Changsheng’s mother returned right on time for her meal. Without uttering a word to Yan Huan, she went to the kitchen to get herself a plate of food. While continuing to ignore Yan Huan, she began to eat by herself. With every bite, Changsheng’s mother had a snide remark. “This doesn’t taste good at all. The food is disgusting. Ugh, this isn’t fit for human consumption, this should be left to the pigs!”. In between her complaints, she sarcastically mocked Yan Huan for even thinking of associating with her.
Hearing every word, Yan Huan smiled meekly. Despite the tirade, not a single word of retort left her mouth.
Changsheng’s mother can say whatever she pleases. After all, ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me’. And Changsheng’s mother would never dare lay a hand on Yan Huan.
“What a fool. Why did our Changsheng save you? I put a roof over your head. I gave you food to eat. Aren’t we being generous enough? Yet you still want to steal from us!”
Yan Huan lowered her head and poked at the rice in her bowl with her chopsticks. She was not going to rebut, nor was she going to explain herself.
She would never bring herself to throw veiled accusations or make scenes like the villagers.
After she was done eating, Changsheng’s mother slammed her bowl down and left the dinner table. She then headed to the doors, making sure to lock them before leaving the house.
Yan Huan collected her bowl and headed into the kitchen. After she washed it, her gaze fell onto the basket of eggs. These eggs have to be sold soon, otherwise they might turn rotten. There was no way she could sell these eggs to the hotels, they had been left out for too long. Honesty was crucial when dealing with hotels. Fortunately, the weather had been cold enough that there was frozen ice on the ground in the mornings, so it was unlikely that the eggs would be spoiled. However, it was hard to say how much longer the eggs could be kept. Not only might the insides of the egg rot, a furry fuzz might even grow on the egg shells!
“Aunt,” Yan Huan did not want to speak to Changsheng’s mother, but she did have to do something about the eggs.
“What do you want?” Changsheng’s mother asked snappily. Her tone was harsh, as if she was warning Yan Huan in revulsion— do not waste my time.
Yan Huan pursed her red lips as she tried to suppress the fury brimming in her heart.
“I’d like to sell those eggs over there. They’ve been left out for a long time.”
“You want to sell eggs?” Changsheng’s mother looked Yan Huan up and down as if she was asking for the moon. “Are you thinking of hogging the money from selling the eggs? Are you planning to cheat the villagers of their hard earned money?”
“That’s not what I want.” Yan Huan had never thought of gaining any profits from the eggs. It was true that she was the one who clinched the deal with the hotel, but she had never received any bribes or kickbacks from it. Changsheng was there with her every time they went to sell the eggs. The money earned was used to buy necessities such as oil and salt, while the remaining was handed over to Changsheng’s mother. Ever since Yan Huan came to Changsheng’s household, she had only received 20 dollars from Changsheng’s mother. Even that was used to buy rice for the household. Other than that, she had not spent half a penny from Changsheng’s family.
“Yeah right!” Changsheng’s mother spat directly on the floor. Yan Huan felt that she probably would have liked to spit on Yan Huan instead.
“Here comes a b*tch out of nowhere! All she wants is Changsheng’s money. How dare she regard herself as one of us…” Changsheng’s mother swore angrily, her words were exactly what Jin Gen’s mother had said.
At that moment, Changsheng’s mother was just another copy of Jin Gen’s mother. As the saying goes, he that lies down with dogs must rise up in fleas. This was a true example of the saying.
However, despite all the swearing and angry curses of Changsheng’s mother, the basket of eggs still had to be sold.
Just as dawn broke the next morning, a loud rattle assaulted Yan Huan’s door.
“Get up, get up now! Are you going to sleep until you die? Get up and go sell the eggs.” After a few more angry mutterings, loud poundings on the door could be heard again.
Yan Huan sat up, took her clothes and put them on silently. It was still dark outside. Even if she woke up earlier, it would be impossible for Yan Huan to go downhill now. The road downhill was treacherous. The villagers could only go down large groups. No one dared venture down alone. At least if they moved in droves, the villagers could help one another if anything were to happen,.
Of course, no one would wish for an accident to happen. It was just more comforting for the villagers to have the safety of traveling in a group.
Yan Huan was done putting on her clothes. It was freezing cold outside, it made Yan Huan feel as if winter had returned. In fact spring was just around the corner. Isn’t spring a season for flowers to bloom and for life to be rejuvenated? Since when has spring here become so frigid that cotton-padded jackets were still needed and the beds had to remain heated? It was so cold that snow would still fall occasionally.
Yan Huan put the basket with eggs on her back. But she felt like her back was about to break when she straightened herself. She was in unbearable pain as the weight of the basket strained her shoulder. However, Changsheng’s mother simply stood aside and pouted with no intention of helping Yan Huan.
Yan Huan never expected any help from the others. Ever since Changsheng left, she was the one who did all the chores without a single word or whine. She endured the hardship without further action or thought.
Yan Huan was like a little donkey: there were endless tasks to be done, with a whip always flogging her. She would endure scolding after scolding, and there was nothign she could do about it so long as she was still living in that hous. Just as Changsheng’s mother had said. She had to do her part and fulfil her responsibilities to live and eat under this roof. No one on this earth had the duty to help her for nothing.
Yan Huan carried the basket of eggs and walked ahead. There were quite a lot of people waiting at the crest when she arrived there. They were waiting for daylight before heading downhill. Yan Huan found that there were not many young people this time, most of them were women or elders. A few of them were children of seven to eight years old. Not many young people remain in the village now. Those born on the mountains never returned after they left. Only the old, the sick and the very young were left here.
It was getting crowded. When day finally broke, they began their journey. Yan Huan was carrying too much—the basket weighed at least 25 kilograms. She could not help but wipe the sweat off her forehead. Her load felt heavier and heavier, and the sweat on her head flowed more and more. Her back was almost entirely soaked and it was getting really uncomfortable. She was not Changsheng; she was not as strong as him. She was not a man; she did not have a man’s endurance. All she had was tenacity and tolerance; she had to hold on to these until she got to the bottom of the hill, until all the eggs had been sold.
