HCB Chapter 215 His Past
Chapter 215 His Past
Like the reed down bedding used for poultry heating last year, there were several beds of thin and thick ones, all stacked up and placed on the bed, and taken away when leaving, as well as the black nests for the winter and nitred furs.
She went to the utility room and collected the utensils and seeds that could be used, and also took out some pots, clay pots and double-flavored cooking pots from the kitchen.
When she saw the shabu-shabu hotpot, she recalled the scene of eating hotpot with Han Zhibai around the stove this winter. Thinking of this, she smiled happily.
At the dining table, Han Zhibai shouted, "It's time to eat."
"I'm here." She filled a basin with water to wash her hands, then walked to the dining table and saw that Heihei and Xiaobai were already eating. In their bowls were egg pancakes, steamed eggs, and boiled cabbage.
The two sat down to eat. The staple food was pancakes, and the dishes included steamed eggs, steamed dried fish, and cabbage and dried shrimp soup.
After working hard for a whole morning, I was hungry and focused on eating.
At noon, the sun was high in the sky and at its brightest, illuminating the vegetable fields, abandoned paddy fields, and the areas near a few ponds below the mouth of the tiankeng, casting a dazzling golden glow on them.
After having their fill of food, the two of them just sat there and admired the scenery inside the pit bathed in sunlight.
After sitting and digesting the food for a while, Xia Qingyue said she would wash the dishes. She thought that she might come more often in the near future and clean up the kitchen at the same time.
There was warm water boiling in the pot at the back stove. She scooped two scoops of water into the big iron pot, took a pinch of tea dregs powder and put it into the warm water and stirred it. Bubbles appeared immediately, and she used the loofah pulp to wash the dishes.
After washing the dishes, she raised her eyes and accidentally glanced at the other side of the pond. Han Zhibai was bending over, wielding a hoe, digging the weeds around the pond.
She was stunned for a moment, and a gentle smile slowly spread across her lips.
After washing the pots and dishes, she used a cloth specially used for wiping kitchen utensils to carefully wipe the kitchen countertop and dining table twice. When everything was done, she picked up a hoe and went to find Han Zhibai to join the ranks of clearing weeds.
Every time we come to clear it, there will be fewer weeds in the sinkhole. If we just leave it alone, the weeds will only grow more and more, spreading everywhere. Next time we come, there won't even be a place to step.
It is tiring to do this, but it doesn’t feel like a hassle. This is their home and they enjoy taking care of it.
After working together to remove the weeds, they sat cross-legged in the shade to rest.
Xia Qingyue remembered something and turned to Han Zhibai and said, "I want to prepare some offerings to worship my uncle and aunt in the near future, but I don't seem to see their graves in the valley."
"My parents' graves are not here, they are in Wei Hai."
She asked doubtfully, "Wei Hai?"
He nodded, his thoughts lost in reminiscence, his slightly narrowed eyes were deep and unfathomable, "The sea is thousands of miles away."
He wanted to take this opportunity to explain the family affairs to her clearly.
"As far as I can remember, I lived with a group of beggars. They said I was an abandoned baby with unknown parents. Some of them were kind-hearted and pitied me, so they gave me some of the food they begged for.
When I was a little older, at the age of six, I started to be self-reliant and made a living by begging every day.
One day when I was eight years old, it was raining heavily. A kind-hearted person took pity on me and gave me a few coins. This scene happened to be seen by an older beggar.
The greedy beggar stole the money when I wasn't paying attention and ran away. That was the money I had begged for with great difficulty, enough for me to eat for a few days, so how could I let him go so easily? So I chased him, and finally caught up with him, but the difference in strength was too great, and I was defeated and injured.
I only knew that if I had no money I would starve. This was my life-saving money, so even though I was beaten, I held on to the man's legs tightly and wouldn't let him leave with the money. As a result, I was beaten half to death."
Having said that, he opened his mouth and sneered sarcastically for a moment.
He spoke calmly, as if he was talking about someone else's business. Xia Qingyue felt a pain in her heart, her brows knitted together, tears welled up in her eyes. She stretched out her hands and held his hands tightly.
Han Zhibai lowered his eyes, and gently wrapped his big palm around her small hand, and then said:
"That year was a famine year. We couldn't even get enough to eat, not to mention that I was so badly injured. The only way out was death. I was so hopeless that I dragged my injured body up the mountain, thinking that I might as well jump off the cliff and die. If I died, I wouldn't feel the pain of hunger and cold, and I wouldn't feel the pain.
I walked towards the edge of the cliff step by step. I was almost there, but I was too weak and I fainted. When I woke up, I saw my parents. It was my father who took me back to the valley to heal my wounds and saved me.
From then on, I lived in the valley, and they always looked at me with heartache and pity.
At first, I was wary of my parents. When it was time for dinner, they brought me three meals a day: white rice, chicken and duck eggs, chicken, duck and fish. Every meal was delicious and filling, much better than most people out there.
I changed my mind because I have enough food here, and I live one day at a time. It doesn’t matter if I get poisoned or killed by them one day.”
He finished speaking, shook his head and laughed, "After half a year in the valley, I started to learn self-defense martial arts from my father, sometimes went hunting in the forest, and learned to read and write with my mother.
In a blink of an eye, four years passed. In the fifth year, when I was thirteen years old, my parents took me out of the valley and went to Wei Hai. Our family of three lived in a cottage by the sea. Half a year later, my mother became pregnant. We were all very happy and looking forward to the sudden arrival of this child.
In fact, at that time I secretly wondered, if this child was born, would my parents still treat me the same as before? Would their love for me be transferred to that child?
Han Zhibai's eyes were bloodshot, filled with the pain of self-blame, and two lines of tears silently dripped from the corners of his eyes. His hands unconsciously tightened, and his palms touched the softness inside. It was her hand. His eyes instantly regained clarity, and at the same time, his tightened hands loosened.
Hearing this, Xia Qingyue immediately thought that he was attributing the cause of his mother's death in childbirth to himself. She pulled her hand away, adjusted her posture and half-squatted, with one leg bent on the ground and the other leg slightly bent and stepped on the ground. She spread her arms and moved towards him, holding him in her arms.
She said firmly: "No, it's not your fault!"
"Giving birth is a very dangerous thing for women when medical conditions are limited. Things in the world are unpredictable and beyond human control.
I believe that my uncle and aunt would not want to see you blaming yourself like this."
She hugged him tightly, patted his back gently, and tears welled up in her eyes after she finished speaking.
"Qingyue, I know, I understand, and I won't think that way from now on." Han Zhibai closed his eyes and buried his head in her arms, his tears wet the front of her shirt.
"It's okay, it's okay." She said softly, over and over again.
After a long time, Han Zhibai's emotions gradually calmed down. He leaned in her arms and said in a calm voice:
"Ten months later, I was fourteen years old. My mother died of hemorrhage and dystocia that summer and was buried next to the wooden house in Wei Hai. From then on, my father became addicted to alcohol and stayed by my mother's grave every day, living a muddle-headed life. I tried every way to make him sober up and live a good life, but all ended in failure.
A year later, I used my mother as an excuse to try to persuade my father to leave Weihai and live somewhere else, so that he wouldn’t be reminded of my mother. I didn’t expect that he was persuaded and said he wanted to go back to the valley.”