Ah Qiao

Extra: Ah Hu (1)

1

That day on the back hill, I had planned to fill my stomach one last time and then die.
But then Mother came up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder.

I looked at her warily, thinking she was about to throw more accusations at me.

It had always been this way—whenever a child misbehaved and got hurt, or someone lost track of their chickens or ducks and feared getting scolded, they would say it was my doing, that I was the one who stole.

Even Zhao Er Dan, when he lost his family's ducks, blamed me.

He hid in his parents' arms, too scared to look at me, crying with a guilty conscience.
Hmph!

Why lie? Your parents might beat you, but they won't abandon you.

I stood my ground and said:

"Ah Hu didn't do it, so Ah Hu won't admit it."

But Er Dan's parents grabbed a stick to threaten me and let loose their dog to chase me:

"You filthy brat with no mother!"

"You mangy dog without a father!"

The dog chased me, and I tumbled and crawled, eventually falling into a stinking mud ditch.

That night, limping and sore, I snuck to the bottom of their yard, intending to knock down Er Dan's gourd trellis.

But I overheard Er Dan sniffling and confessing.

His father hit him, and only then did Er Dan confess that he had lied—it wasn't me who took his ducks.

Afraid that others would label Er Dan as a lying child, his parents chose not to expose him in public.

They'd rather let the lie stand and scold me first.

I listened for a long time.

I heard Er Dan's father teach him not to lie.

I heard Er Dan's mother, feeling sorry for him, saying she would get an egg to rub over his swollen, tearful eyes.
I waited until all the lights in their house were out.

But I never heard anyone say they should go apologize to Ah Hu.

I sat alone, hugging my knees, crouched by the wall for a long time, and suddenly, it all made sense.

The truth and lies didn't matter—what mattered was which one the adults were willing to believe.

But Ah Hu didn't have parents, so no one was willing to believe him.

I waited a whole day and never heard a word of apology.

Er Dan laughed at me, teasing about how badly the dog had chased me the day before.

On the third day, I opened their chicken coop and knocked over their gourd trellis.

The weasel came and killed their chickens, and the freshly sprouted gourd seedlings were trampled by me.

The next morning, when Er Dan's family woke up, they stood in the yard, crying and cursing.

I felt a wave of satisfaction and bolted up the back hill.

Ah Hu ran so fast that the wind on the mountain whipped his clothes, making them billow out.

The wind was as gentle as my mother's embrace from the past, wrapping me entirely in its warmth.
Yes!

Ah Hu ran, not because he was afraid of getting beaten, but because he wanted to feel the wind.

Just like when Ah Hu did something bad, it wasn't because he wanted an apology.

Because Ah Hu was just like a mangy dog, and a mangy dog doesn't need a reason to bite.

Yes!

Ah Hu decided to be a mangy dog from now on!

A rotten, nasty dog that everyone feared!

So when Er Dan's father beat me, or when Xu Chang got people to rough me up, I would just rolled around in the mud, grinning from ear to ear.

"Hehe, it doesn't hurt, not at all."

They couldn't do anything about Ah Hu.

I couldn't help but praise myself:

Ah Hu is really smart!

2

The day I decided to die was my tenth birthday.

But I thought it over and decided I should fill my belly first before dying.

I stole a chicken and took it to the back hill to roast.

Madam Ah Qiao stood behind me, her steps as light as the mountain breeze.

I didn't notice her until she gently tapped me on the shoulder:

"Speckled hen isn't good when cooked like this."

It was as if, in her eyes, the biggest problem wasn't that I had stolen the chicken, but that I wasn't cooking it properly.

I looked at her suspiciously as she took over at the stove.

She deftly rolled up her sleeves, stoked the fire, and started cooking.

Even though she only added ginger, salt, and yellow wine, the soup smelled better than anything I'd ever tasted in the village.

The golden chicken fat shimmered, making me feel like my eyes might fall into the soup.

Both chicken legs ended up in my bowl.

Even if it was poisoned, I would have accepted it.

After three bowls of soup, I still didn't understand what she was trying to do.

"If you're hungry in the future, don't steal. You can come here to eat."

My eyes felt warm, but I didn't know what to say.

Fortunately, that annoying Xu Chang showed up, so I put down my bowl and ran off.

I dashed up the back hill.

It was the fifteenth of the month, and the wind was strong, blowing away the thick clouds to reveal a huge, bright moon.

Hehe, the moon was beautiful, and it lit up Ah Hu's heart.