The others were envious, but they didn’t dare complain. After all, they were indeed not as popular as Xiao Baoshan. But Xiao Baoshan was driven by his nature to keep busy. Now that he couldn’t help with cooking, he might as well do the cleaning. There were so many rooms in the inn, giving him endless work to do.
As such, Jin Xiaoyu was left alone again. Inevitably, she felt displeased about this. With arms crossed, she leaned against the door frame and said to the man who was cleaning the window, “Dumb, it’s New Year’s Eve. Why can’t you accompany me?”
He replied in a flat tone, “I have to finish the work first.”
“Work can never be finished. Besides, I’ve asked those guys to clean the rooms.” She pouted her lips.
He brushed the window with a finger and showed her the dust on it.
She frowned in anger. “How dare they be offhand with me! I must teach them a lesson tonight!”
Xiao Baoshan went on with his work. Bored, she went downstairs and drank alone.
After a while, the feast was ready. She asked Xiao Baoshan to come down for dinner. Only then did he put down the rag and the bucket. Having been carefully cooked, the meal was more hearty and more delicious than usual.
Jin Xiaoyu put a piece of fish into Xiao Baoshan’s bowl and said, “Taste a piece of fish and always be rich!”
He said, “Thank you.”
She then put a noodle into his bowl. “Taste a noodle and our love will be stable.”
He still said, “Thank you.”
She brushed his leg with hers under the table. “Verbal thanks are not sincere at all. Can you do something practical, like giving me a kiss?”
He remained still.
Idiot said, “Miss Jin, this is an impossible task for him. He’s such a stick. How could he kiss you in front of us?”
Fool agreed. “Yes, if he did, you may not like him. Miss Jin, don’t you always say you like his stubbornness? You say he’s restrained, unlike other men.”
Jin Xiaoyu was persuaded. Then, she gave each man a bag of lucky money.
Xiao Baoshan weighed the bag in his hand and guess there were about 100 copper coins inside. He said in a low voice, “Thank you.” Then, he lowered his head to eat.
Jin Xiaoyu laughed and said, “You’re so dumb! Oh yes, after dinner, you should take a shower and change your clothes. I’ve prepared new clothes for all of you. It’s a custom on New Year’s Eve.”
He nodded.
…
It was very quiet in the desert at night. The firecrackers Dull set off only created a moment of jubilation and didn’t make much difference. When Xiao Baoshan got dressed after a shower, Jin Xiaoyu went in secretly. Seeing her, he covered his body with clothes immediately, turned around, and put them on.
She laughed. “Why take the trouble to do that? I’ve seen it last time when I gave you my body.” She approached and went to throw her arms around him.
But he stepped backward to avoid her hug. “We’re not a couple yet. I can’t touch you.”
“You…” she said angrily. “I told you I’ll marry you sooner or later. You’ve also promised this. Why do you care about that ceremony? You don’t have parents, and neither do I. We belong to each other when we share one bed.”
Xiao Baoshan was silent. Obviously, he wasn’t in agreement. She also gave up arguing with him because it wouldn’t work.
She asked, “So you want to marry me with a sedan chair carried by eight people?”
He finally replied, “Yes, at least one carried by four people.”
She suddenly snorted with laughter. What a lovely dumb man he was! But somehow, she was touched.
Since she had opened this inn, quite a few men had expressed their desire to marry her, but that was just for fun. What they wanted was merely her body. However, Xiao Baoshan was different. He insisted that he marry her in a formal way, giving her a real wedding party.
Since the last time, he never touched her again. No matter how much she hinted, he refused for the reason that they were not married. It was his principle that only a couple could share a room and do that kind of thing.
…
Jin Xiaoyu sat on his bed with a sigh.
Baoshan asked her, “Why are you sighing?”
She leaned against the headboard and replied, “I never thought about marriage. I just wanted to play the game of life and then die alone, because I believed men were all unreliable. Only when I met you did I realize there is such a man as you in this world.”
“What kind of man am I?” he asked.
She yawned. “You’re nice to me and don’t take me for a plaything.”
“Because you were born as a person, not a plaything,” he said.
She asked, “Why aren’t you curious about my reason for opening an inn in the desert?”
He said, “You’ll tell me if you want to. You have the right to keep a secret.”
She gave a wry smile and said faintly, “You’ll ask me if you care about me, and you won’t if you don’t.”
Xiao Baoshan fell into silence. How much did he care about her? It seemed very little if at all. Without that part of memory, he always felt empty in his mind. It was like he was not completely himself and something was waiting for him to discover.
Getting no reply from him, Jin Xiaoyu said, “Forget it. I don’t expect you to care about me. After all, it’s I who like you.” Then, she began telling her story. “When I was little, my dad always beat my mom fiercely, making her bleed all over. Sometimes she was hurt so badly that she had to rest on the bed for several days.”
Hearing that, Xiao Baoshan gave a sympathetic look. “Your mom had a very hard life.”
“Yes, she did have a hard life. But I didn’t feel sympathetic towards her at all because she was too weak. Sometimes when she collapsed, my dad beat me because I was a girl who couldn’t carry on the family lineage. And yet, my mom never helped me. She thought she suffered because of me. In that family, I had no status at all. I was like a rag that anyone could stamp on. But when I was nine, I changed my life. Do you know what I did?”
He asked, “What did you do?”
A tear ran down her smiling face. “That day, after beating my mom, my dad hit me again. Then, he drank and got drunk as usual. While he was asleep, I took a knife and cut his throat. He jolted and then didn’t move anymore. His blood soaked my clothes and my body.”
“My mom was freaked out. She thought I was a devil and didn’t want me anymore. So I left and almost died outside. One day, when I begged on the street, I met my master. He adopted me, gave me food to eat, and taught me martial arts. But after some time, he was killed by his enemy.”
Xiao Baoshan looked at her with sympathy. It was unbelievable that this young woman had experienced so much suffering.
She wiped away her tears with strength. “Oh, how ridiculous I am! I swore that I wouldn’t shed any tears again. But in front of you, I can’t control myself.”
For the first time, he said in a gentle voice, “It’s everyone’s right to shed tears. When you’re sad, you can cry. This is not weakness.”
She gave him a grateful look and whispered, “Why do I like you so much?”
He asked with rare curiosity, “What happened then?”
“I took revenge on the man who killed my master and used my master’s money to open this inn. Then, I met you.” She smiled.
Again, he lapsed into silence.
Feeling the quietness, she said, “Dumb, bring some wine over here. Let’s drink together.”
So he went downstairs and brought a jar of wine back.
Jin Xiaoyu poured the wine into two cups. “Tonight is New Year’s Eve. Drink with me until daybreak.”
He nodded. Then, they began drinking cup after cup. Nothing else happened that night. But, when Jin Xiaoyu was almost drunk, she asked, “Dumb, marry me in early spring, will you?”
Soberly, he nodded. He was just like some lonely, rootless duckweed and she seemed to share the same fate, though she knew where she was from. So, he thought, why not accompany one another? Besides, he had touched her body and promised to marry her.
…
One day, Tarico went up into the mountains to pick leaves for the camels’ food. Since he was high on the mountain, he could see very far. When he climbed on a tree, he noticed Mcginon at the foot of a mountain. Appearing sly and furtive, Mcginon was looking around for something, which made Tarico very curious. Was he waiting for a woman? It seemed very likely.
Curious about which woman it was, Tarico watched Mcginon quietly. If he knew who she was, he would definitely help his brother pursue her. After all, Mcginon might be too shy to show his charm and express his affection.
However, the one who approached Mcginon was not a woman but Mahal. At this moment, Mahal also looked very furtive. He gave Mcginon a package and whispered something to him. After Mahal left, Mcginon sat down, holding the package nervously. He unwrapped it and put something into his pocket. After a while, he dug a hole and buried the object inside, but he soon took it out again. Whatever it was, he looked very hesitant.
