Chapter 110: Before the troops move, the food and fodder must go first
Tong Huaer heard a knock on the door, she put down the cloth in her hand and walked out. She didn't answer, but tiptoed towards the courtyard gate and tried to see who was there through the crack in the door.
Sui Yu heard footsteps and said, "It's me."
Tong Huaer quickly walked over and unbolted the door, fearing that the people from the brothel would come again. When she was alone at home, she always tried not to open the door.
"Uncle Niu is not at home?" Sui Yu asked.
"We don't have much firewood at home. I'm watching over Ah Shui at home. He went out to collect firewood." Tong Huaer closed the door again and said, "There's a brazier in the house. Come in and sit down."
A Shui was crawling on the bed. When she saw Sui Yu come in, she opened her mouth and giggled, revealing a few small teeth.
Sui Yu smiled at her and said, "A Shui's mouth and nose look like yours."
Tong Huaer didn't say anything. She picked up the cloth draped over the head of the bed and skillfully wiped away A Shui's saliva.
"Why are you here?" She knew Sui Yu was fine and would not come.
Sui Yu's smile faded, and she said, "I went to see Aunt Chun. I plan to go to the Great Wall tomorrow. Do you have anything you want me to bring?"
Tong Huaer's hand trembled, and her finger poked into A Shui's mouth, poking the root of her teeth. She cried loudly in pain.
"Stop making noise." Tong Huaer picked her up anxiously.
The firewood in the brazier burned out, and a thick smoke rose. Sui Yu took the opportunity to walk out and said, "I'm going back first. You can bring it to me in the evening."
Tong Huaer quickly saw her out.
As night fell, Tong Huaer knocked on Sui Yu's door and stuffed a padded jacket filled with reed fluff hidden in her arms into Sui Yu's hand. Time was too tight and she had limited money, so she could only hurried to the street to buy two feet of cloth and two pounds of reed fluff to quickly sew a padded jacket.
"Don't tell your cousin about me. Help me, help me..." Tong Hua'er was choking and unable to speak. She wiped away her tears fiercely and said in a hoarse voice: "Please help me take care of Tong Ge'er. I miss him so much. Let him..."
Tears fell like broken strings. Tong Huaer covered her aching chest and couldn't speak. She took a few deep breaths and said reluctantly, "If Tong Ge'er is gone, please keep it secret from me, I... I..."
She didn't know what to say anymore.
"I understand." Sui Yu went into the kitchen and scooped a ladle of hot water, saying, "Wash your face."
Tong Huaer wiped her nose and reached out to scoop up some water to wash her face.
Sui Liang walked out of the house. Tong Huaer was about to cry again when she saw him. She wished she had never given birth to these three children. All the children who came out of her belly had a miserable life.
After drying her face, Sui Yu took out a lump of camel oil and asked her to rub it on her face. Tong Huaer waved her hand, calming herself down. She walked out with her head down, not forgetting to say, "Lock the door and don't open it at night."
Tong Huaer left, and Sui Yu bolted the door. She put down the jacket in her hand, picked up the pig feed and went to feed the pigs.
Two of the three sheep were sold, leaving only one ewe. Sui Yu scooped a ladle of pig feed for it and poured the rest to feed the pigs.
"I'll go there alone tomorrow. You can cook for yourself at home." Sui Yu told Sui Liang. She instructed, "Close the door when it gets dark. If I come back late, don't go out and wait. I'll knock on the door when I get back. Don't open the door to anyone who comes at other times."
Sui Liang nodded obediently.
The next day, as soon as it was light, Sui Yu wrapped herself in wolfskin and went out with her camel. She didn't prepare anything except a pair of straw sandals and a padded jacket.
After galloping northward for half a day against the fierce wind, Sui Yu approached the Great Wall and saw a dense crowd of people at the base of the wall. Construction on the fortifications had been suspended, and slaves were busy transporting food and fodder. The Jiduan River (now the Shule River) was wide, and the water flowed slowly in winter. Ships laden with food and fodder floated on the river, and slaves went up and down to carry bundles of bean stalks, alfalfa, and grain bags.
As soon as Sui Yu approached, she was stopped and expelled by soldiers. She explained that she wanted to visit her relatives, but the soldiers refused to pass her on and would not let her get close to look for people.
"Then when can I come over?" Sui Yu asked. She looked at the busy river and the numerous ships, and a guess emerged in her mind that a war might be about to break out.
The soldiers ignored her, and Sui Yu watched from afar until noon. She couldn't tell who was who in the dense crowd of slaves, so she had no choice but to return the way she had come.
It was still light when she got home. Sui Yu sat in front of the stove and made a fire to keep warm. She was frozen to death, and her bones were cold.
On the other side, Tong Huaer waited restlessly for a whole day. When it got dark, she couldn't stand it any longer. She hurriedly drank a bowl of porridge and found an excuse to slip out.
Uncle Lao Niu looked at her coldly, turned Ah Shui's face over and continued to feed her.
"Mom, let's go." A Shui pointed outside.
"It's not far. I'll be back soon."
"return?"
"Hmm." Uncle Niu scooped a spoonful of steamed egg and fed her, urging her, "Eat it quickly, it's getting cold."
Ah Shui opened his mouth wide and took a big gulp with a smile.
Uncle Niu was amused by her actions and immediately put Tong Huaer's abnormality behind him.
"Do you want to take this jacket back or leave it with me? I'll go there again in a few days." Sui Yu wanted to confirm whether there would be a war after the New Year.
Tong Huaer looked at the little girl in front of her, lowered her eyes and said, "Then please run again and help me see if Brother Tong is still alive."
Sui Yu rubbed her eyebrows and sighed imperceptibly. Sharing other people's emotions was quite tiring.
Tong Huaer packed a bowl of pickled cabbage and left. This was her excuse for coming here.
After locking the door, Sui Yu boiled a half-pot of boiling water to fumigate his legs and feet, and covered his face with a slightly hot cloth. His cold cheeks turned red from the heat, and Sui Yu felt much more relaxed. The coldness and melancholy accumulated in the past two days seemed to have been driven out.
For the next few days, Sui Yu stopped thinking about what had happened. She took Sui Liang shopping. At the shoe store, the siblings each bought a new pair of straw sandals. Passing by a cloth shop, Sui Yu went in and bought three feet of fine cloth, intending to go back and cut up some new pairs of underwear and sew a few replacement sanitary pads.
A vendor carrying two baskets of fur hats was calling out on the street. Sui Yu touched her ears. Having ridden a camel all day in the cold, her ears had been hot and itchy for the past two nights. She thought her frostbite was about to return. She went over to choose a fur hat: sheepskin, dog fur, rabbit fur, and even a few made from scraps of wolf fur. Sui Yu chose a gray rabbit fur hat and put it on, then tried on a wolf fur hat.
"Little sister, the wolfskin hat is big and is worn by men," said the vendor.
Sui Yu nodded, "I want to buy one for my man, how much is it?"
"A rabbit-skin hat is cheap, twelve cents a piece, and a wolf-skin hat is twenty cents a piece."
Sui Yu compared and haggled with the vendor, finally buying two rabbit-skin hats and a wolf-skin hat for forty coins. After paying, she and Sui Liang put on the hats right away, no longer worried about the wind giving them a headache.
In the next two days, Sui Yu bought peach charms, Tusu wine, peach branches and peach roots, which were necessary items for the New Year. He also bought two kilograms of pork and one kilogram of mutton. He didn't need to buy anything else.
"Little sister," a large man called out to Sui Yu. He took off his dog-skin hat and said, "Do you remember me? Last year you bought camel meat from me in the East Market, and we even discussed buying camels."
Sui Yu stared at him carefully. She still remembered the incident, but had forgotten what the man looked like.
"Brother, do you have something to ask me?"
"I'll say hello when I see you on the street. Do you still want to buy camels? I recently got two new camels, and they have good teeth."
Sui Yu thought it was okay, so she went with him to the East Market. On the way, she learned that they were going to the desert to hunt wild camels in the spring of next year. She jokingly said, "Can you bring an extra person? I'm good at archery, and I'd like to go and broaden my horizons."
The man looked her over, smiled and shook his head: "You are not suitable."
Sui Yu didn't force it. She just said it casually. She was unfamiliar with the place, so even if she had to harness wild camels, she would go out of the city with Zhao Xiping.
As he walked into the East Market, he was hit by the peculiar fishy smell of livestock. Sui Yu rubbed his nose and quickened his pace to look at the camels. Both were big camels with strong skeletons, young and strong teeth, and gentle temperaments. They were good in every way, but unfortunately they were too expensive.
Sui Yu pulled Sui Liang to leave, but the big man walked two steps forward and said, "Leave me your address and name. I'll let you know when I find a camel next year and let you choose."
Sui Yu refused, saying that the space at home was too small to keep another camel.
…
On New Year's Eve, Sui Yu put on a rabbit fur hat, wrapped herself in wolf skin again, and took the camel out. It took her another half day to reach the foot of the Great Wall. This time she was lucky because the slaves were having a meal. She said a lot of nice things to the guarding soldiers and was allowed to get closer to look for people.
The slaves had been dispersed, and Sui Yu had no idea which formation the Sui clan members were in. She asked the soldiers but to no avail. She could only take off her hat and walk along the river, hoping that others would recognize her.
Behind a sheltered rock, Aunt Chun's eldest son recognized Sui Yu. He thought for a moment, then stood up and walked over.
"Sui Yu?"
Sui Yu turned her head. The man who came was very thin and did not match the person in her memory. She could not tell who he was.
"What are you doing here? Any news about Sui Wen'an? Why didn't he come? Have you escaped slavery?"
Sui Yu shook her head and said, "I was entrusted by Aunt Chun and others to deliver something to their children and grandchildren."
"My mother?" Sui Huaiquan's reaction was a little slow, perhaps because he had been numb for too long. He didn't feel happy to hear the news about his mother, but his cold voice had a little warmth. "How is she?"
This was a long story, and Sui Yu didn't want to elaborate. She explained, "The guards will come to chase us away later. To make a long story short, are you cousin Huaiquan or cousin Huairen? These are the straw sandals that Aunt Chun made for you."
Sui Huaiquan took the string of straw sandals and said calmly, "I'm Huaiquan. Huairen is dead, my father is dead too, and only my two children and I are left alive. Where's Sui Wen'an? Do you know anything about him?"
"I don't know. I haven't had any contact." Sui Yu shook her head. She handed over the other three strings of straw sandals and said, "These were made by my Aunt Wu, Sister Tian, and my cousin. If their relatives are still alive, please pass them on to them. If not, you can make your own arrangements. By the way, is Brother Tong still alive?"
Sui Huaiquan nodded, turned his head and glanced around, then called out, "Brother Xinlin, come here."
Sui Xinlin looked at Sui Yu with a cold face. He sat there without moving. Only after Sui Huaiquan called him again did he drag his heavy steps over.
Sui Yu asked uncertainly, "Is sister-in-law Tong Huaer from your family?"
Sui Xinlin sneered.
Sui Yu pretended not to hear. She took out her jacket from her bosom and handed it to Tong Ge'er, saying, "Sister-in-law Tong Hua'er asked me to bring this to Tong Ge'er. Can I take a look at the child? His mother misses him very much."
"The children are reclaiming wasteland, not here." Sui Xinlin spoke at this point. He looked at the string of straw sandals in Sui Huaiquan's hand, and then at the new cloth jacket in his hand. He wanted to ask something, but he didn't know what to ask.
"Is a war about to start?" Sui Yu asked in a low voice, "I came here once a few days ago, but they were loading food and supplies, so I couldn't get close."
Sui Xinlin nodded woodenly, "It seems so. Has the news outside come out yet?"
Sui Yu's heart tightened. She looked at the indifferent man in front of her and asked again, "Are you going to the battlefield too?"
"Well, do you know any news about Sui Wen'an?" Sui Xinlin looked up.
Sui Yu still said he didn't know.
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