Chapter 18: Where’s My Husband?

    Once bitten, twice shy. After disposing of the body and returning home, the three of them were cold and tired. They fell onto the warm kang and slept until dawn.

    Zhou shi used the charcoal in the room to warm some water in an earthenware basin. After washing up, she went to the kitchen to make breakfast for the family.

    This time, she didn’t make foxtail grass seed porridge. The heavy snow outside stopped just before dawn, lasting for two days, making it even colder. They needed to eat something warm.

    She cut a piece of unrendered wild boar meat, which was kept for stir-frying, washed the taro and dog milkweed, added some mushrooms, and stewed a pot of hot meat and vegetable soup.

    When everyone woke up and looked outside, they shivered from the cold. After eating a bowl of hot meat and vegetable soup and lying on the kang, Jiu’er happily rolled around on the warm kang. This was the right way to enjoy winter.

    However, this comfortable life was about to end. With the war over, all refugees were ordered by the court to return to their hometowns.

    They needed to make money! During the war, they could grab food, but in peacetime, food had to be bought with money.

    In short, she had to take her family away from this awful place and never live with her uncle, who kept licking his lips and wanting to eat his nephews and nieces.

    Zhou shi was mending the soles of shoes with coarse rope she had twisted during her spare time when a commotion suddenly came from outside the door. “What did you do to my husband? Open the door!”

    The mother and daughter exchanged glances. Someone was here looking for their husband.

    Zhou shi went to the door. “What are you yelling about? We gave you food last night, and you’re making trouble early in the morning. Do you have no conscience?”

    When the woman holding the baby heard this, she was furious. “Was that food? That’s food for animals! My husband was starving last night, so he came to ask you for some food, but he hasn’t returned all night. Do you dare say you don’t know where he is?”

    Hearing that the food she had painfully saved was considered animal feed, Zhou shi, who had been a little guilty, was also angry. “Since you think it’s animal feed, return it. And your unscrupulous husband, I haven’t seen him. Stop acting like a mad dog and biting people.”

    “Open the door. I’ll look myself. My husband came to your house last night. You must have hidden him. What kind of love potion did you give him? He left his baby, who’s not even a year old, and went to enjoy himself alone?”

    The woman acted like she was crazy, beating the door while shouting, frightening the baby in her arms, who started crying loudly.

    Zhou shi was about to say something when Xie Jiu’er spoke first. “Are you crazy? Your husband doesn’t want you anymore, so why are you making a scene at someone else’s house? Why should we let you search?”

    After hearing Xie Jiu’er’s words, the woman turned to the people outside and shouted, “Even if he’s bad, we’re from the same village. He went out last night and hasn’t returned. I suspect you killed my husband. Come and search the house!”

    A group of people standing not far from the door were preparing to continue their journey; they didn’t want to deal with this crazy woman. No one cared whether the man had run away or died outside.

    Unexpectedly, seeing their reaction, the woman became ruthless and put on a sinister expression. “Don’t forget, everyone shared in eating Sanwa. Today, if you don’t help me find my husband, I’ll spread the word about you all eating Sanwa. Let’s see if the young men in Kushu Village can still find wives and the girls can still get married!”

    Everyone looked at each other, and finally, the old man spoke up. “Daqiang’s wife, don’t twist the facts. Sanwa hadn’t died yet when Daqiang dragged him to cook him.  Nowadays, many people have eaten human flesh, but we didn’t kill anyone. Except for Sanwa’s mother, who didn’t eat him? Sanwa’s younger brother even ate a few bites. But it was you and your husband who killed her. What does it have to do with us?”

    After the old man’s words, everyone came to their senses and echoed, “That’s right! They killed him. What does it have to do with us?”

    The old man waved his hand. “Let’s go. Daqiang and his wife have always been cruel and unreasonable.  Keeping such people in the village will ruin Kushu Village’s reputation. We won’t wait for her. Let’s hurry on our way. We’ll get home before dark.”

    Then, everyone left, leaving only the woman with the baby squatting at Jiu’er’s door, laughing wildly. “So it has nothing to do with you. The fire was started by Lao Wu’s family, the big pot was from the village head’s house, the water in the pot was brought by his sixth uncle and his son. You made all the preparations and waited for Daqiang to put the person in the pot.  Now, after eating the meat, you’re back home, and you suddenly remember that Sanwa wasn’t dead when he was put in the pot.  It’s all our fault?”

    Xie Jiu’er’s family inside were sweating profusely. Human nature couldn’t stand the test. The whole village fled together, helping each other, but in the end, they ended up eating each other.

    “You thought you could abandon me and I would die outside? I’m going to live, and I’ll let everyone know the dirty secrets of Kushu Village. Open the door, give me back my husband. Did you eat him too? I don’t believe he would leave Xiaobao.”

    In the end, the woman’s fierce tone became tearful, and she collapsed on the ground.

    Whether it was the red-eyed man or Daqiang last night, these people wanted to kill them and seize their food.

    Xie Jiu’er felt no guilt towards such people.  She was calm and collected.  The woman outside wasn’t a good person either, but her child was still young.

    Xie Jiu’er could kill those who wanted to kill her, but she couldn’t hurt a nagging woman because she didn’t threaten her life.

    Finally, Xie Jiu’er gave the woman the foxtail grass seeds she had rejected.  “We really haven’t seen your husband. This is our food. If you don’t want your child to die with you, take the food and leave!”

    The woman took the foxtail grass seeds, saw that the mother and daughter were blocking the door, and Xiao Jinyu was standing in the courtyard. Knowing she couldn’t get in, she left with the food.

    Xie Jiu’er watched her stagger away, carrying her child, and finally disappear on the mountain road before closing the door again.

    The snow was heavy and gradually melted after two days. Xie Jiu’er, along with Zhou shi and Wuyang, tirelessly carried wood down from the mountain. She needed to make charcoal, a lot of charcoal, to exchange for things when someone from the county came.

    After a hundred years of war, besides food and necessities, only real gold and silver were accepted; there was no unified currency.

    Besides charcoal, there were mushrooms. Xie Jiu’er had precipitated a lot of taro starch using crushed taro. She coated the mushrooms with taro starch and deep-fried them into golden-brown and crispy snacks.  They were filling and could be stored for a long time.

    These could be exchanged for things. Looking at their tattered clothes, Xie Jiu’er thought that she had to exchange some cloth first and buy some decent clothes.