04The Peony Pavilion
On the first day of the third year of junior high school, Yang Xiao got up early and went to school with her packed luggage. When Zhou Daye woke up and said he would take her there, she was already in the classroom reading a book.
Yang Xiao's homeroom teacher was a gentle man with dark glasses and a low ponytail. He wasn't talkative, but when he taught chemistry, his eyes lit up and he was incredibly knowledgeable. Yang Xiao didn't know what liking something was, but by her teenage years, she knew what passion looked like. If she were asked to write an essay about passion, she'd definitely write about her teacher, her eyes filled with curiosity and admiration for the new substances created when chemicals mixed and collided.
The conditions and salaries in the town were limited, so the teacher could not conduct chemical experiments for them in person. Instead, she always described the chemical reactions to them through her eloquent mouth.
Yang Xiao was always fascinated by what she heard. In a trance, she seemed to see the teacher wearing a white coat and goggles doing a manganese dioxide experiment for them, as well as the teacher's obsessed eyes and intoxicated look.
So Yang Xiao went home on weekends and told Zhou Daye that she wanted to find a field that she loved as much as her old teacher loved chemistry. Zhou Daye never interrupted or spoiled her fun, but always listened to her telling stories about her old teacher over and over again with a smile.
As autumn turns to winter, the yellow orchid no longer blooms and only sheds its leaves. The New Year is approaching.
Zhou Qi also came back with a bag full of New Year's goods. He had just put them down when Zhou Daye asked him to pick up Yang Xiao and take her home.
Zhou Qi came back late this year, and Yang Xiao had already taken the final exam.
When he arrived at the school gate, Yang Xiao was carrying bed sheets and quilts to take home for washing, and holding a large pile of books, like a bent bean sprout.
Zhou Qi hurried over to help her, taking the books on her back with one hand and holding a few more with the other, leaving her with a few light ones.
Yang Xiao was a little surprised, as she hadn't seen Zhou Qi for half a year.
"Zhou Qi, you're back?"
Zhou Qi was the same. The bean sprout in front of him straightened up and actually grew a lot taller. He was thinking about buying her some milk.
"Well, I just arrived and Dad asked me to pick you up."
When Yang Xiao is happy, she always speaks less but does more. At this moment, she was jumping forward with a smile on her face.
Zhou Qi also smiled and followed her with the things. Going home was always a wonderful experience.
As soon as she arrived in the courtyard, she could smell the goose that Zhou Dashe had cooked. Yang Xiao was so hungry that she immediately put down her book and went to the kitchen to help out. Zhou Qi brought three cushions from the inner room and placed them next to each other on the stone bench. With winter coming, the stone bench could no longer be sat on directly.
After fixing the mat, Zhou Qi stood up, took the big goose brought out by Zhou Daye, and placed it on the stone table. He then took the bowls and chopsticks and set them aside, ready to start eating.
Zhou Dashe's goose is perfectly stewed, tender and flavorful without being fishy. The meat unravels with chopsticks, releasing some broth. Yang Xiao's favorite part is sucking on the star anise from the goose. The goose is stewed to perfection, its spice aromas not overpowering, yet richly coated with the gravy. She feels incredibly happy every time she eats it.
Seeing her keep picking out the star anise, Zhou Daye thought she was being polite again, so he pulled out a goose leg for her and filled her bowl with it. Yang Xiao chuckled and picked up a goose wing for Zhou Daye as well.
Zhou Qi watched the two of them chatting back and forth, and picked up a piece of goose meat for himself and ate it with his rice.
Lu Town is not that cold in winter. In fact, for Yang Xiao, this is the warmest winter of the year.
Yang Xiao and Yang Guoqiang used to live crammed into a single-story house, so they could only light a fire outside to prevent the beams from getting blackened. She would sit by the fire in a thin coat, rubbing her hands while Yang Guoqiang squinted his eyes, sewing insoles. Chinese New Year was like this too, listening to the crackling of firecrackers outside, as father and daughter gathered around the fire, eating roasted sweet potatoes pulled from the fire. The skin had already turned completely black, but when they peeled back the black skin, the core was golden and steaming, emitting a hint of sweetness. That was a moment that warmed Yang Xiao's heart.
But now Yang Xiao is wearing a down jacket and no longer has to shiver like a sieve when she leaves the fire as before. It turns out that this down jacket is so warm and light.
Zhou Qi bought down jackets from the city, one for each person, in black, straight-tube style that reached up to the calf.
Zhou Daye and Yang Xiao praised the clothes Zhou Qi bought highly, saying that they were dirt-resistant and comfortable to wear, and they no longer had to wear three pieces of clothing inside and three pieces outside.
Seeing that they liked the products, Zhou Qi felt that he had made the right purchase. He silently memorized the store name and planned to shop there often in the future.
When Zhou Daye went out to show off his down jacket to his chess friends, Zhou Qi waved to Yang Xiao, who was reading in the back room, and asked her, "Do you like this color? I didn't buy you white because it's more resistant to dirt. You can change it if you don't like it. It's my fault for not calling ahead to ask what you like."
Yang Xiao became even happier after hearing this. The corners of her mouth curled up and she immediately shook her head and said that she liked this color and it looked very nice.
Zhou Qi nodded and asked, "Can I ask how you did on the exams this semester? Don't be nervous, just asking casually."
Yang Xiao was very proud when talking about her achievement. She patted her chest and looked at Zhou Qi: "First place."
Zhou Qi found her straight and proud look a little funny, and asked her with a smile: "Do you want to go to high school in the city?"
When Yang Xiao heard about the city, she thought of the biology and geography final exam. She couldn't help but get excited, and her tone became more excited: "Can I go? Will the tuition be high?"
Seeing her excitement, Zhou Qi understood her intentions: "Just go if you want to. The city's subsidies and scholarships are better than those of county high schools. With your Uncle Zhou and I, the cost won't be a big burden as long as you're willing to learn."
Yang Xiao nodded, "I will try my best."
In order to fulfill her promise, Yang Xiao read in the inner room during the New Year holidays. Zhou Daye and Zhou Qi were afraid of disturbing her, so they lit a fire in the yard and sat chatting.
The topic was nothing more than sending Yang Xiao to attend high school in the city. When Zhou Daye heard that Yang Xiao wanted to go to school in the city, he was extremely happy. He was so excited that he couldn't speak clearly, but Zhou Qi heard it clearly. Zhou Daye said that it was good to go, and now there was another college student in the family.
Zhou Daye and Yang Guoqiang are actually the same type of people.
Zhou Daye grew up in a poor family and had a big tongue, so reading was a luxury and a shame for him. It was a luxury because the stories in the books that connected ancient and modern times allowed him to escape from suffering and immerse himself in them. It was like cutting grass for pigs before dawn and looking for sheep in the mountains in the evening. These things in his life that he was extremely tired of could be overcome as long as he had books. But it was also a shame because he could not share the books he read with others. The knowledge in his heart was expanding more and more, but when it came to answering questions in class, this knowledge was like paste stuck in his throat. It was like he had ink in his stomach but could not pour it out.
The children didn't know how to give others room. Seeing Zhou Daye's face turn red with anxiety, they all laughed in the class. Over time, the teacher didn't like to call on Zhou Daye to answer questions, and he became more and more silent.
So when his family asked him if he still wanted to go to school, he shook his head and said no. And so he went to the mines, becoming a quiet miner. On his days working, he would always buy some secondhand books from the scrap collector, Old Li, and secretly put them between his bed boards in the dormitory, fearing others would pry into his world. Over time, his collection of secondhand books grew larger and larger, sometimes falling out of his bed and being picked up by his coworkers, who would laugh at him for being a bookworm.
He stopped watching after that. I don’t know if it was because the work in the mine was too hard and he couldn’t endure it at night, or if he was afraid of facing other people’s ridicule.
Later, miners' wages increased, and Zhou Daye, who had been the matchmaker in the past, became a hot commodity. But Zhou Daye refused to give up. He longed for a love that would "give and take, and the two of them share the same affection." He longed for a love that "came from nowhere, was deep and lasting, and the living could die, and the dead could live again." How idealistic!
He stuck to his ideal model and became the oldest bachelor in town, a popular figure who became a negative example. Even as he grew older and realized the deeper meanings of "The Peacock Flies Southeast" and "The Peony Pavilion," which were not limited to love, he did not regret it.
Later, he picked up Zhou Qi, and the father and son depended on each other for survival.
When taking Zhou Qi to register his household registration, Zhou Daye thought of the "Phoenix Crying Qishan" in the book, and thus Zhou Qi's name came. Zhou Qi lived up to his name, being smart and sensible since childhood, and successfully passed all the tests and was admitted to university. Zhou Daye then became a better person again, no longer silent, and began to love going out to play chess with others. He boasted to everyone about his promising future, with a score of over 680 in the college entrance examination. In an instant, Zhou Qi went from being a stone monkey without a biological father and mother to a child of other families in Lu Town.
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