Chapter 5 Fives

Fives ask a sheep herder for news He said that he heard that she was transporting sheep dung Nuogai Nur is a deep and secluded small lake. Since the steep wall on the side of Baiyinwula Mountain plunges into the lake obliquely, when viewed from the south, this small lake looks like a mountain lake formed by melting snow, unlike the common ones on the Xilin Gol grassland. That kind of depression is very different from the shallow lakes formed by springs.Because of the depth, the lake water is not cloudy.In the early morning, before the livestock come to drink water, it shines calmly and bluely in the valley, probably for this rare water source. Many units of Baiyin Ula Commune have been moved here: milk powder factory , a leather workshop, a food company’s purchase station, and a primary school. When I drove my horse and approached here, I even had a strange feeling that I had left the pastoral area.There are even pecking hens and ducks.Would Somia live in such a place?

I found the small mud hut of the wagon driver Dawacang. This is a low earth nest-style adobe house with only three walls built along the lakeshore.Beside the wooden door was a charred clay stove, and beside it stood a carriage with two shafts turned up high.The cart was fully loaded with goods, and the yokes and harnesses were scattered all over the place.Colorful clothes were drying on a line, and I found a cheap stuffed animal buried in the dust. I hesitated and didn't get off the horse for a long time.Somia is inside this earthen house, should I knock on the door or call out?Oh, the so-called reunion of life is about to appear in front of my eyes... My heart jumped.On the surface of the lake not far away, the gray water swayed evenly, making people feel the difficult time like a carving.

I gritted my teeth, tied Ganga Hara to the crossbar of the carriage, and then stepped on the sheep bones and cow dung in front of the door and walked towards the door.I stooped to pick up a small gingham dress that had been trampled in the dirt, and pushed open the door. In the room, a large kang fills the field of vision.Half of the parquet on the edge of the pit is missing, revealing the smooth ground grass mud.Among the fur quilts, cloaks, goat skins, Mongolian-style robes, and Chinese-style padded jackets on the kang, I counted three sleeping children.They were huddled together in a mess, kicking the clothes and quilts with their dirty bare feet-no adults.There is also a small door on the west wall. I pushed open the small door and saw a black yurt wooden lattice skylight covered with cobwebs and dust.Next to it are folded Hana walls, Oni sticks, and a small purple-red wooden door.My eyes are moist: this is our home, this is the home where we three, no, and the black pony once lived together...

I stared at the dismantled yurt.Yes, Somia is really here.She really married this place as far away as our Borregon Bend.She had hidden the past like this rug, and in the dirty mud house facing the lake outside, she was facing the heavy life that everyone was living. "Hey! Who are you looking for?" A woman's crisp voice sounded in the back of my head.I shuddered with fright. I turn around.A woman in a Western-style blouse with short, ear-length hair was looking at me softly—not her.I took a deep breath and replied in Chinese: "I'm looking for Suomia... oh, it's Dawacang's...wife, she is my sister, and I come from the Bolegan Grassland."

"Ah, Comrade Baiyin Baolige!" She exclaimed in surprise, "I know you! Didn't you go to college?" "Well, yes. College—graduated," I said, feeling uneasy.She knows me?How much do you know me? "Which school did you go to? Inner University? Teachers College? What major? Alas, Sister Somia can't tell!" She asked enthusiastically. "College of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry," I replied, "you are..." She smiled and adjusted her glasses: "Ha, my surname is Lin, and I am a school teacher here. A graduate from Inner Mongolia Teachers College——it's really rare. It's the first time I meet a college student here, and it's my little one. Qige's relative!"

"Qiqige?" I hurriedly asked. "Why, did you forget? Sister Somiya's eldest daughter! She is already in the second grade! She has always been my student!" Of course I won't forget. .I'll never forget all that, and that damned whore.Oh, when I was saying goodbye to the ravine where my grandma was buried in the sky, I didn't think of meeting that yellow-haired Sheila.Our account has not been settled...Qiqige, Qiqige, I silently read this name.Unfortunate child, poor little flower, you don't really have that dirty yellow hair, do you?Girls should be purer than boys, just as Somia is purer than me.I sincerely hope that this child will learn well and love her mother.Because she was born in Somia's womb after all.Whether I want to or not, at this moment I can no longer deny her existence...

"Ms. Lin, is Qiqige... obedient? I think, um, she must be very tall?" "You are very tall? Haha! Where...it seems that you don't know anything after you go to college!" the female teacher yelled, and suddenly remembered something, "Hey, look, I'm here to help! Please! Sister Mia is not coming back today, she wants me to help carry water!" She quickly picked up the metal bucket, tilted her head and looked at me and asked, "What about you, should you sit here and wait, or help me carry a bucket?" I picked up a pair of iron buckets.Under her leadership, I walked towards the lakeside. The vast sky and the lake surface in the twilight merged into one, which made me feel cold.I waited for her to continue because it was all stories I didn't know.But Mr. Lin didn't notice my emotions, and chatted happily for a long time before returning to the original topic:

"Guess how old Qiqige was when he was born? Haha—you can't guess! A spoon! Really, I didn't come here until the child was three years old. If I don't really know me now At the age of a student, I would never believe that she was three years old at that time... My God, she was younger than other people's six-month-old babies! Hey, do you believe it, Comrade Baiyin Baolige?" "No." I vaguely agreed. "Sister Somia told me that the child was less than a foot long when it was born! A little foot is no bigger than your thumb! The head is--oh! She's as small as a kitten!" The young female teacher was excited, she raised her eyebrows, waved her hands vigorously, and spoke in a hurry.I was carrying two metal buckets, being careful not to let them shake.Listen nervously.

"It's too small! It may be less than a month... You people in the Bergen Prairie ran to see what was new. The men compared her feet with their thumbs, and the children compared her head with their fists. She is surprisingly small. A piece of marmot skin can be wrapped, and people say, no way, just throw it away, such a child can’t be fed. I heard that there are some people who say bad things, saying that the one born by Suomia is not a human, but a monster! But, simply Sister Miji’s grandma——hey. Comrade Baiyinbao League, you will never forget your grandma too, right? Haha!” she asked me jokingly.

"Well, no." I muttered, feeling very uncomfortable. "... your old grandmother sat on the threshold and said to the shepherds: 'Shut up! Stupid thing! This is a life! A life! I have lived for more than seventy years, and I have never thrown a living life into the weeds Whether it's cattle, sheep, cats or dogs... Throw away the dead ones. Thanks to your words! The live lambs I feed with my own milk can be tied in a row today! The foals I feed have become The famous horse...Ganga Hala, haven't you blind people seen Ganga? Throw it to the cow, and the cow will lick her too. Go away! Go away! Don't touch my little baby with your dirty hands and don't come here for a few years! Wait until I grow her into a human being and become a flower Flowers, let you see them again!'”

Teacher Lin said excitedly, his face flushed with excitement.By this time we had come to the lake.She knelt down, touched the lake water with her hands, and suddenly opened her eyes to me: "Ah, your grandma is so nice. Do you know? Ever since I heard the story, whenever I was with Xiao Qiqige and gave her a lecture, I always felt that I missed the opportunity to see it in person. Meet this old man, this great woman!" ...I can't hear anything anymore.Although this enthusiastic Han girl is still talking about her infinite admiration for my grandma.The lake was quiet and dark in the twilight, and the west-slanting sun sprinkled some dazzling, powdery spots on the dark water.I dipped the iron bucket into the water, and the ripples made the floating waves sparkle endlessly.I looked at the lake and felt that the gleaming silver light was shaking, revealing grandma's fluttering silver hair.I brought out the full bucket, and the silver hair turned into grandma's dim and scorching eyes.I closed my eyes.I really want to send this student-like female teacher away immediately, and then jump into the lake, into the slightly trembling, flickering calls of my grandma, and fill my heart with pain and unspeakable grievances. Both her love and remorse were buried in her kind and warm silver hair and cloudy and distant eyes. I didn't ask Mr. Lin to help, and walked to the small mud hut with two buckets of water.The female teacher followed me silently, as if recalling the feeling of the story just now, maybe it was my silence that puzzled her.I'm sorry to say. "Ms. Lin, tell me something more. You know, I've been away for too long, and I don't know anything..." "Just talk... Huh, you, it's shameless, you don't know how good sister Suomiya is. Alas, I always feel that even if I spend my whole life on this barren grass, doing nothing, but I know you She can also be said to have gained a bit... You know? I can't get rid of this kind of illusion: I always feel that Sister Somia is a woman who just gave birth. I always feel that she always hugs her for so many years. Walking slowly on this road with a crying baby. It’s just this kind of hallucination. Later, one day she came to me and said, “Ms. Lin, accept my Qiqige as a student!” I was very strange , I asked her: "Sister, can your Qiqige go to school? She is only three years old at most!" She was anxious, and said: "Where! My daughter is already seven years old! Please, accept her!" I can carry water, make tea, and cook for you every day! I can milk the cows for you, and I can go to the grass to pick up cow dung for you to burn!' Well, she burst into tears as she spoke, and then she wailed. Crying, wow, tearing my clothes. Ah, that's so miserable...Why is she so sad? I think it must be because she has had a hard time raising the child...". The female teacher lowered her head, wiped the corners of her eyes, and continued: "At that time, I held Qiqige in my arms—oh, how could this look like a school-age child? He was thin and short, and he looked like he had just learned to walk. But sister Suomia cried so hard that she wore A piece of blue cloth robe was wet. Her hair was disheveled, and her face was full of tears and snot. I—oh, I also cried with her. Arranged in the seat in front of my lecture. I thought, this way the child is very close to me, and I can find everything about her at any time. I dare not be careless—you know, Sister Somiya often hides outside the classroom window and listens, sometimes At that time, it was raining outside, and she was just drenched like that, standing blankly outside the window..." Until we returned to the door of the blackened little mud hut, the female teacher was still talking non-stop.At this time, it is no longer I who want to listen, but she who wants to speak.I think she must have been too deeply infected to confide in others like this.Of course, I can see that she is a straight talker, such a person likes to express her heart in a strong way.And not like me, who just silently swallowed everything.From the way she glanced at me, she seemed to doubt whether I could understand her sister Somiya.Perhaps she was right to be skeptical.Because I really felt that the woman she described was not acting like my Somia.I can't imagine all that.I don't have the hallucinations of hers either.There is only a girl with charming cheeks in my mind, she is gazing emotionally at a group of happy and intoxicating red clouds... Somia, how can you be like what she said?What a gentle, innocent little girl you are. Pushing open the door, I saw a little girl busy. "Qiqige!" Teacher Lin shouted happily. "Qiqige, call Uncle quickly! This is Uncle Baiyinbao Lige. Do you know that he is your mother's elder brother!" The little girl stopped what she was doing, turned around, and stared at me intently. It looked like the girl was only six or seven years old.She was wearing a patched Han girl's boutonniere blouse, blue trousers, and a pair of yellow sneakers that were obviously not the right size and style for her bare feet.I found that the messy house had been cleaned up by her.Layers of quilts and robes were stacked on the inside of the kang.The ground was swept, and the dry sheep dung was roaring in the stove connected to the adobe kang.On the kang, three children, all shaved into pot heads, are surrounding a chopping board, eager to reach the dough on the chopping board with their little black hands. The little girl cautiously and slowly rubbed the crumbs on her hands, and looked at me sadly.This look is mixed with surprise, estrangement and thought.I haven't been able to tell whether it's friendly or jealous.I was a little at a loss, and after a while, I murmured: "Qiqige, hello. I am..." The little girl's lips moved slightly—— "Bappa," she whispered. A sour taste rushed to my throat and nose. "Bappa, I saw the black horse tied at the door." The little girl said timidly, "Mom said before that my Bappa would come to see us on a black horse."