1983, Northeast China

Chapter 16 It is Chen Mancang's Mountain Chasing Dog

Chen Shi seemed not to hear, and remained in that position.

Chen Xiulan was startled. "Shizi."

Ya Ya cried out, "Uncle!"

The veins on the back of Chen Shi's hand, which was gripping the knife, were taut. It took him a while to pull the knife out of the frozen soil.

The tip of the knife slid down, brushing against his trouser leg.

Tian Guizhi finally came to her senses. When she saw Zhao Defa, she scrambled to his side like a drowning man grasping at a straw, grabbed his leg, and began to wail, "Captain, you've finally come! That Chen kid is going to kill someone! Chen Shi is going to kill me! And Chen Xiulan, she knows everything! She killed Han Changgui too!"

"Snapped!"

One slap, and the world fell silent.

Zhao Defa looked at Tian Guizhi, who was acting like a madwoman, and said, "You can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want. Xiulan just gave birth and can't even get out of bed properly, and you're already accusing someone of murder. Chen Shi may be a bit of a scoundrel, but if he really wanted to kill you, would you still be sitting here howling?"

Tian Guizhi was about to shout, "Han Changgui..."

"His things are with me." Zhao Defa stopped her. "Come to the brigade tomorrow morning and tell them. If you cause any more trouble, I'll call the police."

The energy on Tian Guizhi's face had waned by half.

She wanted to wail again, but Zhao Defa wasn't having any of it.

The onlookers didn't dare to speak up, except for one dog that barked twice over the wall.

"Fine." Tian Guizhi stood up, gritting her teeth. "There are too many of you, I can't argue with you. Chen Shi, this isn't over."

Chen Shi leaned the wood-chopping knife back against the door.

Zhao Defa dispersed the crowd and looked at Chen Shi's family standing there neatly. "Go back, don't catch a cold. We can talk about it tomorrow."

Chen Shi responded.

Aunt Wang, who was usually the most prone to cursing, didn't say a word this time. She went over and put the gate back up, then took the wood-chopping knife from the side of the gate, brought it into the house, and stuffed it into the crack of the stove.

Chen Shi then realized that his hands were also trembling.

When he swung that knife, he really didn't think about what would happen next.

After waiting in the yard for a while and making sure there were no more footsteps outside, he turned around and went back into the house.

Even though the soup was covered by the lid, the aroma still managed to escape from the pot.

Ya Ya squatted on the ground, holding the piece of firewood in her arms, her eyes red.

Chen Xiulan still clutched the scissors in her hand, her lips pale, and her voice lost its previous composure, "She hasn't given up on her plan to make a move on Yaya, has she?"

Chen Shi couldn't bring himself to say "no" anymore. He took the scissors from her hand. "She may have the will, but she doesn't have the ability. Sister, don't be afraid, I won't sleep tonight."

Chen Xiulan looked at Chen Shi, and tears suddenly fell down her cheeks.

Ya Ya called out softly, "Mother."

Chen Xiulan pulled her into her arms and hugged her tightly.

After a while, Chen Xiulan finally let go.

She picked up the unevenly cut sleeve again, and some of the cotton stuffing was sticking out. She pressed it back in with her fingers.

After catching his breath several times, he finally pulled a cotton thread from the sewing basket.

She tried to thread it several times, but in the end, Aunt Wang couldn't stand it anymore and helped her thread it.

"The more she makes a fuss, the better we need to live. You're going out tomorrow, what if your hands get frostbite?"

Aunt Wang set out the bowls next to her, saying, "That's more like it. The chicken soup in the pot is almost boiled dry. If we don't eat it soon, the chicken will be wasted."

Ya Ya sniffed, "Uncle, is the girl she's talking about me?"

Chen Shi took the firewood sticks from her arms, saying, "She's talking nonsense."

Thinking about the human traffickers hiding somewhere, and how Han Changgui had swindled her out of money, she was bound to be resentful.

"Remember this from now on: no matter who asks you to go out, don't go. Don't go if they offer you candy, don't go if they offer you floral fabric, don't go if they say they'll take you to see the excitement outside the mountains."

Ya Ya's eyes were still glistening with tears. "Is my uncle calling me?"

"You have to be able to see your uncle, for your uncle to stand in front of you. Calling him from behind a wall doesn't count."

"What about Second Grandma?"

Aunt Wang was both amused and exasperated. "I can't even call you. You silly little girl, you always ask first before calling anyone, except your mother and your uncle."

Ya Ya remembered these words and muttered them to herself, "You have to ask first."

Chen Xiulan is quick at work; in no time at all, she had already sewed up the old sleeves.

The stitching is a bit crooked, the color is old, and there are white frayed edges on the cuffs.

Chen Shi put his hand inside.

Old cotton is not fluffy, but it blocks the wind.

Chen Xiulan tugged at his sleeve, "It looks bad, but you still wear it."

"What's so ugly about it?" Chen Shi flexed his fingers. "It's better than empty-handed."

Aunt Wang ladled out a bowl of chicken soup, first handing it to Chen Xiulan, then giving one chicken leg each to Yaya and Chen Xiulan.

Xiaoman, still in her swaddling clothes, smacked her lips once.

Hearing the commotion, Aunt Wang remarked, "Look, even the youngest one is craving it."

The atmosphere inside finally eased up a bit.

Chen Shi saw the wood-chopping knife that Aunt Wang had hidden, took it out from behind the stove, and placed it high up where he could reach it but Ya Ya couldn't.

Tian Guizhi's trip here was probably also because she was frightened by that knife wound, and she also knew that Chen Xiulan was already on guard against her.

This is enough.

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Chen Shi woke up.

Inside the inner room, Chen Xiulan was also awake.

Xiaoman sucked on the milk, taking a few sips before stopping, her little mouth sucking more vigorously than the previous two days.

Chen Shi stirred the fire in the stove and straightened the firewood behind the courtyard gate.

He'd grab a quick breakfast, then decided to take some time today to fish in the ditch.

After a while of work, Zhao Defa arrived.

He was accompanied by an old yellow dog.

Chen Shi was stunned when he saw the dog.

He recognized the dog.

It used to be Chen Mancang's mountain-chasing dog, named Huang Er (Yellow Ear).

When Chen Mancang went into the mountains, it always ran ahead and didn't bark. When it encountered a fork in the road, it would turn around to look at people.

Later, Chen Mancang passed away. Han Changgui complained that it ate too much and that it got in the way by guarding the door at night, so he refused to let Han keep it.

Chen Shi didn't care about these things; he just thought raising a dog was troublesome.

In the end, Zhao Defa couldn't stand it anymore and took the dog away.

This connection has lasted for several years.

Huang Er is quite old; there's a missing corner on one ear, and several old scars on the fur around his neck. He walks at a leisurely pace.

Before entering the courtyard, it stopped outside the gate and twitched its nose, as if it recognized the old place.

Zhao Defa patted its head before stepping inside.

Ya Ya, who had just woken up, also peeked out from behind the curtain, "Dog!"

"It recognizes the door first," Chen Shi said.

As expected, Huang Er didn't wag its tail at people. After entering the yard, it first sniffed around the threshold, then circled the woodshed, and finally lay down at Chen Shi's feet with its head pressed against its front paws.

"Little rascal, you certainly know how to find your place."

Zhao Defa laughed and scolded Huang Er, "You've raised him for so many years for nothing, and he's still stuck with his son."

After saying that, he glanced into the room and said, "We can't just treat Tian Guizhi's matter as an IOU anymore."

He didn't say it outright.

Some things said in front of children can leave a lifelong shadow on them.

"I'll have Dahai go to the commune later," Zhao Defa continued. "This matter can't be announced to the whole village, and we're not going to decide who's who right now. We just need to let the commune know so we can have an idea sooner."

Chen Shi hummed in agreement.

The evidence is incomplete, so we can't just shout things out, but we can't just sit around waiting like idiots either.

"Don't go into the mountains today, and don't go too far from the courtyard. If you insist on going out, ask Aunt Wang to watch the children, or wait for me to come over."

He paused, then glanced at the old yellow dog again. "I've brought the dog back with you. Now you can go back into the mountains with a dog that knows the mountains. It's better than going alone."