Chapter 23 Don't Let Me Down
"Grandma, he's a mute." Zhao Qingmiao dragged Sui Liang in and shouted, "Grandma, he can't speak."
Sui Yu heard the sound and went over to pull Sui Liang. He forcefully pried Zhao Qingmiao's hands apart and explained, "Brother Liang will be able to speak when he grows up."
Zhao Qingmiao sneered at her, and then saw his third uncle staring at him. He lowered his head in embarrassment. This third uncle who rarely came home had killed someone, and he had always been afraid of him.
"What do you mean you can't speak?" Mother Zhao came over and stared at Sui Yu and her brother with her old eyes.
"Sui Liang can't speak," Zhao Xiping explained. Seeing the child blush, he added, "Not being able to speak doesn't affect his work. He can do anything from harvesting millet to picking soybeans."
Mother Zhao glanced at Sui Liang and Sui Yu's hands, which were covered with scabby bloodstains. They looked like they were often working in the fields. She said nothing more. After all, Sui Liang didn't matter to her. As long as he wasn't disabled or stupid and could work, it didn't matter whether he could speak or not.
"Mom." Sui Yu called softly.
Mother Zhao looked at her coldly and said nothing.
Sui Yu looked towards Zhao Xiping. He raised his eyebrows. What was she looking at him for? Wasn't she very proud at home?
Zhao Xiaomi slipped back in again. She looked around and broke the silence in the room with a cry: "Mom, my third brother is back. Do you want to buy some meat? The butcher is touring the village."
"Eat, eat, eat! All you do is eat." Zhao's mother started cursing, veiledly accusing him of something else: "You're disobedient and still want to eat meat! I'm going to kick you out with a club. I'd rather not even give you cow dung to eat. Don't come back."
Zhao Xiping turned a deaf ear to this. He turned around, took out a coin from the bag on the camel's back, threw it to Xiaomei, and said, "Use it to buy meat. I'm hungry."
Zhao Xiaomi picked up the copper coin and ran away laughing. When four or five children in the yard saw this, they ran out. They didn't care what happened at home. They just thought that their uncle was a good person because he gave them money to buy meat.
"Let's cook." Zhao's father, who was squatting at the foot of the wall, spoke up. "After dinner, I'll go inform the villagers. You guys can tidy up at home. This is the matter anyway. Don't embarrass yourself in front of outsiders."
He was the head of the family. Once he spoke, Zhao's mother would not say a word even if she had any objections.
Mrs. Zhao Dasao and Mrs. Zhao Ersao walked into the kitchen. On weekdays, when there were no guests at home, they would not cook at noon.
"Mom, what are we cooking?" asked Mrs. Zhao.
"Make a pot of dumpling soup and buy some meat for dinner." Zhao's mother was so angry that she crossed her legs. She stared out the door and muttered, "Tell me, what does the third son see in her? She looks so unlucky."
Seeing that the marriage was already a done deal, Mrs. Zhao and Mrs. Zhao stopped responding to her. Now that the man was married, they would not play the bad guy. Mr. Zhao was not a good person to deal with. If he got upset one day and remembered it, he would be so angry and say a few mean words that would make them feel uncomfortable for half a year.
"Should I go in and help?" Sui Yu asked Zhao Xiping for his opinion.
"What do you think?"
Sui Yu shook her head. He led the camel out, and she pulled Sui Liang along with him, saying, "Then we'd better not go. Mother is upset, so let her scold to her heart's content. I won't go over and get in the way."
"Lao San, where are you going?" The neighbors in the alley thought he was leaving.
"Take the camel to graze."
"Oh, is it time for your wedding?" The person who spoke turned his gaze to Sui Yu and asked, "Where are you from, young lady?"
"From Jiangnan." Sui Yu said in a low voice.
"The banquet will be held in two days, Fifth Brother, come over and have a drink then." Zhao Xiping replied.
Sui Yu felt at ease.
When he left the village and came back, most of Zhao Xiping's relatives knew that he would hold a banquet to find a wife in two days. Before Zhao's father went to inform them, anxious people had already come to ask about it.
"The third son's wife was dragged down. Her father did nothing wrong. He was exiled here because the third son took pity on her. With Shangguan as a matchmaker, he brought her back." Father Zhao gritted his teeth and swallowed the bitterness. He was worried to death, but he had to put on a smile to save face and not let outsiders laugh at him.
"That girl is from a good family. If she hadn't been unlucky, she wouldn't have gotten the chance to marry the third son, right?" He used the old woman's words to deceive people. "To put it bluntly, if her family was still there, no one would look down on the third son even if he married into the family."
"Exiled? A convict?" Zhao Xiping's grandfather, a frail old man, stroked his sparse beard and spitted as he said, "Convicts are not allowed to marry. Our ancestors, going back four or five generations, have all been innocent."
The smile on Zhao's father's face froze. He was just wondering what to say when Zhao's mother came out of the kitchen and started talking nonsense: "The third son's wife has a relationship with a high-ranking official. Her slavery is only for a year or two, or three years."
She spoke vaguely, but the listeners believed her. "Is that so? As long as Xiping isn't a confused child, that's all that matters."
There is no one more confused than him. Mother Zhao almost fainted from anger.
Outside the gate, Sui Yu looked up at the man two steps away from her and said with a smile, "Our parents are quite interesting."
Zhao Xiping thought she was mocking him and didn't even raise his eyelids. Hearing footsteps coming out, he swung his long arm and pulled Sui Yu and her brother and sister to hide behind the wall.
"If she can't escape slavery in two or three years, I don't think you'll be able to make excuses." Zhao's father blamed Zhao's mother for being too harsh.
"The two places are hundreds of miles apart. If we don't tell anyone, who would know?" Zhao's mother already had an idea in mind, a countermeasure. She naturally accepted what she had previously considered shameful. Seeing the person coming in, she instructed, "From now on, Third Brother, when you come back alone, don't say anything nonsense when the clan members ask you about it."
Zhao Xiping knew his parents' character. They valued face all their lives, hiding broken arms in their sleeves. They argued at home but pretended to be friendly when they left the house. He didn't like this behavior, but he couldn't change it, so he ran away when he could, returning two or three times a year to keep them both company.
"Okay." He agreed aloud.
"Mom, you are right. Captain Li of Yumen Pass is a classmate of my uncle, but the relationship between our two families is not very deep." Sui Yu said.
"Really?" Zhao's mother walked away and then came back.
Sui Yu pretended not to see Zhao Xiping's glare and nodded, saying, "Absolutely true."
Mother Zhao felt relieved. She was just worrying about which high-ranking official she could ask the third son's wife to establish a relationship with.
"Mom, the dumpling soup is ready." Zhao Xiaomi rushed out from the kitchen.
"Eat, eat." Zhao's mother said.
Sui Yu raised her foot to follow, but the next moment, her foot was stepped on. She whispered, "I'm trying to please my mother. Don't worry. We're so far apart. Even if she says I'm Li Duwei's biological daughter, the news won't reach Yumen Pass."
"I really want to strangle you to death." Zhao Xiping snorted coldly.
"Let's go and eat. Aren't you hungry?" Sui Yu smiled at him.
The atmosphere of this meal was better than Sui Yu had expected. Although no one paid attention to her, no one scolded her either.
"Third sister-in-law, this is the house my third brother lived in when he was at home. Mother said you should sleep here at night." After dinner, Zhao Xiaomi led Sui Yu to clean up the old house.
"Where is your third brother?" Sui Yu asked.
Zhao Xiaomi didn't know. She saw Sui Yu didn't bring any bags, and her clothes were old, torn, and covered in patches. She leaned closer and asked, "Sister-in-law, didn't my third brother buy you some cloth to make new clothes?"
Sui Yu rubbed the corner of his clothes and whispered no.
"I'm going to find mother." Zhao Xiaomi jumped out like a monkey. She ran into the main room and said, "Mom, my third sister-in-law has no clothes to wear. Third brother, didn't you buy her new clothes?"
Zhao Xiping was stunned for a moment. He had never noticed this.
"I'll go to the city to buy it," he said.
"Second son's wife, lend her your red wedding dress for a day." Zhao's mother said, "It's only for one day, there's no need to spend money on it."
"Remember what I told you, don't exaggerate." Zhao Xiping warned again, then turned and went out to find Sui Yu. "Come on, I'll take you and Sui Liang to the city to buy some clothes."
"Don't buy a red wedding dress. Your second sister-in-law's will be yours." Zhao's mother chased after him and reminded him.
Sui Yu nodded, "I understand."
After the others left, Zhao's mother walked into the main hall. She sat cross-legged on a bamboo mat and said, "It seems that the third son doesn't care much about her. He didn't even notice that she had been wearing tattered clothes for a month."
"Then he has to marry her?" Mrs. Zhao didn't understand.
"Who knows what got him so confused? He just likes to go against people." Thinking of this, Zhao's mother was angry again. She didn't let him join the army to fight, but he climbed over the wall and ran away in the middle of the night. After running for half a month, he asked someone to send a message back saying that he was going to fight the Huns when he was about to go to the battlefield.
…
It was already dark when Sui Yu and Sui Liang bought new clothes and came out of the city. When they returned home, the Zhao family had already eaten and left three bowls of rice warm in the pot for them, as well as a plate of stewed meat with radish.
Zhao Xiping lit the oil lamp and squatted in the kitchen to eat. He said honestly, "Nothing is as good as your cooking."
"Where are you sleeping tonight?" Sui Yu asked suddenly.
The man was silent. There were three generations of grandparents and grandchildren in his family, and many children, so there was no extra empty house.
"If you don't want to sleep with me, then sleep on the floor under my bed." Sui Yu lowered her voice and begged, "I wonder what your mother will think if you sleep on the floor in the main room."
Zhao Xiping chewed a radish and stared at her, wondering, "Sleeping with you? How did you say that? Didn't you blush?"
"What are you thinking about?" Sui Yu said with a hint of laughter, "I have Liang Ge'er in my bed."
In terms of words, Zhao Xiping was not as bold as her. He lowered his head to eat and ignored her.
"Or do you want to be a fake couple with me?" Sui Yu asked as he got closer.
Zhao Xiping stood up quickly, put down the bowl and stopped eating.
When Sui Yu washed the dishes and returned to the house with the oil lamp, he saw that he was already lying on the ground. There was hay on the ground and a bamboo mat on the grass. He was neatly dressed and sleeping with his head tilted and facing the wall.
"Thank you," she said again.
"Stop talking nonsense." Zhao Xiping didn't fall for her.
Stop talking nonsense… Sui Yu repeated it in a strange manner, but did not dare to make any sound. She blew out the oil lamp in one breath, fell on the bed, closed her eyes and went to sleep.
The room was filled with three breathing sounds. Zhao Xiping was the least used to it, but Sui Yu and Sui Liang were fine. One had no distractions, and the other knew that Zhao Xiping had no distractions. The brother and sister fell asleep after a while.
After his breathing became steady, Zhao Xiping turned over and sat up. He stared at the bed, and only fell asleep when he felt sleepy.
…
In a blink of an eye, two days passed and Zhao Xiping's family became busy. Old man Zhao invited a cook, and cousins came to help wash vegetables and dishes. Those who came to help also brought a low couch. The yard was covered with a mat made of sorghum stalks, and the old and children sat on it to chat.
Sui Yu put on Zhao Ersao's red wedding dress. When she borrowed clothes in the morning, she stuffed twenty cents of wedding money into the dress. The person who was originally reluctant immediately smiled.
Weddings in the countryside didn't follow the same rules as those held by wealthy families. Sui Yu had already been staying there for two days, and she hadn't had to deal with the tedious details of renting a room for the wedding. She simply sat in her own bedroom all day, listening to the people in the courtyard discuss her. When the evening meal began, Zhao Xiping, dressed in his wedding gown, opened the door, and she followed him out to eat.
"Is Sui Ling's wedding banquet also held in this way?" Sui Yu asked in a low voice.
"Um."
"oh."
"The bride and groom are here, come and pay your respects to heaven and earth." shouted an uncle.
"Bow to Heaven and Earth"
"Second bow to parents"
"Couple Worship"
"The ceremony is over——"
Sui Yu heard himself sighing, and his tense heart finally settled down, while his uncertain fate took root a little deeper.
She reached out and grabbed Zhao Xiping's hand. He tried to break free, but she held on tightly and said seriously, "I begged for this marriage. I will treat you well from now on, and you must not let me down."
Zhao Xiping didn't move and let her hold his hand.
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