Chapter 186 The Guest House Collapsed
Xiao Chunhong and Liuya fetched water to wash the three little slaves clean, cut their hair short and shaved it off if it had lice, and threw their tattered clothes in a corner. After washing them, they mended the ones that could be mended, and cut up the ones that could not be mended to mend shoes.
Uncle Niu brought two sets of old clothes that Ah Shui no longer wore, and Sui Liang brought one of his own old clothes. After being modified by Meng Ma, the three little slaves put on winter clothes that fit well and were warm.
"What are your names? How old are you?" Sui Liang asked.
"My name is Da Zhuang, and I don't know how old I am." The boy named Da Zhuang is a little silly, and you can tell by listening to him speak. His voice is dull and there is no cleverness at all.
"How many times have you seen snow?" Sui Yu asked, "Do you remember who left you in the desert?"
Dazhuang couldn't remember how many times he had seen snow. He murmured, "I used to live in a village. This spring, my mother took me away and we followed a caravan. But my mother died of illness, and the caravan didn't want me anymore."
Except for the ignorant children, everyone else understood. Dazhuang's mother was probably bought by the caravan. After she became pregnant and gave birth, she placed him in a farmer's home. Then she followed the caravan again and didn't take him away until he was older. Unfortunately, he was unlucky and died of illness on the way. The caravan refused to take this fatherless and mentally retarded child and abandoned him in the desert to fend for himself. Fortunately, he was lucky enough to meet a wandering knight.
"He's not too stupid. He can understand what people say and can work. He'll grow up if he's fed." Uncle Niu was afraid that Sui Yu and Zhao Xiping would dislike this silly boy, so he chimed in, "This is your little master. Call him cub. From now on, you stay with him. Don't let outsiders take him away. Take good care of him, and his parents will make sure you have enough to eat and you won't be cold."
Da Zhuang was originally wondering why he couldn't let anyone hold him, but when he heard that he could have a full meal, he quickly ran to the cub and stared at him without blinking.
Others: ...
"My name is A Qiang. I don't have a father, only a mother. My mother died of illness, and I was driven out. When I was fighting with a dog for food, an old man chased the dog away and asked if I wanted to go with him. So I did," A Qiang said softly. "I was six years old."
"I'm six years old too, and my name is Ah Shui." Ah Shui squatted on the ground, holding his face in his hands, and said, "We are the same age and have similar names. What month were you born? I was born in August."
A Qiang shook her head, she didn't know.
Uncle Lao Niu pulled his daughter's pigtails. He looked at A Qiang and thought that if A Shui didn't have him as a father, she would have been a miserable little girl.
"You will be responsible for making fire and picking vegetables in the future." Sui Yu made arrangements. This girl is not suitable to walk in front of people, so as to avoid hearing people talking about her.
"What about you?" Xiao Chunhong pushed another little girl.
"My name is Hua Niu, and I live in Xiaohetun. My brother and I went to dig scorpions, and he was bitten by a snake and died. So my father sold me." Hua Niu said dejectedly.
Zhao Xiping frowned. Xiaohetun was just outside the west city gate. Hua Niu must have gone into the desert with her brother to catch scorpions, and encountered sand snakes, resulting in one death and the other being sold.
"Are you going back?" Sui Yu asked.
Hua Niu shook her head. She ran back once, but her father beat her again and sent her to a pawnshop. She was beaten again at the pawnshop, and the pain was so severe that she didn't eat for three days and almost starved to death.
"Okay then. From now on, you'll be responsible for feeding the chickens and collecting eggs." Sui Yu breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was arranged. She said to Xiao Chunhong, "Go find them a place to stay. There's no need to clear out another guesthouse. Da Zhuang can sleep on the mud couch where Gan Da and Gan Er sleep, and you can take care of the two little girls."
Xiao Chunhong nodded.
"I am taking care of the guests' house with the children, so I don't have the extra energy to discipline A Qiang and the others. You can teach them while you are at it and don't let the two girls grow up astray." Sui Yu added.
Xiao Chunhong, Liu Ya and the others nodded.
Lunch was ready and the merchants came to eat. Liu Ya and Xiao Chunhong took the three little slaves away first so that they would not stand in the yard and cause trouble.
Zhang Shun came back carrying firewood and met someone. He glanced at the three bald children and asked, "Where did they come from? Did the master buy these little slaves?"
"This is the slave I bought for the young master. I guess these two were bought by the mistress out of pity." Xiao Chunhong pointed. She tapped Hua Niu on the head and warned, "You are lucky to have met the mistress. As long as you are diligent and behave yourself, you won't be beaten or punished. Your parents sold you, so don't worry about it. You will be the master of this place from now on."
Hua Niu nodded repeatedly, "I know. My uncle told me that if I become a slave, I will have no home."
Zhang Shun glanced at the kitchen yard and strode in carrying a bundle of firewood.
After him, Qingshan, Erhei and ten other male slaves also came back with a load of branches each. They went up the mountain to chop firewood for half a day, which was enough for the family to burn for a day.
After lunch, the kid fell asleep. Zhao Xiping called Dazhuang to watch over the bed, and he sat outside the door to wash clothes.
A basin of clothes was washed clean and hung in the yard to drain. The little boy woke up. He opened his eyes and saw Dazhuang. He rolled his eyes around but didn't say a word.
Da Zhuang didn't say anything either. He stared at the kid with his fingers pinched. His eyes were sore, so he rubbed them and continued to stare.
It was only when Zhao Xiping came in that the strange scene was broken.
"From now on, when the little one wakes up, you go out and call for help. Call me, his mother, or his uncle." Zhao Xiping patiently taught him, "Didn't I tell you before? The little one should call me when he wakes up. Why didn't you call me?"
Da Zhuang scratched his head and said, "He didn't cry."
Zhao Xiping dressed the cub, held him in his arms, and took Dazhuang out. He pointed out to the silly boy who could hold the cub, "Now make sure. If anyone else holds the cub except the one I point out to you, you will shout loudly that someone is trying to steal the child."
Da Zhuang understood now.
"You can't eat anything given by someone you don't know, and you can't give it to your child," Zhao Xiping added.
Dazhuang nodded.
In order to confirm whether he really remembered it, when Huang Lianzheng came to deliver food and fodder in the evening, Zhao Xiping repeated a few words to him and asked him to help test it.
Huang Lianzheng took the chicken leg and said, "Since you're going to spend money to buy a slave, why not buy a normal person?"
"If I find one, I'll buy it. If not, forget it." Zhao Xiping said casually, "I just want a babysitter, and the most important thing is that she's obedient."
Huang Lian was confused. He bought a fool and it would be hard to sell him later. He took the chicken leg and went out for a walk. When Da Zhuang was sweeping the floor, he walked over and said, "I'm full. This chicken leg is for you."
Dazhuang looked up, his eyes fixed on the greasy chicken leg, swallowing his saliva greedily, but still remembered what his master said, not to eat anything given by someone he didn't know.
"Hey, if you don't want to eat it, then throw it to the dog. Dahei, come here." Huang Lianzheng shouted.
The big black dog came over and wagged its tail at Huang Lian. Like Da Zhuang, it stared at the chicken leg with its eyes wide open and drooling.
Huang Lian was biting a piece of chicken leg and spitting it out to the dog. Da Zhuang was so anxious that he rubbed his pants frantically. Seeing the dog eating the meat, he also swallowed it.
"Do you want to eat it? If not, I'll feed it to the dogs." Huang Lianzheng shook the chicken leg.
Da Zhuang walked away with a broom in his hand. He walked too fast and his left foot stepped on the heel of his right foot, causing him to fall with a "bang".
Zhao Xiping was satisfied. To reward Dazhuang, he let Dazhuang eat the egg custard that the little one had not finished.
"Remember, don't let strangers hold the cub, and don't let the cub eat food given by them." Zhao Xiping instructed.
Da Zhuang nodded and said stupidly, "I don't want to eat it either."
"Yes, you don't eat either."
…
The next morning, Huang Lianzheng brought new clothes and shoes made by Xiaomi for his parents. Zhao Xiping took some dried chickens and ducks, a hundred coins, and enough dry food and followed the caravan out of the city.
Sui Yu took the cub to see him off. As they watched the camel go away and the waving figure became blurred, the cub realized belatedly that his father had left again.
Hearing the child crying in his arms, Sui Yu suddenly realized: "Your father has a mouth full of nonsense, and you can't say it. He discusses nonsense with you, and I am the only one who believes it."
The kid hugged Sui Yu's neck and cried, but Sui Yu didn't comfort him. He carried him and rode the camel back to the city. The hawking sounds in the city soon drowned out the child's crying.
The boy looked over with tearful eyes and suddenly saw a fat black dog being sold on a leash. He pointed at the dog and yelled.
Sui Yu paid for the puppy. She held the puppy in her arms, and the puppy hugged the dog. The two of them and the dog slowly walked back to the guesthouse.
Da Zhuang and the big black dog were lying on the haystack, watching the people coming in and out of the guesthouse. When the big black dog jumped down, he reacted and chased the dog to greet the young master.
With a playmate and a puppy, the puppy attracted A Shui and the big black dog. The little cub forgot his father in an instant. He was busy competing in crawling with Da Zhuang, combing the dog's hair with A Shui, and imitating the big black dog to lick the little black dog's hair.
Ah Shui stopped him and said, "Little fool, you are a human being, you can't lick dog hair."
"I'm stupid, but the kid isn't." Dazhuang stepped forward, "The kid is good-looking."
Ah Shui rolled his eyes, "You are the big fool, and the little one is the little fool."
"It's not good to be stupid. I don't like anyone." Da Zhuang waved his hands and insisted: "I am stupid, but the kid is not stupid."
A Shui stopped talking and gave the small wooden comb to Da Zhuang to play with.
When Sui Yu saw the dirty cub, he would brush off the dust from him and pinch his ears in disgust. When Sui Liang saw the cub, he would happily hold him up. When Uncle Niu saw the cub, he would tease him. When Xiao Chunhong saw the cub, he would mischievously call him "little master". When the merchants saw the cub, they would tease him by calling him "little shopkeeper". Influenced by what they saw and heard, Da Zhuang learned to carry the cub on his back to play, brush off the dust from him, and stop him from eating things he picked up from the ground.
The little boy became the happiest child, smiling even when he slept. Zhao Xiping's departure from home would only make him feel lost for a moment when night fell.
Late one night, snowflakes fell silently from the sky. When morning came, the sky and the earth were all white.
The caravans that did not have time to leave stayed there, the caravans that had not gone far hurried back, the caravans in the desert rushed into the customs, and the people scattered everywhere were forced under the eaves by the ice and snow, and only the chirping of birds was left in the snow.
With a whoosh, the arrow flew off the bowstring, the black bird in the snow fell to the ground, and the nearby birds took off.
The big black dog took the little black dog to bring back the prey, and the hunters changed places with their bows and arrows.
Sui Yu adjusted the little boy's hat and asked, "Little boy, are you cold?"
The cub was not cold. He was tied in Sui Yu's arms, covered in a sheepskin coat, with a wolfskin hat on his head and a soft cloth wrapped around his face. Only his eyes were exposed to the cold wind.
Dahei caught up with the crowd with the bird and the feather arrow in his mouth. The little cub looked down with his eyes wide open, and when he saw Zhang Shun taking the bleeding bird, he exclaimed "Wow" in surprise.
Zhang Shun smiled and said, "When will you be back, sir?"
"I'll be back when the weather clears up." Sui Yu kicked the snow and said, "I'll be back before the New Year anyway."
Suddenly, there was the sound of hooves from the west. Sui Yu turned around and looked, and the others also turned their heads to look. In the snow, someone was riding a camel towards them.
The big black dog stared vigilantly. When the camel came closer, it wagged its tail twice and curled its ears.
"It seems to be someone we know." Xiao Chunhong said.
It was Qingshan who came over on a camel. Without waiting for the camel to stop, he shouted at the top of his voice: "Master, the house on the other side of the river has collapsed."
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