Ah Qiao

Chapter 5

In the blink of an eye, summer had arrived.

The backyard was filled with the sound of cicadas, their buzzing making the place feel even quieter, with cool shade spreading across the courtyard.

The teachers had gone on a study trip, traveling far away.
Today, I had some free time, so I took apart the students' clothes and bedding to wash and dry them.

"I'm no good at studying; my brain is dull," Ah Hu said, helping me secure the drying rack while shaking his head repeatedly. "Besides, everyone at the academy hates me, and I hate them too."

Ah Hu was ten years old, three years older than Bai'er.

Bai'er could already recite the Thousand Character Classic [1] and do simple arithmetic.

But Ah Hu knew nothing, not even recognizing a handful of characters.

I was thinking about saving up for half a year to enroll Ah Hu in school.

"If you don't know how to read and don't have any skills, what will you do if others bully you in the future?"

"If someone bullies me, I'll come to mother for help!"

"But by then, I'll be old. What will you do then?"

This question made Ah Hu sad. He grabbed my sleeve tightly:
"You won't get old! You must never get old!"

"Alright, alright, I won't get old. I'll always be with you."

I crouched down to wipe his tears.

Just then, I heard someone calling my name from behind, the voice filled with disbelief and overwhelming joy:

"...Ah Qiao?"

The wind caught the clothes hanging in the courtyard, billowing them like sails on water, casting shifting shadows.

I stood up and saw Meng He Shu holding Bai'er's hand, standing behind those sails, as if separated from me by a great distance:

"...Is it really you, Ah Qiao?"

It seemed that taking care of the pregnant woman had been tough on him—Meng He Shu had lost a lot of weight.

He didn't dare approach, just stood there staring at me with reddened eyes.
It was Bai'er who pulled away from his hand, calling out "Mother" and wanting to dive into my arms and act spoiled as he usually did.

But Ah Hu shoved him hard, sending him tumbling to the ground.

Ah Hu clung to my arm defensively, like a little tiger guarding its food:

"Who are you! How dare you call my mother 'Mother'!"

Meng He Shu was startled, but seeing that Ah Hu was taller than Bai'er, half of his doubt faded.

Of course, I didn't flatter myself by thinking that Meng He Shu had come all this way just to find me.

Suddenly, I understood. I stood on tiptoe, peering behind him:

"Did you come here because Miss Yu Zhe is here too?"

Seeing me ask so cautiously, Meng He Shu's eyes were filled with bitterness.

It wasn't that I was being overly cautious.
When I was with Meng He Shu in the past, I had been full of wishful thinking.

I thought that Meng He Shu had fallen in love with me at first sight, which was why he heroically defended me when a guest accused my dish of being poisoned.

I thought that Meng He Shu was naturally slow to warm up. Seven years ago, when he got drunk and said he wanted to marry me, I believed he was just using alcohol to build up his courage.

I didn't know that on that day, Miss Yu Zhe had also eaten the food I made, and Meng He Shu, in his worry, lost his composure.

I didn't know that Meng He Shu had been drowning his sorrows in alcohol that day and that his proposal to me was driven by jealousy over Yu Zhe and Lu Yan.

That's why on our wedding night, when Miss Yu Zhe fell ill and came looking for him, I stood with my hands on my hips, acting spoiled and confident in his favor:

"Meng He Shu, if you go, I'll ignore you forever!"

He couldn't not go, just as I couldn't really ignore him.

I scolded him all day, but the next day, when I sent white rice to the clinic, I still hid a drumstick under it for him.

I wanted him to finish a tasteless meal of plain rice before finding the meat!

Footnote:

[1] The Thousand Character Classic (千字文) is a Chinese poem that contains exactly one thousand characters.