The county town’s overall layout was square and orderly, with clearly defined axes. Two main streets branched into several secondary streets, and from those secondary streets extended narrow alleys.
Pulling at Lin Yue’s sleeve, Gu Yun led him to the street he had been yearning after for so long. His gaze repeatedly swept across the various food stalls before he finally steeled himself and dragged Lin Yue to the cheapest pancake stall.
He bought five wen’s worth of bean-flour flatbreads and five wen’s worth of sorghum flatbreads.
The former came two for five wen, the latter three for five wen.
Not far from the flatbread stall was a porridge stand. The two of them sat down and ordered two large bowls of porridge.
One bowl cost one wen.
The porridge was not particularly thick, but it had been cooked well. Millet formed the base, mixed with beans and sorghum, and topped with a small mound of salted diced radish.
Pale steam rose from the surface of the porridge. The moment it was set down, the plain fragrance of grain and the salty-sour scent of pickled radish spread beneath their noses.
Gu Yun was practically dazed by the aroma.
He touched the rim of the bowl with a finger. It was scalding hot. Blowing on it with little huffs, he waited until the surface cooled slightly before impatiently lowering his head and slurping a mouthful from the edge.
The slightly thick porridge entered his mouth first, followed by soft beans bursting apart beneath his teeth and sorghum grains carrying a slight chewiness. The millet had already bloomed apart completely, melting into the beans and sorghum until it was almost impossible to distinguish, like water in a bowl: lacking presence, yet utterly indispensable.
Everything slid smoothly down his throat and into his stomach after only a light chew.
Warmth spread through his stomach, and even the upper half of his body, chilled by the cold wind, gradually warmed.
Gu Yun let out a comfortable sigh. Smacking his lips lightly, he thought there even seemed to be a faint sweetness lingering there.
Turning the bowl around, he continued sipping little mouthfuls along the rim.
Lin Yue sat opposite him, unwrapping the reed leaves around the flatbreads.
Zhuyang County lay in the northern lands of the Xuan Dynasty. Reeds grew abundantly here, tall and sturdy, their leaves broad and long. Traders would fold them, rinse them briefly with water, dry them, and use them to wrap small goods.
The reed leaves were dark greenish-black. Three layered together tightly wrapped the flatbreads. Pulling out the folded corner used to secure the package caused the entire wrapping to unfold, revealing five solid flatbreads inside.
The bean-flour flatbreads were yellowish in colour, while the sorghum ones were reddish brown.
The baker was clearly experienced. Every flatbread had been baked golden on both sides, then stored inside baskets covered with thick cloth, so they still retained warmth by the time customers received them.
Using the reed leaf, Lin Yue picked up one bean-flour flatbread and handed it to Gu Yun.
“I only want one,” Gu Yun said distractedly as he accepted it. The moment he saw what it was, he immediately asked for the sorghum one instead. “I like that one.”
Lin Yue ignored him.
After thinking about it, Gu Yun stopped insisting and took a bite instead.
The flatbread was rough and dry, yet the more he chewed, the more fragrant it became. It tasted a hundred times better than the porridge. Unconsciously, he sped up his eating, wolfing it down until he suddenly choked.
“Cough, cough, cough—”
Gu Yun choked so badly his face turned red. He coughed violently, yet still could not bear to spit out the flatbread, covering his mouth instead.
Lin Yue immediately pulled his hand away.
Without any obstruction, Gu Yun coughed everything out at once.
Lin Yue walked over and patted his back. Then he asked the stall owner for two small bowls, poured some porridge into one, then into the other, repeatedly transferring it back and forth until it cooled.
He placed the bowl in front of Gu Yun. “Drink some and ease it down.”
There was no warm water here. If one wanted warm water, it had to be bought from a teashop.
Gripping the collar of his clothes, Gu Yun slowly stopped coughing so hard. After drinking another mouthful from the small bowl, he finally recovered fully.
Looking at the scattered crumbs of bean-flour flatbread he had coughed onto the ground, pain flickered through his eyes. Yet he knew Lin Yue had only been helping him, so he forced himself not to show it.
He tore off a small piece of flatbread and used it to wipe away the porridge that had spilled over the rim while being poured between bowls. Then he put it into his mouth and slowly chewed.
Lin Yue returned to his seat, apologising to the porridge stall owner’s wife who came to clean the floor while watching Gu Yun’s reddened eyes.
After watching for a while, he said, “Are you stupid?”
Gu Yun looked up at him.
Perhaps this era really had forced a bit of the capability an adult ought to possess out of him. After thinking for a moment, he unexpectedly understood the implication beneath the words.
Gu Yun wanted to laugh, yet could not. He forced out a smile, though even without a mirror he could tell it looked strange. Silently, he smoothed his expression flat again.
“Husband, I’ve decided on you for this lifetime.”
Lin Yue said, “You should learn to be smarter.”
Gu Yun straightened his back, looking unusually serious. “If you stop wanting me, I’ll die.”
Lin Yue coldly snapped, “Eat.”
Gu Yun let out an “Oh” and lowered his head to drink his porridge. From the corner of his eye, he saw Lin Yue lift a sorghum cake through the reed leaf wrapping and chew it slowly and unhurriedly.
Suddenly, he remembered something important and touched the string of coins in his pocket.
“Wait here!”
Gu Yun sprang to his feet and hurried off. Before Lin Yue could ask where he was going, he saw him rush in a few quick strides to the stall selling assorted stew soup and order a bowl.
“This is for you.” After the stall owner served it up, Gu Yun borrowed the man’s ragged cloth and carried the bowl carefully back, setting it before Lin Yue.
The bowl was filled to the brim. Six wen. The broth was cloudy rather than clear, pale white in colour, with a slick layer of fat floating on top. Beneath were poultry innards and several large cabbage leaves. Altogether, it looked extremely appetising.
Lin Yue asked, “What’s this for?”
Gu Yun secretly swallowed a mouthful of saliva, forcibly dragged his gaze away, and sat back down, nibbling his cake amid the rich oily fragrance of meat.
“You fell into the water, and you’ve got work tomorrow. You need to eat something good and build yourself back up.”
That had been Gu Yun’s original intention all along, but the business with pawning the clothes had thrown him into such confusion that he had forgotten. Now that he remembered, naturally he had to make up for it, even though it cost a full six wen.
Expressionless, Lin Yue pulled over a small bowl. Using the deep wooden spoon provided with the assorted soup, he ladled the broth and ingredients evenly into it.
Gu Yun stared. “What are you doing now?”
The bowl of stew had looked plentiful, but once divided equally, it only just made two small bowls, and neither was even full. Lin Yue pushed one towards him. “Eat.”
Gu Yun pressed his lips tightly together and stubbornly refused to look at the food shoved before him.
“I’m not eating it.”
“It’ll go cold.”
“I said I’m not eating it!”
Lin Yue lifted his eyes and glanced at him. “If you’re not eating it, I’ll pour it away.”
Just like his mum.
Gu Yun’s resolve collapsed in less than a second. Truthfully, he wanted to eat it badly.
He picked up the bowl and took a sip. It was intensely savoury and salty. Fishing out a piece of offal, he found it pleasantly chewy, with a faint meaty flavour lingering in the middle. Then he scooped up a cabbage leaf. The cabbage had been boiled until soft and limp, soaked through with broth, melting in the mouth with a fresh sweetness.
It was far too delicious.
Gu Yun ate in tiny bites. Afraid he would become too full to finish the porridge, he did not touch the cakes.
One small bowl of assorted soup and one large bowl of porridge later, Gu Yun was completely stuffed.
A few grains of millet remained at the bottom of the bowl. He treasured food dearly, using his bamboo chopsticks to pick them up one by one and put every last grain into his mouth before finally setting the bowl and chopsticks down.
Lin Yue was still eating. He had already finished one sorghum cake, one bean flour cake, and a small bowl of assorted soup, and was now drinking the porridge, nearly done.
Gu Yun asked whether he wanted any more cakes. Seeing him shake his head, he wrapped the unfinished cakes back up in the reed leaves and said cheerfully, “There, tomorrow morning’s breakfast is sorted.”
Lin Yue said nothing.
The porridge had scratched harshly at his throat, because it still contained bits of bran husk.
Common folk used mortars and pestles to hull millet, but in order to save labour, they often did not remove the husks thoroughly. Fragments of the millet shell, the bran, would remain mixed in.
Cheap porridge stalls all used this sort of millet.
Lin Yue finally finished the porridge. Compared with the dry, coarse sorghum and bean cakes, or the greasy, strongly flavoured assorted soup, the porridge was by far the easiest thing to swallow.
His slightly furrowed brows relaxed. Picking up the wrapped cakes, he said, “Let’s go.”
The stall owners would collect the bowls and chopsticks themselves.
Gu Yun tugged happily at his sleeve as they headed back together.
By the time they returned, the sky still had not darkened.
The ground beneath the bridge remained damp, so the two of them first carried back the “bedding rolls” Old Huo had left behind and spread them neatly outside the bridge tunnel, beside Gu Yun’s own bedding roll. Afterwards, they snapped off willow twigs and went to the pond to wash up.
Since there was no shelter, the water was freezing cold, and they had nothing with which to boil water, neither of them bathed. Fortunately, neither carried much smell anyway.
As for the broken bowl Old Huo had left behind, it leaked even when holding water, let alone boiling it. Gu Yun did not throw it away. He simply wanted to keep it as something to remember him by.
The sky overhead was black as ink, thickly scattered with stars. Tomorrow would be another clear day.
Gu Yun placed the wrapped cakes to one side and lay down on the straw mat, clutching the money to his chest. Savouring the lingering taste of the assorted soup, he rolled over to face Lin Yue.
“Husband, once we’ve got money, let’s eat assorted soup every day.”
Lin Yue sat opposite him, shaking out his inner shirt.
The shirt had been tucked beneath the straw mat and picked up bits of dust and dry grass. After shaking it clean, he draped it over Gu Yun.
“You like it that much?”
“I do. It’s delicious!”
Lin Yue imagined a future where they ate assorted soup every single day and saw nothing ahead of him except utter darkness.
Gu Yun said, “Why aren’t you answering? Is that a yes or a no?”
Words of refusal circled around Lin Yue’s mouth, but in the end he still did not say them aloud. Lying down and closing his eyes, he simply replied: “All right.”
Gu Yun rolled about happily several times before falling asleep.
Listening to the even sound of breathing, Lin Yue gradually drifted off as well. Perhaps he simply was not used to this sort of life, because he woke in the middle of the night. Since he still had work the next day, he did not get up, merely kept his eyes closed to rest.
At that moment, he heard a faint murmur.
Lin Yue opened his eyes and turned towards the sound. By the dim starlight, he could make out Gu Yun’s silhouette. Curled tightly onto his side, he had drawn himself into a ball, his head tucked so low it nearly touched his knees.
Lin Yue sat up, lit a fire, then crouched beside him.
Messy hair covered the eyes exposed to the night air. Through the strands, Lin Yue saw that they were red. Brushing the hair aside, he found it damp.
As expected, he had been crying.
Then Gu Yun let out another soft murmur.
Lin Yue leaned closer to listen. Perhaps he had already grown accustomed to Gu Yun’s slightly strange accent, because this time he understood the word without difficulty.
“Mum…”
Lin Yue repeated the murmur softly, puzzled.
Why that word?
He waited a while longer. Gu Yun said nothing more, yet the tears only flowed harder and harder, spilling down endlessly as though they cost nothing at all.
Lin Yue sighed quietly and used the inner shirt to wipe away his tears.
“Mum…” Gu Yun murmured again. Releasing the money he had been clutching tightly, he grabbed hold of Lin Yue’s hand like a drowning ghost. His reddened, damp nose rubbed lightly against Lin Yue’s fingers. Suddenly, he smiled, and the tears stopped.
Lin Yue’s movements froze.
Slowly lowering his gaze, his expression became unreadable.
PurpleLy (the translator) has something to say:
Hello, lovely readers. Just FYI, the protagonist’s name 顾筠 can be read as both Gu Yun and Gu Jun. I’ve opted for the former as a matter of preference.
