When she first arrived, she only took a quick look at the place where the original owner lived. Now, after sitting under the tree and observing carefully for a while, Hua Qingcheng found that this place was even more dilapidated than she had expected.
There are two houses in the empty yard, the front and back yards. The largest one in the middle of the front yard is the main room, the kitchen is on the left, and the utility room is on the right.
The five rooms in the backyard were where the original owner and her four husbands lived. The largest, central room was where the original owner lived. The two side rooms to the east were for the first and second husbands, and the two side rooms to the west were for the third and fourth husbands. Beyond the bedrooms was an open space.
The houses here were built of loess mud blocks and roofed with straw. In Huaqiao Village, the courtyard where the original owner lived wasn't small, but judging by the weather-worn walls, the blackened straw on the roof, and the rickety wooden door, it must have been quite a while.
"Wife, big brother, it's time to eat!"
At three quarters past noon, Yu Xiaotian came to the yard to call Hua Qingcheng and others to come for dinner, and then went to knock on Situ Ye and Han Yichen's doors.
When she came to the main room, Hua Qingcheng found that there was only a square fir table with uneven legs that were yellow and black, and there was a small stone under one of the legs.
"Wife, sit down!"
While Hua Qingcheng was dumbfounded, Yu Xiaotian had already helped her pull the only chair in the room out from under the table. When she sat down, a creaking sound was heard, which made Hua Qingcheng think she was a fat man.
But that shouldn't be the case. Although I haven't looked in the mirror yet, looking at his thin arms and legs, it's impossible for him to break the chair by sitting on it. The only explanation is that the chair is shaky to begin with.
"Wife, eat!"
While Hua Qingcheng was in a daze, Yu Xiaotian had already taken the only good bowl in the house and poured her a bowl of porridge, and also brought the only plate of wild vegetables on the table to her.
Looking at the clear porridge on the table, Hua Qingcheng was stunned. She then looked at Yu Xiaotian and asked in confusion, "Xiaotian, is this the rice soup we use to quench our thirst before dinner?"
"Wife, this is your lunch today!"
Yu Xiaotian opened his confused eyes and looked at Hua Qingcheng in doubt, wondering: Why is my wife acting so weird today?
“Cough cough cough…”
Hua Qingcheng almost choked on her own saliva when she heard this, "Oh, oh... okay!"
Hua Qingcheng then picked up the bowl and finished the porridge in one gulp, but found that the four of them did not move.
"What's wrong with you? Why aren't you eating?"
Hua Qingcheng looked at the four of them curiously.
The eldest brother was silent, with an unclear expression on his face; the second brother rolled his eyes at her; the third brother narrowed his long and narrow eyes, as if thinking about something; the fourth brother continued to look at her with his innocent big eyes.
Gu Qingcheng suddenly remembered that the original owner usually sat down to eat, leaving the four of them standing. Furthermore, they had to wait until she finished before they could eat. Without her order, no one dared to pick up their chopsticks. So, she said awkwardly, "Let's eat!"
Hua Qingcheng glanced around at the four standing men. Although their clothes had been repeatedly sewn and patched, they were clean and neatly dressed. However, long-term hunger and malnutrition had left them looking pale and slightly tired.
Hua Qingcheng was so busy thinking about this and that just now that she saw clearly that there were four ragged men standing on both sides of the table, each holding a broken bowl in their hands, and the bowls were filled with only wild vegetables and soup, not even a grain of rice.
Hua Qingcheng was shocked. She didn't expect that the thin porridge that she had just despised was a luxury that they could not even get.
The original owner usually kept all the good things for himself and only let them eat wild vegetables every day. Occasionally, when he was in a good mood, he would give them a few times of porridge that was as thin as it could be.
Watching them using tree branches as chopsticks to eat wild vegetables with soup, yet still looking so delicious, Hua Qingcheng couldn't help but curse the original owner over and over in her heart. What the hell is going on?
The weather in June was very hot. After lunch, Hua Qingcheng prepared to go back to the bedroom to rest for a while.
Her husbands were all doing their jobs. Mu Lige was cleaning, Situ Ye was using bamboo sticks to repair the wooden door that Hua Fugui had kicked in, Han Yichen was tinkering with and drying his herbs, and Yu Xiaotian went back to the kitchen to wash the dishes.
With a sound of "Zhi Ya~", Hua Qingcheng pushed open the shabby wooden door of the bedroom, and a musty smell immediately rushed out from inside. Hua Qingcheng was stunned by the scene in front of her.
All that lay before him was a grayish-black expanse, reeking of sourness. A large, gray fir-wood bed, draped with curtains so black it was almost impossible to discern its color. Beside the bed stood a table and chair, piled with the previous owner's unwashed clothes. The floor and walls were also caked with a black substance. There were also crumbs from the previous owner's snacks. Flies and mosquitoes swarmed throughout the room.
She had originally thought she could rest in bed for a while, but now she saw the original owner's room was even dirtier and stinkier than a garbage dump. She nearly died of nausea on the spot. Only then did she remember why she had been smelling that strange odor. It turned out it was actually coming from her.
Hua Qingcheng couldn't help but think that since her room was in such a state, the living conditions of the four husbands must be even worse. However, she was wrong this time. The original owner's room was dirty and messy because she was lazy. She also didn't allow anyone to approach her room, let alone her husbands to help her clean it up.
"Mu Lige, go to the kitchen and boil a pot of water. I'll need it later."
Hua Qingcheng came to the yard and happened to meet Mu Lige, so she asked, "Where do you usually get water?"
“There’s a well right at the kitchen door in the front yard.”
Mu Lige looked at Hua Qingcheng strangely. How come she didn’t even recognize her own home?
However, Mu Lige didn't ask any more questions, but turned around and went to the kitchen to boil some water for Hua Qingcheng.
Then Hua Qingcheng took a bucket from the utility room and went to the well at the kitchen door to fetch water. Then she began to go back and forth between the bedroom and the front yard, working from 12:00 to 12:00 before she finished cleaning the bedroom.
"Wife, the hot water has just been boiled and is still hot in the pot. You can go to the kitchen to get it anytime you need it."
As soon as Mu Lige arrived at Hua Qingcheng's bedroom door, he saw the room had been tidied up and looked brand new, and Hua Qingcheng was so tired that she fell asleep on the table.
The sour, stench that had once permeated the room had dissipated. The dark gray walls now shone with a faint yellow hue. The dirt on the floor had been swept away. The bed curtains, now so stained they could no longer be seen, had been removed and placed by the door. The bed was scrubbed clean, and even the table beside it, piled with dirty clothes, was tidied.
Looking at Hua Qingcheng who was sleeping soundly, Mu Lige silently took away the curtains and dirty clothes placed by the door and closed the door.
Back to the well in the front yard, Mu Lige washed the dirty clothes while recalling his wife's words and actions today. She was still the same person, but it felt like something had changed.
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