Chapter 144: In a flash, five years have passed; Jia Dongxu's death is counting down

Plans often can't keep up with changes.

Shazhu originally planned to leave in 1955 and return in 1957.

He went back on his word.

This departure lasted several years.

No telephone, no stationery, as if cut off from the world, as if the world had no Shazhu at all; he spent a full five years alone and helpless in that harsh place.

Now.

Shazhu has finally returned.

Standing at the familiar gate of the siheyuan, looking through the doorway at the familiar courtyard, for some reason Shazhu suddenly lost the strength to step inside.

Perhaps it's just homesickness.

He just stood there silently until Yan Fugui went out to take out the trash, inadvertently saw Shazhu, and in his shock became somewhat unrestrained, exclaiming "You're Shazhu!" which snapped Shazhu out of his reverie.

Shazhu smiled at Yan Fugui.

He showed understanding of Yan Fugui's surprise.

A person vanished without a trace for five years, with no letters or phone calls. Inquiries at the street office yielded nothing; the street office didn't know where Shazhu worked, only that he had been assigned by the steel mill to support mountain-area construction. Asking at the steel mill, the former leader in charge of the mill's leadership, who had been transferred elsewhere two years prior, concealed the truth about Shazhu's situation during the handover for certain reasons, so that among the tens of thousands of workers at the steel mill, no one knew where Shazhu was or what he was doing.

Gradually.

Two different versions of rumors spread.

The first version says that during the mountain-area construction support, Shazhu accidentally encountered an accident, in which he and his colleagues all perished.

The second version also says Shazhu died, but unlike the first, in this version Shazhu did not die in an accident, nor did he die saving a companion; rather, unable to endure the local harsh conditions, he deserted and was shot down by someone.

In many people's hearts.

Shazhu died leaving not even a bone behind.

No wonder Yan Fugui's face showed a look of terror at first sight of Shazhu, as if he had seen a ghost in broad daylight, and the broom and winnowing basket in his hands were flung away from fright.

"Are you Shazhu?"

Yan Fugui, who repeated the question just now, had a conflicted expression appearing on his face.

The conflict stems from Shazhu.

Over these years, Yan Jiecheng has been pestering Yu Li, saying Shazhu is dead, so the engagement between Yu Li and Shazhu has lost its binding force; Yu Li can't be expected to spend her life as a widow for Shazhu. Yan Jiecheng doesn't despise Yu Li for being a widow whose husband died before the wedding, nor fears her reputation for killing husbands. As long as Yu Li agrees, Yan Jiecheng will marry her as his wife. Yu Li has never agreed, saying she doesn't believe Shazhu is dead, believing he will someday return; during these five years, Yu Li, in the role of He Yushui's sister-in-law, has looked after the younger sister.

"San Daye, it's not me."

"Shazhu, you too—you left for five years without even writing a letter home, causing the neighbors to think you had met with some mishap."

Shazhu forced a bitter smile onto his face.

Writing a letter.

Do you really think he didn't want to write?

It's not that he couldn't write a letter; it's just that after submitting it, the letter would be uniformly destroyed, never reaching its destination, so writing it would be pointless.

It amounts to just two words.

Secrecy.

This matter must not be told to Yan Fugui; Shazhu just needs to know it himself.

"San Daye, what you're teaching is that I was negligent."

Shazhu, laughing nervously, turned his gaze to Yan Fugui; from the moment he first saw Yan Fugui just now, he felt that Yan Fugui gave him a strange feeling.

At first he mistakenly thought it was due to not having seen each other for many years.

After looking closely, he realized where that strange feeling came from.

Yan Fugui gave Shazhu a sense of emaciation; his body was far less robust than five years ago, extremely thin, as if a gust of wind could blow him away.

His complexion showed signs of malnutrition, his spirits were not good, and his whole body exuded fatigue.

"San Daye, what's this?"

"Ah!" Yan Fugui sighed, then lowered his voice and said softly to Shazhu: "It's hard to put into words, and I'm not afraid you'll laugh at me, San Daye, but for over a year I haven't had a full meal—each meal is only about half full; after lunch I'm hungry by mid-afternoon, after dinner I wake up hungry around eleven, relying only on water to get by."

Shazhu suddenly thought of He Yushui.

Even San Daye Yan Fugui has been reduced to this state by hunger, let alone little He Yushui.

When he left five years ago, Shazhu had been raising the little girl like a little fat pig; he doesn't know whether the kid has gotten fat or thin, and hopes she's all right.

"San Daye, just being alive is not bad."

Shazhu's tone was not that of consolation.

On the way back, having seen too many partings and deaths, sometimes looking at those tragic facts that ought to appear in literary works, people gradually become numb.

"Shazhu, you're absolutely right—this thought, that just being alive is not bad; San Daye spends his days busy with school affairs, and on Sundays he still goes out of the city to fish, just to scrape together a bite to eat. In our siheyuan, every household lacks food and drink—so." His voice was lowered again: "Only the deaf old lady in the back yard, the couple Yi Zhonghai, and the Qin Huairu family have enough to eat and drink."

The deaf old lady calls herself the matriarch of the great courtyard, and being a childless widow, she alone has a household that doesn't go hungry.

As for the couple Yi Zhonghai, when Shazhu left five years ago, Yi Zhonghai was a level-six worker; presumably he is now a level-seven worker, and his level-seven salary is enough to support the two of them without problem.

What truly shocked Shazhu.

Was Qin Huairu.

Yan Fugui used a term referring to Qin Huairu's family.

Could it be that Qin Huairu divorced Jia Dongxu?

Even if divorced, how could Qin Huairu guarantee her family wouldn't go hungry?

In the siheyuan, even San Daye Yan Fugui has to borrow fishing to subsidize the household; what could a country girl possibly do to keep the whole family from starving?

"San Daye, you said Qin Huairu?"

"Qin Huairu is pregnant again; Yi Zhonghai earned great merit supporting the mountain area, with tens of thousands in the commune signing a commendation letter for him; he returned last spring and was promoted to level-seven worker, and just last month he passed the exam for level-eight worker..."

What Yan Fugui said afterward, Shazhu couldn't recall a word; his mind kept going over just two things.

The first thing.

Qin Huairu is pregnant.

If Shazhu's memory is correct, Qin Huairu's third child is named Huaihua!

The short-lived Jia died before Huaihua was born.

Qin Huairu became a widow.

In his previous life, Shazhu did not marry before Qin Huairu became a widow.

In this life, to avoid being schemed against again, Shazhu wants to marry before Jia Dongxu dies; he takes the initiative, entrusts a matchmaker to arrange a marriage for him, and also becomes engaged to Yu Li.

He thought he had thus escaped the cage of fate.

But he encountered a support assignment; the promised two-year support turned into five years, and when he returned to the siheyuan, Jia Dongxu was about to die imminently.

He hadn't heard Yan Fugui say that Qin Huairu's third child had already been pregnant for several months.

The countdown to Jia Dongxu's untimely death.

It has already begun counting.

Jia Zhangshi is about to have no son.

The second matter.

Yi Zhonghai became an eighth-level worker, and moreover he specially rendered great merit; tens of thousands praised Yi Zhonghai.

All of this, inexplicably, returned to normal, as if an invisible big hand constantly corrected the fate's trajectory of everyone in the siheyuan; once a deviation appeared, it would intervene to correct it.

The truth made Shazhu unable to accept.

Also unable to accept.

He knows what kind of person Yi Zhonghai is.

Full of schemes.

Such a scheming person, yet tens of thousands jointly issued a commendation letter for him, and even sent the commendation letter to the Yagangchang.

He always felt there was something fishy about this.

"San Daye, do you think it's possible?"

"Is there any difference between possible and impossible? Our siheyuan still held several big courtyard meetings to study Yi Zhonghai's brave deeds in saving people." Yan Fugui shifted his tone, steering the topic to Yu Li: "Shazhu, this time you're back, are you going to marry Yu Li? San Daye reminds you: this child Yu Li is truly excellent; you, in fact, are someone you prayed for in incense in your past life."

When Yu Li is mentioned, Old Kou feels a bit regretful in his heart, regretting that he had saved two dollars in matchmaker fees and didn't go to Yu Li's family to propose before Shazhu, resulting in Shazhu marrying such an excellent wife as Yu Li.

In times of scarce materials.

He Yushui never lacked a bite to eat or drink; sometimes Yu Li would save her own rations to give to He Yushui, truly fulfilling that old saying.

The elder sister-in-law is like a mother!

Yu Li's conduct was seen by all the neighbors; she is an honest person. Although she hasn't married Shazhu, they are merely engaged, yet she faithfully carried out the fine tradition of "marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog." As for Qin Huairu of the Jia family across the way, she doesn't even have the qualification to hand Yu Li her shoes.

Hearing Yan Fugui praise Yu Li like this.

Shazhu's heart became heavy.

Moved by Yu Li's action of caring for He Yushui, he resolved in his heart to treat Yu Li well.

Such a good woman.

One must cherish her well.

Looking left and right, seeing no one paying attention to him, Shazhu carefully took out a small cloth bag of millet from his small satchel, which looked to be about half a jin, and stuffed it into Yan Fugui's hand.

"Shazhu, San Daye cannot accept this; in these times, grain is life."

"San Daye, although you didn't say it, I know that over these years you've also taken care of Yushui; don't refuse, or else if someone sees it later it won't be good."

"Shazhu, San Daye."

Yan Fugui nodded heavily at Shazhu, then held the small half-jin of millet with both hands close to his chest, sneaking into the Yan family like a thief.

Watching Yan Fugui's careful and cautious appearance.

But Shazhu could not manage to smile.

After all, he is someone who has experienced this once; on his way back, he also witnessed some tragedies.

After helping Yan Fugui place the broom and winnowing basket at the Yan family's door, he strode toward the central courtyard; upon entering the central courtyard, he saw Jia Zhangshi glaring with a pair of bull eyes, looking as if she had seen a ghost.

Shazhu deliberately grinned.

"Shazhu? You aren't dead, are you?"

Jia Zhangshi's shout instantly exploded those people inside the siheyuan.

Who?

Shazhu!

How did he come back?

Wasn't it said that Shazhu died?

All along, he wasn't dead.

Otherwise, how could Jia Zhangshi have shouted that Shazhu had returned?

"Brother, you're back?"

A sound of astonished joy.

It flew into Shazhu's earlobes.

Following the sound, he looked.

Lo and behold, it was He Yushui, whom Shazhu had long missed.

Five years without seeing each other.

She has grown into a young lady.

She has become even more graceful and lovely.

Behind He Yushui stood Yu Li, the one whom countless people rumored that Shazhu had died, yet she still endured hardship to care for her sister-in-law He Yushui.

Five years not seen, life seemed to have made her slightly grown old a little, and also made Shazhu's heart inexplicably ache a few points.

"Brother."

He Yushui, being overly sentimental, opened her arms and flung herself at Shazhu like a little swallow.

Too bad.

At that moment, Shazhu's eyes held only Yu Li; as He Yushui lunged into his embrace, Shazhu sidestepped to avoid her, quickly stepped to Yu Li's side, looked at the person before him, and murmured the old platitude, "You've worked hard."

Yu Li smiled.

But as she smiled, she kept smiling.

Then tears began to flow.