Chapter 22 On the other side of Hu Dali's house, Hu...
Back at Hu Dali's house, Hu Dali hadn't returned yet. Only Liu Shi and Afu were home. Liu Shi had just prepared breakfast and was eating with her son Afu. The mother and son sat facing each other at the table. They had simply cooked a pot of brown rice porridge and a dish of pickled vegetables made from last year's white radish peel. However, Afu's porridge bowl also contained two thumb-sized pieces of half-fat, half-lean meat. Afu stared at the two pieces of meat with longing eyes, ignoring the fact that it was hot, and couldn't wait to shovel them into his mouth and chew them. The meat was too small, and he swallowed it clean after only two chews. He then complained to his mother, "Mother, this is too little. I haven't even tasted it. Please make more next time!"
"You child!" Liu poked his forehead hard with the chopsticks in her hand. "It's only been a short drought. The fact that you have a couple of bites of meat is because your father and I shamelessly begged it from your uncle. It was bought for Ah Lang and the others when they were starving, to help them recover. Your father wanted a bite, but I wouldn't let him touch it. I left it all for you, and you still complain it's not enough! If you think it's not enough, then don't eat it at all!"
Afu hugged his head, which had been poked, and grumbled in annoyance. But in order to continue eating meat in the future, he didn't dare to talk back to Liu. He hurriedly finished the porridge in his bowl and then ran out to find someone to play with.
Forgetting her usual impatient nagging for his homework, Liu sat at the table lost in thought, her deliberately arched eyebrows twitching as she looked preoccupied.
As soon as Afu left, Hu Dali returned. He sat down at the table, and before he could even settle in, he eagerly grabbed some pickled vegetables from the dish and shouted at Liu Shi without looking up, "I've been up all night and I'm starving! Afu's mother, go get me a bowl of porridge too."
Liu didn't hear it; she was lost in thought.
Hu Dali waved his hand across her face: "Afu's mother, what's wrong with you? Go get me a bowl of porridge."
Startled by his outburst, Liu snapped back to reality and snapped back angrily, "What's the rush, you dead man? Don't you have any hands or feet? Go get yourself!"
Hu Dali was inexplicably berated and rubbed his nose sheepishly. "What's wrong with you now? Why are you getting angry? I haven't offended you these past few days."
Liu knew she had been unreasonable, so she took a breath and went down to the kitchen to get him a large bowl, filled it with porridge, and placed it in front of him. She then pushed the dish of pickled radish peel in front of his eyes.
Why are you only getting back now?
"Hey, my older brother said something to me, that Ah Zhu should be sent to Pudu Temple for a ritual to release her resentment, and that I should go too, but I'm not going!"
"Pudu Temple? For the salvation of the dead?"
"That's right!"
Hu Dali waited a long time without hearing a sound from the other side. He looked up while eating his porridge and saw Liu Shi staring blankly with a worried expression, as if she were having a nightmare. He remembered that Liu Shi had been acting strangely ever since he entered the room, so he asked, "Afu's mother, what's wrong with you today? It's like your soul has been taken away."
Liu didn't answer. Instead, she got up and closed the door before turning back and carefully pulling Hu Dali aside, saying, "I noticed that Ah Lang and Ah Yu were acting very strangely today."
"So what? Hasn't Ah Lang been a little different from other kids since he was little?" Hu Dali said nonchalantly.
"You're such a lousy person, your brain is full of shit and piss!" After scolding him, Liu's face gradually turned pale: "What I mean is, those two kids, A-Lang and A-Yu, have been much smarter than A-Zhu and A-Hu since they were little, especially that wolf cub. Don't let his quiet demeanor fool you, he's actually very cunning, even more so than adults. Last night, he and A-Yu helped A-Zhu... I don't think they were clueless at all, it seems like they did it on purpose. Tell me, tell me..."
At this point, Liu hesitated and stopped speaking.
Hu Dali still didn't understand and pressed, "What exactly are you trying to say?"
"Tell me," Liu said, glancing around several times. She lived at the end of the village, and most of the neighbors were out working in the fields at this hour, so there wasn't much of a crowd. She lowered her voice and whispered in Hu Dali's ear, "A-Zhu keeps bothering A-Fu. Could it be... could it be that she knows the truth about marrying the River God back then..."
Although Liu didn't say it explicitly, Hu Dali already understood. He slowly recalled what Liu had mentioned, and then shook his head to himself: "Impossible. Only you, me, and my elder brother know about this. My elder brother promised us that he would never tell anyone."
“Why not?” Liu said, “Although my elder brother is usually not a talkative person, who knows when he might get drunk or sleepy and accidentally let it slip to Ah Lang and the others? And if Ah Zhu finds out too…”
Hu Dali was somewhat alarmed by what Liu said.
Liu paced anxiously around the room.
Hu Dali was initially quite timid, but after a while, he suddenly seemed to remember something and quickly calmed down, laughing nonchalantly, "I think you're overthinking it. Think about it, if Ah Zhu knew, wouldn't she have already killed our Ah Fu? Why would she keep running home to scare our eldest brother and bother Ah Lang, Ah Yu, and Ah Hu? I think it's because she died tragically and is still resentful that she dragged our Ah Fu into this mess."
Liu was in a daze, "Is that really so?"
Hu Dali smiled and shook his head. "If it weren't for that, not to mention Afu, do you think the two of us would still be safe and sound by now?"
After saying that, he continued to bury his head and gulp down his porridge, making a loud noise. Liu was annoyed by his uncouth eating habits and the noise, so she turned her face away. Even though Hu Dali had said that, Liu still felt as if a heavy weight was hanging over her heart, making her very uneasy.
Hu Dali had finished eating and was about to leave when Liu Shi quickly stopped him, saying, "I'm still worried. Now that Azhu has become a vengeful ghost, if she finds out about those things, will our family still be alive? In my opinion—"
Hu Dali asked, "What do you want to do?"
Suppressing her confusion, Liu asked instead of answering, "Isn't Azhu now being kept in captivity and sent to a temple for a ritual to help her pass on to the afterlife?"
Hu Dali's eyelids twitched, and then he saw a ruthless look appear on her face: "In my opinion, we should just go all the way and wipe her out completely before we can put our minds at ease!"
Hu Dali was startled by her words. Considering she was his own niece, he couldn't bear it and said, "You're being too cruel. Azhu has already been taken in, why would you want to harm her? We really don't need to do anything so immoral! Aren't you afraid of being struck by lightning?"
"Strike me?" Liu sneered. "Now you remember she's your niece? Don't forget, if you hadn't led her there, things wouldn't have come to this. Don't pretend to be a saint! If lightning really strikes, you'll be the first one to be killed! What am I afraid of?"
Hu Dali felt guilty after hearing what she said and couldn't utter another word. After a long while, he grumbled softly, clearly dissatisfied, "It's as if I got all the benefits. You took the lion's share..."
"Say it again?" Liu, supporting her thick waist, glared angrily, as if she would pounce on him and tear him to pieces if he said another word.
Hu Dali retreated in fear.
Liu's expression changed, her anger subsided, and she adopted a pitying tone, "I have no other choice, do I? Think about it, what if Ah Zhu doesn't stop and runs away? What if she finds out? These are all uncertainties. Are you willing to gamble with your life?"
Upon hearing this, Hu Dali became serious and was at a loss for what to do.
“You should listen to me,” Liu urged. “Later, when my elder brother and the others return from the temple, I’ll secretly take A-Zhu back and find a master to help her…”
Hu Dali was initially thinking seriously, but upon hearing this, he immediately shrank back. He quickly waved his hand dismissively and walked out, saying, "Invite an expert? We don't even have money for food, where would we get that kind of money? Do whatever you want, I don't know how to do it, and I can't care about that anymore, sigh."
Liu watched him leave with a cold laugh, cursing inwardly.
Thinking of her son, Afu, Liu made up her mind and gritted her teeth.
He doesn't dare to go, so she'll go by herself!
Having made up her mind, Liu closed the door, went to find Afu, told him to play by himself, and that there was leftover porridge in the pot from breakfast if he got hungry. Then she headed alone toward the Pudu Temple...
-
Pudu Temple.
The desolate state is prone to drought, so its people have a very diverse range of beliefs. There are not only river gods, but also a whole bunch of temples, monasteries, Taoist temples, nunneries, and other religious sites, totaling at least a hundred. In the city of the desolate state, there is a Pudu Temple. This Pudu Temple is relatively well-maintained. There is a venerable old abbot who leads a group of young monks in their practice. Some wealthy families in the vicinity regularly donate money to these Taoist priests and monks to chant scriptures. On important days, they will set up an altar to preach. Several neighboring farm families usually come here to offer incense and pray for blessings, making it a very lively place.
Today is not a big day, so there aren't many people in the temple yet.
Only the elderly abbot, along with the young monks, sat cross-legged in the main hall doing their daily prayers, silently reciting the Heart Sutra. When Wei Yin and the Hu family entered, they heard the line, "There is no suffering, no origination, no cessation, no path; there is no wisdom, no attainment."
Azhu had already been placed into a black lacquered white porcelain urn that Hu Datian had brought, and Hu Datian carried it to the Buddha statue below the main hall, to a place specifically for worship.
A young novice monk brought a sea lantern, which was offered along with the urn containing the bones.
When Liu arrived at the temple, the lamps had already been lit, and Hu Datian was surprised to see her.
Liu said, "She is my niece after all, so I have to come and see her."
Hu Datian didn't think anything of it when he heard this. He was just happy to see that Liu and Hu Dali had some kind intentions.
Ah Lang and Ah Yu secretly glanced at each other, but then frowned.
Wei Yin stood behind the two children, and as they exchanged glances, she also sized them up.
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