt Chun. She went into the city, bought ten buns, put them in her arms, and headed to the brothel.
The brothel was still the same dilapidated appearance she remembered, situated in a remote and cold wilderness, the newly thatched roof swaying in the northwest wind.
It was almost noon when Sui Yu arrived. She pulled Sui Liang to squat under a crooked tree to avoid the wind. She watched the man with unsteady steps walk out from behind the dilapidated wooden door. The dirty words blown by the wind made her feel cold all over.
When smoke rose from the chimney, Aunt Chun came out carrying a load on her shoulder. She seemed to be looking for someone. She walked out of the door and looked around, but didn't see anyone, so she walked towards the river with heavy steps.
Sui Yu pulled Sui Liang out from behind the tree, and the brother and sister walked towards the river.
When Aunt Chun heard footsteps, she turned around vigilantly and saw that it was Sui Yu. She excitedly poured the water in the bucket. The cold river water soaked her straw sandals, but she seemed not to feel anything.
"Yu girl, I finally meet you again." Aunt Chun was happy.
Sui Yu lowered her eyes and looked at the withered weeds. She was afraid that this would happen. She was afraid that they would treat her as a life-saving straw. She was afraid that if they met too many times, she would involuntarily step into this quagmire.
"I was too busy last year and couldn't come to see you." Sui Yu handed over the buns in her arms and said, "They're still warm. Eat two to fill your stomach first."
Aunt Chun sighed and said, "We don't lack food, and you don't either. Next time you come, don't bring any food. Save the money and use it for yourself."
Sui Yu looked at her hands, then at her hanging hands covered with chilblains, and she said nothing.
"Have you visited your cousin?" Aunt Chun was worried. She wanted to know about her children and grandchildren.
She didn't know that Sui Wen'an had already escaped from slavery. Sui Yu was silent for a moment and chose to keep the news secret. It can be imagined that they would be even more painful after knowing it.
"Not yet. I came to see you first. Do you have any words or anything for me to pass on to you?" Sui Yu said in a gentle voice.
"Yes, yes, yes, wait a minute, I'll go in and get it." Aunt Chun was excited. She couldn't wait to leave, but she still had work to do. She stepped on the stones by the river to fetch two and a half buckets of water, then left the river with a hunched back carrying a shoulder pole.
Sui Yu wanted to help her, but Aunt Chun shook her head and said, "Go away, stay away from that door. It's dirty inside. Don't let the people inside see you."
Watching Aunt Chun staggering towards the cannibal cage, Sui Yu squatted down with a heavy heart. She muttered to herself, "What should I do? If I don't come, I always feel like something is weighing on my heart. If I come, there will always be something waiting for me."
The more ties she had, the more uncomfortable she felt.
Sui Liang didn't understand. He saw Aunt Chun coming out and reached out to push Sui Yu.
Sui Yu stood up, the buns wrapped in cloth still in her hand, and she handed over ten buns.
Aunt Chun took it and handed over a string of straw sandals strung together with straw rope, saying, "These are the straw sandals we made in our spare time. We don't have anything else, so please take them over for us. I made these five pairs for your uncle, your two brothers, and my two grandchildren. I'm not sure if they'll fit. The rest were made by your Aunt Wu, Mrs. Tian, and your cousin for their families. Take them all."
Sui Yu took it and said, "I'll go there tomorrow."
Aunt Chun rubbed her hands, wanting to say something but not saying it. Watching Sui Yu and Sui Liang walk away, she chased after them and said, "It's almost New Year's Day, don't come."
She was afraid of hearing bad news.
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