Chapter 59: A Lifetime of Longing
The old man was an orphan with no name. He was called "that person" or "hey" until he was seven or eight years old, when he finally got his first legitimate job.
Helping the village butcher sell meat is no easy job. The villagers don't think a little kid can pull any tricks, but the butcher demands that every pound be adulterated.
There's fighting every day on the front lines, and many people are dying. Every night, the butcher sneaks out to steal the barbarian corpses, cuts off the flesh, and mixes it into the pork.
The old man initially dared not do such a morally reprehensible thing, and secretly kept all the human flesh.
After being discovered by the butcher, he was beaten half to death.
"Are you tired of living? Who would give a kid your age a bite to eat? Only I'm kind-hearted. I even hesitated to give you human flesh because you're so young. These days, who doesn't rip off a little in business? I just used barbarian meat to make up the numbers, I didn't harm my own people. You even specifically picked out human flesh, do you know how much trouble it is to raise a pig these days?"
The butcher was a big, burly man with a fierce look. The old man was terrified of him when he was a child. He was beaten so many times that he became numb to it. When he sold meat, he would mix all kinds of meat together on the scale.
It wasn't that no ordinary people noticed something was wrong with the pork, but when they came to argue, the butcher would beat the old man to death and throw the pot outside.
The common people had never seen anything like this before. Besides, the butcher was fierce, and they couldn't beat him, so they could only swallow their anger.
Life goes on. There's only one butcher in the surrounding villages, and even though people know there's something fishy about his meat shop, they still have to hold their noses and buy from him.
The old man gradually settled down here. Because he spent many years chopping and selling meat, always accompanied by his large knife, he got his own name – Big Knife.
By the time Da Dao had grown into a young man, the butcher had already shown signs of aging.
The butcher had spent his life slaughtering pigs and selling meat, and he was wealthier than others, but none of the young women or wives in the surrounding villages were willing to marry him.
Firstly, the butcher is ugly, and secondly, there's someone with a huge knife who just freeloads.
If they have a son later, who knows if he will try to take the family property?
Su Zhenzhen listened for a while but still didn't get to the point, and she became a little anxious. "Old lady, so what is it that's so bothering you? Did you cheat the villagers in your business dealings?"
Hensheng tugged at Su Zhenzhen's sleeve, "No rush, it's still early and it'll be dark. Let the old lady talk slowly."
Su Zhenzhen was quite surprised. This guy was full of heroic spirit not long ago, but now he has switched back to saintly mode.
Just when Su Zhenzhen thought that hatred had given rise to compassion, he unexpectedly displayed his leadership qualities again.
"Qingshan, we haven't been out long. Take a few soldiers and take the old man's body back for a proper burial. I imagine the old man wouldn't want to be separated from his brothers. The rest of us will wait for you here."
The old man's ghost swayed slightly, then bowed and said, "Your Highness is very kind."
The mountain path was difficult to set up camp, and the old man knew that he needed to get down to flat ground before dark, so he continued talking.
“I remember it was winter. A matchmaker came to propose marriage, saying that a girl who had fled from war was willing to marry him. The butcher told me to take twenty catties of meat as a betrothal gift.”
Su Zhenzhen asked curiously, "Could it be that those twenty pounds of meat were also diluted with water?"
“How could that be?” the old man immediately denied. “The butcher specifically instructed that the meat used for betrothal should not be mixed with anything else. He genuinely wants to find a wife.”
The girl was staying at the matchmaker's house at the time, and that night, to repay the matchmaker's kindness in taking her in, she took out the meat to add to the dishes.
But for some reason, human flesh was mixed into the pork. Since Da Dao was the one who helped carry the betrothal gifts, everyone said that Da Dao was the one who did it.
At that time, there were harsh words everywhere.
"Although the butcher is usually a bit wicked, he shouldn't be so muddle-headed about such an important matter as betrothal. Two catties of meat would be enough for a woman who has fled here as a betrothal gift. Why give her twenty catties with something else mixed in? It must have been Da Dao's doing. If the butcher doesn't get married, this big meat stall will all be his."
The hot-tempered butcher beat the butcher with his broadsword again.
But to everyone's surprise, the girl was still willing to marry him even after suffering such a great injustice before even entering the house.
Su Zhenzhen, as impatient as ever, asked, "What you're worried about is why there was human flesh mixed in with those twenty catties of pork? Did that matchmaker embezzle it?"
The old man shook his head, his face full of shame. "It all happened on the wedding day. Everyone drank too much. I don't know why I woke up in the bride's bed. The villagers all said they were going to take me to be drowned in a pig cage."
Su Zhenzhen's eyes widened. The old man helping the butcher sell pork was essentially an apprentice. In ancient times, there was a saying that a teacher for a day is a father for life.
Adding to the previous pork incident, the villagers might think that the old man, instead of breaking up the butcher's marriage, wanted to defile the bride and get her pregnant with his child, and in the end, the dried meat would still end up in his own hands.
In winter, the river water was icy cold. When Da Dao was locked in a cage and thrown down into the river, the surface of the river was filled with curses directed at him.
They cursed him for being heartless since childhood, mixing human flesh into pork.
But they were clearly criticizing the butcher for doing something inhumane, yet they pushed a child out to take the blame.
It was so cold! River water filled his nostrils and froze his brain. Da Dao gradually lost the strength to struggle. Just when he thought he was going to die, the butcher got up from the sickbed and pulled him out of the water.
The bride slept in the same bed as his partner, and the butcher was so angry that he fell ill.
After the butcher rescued Da Dao, he fed him a bowl of hot soup and then told him to pack his things and leave.
Su Zhenzhen felt like a cat was scratching at her heart. This story was a bit explosive, but the old man was so old, there were some things she couldn't say directly.
Hensheng remained calm and spoke in his usual tone, "May I ask, sir, did you really do something to humiliate your teacher's wife?"
“I can’t remember,” the old man sighed. “I drank way too much that day, I don’t even know where I collapsed. When I woke up, I was in the new house, caught red-handed by the villagers. After being kicked out, I begged for food all the way, and when I came across the Northwest Army recruiting, I went to fill my stomach. Then I spent decades on the battlefield, risking my life almost every day. I’ve almost forgotten these old stories, and if I hadn’t been asked, I wouldn’t have remembered this resentment. I cut those twenty pounds of pork in front of the butcher, how could it have been mixed with human flesh when it was delivered to the matchmaker’s house? Besides, where did they get the human flesh?”
Taking the opportunity, Su Zhenzhen continued, "Excuse me, were you and the bride still wearing your clothes that morning?"
The old man was visibly taken aback. "I hadn't noticed until you pointed it out. But what difference does it make whether she's wearing clothes or not? Her reputation is ruined anyway. I wonder what happened to Miss Huo afterward."
Su Zhenzhen's eyes widened. "What did you say? Miss Huo? That woman who fled here is surnamed Huo?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
