Chapter 2
Chen Qing's mind went blank. He only had one thought: to support his mother. His mother was a very proud person and she absolutely did not want others to see her hysterical tantrums.
He forced himself to calm down and held Grandma Sun's hand tightly: "Mother, Mother, please calm down. Let's ask about the situation first, let's ask about the situation."
Grandma Sun gripped Chen Qing's hand tightly, and the two of them walked together to the person who had brought the message and appeared to be in charge.
Chen Qingping was usually quiet and reserved in the village. He was introverted and would avoid talking to people if he could avoid it. But today, his mother was on the verge of a breakdown, so he had no choice but to speak up himself.
"Excuse me, what's the situation with Meng Tao from Luohe Village?" Chen Qing's voice was somewhat unsteady, as if it were trembling.
"Oh, we've been looking for you." The steward held a booklet in his hand, made a mark on it, and then read: "Meng Tao of Luohe Village died in the Battle of Guping Pass in the twelfth year of Zhaohua. The imperial court has granted him a pension of ten taels of silver. Who of you will come and leave your handprint?"
The steward had already taken out a money bag from his pocket, inside which was a silver coin, exactly ten taels. Neither Chen Qing nor Granny Sun wanted to take the silver.
"Hurry up, I'm busy." Seeing that they weren't coming to pick him up, the person in charge tried to drag Chen Qing to make him make his handprint. Just as his hand was about to grab Chen Qing's arm, he was stopped by someone.
"Manager, I'll take care of it." Zhou Yuan sighed as he looked at the two people who were still in a daze.
The manager was delighted that someone had taken over this mess. He cursed a couple of times and then went off to drink tea. Zhou Yuan held out the ten taels of silver, which felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.
My condolences.
Chen Qing didn't want to take it. When he looked up and saw the person, he immediately lowered his head. Grandma Sun, who was standing to the side, looked at the money bag that her son had risked his life for and could no longer hold on. She fainted.
Chen Qing supported Granny Sun with one hand, and with the other hand, he tremblingly took the money bag. He then carried Granny Sun on his back and, following Zhou Yuan's instructions, pressed his fingerprint on the notebook.
With ten taels of silver in their pockets and carrying the heartbroken Granny Sun on their backs, amidst the joyful cries of reunion all around, the two of them stood out from the festivities.
Zhou Yuan watched their backs as their mother, her small, thin body supporting him, and wondered how difficult their future would be.
He then walked up to the government officials who had come with them. The clerk happened to be looking for him and, upon seeing him, quickly led him to the side of the village chief of Luohe Village.
"Village chief, this is Zhou Yuan. He has rendered meritorious service on the battlefield. Since there is no one in his hometown, the imperial court arranged for him to settle in the village, allocating him a house plot and five acres of fertile land."
The village chief already knew about this, so he wasn't surprised. He had already chosen the location for Zhou Yuan's homestead and tended to the empty farmland, just waiting for him to arrive.
Zhou Yuan thanked the village chief, not wanting to linger in the atmosphere any longer. He told the clerk that he was going to town to find craftsmen, since he was still staying at the town's inn and getting the house repaired was the priority.
The liveliness of the village was completely out of place for Chen Qing's family. Of the dozen or so people who went together, only Meng Tao did not return.
Chen Qing placed his mother on the bed, with the ten taels of silver in his pocket as compensation. Chen Qing felt that it was not just ten taels of silver, but also his mother's hope for the rest of her life.
Seeing that she wouldn't wake up anytime soon, Chen Qing put the money bag next to her pillow and went back to work outside. He had already finished the work in the yard; he was just doing repetitive, meaningless actions to fill the emptiness in his heart.
His impression of Meng Tao existed only in other people's words. Today, he thought Meng Tao was about to be brought to life, but he didn't expect that he had mistaken Meng Tao for someone else.
Thinking about what he had done today, Chen Qing felt so ashamed that he wanted to bury himself in his arms. While his mother was in so much pain, he had actually… had…
He found even the thought unbearable, so he pinched himself hard, released the broom, and sat weakly at the door. The sun rose and then gradually slanted westward. Aunt Sun in the room showed no sign of waking up. The food Chen Qing had prepared was repeatedly reheated and cooled.
When it was completely dark, Chen Qing carried an oil lamp and went to Granny Sun's room.
"mother."
The person on the bed didn't move at all; she looked exactly the same at noon.
"Mother, get up and have something to eat."
Chen Qing placed the oil lamp by the bedside and brought in the corn porridge he had cooked during the day, looking at Granny Sun on the bed.
Grandma Sun remained motionless.
“Mother, life goes on.” Chen Qing sat on the edge of the bed. “From now on, we’ll be like before…”
Before he could finish speaking, Aunt Sun sat up and overturned the bowl that Chen Qing had brought, spilling the porridge all over the floor.
Chen Qing knew she was upset; her eyes were lifeless. Chen Qing took her hand and said, "Mother, we still have to live our lives."
Grandma Sun could no longer hold back and burst into tears: "Why is everyone back except Taozi?"
"Why is God so cruel! I lost my husband in middle age, and now I have to bury my son!"
"Now there's no hope left, nothing left!"
She was no longer as calm as before; she went into a hysterical frenzy, smashing everything she could in the house. The anger she had been holding in was impossible to vent. After making a mess of the house, she started crying again.
Chen Qing stood in the room, quietly keeping her company.
After a while, Aunt Sun stood up, smoothed her hair, and saw the purse on the bed. She stood up, opened the purse, and took Chen Qing's hand: "You've been married into this family for five years, and you've never even seen Taozi. You've suffered so much."
She took out all the silver from her purse: "You are a good boy, and you are still young." Chen Qing was only sixteen when he came here, and now, five years later, he is only twenty-one.
"You've already wasted five years. The money isn't much, but with these ten taels of silver, you should be able to find a good place to live, whether you remarry or start your own household..."
Chen Qing returned the silver to her: "Mother, what are you saying? I'm already married into the Meng family. Are you trying to kick me out of the house?"
Grandma Sun seemed to have aged ten years overnight: "You've never even met Taozi, this marriage doesn't count."
Chen Qing shook his head: "No, Mother, we are married and we have a marriage certificate."
His words reminded Aunt Sun: "Yes, yes, there's still the marriage certificate. We need to go to the village chief's house to have it dissolved..."
As she was speaking, she tried to leave, but Chen Qing held her back tightly. Grandma Sun was not in a good mood. What she was saying and doing was exactly what she was going to do to make her last wishes. She was still thinking about how to properly settle Chen Qing's affairs.
After struggling, Grandma Sun lost her strength and cried, and Chen Qing cried too.
We weep for their painful past and their unseen future.
Seeing that Aunt Sun's emotions had stabilized a bit, Chen Qing cleaned up the mess in the house, then simply cooked a mixed noodle soup and took out an egg to steam an egg custard for Aunt Sun.
Chen Qing stared intently at Granny Sun, and only after watching her finish the porridge and steamed egg custard under the dim oil lamp did he truly feel relieved.
That night, Chen Qing didn't dare go back to his room to sleep. He stood guard at Grandma Sun's door, dozing off intermittently, afraid that if he fell asleep, Grandma Sun would do something foolish.
The next morning, Aunt Sun got out of bed, opened the door and saw Chen Qing curled up asleep at the door. Her heart ached, and she squatted down to look at Chen Qing's still somewhat childish face.
She remembered that day in town, she happened to run into a human trafficker, and the first thing she saw was Chen Qing, with his tender little face. When he was surrounded by onlookers, he almost lowered his head to the ground. Everyone around said that Chen Qing was not worth three taels of silver, but she still took Chen Qing home.
For the past five years, the two of them have depended on each other for survival, and she has long regarded Chen Qing as her own child.
Is he sleeping here to keep watch over her because he's afraid she'll do something foolish tonight? What a silly child. What will Chen Qing do if she really dies? He's not from this village, and now he's a widow. How will he live without her?
Grandma Sun gently patted Chen Qing's head, and Chen Qing suddenly woke up. Still in shock, he saw Grandma Sun squatting next to him.
Chen Qing immediately got up, but his legs had been bent all night and were now completely numb.
Grandma Sun helped him up: "Go and rest, I'll go make breakfast."
“Mother…” Chen Qing looked at her, somewhat afraid to let her out of his sight.
Grandma Sun patted his hand, her voice still choked with emotion: "Don't worry about me, go get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll go to the neighboring village and find someone to cook the feast. We have to, we have to make sure Taozi has a grand burial."
Chen Qing nodded, leaned against the wall, and returned to his room, looking back every few steps.
He couldn't sleep at all. Looking around the room, he saw that it used to be where Meng Tao lived, and many things had been added after Chen Qing came.
The bamboo blinds he wove himself have turned from fresh green bamboo to a dry yellow. The bed is spotless, with not a single wrinkle on the sheets, showing how hardworking the owner is.
On the right side of the room was a large camphor wood wardrobe, divided into two sections. The inner section and most of the outer section were filled with Meng Tao's clothes and other items, leaving only a small empty space for Chen Qing's underwear and a few winter coats.
On the shelf above the bed was a box made by Aunt Sun for their wedding. Inside were some clothes Chen Qing would wear recently, as well as some needles and thread. In the winter, when they didn't have to farm, Chen Qing would embroider some handkerchiefs to exchange for pocket money in town.
Chen Qing rubbed his numb legs and watched as Aunt Sun lifted the bamboo curtain and came in, cooking him a poached egg.
Chen Qing stared wide-eyed at the poached egg in the bowl: "Mom, what's this?"
Grandma Sun smiled and said, "We're just a widow and her child, there's no need for us to be so frugal. Living a good life is more important than anything else."
Under Aunt Sun's loving gaze, Chen Qing ate the poached egg. Aunt Sun then cleared away the bowl: "Did you choose the seeds yesterday?"
Chen Qing nodded.
"I'll go up the mountain in a bit and plant the seeds in that plot," said Aunt Sun. "You stay home and get some sleep, then come back when you wake up."
Chen Qing was a little taken aback for a moment, not expecting his mother to have recovered from the grief of losing her son so quickly. He didn't dare let his mother go out alone: "Shall we go now?"
Grandma Sun couldn't dissuade him, so in the end she had no choice but to go with him. They still carried baskets and buckets on their backs and went up the mountain.
As they passed by the homes of several families in the village, they could still hear lively sounds coming from inside. It was people returning from the battlefield telling their families about the dangers and hardships they had endured.
Chen Qing turned to look at Granny Sun, who simply lowered her head and quickened her pace.
The two worked efficiently and quickly planted all the seeds in the plot. Because it was mountainous and there had been no rain in the past few days, Chen Qing and Aunt Sun carried water from the Luo River up the mountain and watered all the seeds.
People on the mountain were working hard, while those at the foot of the mountain were beaming with joy.
Zhou Yuan found a craftsman to draw up the house plans for him and planned to start building the house soon. The village chief hesitated in front of him, but Zhou Yuan knew what he meant. He just said that he could find someone in the village to help, and he would provide a meal and pay him twenty coins a day.
After settling these matters, Zhou Yuan prepared to return to the town from the village. In the distance, he saw the mother-in-law and son-in-law from yesterday carrying water up the mountain.
That husband, so small in stature, could actually walk steadily on this narrow path while carrying water.
He watched for a while longer, until the figure was out of sight, before leaving the village without looking back.
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