Chapter 24 Sui Ling, You Have No Heart
The banquet started before the sunset faded away, and it was over as soon as it got dark.
Sui Yu followed Zhao Xiping to see his uncles off. When they returned, the villagers had already helped clean up the leftovers, and the borrowed couches and bowls had been taken away by their respective families. Only two high-hanging red lanterns and the aroma of wine and meat filled the courtyard, signaling the fleeting arrival and departure of a happy occasion.
The relatives who had helped out all day were carrying the leftovers out. Sui Yu went out to see them off. She said gratefully, "For my and Xiping's wedding, you've been busy all day."
"Not tired, not tired. We are happy to attend the wedding." The food and wine were good, which was what they were most satisfied with. After working hard in the fields for a whole autumn, their stomachs were starving, so they had a good meal today.
After the people walked away, Sui Yu turned around and went back into the house. She went into the bedroom, took off her wedding dress, changed into a new set of clothes, and went out carrying the neatly folded red wedding dress.
"Second sister-in-law, I'm here to return the clothes. Should I wash them and return them to you?"
"No need to wash it, it's not dirty. Washing it too much will make it fade." Mrs. Zhao took the wedding dress and put it into the house, saying, "Let your brother sleep with Qingmiao and his three brothers tonight. Let's squeeze in."
Just then, Zhao Xiping came in from outside. Hearing this, he flatly refused: "Sui Liang will sleep with us."
Sui Yu glanced at him faintly.
Zhao Xiping didn't look at her. For the first time, he took the initiative to invite Sui Liang to wash his feet and go into the house to sleep.
Everyone else in the family stared at him. The Zhao brothers thought the third son wasn't a man. What was wrong with him sleeping with his brother-in-law on his wedding night? Mother Zhao had no expectations of Sui Yu giving birth to a child. It didn't matter whether they had a wedding night or not. She said nothing and went straight into the house.
The noises in the rooms gradually died down. The night was quiet. Sui Yu sat cross-legged on the bed and deliberately asked, "Are you still sleeping on the floor tonight?"
"Yeah." Zhao Xiping brought some hay to spread on the ground. He didn't even look at her. He spread the bamboo mat and lay down directly, facing the earth wall again.
"We're getting married." Sui Yu sighed slowly.
"Go to sleep." Zhao Xiping closed his eyes.
Sui Yu put on her shoes and stepped onto the ground. As soon as she took a step, the man sleeping on the ground jumped up like a wild donkey whose tail had been stepped on. Zhao Xiping stared at her warily and said, "Don't even think about it."
"What am I thinking?" Sui Yu asked knowingly.
"Go back to bed." Zhao Xiping stood up, glanced at Sui Liang, and said, "Close your eyes and cover your ears."
Sui Liang did as he was told, his eyeballs rolling around under his eyelids.
"I won't sleep with you, and I don't like you. It's okay for us to live an ordinary life together, but don't even think about anything else." Zhao Xiping turned his eyes away and didn't look at Sui Yu.
Sui Yu wanted to hear this. She felt happy, but then she sat back on the bed with a gloomy face and repeated dejectedly, "We are already married."
"It's not like you have to sleep in the same bed just because you get married."
"Then you have to sleep with me."
Zhao Xiping nearly choked to death. He glared at her in shock and embarrassment, scolding her, "You have no shame."
Sui Yu didn't say anything.
"I don't have that kind of interest in you, so don't dwell on it." Zhao Xiping sat down again and patiently explained, "Don't worry, I won't chase you away."
"Okay, I get it." Sui Yu dragged Sui Liang to sleep next to her and said, "Come sleep on the bed. We are not children playing house. We are just going through life. Who has one sleeping on the bed and the other sleeping on the floor? Winter is coming in a month. Can you sleep on the floor all the time?"
Zhao Xiping was worried about her, so he sat there motionless.
"I will never touch you without your consent." Sui Yu raised his hand and said seriously, "I swear."
Zhao Xiping stared at her, stood up in a compromising manner, and said, "You go to sleep first."
He put on his shoes and opened the door to go out.
As soon as the person left, Sui Yu smiled. She lay down happily and pulled the linen sheet to cover herself.
Zhao Xiping sat in the yard for a long time, staring blankly into the distance. Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind. He stood up and strode back into the house. He walked to the side of the bed and stared down at Sui Yu.
Sui Yu opened one eye and asked, "Do you regret it?"
"You did it on purpose." Zhao Xiping was not sure.
"What?"
Zhao Xiping stared at her inquiringly, making Sui Yu's hair stand on end. She mustered her courage and looked back at him, slowly unbuttoning her dress and saying, "Your mother said I have no breasts or buttocks. Look..."
Before he could finish his words, the man beside the bed turned and left. Zhao Xiping walked to the other side, choking and sitting down. The old wooden bed creaked a few times. He lay down, like a coffin, stiff at Sui Liang's feet.
Sui Yu sat up and asked, "Why don't you sleep here?"
"I advise you to quit while you're ahead." Zhao Xiping wanted to strangle her to death.
"Stinky, I care about you."
"No one would unbutton his clothes in front of his brothers." Zhao Xiping stared at her with his eyes wide open.
Sui Yu avoided his gaze, turned her head and lay down, and said vaguely: "I don't know what you are talking about."
Zhao Xiping snorted coldly.
The room fell into silence. Sui Yu was in a very good mood and covered her head to try to fall asleep. Suddenly, the bed board felt light, and then her calf was twisted hard.
Zhao Xiping was finally out of breath, and when he heard her cry out in pain, he lay down again.
"You were the one who touched me."
"I could touch you like this every day."
Sui Yu choked and had to swallow her words.
The boy sleeping in the middle pretended to be asleep without moving, with his eyes tightly closed.
When the moon climbed up to the roof, the small courtyard shrouded in the night became completely quiet, and Zhao's mother walked out of the toilet quietly.
"I didn't do anything," she told the old man. "That's good, so I don't have to give birth to a little slave."
Father Zhao didn't say anything, his eyes closed as if he was asleep.
"The stubborn third son talks a lot in front of his wife. The two of them chatted for a long time." Zhao's mother said again.
"If she wasn't smart, how could the third brother keep her?" Zhao's father sighed and said, "Forget it, children and grandchildren will have their own blessings. Let him toss around."
There's nothing I can do about it anyway.
Mother Zhao hadn't slept much in the previous two nights. Now that the dust had settled, she felt sleepy, sighed, and went to sleep.
…
The rooster crowed three times, and the sky turned from dark to light. The people in the village gradually opened their doors, and men and women carried their farm tools and went out to work in the fields. Zhao Xiping also went to the fields with his father. There were many people in the family and a lot of land, and there were still ten acres of beans that had not been harvested.
Sui Yu brought Sui Liang home to help pound millet ears. A thick layer of millet ears was spread on the flat drying yard. After drying, the donkey was harnessed to a stone mill and circled in the drying yard. People used mallets to beat those that were not crushed by the stone mill.
After an hour, the donkey was tired, so Zhao's mother asked her eldest grandson to take the donkey to eat grass, and someone else took over to pull the millstone under the sun.
The sweat dripped down and stung her eyes. Sui Yu closed her eyes, shook her head, and wiped the sweat off her face. She shook the millet stalks in her hands and continued beating in another place.
Mother Zhao would stare at her from time to time. Regardless of her identity, she had no complaints about Sui Yu's performance. She knew what was going on, was not spoiled, and was willing to work hard. She was a diligent person.
At noon, Sui Yu went back to eat. She was so tired that she couldn't even straighten her back. She walked over to Zhao Xiping and sat down, panting heavily, saying, "I'm so tired."
Zhao Xiping didn't want to pay attention to her, but when he saw her lying on his knees with her eyes closed, about to fall asleep, he said, "You should rest at home this afternoon."
"No, your mother likes a diligent daughter-in-law."
"Even if you harvest two acres of crops a day, she won't like you unless you die of exhaustion in the fields."
"Alas..." Sui Yu sighed.
"It's time to eat." Zhao Xiaomi shouted happily, "I stewed a chicken today. Brother and sister-in-law, please stay a few days. Mother will kill a chicken in two days."
"Have you harvested the crops in your fields?" asked Zhao's father.
"There are still three acres of sorghum, and the bean stalks haven't been pulled out yet." Zhao Xiping didn't hide it and said, "I'll be back the day after tomorrow after I help my family harvest the beans."
"You have your elder and second brothers, so there's no need for you to stay home. You can leave tomorrow and go back to your own business." Father Zhao waved his hand and turned to Mother Zhao, saying, "Pack two baskets of radishes we've harvested for him. Take the pickled and dried vegetables too. The wheat harvest was good this year, so give him a jar of the flour we've ground."
"I don't want it. I don't need it." Zhao Xiping refused.
"You didn't lack it in previous years, and you're still short of it this year?" Mother Zhao stared at Sui Yu coldly.
Sui Yu lowered his head and said nothing.
Zhao Xiping thought for a moment and said, "There's enough food. Just give me some vegetables."
"I'll plant vegetables in the garden when spring comes." Sui Yu followed.
"Then take some rapeseed back. I have some left." Only then did Zhao's mother look at her.
"Next year I'll buy a piglet and raise it, then sell it at the end of the year. With the money, Xiping won't be under so much pressure anymore." Sui Yu looked at Zhao's mother and said, "Mom, please keep an eye out for me. You know a lot of people, so you might know which family has good sows."
"Raising piglets is not easy. I have tried it four times and not a single one survived." Mother Zhao muttered. She, an old farmer, didn't have the ability to do it, and Sui Yu, a young lady from a wealthy family, was even less capable of it.
"You'll know only if you try it." Sui Yu insisted.
Mother Zhao glanced at the third child, and seeing that he didn't object, she changed her tone and said, "Since you're not good at farming, you can only try raising pigs. I'll help you keep an eye on it next year."
"Thank you, mother." Sui Yu smiled.
Mother Zhao stammered vaguely, thinking that her daughter-in-law was just a little sweet-talker.
After the meal, they continued to work. The donkey was tied with a rope and went to pull the stone mill. Compared with the cow, its size was a great disadvantage. In less than an hour, it was so tired that it foamed at the mouth.
"Mom, why don't you raise a cow?" Sui Yu asked.
"The government has oxen for farming, so why raise cattle? You can't sell them and you can't kill them for meat. Raising cattle doesn't make money." Zhao's mother looked at her as if she were a fool.
Sui Yu shut up and continued working.
After a tiring day in the drying yard, Sui Yu was completely exhausted. Her waist and arms ached, and she couldn't straighten her back or lift her arms. When she got home that night, she had no energy to talk, let alone please anyone. As soon as her body touched the bed, she fell asleep in a few moments.
Zhao Xiping came back from the river, opened the door and entered the house. The brother and sister on the bed were not startled at all. He felt relieved that he could have a peaceful night.
Sui Yu woke up early because she went to bed early. When Zhao Xiping got up, she heard the noise and sat up too. She asked, "When are we going back today?"
"Leave after breakfast."
"Then I'll go help with the cooking." Sui Yu woke Sui Liang up and said, "Pack your clothes, and we'll eat and then leave."
Zhao Xiping went to lead the camel back and tied two baskets of radishes on the camel's back, but before the knot was tied, he took them off again.
"No need for the radish. I'll just take some pickled and dried vegetables." He felt sorry for the camel carrying too much weight and getting sick from exhaustion after the long journey.
Everyone in the Zhao family knew that his old illness had recurred. Zhao's father said in a hoarse voice: "It's just a thing to carry things. If you really love it, you shouldn't ride on its back. You should carry it and run."
Zhao Xiping ignored him. He picked up a basket of radishes and went out, burying them one by one in the sand pit.
Sui Yu came out of the kitchen to help him, muttering, "It turns out that anyone who stays with you can't help but lose their temper."
"You can go."
"I'm not leaving. I don't want to see you regret it."
Zhao Xiping was too lazy to pay attention to her, thinking that he had to treat her like a cow, and he would be left alone when she was tired.
Two large baskets of dried vegetables were filled, and Zhao Xiping finally agreed to take two jars of pickled vegetables with him after much persuasion. Zhao's mother gave Sui Yu a large bag of vegetable seeds and said, "Grow your own next year. I won't prepare vegetables for that stubborn guy anymore."
"Okay, thank you, mother." Sui Yu collected the rapeseed and said, "Mother, please help me keep an eye out for buying piglets."
"Let's go." Zhao Xiping urged.
"I'll be right there." Sui Yu ran out quickly, stepped on his knees and hands, and climbed onto the camel's back.
Two tall camels carried people out of the village, away from the densely populated village, and onto the official road. As the whistle sounded, the camels started to gallop.
Traveling during the day and staying overnight, the post stations were closed to civilians. Zhao Xiping had no official business and could not stay at the post stations, so he could only spend the night in the villages along the way. Sui Yu roughly estimated that the round trip from Dunhuang to Jiuquan would cost a lot of money for food and accommodation.
No wonder it was difficult for ancient people to travel.
"When I'm free again, I'll open an inn in Dunhuang, specifically to provide food and lodging for passers-by." Sui Yu looked at the camels running side by side and asked the man who was pretending to be deaf and dumb, "Is this feasible?"
"I'll go ask for you in twenty years."
"You're such a killjoy..." In a blink of an eye, Sui Yu saw the winding Great Wall built against the mountain. He saw shirtless laborers carrying mud and sand, and supervisors riding on horses and shouting loudly. Curses drifted in the wind, and the smell of dust was mixed with the smell of blood.
At the foot of the Great Wall, Sui Hui picked up the spilled rice and beans. The beans and rice, mixed with ash and stained with tears, clump together in a coarse earthenware bowl like a bowl of discolored goat dung. She watched Sui Wen'an, whip-wounded as he carried rocks up the mountain. In just one month, he seemed to have aged ten years.
Sui Wen'an took advantage of the supervisor's inattention to signal Sui Hui to leave quickly.
Sui Hui sat there and quietly finished the rice she picked up from the ground. The sand and stones hurt her teeth, but she seemed not to notice and swallowed it mouthful by mouthful. After finishing the last grain of rice, she took the empty bowl and left.
"Sister, I finally got you. Can you talk to Lord Hu and let me work in the mansion? Don't you know that Qian Wei's mother..." Sui Ling was so focused on telling her grievances to someone that she didn't notice that Sui Hui's expression was wrong.
"Now that you can go out, have you visited your elder brother?" Sui Hui asked softly.
Sui Ling was stunned, "What's wrong, brother?"
Sui Hui slapped her in the face and said, "Sui Ling, you are heartless. Go away and don't come to me again."
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