They carried it into the small house, where the furniture was very old, perhaps even older than Li Sheng. He even saw a chamber pot.
Many things were patched up and hammered together to make do. The layout of this house, like the village and the people in it, is out of touch with the times.
At first glance, the youngest person here is the old man whose portrait, now faded to black and white, is displayed in the main hall. He is an elderly man with his hair in a bun and wrapped in a headscarf, probably in his sixties. He must be the partner of the old man from earlier.
However, the room was clean and tidy, and a bottle of white wine on the table had a bunch of wildflowers stuck in it.
Several dark-skinned men carried Li Sheng to the bed, whispered a few words, and then one of them ran out.
Sangsang was sleeping in the next room. It was only just dawn when she heard so many people coming to her house; something must have happened. She pressed her ear against the wooden door, listening intently to the village elders' conversation.
It was quite strange. They said a city man with a baby had come down from the mountain. She had never seen a city man before, but she had seen men from the town when she went to school there as a child.
She also heard that her grandfather wanted this person to be his man, without even asking if she was willing. No, she had to go and see for herself.
She neatly braided her hair with a red rope, came out of the room, and stared at the man on the bed.
The girl who suddenly appeared stared at him without any attempt to hide her gaze, and Li Sheng felt offended.
The girl in front of me was dressed in a distinctive regional style, with patterns that seemed to be unique to her. Her skin was not fair but rather dark brown, yet flawless. She had beautiful, three-dimensional features, especially her clear and bright eyes, a true gem of the mountains.
The long, jet-black braids hang down from one side; with this hair quality and volume, there's absolutely no need to worry about going bald.
Mr. Li couldn't help but exclaim, "How did you take such good care of your hair? It's really great!"
He'll ask for advice sometime in the future, and raise his own daughter so she can grow into a great beauty.
Sangsang had studied in the town for half a year when she was a child. Although many years had passed, she could still speak and understand Mandarin. She blushed instantly when she heard the man on the bed praising her.
However, due to his dark skin, it was difficult for people to notice anything unusual.
She answered Li Sheng's question with a hint of shyness: "Sometimes I use tea cakes, sometimes I use rice water, and in the autumn I use rice straw burned to ashes to wash my hair."
Sang Sang's Mandarin was a little halting, but her voice was pleasant and gentle.
Li Sheng was thrilled to hear that the girl in front of him could communicate with him in Mandarin.
A series of questions were asked: "What's your name? Can you speak Mandarin?"
"Where is this? How far is this from the city?"
...
Before Sangsang could even answer Li Sheng's question, the old man who had just discovered him interrupted her, talking to her at length. As he spoke, Sangsang became increasingly embarrassed, lowering her head and turning her ear tips a dark red. She would occasionally reply with a few words, but when she looked at Li Sheng again, her eyes had changed.
I became a little embarrassed.
Ada and the surrounding villagers also wanted to know about Li Sheng's situation and how he got here, so they asked Sangsang to translate it into Mandarin for him.
“My name is Aksangsang, you can call me Sangsang. This is my grandfather, who is the village chief here. My grandfather asked me to ask you what your name is, where you are from, why you came here, and why you were injured.”
It's understandable that others want to know about his situation, but he doesn't intend to tell the truth. Even if he did, the people here probably wouldn't understand, so it's better to keep it simple.
He won't stay here long. When he gets his bonus, he'll give the village chief some money and supplies as a way of repaying him.
“My name is Li Sheng. I took my child to play in the mountains. We got lost and wandered in the mountains for many days. We even encountered wild animals. It was not easy for us to get out.”
After saying that, he also praised the girl in front of him, who looked to be about sixteen or seventeen years old. He was glad to have someone to talk to and wanted to build a closer relationship with her.
"You are very beautiful, and your name is also very nice. Thank you for your help. I may have to bother you for a while. I will repay you when I recover."
Upon hearing this, Sangsang instantly felt a surge of heat throughout her body. It was the first time a man had ever complimented her like this, praising her beautiful name and her looks.
She looked at the man on the bed, who was carrying a doll. The doll looked so beautiful. She thought her doll would be just as beautiful in the future. She agreed. She felt she could do it.
Mustering up his courage, he said, "Then I'll call you Brother Sheng from now on."
The relationship has been successfully established, and with such a beautiful young translator, things should be much easier for him here.
"Of course you can. I hope you won't mind if I call you Sangsang. It's a nice way to pronounce it, and I think that's how the old men pronounce it too."
"The person next to me is my daughter, named Tuantuan, nicknamed Naituan."
Upon hearing the sound, the little girl quickly and sweetly called out, "Aunt Sang Sang."
However, Li Sheng corrected him: "The little girl calls Sang Sang sister."
Milkball: "But wouldn't that mess up the generational hierarchy?"
Mr. Li: "You're still young, there are some adult things you don't understand. No matter how old an unmarried woman is, we call her 'pretty sister,' and if she has gray hair and wrinkles, we call her 'pretty aunt.'"
Sangsang was amused by the funny father and daughter and kept laughing.
"Brother Sheng, let me take Naituan to boil water for a bath. Grandma Xiga will be here soon. She's the village's witch doctor and will examine your injuries in a bit."
A witch doctor? I was curious, but also a little skeptical – could he really do it?
However, for now, we can only try anything as a last resort and see if it works.
"Thank you so much, Sangsang. She can't see, so please keep an eye on her."
I wouldn't have guessed the child in front of me was blind if I hadn't told them. Such a cute child can't see the world, it's so pitiful.
Sangsang held the baby in her arms with a tender heart. She would take good care of the baby even if it wasn't her own child, once the baby became her mother. But she was curious about where the baby's mother was.
Sangsang lit the fire to boil water, placed the milk ball on a small stool to the side, and inquired about Li Sheng's affairs.
"Milkball, how old is your father? And your mother?"
She became slightly sad when she mentioned her mother and her baby.
"Mom has gone to heaven. I don't know how old Dad is, but he once said that a man is a boy until he dies, forever eighteen years old."
Sangsang couldn't help but laugh again. Sheng-ge must be a very interesting person. Hearing that his ex-wife had died, she felt much more at ease. She was afraid that Sheng-ge had another woman, and that her father wanted him to stay and be her man.
“Naituan, how old are you? Do you know what kind of woman your father likes? Would your father like someone like me? What does your father like to eat? Does he like flowers? What kind of flowers does he like? Does he like watching the sunset? Does he like picking mushrooms? Has your father read a lot of books? Would he dislike a girl like me who hasn't read any books…”
A series of questions followed. Fortunately, the little girl inherited her parents' excellent genes, possessing not only a photographic memory but also an auditory memory, and she answered all questions without hesitation. However, there were some things she genuinely didn't know, and from these questions, she deduced whether this beautiful older sister liked her father.
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