1983, Northeast China

Chapter 3, Volume 1, Money

Zhao Defa also saw Tian Guizhi.

He didn't ask Chen Shi any more questions. He turned around and shouted at the crowd, "Listen up! No one is allowed to gossip about what happened today! We'll find out how Han Changgui died before we talk about it. This area of ​​Laonangou is sealed off for now. No one's children or livestock are allowed to come here."

Someone in the crowd, with a lock around their neck, asked, "Should we report to the commune or not?"

Zhao Defa glared at him, then looked at Han Changgui, who was barely breathing. "Carry him back first! In the dead of winter, are you going to leave him freezing in the snow? I know whether to report it or not, do you need to tell me?"

The man fell silent after being scolded.

Tian Guizhi had already approached by this time.

She had a red headscarf wrapped around her head, covering half of her face, with only her eyes showing.

Those eyes wouldn't look at anyone, they kept glancing under the tattered quilt, as if something deadly was hidden there.

Someone saw her and curled their lip, "Guizhi, what are you doing here? This isn't your man."

Tian Guizhi's face turned pale, and she immediately cursed, "Bullshit! I heard a noise, so can't I even come and take a look?"

She was cursing fiercely, but she didn't move her feet forward.

Looking at the red mark on her head, Chen Shi suddenly remembered that Han Changgui had returned from the market last month without bringing any oil or salt or anything else for the family, but he did bring a new headscarf.

It wasn't for Chen Xiulan.

Tian Guizhi's eyes swept past the crowd and then glanced at the path in Laonangou.

Chen Shi saw it.

She knew Han Changgui would come back from there.

Or rather, she knew why Han Changgui had been going in that direction lately.

Zhao Defa didn't want her to stay either, and with a stern face, he scolded, "Everyone, disperse! What's so interesting about a dead body? Old women, don't crowd around, go home and heat your kang (heated brick bed)!"

The crowd was forced to move outwards.

Chen Shi stopped standing.

With Zhao Defa keeping things under control outside, there won't be any major trouble for the time being. The real danger lies inside the house.

He had only taken a few steps when he saw a small head.

Ya Ya hugged the tattered tiger, tears still streaming down her face.

That cloth tiger was sewn for her by Chen Mancang when he was alive. The yellow cloth on its body had been washed until it was white, and one of its eyes had long since fallen out, leaving a black thread showing.

But she usually cherishes it very much, even holding it while sleeping.

"uncle."

Chen Shi squatted down and pulled her hat down a little. "Why did you come out? It's cold outside."

Ya Ya looked at him, then at the crowd not far away, and asked, "Is my dad dead?"

Chen Shi didn't lie to her, "Yes."

Ya Ya didn't cry. Children aren't ignorant about death; she just didn't know whether she should cry or feel relieved after the person who always frightened her died.

Chen Shi picked her up.

Ya Ya was cold, and her fingers were cold too. She held onto his cotton-padded coat collar tightly.

As they approached the door, she buried her face in his shoulder and whispered, "Uncle, I don't want to go outside the mountains."

Chen Shi stopped and tilted his head to ask, "Who said they were going to take you outside the mountains?"

"That's what Dad said," Ya Ya said in a muffled voice. "He said that after the New Year, he would take me to live in a nice house outside the mountains, where I would have white steamed buns to eat. He also said that it's no use for Mom to cry, because a little girl like me will belong to someone else sooner or later."

Chen Shi held the child even tighter.

It turned out to be the case.

In his past life, he knew that Han Changgui had designs on the child, but he didn't know that these words had already reached Ya Ya's ears.

A five- or six-year-old child, who didn't even know how to say "sell," only remembered "good house" and "white steamed bun."

But Chen Xiulan understood.

A woman who has just given birth and is terrified of being beaten, when she hears that her husband wants to take her daughter away to exchange for money, where can she go to retreat?

Chen Xiulan stood holding onto the door frame.

Her face was frighteningly pale, and her lips were completely bloodless. She looked at Chen Shi without saying a word, only pleading with him through her eyes.

Please ask him not to ask.

They begged him to save their child.

Even though Chen Shi hadn't asked or said anything, she felt like her younger brother knew everything.

Chen Shi, holding Ya Ya, nodded to his sister.

"Yaya." Chen Shi raised his hand to stroke Yaya, who was perched on his shoulder. "From now on, you won't go anywhere else; you'll stay right here with your uncle."

Ya Ya looked up, her eyes bright: "Really?"

"Really." Chen Shi nodded very seriously.

Suddenly, Tian Guizhi's high-pitched voice came from outside the courtyard.

"Uncle Zhao, don't lift him yet!"

Chen Shi looked up.

Through the crowd, all you could see was a red headscarf swaying back and forth in the throng.

"When Han Changgui left my place yesterday at night, he had a roll of money tucked into his waistband!"

She raised her voice high, as if afraid that no one in the village would not hear her.

"The person screamed and died, but where did the money go?"

Chen Xiulan's grip on the door frame loosened, and she collapsed to the ground.

Ya Ya shrank into Chen Shi's arms.

Chen Shi patted Ya Ya and then put her down.

"Ya Ya, don't be afraid. Take Mommy inside and watch over your little brother. Don't come out."

Ya Ya's face turned pale. She looked at him, then at her mother, and finally hugged the cloth tiger and went over to take her mother's hand.

Chen Shi then walked out of the courtyard.

The people who had just been chased away all came back.

It's already quite unusual for someone to die in the twelfth lunar month.

It's even stranger that money was missing from a dead person's body.

In poor places, money is far more glaring than human life. Especially the phrase "a roll of money"—nobody knows exactly how much a roll is, but just hearing it changes everyone's expression.

Zhao Defa's face was as black as the bottom of a pot, as Tian Guizhi grabbed his sleeve.

"Tian Guizhi, explain yourself clearly." He suppressed his anger. "What do you mean by 'a roll of money'? How much is it? Did you see it with your own eyes?"

Tian Guizhi was wearing a red headscarf, her nose was red from the cold, but her lips were stubborn.

"How come I didn't see it with my own eyes? He came to my place yesterday when it was dark, saying he was going to go to the mountains after the New Year. He had a bulging wallet. When I asked him where the money came from, he wouldn't let me know."

Someone in the crowd clicked their tongue.

"What's Han Changgui doing at your place?"

Tian Guizhi immediately glared: "Just passing by! Can't he ask for a bowl of hot water if he's just passing by?"

"You live on the east side, and he lives on the west side. It's quite a long way for him."

Someone chuckled softly twice.

Tian Guizhi lost face and yelled, "What are you laughing at? The person is dead, and you're still making fun of a living person like me? I'm talking about money! If the money is gone, then this is wrong."

Chen Shi walked to Zhao Defa's side.

Seeing Han Changgui's half-body covered by a tattered quilt, you can't see how badly he was blown up underneath. Just looking at the cotton, scraps of cloth, and slush around him, you can tell he was rich, but he was blown up too.

Of course, it's also possible that the money never came at all.

Tian Guizhi wouldn't shout for no reason.

She shouted in the direction of Chen Xiulan.

When Zhao Defa saw Chen Shi coming over, he frowned and said, "What are you doing out here? Go back and take care of your sister."

Chen Shi looked at Tian Guizhi, "Aunt Tian, ​​you said my brother-in-law had a roll of money in his waistband? You saw it yesterday in the dark?"

Tian Guizhi glanced at him sideways: "What? Do you think I'd wrongly accuse a dead person?"

"Did you see the money? Or did you see the bulge in his pocket?"

Tian Guizhi paused for a moment, "A bulging roll, what else could it be but money?"

Chen Shi nodded. "That means I didn't see any money."

Tian Guizhi was speechless.

The people around also realized what had happened. She had been shouting so loudly, but if they asked her carefully, she hadn't seen any money at all.

Zhao Defa glared at him.

Feeling guilty, Tian Guizhi pulled her sleeves back a little.

Chen Shi, with his sharp eyes, noticed that she seemed to be clutching something in her hand, but she hadn't dared to take it out from the beginning.