"Filial piety is relative, kindness to filial piety; if parents are not kind, they have no right to blame their children for lacking filial piety," Chen Huihong said. "Your parents planned to sell you to a human trafficker; isn’t it normal you don’t want to look for them?"
Hui Niang immediately brightened up: "Luckily, the human trafficker found me too ugly back then and didn’t want me, or I wouldn’t have met you, sister."
"Sister, are your parents good to you?"
Chen Huihong was a little confused about how tonight suddenly turned into a heart-to-heart, but she thought seriously and answered, "I don’t remember."
"They were probably okay, over there... they didn’t really care much, nor was there a need to. Just let things take their natural course."
Hui Niang didn’t understand.
Chen Huihong took another bite of the cornbread, frowned, and wanted to look out the window, but the paper-covered window was too blurry to see through.
"Tomorrow is the Little New Year," Chen Huihong looked at Hui Niang, "your coming of age."
"What is ’coming of age’?" Hui Niang asked.
"It’s the 15th birthday. On a girl’s 15th birthday, the elders in the family will use a hairpin to tie up her hair. It seems they also have to entertain guests and change clothes or something. I heard this from a storyteller, so it should be a celebration of the birthday," said Chen Huihong, somewhat uncertain herself.
"How nice," Hui Niang said, full of envy.
Seeing Hui Niang’s expression, Chen Huihong was a bit surprised, "Don’t you have it?"
Hui Niang shook her head, "My sister was sold to a human trafficker before she turned 15. Most girls in our village get married at 13 or 14. I was also supposed to be engaged at 13, but it was already a drought then, and no one had money to marry, so the offered money was too little, not worth as much as selling to a human trafficker."
"My mother was already asking a matchmaker to arrange a marriage for me, but my father wouldn’t allow it, saying it would be better to keep the girl another year so she’d fetch a better price. In the end, I wasn’t sold."
Hui Niang, nibbling on the cornbread, felt somewhat melancholic: "My parents fought several times over this. My father scolded my mother for giving me the wrong name. He only considered ’virtuous’ when naming me, not ’pretty.’ What use is just being virtuous?"
Chen Huihong replied, "Virtuous isn’t very useful."
"Warm and gentle, prudently maintaining one’s person. To use ’virtuous and kind’ alone to describe such beautiful characters is truly a waste."
"But the character ’Hui’ sounds really nice," Hui Niang said. "Many girls in our village envy my name, thinking ’Hui’ sounds much better than Ya, Di, Cao, Hua."
"It does sound nice," Chen Huihong agreed. "If you don’t like ’virtuous and kind,’ but like the sound of ’Hui,’ the character for ’wise’ is nice too."
"Beautiful inside and out, intelligent. You might prefer this ’Hui’ more."
Hui Niang’s eyes lit up, "Sister, you’re so knowledgeable!"
Chen Huihong calmly said, "It’s all from the storytellers. They are the ones with knowledge."
After the brief night chat ended, Hui Niang finished the cornbread, lay down quietly, and went to sleep, while Chen Huihong continued to crack sunflower seeds in the dark.
These days, lamps are expensive; neither candles nor oil lamps are something Hui Niang’s wages can afford. Chen Huihong usually stole sunflower seeds after dining at the restaurant, never candles.
Once night falls, the house is pitch black, so it’s better to go to bed early.
But tonight was destined not to be so peaceful.
Because Hui Niang seemed to have an upset stomach.
After finishing the sunflower seeds, peanuts, and dried fruit, and washing it down with two sips of water, Chen Huihong was just about to get up and lie down in the inner room when Hui Niang struggled to get up and went to the toilet outside, wrapped in her cotton-padded coat.
Less than half an hour later, she went out to the toilet wrapped in her coat again.
She made four or five trips throughout the night before finally settling down, lying in bed without moving.
After Hui Niang returned from her last bathroom trip and lay down, Chen Huihong sat up and asked, "Did you upset your stomach?"
"Seems like it," Hui Niang said weakly, "Probably because the cornbread wasn’t fully steamed."
"It’s because you bought moldy, cheap cornmeal," Chen Huihong corrected. "Do you want me to get a doctor?"
Hui Niang held onto Chen Huihong’s hand, shaking her head, "Too expensive, need to save money for buying meat at the Second Meat Shop for the new year."
"I can sneak some from Taifeng Building," Chen Huihong suggested.
"But I can’t call for him now; the doctor charges extra for nighttime visits. I can go to the pharmacy myself in the morning; the resident doctor there is cheaper," Hui Niang insisted.
Chen Huihong sat silently for a moment, then lay down, "Alright, it’s up to you."
Then Chen Huihong closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Hui Niang also drowsily closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Only Qin Huai remained standing beside the bed, looking somewhat grave as he stared at Hui Niang lying on the bed.
In such darkness, Qin Huai couldn’t see anything, but he could hear Hui Niang’s breathing.
Her breathing was rapid.
Rapid, with a hint of weakness.
Qin Huai took a deep breath, just hoping his experience was wrong.
When Luoluo was Hui Niang’s age, she often didn’t realize she had a fever. She had no reaction with a low fever, and even with a high fever of 38 degrees, she remained energetic, her cheeks flushed until her family noticed and hurriedly took her to the hospital.
Of course, sometimes it manifested very clearly.
Like when there was food poisoning.
Once, Qin Luo had food poisoning from eating at a stall outside, resulting in vomiting, diarrhea, and a fever, and she suddenly wilted.
In modern times, when a child has food poisoning, they can be sent to the hospital, where induced vomiting, IV drips, and some medicine would cure them, but now...
Qin Huai stood silently in the room, waiting for dawn to arrive.
At first light the next day, Chen Huihong awoke.
She got up, found Hui Niang still lying in bed, buried under the covers, and called out to her.
Chen Huihong pulled back the covers and found Hui Niang’s face flushed, unresponsive to any call.