Chapter 42 Private Investigation of Sui Wen'an
Zhao Xiping left. Sui Yu and Sui Liang saw him off out of the East City Gate. They watched him pass through the gate until his figure gradually became blurred. Sui Yu then took Sui Liang's hand and walked back.
In order to drive away wolves, a copper bell was hung on the camel's neck. Amid the lonely sound of the copper bell, Zhao Xiping sat on the camel's back and looked back. He could no longer see the city gate, let alone the people standing inside.
The man pulled the reins and the camel slowed down. He thought carefully about whether there was anything he had missed. He recalled everything that could happen in a day, from getting up to cook to closing the door at night. He found that even if he forgot to explain, Sui Yu could solve it.
"drive--"
The camel began to gallop again.
After running all day against the dry and cold wind, Zhao Xiping found a farmer's house to stay at when it was getting dark. He fed the camels with hay and brought half a bucket of water. Then he took off his bag and started a fire to bake buns.
The farm boy smelled the fragrance and sneaked into the kitchen. He clung to the door frame and stared at the golden-baked buns.
"Is it delicious?" asked the child.
Zhao Xiping nodded. He thought for a moment, broke off a bun, handed it over, and asked, "How old are you?"
"Five years old."
He is one year younger than Sui Liang, but Sui Liang is about the same height as him.
"Oh, you glutton." A young woman pulled the child away with an apologetic look on her face, saying, "Sir, you sleep with my husband tonight in the west wing."
Farmers have many families but few houses. To earn money from passersby, the family members have to move around and squeeze in, freeing up half a bed. Zhao Xiping nodded. He finished two buns in a few bites and said, "Sister-in-law, I have some dry firewood. I'd like to borrow your clay pot to boil water for washing feet."
"OK."
The woman pulled the child into the house. After a while, Zhao Xiping picked up his bag and walked into the west wing wearing a wolfskin. The man on the bed was still awake and only lay down after someone came in.
It was not the first time that Zhao Xiping slept on the same bed with a man, but he was not used to hearing the snoring tonight, especially the smell of the feet stretched out to him. He felt dizzy and even thought of Sui Yu's feet.
Sui Yu was thinking about him too. The bed felt much emptier without someone else. Before going to sleep, she stuffed two hot water bottles under the mattress and pressed them against her legs to keep them warm. But the quilt wasn't as warm as sleeping with a man. Her feet were still cold after a night of sleep, and she woke twice from the cold, not the itchiness.
At dawn, Sui Yu got dressed and got out of bed to light a fire and cook. When the bean porridge was boiling, she heard voices in the alley. She called Sui Liang to watch the fire, went into the house, grabbed a handful of copper coins, took the bowl, opened the door and went to the market to buy pig's blood.
"Hey? Captain Zhao went back to his hometown to celebrate the New Year, why are you still here?" The woman carrying firewood was surprised.
"It's too cold, and we're weak. If we freeze for six or seven days on the road, we'll probably be dead by the time we get home." Sui Yu shook his head and said regretfully, "He can only go back alone this year. Next year, when he's better, we'll go back together to pay New Year's greetings to our parents."
"That's true. Mr. Zhao's hometown is not close to Dunhuang." The woman walked into the yard with the firewood and said, "What are you going to do with the bowl?"
"I bought pig's blood. Xiping said eating pig's blood can replenish blood. He told me to eat more and told the butcher to leave a bowl for me every day. Sister-in-law, let's not talk about it anymore. There's a fire at home. I need to go and come back quickly."
"Okay, then go quickly."
After Sui Yu left, the woman carrying firewood said to her mother-in-law, "Captain Zhao really loves his wife. The day before yesterday, I saw him buy a large piece of pork, estimated to be about four or five pounds. He ate it and then left." The rest was left to Sui Yu and her brother.
Her mother-in-law raised her chin and said, "Men are all about looks, and they only care about those who are good-looking but useless. The Qian family's daughter-in-law and Sui Yu are cousins. The one is pretty, and Sui Yu won't look ugly even if she gets fat. How could Zhao Xiping look at the one and not tell the other one at home to eat more?"
After hearing what the old woman said, the woman immediately gave up her envy. Using sex to seduce people would not last long.
When she saw Sui Yu again, her eyes changed, scrutinizing her. She realized that while Sui Yu was thin, her face wasn't ugly, and her neck was long. Even through layers of clothing, her neck was still visible. She glanced at herself; she'd also been wearing a lot of clothes to keep warm. She looked at herself in the water tank, looking like a radish with a demonic head.
After lunch, Sui Yu took Sui Liang out to graze the camels. Zhao Xiping rode away one camel and left another at home. Before leaving, he told her to take his beloved camel out for a run every day.
The camel was well-trained, so Sui Yu wasn't worried about it running away. She let it roam around, then led Sui Liang back to their fields. The snow had melted, its water soaking the soft soil. The millet roots and leaves buried in the ground had become soft and rotten, mingling with the soil and emitting a soothing aroma.
Sui Liang walked to the edge of the field and picked up a black bean. He placed it in his palm and looked at it. Sui Yu took a quick look and said in surprise, "Rabbit poop? Brother Liang, give it a squeeze. Is it soft?"
Sui Liang not only pinched it, but also took it under his nose and smelled it. It was smelly, so he stretched out his hand for his sister to smell it.
Sui Yu waved his hands, "Is it shit?"
Sui Liang nodded.
"Let's go back." Sui Yu wanted to catch rabbits. "It would be great if your brother-in-law was still at home. He would definitely know how to catch rabbits."
She led the camel back home, grabbed a shovel and a machete, cut up a radish, and headed out again with Sui Liang. The siblings, excited, dug a small, deep hole in their field before dark, shoveling a few sharpened branches with a machete into the bottom. Sui Yu used straw stalks to build a frame over the hole, then covered it with weeds from the field, then sprinkled a thin layer of soil on top. She placed the juicy radish right in the center.
"Let's go back. It's getting dark." Sui Yu picked up the shovel and machete, packed up and took Sui Liang away.
"We'll come over tomorrow morning when we're herding the camels. If we catch any rabbits, we'll kill them and eat half of them on New Year's Eve. We'll save the other half for when your brother-in-law comes back and have another meal."
Sui Liang smiled and nodded.
It was getting dark, and no one could be seen on the road. Sui Yu took off running, shouting into the wind: "Brother Liang, come and catch up with me. Let's see who can run faster."
Sui Liang immediately chased after them, the two siblings chasing each other, the hay stuffed in their trouser legs falling out as they ran into the military camp. By the time they reached the military camp, their trouser legs had deflated, and Sui Yu was panting heavily, holding up her trousers with her laughter that made her almost burst out.
Sui Liang didn't know what she was laughing at. He wiped away the snot blown by the wind and laughed too.
When he got home, the cat official ran out of the kitchen. It was dark and no one was home yet. He meowed anxiously.
"Okay, I know you're hungry, I'll cook right away." Sui Yu put the farm tools into the woodshed and turned to go to the kitchen to light a fire.
Flames shot up from the stove and smoke rose from the chimney, and the small courtyard shrouded in the night suddenly felt warm.
Cook two bowls of thick porridge, put the sauerkraut and pig blood stewed with leftovers from lunch on the grate to steam, and Sui Yu pushed open the grain jar and scooped out three scoops of gray flour.
"Is there any lees left... Oh, there are still quite a few." She said to herself.
Sui Liang looked up, took a glance, then looked back and continued to stare at the fire.
"Brother Liang, do you still remember your cousin?"
Sui Liang looked over again and nodded hesitantly.
"Chinese New Year is just a few days away, let's go see him." Sui Yu had already planned this. She had endured so much hardship in exile, eating well every day, and it took her half a year to recover. One could imagine Sui Wen'an's condition. Perhaps tomorrow, or the day after, he would collapse and never get up again. She would visit him once, and she didn't know when her next visit would be. A visit with all her heart would complete their fate in this life.
"Our exile has nothing to do with him, but it's his contribution that allows us to live a normal life. I'll steam a pot of buns tomorrow night, and we'll go see him the day after tomorrow." Sui Yu turned around and asked Sui Liang, "Is that okay? Are you willing to go?"
Sui Liang thought of the scene where his cousin hit his head on the city wall that night in order to ask Captain Li to save his three sisters, and he nodded without hesitation.
"Okay, we'll go quietly the day after tomorrow and not let your brother-in-law know." Sui Yu smiled slyly.
The thin noodles were prepared, and the vegetables and porridge in the pot were heated. Sui Yu scraped the porridge at the bottom of the pot, added water to clean the pot, scooped more water into the pot, and used the remaining fire in the stove to make water for washing feet.
A night passed.
After breakfast, Sui Yu and Sui Liang carried half a basket of hay and went out to graze the camels. After leaving the military settlement, the brother and sister couldn't wait to run. The hay in their trouser legs fell out again, and the camels followed behind and picked it up and ate it.
"The pit has collapsed." Sui Yu noticed it before she even got close. She dropped her basket and ran over. Before she could see clearly, she heard a noise. A gray rabbit was curled up at the bottom of the pit, still alive. Sui Yu reached out and lifted the rabbit up, only to find that it was covered in blood. The sharp stick at the bottom of the pit had pierced its stomach.
Sui Yu pulled up the stick, cut off the bloody part with a machete and put it back in. He reached down and found something wrong. There was a hole half a palm long at the bottom of the pit. If the rabbit had not been injured, it would have run away.
She cut some more sticks and inserted them in to cover the surface, then put a carrot on it and hung it up. Then she carried the rabbit away.
The rabbit was smashed to death with stones by the river. Sui Yu continued to graze the camel carelessly. At noon, he went to the edge of the field to take a look. Seeing that there was no movement, he led the camel back.
As soon as they entered the alley, the cat official jumped down from the wall of Aunt Sun's house. It walked in front of the camel with its tail erect and its belly bulging.
"The cat official caught a mouse again? How awesome." Sui Yu was already familiar with its posture.
The cat official wagged its tail and walked towards the kitchen as soon as it entered the door. It squeezed in through the crack of the door with its big belly, and soon squeezed out with half a mouse's butt in its mouth.
"Great, great." Sui Yu praised it perfunctorily. She went into the house, took a knife and cut the rabbit's skin. The rabbit's blood flowed out. The cat smelled the scent, dropped the mouse and ran over to guard it.
The rabbit skin was difficult to tear, so Sui Yu stepped on it and pulled it up. The fur on the rabbit body was torn off, but she couldn't deal with the rabbit head no matter how hard she tried. She looked at the rabbit head again and again, then glanced at the cat who had been watching nearby. She loosened her grip and the rabbit head fell into the cat's mouth.
The rabbit meat was divided into two halves, smeared with salt and hung on the wall. After Sui Yu finished steaming the buns and drained the blood from the rabbit meat, she took it down and put it in the food cabinet.
"Cat officer, keep an eye on the mice at night to prevent them from stealing food." Sui Yu was not worried about the cat stealing food. Its belly was so full that half of a rabbit head and half of a mouse's butt were hidden in the woodshed.
It was another quiet night. Sui Yu woke up from the cold in the middle of the night, wondering where Zhao Xiping had gone.
At daybreak, Sui Yu forgot all about Zhao Xiping and busied herself with cooking. Afterward, she busied herself with leading the camel out. As soon as the gate was locked, the cat official leaped onto the wall, then down again. It hurried out of the alley, and when someone approached, it ran after the camel again.
"Cat Officer, go back!" Sui Yu was anxious.
The cat didn't listen and wanted to go hunting too.
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