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墨書 Inktalez
The twilight draped over the morning glories on the fence, casting trumpet-shaped shadows. Lin Wanqiu was mending Chen Shuisheng's pants.
Chen Shuisheng had gone to the city to sell grain and wouldn't be back for a while. Lin Wanqiu thought to herself, "When he returns, he will surely be delighted."
As she bit through the cotton thread and prepared to tidy up her sewing supplies and head back inside, she suddenly heard a girl’s choked voice calling out.
"Mom..." Shen Nian's canvas shoes were caked with mud, and one strap of her backpack had snapped, revealing a half-sewn floral pencil case inside.
The fifteen-year-old girl resembled a corn seedling battered by a storm; as she rushed over, she knocked over a bamboo basket, sending colorful thread spools rolling into the chicken coop.
Lin Wanqiu's thimble also fell to the ground, spinning three times before landing at Shen Mingyuan's polished shoe tips—he was wearing the gray shirt he had on when they first met, with her embroidered corn cob button still pinned at the cuff.
Chen Huiying leaned against the doorframe of the main room, cracking sunflower seeds; her gold bracelet clinked against the door panel. "Oh, isn't this Boss Shen treating his wife like livestock?"
She deliberately kicked over some drying corn husks. "Brother Shuisheng has gone to the city to sell grain; he won't be back until after dark."
Shen Mingyuan pulled an iron box from his briefcase. Inside the 1998 wedding candy tin, neatly stacked were seven bankbooks. "I've recovered all the money Shen Mingyu borrowed."
His fingers brushed over the moldy spots on the cover of the bankbooks. "She’s working as a cashier in a supermarket in the county now. Last month, she even asked about your pickled green beans..."
"What do you want from me? I'm just an item you bought back. Now we’ve parted ways; let’s each live our own peaceful lives," Lin Wanqiu turned her head away.
Suddenly, Shen Nian unzipped her school uniform jacket, revealing a yellowed photograph tucked in the inner pocket—a picture of Lin Wanqiu taking her out to fly kites on her fifth birthday.
"Mom, my aunt says you don’t want me anymore; everyone says you don’t want me anymore. My aunt even wants to take our money and doesn’t want me to go to school."
"But I don’t believe it. I know I’ve been thoughtless and hurt Mom’s feelings all along."
"But I won’t be like that anymore; I know who the real bad person is."
"Teacher Wang said that the key high school in the city requires boarding. I got accepted, Mom... can you come back and help me with the paperwork?" The girl's tears fell onto the iron box, startling a sparrow that was pecking at seeds nearby.
"In the autumn harvest of 1998, I helped your family pick corn for three days."
Shen Mingyuan suddenly pulled out a piece of paper from the layer of his savings book, the faded ink of a ballpoint pen reading: "Comrade Wanqiu, can I help you pick corn cobs for a lifetime?"
Chen Huiying's potato peeler abruptly snapped: "Pick corn cobs? Didn't my brother say yesterday he was taking his wife to the provincial capital to see..."
"Wanqiu, the password for the savings book is your birthday," Shen Mingyuan pushed the iron box across the stone grinding table, the stainless steel thimble glinting coldly in the dusk. "I also brought the Pig Farm Legal Person Change Document; from now on..."
Chen Huiying suddenly threw the peeled potatoes into the winnowing basket: "What a wayward son returning! Who was it that complained about not being able to have a son back then..."
"Hui Ying, sister," Lin Wanqiu gently rubbed the cover of the savings book and suddenly spoke up, "Isn't all your overtime pay from the factory in Guangzhou spent on finding out news about Shen Family Village?"
She picked up the thimble and slipped it back onto her ring finger. "Last week at the market, someone saw you running to the town's post office twice."
"I know what you're thinking. I will go home with Shen Mingyuan. It's just that I am fated to be apart from Chen Shuisheng; I hope you all can live well from now on."
"Shen Mingyuan, I've been here, more or less like a wife to Chen Shuisheng for almost a year. I want to know what you think." Lin Wanqiu did not shy away from discussing her experience.
"Actually, we owe you. The reason you can't have children anymore is also because of Mingyu. People will ultimately make mistakes; my mistake was grave, otherwise, you wouldn't have been forced to leave home. This world is not something a woman can bear alone."
Chen Huiying clapped her hands. "Alright, Boss Shen, remember what you said today; don't let Lin Wanqiu run away again."
As the setting sun bled into the horizon, Lin Wanqiu pressed her farewell letter under the sewing machine. The letter was written on kraft paper used by Chen Shuisheng for his supplies, with corners still stuck with corn silk.
She took one last look at the pair of lotus flowers embroidered on the windowsill, which she had prepared for her wedding with Chen Shuisheng.
...
As dusk fell, Chen Shuisheng returned empty-handed on his tricycle. In the basket lay a newly bought Peach Wood Comb for Wanqiu, its teeth entwined with an unknown wildflower.
He hummed the Lotus Harvest Melody as he pushed open the wooden gate. On the clothesline hung Lin Wanqiu's often-worn Moonlight White Shirt, its cuffs newly embroidered with lotus flowers stained with tears.
Chen Shuisheng suddenly noticed that the hem of the shirt had been altered into a style resembling a baby swaddle, with stitches tight enough to hold an entire summer's rainwater. In the yard, a sewing machine pressed down on an unstamped letter.
Without saying a word, Chen Shuisheng squatted in front of the stove to start a fire but failed to notice sparks splattering onto the gray-blue pants Lin Wanqiu had sewn for him. He tightly clutched this letter in his hand; it was made from grid paper torn from Shen Nian's notebook:
Shui Sheng:
I am sorry for what I have done to you.
I counted the Big Dipper in the cornfield for seven nights,
but I keep thinking of
the little nightlight by my daughter's bed.
I have returned home.
During these days, Hui Ying has been watching me closely.
I know she likes you; she is jealous of me.
Hui Ying can still bear children, and as a man, you ultimately need an heir.
We are destined to be fated yet unconnected.
I hope that in the future, you and Hui Ying will be well together.
...
As Shen Nian held Lin Wanqiu's waist tightly on the back of the motorcycle, the twilight painted Chen Family Courtyard in golden red, reminiscent of the corn silk melting on that day’s haystack.
“Mom, I want to eat sweet and sour ribs,” Shen Nian said sweetly, pouting.
“Okay, Mom will make it when we get home.”
“I want some too! Recently, I introduced a breed of Black Pig and just slaughtered one for meat.”
“Dad, don’t talk; I’m talking to Mom,” Shen Nian said affectionately, snuggling closer to Lin Wanqiu.
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