Xiao Mandong propped herself up on the table to stand, but her legs suddenly went weak and she toppled backward. Gu Jianghan spun around and caught her in one swift move, and she crashed right into his chest, her forehead knocking against his chin.
"Are... are you alright?" His voice came out a little hoarse, his hands settling on her waist.
"I'm... I'm fine." She tried to step back once she steadied herself, but her feet went soft again.
Xiao Mandong was on the verge of tears. She really wasn't doing this on purpose.
Gu Jianghan steadied her more firmly this time, looking down at her. Her cheeks were flushed pink, her watery eyes half-lidded.
His Adam's apple bobbed, and the hand resting on her waist tightened. The faint, clean scent of soapberry drifted into his nose, tugging at his self-control.
When he snapped back to his senses, Xiao Mandong's head had already slumped against his shoulder, and even, steady breaths came from her neck, telling him she had fallen asleep.
Watching her sleeping face, Gu Jianghan's mind wandered to inappropriate, flustering thoughts. He had no idea why such messy ideas were popping up in his head. He took a deep breath and immediately suppressed those stray thoughts. He helped Xiao Mandong over to the heated kang, tucked the quilt around her, stoked the fire under the kang to warm it, checked all the doors and windows, and then kept himself busy with chores to distract himself. He washed the dishes, tidied up the space, mopped the floor, and wiped down the kitchen counter. He just could not let himself stand still.
Worried that coal fumes would make her sick, he could not leave right away. He stayed until three in the morning, when he swapped the coal for firewood to make sure the fumes would not seep into the room. By this hour, everyone in the family compound was fast asleep, and no one would notice him leaving. To avoid being seen by the gatekeeper and prevent others from gossiping about Xiao Mandong, he did not use the main gate of the compound—he climbed over the wall to get out.
Gu Jianghan did not go to the gate to fetch his bicycle either. He wanted his mind to clear completely, so he walked all the way home on foot.
Xiao Mandong woke up feeling overheated. The kang was so warm it was almost scorching. She rolled over, and suddenly jolted upright as she realized something was off—the edge of the kang was still warm.
Her mind cleared all at once. The doors and windows were shut tight, the room was quiet, and the stove fire was still burning bright. She got down to the outer room and found that the dishes on the table had already been washed, and even the kitchen counter was spotlessly wiped clean.
She climbed back onto the kang, staring up at the ceiling, her chest filled with a tangled, indescribable feeling.
After lying there restlessly for a while, unable to fall back asleep, she got up, washed up, and stepped into her personal storage space. She used her spiritual spring water to make a few pills, then headed straight to Aunt Xu's house.
At this hour, Aunt Xu had already finished making breakfast: steamed buns, thin porridge, and a boiled egg specially for Second Girl.
Second Girl's fever had broken, and her energy was much better, but the child just sat there in a daze. She glanced up at Xiao Mandong, then hung her head again.
She knew her older sister was gone, that she would never have her sister again. If only her sister had not volunteered to stay behind back then, maybe she would still be alive. It was clearly her aunt who had wanted her to stay, but she had been so scared that she started crying, so her sister had taken her place. Her sister had lied to her, saying she should go on ahead and wait, that she would be right back...
Last night, she had dreamed of her sister. Her sister was soaking wet, shivering all over, so cold, but still telling her not to be afraid. She had run after her sister for so long, but no matter how hard she tried, she could never catch up. Her sister would not wait for her anymore, would not hold her hand anymore. She wanted her sister to come back. She would not cry anymore, she would be the one to stay...
"This child has been sitting here ever since she woke up, not saying a single word, only sipping a few mouthfuls of porridge, and she stuffed the egg into her pocket." Aunt Xu said, her eyes reddening. "I watched those two girls grow up right here in this compound. They were always so close, Big Girl was such a sensible child, never letting go of her little sister's hand whenever they went out to play. To lose her sister all of a sudden, how is Second Girl supposed to take it? It's such a cruel, unfair thing."
"Aunt Xu, give this child one pill a day. She needs time, she will get better slowly," Xiao Mandong said. She did not know what else to say. If Ma Juan could pull herself together from now on, then the mother and daughter would have a chance at a better life. The wound in the child's heart could only heal with time.
When Xiao Mandong arrived at the hospital, it was not yet time for her shift to start. She found Ma Juan's hospital room, where Ma Juan was staring blankly at the ceiling, not even blinking when she heard someone come in.
She had wanted to see her daughter one last time, but she could not even get out of bed, and even if she could, she did not have the money to buy a bus ticket. Right now, Ma Juan felt completely useless. All she wanted was to die, to go be with her daughter, because the little girl must be so lonely all alone. The thought of that icy river water made her whole body tremble.
"Second Girl had a high fever last night, and she was convulsing all over."
Xiao Mandong's words pulled Ma Juan back to her senses at once.
"My Second Girl! Where is my Second Girl?" She tried to sit up in a panic, but Xiao Mandong gently held her down.
"Her fever has broken already. Ma Juan, Big Girl is gone. You cannot let anything bad happen to Second Girl too. You have to stand up, for her, and for yourself. I am not good at giving speeches, but I just want to tell you: don't let yourself suffer. Make sure the people who wanted to hurt you pay the price."
As she spoke, she handed Ma Juan the meal that Aunt Xu had packed for her.
Ma Juan's tears streamed down her face. "Doctor Xiao, thank you so much."
The second Qin Dongping comes back, I am divorcing him, Ma Juan swore to herself through gritted teeth. She would never let the Qin family get away with this.
Just then, the door to the ward was pushed open from outside. A middle-aged woman in a tattered cotton-padded jacket, with messy hair, tear-streaked face, and fresh scratch marks on her cheeks, rushed over and threw herself at Ma Juan's hospital bed.
"Juanzi... Juanzi," the woman sobbed so hard her whole body shook. "We brought Big Girl home."
Ma Juan's mouth fell open, and after a long moment, she let out a heart-wrenching wail.
The woman held Ma Juan and told her everything that had happened back in the village.
"Qin Dongping got back to the village last night. When he saw the child, he broke down crying, yelling at Qin's mother to ask why she made a sick, feverish little girl go fetch water. But that wicked old woman insisted that Big Girl had gone to the river on her own, that she was just being naughty and disobedient."
She could not believe how easily Qin Dongping was swayed, how he believed every single word his mother said without a second thought.
"The child is already gone. The village chief suggested we bury her first, and sort everything else out later."
But Qin's mother refused to agree at first.
She said the ground was frozen solid in the icy snow, no one could dig a grave, and that the little girl should just be wrapped in a straw mat and dumped in the hillside. And Qin Dongping did not even object.
The village chief said he would help gather people to dig the grave. Big Girl was already eight years old, not a tiny baby. He could not bear to see a child that big just tossed away like that.
But Qin's mother still would not budge. Finally, she said what she really thought.
She said unmarried children could not be buried in a proper dug grave, because the grave would never be properly filled, and that would bring bad luck to the rest of the Qin family. She insisted the child had to be wrapped in a straw mat and left on top of a dirt mound.
Ma Juan lost her mother when she was little, and her older brother and older sister raised her. The Ma siblings lived in the neighboring village, and when they got there, the child was already wrapped in a straw mat, and the Qin family was just about to carry her up the back hill. The Ma family flew into a rage, the two families started fighting, and the Ma family threatened to call the police, saying there was something suspicious about the child's death.
