Ah Qiao

Extra: Ah Hu (3)

4

Mother took me to settle down in Sucheng.

The tavern keeper of the Sucheng tavern was very kind and couldn't stop praising Mother's cooking skills. Knowing that Mother was new to the city and had me with her, he was even willing to give her a little extra pay.
We rented a small house in Tianshui Lane. It wasn't big, but it had a small courtyard.

The courtyard had two patches of land and an old osmanthus tree with blossoms hidden among its leaves like stars.

Mother liked it here. She even said that once we cleared the unused land, we could plant vegetables, and when the osmanthus blossoms, she would make sweet syrup for me.
Hehe, if Mother liked it, then so did I.

The women in Tianshui Lane also liked Mother, saying that Madam Ah Qiao was honest and sincere. Whenever someone had a problem, Madam Ah Qiao was always willing to lend a hand.

Mother, despite having me with her, never got involved in any gossip or disputes.

Because everyone in Tianshui Lane knew that if anyone dared to gossip about Madam Ah Qiao, the neighborhood women would stand at the entrance of the lane, hands on their hips, and curse them out all day long.

Mother often said that Sucheng, like Qingzhou, had many good people.

But she was wrong.

It's that someone as good as Mother deserves to be treated well by everyone.

Mother also wrote a letter and entrusted Brother Chun Sheng to deliver it to Qingzhou.

She asked the big ungrateful man to take the little ungrateful child to stay in Qingzhou and study well because the academy in Qingzhou was the best.

Along with the letter, she sent a small winter coat.

"It was made from the leftover fabric of Ah Hu's clothes."
Hmph, Mother underestimated my generosity. I'm a gentleman too.

Every year on Mother's birthday, a package would arrive from Qingzhou.

Sometimes it was silver hairpins and jewelry, other times it was rouge and powder.

Pah! I always gave two gifts!

After all, I not only cooked but also gave jewelry!

Moreover, what they gave wasn't as nice as mine.

5

The years flew by quickly.

The year I was to go to the capital to take the military exam, Qingzhou was plagued by water bandits.

That was the place where I grew up and where I first met Mother.

So I returned to Qingzhou and joined the naval forces.

When Er Dan saw me return, he stomped his foot and said:

"You've missed the exam, and who knows when you'll bring honor to your mother! I hear that little brat passed the provincial exams and is going to be an official!"

I took a bite of the dry rations that Mother had prepared for me and waved him off:

"My Mother doesn't care about that."

The war in Qingzhou lasted a year and a half, but we finally crushed the bandits.

I was in a hurry to get back home, but my superior grabbed me by the neck and dragged me to the victory banquet.
I never expected to see so many familiar faces at the victory banquet.

Brother Xu Chang had passed the imperial examination, but his straightforward nature made him ill-suited for the officialdom. So, he resigned from his position, returned to the academy with his wife and children, and lived a happy and contented life teaching.

Brother Xu Chang brought up the past and also mentioned what happened after we left.

I had been drinking and, in my drunken state, overheard a bit. It was about that little brat, who had passed the imperial exams and seemed to have done quite well.

They said he was going to Sucheng to serve as a magistrate, with over forty people in the Yamen [1] under his command.

Er Dan shamelessly leaned over and asked me for half a bowl of wine:

"Sure, he's an official in Sucheng now, but you're the real deal, Brother. You're in the navy, commanding two hundred men!"

What? Sucheng?

The mention of that place startled me half-sober. I grabbed my belongings and dashed toward the dock.

The autumn rain fell like fine threads, just like the day Mother had taken me away ten years ago.

There was no one else at the dock, and the boat was lazily swaying at its mooring.

The rain had only just begun, and the boatman was lying down, using his straw hat as a cover, dozing with his hands behind his head.

"Hurry, hurry! I need to get back to Sucheng!"

I was frantic, but the boatman was not.

He slowly sat up, removing his straw hat, revealing a familiar face:

"Well, well, where's our big hero from Qingzhou rushing off to?"

Brother Chun Sheng patted the rain off his straw hat and saw right through what was on my mind.

But he didn't say anything, just smiled.

"Look at you, big hero, all flustered like you've got the most important thing in the world to deal with."

I wanted to explain, but then I stopped and smiled too. Brother Chun Sheng was right.

The most important thing in the world.

Isn't it just going home for a meal!

(The End of Extra 2)

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Footnote:

[1] Yamen (衙门) refers to a government office or official institution in ancient China, where administrative and judicial matters were handled.