They didn’t light up a lamp either and went to bed in the dark.
Qin Mian felt the both old and stiff worn out quilt on his body while he was in a relaxed mood——he would soon be separated and live apart from this family. Compared with the separation and living apart, the other grievances were nothing at all.
“By the way, where shall we live after dividing up family property to live apart?” Qin Mian asked in a low voice as he suddenly thought of the most important thing.
In the dark, Lei Tie paused. “There’s only enough money in hand to build a thatched cottage.”
Qin Mian smiled nonchalantly, “As long as we can move out of here, we can even live in a cave.” As long as he left this place, he could make money.Lei Tie hadn’t spoken for a long time, he didn’t know if the man was asleep.
Qin Mian couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned for nearly an hour before he sat up.
“Where to?”
Lie Tie’s voice suddenly sounded.
Qin Mian was taken aback. Fortunately, he didn’t take the food out of the space. He touched his stomach and sighed, “Hungry.” Right when he was still growing up, how could he be full with only a chicken drumstick and an egg? Even the rest of the meal was locked in the cupboard by Du Shi, who was the only one with the key.
There was a rustling sound at the side, which followed up by Lei Tie getting up. A large amount of moonlight came in from the outside. It turned out that Lei Tie had opened the door silently.
“Go.” Lei Tie said softly.“Where to?” Qin Mian wondered. He got out of bed and put on his straw sandals.
Lei Tie opened the gate of the courtyard. After Qin Mian went out, he closed the gate lightly.
The moonlight shone on the ground was as calm as water. In late September, it was rather cold at night, but it didn’t make people feel cold. The evening wind blew on their faces, felt very nice.
Lei Tie held Qin Mian’s wrist tightly. Qin Mian couldn’t break free after struggling for a while and without any option he could only follow after the man. There were potholes in the ground. If one was not careful, one would step into the pothole. It’s better for Lei Tie to hold onto him.
Going along the road, Qin Mian was becoming more confused. If they went further, they would be out of the village. At the grain-sunning ground, Lei Tie stopped in front of a crenel as tall as a person, reached for the crenel on the top and fished out three eggs.
Qin Mian looked at him in surprise. He didn’t expect someone like Lie Tie would steal someone’s eggs.
Lei Tie seemed to have seen through what he thought, “Pheasant’s.”
Once Qin Mian thought about it, it seemed to be true. How could a domestic chicken come here to lay eggs?
“Wait.” Lei Tie stuffed the three eggs into his hand.
Qin Mian watched his back go away gradually until he could not see it anymore. A perfect silence prevailed and there was no one but the shadow of the crenel under the moonlight. The wind behind him was cool which gave him gooseflesh that he rubbed his arms. He was moved by Lei Tie’s action but at the same time he felt sympathy for him being born in such family. Du Shi’s act of locking the cupboard was not only to prevent him, but also to prevent Zhao and Qian from stealing food. It went without saying that they were a family, but to have reached this extent, how could one not think it was ridiculous and sad?
Before long, Lei Tie came back with a small bundle of firewood and in his right hand were two corn cobs that came from nowhere. He used flint to light a fire and put the eggs in the fire. He also used two thin bamboo sticks to pierce through the corn cobs and roasted them on the fire.
Under the flickering fire, the man’s face was gentler than that during the day. Even if he sat with bent back, it was still so upright that he would appear very steady and reliable.
The tongue of flame licked the corn cobs and after a moment Lei Tie would turn the bamboo sticks in his hand. Qin Mian beat out a yawn, laid his head on his knees and as soon as he caught the smell of corn, he straightened up. When Lei Tie handed over the two corns, he took only one.
“You have one, too.” He took a bite of the corn; it was soft and fragrant that smile emerged from within his eyes. He looked up and smiled at Lei Tie as he said, “It’s fragrant. You’ve good roasting skill. It’s not burnt at all.” Lei Tie didn’t come back to eat at noon when he was hunting, so he needed to deal with food by himself. This skill was probably honed due to that.
Lei Tie didn’t speak and there was still no expression on his face, but the cold lines on his face obviously softened a little. He picked up a stick and turned over the eggs in the fire.
Even later when Qin Mian and Lei Tie had been together for many years, Qin Mian would still felt full of warmth whenever he recalled this scene in the evening.
“When are you going to talk about the separation? I’m not urging you, but ask to understand thoroughly. I have things in mind.”
Lei Tie didn’t eat the corn. “Fifth brother will be home tomorrow evening and following that is off day. Will talk about it at that time.”
Qin Mian nodded. He already knew that Lei Tie was a man of his own mind and must have a good idea of how to divide up family property to live apart. He didn’t need to say more. Besides, he always felt that he was an outsider, so it was hard to interfere.
Lei Tie took out the eggs and put them on the windward side to let the wind cool them.
Qin Mian chewed on the corn cob and touched the egg, but it’s not hot. He took it and peeled it. After he ate all three eggs, he became full.
Lei Tie only ate the corn in his hand.
The corn cores were thrown far away into the knee high rice field.
“There will be traces here.” Qin Mian pointed to the burning fire.
Lei Tie said: “It’s not the time to use the grain-sunning ground.” This meant that the traces wouldn’t be found these days. In fact, it’s nothing even if it’s discovered. At most, it would cause some speculation. In serious cases, some people would be gossiping.
“Then, let’s go.” In order to express his gratitude to Lei Tie, Qin Mian stooped to hold the extra firewood.
Lei Tie quickly beat him to it and picked up the firewood before he signaled him to follow.
When passing by the firewood at home, he put the firewood on the firewood pile. Then, they went back to the thatched cottage.
There was no sound in the yard. Their departure did not alarm anyone.
With his stomach satisfied, Qin Mian’s sleepiness also came. He laid in bed and soon fell asleep. In the middle of the night, he felt vaguely cold and unconsciously leaned on the heat source nearby and fell into sound sleep.
