mijobooks Chapter 53: Silent Crying
Chapter 53: Silent Crying
Words,
at the same time.
The evening wind blows across the propeller, across the small mountain village, across the field ridges, and across my home in southern Jiangsu.
A few sporadic barks of dogs mingled with the night wind.
Su Nan's mother, Wen Yuefen, lifted the curtain and came out, her blue cloth scarf speckled with flour.
She raised her hand to pat her scarf, her black and white hair loosely tied back, with a few stray strands hanging down her temples, swaying in the wind.
She carried the enamel mug into the main room, her steps light.
Su Yuanqiao sat on the cement floor, leaning against the wall.
There were three empty wine bottles in front of me, and another one that was half full.
His head was tilted to the side, his gaze fixed on the black-and-white portrait on the wall, motionless.
The man in the portrait is wearing a military uniform, with handsome features and military medals pinned to his chest.
"Stop sitting on the ground talking nonsense, get up and drink some ginger tea to warm your stomach," Wen Yuefen said.
Su Yuanqiao did not move.
He let out a loud burp, the smell of alcohol mixed with the odor of sweat spreading out. "Dad!" Su Yuanqiao called out to the portrait on the wall, his voice hoarse like sandpaper rubbing against wood.
"Dad!" Su Yuanqiao bent over, pressed against the wall, and approached the portrait.
"Dad, I went to the Shen family today. Do you know what happened to me? I suffered a terrible injustice there."
Su Yuanqiao reached out, his fingers trembling violently, and it took him three tries to finally grasp the half-full wine bottle.
He held the bottle to his mouth, tilted his head back, and gulped down two big mouthfuls.
Spicy liquor dripped down his chin, across his neck, and soaked his gray cloth shirt, which had two patches.
"At noon, I carried our best jar of honey, a jar of fine wine that had been brewing for half a year, and twenty farm eggs that I had saved up for half a month, all in a bamboo basket."
Su Yuanqiao wiped his mouth, then slammed the wine bottle to the ground with a thud.
"But they didn't even let me sit down. They looked at me like I was a thief."
"I just said that the two kids are both eighteen now, and since they were betrothed when they were little, shouldn't we start making some preparations?" That one sentence made Shen Tianfu flip the table on the spot.
Su Yuanqiao's voice trembled.
He picked up my bamboo basket and threw it out the door, basket and all. Eggs were smashed all over the ground, and the yolks were spilled in the mud.
"They even insulted us, calling our Su family toads trying to eat swan meat."
As Su Yuanqiao spoke, his shoulders trembled.
Tears rolled down her cheeks, mingling with the alcohol on her face, and splashed onto the cold cement floor, leaving a small wet patch.
Wen Yuefen's eyes instantly reddened.
She squatted down, placed the enamel mug on the ground, and reached out to pull his arm.
He held his hand very lightly, as if afraid of breaking something.
"Alright, alright, it's all over now. It's not worth getting angry with them. Get up and have some ginger tea to warm your stomach."
Su Yuanqiao turned his head and gently pushed her hand away.
It wasn't very strong, but it had a stubborn edge.
His gaze returned to the black-and-white portrait, his eyes even more vacant.
"Dad, I was only 7 years old when you left."
Su Yuanqiao's voice trembled even more violently, and it sounded like he was crying.
"How can you expect a 7-year-old to shoulder the responsibility of this family? I've never stolen or robbed in my life. I've been working in the fields before dawn and carrying bricks at the brick kiln until dark. I've never been lazy for a single day. I've already tried my best!"
"And you're clearly a company commander, about to be promoted to battalion commander, with a bright future ahead of you. Why did you take that knife for that lowly soldier, Shen Guoli?"
Su Yuanqiao raised his hand, pointing at the portrait, his fingers trembling like leaves in the autumn wind.
"Look at us now, we're destitute, we don't even have a decent piece of furniture. And look at the Shen family, Shen Guoli came back alive."
Thanks to the military merits you accumulated with your number 117, you served as the village chief for 5 years. Your family built a 3-story house, and your son drove a car. The whole family lived a life of luxury.
"If you weren't so foolish, you'd at least be a mid-level cadre if you came back. Why would our family be treated so disrespectfully? Their current wealth and status are all built on your corpse! They owe the Su family so much!"
Su Yuanqiao became more and more excited as he spoke, his chest heaving violently.
Suddenly, he covered his mouth, bent over, and coughed violently.
His face turned bright red, he coughed so hard he couldn't straighten up, and his shoulders twitched.
Wen Yuefen quickly reached out and patted his back repeatedly.
"Stop talking, stop talking. You've had too much to drink, so you're just spouting nonsense. Have some ginger tea to calm down."
Su Yuanqiao coughed for a while before stopping. He looked up at Wen Yuefen, and the drunkenness in his eyes had mostly dissipated.
"I'm sorry, I said something nonsense earlier and made you feel bad."
Su Yuanqiao took the enamel mug, tilted his head back, and gulped down the entire mug of ginger tea.
He drank the ginger slices from the bottom of the jar, chewed them, and swallowed them.
He put the enamel mug on the ground and rubbed his face.
The excitement in his voice was gone, leaving only a deep sense of melancholy.
"The Shen family is determined to break off the engagement, and Wenjing is not willing either."
Su Yuanqiao paused, looked at the bottle marks on the ground, and lowered his voice.
"Given our family's circumstances, I don't know if our son will be able to find a good wife or even get married in the future."
As soon as Su Yuanqiao finished speaking, the old Nokia on the table in the main room suddenly rang.
The ringtone was the old-fashioned kind, a jarring beep that sounded particularly jarring in the quiet room.
Su Yuanqiao suddenly raised his head and looked at the cell phone on the low table.
The screen was lit up, displaying two bright words: Son.
He jolted awake, scrambled to his feet, staggered a couple of steps, and stumbled to the low table.
He slapped his cheeks hard with his hands, three times on each side.
Then he cleared his throat, coughed twice to make sure he didn't sound drunk, and then picked up his phone with trembling hands and pressed the answer button.
"Son, why aren't you asleep yet, so late?"
Su Yuanqiao softened his voice, becoming completely different from his earlier tearful outburst.
He held the phone to his ear, and the expression on his face gradually softened.
He nodded every now and then, responding with "Mmm..."
"ah..."
"good..."
"knew..."
He didn't say another word.
The phone went dead.
Su Yuanqiao held the phone to his ear and listened for a while before slowly putting it down.
He sat on a low stool by the table, looking at his phone screen and grinning foolishly.
His mouth stretched wider and wider, almost reaching his ears.
Wen Yuefen squatted down and picked up the empty wine bottles from the ground one by one, stacking them in the corner.
He then picked up a broom and swept up the vomit on the ground.
She wiped her hands on her apron and walked over to Su Yuanqiao.
"What did your son say on the phone that made you so happy?" Su Yuanqiao looked up, his face crinkling with laughter.
"The child said they miss us and will come back to see us next week."
He scratched his head and said, "But he also said that his main task now is to become stronger. He doesn't know if he can gain other supernatural powers. If not, he will have to learn some martial arts. Look at what he's saying. He's talking nonsense even more than I am."
Wen Yuefen's brows furrowed instantly.
She tightened her apron around her waist, tying it into a tight knot.
"What do you mean by getting stronger, and what do you mean by asking someone for time? What is all this nonsense? The college entrance exam is just around the corner, why aren't you focusing on your studies? What are you doing all this fuss about?"
"I guess I was drunk and misheard what they said," Su Yuanqiao said.
He is usually taciturn and doesn't talk much; he's a truly honest person!
He simply responded with a smile that hadn't faded.
Wen Yuefen pulled over a stool and sat down, then asked, "What else did your son say? I just went to take out the trash in the yard and didn't hear a few words."
"It was just casual conversation. He asked us how we were doing and said he had asked someone to send us some medicine to improve our health. He said it would arrive soon." Yuanqiao said, her voice filled with even more warmth.