1983, Northeast China

Chapter 2 Don't Ask

"Captain! There's a trail of footprints in the snow here! It looks like they came from Xiulan's yard!"

Don't know who.

Ya Ya stopped crying, tears still clinging to her face, her mouth still open. Chen Xiulan bit her lip hard, her head lolled to the side, and she fainted.

Chen Shi checked his breathing; he was alright.

Some questions, if asked, would be tantamount to forcing my sister to her death.

"Second Aunt!" Chen Shi called out to the outside.

Aunt Wang was terrified by what she heard outside. As soon as she entered the outer room, she said to Chen Shi, "Shizi, they're saying there's a shoe print outside..."

"Close the door tightly first."

"what?"

"Close the door tightly and cover the curtain so the wind doesn't get in," Chen Shi said. "Second Aunt, could you please boil some water for me?"

Aunt Wang snapped out of her daze and quickly went to close the door: "Why are you boiling water?"

"Make something hot for my sister, so she can catch her breath."

He put the child back, took a piece of old ginger, and squeezed out two shriveled red dates from the broken bowl on the windowsill, probably to give the child a treat.

He looked around and then broke off a few more scallion whites from the frozen scallions.

There was no medicine, and no needles.

In my previous life, these ingredients wouldn't even qualify as a prescription, but right now, they're all we have in this room.

Seeing how nimble he was, Aunt Wang couldn't help but ask, "Shizi, how do you know this?"

"My dad taught me that."

That works.

When Chen Mancang was alive, everyone in Kaoshantun knew that he was knowledgeable about mountains, herbs, and animal wounds.

Chen Shi attributed all the blame to his deceased father, which made sense.

He sat back down, straightened Chen Xiulan's head, pressed his thumb on her philtrum, and massaged her tiger's mouth and the base of her wrist.

After a while, Chen Xiulan choked and finally caught her breath.

"He's awake! He's awake! You scared me to death!" Looking at Chen Shi's technique, Aunt Wang was amazed.

Chen Xiulan reached out to touch the swaddled baby, but Chen Shi caught her and held the baby up to her.

"The child is fine, and Yaya is fine too."

Chen Xiulan looked at Xiaoman in her swaddling clothes, then at Yaya, and stammered, "Where's Changgui?"

It was still a mess outside. Some people were shouting that they should carry it inside, some were cursing whoever spoke too quickly, and others were saying not to report it to the commune yet.

Chen Shi looked at her and said, "He's almost gone."

Chen Xiulan hugged Yaya tightly, her hands trembling so badly that she had to touch Xiaoman's swaddle blanket twice before she could reach it.

Aunt Wang turned her back and wiped away her tears.

Chen Shi pointed to the ginger, scallions, and red dates in the outer room and said to Aunt Wang, "The water's boiling, put them in and let them simmer for a while."

"Okay, okay," Aunt Wang replied quickly.

"Second Aunt," Chen Shi said again, "anyone who comes into the house asking questions, just yell at them and kick them out. Tell them my sister just gave birth, and when she heard the news she fainted from fright, and the baby was frightened too. Asking any more questions is like trying to kill someone."

Aunt Wang paused for a moment, then nodded, "I know."

Chen Shi then looked at Ya Ya.

Ya Ya's eyes were red and swollen.

"Yaya, watch over your little brother. If anyone asks you anything, just cry and don't answer."

Ya Ya sniffled, "Uncle, I'm scared."

"If you're scared, just cry," Chen Shi said. "Let it out."

Ya Ya nodded.

Chen Xiulan suddenly grabbed his sleeve.

Her hands are so thin, you can't see any flesh at all.

"Shiko," her voice was hoarse, "don't cause trouble."

Chen Shi had heard this sentence for many years in his previous life.

Each time he heard it, the Chen family took a step back. They retreated until their sister was taken away, until their child was left unprotected, until later, when he thought of that day, he dared not close his eyes.

"Sister, from now on, if anyone asks you, just say you're feeding the baby in the house, don't say anything else."

Chen Xiulan stared at him intently.

My younger brother seems different than before.

In the past, when Han Changgui smashed a bowl in the house, Chen Shi stood at the door, his face flushed red, and only dared to call out "Sister".

He was told to go and reason with Zhao Defa, but he turned back halfway there, saying he was afraid of making a big fuss.

Chen Xiulan didn't blame him. She knew her younger brother was small, but she also understood that he couldn't handle things on his own.

"The living are more important than the dead. Ya Ya and Xiao Man still need you."

Hearing Chen Shi speak, Chen Xiulan was a little dazed.

She hadn't had a chance to tell Chen Shi her nickname "Xiaoman" yet; did she remember it wrong?

Chen Shi tucked the blanket around him tightly, saying, "Don't get off the bed."

Stepping outside, a cold wind blew in my face, making my skin sting.

Han Changgui was still lying there, covered with a tattered quilt.

Chen Shi glanced at it only once before turning his gaze away.

Chen Shi already considered him a dead man. Even a healthy person lying outside would be unbearable, let alone someone half-dead like him.

As they were talking, Zhao Defa arrived.

An old man in his sixties, wearing an old leather hat and leaning on a wooden cane, was yelling at the crowd: "Back off! All of you back off! Is there nowhere to put your feet? If you step on someone who hasn't made a sound, who's going to care?"

Someone craned their neck to look at the snow: "Captain, those footprints..."

Zhao Defa poked the snow with his stick: "What's wrong with footprints? All the women in the village wear cotton shoes in winter! Did you see anyone? Did you see anyone leave? If you didn't see anyone, then shut your mouth."

The man shrank back and fell silent.

There were indeed a few small footprints next to Han Changgui. The soles of the shoes were shallow, most of them were trampled and damaged, and the remaining ones were almost covered by snow, with only a few still showing a rough shape.

It's plausible that they came from Chen Xiulan's house, and that people trampled on the ground on the street.

The worst thing about this is for someone who's quick to speak to you to blurt it out first.

Once it's shouted out, it becomes evidence.

Chen Shi walked over and called out, "Uncle Zhao."

Zhao Defa turned around, saw it was him, and his anger subsided slightly: "How's your sister?"

"I'm weak and need to rest."

"Where are the children?"

"Everything is fine."

Zhao Defa nodded, then glanced at Chen Xiulan's yard again: "Listen to your uncle, go back inside and stay with your sister. I'll take care of things outside."

Chen Shi didn't leave. "Uncle Zhao, about this matter..."

Zhao Defa glanced at him: "It has nothing to do with your family."

Chen Shi continued, "We can't say that Han Changgui buried it himself."

Someone immediately chimed in, "Why not? Everyone knows what kind of person Han Changgui is. He's a petty thief, a drinker and gambler, and he's never home at night. It wouldn't be surprising if he buried a wild boar and shot himself."

"How can an outsider like him make a fuss?" Chen Shi asked.

The man was speechless after being questioned.

Chen Shi looked at him and said, "Who gave it to him? Who knew he buried it? If this gets out, and the commune comes down to investigate, it won't be as simple as whether Han Changgui is dead or not."

Everyone understood what was meant.

Kaoshantun is a place where people live off the mountains, blasting rocks, hunting wild boars, and digging through frozen soil. In the past, every family had some kind of inexplicable dealings with these things.

If you really had to dig layer by layer down, very few places would be clean.

Someone else whispered, "They'll still be dividing up that barren land of Old Nan Gouzi in the spring. If they say there's some old rumbling underground, who would dare take it?"

"No, you can give it to me," someone immediately retorted. "That patch of land near the woods has firewood, mushrooms, meadows—what's not useful there?"

"Enough!" Zhao Defa roared. "The person is still lying here, and you're already calculating the land?"

No one says it outright anymore, but their thoughts are written all over their faces.

Chen Shi knew that dead people were frightening, but the land was even more alluring.

Zhao Defa led Chen Shi aside, "Then what do you suggest we do?"

"They say there's an old sound coming from Lao Nangou," Chen Shi said. "It's not far from my sister's house, and the place he went was in a remote spot where hardly anyone comes. I don't know how he ran into him."

Zhao Defa did not answer immediately.

The old Nangoukou area was chaotic in the past, and the older generation knows this. In winter, when the frozen soil bulges, the old noises might rise from the ground; it's not impossible.

This statement is not clean, and it's less likely to implicate a whole group of people than if Han Changgui had buried the truth himself.

Chen Shi added, "Also, we can't keep this a secret for too long."

Zhao Defa frowned.

"To be honest, reporting it to the commune might have an impact when the land is allocated in the spring."

Chen Shi shook his head. "The village is full of gossips. If someone accidentally spills something, it could lead to someone dying, which is different from keeping a dead person in the dark."

Zhao Defa stared at Chen Shi: "Why are you talking like a completely different person today?"

In Zhao Defa's eyes, Chen Shi used to be overly honest, neither causing trouble nor being of any use.

When Chen Mancang was alive, this child was always following his father around.

After Chen Mancang passed away, he was like a man who had lost his mind, and he would lower himself to anyone he met.

He pretended not to hear any of the unpleasant things people said in the village.

Zhao Defa pondered for a moment, then asked aloud, "Shizi, do you know something?"

Chen Shi glanced at the burst snow pit, then looked away. "What could I possibly know about something that's right under my nose? The child is still young. He may have lost his father, but what if he loses his mother too?"

In his past life, he knew nothing.

He saw nothing in his entire life.

Zhao Defa was about to speak when chaos suddenly broke out at the back of the crowd.

A woman squeezed her way over, her head wrapped in a bright red headscarf, the color so striking that it could be seen from a great distance.

Chen Shi recognized the headscarf; it was a gift from Han Changgui.

Tian Guizhi has arrived.