MOF Chapter 61

Chapter 61: The Heavens Are Far, People Scatter, the Swallow is Alone, and Grief Abounds. The Crowd Departs, and He Cannot Keep Anything…

Chapter 61: The Heavens Are Far, People Scatter, the Swallow is Alone, and Grief Abounds. The Crowd Departs, and He Cannot Keep Anything…

Ghost City has a prefecture called Yu Zhou. Yu Zhou has a town called Yuquan Town. In that town, there is a place called Black Garment Lane.

In this deep lane, most of the residents are ordinary families. One day, a carriage came to the lane. A beautiful woman, looking no more than twenty-five or six years old, dragged a bundle and stepped down from the carriage with a pair of siblings. From then on, she resided in Black Garment Lane for a long time.

At first, people thought she was a wealthy young lady from somewhere. As time went on, they gradually realized that she was probably a pitiful woman with a difficult life.

The woman’s name was Xie Wan. The siblings were named Xie Qing, the elder sister, who was only six years old, and Xie Ci, the younger brother, who had just turned four. At the age when children are usually playful, this pair of Xie siblings were more precocious and intelligent than other children.

The siblings would get up early and work late with their mother, selling handkerchiefs and sachets embroidered by Xie Wan at the market.

Unfortunately, in a place like Black Garment Lane, everyone was struggling to make a living and could barely protect themselves. Xie Wan’s business was truly sluggish. She had to find a way to go to the more prosperous Yuquan Town.

Yuquan Town was only three or four miles away from Black Garment Lane. Xie Wan had to wake up in the dark every day. Seeing her two children, their faces full of sleepiness, still getting out of bed with their eyes closed, her heart was filled with both bitterness and sorrow.

“A-Qing,” one day, Xie Wan pulled Xie Qing aside and said softly, “From today on, you and A-Ci don’t have to go to town with Mom anymore.”

Upon hearing this, Xie Qing immediately woke up. She looked at Xie Wan in confusion, “But Mom has a lot of things, and it must be tiring to carry them so far. A-Qing and my younger brother can help Mom share some of the burden, so Mom won’t be so tired.”

Xie Wan gently stroked her head, comforting her, “Mom can carry them, A-Qing doesn’t need to worry. But you must pay attention to A-Ci at home, don’t let him run around and get taken away by strangers.”

Xie Qing nodded in agreement. She leaned against the door, watching Xie Wan’s slender figure disappear at the entrance of the lane.

After Xie Ci woke up and didn’t see his mother, he was both angry and anxious. Xie Qing had no choice but to coax him, singing songs and telling stories until he finally stopped making a fuss.

“Sister,” Xie Ci asked Xie Qing after eating the last steamed bun from the steamer, “What if Mom is bullied? I want to go see, I know the way!”

Xie Qing, with her head down, was watering the newly planted vegetables outside the house. Hearing what her younger brother said, although she was indeed worried in her heart, she also kept her mother’s words in mind and said to Xie Ci, “Mom told us not to go out. If you want Mom to be upset after being tired all day when she comes back, then you can go.”

Xie Ci didn’t say anything. He also went to the small courtyard, carrying a bucket to help water the vegetables.

Although the days were hard, they were considered stable until one day, Xie Wan came back even later than before.

Xie Qing already knew how to cook some simple meals. She would make them every time and let Xie Ci bring the bowls to the table. That day, Xie Wan looked absent-minded, as if she had lost her soul, when she returned home.

Xie Ci and Xie Qing were already starving. Seeing Xie Wan come back, they exclaimed in unison, “Mom, you’re back!”

Xie Wan suddenly came back to her senses. She forced a smile on her beautiful face and said, “A-Qing and A-Ci are so good. Mom is a little tired today, you eat, Mom will sleep for a while first.”

Xie Ci watched her stumble into the house and turned to ask Xie Qing, “Sister, what’s wrong with Mom?”

Xie Qing was silent for a long time, then shook her head, “I don’t know, A-Ci, let’s eat first.”

From that day on, Xie Wan’s body began to weaken, her face became paler day by day, and there was a sad look in her eyes that Xie Ci couldn’t understand.

On the contrary, Xie Qing took care of everything in the family, big and small. Xie Ci could only compete with her to do things.

“Sister, do you think Mom is sick?” Xie Ci sat on the stone steps at the door, turned to ask Xie Qing next to him, “If she’s sick, does she need to take medicine? Sister, let’s buy medicine for Mom!”

Xie Qing propped her chin up with her hand, looking at the mountain path in the distance where only a bare tree trunk remained, “A-Ci, you don’t understand.”

Xie Ci shook her arm, begging her, “Then sister, tell me, I want to understand too.”

Xie Qing had a complicated expression. She couldn’t resist Xie Ci, but she didn’t know how to explain it to him so that he would understand. Mom must have been bullied, that’s why she hadn’t gone out to sell things for the past few days.

Xie Qing sighed, got up to take in the clothes hanging on the pole, leaving Xie Ci alone sitting on the stone steps with a puzzled look on his face.

Late autumn and early winter were exceptionally cold. The cold wind outside beat against the door. Xie Ci huddled tightly next to Xie Qing. The two of them sat around the stove, pressing their feet against each other to play.

Xie Wan came back late today. The cotton clothes on her body looked thin. Her body was shaking badly, but she was holding a tael of silver tightly in her hand.

Xie Ci widened his eyes, surprised and delighted, “Sister, it’s silver! Such a big tael of silver!”

Xie Wan gently patted Xie Ci’s head, and said, “A-Ci is a little miser.”

Xie Qing covered her mouth and laughed. Hearing this, she said, “He’s not only a little miser, but also a glutton and a stingy person!”

Xie Ci blushed with shame. Knowing that Xie Qing was talking about him getting angry with her before because of fighting for food, he quickly pounced on her and covered her mouth, “Sister is also a stingy person! You’re bringing that up again!”

Xie Wan waited for the two of them to make enough noise before urging them to go to sleep.

Xie Qing and Xie Ci climbed onto the bed that Xie Wan had recently laid out, consciously leaving a space for Xie Wan.

As sleepiness gradually grew stronger, Xie Ci vaguely felt someone lying down beside him. A low, gentle voice fell from above his head onto his cotton-filled pillow, “A-Qing, A-Ci, you must grow up safely. Mom doesn’t know what to do in the future…”

Xie Ci frowned in his sleep, unable to hear the words that followed.

*

Xie Wan fell ill in late winter. The house was filled with her worrying coughs all day long.

Xie Qing stayed by the bedside, wiping away the fine sweat on Xie Wan’s fair forehead again and again.

“A-Ci, is the medicine ready?”

“Coming, coming!” Xie Ci carefully walked in, holding a scalding bowl of medicine with a cloth separating it, and placed the steaming medicine on the bedside cabinet.

When the medicine bowl was no longer hot, Xie Qing picked it up, glanced at Xie Ci, who immediately understood and stepped forward to help Xie Wan up.

Spoon after spoon of medicine was fed into Xie Wan’s mouth.

After feeding the medicine, Xie Qing quietly looked at Xie Wan, who had fallen asleep again. Her features were gradually showing Xie Wan’s appearance, but her eyebrows were completely different from Xie Wan’s.

Thick and straight, like two long swords, rather than Xie Wan’s, which were like thin willows that would break with a fold.

Xie Ci squatted beside Xie Qing, leaning closer to her in a somewhat dependent manner.

“Sister,” he called softly.

Xie Qing turned her eyes, which had not moved for a long time, and looked down at her younger brother, who was two years younger than her. She raised her hand and gently stroked Xie Ci’s head with the same force as her mother.

“A-Ci, don’t be afraid, sister is here.”

It never rains but it pours, and the next day, a winter rain almost destroyed this stone-tiled thatched house.

Xie Ci heard the “drip, drip, drip” of rain in his ear. The sound wasn’t coming from outside the house, but from the wooden basin in front of him.

Xie Ci looked up and saw the small hole in the roof that was leaking. It was raining outside, but the light was brighter than inside the house.

A ray of dim light shone into the house. Xie Ci reached out to grab it, but the light escaped from his hand.

Xie Qing would occasionally probe Xie Wan’s breath, and only relaxed a little when she felt a faint warmth.

Xie Ci suddenly said, “Sister, I want to grow up quickly.”

Xie Qing looked back at him, but said nothing.

Xie Ci stared at the small ripples in the basin caused by the raindrops and continued, “When I grow up, I’ll buy a big house. Like the kind of big house I saw when we lived in Yongcheng, I’ll buy many, many of them and give them all to you and Mom to live in.”

“Silly,” Xie Qing couldn’t help but say, “Then what about you?”

Xie Ci raised his head to look at her and said, “I’ll live with sister and Mom, I only want Mom and sister.”

Xie Wan didn’t make it through that cold winter when the wind blew into the house when it was windy and water accumulated in the house when it rained.

That night, Xie Qing was sleeping when she suddenly heard a song, as if someone was whispering in her ear.

She opened her eyes with difficulty and saw Xie Wan dressed in a plain blue and white dress, standing in the house and singing something in a babbling voice.

Xie Qing stared blankly, and for a moment forgot to wake Xie Ci.

“I am originally a bird in the forest, difficult to stand in the mortal world, my heart has thousands of affections, I want to fly together with you.”

Xie Wan’s body was like wisps of light smoke, and she danced lightly as if a pair of wings had grown on her back.

“For you, I break my wings, willing to enter the cold cage, my heart has ten thousand regrets, I regret being with you.”

The tone was clear and melodious, revealing the singer’s attempt to suppress her hoarseness, striking Xie Qing’s eardrums again and again.

Xie Qing called out softly, “Mom.”

Her pupils were clearly black and white, and there seemed to be a thin, sorrowful figure in her eyes. Then, the figure trembled violently and slowly fell into Xie Qing’s eyes.

Xie Wan’s remains were buried in Zangyu Ridge, which Xie Qing asked someone to help dig.

Tears streamed down Xie Ci’s face, but he didn’t make a sound until the person who was hired began to bury the coffin. He suddenly cried out and shouted, “Mom!”

Xie Qing hugged Xie Ci, who wanted to touch the coffin, tightly in her arms, gently patting his head, “A-Ci, don’t cry, there’s still sister. Don’t be sad, don’t be sad.”

Xie Wan didn’t leave much behind, only enough for the two children to live on for a short time.

When the last copper coin was used up, Xie Qing resolutely took Xie Ci away from home and went to Yuquan Town.

This wasn’t the first time they had walked the road to the town, but it was the first time they felt that the road was so far and so long.

Yuquan Town was much more lively and prosperous than Black Garment Lane. The bustling streets echoed with shouts and cries of vendors. Xie Ci held Xie Qing’s hand tightly, weaving through the crowd.

The two, who thought that life would be better in Yuquan Town, felt a faint unease in their hearts after seeing the pairs of probing eyes revealed in the streets and alleys.

It was a group of emaciated beggars.

Xie Ci hid behind Xie Qing’s arm, looking back with the same curiosity, but was met with their fierce glares.

“Sister, sister!” Xie Ci called softly, “I’m a little scared.”

Xie Qing turned her head and gave Xie Ci a comforting look, saying, “A-Ci, don’t be afraid, we’ll go find a restaurant to help with work. When we have money, I can buy you the candied haws sold at the entrance of the lane.”

Many years later, whenever Xie Ci ate candied haws, he would always remember this sentence that Xie Qing said to him.

Xie Ci witnessed Xie Qing being taken away by a group of people.

About six or seven people, all riding horses, galloped through the street, raising a cloud of dust.

Someone shouted, “The Autumn Water Hall is here to catch children again!”

Before Xie Ci could dodge, he was grabbed by the clothes on his back. It was clear that his feet had left the ground, but he was still pulled down by Xie Qing.

When he fell to the ground and looked up, the horse had already run far away, along with Xie Qing beside him.

“Sister,” Xie Ci first called out as if in a daze, then a huge panic surged into his heart. He desperately chased after her, shouting, “Sister! Sister! Bad guys! Give me back my sister!”

He heard Xie Qing calling “A-Ci,” the voice becoming increasingly faint. At that time, he suddenly realized that although Xie Qing was older than him, taller than him, and stronger than him, she was also a woman who needed to be protected, just like his mother.

The sound of hooves gradually faded away, but the fear in Xie Ci’s heart grew bigger and bigger. In a daze, it seemed that only he was left in the world.

The crowd departed, and he couldn’t keep anything.