Ah Qiao

Chapter 6

I was being overly hopeful again.

Meng He Shu never touched that bowl of rice.

Because Miss Yu Zhe was ill, he was too worried to eat.

"...She didn't come. I came to find you," Meng He Shu said, his voice hoarse. "Ah Qiao, don't be angry anymore. Come home with me."

He came specifically to find me?

I thought about it and realized I couldn't keep fooling myself.

I forced a smile, bitter in tone:

"He Shu, if I go back, what will happen to Miss Yu Zhe?"

"From now on, it'll just be you, me, and Bai'er. The three of us will live together! She won't be a part of our lives anymore! I swear it won't happen again!"

But I couldn't believe him anymore.

When I left, the spring rain was pouring at the dock.

Now, three months have passed, and Qingzhou's summer trees were lush and green.

It took him an entire spring to realize I wasn't by his side.

But there's a spring every year.

Every year, the spring rain will remind me that I was once forgotten in that downpour.

Seeing my distant expression, Meng He Shu desperately reached out to grab my hand.

He insisted that it wasn't how I thought it was.

When I didn't come home for three days, he frantically searched for my whereabouts.

"That lady named Ah Qiao—I've seen her before. She even bought some fish from me."

The boatman, chewing on a reed, pointed north to a place completely opposite of Qingzhou:

"She went to Sucheng."

Meng He Shu hurriedly took Bai'er and headed north.

He circled around Sucheng, searching for two months.

He only found his way to Qingzhou after overhearing a scholar in an inn talk about how their academy had recently hired a cook with extraordinary skills.

The scholar lamented that ever since leaving Guanhe Academy, no food tasted as good, and he missed the academy's meals the most.

"When you disappeared and I heard you'd been mistreated, I was both worried and angry. The pain in my heart made me realize how much I truly cared..."

It was only after I left that he belatedly realized his true feelings.

But by then, I couldn't believe him anymore.

"He Shu, do you know why I left?"

"Because of Yu Zhe... No, because Bai'er and I made you sad..."

I shook my head:

"The day I went to buy the hairtail fish, it rained heavily. Every other woman had her husband come to fetch her, but I didn't.

"I wasn't even that upset. I even thought that if the rain stopped soon, I would still forgive you.

"But the rain didn't stop. It went on for a long time. I almost forgave you again.

"I stood on someone else's boat, blocking the boatman from setting off. The owner wanted to drive me away, but seeing the heavy rain, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"That's when I realized that the seven years we spent together day and night couldn't even compare to the compassion of a stranger.

"It took me a lot of effort to convince myself not to deceive myself anymore. After seven years of marriage, you never truly loved me."

The things that had kept me awake at night and soaked my pillow with tears over the past three months now felt like distant memories, as if they had happened to someone else.

I looked at him and slowly withdrew my hand from his grasp:

"After I came to Qingzhou, I faced difficulties and was mistreated too.

"But no matter how hard it got, I never thought about going back, and I never thought about returning to you.

"He Shu, I don't want to eat another bowl of longevity noodles mixed with tears."



"Mother, do you not want Bai'er anymore?"

Bai'er looked at me with tear-filled eyes, wiping his face over and over.

Ah Hu, realizing that Bai'er was my biological child, stopped pushing him and merely glared at him fiercely.

Bai'er wiped his tears, pointing to his chest:

"Mother, if you don't want Bai'er, Bai'er's heart will hurt."

Seeing me frown, Ah Hu suddenly threw himself to the ground, clutching his chest and rolling around:

"Mother, Ah Hu's head hurts too!"

I quickly reached out to check Ah Hu's forehead.

Ah Hu stuck his tongue out at Bai'er, making a funny face.

Bai'er looked in disbelief at this older boy, who was a head taller than him yet somehow even more mischievous.

"Ah Qiao, don't be angry anymore. Come home with me, please..."

I shook my head and gently pulled Ah Hu back inside:

"No need. This is the home I've made for myself."

Only then did Meng He Shu notice the trellis in the courtyard, with purple bean pods hanging among the lush green leaves.

There were dried bamboo shoots and tofu laid out under the window, a few plump speckled hens pecking at the bugs in the vegetable patch, and a small yellow dog, which Ah Hu had brought to guard the house, napping behind the chicken coop.

I had told him before that I wanted to grow vegetables and fruits in our yard.

But he liked Miss Yu Zhe, and because of that, he also loved the plum blossoms she adored.

With plum blossoms in the courtyard, there was no room for beans and gourds.

"We can tidy up our home like this when we go back. It won't be any worse than here."

But why tidy it up again? It's perfect as it is now.

Seeing that I wasn't swayed, Meng He Shu found a place to stay nearby:

"Ah Qiao, I'll change. Just watch me change, alright?"

Bai'er glared at Ah Hu with resentment:

"Just you wait, thief!"