That night, the two of them rolled from the bed board onto the floor. Li Dafah then picked up the Sichuan woman like a little mouse and carried her to his big kang.
From then on, Li Dafah's bed was no longer cold. And those women's gossiping mouths were shut.
Almost overnight, the buds on the branches seemed to wake up and burst open with a rustle. A springtime floral affair was in full bloom.
At night, the Sichuan woman said, "I'm a bit tired. I spent the whole day shoveling coal cinders for that coking plant and picked up a lot of big coal chunks that weren't burned through. You can save on coal money for the stove this winter."
"I'm a bit tired too. I spent the whole day pulling garlic sprouts for someone today. Three mu of land! Look at my hands, they're all green. I washed them three times with washing powder and then once with soap, but there's still some garlic smell. Li Dafah, don't believe me? Have a sniff."
Li Dafah sniffed the woman's hands, and sure enough, there was still a faint smell of garlic.
Li Dafah said, "I want to take over your nest."
The Sichuan woman said, "I'm having my period. Having a period is kind of like laying eggs. My stomach hurts. Wait until I'm done with this 'laying eggs' business, and then you can come and take over the nest."
Li Dafah patiently waited for the woman's period to pass. Finally, when the woman let him into her "nest," he was as energetic as a rooster crowing at dawn, while the woman just lay there passively. After it was over, he touched the cold sweat on the woman's forehead. The woman said, "I've already 'laid the eggs,' but why does my stomach still hurt?"
Li Dafah knew that ever since that first passionate encounter like dry wood catching fire, the Sichuan woman didn't seem to be enthusiastic about sexual matters. In matters of love, it's like a game of chess where you need a worthy opponent. Love is like a floral affair that needs someone to tend to it carefully and someone to appreciate it to bloom vibrantly. If the flower doesn't meet the right counterpart, it will wither away. Every time Li Dafah courted a woman and had the occasional encounter, the woman would always say her stomach hurt. As time went by, his enthusiasm gradually waned. He secretly compared the Sichuan woman to the stowaway woman. Although the stowaway woman was also rather passive, she relied on him like a child and never refused him.
He and the Sichuan woman slept in the same bed, hearing each other's breathing, yet clearly there was an invisible net between them, blocking their respective thoughts.
There is a kind of man in the world who will be unconditionally good to any woman he is with.
There is also a kind of woman in the world who will be unconditionally good to any man she is with.
If these two kinds of people meet, perhaps there will be peace in the world, and there will be fewer lovesick men and women. Unfortunately, most of the time, the melody of fate plays a tune of unexpected twists and turns.
Li Dafah was that kind of man.
Although the Sichuan woman tried her best to adapt to the local customs and ate steamed buns, stuffed buns, and twisted rolls with a loud smacking of her mouth, unfortunately, her appetite was always only one-third that of a genuine Shandong woman. When they were comrades-in-arms together, Li Dafah already knew that she liked rice. Unfortunately, rice wasn't grown in Li Dafah's hometown. Li Dafah went to the market and asked the rice vendor a math problem: "How can I exchange grain for rice?"
The vendor said, "Two catties of wheat can be exchanged for one catty of rice. Three catties of corn can be exchanged for one catty of rice. Four catties of dried sweet potatoes can be exchanged for one catty of rice."
Li Dafah thought for a while and felt that this math problem didn't seem quite right. However, this math problem also reminded him that wheat had the highest value, while the coarse grains fed to livestock were the least valuable.
Another day at the market, he pushed a big bag of corn and a big bag of dried sweet potatoes on a small iron cart and exchanged them for a small bag of rice.
He cooked a pot of dry rice for the Sichuan woman. He took a bite of a steamed bun and said, "You eat the dry rice. I'll eat the steamed bun. Even if I ate five bowls of dry rice, I still wouldn't feel full. Steamed buns, big flatbreads, and baked wheaten cakes are more filling. You'll have more energy after eating them."
During the day, they went to work in the fields together, cut grass on the mountains, and worked as migrant laborers in other villages. Sometimes Li Dafah would take her on his big Golden Deer bicycle. The Golden Deer bicycle made noise everywhere except for the bell. When passing through the bumpy mountain roads, Li Dafah deliberately rode the bike very fast. The Sichuan woman, with no flesh on her buttocks, was jolted up and down like a bouncing bean. Finally, she couldn't bear it and jumped off the bike onto the ground. Li Dafah was completely unaware and rode the bike a long way by himself. When he reached the flat main road, he suddenly felt that the bike was very light. So he turned around to look and saw that there was no one on the bike seat. The woman was grinning from afar, showing her small buck teeth, looking like a little wild flower.
At night, the light in Li Dafah's house never exceeded forty watts. Under the forty-watt light bulb, the embroidering woman had a slight sweat on the tip of her nose. Occasionally, she would look up at the black-and-white TV. There were still only two channels on the TV, Shandong TV and CCTV. The TV was showing a meeting again. Li Dafah watched it with great interest. He always understood the underlying meaning through the announcer's serious face like a big bad wolf. He said, "The situation is going to change. Look at all those laid-off workers who are being re-employed. Once they are all employed, there will be fewer and fewer people farming. With fewer and fewer people farming, what will be done with the idle land? Certainly, a lot of factories will be built to provide employment for these re-employed people. No one wants to farm, but the country still needs food. What should we do? We have to encourage farmers to farm, and to do that, we need to reduce the burden on farmers. Otherwise, no one will be willing to farm..."
His long-winded speech made the Sichuan woman look up at the black-and-white TV again. The woman didn't say anything and just lowered her head to embroider again. The Sichuan woman was like a riddle, saying little and waiting for others to guess. Unlike the stowaway woman who would communicate with him in her limited Chinese. When Li Dafah was giving a long speech, the stowaway woman would always look at him with adoring eyes. In the stowaway woman's heart, he was the greatest man in the world.
The Sichuan woman seemed to have a lot on her mind and rarely chatted aimlessly with him. Li Dafah still felt a bit disappointed when he thought about it. Men always need a stage to brag, even if there's only one woman as the audience.
There were also things on the minds of Li Dafah's two sisters.
The second sister said, "No matter how you look at it, you have four big north rooms, and you look presentable. Why did you find such a woman? She's as small as a little hen."
The widow in the neighboring village said the Sichuan woman was like a mouse. His second sister also thought of that word, but then felt that it would be disrespectful to the title of "scholar's wife," so she thought it was more
appropriate to say "little hen."
The first sister said, "That's the way it is. The problem is how old is our fifth brother? Once you miss the chance, you won't get it again. If you look for a young unmarried woman, she won't even look at him. Having someone who cares about you and can live a good life together is not bad. Although it's not conservative in the new era, you two shouldn't just muddle along like this. Get a marriage certificate, and then you won't have to worry about things falling apart."
Li Dafah thought that what the first sister said made sense. One day, he said to the embroidering woman, "Do you know how much it costs to get a marriage certificate in town now? It's nine yuan and ninety cents. It used to be only ninety-nine cents. The price has gone up. You could buy several packs of 'Little Goldfish' with that money. But it seems that it will go up even more in the future. Why don't we get our marriage certificate while it's still nine yuan and ninety cents?"
The woman smiled, showing her small buck teeth: "Is this your marriage proposal? There's no betrothal gift money either. It's just that my poor mountain valley is too far away. To go back and get the certificates, I'd have to take trains and buses several times, spending a lot of money, many times nine yuan and ninety cents. It's not worth it. Let's just live like this for now. You're so nice. I'd be hard-pressed to find someone like you even with a lantern. It's only possible that you don't want me, not the other way around."
The Sichuan woman's words were like a reassurance pill for Li Dafah. He was also happy to save nine yuan and ninety cents and more of that amount.
There seemed to be a lot of happiness in life. Although there wasn't much money. The money the Sichuan woman earned from working was all sent back to her hometown. There were elderly people in her family who were in poor health. In that poor mountain valley, they couldn't earn a single cent. Her daughter was also young. The whole family was eagerly waiting for her to send money back.
Li Dafah knew about these situations, especially the fact that she had a daughter. Therefore, living with the Sichuan woman, he wasn't at all worried about being pushed aside by a son in the future. There was no chance for a new version of "The Story of the Wall" to be staged.
The unhappiness in life came from the car accident that happened to the woman on her way to work.
The broken vertebra was quickly operated on. This time, Li Dafah used what he considered valuable wheat. The wheat and the poplar forest saved the woman's life.
After the operation, the woman lay in bed for a month before she could slowly get out of bed. And it was another month before she could slowly start working again. Li Dafah didn't go to the labor market to look for work because after finishing the work in the fields, he had to take care of the woman.
His "duckweed" had drifted far away again.
The doctor said, "Drink more bone broth. It will help your bones grow stronger."
At first, he bought a big bone for the woman. Later, he wanted to buy half a big bone. The butcher said, "This big bone doesn't have much meat to begin with. Are you buying half of it to feed the dogs?"
He did buy half a big bone under the butcher's scornful eyes. The big bone was simmered in the iron pot for nearly two hours, using up a big bundle of twigs. Finally, the "daughter-in-law" became the "mother-in-law," and the bone broth actually had a bit of a thick consistency.
He said to the Sichuan woman, "Close your eyes and imagine that you've just eaten a big pork elbow. The meat is all lean and cooked until it's falling apart. There's a refined way of saying it, 'melts in your mouth.' That's the feeling. But you've eaten a lot of meat, and your mouth is feeling greasy. Now, take a sip of the soup to cleanse your tongue. Ah, this soup is so delicious!"
The Sichuan woman closed her eyes, as if she had just had a big pork elbow feast and her mouth was a bit greasy. So she took a sip of the bone broth, and the bone broth really did melt in her mouth...
During those days, Li Dafah was so poor that it was obvious.
When it rains, it pours.
A fight broke out in the neighboring Liu You's house. Liu You's wife took a rolling pin and broke Liu You's leg.
Liu You stole the money from selling pigs that his wife had. He lost it all playing cards in the neighboring village. At first, Liu You's wife thought that a thief had broken into the house. She went through the faces of everyone in the village in her mind, thinking that everyone looked suspicious and even suspected her honest neighbor Li Dafah. She said to Liu You, "The more I look at Li Dafah, the more I think he has three hands. Honest people can do big things. Look at the two women he's found. One is from abroad, and the other is from another province. They're quite capable. Not like you, who found a wife who can't even go five miles away."
Liu You said, "Five miles is good. You can even smell the farts." It wasn't until someone came to ask for the other debts that Liu You owed that she suddenly realized that the thief was the honest man sleeping next to her.
So, this woman who was born in the Year of the Pig, without saying a second word, picked up the rolling pin and hit Liu You's monkey-like leg until it was lame.
Li Dafah rushed to the neighbor's house like a gust of wind. He came to play the role of a firefighter. Liu You's wife was crying and muttering, "They're all men. Look at Li Dafah. He knows how to work and earn money and cares about his wife. You, on the other hand, are just loafing around. You might as well lose your wife and children too."
Sometimes, other people's crops are like one's own children, and other people's husbands are also like one's own children. That's right.
The lame Liu You originally wanted to say, "If you think Li Dafah is so good, go marry him." But he was afraid that his other leg would also be broken by his wife, so he just pretended to be deaf and mute.
In the countryside, there is a kind of courtesy where, besides giving gifts on weddings, funerals, and other occasions, when someone in the village is sick or in trouble, the neighbors who get along well will always come to visit with a few walnuts and dates. Since the Sichuan woman of Li Dafah didn't interact much with the outside world and wasn't as lively as the stowaway woman who walked around everywhere, when she broke her vertebra, no one came to visit her except for Liu You's wife who brought twenty eggs. According to etiquette, Li Dafah couldn't let her leave empty-handed. When Liu You's wife left, he put five more eggs in her basket as a return gift.
In this way, Li Dafah owed Liu You's family the favor of fifteen eggs.
Now, Liu You was also lying at home moaning. According to the rules of courtesy, Li Dafah was supposed to go to Liu You's house to visit Liu You. Li Dafah thought about it for a long time about what to bring. He did have eggs at home. His eldest sister and second sister each sent thirty eggs. But just eggs wouldn't be in line with the rules. He reached into his pocket, showing only his thumb and index finger. The pocket of his pants had been torn without him noticing.
Two ducks looking for food outside the door quacked, giving Li Dafah an inspiration. He slapped his thigh and decided to sell these two ducks that could eat and poop but didn't lay eggs when the big market day came.
That day, Li Dafah went to work in the fields. The Sichuan woman had already gotten out of bed, but her lumbar spine still hurt a bit faintly.
"Collecting scraps..." A face like a walnut showed through the open door. The old man asked, "Do you have any cardboard boxes or empty wine bottles?"
Li Dafah didn't have a big drinking habit, and when he was poor, he even quit drinking. So, there wasn't an empty bottle to be found in the house. Cardboard boxes were even rarer.
The Sichuan woman said, "No." And the walnut face disappeared in a flash.
Li Dafah's torn pocket of his pants had been sewn up a few stitches. The Sichuan woman felt uncomfortable sitting like that. She stood up and continued to sew the torn pocket.
After a long string of quacking and then silence. The Sichuan woman threaded the needle and sewed. The pocket was almost sewn up. She turned the pocket inside out, adjusted the stitches, and waited for the final touches.
Suddenly, it seemed as if she remembered something. She threw the pants and the needle and thread aside and ran out of the yard.
Her eyes were like a gust of wind, sweeping past her own door and Liu You's door. There was nothing at the doors. She turned out of the alley and saw the old man who collected scraps in the distance fiddling with his pile of scraps. He put a big cardboard on top, tied it with a rope, climbed onto his tricycle, and sped away.
After two months of lying low, at this moment, the woman of Li Dafah suddenly turned into a flying swallow, running forward swiftly. She used the skills she had in the cotton fields and leek sheds and chased after the old man for a while before catching up with him.
The old man pedaled his tricycle, shaking his head: "I'm not collecting anymore. It's full."
The Sichuan woman had already reached the front of the tricycle. Standing there as a small figure, she looked like a compass touching the ground, with a bit of the dignity of a gatekeeper. The old man stopped the tricycle.
She walked to the front of the scrap-loaded tricycle and found that the cardboard boxes were piled up taller than she was. The flying swallow leaped onto the tricycle, quickly untied the rope, and threw those scraps down from the tricycle with a clatter, revealing a broken basket full of wine bottles.
She picked up her two ducks from the basket. The ducks, having been suffocated for a while, quacked loudly. The Sichuan woman said, "Are you collecting scraps or stealing ducks? If you suffocate my ducks to death, the scraps you've collected today won't be enough to pay for them."
These two ducks that were recovered brought back ten catties of big bones for Li Dafah and repaid the favor to Liu You's wife