Chapter 8 Have you had enough of the trouble?
The gnarled branches of the old locust tree cast fierce shadows in the moonlight. Xu Yao's back was pressed against the rough texture of the bark. The sound of her rubber-soled cloth shoes rubbing against the stone slabs stopped ten steps away.
Xue Han suddenly let go of her hand, and the temperature of the copper coins remaining on his fingertips made the red rope around his wrist slightly hot.
"Han Yazi is here too?" The village chief turned out of the alley holding a kerosene lamp, the flame in the lampshade blown this way and that by the night wind, "It saves me from running back and forth."
Xue Han leaned sideways to block half of Xu Yao's figure, and the second copper button of his shirt brushed against the tip of her hair: "It's time to sift the rice husks in the threshing ground."
"We'll talk about the public grain later." The village chief knocked on the plantain that emerged from the cracks in the stone slab with the handle of the lamp: "The Sun family reported to the ancestral hall, saying that Yao girl threw dog blood on the merit tablet."
As he spoke, he stared at the red rope dangling on Xu Yao's wrist. The copper coins hanging on it were making a very light buzzing sound.
Xu Yao touched the birth certificate folded into a triangle in the inner pocket of her shirt. The corner of the paper was stamped with the official seal of the supply and marketing cooperative, and the "殳" character number left a red mark on her palm: "When my third sister was gilding the merit stele last month, was the third name on the seventh line that was chiseled off?"
The village chief's kerosene lamp clanged against the old locust tree, and the lamp oil splashed on Xue Han's boots.
When Xue Han bent down to polish his shoes, Xu Yao caught a glimpse of an old scar on the back of his neck, shaped like half a copper coin.
"There was a famine back then..." The village chief's hand was shaking as he took out his pipe and couldn't put in the tobacco, "Han'erzi's father took the tobacco from the granary..."
"Sun Zhiqiang was the one who spilled the dog blood." Xue Han suddenly stood up, and Qianlongbao hit Xu Yao's wrist bone with a "ding". "The night he brought shepherd's purse dumplings to the third sister, his trouser legs were stained with black dog hair."
Xu Yao thought of the bamboo basket with a net on the top shelf of the supply and marketing cooperative, and the anonymous letter underneath it was stained with blue ink.
Just as she was about to speak, Xue Han's palm suddenly covered the back of her hand, and the rough gun callus brushed against the crescent-shaped wound scratched by the third sister.
"Han boy!" The village chief knocked on Xue Han's shoulder badge, "Do you know what you are talking about?"
"The seventh row of the merit stele." Xue Han took out half a peach wood talisman from his trouser pocket. The fresh carving marks on the broken edge still had pine resin. "When my third sister's son was one month old, you carved a longevity lock for him."
Xu Yao suddenly remembered the night Niu Niu died. The peach wood talisman that the midwife fished out of the blood was also engraved with such pine branch patterns.
The night wind brought the aroma of freshly husked rice from the threshing floor, mixed with the smell of soapberries on Xue Han's shirt, dispelling some of the sourness in her eyes.
"The Sun family said that Yao girl broke off the engagement because she despised the poor and loved the rich." The village chief used his pipe to push away the devil's needle grass that tried to climb onto the corner of Xu Yao's clothes. "Now the rumor in the village is that you want to be with Han Yazi..."
Xue Han suddenly grabbed Xu Yao's wrist, and the copper coin on the red rope cast an afterimage under the kerosene lamp: "It's time to update the honor roll of military families."
Xu Yao staggered half a step as he pulled her, and the locust flowers that fell from the sleeves of her shirt flew all over her face.
In the distance, the sound of the night watchman knocking on the gong came from the threshing ground, mixed with the jingling of the key chain on Xue Han's waist, which reminded her of the silver bells on Niu Niu's cradle in her previous life.
"You need to see the commune secretary to pay the public grain tomorrow." The village chief suddenly poked Xue Han's belt with his pipe, "Your father..."
When Xue Han turned around, the copper buckle of his belt brushed against the back of Xu Yao's hand. She suddenly saw the vague word "Shu Qi" engraved on the inside of the copper buckle.
The cry of a night owl pierced the night sky. A kerosene lamp suddenly lit up on the second floor of the supply and marketing cooperative. The silhouette of my third sister combing her hair was projected on the window frame covered with newspapers.
"What does it mean when the coin turns three and a half times?" Xu Yao clenched the birth certificate in her palm. The official seal of the supply and marketing cooperative on the edge of the paper suddenly became hot.
Xue Han's Adam's apple moved in the moonlight, and tiny beads of blood oozed out of the fresh scratch: "On the night of the bloody case, the incense burner in front of the merit stele turned three and a half times." As he spoke, his fingertips brushed the red rope on Xu Yao's wrist. The copper coin suddenly made a buzzing sound, which startled the cicada hiding in the locust flowers.
The village chief's pipe fell to the stone slab with a "clack". Suddenly, in the distance, there was a scream from the night watchman in the threshing floor.
The night wind wrapped in damp rice husks rushed into the alley. Xu Yao saw the swaying kerosene light on the second floor of the supply and marketing cooperative reflected in Xue Han's pupils. The silhouette of the third sister combing her hair suddenly split in two.
The noise of Sun's mother kicking open the fence door startled the sparrows that were taking shelter under the eaves, and her muddy cloth shoes crushed the locust flowers on the ground.
Xu Yao had just put the hot copper coin into the enamel jar to cool it down when she saw Sun's mother pick up the broom from the corner and swing it towards her.
"Death star!
Not only did he kill my parents, he also wants to bring disaster to our Sun family! "Sun's mother's saliva splashed under the glass plate of the eight-immortals table, and the family portrait under it was shaken askew. "You dare to destroy the monument of merit, no wonder you gave birth to a money-losing child that you can't even raise! “
The veins on the back of Xu Yao's hand bulged as she pressed the corner of the table, and the edge of the supply and marketing cooperative's account book stained with blue ink was visible under the glass plate.
Just as he was about to speak, Xue Han suddenly interrupted him, and the locust flowers swept by the hem of his shirt fell into Sun's mother's coarse porcelain bowl.
"Yesterday at noon, my third sister carried a bamboo basket to the threshing ground to deliver food."
Xu Yao scratched the blue ink marks under the glass with her fingernails. "Guess what I found in the shepherd's purse dumplings?" She paused deliberately and looked at the new silver-plated hairpin in her mother's hair. "Half a black dog's fingernail."
The sparks in the village chief's pipe crackled and Xue Han's hand hanging by his side suddenly moved.
Xu Yao caught a glimpse of a crescent-shaped scar on his palm, which was exactly the same as the mark left by Niu Niu scratching her wrist in her previous life.
"Let your mother go..." Sun's mother smashed the thermos with the broom, but Xue Han blocked it with the copper buckle of his belt.
The military green canvas brushed past Xu Yao's ears, bringing with it the unique bitter smell of a pine wood gun stock.
"Have you had enough of this?" The village chief knocked his pipe heavily against the enamel pot, causing the copper coin to swirl in the boiling water. "The commune still has records of Han's father's private opening of the granary..."
Xue Han suddenly stopped wiping his gun, and the copper buckle of his belt hit the corner of the table with a "click".
Xu Yao saw the copper coin scar on the back of his neck glowing red under the kerosene lamp, which looked very much like the gap on the supply and marketing cooperative's merit stele corroded by dog blood.
Sun's mother suddenly rushed to the glass plate, hooking the corner of the family portrait with a silver hairpin: "My Zhiqiang is going to marry the niece of the commune secretary!" The shepherd's purse residue in her fingernails fell on the blue ink marks, "Unlike some people, who are destined to bring bad luck to their husbands and children, and they are still hooking up..."
Xu Yao suddenly opened the glass plate, and the bloody anonymous letter was slapped in front of Sun's mother.
The smell of rosin mixed with rust made Sun's mother take two steps back, and her lower back hit Xue Han's shiny military water bottle.
"The cloth bag containing malted milk that you gave to my third sister on the fifteenth of last month," Xu Yao pointed at the dog's paw print on the anonymous letter, "was it modified from Zhiqiang's father's work gloves?" She deliberately shook the copper coins in the enamel jar, and the boiling water splashed on the uppers of Sun's mother's shoes embroidered with lotus flowers.
The village chief suddenly picked up the anonymous letter with his pipe, and the kerosene lamp illuminated the oil stains on the edge of the letter paper: "Is this the paper used by the supply and marketing cooperative to wrap peach cakes?"
"That's right." Xu Yao gathered her scattered hair, and the red rope on her wrist swept across Xue Han's belt. "On the day when my third sister's son was one month old, you praised her for baking peach cakes better than those in state-owned restaurants." While she spoke, she deliberately knocked over the enamel pot, and the copper coins rolled to the side of Xue Han's boots with a clang.
When Xue Han bent down, the scar on the back of his neck brushed against the back of Xu Yao's hand, and the warm touch made her retract her fingers.
The moonlight filtered in through the window frame covered with newspapers, and the four characters "Qianlong Tongbao" on the copper coin suddenly showed blood-red lines.
"Everyone, be quiet!" The village chief knocked his pipe on the gap of the eight-immortal table. "Tomorrow when the public grain is paid, I will go to the commune to check the anonymous letter myself!" He glared at the grandson's mother who was still trying to make a scene. "If you make trouble again, I will go to the ancestral hall to kneel down and burn incense!"
Before leaving, Sun's mother kicked over the chicken feeder by the door. Her silver hairpin gleamed coldly in the moonlight: "Just wait and see, little whore!" Her curses mixed with the sound of gongs drifted into the smoke and dust rising from the threshing floor, startling the night watchman so much that he struck the clapper three times.
When Xu Yao bent down to clean up the mess on the floor, Xue Han suddenly grabbed her wrist.
The callous marks on his fingertips rubbed against the crescent-shaped wound, and he fished out half a piece of peach cake from his inner pocket: "I stole it from the supply and marketing cooperative before it closed."
The crumbs fell on the anonymous letter stained with dog blood, and Xu Yao suddenly remembered the way Niuniu gnawed on the corner of the cabinet when she was extremely hungry in her previous life.
She turned her head away, but saw that the scratches on Xue Han's Adam's apple had formed dark red blood scabs, which trembled slightly with his swallowing.
"The wolf-hair brush that Third Sister used for gold drawing..." Xue Han suddenly used gun oil to draw the word "殳" on the table. "It was given to Accountant Sun from the commune." When he dipped the brush in peach cake crumbs to complete the handwriting, Xu Yao smelled the faint smell of saltpeter from his cuffs.
The village chief walked to the gate of the courtyard and then turned back. The ashes in his pipe fell on the words drawn by Xue Han: "Han boy, your father's bag of relief grain..." He was interrupted by flames rising from the direction of the threshing ground before he could finish his words. The sound of gongs mixed with shouts of "Fire!" exploded in the night.
When Xue Han grabbed the belt and rushed out, the red rope on Xu Yao's wrist suddenly broke.
The copper coin hit the military water bottle with a "ding" sound, and turned three and a half circles on the ground full of locust flowers.
The moonlight shone through the gnarled branches of the old locust tree, casting a blurry palm print on the bloodstain on the anonymous letter.
When Xu Yao bent down to pick up the copper coins, she found that the soles of Xue Han's boots were stained with the red clay unique to threshing grounds.
There were a few unhusked rice grains mixed in the soil, which were used to press the words on the anonymous letter...
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