Chapter 36: CH 36

The two sisters turned and walked towards the market. There was a mutton soup restaurant beside the road they did their business on.

Mutton was warm and nourishing. Since ancient times, mutton had been a high grade meat, and only the poor would eat pork.

As it was currently lunchtime, the restaurant was bustling with activity and the employees were frantically working. Seeing them come in, someone asked, “What do you two want to eat?”

Mo Ling just heard someone call for food, and learned from her, “Two bowls of whole mutton soup and two baked crackers.”

He found them an empty spot, and the two of them sat down. Only then did Mo Ling realise that her hands were still covered with flour and she embarrassedly cleaned them under the table.

The food came quickly and the milky white soup exuded waves of aroma. The grilled crackers were fresh out of the oven, the exterior was browned and it looked tantalising.

“Hurry up!” Mo Ling picked one up and took a bite. It was incredibly crispy. Then, she picked up the chopsticks and stirred the contents of the bowl. There was goat offal and blood pudding.

The soup full of meat and the crispy crackers made the sisters very happy, and they were very satisfied and full. It was the first time that Mo Yan had eaten so much food. She even burped, and then laughed to herself.

After eating and drinking, the two of them didn’t know where to go, so they walked along the street of the market, in the shade of the houses. As they walked, Mo Ling told Mo Yan who sold what, and whose business was doing well and whose was failing.

As they walked, they came to the place where they bought the ducklings. It was the livestock market, where livestock was traded, and it was also the threshing field.

Today wasn’t a market day, and there was no one here. The two of them found some hay bales, took out some straw from them, and sat down on the straw.

Mo Yan was tired, and because she was full, she became sleepy and fell asleep while leaning on her sister. After a while, Mu Ling also fell asleep, leaning on a hay bale.

After who knew how long, Mo Ling opened her eyes and pushed Mo Yan, who opened her eyes as well and saw that it was dark.

“Sis, it’s dark already!” She looked sideways at her sister, wondering where they would be going. Mo Ling didn’t want to go home, but she didn’t know where to go.

The two were hesitating when they saw a figure hurrying to the wheat field. Mo Ling hugged her sister tightly and didn’t dare make a sound.

A figure walked towards their hay bales, mumbling, “Why is it so dark today? I can’t even see the road. I remember there was a hay bale here…”

This person was a man from the voice. He came to the hay bale and began to try and find it. Mo Ling lowered her head and avoided the man’s hand. WHen he found it, he turned to sit down. But if he sat down, he would be sitting directly on top of the two.

Mo Ling raised her hand and pushed the man away, then pulled Mu Yan up to run away. The man didn’t know there was anyone here, and was so frightened that he jumped out of his skin. He sat on the ground and shouted, “Who are you? Are you a human or a demon!”

Mo Yan ran slowly and because she was being dragged by Mo Ling, almost fell. She couldn’t help but gasp in fright.

The man stopped screaming when he heard that it was a young girl.

“Don’t run away, little girls! I’m not a bad person! Don’t run around in the dark, be careful of encountering bad people and wild dogs!” [1]

Despite Mo Ling’s temperament, she was afraid of dogs. She immediately stopped when she heard about the wild dogs. Then, two dogs ran towards them one after the other, their eyes glowing in the dark night, and their mouths panting.

Mo Ling clenched Mo Yan’s hand nervously, and her voice trembled, “Yan’er, run, run!”

She said to run quickly, but she didn’t take a step, nor did she let go of Mo Yan’s hand.

At this time, the man came over with a stick and hit the ground with it, scaring the two dogs away.

Mo Ling was so frightened that her back was covered with cold sweat, but she didn’t forget to ask Mo Yan if she was scared. The man with the stick turned around and said, “Which village are you from? It’s so late, why are you two still outside!”

“We…we belong to this village, we’ll go home soon.”

At this time, someone on the road called out their names, “Mo Ling, Mo Yan!”

Someone came to look for them!

Mo Yan shouted, “We’re here!”

The sound of horse hooves approached, and she asked in surprise, “Is it Lu Junming?”

“Yes!”

Hearing the confirmation, both of them fully relaxed.

A halo of light approached from the direction of the road. It was Lu Junming riding on a horse, holding a torch in his hand which dyed his face red.

“Yan’er!”

“I’m here!” she replied.

His big white horse stopped in front of them, and Lu Junming jumped off it, “I’ve finally found you. I’d circled around the village and tried to find you twice already. If you hadn’t responded, I would’ve left by now.”

From the torchlight, the three of them could see that the man with the stick was a young man who looked to be a farmer. Lu Junming frowned and asked, “Who are you?”

The man hurriedly dropped the stick in his hand and explained, “I just passed by. It’s dark and I can’t afford to stay at a hotel, so I wanted to spend the night here.”

The man had an honest face. If it wasn’t for him, Mo Ling wouldn’t know how to deal with those two wild dogs.

Seeing that Lu Junming was still suspicious, Mo Ling also helped explain, “He didn’t do anything to us, he just beat the dog with a stick.”

Lu Junming handed the torch to Mo Yan’s hands, hugged her onto the horse, and went to help Mo Ling, “You guys get on the horse, I’ll lead it home.”

Lu Junming led the horse on the road, and there were voices calling for the two from the front. Lu Junming called out “Cao Zhang”, and a chariot drove towards them, with lanterns hanging on the corners of it. Cao Zhang was the driver.

As it approached, Cao Zhang called out, “Yan’er, Sister Ling, are you all alright?”

Mo Yan, who was sitting in front, replied, “We’re fine!”

At this time, another person emerged from the chariot. It was Mr. Tian, who also came to look for them.

Mo Yan called out “Mr. Tian”, and Mr. Tian nodded to them without saying anything. Cao Zhang jumped off, “Yan’er, come sit here! It’s safer.”

His words seemed to imply Lu Junming’s horse was unsafe. Lu Junming said, “I’m leading the horse! It’s also very safe.”

At this time, Mr. Tian opened his mouth and said, “What are you two fighting over? Let them choose for themselves. If they want to sit in the chariot, they can sit in the chariot, and if they want to ride a horse, they can ride a horse.”

Lu Junming agreed, saying “This sounds reasonable, you’re truly a teacher,” and turned to ask Mo Yan, “Yan’er, would you like to ride my horse or sit in the chariot?”

Mo Yan said, “It’s more refreshing, so I’ll ride a horse.”

Lu Junming proudly said towards Cao Zhang, “Look, people are willing to ride horses.”

Mr. Tian said again, “Miss Mo Ling hasn’t decided yet!”

Lu Junming looked back at Mo Ling, thinking that she would be worried about her sister and would definitely say that she’d like to ride the horse, but she glanced at the carriage with a shy look on her face and said, “I’m sit in the chariot, it’s not proper for a girl to ride a horse.”

With that said, Mo Ling wanted to dismount, so Lu Junming hurried over to help her. She got off the horse but didn’t ask Mu Yan to come down too, just told her to sit tight.

Post-edit note: To the Americans that probably aren’t reading this, happy 4th of July! Why are you even reading this? Go enjoy the celebrations!

[1] That is far too suspicious…but he was actually a good person. Huh.