Chapter 65 - 31: Actor
Chapter 65: Chapter 31: Actor
The bright moon hung high in the sky. Its brilliant light, like a veil of mist or gauze, shrouded the earth and cast a brilliant glow. Unlike the scorching heat of the day, the night was surprisingly cool and crisp.
From time to time, a night breeze rustled through the treetops, its sound like a low whimper.
In such an atmosphere, Fang Rui arrived at Uncle Zao Hua’s house.
The sound of voices from inside made him pause in his tracks.
...
Inside Uncle Zao Hua’s house, under the dim yellow light, the family was eating dinner.
Just as Fang Rui had predicted, the five or six catties of wheat bran were long gone, and Uncle Zao Hua’s family had returned to their old ways: days of subsisting on boiled willow leaves.
"RETCH~"
Ah Huai swallowed a piece of boiled willow leaf, then covered his mouth and let out a dry heave.
"A few good days and suddenly you can’t stomach willow leaves anymore?" Uncle Zao Hua grumbled.
Yes, the ’good days’ he spoke of were nothing more than eating wheat bran mixed and boiled with willow leaves.
Neither Ah Huai nor Xiang Lin’s wife argued the point.
In a way, in a year like this, that could indeed be considered ’good days’.
Happiness is all relative.
Outside the city, life had long since become impossible. People fought over tree bark and grass roots to eat—and forget about fishing or hunting. If you could fish and hunt, what kind of great drought would it be?
Rags for clothes, displaced people everywhere, bones on the roads... This was the true picture of the countryside.
Only the larger merchant caravans, with enough guards to find safe routes, could travel back and forth to transport grain and trade. This was why grain prices in the city were skyrocketing.
"No, I can eat it."
Ah Huai mumbled, as if afraid his bowl would be taken away. As if to prove his point, he shoveled a large mouthful of willow leaves into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed them down.
The bitter taste of the old willow leaves instantly seeped into his stomach and his heart, then spilled out from the corners of his eyes.
—Just as people can be brought to tears by spice or sourness, they can also be brought to tears by bitterness.
"COUGH! COUGH!" Ah Huai coughed violently, tears uncontrollably streaming from his eyes.
"My son, slow down, slow down!"
Xiang Lin’s wife patted Ah Huai’s back, a hint of heartache in her eyes. She opened her mouth, hesitated, then finally spoke. "Husband, why don’t I go to the Fang Family and borrow some wheat bran? Brother Rui said last time that if we ran out of food, we could go borrow more..."
Uncle Zao Hua was silent for a long moment, as if in thought. Finally, he said, "Let’s hold out a little longer. We’ll talk about it when we really can’t go on."
...
Outside the door.
Hearing this, Fang Rui looked up at the sky, let out an almost imperceptible sigh, and decided not to linger. He called out, "Uncle Zao Hua! Xiang Lin’s wife!"
"Brother Rui, you’re here?"
Seeing Fang Rui enter, Uncle Zao Hua’s family all stood up.
"Brother Rui, come in, have a seat!"
Xiang Lin’s wife turned to get a chair, her expression flustered—they had just been talking about Fang Rui, and now he had suddenly shown up, giving her that awkward feeling of ’speak of the devil and he shall appear’.
"I won’t sit. I figured you’d be out of the wheat bran from last time, so I brought another ten catties."
Before either of them could speak, Fang Rui continued, "Uncle Zao Hua, Xiang Lin’s wife, don’t be embarrassed! It’s like I said before: just think of it as a loan. When the year gets better, you can just pay it back. Don’t feel burdened by it."
With that, he put down the sack of grain and turned to leave.
He didn’t say anything more, nor did he linger to hear words of gratitude from Uncle Zao Hua’s family.
Because...
Fang Rui knew that with some other families in Willow Alley, if you lent them ten catties of wheat bran, they would shower you with a basketful of compliments, enough to make you beam with delight.
But Uncle Zao Hua’s family was different. Uncle Zao Hua was reserved and not good with words, and Xiang Lin’s wife and Ah Huai were also rather shy. They weren’t good at expressing gratitude, but they would remember it in their hearts.
He wasn’t looking for anything in return. He only needed to know that this family, after taking his offerings, wouldn’t be ungrateful or repay his kindness with malice.
Fang Rui left in a hurry.
Uncle Zao Hua hurried to see him out, watching Fang Rui’s back disappear into the night. Only after a while did he turn and go back inside. "Put the grain away! The debt we owe the Fang Family... we’ll never be able to repay it!"
"Ah Huai, when you have children of your own, you must tell them about this. Remember that, you hear?" he urged.
"Yes, Dad. I’ll take it to heart."
Ah Huai nodded seriously, then grinned at Xiang Lin’s wife. "Mom, tomorrow, when we boil the willow leaves, can we add some wheat bran paste? Like we did the other day?"
"Yes, you’re always the sharpest one, you little rascal!"
Xiang Lin’s wife patted Ah Huai’s head, then lifted the grain sack as if it were a treasure and took it back into the house, muttering to herself, "With this, our family can hold on for a while longer... This little sack, I’ll empty it out, wash it clean, and return it to Sister-in-law Fang tomorrow..."
...
Sister-in-law Cai Gen happened to see Fang Rui giving grain to Uncle Zao Hua’s family.
It was quite a coincidence. She had come out to throw out the dishwater and happened to see the whole thing.
After returning home.
Sister-in-law Cai Gen brought the matter up and sighed once again. "If only I’d known, I would have spoken up for the Fang Family back then. Look at Zao Hua’s family—they run out of food, and someone comes right to their door to give them wheat bran... Sigh!"
"Mom, we haven’t had wheat bran in so long. I really want to eat wheat bran cakes!" Hearing the words ’wheat bran’, Er Dan subconsciously rubbed his stomach and swallowed hard.
"My poor son!"
Sister-in-law Cai Gen looked at her son, his face ashen and so thin he was just skin and bones, and said with a pained heart, "Husband, we can’t keep going on just eating willow leaves. It’s not a solution. We adults can manage, but the children... If they eat this for too long, their bodies will be ruined!"
In the moonlight, Uncle Fu Quan sat on the threshold weaving a basket. He was silent for a moment, then said in a deep, hollow voice, "What am I supposed to say? What solution could I possibly have?"
"Buy grain? The family has no money. Borrow grain? There are only a few better-off families in the alley, and we’re not on good terms with any of them..."