When Mrs. Liang stopped, Mo Ling lifted her arm to wipe her tears, âYanâer, from tomorrow onwards, we will earn our own money and spend it ourselves. We wonât have to spend a penny on this waste of space. He can eat whatever he wants! Itâs none of our business,â she said, turning and running back inside her room.
This was how the Mo familyâs days were. There was rarely any peace. Mo Yan sat at the dining table, not daring to breathe. She drank her congee in small sips.
Mo Feng shoved the remaining food from his plate into his mouth like he was starving and then jammed in the rest of the white bread.
Mo Yan didnât dare to ask about what happened in the Lu family. No one at the table spoke at all, and only the sounds of Mo Feng eating could be heard.
After the meal, Mrs. Liang grumbled and went back inside, while Mo Yan washed up. Her hand wasnât fully healed yet, so she had to work slowly. Looking at the faint glow of the oil lamp on the corner of the stove, she felt a hint of despair. How much longer would this go on for? When would it end?
When she had finished, she went to the threshing field as always. She arrived late and the threshing field was full by the time she was there.
When she arrived, the crowd took their seats and gradually quieted down. Cao Zhang saw the bandage on her hand and came over to ask if she was fine, but Mo Yan didnât feel like explaining, so she just shook her head and said she was fine.
The crowd asked her what she was going to say today, and Mo Yan forced a smile, âToday I will tell the story of Xue Pinggui and Wang Baoshu.â
She was in a bad mood and wasnât in the mood to tell any jokes, so she wanted to use this sad story to vent a little about her own feelings. [1]
The story made everyone cry, especially the older people in the crowd. They all had tears in their eyes by the time she finished.
When the story was finished, Mo Yan didnât end with her usual uplifting endings, nor did she ask what they wanted to hear tomorrow. She just bowed towards them and left.
Cao Zhang saw that she had come alone and offered, âYanâer, let me walk you home!â
âThereâs no need. Itâs not like I live very far away. You should go back! Mr. Tian is still waiting for you to carry the lantern to light the way back to the school!â
Cao Zhang looked back and saw that Mr. Tian was standing by the table waiting for him, so he had no choice but to go back.
As she walked home, she heard faint footsteps behind her. She turned back to look but no one was there, so she turned back to walk again and the footsteps became audible again. She stopped walking and the sounds behind her stopped.
When she reached a sharp turn in the road, Mo Yan quickly hid in the shadows. She quietly looked behind her only to see Lu Junming, who was carrying a small bag in his hand and looking around.
âMeow!â Mo Yan imitated a catâs cry, and Lu Junming stopped looking around and walked towards her with his arms folded. When he reached her, he suddenly took a step towards the shadows and let out a cry like a cat in heat at the same time, scaring Mo Yan into wailing on his body with her eyes closed.
Lu Junming laughed loudly, âYouâre such a scaredy-cat! Were you really trying to scare me like that?â He handed over the small pouch in his hand to Mo Yan, âWhy did you leave in such a hurry? You didnât even take the food.â
âUncle Pingshun wouldâve helped look after it.â [2]
âYouâre in a bad mood. Whatâs wrong? Did Aunt Zhang stir up a racket?â
She wouldnât even have been able to with Mrs. Liang around.
âShe didnât. Nothing happened at all.â
While they were speaking, they arrived at her home. Mo Yan closed the door and locked it without even saying goodbye to Lu Junming.
That night, Mo Yan didnât sleep well. She knew her sister wasnât asleep, but she didnât dare talk to her.
It was late at night, and the sound of insects outside was incredibly noisy. Mo Yan didnât know which hour of the morning she fell asleep at.
When she woke up, her sister was no longer in the room. When she ran outside, she saw smoke coming out of the kitchen and went over to see the sight of her sister cooking.
Mo Yan messily tied up her hair before running towards the pond.
She jogged along the path by the pond while breathing evenly. When she reached the Lu family home, she saw Sir Lu doing tai chi in the courtyard. As she greeted him, Lu Junming came running out.
He was still wearing those white silk clothes, without an outer robe. The two of them ran around the pond, one after the other. Mo Yanâs body was far too weak and she couldnât run anymore after a single lap and squatted down to rest. She looked at Lu Junming, who was still breathing easily and didnât seem tired in the least.
âRest for a bit and wait for me to come back,â Lu Junming said as she continued running.
Mo Yan simply sat down on the ground to rest as she waited for Lu Junming to return. After that, he pulled her up and they started running again.
Mo Yan couldnât bear it anymore after running three laps like this. Lu Junming decided to leave her be and ran by himself until he ran ten laps. Then, he brought Mo Yan into his courtyard.
Lu Junming wiped his sweat with a handkerchief and handed it to Mo Yan. Afterwards, he went inside to grab the medicine and bandages.
When he untied the bandage, the wound was already clotting, so he didnât dare touch it. He applied some more medicine and replaced the dirty bandage with a clean one.
When Mo Yan was about to go home, Lu Junming ran to the kitchen and quickly brought out a wrap and handed it to Mo Yan, opening it to see that there were scrambled eggs and a few slices of meat inside.
âTry it!â
Mo Yan looked at it with surprise and delight, a big smile on her face. But immediately her smile disappeared and she handed the wrap back to Lu Junming, âIâll eat back home.â
All she was eating back home were salted vegetables and thin porridge. Lu Junming ran back to the kitchen and brought out an identical wrap, shoving one of them at her, âEat with me and tell me how good it is. I fried these eggs myself.â
Lu Junming pulled her to sit under the tree in the courtyard and started eating. Mo Yan had a bite and said, âItâd be better if you added some shredded salted vegetables and some of my mumâs sauce.â
âThen ask your mum to bring some over. If itâs really good, she can send it every day, and weâll pay you back for it.â
Mo Yan thought to herself, Lu Junming must think I only care about money.
But honestly, this wrap was really good and could probably be sold for a tidy sum, she just didnât know where to sell it or who to sell it to.
This wrap was a bit too large for Mo Yan to finish. But it would be too rude to give the rest of it to Lu Junming, and it would be a pity to throw it away, so she tucked the rest away and smiled at Lu Junming, âIâll save it for my next meal.â
As she stood up and walked out of the Lu familyâs courtyard, Lu Junming reminded her, âRemember to keep your hand away from water.â
Looking at her thin back, Sir Lu sighed and said, âPoor child. She was born sickly and almost died of intestinal sickness when she was a child.â
âWhy doesnât her mother like her?â Lu Junming asked.
âItâs not that her mother doesnât like her. Farming households just donât like daughters in general. They say itâs useless to raise a girl well, since sheâll be someone elseâs.â
âSince she will be someone elseâs sooner or later, letâs ask her to come to ours!â
His grandfather laughed, âSilly boy, now you want to marry her?â
Lu Junming blushed, âNo, I mean letting her live with us and be a member of our family.â
âTheyâre farmers, and weâre soldiers. In terms of rank, they outrank us.â [3]
Post-edit note: Has anyone thought about how many trees there are in this setting? Because I swear they come up way too often.
[1] Butâ¦it has a happy ending?
[2] The governing official of Chenzhong Village. Thatâs his name.
[3] I thought soldiers werenât part of the original ranking. And there is no way the Mo family, a family of poor farmers, outrank the Lu family.