“Mom, let me stay a few more days!” w.a.n.g Dahu clung to his mother’s thighs, whining “I want to stay with grandma and grandpa!”
When grandma heard that, her tears gushed out in streams: “Daughter in Law! Why don’t you let Dahu stay here and play for two more days?”
Zhang Fang bitterly pinched her son’s face, looked up and replied with embarra.s.sment: “Mother, you and father are getting along in your years. Look how stubborn this child is, he’s learned how to manipulate your feelings. Let me bring him home to educate him some more.”
w.a.n.g Dahu knew that his mother had decided. In addition, he was still young. As a mother, Zhang Fang could not leave her son behind, out of sight. Allowing him to play in the countryside for a month was already the bottom line of the bottom line.
Basically, no matter how unwilling Dahu was, early morning on the ninth, he still embarked on the road home.
The truck slowly moved along the road, kicking up dust and b.u.mping over the rough patches of road. w.a.n.g Dahu leaned against the foggy window, sketching on the condensation. As they drew nearer to the village gates, he suddenly saw a small child’s figure underneath the canopy of a tree looking this way.
w.a.n.g Dahu’s heart stopped.
Last night, when he said farewell to Li Qingran, he purposefully didn’t mention the time. He was scared that the other boy would come see him off. He didn’t think that little boy would come here anyway, and so early. The weather was so cold, how could he endure it?!
“Stop the car, stop the car!”
w.a.n.g Dahu jumped down from the car, quick as lightning running towards the other boy.
“How long have you been standing here? Go home quickly before you freeze to death!” w.a.n.g Dahu looked at Li Qingran’s slightly purplish pale face and angrily scolded.
“…Brother Dahu.” Li Qingran looked at him with a pair of bright eyes full of sadness and gloominess. He lightly asked, “Are you coming back?”
“Nonsense!” w.a.n.g Dahu swiped a few times, removed his jacket, and covered the other boy.
“I’ll be back in a few days!”
“Really?”
“Yea!”
At this time, w.a.n.g Dahu heard his mother urging. He hugged the other boy tightly for the last time.
“Go home soon! Remember to drink lots of milk, take care of yourself, and wait for me to come back!”
“Yea!” Li Qingran nodded with the corners of his eyes red.
The car slowly moved away, until it couldn’t be seen anymore.
Underneath the tree’s canopy, Li Qingran still stood there, standing still for a long, long time.
It took more than four hours to reach Dahu’s house from Xing Ye village even with a car.
The three people finally arrived home in the middle of the afternoon.
Dahu’s house was two stories tall. The first story was used as the store front for “Dried Fruit Goods”, the second story were the living quarters. In his past life, he lived here for more than a decade, so naturally Dahu was very familiar with this place. In the blink of an eye, he was in his room.
At night, Zhang Fang made a table full of six dishes and a soup, the whole family gathered around and ate together.
At this time, w.a.n.g Dahu had recovered his spirits. His parents noticed and lightly sighed in relief. They were used to seeing their son happily jump around. When he was suddenly “depressed” for a while, they really couldn’t stand it.
“Fang Er[1].” w.a.n.g Guangzong mumbled with a mouth full of rice, “We’ll rest for two days and then go visit your parents.”
When Zhang Fang heard that, she couldn’t help but burst out into laughter.
“That’s right, I also thought so! We’ll go on the tenth and return on the fifteenth!”[2]
Zhang Fang’s mother’s house was very far, in the suburbs. Because communication wasn’t convenient, the two households could barely meet a few times a year. This was also the biggest reason Zhang Fang wanted Dahu to come home.
Afterwards, the husband and wife discussed what gift to buy their father.
w.a.n.g Dahu listened to the side, but his thoughts starting to fly elsewhere.
His promise to Li Qingran about returning quickly wasn’t just empty words. He believed the next thing to happen in his household would be an earth shattering event that could move the heavens. If he could deal with it well, then the dream of staying by Ran Ran’s side for a long time wouldn’t be hard to achieved.
After calculating for a while, it was quite soon!
“What’s wrong with that child?” Zhang Fang raised her eyebrows suspiciously, “Why do you keep looking at your mother’s stomach?”
Dahu heard that and laughed brightly a couple times. He said innocently, “Mom, I have a feeling that our house is about to have some good news.”
w.a.n.g Xiaohu[3], that brat that deserved a beating, was coming soon!
On the tenth, the whole family boarded the train to the south, reaching their destination after one day and one night.
This place was much different than the area he lived in. L City was by the beach, the atmosphere was damp and moist.
Dahu’s maternal grandfather pa.s.sed away long ago, leaving behind his lifelong partner. They had five children, but all five were filial. Therefore Dahu’s maternal grandmother was still easy going. The whole family spoiled the youngest sister rotten, so as soon as they saw that Dahu returned, they warmly welcomed him.
The entire family finally reunited, the old woman happily hugged Dahu, refusing to let go, overjoyed.
In his heart, Dahu was also excited.
In his past life, you could say that his entire childhood was spent here, so he was quite close with his mother’s side of the family.
They stayed until the middle of the month before returning to town.
Of course, returning with Dahu were a stack of thick red envelopes.
Calculating meticulously, this year Dahu collected more than 800 yuan. As expected of the “harvest season” of the year.
Afternoon that Sat.u.r.day, at noon, w.a.n.g Dahu, who was waiting by the phone for a long time, immediately punched in a string of numbers.
He already scheduled with Ran Ran, they would call each other once a week.
“Beep, beep…”
“h.e.l.lo!”
“Grandma, it’s me!” w.a.n.g Dahu’s tone was flattering.
As soon as the old woman heard her grandchild’s voice, her face bloomed into smiles.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, w.a.n.g Dahu got immediately to the point.
“Grandma, is Ran Ran there?”
“…The Li child didn’t come today!”
w.a.n.g Dahu was surprised.
As if he heard hesitation in his grandma’s words, he immediately had a bad feeling.
“What, What happened to Ran Ran?”
The old woman knew her grandson and the Li child had a very good relations.h.i.+p. She didn’t try to deceive him when he asked, only sighing as she said, “Ay, Xiumei left!”
Boomー
w.a.n.g Dahu was shocked. After a long time, he raised his voice and asked dryly, “How did it happened?”
“She said she would be out for a bit and still hasn’t come back.” Grandma’s words were obviously hiding something.
In w.a.n.g Dahu’s head, there suddenly appeared the image of Kong Xiumei standing in front of the house, talking with an unfamiliar man.
Everything seemed so natural, everything seemed so logical.
The wife tolerated all sorts of the husband’s abuse, finally unable to withstand the physical and mental torture, recklessly running away with a man she met a few days earlier, or perhaps we should say that until now there were still feelings between them.
However, the only thing she left behind was her seven year old son.
“Dahu? Dahu?” Hearing only silence on the other side of the telephone, grandma hastily called twice.
w.a.n.g Dahu tightly clenched his fists, just like his mood at this moment, full of sadness and anger.
Xing Ye village, east end.
Sun Dazhuang led three or four kids to surround Li Qingran with ill intentions.
“What are you trying to do?” Li Qingran lifted his head, his small face was cold, with traces of hostility.
Sun Dazhuang[4] saw that the other boy was surrounded by so many people, but still dared to be so arrogant. This made him even angrier. He was always the small overlord of the village. Almost all the little kids in the village listened to him, but only Li Qingran never listened. Every time they met, the other boy either ignored him or mocked him. This little b.a.s.t.a.r.d was also ruthless. No matter what, he could never retort. But this timeー
“Li Qingran.” Sun Dazhuang snickered, “I heard your ma ran off with some other guy? Of course! Only a wh.o.r.e could give birth to a b.a.s.t.a.r.d like you.”
“What did you say?!” Li Qingran’s eyes instantly reddened, “You’re not allowed to talk about my mom.”
“I said it! I said it! Kong Xiumei is a wh.o.r.e, Kong Xiumei is a s.l.u.t!” Sun Dazhuang jumped around while yelling. No one could imagine that such vulgar vocabulary would come from the mouth of a child.
Li Qingran’s eyes reddened, just like an enraged little beast. In the blink of an eye, he hit the other person. Sun Dazhuang moaned ah ooh a few times and fell to the ground.
However, Li Qingran’s body wasn’t as big as w.a.n.g Dahu’s. After barely getting in a couple punches, Sun Dazhuang pushed him down.
“Someone get over here!” Zhao Dazhuang breathed heavily as he called for the other children, “Take this b.a.s.t.a.r.d and throw him down the s.h.i.+t hole.”
The kids all charged together, grasping his hands and pulling his feet, and soon Li Qingran was raised up.
Farming families would usually dig a hole in their fields. Inside were the feces of humans or livestock. They could solve hygiene issues while making fertilizer, really two birds with one stone. Sun Dazhuang looked at Li Qingran, whose body was halfway suspended over the s.h.i.+t hole, his face triumphant.
“Little b.a.s.t.a.r.d, you only need to admit your sins to this great lord, this great lord will immediately give you a chance. Otherwise, I’ll let you eat s.h.i.+t.”
Li Qingran bit his lips, his eyes flooded with tears.
“The pa’s mental, the ma’s a s.l.u.t, and the son is a b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Your family’s a perfect match.” Sun Dazhaung was so angry he stamped his foot, screaming, “Throw him down for me!”
Thump…
Li Qingran’s small weak body was thrown down, immediately falling into the piles of s.h.i.+t.
It was dark and disgusting, smelly and repulsive. He kept struggling, trying to climb back up. However, each time someone heartlessly kicked him back down.
In his ears, Sun Dazhuang’s group was guffawing loudly.
Bit by bit, anger and humiliation rose in Li Qingran’s chest.
He thought in despair, it was better to forget everything and die like this, right at this moment.
After all, even his mother abandoned him. In this world, there really wasn’t anyone else who cared about him, treated him well.
Just die like this!
After death, perhaps his heart wouldn’t hurt so much.
“Ran Ran!” Suddenly, a cry of despair rang out.
Apparently someone was calling his name.
Li Qingran struggled to open his eyes and see. There was a far off figure crazily running this way.
Translator’s Notes:
[1]Er, like Xiao, is a term of endearment.
[2]…Wait, it’s the 9th, so shouldn’t they go on the 11th at the earliest?
[3]Xiaohu’s name means… little tiger. Dahu is big tiger. Great naming sense you got there, papa. This is the reason I left all the nicknames in pinyin. I did translate grandma’s nickname for Dahu as “little tiger” though because it just looked TOO pinyin. That particular nickname (Hu-zhi in pinyin) actually meant something more along the lines of “tiger son”. We’re not here to learn Chinese though, so just keep in mind if you see a “little tiger”, it actually means the big one.
[4]For some reason, the author changes from 孙大壮 to 孙大状 here. The rest of the time, it’s 孙大壮… Both seem to be romanized as Sun Dazhuang though.
…Wow those kids are really harsh ._. I tried to make ’em sound more “country”.