Chapter 56: Old Ox Delivers Food
On a warm spring afternoon, the sky was particularly bright and sunny. Sui Yu asked Zhao Xiping to wash the pots and dishes. She went into the house and took off the mattress and sheets on the bed, intending to take them to the river to wash.
"Remember to take out the manuscript on the bed and dry it in the sun. I can't carry it." She said while standing at the stove door.
"Okay." Zhao Xiping dried his hands. He glanced at the thick mattress in her arms and asked, "Do you want my help?"
"You're not going up the mountain?"
"The trees won't run away even if it's late."
"Then come with me. The mattress is wet and I can't twist it." Sui Yu was naturally happy that he was willing to help.
Zhao Xiping went into the house and moved the manuscript roll. He leaned the manuscript roll upright against the earthen wall. He knocked it with a mallet to shake off the dust, then went into the woodshed to move the new manuscript roll out, and then led the camel out.
Sui Liang had already led the pigs and sheep out. He was standing in the alley waiting with a small dung basket in his hand.
The camel went out, and the man picked up the shoulder pole, and Sui Yu went over to close and lock the door.
Passing by Sister Lamei's house, a man who was leaning against the wall to bask in the sun waved towards Sui Yu and asked loudly, "Going to the river to wash clothes? I want to go too."
Sui Yu asked Zhao Xiping and Sui Liang to go first, and she stood outside the door waiting with a wooden basin in her hand.
Sister Lamei hurriedly gathered a basin of clothes and came out, locking the door and following Sui Yu. She asked, "Your husband has a good relationship with Lao Niu. He brought someone back, didn't you go to see him?"
Tong Huaer's surname is not Sui, and she came from a brothel. She has little contact with people. People only know that she is a criminal slave, but they are not clear about her previous identity, so naturally they don't know that Sui Yu has any relationship with her.
Sui Yu hesitated for a moment, then said vaguely, "No, Xiping doesn't like me joining in the fun."
"Indeed, your husband Zhao is a dull person."
"What else do you want to do after washing clothes?" Sui Yu changed the subject. "I have a new crop of shepherd's purse in my garden that's still edible. I'm planning to make dumplings. Do you want to join us?"
"That's fine. I'll scoop two scoops of flour and go to your house. I'll bring some vegetable fillings and make them with you."
Seeing Zhao Xiping waiting by the river from afar, Sister Lamei sighed enviously, "Even after marrying a wife, Mr. Zhao is still willing to wash his own clothes? My husband can't do that. He became the boss as soon as he got a wife."
"He likes to eat. He helps me with things, so I cook what he likes to eat." Sui Yu said quietly.
When they reached the river, the two separated. Sui Yu handed over the basin, and Zhao Xiping took it and scooped water from the river. Sui Yu then shook the mattress clean and soaked it in the basin.
The two of them knew what the other was going to do without saying a word, and they had a tacit understanding.
It's spring now, and the water in the Shizhi River is flowing rapidly. Compared with winter, the water level has risen by half a arm. The river water is icy cold, and people only dare to wash clothes at noon when the temperature is high. There are many people squatting by the river.
A flock of sheep came to drink water from upstream. When the man pounding clothes by the river saw them, he kept calling out to the shepherd who was sleeping on the stone. The old man swung his whip and drove the sheep downstream.
The crisp sound of beating clothes echoed, and the dirty water in the clothes and bedding flowed into the clear river water, quickly dispersing and disappearing completely. Sui Yu liked to watch the process of the dirty water dispersing. She stepped on the stones on the river bank to beat the clothes and let Zhao Xiping scrub them.
"Mr. Zhao is such a good man." Sister Lamei passed by with a basin and said to Sui Yu, "I'm going home first. When you come back from picking vegetables, call me and I'll come over."
"good."
"What to do?" Zhao Xiping asked.
"Dumplings with shepherd's purse and egg filling. Do you want to mix them with lard? There's half a bowl of lard left." Sui Yu said.
Zhao Xiping calculated the day and realized that tomorrow he would have to deliver food to Sui Wen'an. He said, "We'll just eat the lard residue. It'll be fine if we send away eggs."
Sui Yu turned to look at him with a smile and said, "Okay, I'll listen to you."
The sheep lay down after eating, and the black pig also dug a hole and lay down to bask in the sun. Sui Liang squatted beside the pig, smiled as he pulled grass and threw it on it, then put his hands on the pig's belly to keep it warm.
"Brother Liang is back." Sui Yu shouted.
Zhao Xiping whistled, and the camel, which had run away, ran back toward the light. After more than an hour, the family returned home the same way they had come.
"I'm going to the vegetable garden. You pull the clothesline and hang the mattress on it." Sui Yu instructed.
"Okay." Zhao Xiping put down the clothes basket and said, "Then I'll knead the dough?"
"Okay, the noodles you made are really chewy." Sui Yu went out with a smile. In a blink of an eye, she saw the cat official coming back with his tail dragging. She said sarcastically, "It's not even summer yet, and you're willing to come back?"
"Meow--"
The cat official's voice is weak. When people are busy with spring sowing, it is also busy sowing seeds everywhere.
Sui Liang ran out when he heard the cat's meow. Sui Yu told him to grab a handful of oil residue to feed the cat, and she went straight to the vegetable garden.
"Aunt Du, are you weeding?"
"Alas, if you bully the grass, the vegetables won't grow. Sui Yu, I have something to tell you..." Aunt Du said mysteriously. She walked to the fence and lowered her voice, "I ran into Sui Ling when I came here. She came back from somewhere, and half her face was swollen. There were obvious slap marks, and her face was scratched. You can tell a woman hit her."
Sui Yu raised an eyebrow and said calmly, "Maybe he provoked someone."
"Her mother-in-law accused her of having an affair with a strange man and was caught and beaten by another woman." Aunt Du glanced at Sui Yu and whispered, "I don't know if it's true."
The mother-in-law scolded her daughter-in-law for cheating on her husband? Sui Yu was shocked. This was the first time she saw a mother calling her son a cuckold.
"I don't know whether it's true or not." Sui Yu did not express her opinion. She squatted down to dig shepherd's purse and asked Aunt Du if there were enough vegetables at home. If not, she could come to her vegetable garden to pick them.
After digging a basket of shepherd's purse and returning home, Sui Yu called out to her sister-in-law La Mei's house, but no one answered, so she left. She returned and threw the old shepherd's purse into the pen to feed the sheep and pigs. She picked and washed the tender ones, chopped them up without removing the water, sprinkled them with salt, and mixed them with scrambled eggs.
"Sister Yu, this is incredible! Your cousin has been freed from slavery." Sister Lamei came hurriedly. "Don't be so busy. Go and ask if your family's case has been overturned. You and your brother may have been freed as well."
Sui Yu dropped the chopsticks in her hand. She didn't bother to pick them up. She walked out of the kitchen in two steps and asked excitedly, "Is it true?"
"That's true. I came back and heard the Qian family quarreling fiercely. I went to watch the fun and heard Sui Ling's words with my own ears."
"I'll go ask..." Sui Yu walked out of the door quickly, and then she started to run. For the first time, she felt that the alley was too deep. She ran so hard that her legs and feet became weak, and her heart was pounding with breathlessness.
The people who were watching the excitement outside the Qian family's door had dispersed, but those who had not left far saw Sui Yu coming and surrounded her again.
"Sui Ling, I heard you've escaped slavery, right?" Sui Yu asked as soon as he entered the room. "What about me?"
Tong Huaer also heard the news. She ignored the outsiders' eyes and asked Lao Niu to bring her over with her belly bulging. She squeezed into the crowd, her pale face full of excitement. However, the next moment, her excitement collapsed and her eyes burst into a strong hatred.
"It's just me and my brother." Sui Ling hid behind Qian Wei. She didn't dare look at Sui Yu, afraid that Sui Yu would know she was behind this. She evaded the question, saying, "It was Lord Hu who felt that you were too distant from us."
Sui Yu's heartbeat almost stopped, and her sore legs instantly lost strength. She collapsed to the ground, her eyes becoming vague and empty, and her head buzzing.
When Sui Ling saw her like this, her heart tightened and she felt a little regretful. She saw a woman with hatred in her eyes standing at the door, and she took a step back in fear.
"Let's go." Lao Niu grabbed Tong Huaer's arm and said, "I bought a chicken leg and will stew it for you when I get home."
Tong Huaer held down her chest which was about to explode, pursed her lips which were bitten until they bled, and turned to walk out. Before leaving, she glanced at Sui Yu one more time, and when she saw someone was helping her, she left with peace of mind.
Zhao Xiping half supported and half embraced Sui Yu. She didn't respond when he spoke to her. He carried her on his back and asked, "Did your brother escape slavery too? Did your sister help?"
Sui Ling nodded.
"Okay, I got it." Zhao Xiping gritted his teeth.
"Who slapped you in the face?" Sui Yu caught her breath and realized something was wrong.
Sui Ling was silent.
"Her sister beat her." The old woman watching the excitement outside the door shouted, "She said earlier that her sister beat her."
"Yes, it was my sister who hit me. She blamed me for not visiting my eldest brother." Sui Ling cried, pointing at Qian's mother and cursing, "If you hadn't stopped me, how could I have been slapped like that? Now there's a rift between us sisters. Are you satisfied?"
Mother Qian was stunned. She didn't expect Sui Ling to suddenly attack her.
Zhao Xiping didn't want to watch this farce anymore, so he carried Sui Yu on his back and left, his heavy footsteps moving in the alley. People who knew him asked Sui Yu what was wrong, but the couple didn't respond.
When she got home, Sister Lamei was teaching Sui Liang how to make dumplings. Seeing Sui Yu coming back like this, her heart skipped a beat. It was not appropriate to ask too many questions at this time, so she took the dough and filling and left in a hurry.
Sui Yu fell to the ground, and Zhao Xiping went to close the door. After the door was closed, the yard became very depressing.
Sui Yu found a stone to sit on, but she couldn't straighten her back, so she simply slid down to sit on the ground, leaned against the stone, and looked up at the sky.
Zhao Xiping didn't know what to say to comfort her. He knew best how much Sui Yu longed to be freed from slavery, and how much she expected from Sui Hui. Now that her hopes of escaping slavery had been dashed, everything she had imagined was gone. For the future, those eighteen years were empty.
Of course, he was also disappointed, and along with the disappointment came the heavy pressure that made him afraid.
The couple were each thinking their own thoughts, each in silence. The only sounds in the yard were the pigs, sheep, and camels grazing. Sui Liang clenched his hands nervously. He took small steps to Sui Yu's side, put his arms around her head, and tears streamed down his face.
Sui Yu's eyes focused, she looked at him and said, "Why are you crying? I was deceived."
Sui Liang was afraid because his aunt was like this before she hanged herself.
Sui Yu let him cry and she leaned in his arms in a daze.
Zhao Xiping stood up, washed his hands, and started rolling out the dough. He said, "Is it time to eat?"
"Eat it! I don't want to die." Sui Yu said this, but she couldn't muster the energy. After a while, she got up and started wrapping the stuffing. She looked at the two bowls of stuffing on the table, sighed, and said, "The food I sent before was fed to the dogs."
Zhao Xiping took a glance at her and knew that she was completely heartbroken this time.
The three of them sat opposite each other and made dumplings in silence, from sunset to dusk, and from dusk to dark. When the dumplings were put into the pot, it was already late at night and everyone was asleep.
Sui Yu had no appetite, but desperately wanted to eat a few more bowls of dumplings. She felt ironic when she saw this pot of dumplings and laughed at her for being a fool.
Zhao Xiping snatched her bowl away, scooped up the remaining soup in one gulp, and said, "Go to bed. You'll feel better after a good night's sleep."
Sui Yu chose to believe him. She washed herself as carefully as usual, after all, the bedding on the bed was new. Perhaps the new mattress had patches on it that she didn't like, so she tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep, and stayed awake all night until dawn.
When it was bright outside, the man got dressed and got out of bed to cook.
"Zhao Xiping, you're done. You're going to have to spend money to treat me." Sui Yu was still laughing, but the next moment she covered her chest and said, "Carry me to see a doctor. I might be pregnant. I have a headache and want to vomit. I feel uncomfortable all over."
Zhao Xiping came around the end of the bed and put his hand on her forehead, which was a little hot. He took her clothes and helped her up, asking, "When did you feel uncomfortable? Why didn't you say anything?"
She sighed all night, so he didn't notice that something was wrong with her.
As soon as Sui Yu stood up, she felt like vomiting. She hurriedly pushed the man away, turned her head and vomited, feeling so uncomfortable that tears came to her eyes.
Zhao Xiping took a deep breath, suppressed the discomfort in his heart, supported her with one hand, patted her back with the other, and said, "Brother Liang, go get a bucket of water."
Sui Liang jumped out of bed and ran out.
"You are such a loser. Not only did you waste your meal, but you also made yourself sick." The man took his clothes and wiped her.
"Don't be angry with me." Sui Yu lay down and wiped her tears. "If Sui Hui has difficulties, I understand, but she promised me, but she didn't do it and didn't give me an explanation, not even an apology. Isn't that a lie? I haven't done anything wrong to her."
Sui Liang brought some water, Zhao Xiping took it and asked her if she wanted to rinse her mouth.
Sui Yu ignored her and continued to talk to herself: "Auntie Chun said that good people will be rewarded. Am I not a good person? Or is Sui Ling a good person? I am so wronged. Damn God..."
“Bang, bang, bang—”
Someone knocked on the door, but Zhao Xiping ignored him. He handed the water scoop to Sui Liang and took off his dirty pants, intending to change into clean pants and take Sui Yu to the clinic.
"Bang, bang, bang—" The knocks on the door sounded again, and Uncle Niu shouted from outside: "Xiping, open the door."
"Here I am. Look after your sister," he instructed.
Uncle Niu heard the footsteps coming and ran away before the door opened. When Zhao Xiping opened the door, he only saw a back and two baskets of food piled at the door.
He carried the food in and said to Sui Yu, "Good people are always rewarded. Uncle Niu brought you some food. I was afraid you would starve."
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