Exile

15

Su Qingbai didn't go into the gambling house in the end.

"What if you don't win and lose?" Jiang Mao asked him.

Su Qingbai's mouth moved but he did not speak for a while. If you lose, it's your bad luck. Jiang Mao certainly wouldn't listen to these words.

"Could it be that if I wasn't here this time, you'll come back here after you sell the vegetables? It's good to win but what if you lose?" Then Jiang Mao took the fifteen coins from him. "It's better that you give it to me now. You can pay little by little; I'm not in a hurry."

At first, Jiang Mao had planned to give him the few copper coins left, but he was afraid that Su Qingbai would go into the gambling house again with the money so he ruthlessly took all of the coins.

Su Qingbai looked like he wanted to say something but dared not say it. Jiang Mao had taken the few pathetic copper coins he had in his hand.

Along the way, Su Qingbai was silent. Jiang Mao took him to the town gate and patted him on the head at the time they separated. "Quickly go to work. Tomorrow I'll be here waiting for you to pay back the money."

He numbly walked out of the town. Today, he worked all day and didn't earn a coin. Su Qingbai felt his life was dark and he was in no mood to go to the gambling house when he thought he would have to pay Jiang Si for a long time to come.

......

After Jiang Mao sent Su Qingbai out of town, he was not idle. He still had to find his departed subordinates.

Su Qingbai, who was out of town, touched his pocket and found the silver taels in his money pouch. Then, he remembered that he forgot to buy Su Caicai a sheep and rushed back to the county to buy a sheep.

Leading the sheep to the village, Su Qingbai saw Su Caicai from far away, being held up at the door as usual and waiting for him to return. The difference today was that it was not Madam Su but Su Lingchuan who held him.

As Su Qingbai led the sheep closer, he saw that both of their faces were black. Su Lingchuan was unwilling to hold Su Caicai and Su Caicai was uncomfortable. They both were unhappy.

Su Qingbai looked at them and felt much better after a depressing afternoon.

Su Lingchuan came out to welcome him with Su Caicai in his arms. Before Su Qingbai before entering the door, he then threw Su Caicai to him. He left with the sheep, saying that he would rather lead the sheep than hold his Su Caicai.

Nowadays, Su Caicai was such a spoiled child; he liked to be hugged by his father. If he hadn't looked too much like Su Qingbai and Jiang Mao, Su Qingbai would have been fooled, but unfortunately...

Su Qingbai pinched his son's recently fattened face and didn't hug and kiss him as before.

That day, Su Qingbai returned to his room early, and before he had enough to eat, he slipped away with two steamed buns, fearing that his Laozi and Niang would ask him how much money he earned today.

Su Qingbai sat in the darkroom, looking at some dry steamed buns and crying.

The family depended on him, but he was really tired and could not see any hope at all.

Su Caicai reached out and waved his hands at Su Qingbai with "ah-ah" in his mouth but it turned out, he was unable to reach over. Su Qingbai pinched his hand and said in particularly narcissistic, "Don't worry; your Dad is all right."

After crying in the evening, Su Qingbai went to the town again the next day. This time, he carried 30 catty of vegetables at once.

Last night Jiang Mao got some clues and slept after he finished his business. In the morning at dawn, Jiang Mao dared not delay much, so he came to Su Qingbai's stall.

After taking a look, only then he discovered that Su Qingbai did not come today.

After Jiang Mao remembered that pitiful small face when he had taken fifteen coins from Su Qingbai yesterday, he couldn't help guessing that it could be he was too frightened to come?

Jiang Mao bought five big steamed buns at a roadside stall and planned to eat them while waiting nearby.

Su Qingbai arrived when he had finished eaten a steamed bun.

He had a basket on his back and his waist was bent. The sweat on his forehead could be clearly seen in the early sunshine.

Jiang Mao hurried over.

"Today I carried thirty catty." Su Qingbai's eyes were shining. He looked at the vegetables as if he were looking at thirty coins.

As Su Qingbai spoke, he pounded his somewhat aching back. "It's just too heavy. I walked all the way that's why I'm late."

Jiang Mao did not speak. He reached out and gently pulled Su Qingbai's scattered hair behind his ear. He thought: thirty catty, can he still grow under such pressure?

Su Qingbai's nose was comparable to that of a dog's nose. When Jiang Mao came closer, he sniffed an aroma from him. He swallowed and asked, "What's that smell? It smells good."

Jiang Mao took out the rest of the steamed buns. "Want to eat it?"

"Hehe, thank you." Su Qingbai wasn't at all polite and wolfed down.

Looking at Su Qingbai's eating style, Jiang Mao couldn't help frowning. "Slow down, how many meals did you miss? So eager?"

"Only in the morning."

"You did not eat breakfast?"

Su Qingbai swallowed the steamed bun. "It's still dark and I was going to go to the county. After washing up, all I wanted was to sleep a little more. Where can I have the time to cook and eat?"

Jiang Mao's heart hurt even more.

There were more vegetables today, and so they finished selling at lunchtime.

"Don't carry too much in the future. Fifteen catties are just fine."

Su Qingbai glared at Jiang Mao. "Fifteen coins are to be returned to you, and I have to support my family." After saying, he gave fifteen coins to Jiang Mao.

Jiang Mao, with fifteen coins in his hand, suddenly felt that the money weighed more than a thousand catty.

"It's noon... go back after you had a meal."

"Ha?" Su Qingbai, who was counting his fifteen coins over and over, looked up.