Ah Qiao

Chapter 7

The next day at noon, Ah Hu came back with a bruised and swollen face.

When I asked him about it, he hesitated and said:

"I was chasing a rabbit and took a tumble."

"Mother doesn't like children who lie."

Ah Hu had gotten into a fight with Bai'er.

Now that Ah Hu knew Bai'er was my biological son, he didn't dare fight back.

"Why didn't you fight back?"

"...I was afraid that if I hit him, Mother wouldn't want me anymore."

"I won't abandon you just because you hit him." I applied ointment to Ah Hu's wounds, feeling sorry for this insecure child. "But if lose the fight, then I might just leave you!"

"But he said that because you carried him in your belly for nine months, you must love him more..."

I sighed and gently patted his head.

On the third day, Bai'er, also bruised and battered, dragged Meng He Shu to our door to complain:

"Mother, Ah Hu hit me! Ah Hu hit your Bai'er!"

Ah Hu proudly lifted his chin:

"I am also Mother's child! Mother told me herself—while you were carried in her belly, I was carried in her heart!"

Bai'er stared at him in a daze, as if struck by lightning:

"You're lying! Mother wouldn't say that! She carries me in her heart too!"

"You're so dumb. A heart is only so big, and Ah Hu takes up the whole space—there's no room left for you, Meng Bai!"

Ah Hu's words left Meng Bai stunned.

"My mother also said that if anyone bullies me, I should fight back because she's got my back.

"Hehe, let's see who's the poor little one without Mother's backing!

"Oh! It's Meng Bai'er!"

Bai'er, unable to outtalk Ah Hu, burst into loud sobs.

Ah Hu was so pleased with himself that he ate three bowls of rice:

"Mother, if Bai'er gets to study, then Ah Hu should study too—I won't be worse than him."

He thought for a moment while holding his bowl:

"Mother, if I start studying, I'll need a proper name. I've already decided: I'll take your surname and be called Qiao Hu."

The rift between Ah Hu and Bai'er was now firmly established.

What surprised me, though, was that Ah Hu's relationship with Xu Chang and the other academy students had improved significantly.

I even saw the students of Guanhe Academy crouching under the shade of a tree, teaching Ah Hu how to read and write.

"Those two thieves from out of town, how dare they try to take Madam away!

"If Madam leaves, we'll be stuck eating gruel and coarse vegetables every day.

"And we won't have clean, fragrant, soft clothes and bedding anymore."

Xu Chang, as if facing a great threat, patted Ah Hu on the shoulder:

"I didn't even study this seriously when preparing for exams.

"Ah Hu, you've got to work hard!"



Meng He Shu rented a small farmhouse.

His hands, used to writing prescriptions and practicing medicine, were not skilled in farming.

As a result, the weeds flourished while the bean sprouts withered, and even Bai'er's cheeks began to thin.

With no other choice, he returned to his old trade, turning the front yard into a clinic.

The midsummer sky was like a child's face, changing from sunny to rainy in an instant.

The courtyard was filled with herbs laid out to dry.

Seeing the ominous clouds, Meng He Shu called out toward the house:

"Ah Qiao, it's going to rain. We need to bring the herbs in."

The house was empty, and Meng He Shu stood frozen, then suddenly let out a self-mocking laugh:

"...I keep forgetting, Ah Qiao isn't here anymore."

Rushing to gather the herbs before the storm, he found himself drenched and disheveled. But then he noticed a woman standing outside with an umbrella.

"Ah Qiao?"

The voice, choked with emotion and full of grievance, responded:

"Brother Meng, it's me."

Yu Zhe had come to Qingzhou because Lu Yan had taken a concubine at his estate.

He hadn't gone to the capital as she had thought, but to his countryside estate to appease his new mistress.

The Lu family had kept this a secret from her, not letting a word slip.

"I'm so scared, Brother Meng, that the Lu family will keep the child and send me away." Yu Zhe looked up at him with tearful eyes. "Can I stay with you, Brother Meng?"

For some reason, Meng He Shu didn't take in what Yu Zhe was saying.

He looked at the rain outside and thought only of whether Ah Qiao had remembered to bring an umbrella when she went out.

The last time she went out to buy fish, she had been caught in this same rain.

So when Meng He Shu arrived at the academy, soaked and clutching an umbrella, he saw me standing under the eaves, sharing an umbrella with one of the teachers, saying our goodbyes.

The teacher, in a gentle voice, thanked me, noting how fortunate it was that I had the foresight to bring an umbrella in such heavy rain.

"...Ah Qiao."

I turned and saw Meng He Shu standing in the rain in the courtyard.

He held the umbrella tightly to his chest, like a piece of driftwood in the water.

"What are you doing here?"

The rain poured down, leaving him looking pitiful in his disarray, yet his eyes were bright with hope:

"...It's raining heavily. I was worried you'd get caught in it."

I shook my head:

"From now on, I'll always remember to bring an umbrella. You don't need to bring one for me anymore."

I saw the light in his eyes, which had been so hopeful, fade out as if extinguished by the downpour.

I sighed:

"Don't stand in the rain. You'll get sick."

His face lit up like a child receiving candy, joy flooding his expression:

"Ah Qiao, you still care about me, don't you?"

I didn't know how to respond, so I turned and walked away into the rain.