Chapter 4
The three sisters got busy almost immediately.
They moved all the grain to the kitchen, Sun Yi and Sun Ke fetched water and started a fire, while Sun Xiu went to the backyard to till the ground.
As she moved the hoe back and forth, her small body was dripping with sweat, but her face was full of smiles and energy.
Han Qiao went to the backyard to use the bathroom, but when she saw Sun Xiu tilling the ground, she stood there and watched for a while.
“Mother,” Sun Xiu called out sweetly.
“You are doing very well,” Han Qiao said tenderly.
She went forward and patted Sun Xiu’s head. “It’s been hard for you lately.”
“Mother…”
“Since Father was so cruel this time, I am injured from head to toe, so for the time being I won’t be able to do these heavier tasks.” Han Qiao did feel a little guilty.
She had never thought she would ever make a child do work like this.
It was only because she didn’t have the strength to do them at the moment.
“Mother, it’s alright. This little task is nothing. Yi and I can do it well. Ke will also help to water the plants. All Mother needs to do is to rest and recuperate.”
The three children were very capable indeed.
Han Qiao did not need to worry about tilling the ground, farming or watering.
When it came time for a bath, Sun Xiu and Sun Yi carried the bath water to the bathroom next to the latrine in the backyard. While Han Qiao was taking a bath, Sun Xiu and Sun Yi came in to help wash her hair and wipe her back. There they saw she was covered in bruises and swollen flesh. New injuries and old were layered on top of one another. Sun Xiu’s heart ached so much at the sight that she shed unending tears.
Sun Yi gritted her teeth.
Han Qiao had done it intentionally to let them see.
Sooner or later, she would teach Sun Yiming a lesson. She wanted the three children to know and remember just what suffering was visited upon their mother. She did not want Sun Yiming to win them back over with a few honeyed words someday in the future.
“Dear Xiu, dear Yi, help me wash my hair.”
“Oh, okay,” Sun Xiu shot back.
One of the sisters scratched Han Qiao’s head and the other rinsed her hair.
Ancient shampoo and soap were quite handy. Just a casual wash with them would be glimmery, glossy and refreshing. From head to toe it could make one spick and span.
They took turns washing each other’s hair while basking in the Sun. It took quite a while.
The afternoon sun was scorching, so basking in it made them feel a little dizzy.
After the three girls’ hair was dry, Han Qiao combed it.
Their braids dropped from the top to the back of their heads. She left about ten centimeters at the end and tied it up with the red string.
Though Sun Xiu and Sun Yi didn’t say anything, the corners of their eyes and brows revealed their happiness. Sun Ke, however, expressed it very directly, hugging Han Qiao and shouting “Mother! Mother!” nonstop.
Sun Xiu and Sun Yi didn’t need Han Qiao to speak, they just went to wash the clothes.
When orange clouds began to fill the sky, it was time to prepare dinner.
Han Qiao endured the pain and cooked.
The big bones were cleaned and boiled in water to stew the soup. The meat was also washed and put into a pot to boil. After a while, the meat would be scooped out and stir-fried back into the pot. Half of the pumpkin was peeled and cut up. After the bone soup had finished stewing into a thick white soup, the meat would be thrown into the pot to boil.
The Sun family had two iron pots. One pot boiled the soup, and the other pot boiled the rice.
The three sisters shook uncontrollably when Han Qiao poured rice into the pot.
“Mother, are we going to eat white rice tonight?” Sun Ke asked in a low voice.
Her eyes brimmed with hope.
She could not remember if she had ever eaten white rice.
She was looking forward to it.
“Yes, we’re having white rice.” Han Qiao pinched Sun Ke’s white face.
White rice, braised pumpkin with bone, potted meat, stir-fried veggies.
Fragrant.
The three children swallowed their saliva.
Looking at the dishes and rice on the table, their eyelids couldn’t bear to blink.
“Let’s eat,” Han Qiao declared gently.
The three children first put meat into Han Qiao’s bowl.
“Mother, eat.”
Han Qiao’s heart couldn’t take it.
Really, it was about to melt.
She then put meat into the three children’s bowls. “You guys eat too.”
Seeing the three children looking at her with ruby eyes, she said, “Let’s eat.”
Han Qiao was not a good mother. She held herself to the strict Confucian standards that applied to women, obeying her husband’s every word, but she ignored the three children. They too needed their mother’s care, both physically and mentally.
The way she put up with all that humiliation didn’t really move anyone.
They would always be her children. She definitely wasn’t about to let them suffer.
There were, however, some who felt bad for her.
Heng Yi was one of them.
His martial abilities were not bad, and his ear-hunting skills were excellent all year round. Even the slightest movement in the next room over was loud and clear to his ears.
The four of them were very tight, he began to notice. The food they made was enticing and smelt delicious. Laughter resounded through that courtyard the likes of which he hadn’t heard for the past few years.
He thought about what Landlord Lin had said to him that day. For the first time, he wanted to have a home. He wanted to have someone who was sensitive to the plights of others. He wanted to see wife and children warming themselves on the kang.
“Fifth Uncle, it’s time to eat.”
“Okay.”
Heng Yi replied.
He turned around and went to the central room to eat.
The Heng family never split up, hence there were more than twenty people in the household. Since there wasn’t enough room for one or two tables, they were divided into three tables. Heng Yi sat at the main table with his four brothers and parents. The four sisters-in-law sat at the other two with their children.
The dishes on the table were plain and watery. There was no meat, no eggs, nor any meat.
Heng Yi didn’t care at all. He picked up his bowl and scarfed it down.
The others ate very slowly with mutual understanding.
“Grandma, I want to eat meat. I want to eat meat.”
“Eat meat? What meat? Where are we getting this meat?” Granny Heng roared.
When she became fierce, even her grandchildren were afraid.
Her little grandson began crying.
His mother quickly hugged him and calmed him down.
Old Man Heng said faintly, “Eldest daughter-in-law, go fry two eggs for the children to eat.”
“Yes, Father.”
Heng Yi put down his bowl and chopsticks. “I’m done eating.”
He got up and left the hall.
Afterwards eggs and meat were quickly dished out onto the table.
Old Man Heng was silent.
Granny Heng fervently commanded the grandchildren to eat.
She would allow not one sound out of them.
The four Heng Brothers remained silent.
The four sisters-in-law seemed to have gotten used to it. They didn’t make a sound.
However, no one knew that all the while Heng Yi was standing by the door. As though seated on a giant mountain, he asked, “Is the meat any good?”
“…”
“…”
For a moment, the hall was dead silent.
An unthinking child did not hesitate to reply, “It’s delicious, but Grandma said that you can’t have any.”
By the time the child had spoken, it was too late for his mother to stop him.
Elder brother Heng stood up. “Fifth Brother…”
Heng Yi turned around and stormed out.
He didn’t care one bit about those morsels of meat.
He Hong was right. He had to plan for his livelihood on his own. The Hengs had never treated him as family, instead they only used him for his hunting abilities.
Nor did he consider them to be family.
Perhaps he might ask for another marriage proposal from Landlord Lin. In any case, a wife would wash clothes, cook, and have children. It should be the same no matter whom he married.
With his own small family, he would no longer have to slave away for the Hengs. He would be willing to work hard without complaining and have the best of both worlds.
In the central room Old Man Heng smashed a bowl into his wife’s face.
“Eeyahhh.”
Granny Heng cried out in pain.
However, she didn’t dare to make a squeak of protest.
Eldest sister-in-law Heng stood up. “It’s all my fault. It’s all my fault for taking the initiative to cut the meat. I’ll go and explain it to Fifth Brother now.”
She dashed after Heng Yi.
When she arrived at his house, she searched desperately for words. “Fifth Brother, it’s all my fault…”
“Get lost!” Heng Yi’s cold, lifeless voice rang out from the house.
Sister-in-law Heng was shocked.
In all the tens years since she married into the family, never before had Heng Yi chastised her like that.
He was very bashful, almost never uttering a sound. The only thing he cared about was hunting in the mountains. He had discussed marriage with her twice. Later on, though the proposals ended up falling flat, he said not a word. As always he would wake up before dawn and head off to the mountains. After coming back, he would bathe and retire to his room to rest. Dinner would come and go, and afterwards he would resume his rest.
Save for the days when the weather was bad, it had always been the same routine.
“Fifth Brother…” she said anxiously.
The door opened and Heng Yi was standing there. “Do you think I’m an idiot? After so many years, do you really think I hadn’t noticed?”
He went on. “With the way things stand now, don’t bother me anymore. I won’t bother you either. Just take care of yourself.”