Chapter 114: CH 114

Like she usually did, the old woman made porridge and steamed buns, and the only dish on the table was a plate of shredded salted vegetables.

Mo Zheng was really hungry, so he started eating the porridge without realising the old woman’s foul mood. The old woman called Mo Zenian’s name, but he didn’t respond. He had probably fallen asleep.

After eating, he went to Mo Zenian’s side, laid down next to him, and soon fell asleep.

In the early morning of the next day, Mo Zenian woke up from hunger. When he got up to look for food, he only found a leftover steamed bun. He took two mouthfuls of cold steamed bun, feeling sorrow in his heart, and his eyes turned red involuntarily.

When he went out of the house and saw his mother sitting by the door, he asked, “Mother, why didn’t you cook?”

The old woman furiously, “There isn’t even water in the reservoir, what can I do!”

“Then why don’t you fetch water?”

The old woman stabbed her cane on the ground and stood up abruptly, “You want me to carry water? I’m almost seventy years old, how can I carry water?”

“Then how did you live before?”

“Mo Ling used to fetch me a bucket of water every day.”

“I’ll do it. Where’s the bucket?”

When Mo Zenian asked for the bucket, the old woman’s anger disappeared and she said weakly, “I haven’t used it in many years, it broke long ago.”

Her water bucket wasn’t broken, but as it hadn’t been needed for such a long time, her daughter took it away.

Mu Zenian went out to the front yard to borrow a bucket, and as soon as he entered the door, he smelled fried flatbread. He couldn’t help but walk to the kitchen door to look, and saw Mo Ling and Ms. Liang frying wraps.

There was a thick stack of them on the table, Mo Ling was rolling them out, while Ms. Liang was frying them on the stove. Her cough had completely disappeared.

The bucket was placed next to the kitchen’s water reservoir. Since they’d see each other anyways, he stepped into the kitchen and said, “Why are you frying so much flatbread? How many days will it take for you to finish them!”

Ms. Liang turned around and said in faux surprise, “Did Yan’er not close the door? She let a wild animal into my courtyard!”

In the past, no matter how angry Ms. Liang got, she wouldn’t scold him with such harsh words. Who told him to commit adultery? Now, he could only endure it.

Mo Zenian said awkwardly, “I want to borrow a bucket.”

“I refuse. We had to pay craftsmen for these buckets. What should I do if they break?”

The fire in Mo Zenian’s heart was raging, but he still had to beg her, “It won’t break from one use. If it breaks, I’ll find a craftsman to repair it.”

“I remember the bucket in the backyard was fine last year, but now it’s completely broken? I think it’s been taken away by crows!”

His stomach had originally been growling, but when he saw the delicious flatbread, he couldn’t help it and asked shamelessly, “Can I have a wrap?”

Mo Ling said, “Of course we’re going to sell it. One wrap with two scrambled eggs and shredded pickles costs ten dollars. It’d be fifteen dollars with meat, but we don’t have any right now. We’re going to retrieve it from the market.”

Mo Zenian’s stomach growled again. He took out some copper coins from his wallet and slapped them on the table, “Give me a large wrap.”

Mo Ling glanced at the money, “Okay, with this money you can buy a wrap and a salted duck egg. The side dishes are complementary.”

She assembled a wrap and wrapped it in paper, then handed it to Mo Zenian alongside a salted duck egg and a bowl of side dishes, “Here.”

As he was humiliated by his ex-wife and daughter, Mo Zenian wished he could throw all of this on the ground, but his stomach growled again. He took it to the backyard and ravenously devoured a piece of the wrap. Then, he went back to the kitchen as he still needed to borrow two buckets.

He carried the buckets to the well. He hadn’t fetched water in a long time. Based on his memory, he hung it on the ring hook of the pole and lowered it into the well.

Filling a bucket with water requires technique. If it was just lowered, the bucket would float on the water like a boat, and it wouldn’t be filled with water at all. You had to swing the bucket left and right to let the water pour in.

After swinging it back and forth several times, the bucket still floated tenaciously on the surface of the water, without any water entering the bucket. It wasn’t even spring yet, but Mo Zenian was so anxious that beads of sweat appeared on his head.

Dagan also came to fetch water. He saw him bent over trying to fetch water for a long time, but he didn’t see the bucket coming up, so he knew he didn’t know how to do it.

“Third Uncle, let me help you!”

Dagan took the pole in Mo Zenian’s hand, and swung the bucket left and right. It was filled with water and began to sink. Then, he lifted it up with both hands. After filling two buckets of water, he handed the pole to Mu Zenian.

Bending down to put the pole on his shoulders, Mo Zenian tried to stand up but was unable to. He found it difficult to pick them up, but Mo Ling, a girl, was doing it every day.

He endured the pain of them being pressed on his shoulder, and walked home step by step, taking two breaks along the way before carrying them back.

When he entered the room with the buckets in hand, he stumbled on the threshold. Although he didn’t fall down, a lot of the water in the buckets spilled out, which wet the ground in front of the room.

After pouring two buckets of water into the water reservoir, Mo Zenian felt that his waist was about to break, and his shoulders were in burning pain.

The old woman went to the kitchen to cook when she almost slipped on the water Mo Zenian accidentally spilled, “What’s going on? The ground is covered with water!”

Mo Zenian kneaded his sore shoulders and said impatiently, “Isn’t it just a little water? Be careful!”

“Are you blaming me for being careless? Why don’t you blame yourself for being useless? In the past, Mo Ling wouldn’t spill a drop of water.”

The old woman lit a fire for her stove. In an instant, the smoke from the stove filled the whole room, and sneaked into the back room through a gap in the door curtain.

Mo Zheng coughed and shouted on the kang,”Dad, there’s a lot of smoke here, is there a fire?”

Mo Zenian answered him, while blaming the old woman, “Mother, why didn’t you build your kitchen outside? The house is full of smoke, how can someone be here!”

The old woman threw the lighter in her hand to the ground, “I can’t be bothered to go outside to cook for myself.”

“You’ll have to cook for three people in the future. It’s not good for the child’s health.”

“What, are you not going back to Yi City?”

Mo Zenian didn’t answer. He went to the back room to see Mo Zheng. The old woman chased after him, lifted the curtain and asked, “What happened? Why did you bring a child back, what happened to his mother?”

When Mo Zenian heard the old woman mention his mother, he burst into tears, clamouring for his mother.

Mo Zenian picked up the clothes for him to wear, but Mo Zheng flailed his small hands, throwing the clothes away. Mo Zenian couldn’t bear it anymore, and shouted at Mo Zheng, “Don’t cry! If you cry again, you’ll be thrown to the street to beg for food. Don’t mention your mother again, she’s dead!”

Mo Zheng cried even louder, and even the old woman couldn’t stand it anymore, “Why are you yelling at an ignorant child? What’s going on?”

Mu Zenian sat down on the edge of the kang, “Mother, that woman married someone else, and I lost your job.”

“You can always find another job. You became an apprentice when you were thirteen. If you have the skills, why would you worry about not finding a job?”

“I can’t explain it quickly. In short, I can’t stay in Yi City anymore. I want to go to the Upper Valley instead. But I have to ask you to take care of Zheng’er for now. I’ll take him back once I’ve settled here.”

“Zenian, I’m almost seventy years old. I’m supposed to be living out the rest of my years happily, but you want me to help you take care of your son!”

“Zheng’er is five years old already, he’s sensible. You won’t have to take care of him much.”

Post-translation notes: The next chapter will hopefully be insane. Time to see the fallout. As always, thank you for reading!