Chapter Sixteen: Cloud Two's Day

  Yun Er was very obedient, the next day after his brother left, he got out of bed. It was really too cold outside, and it was warm in the quilt. There was porridge cooked by his elder brother in the clay pot, with pig liver and some green vegetables added. At this time, when brought over, the temperature was just right.

  He burrowed back into the quilt, only exposing his upper body, and slowly drank the porridge from the clay pot with a large wooden spoon. Cloud Three ran over, whimpering, and Cloud Two scooped out a spoonful for it, pouring it into its food bowl. Seeing Cloud Three start to drink the porridge with eager gulps, he also quickened his own pace, lest Cloud Three finish first and ask him for more. Whenever he saw Cloud Three's pitiful eyes, he couldn't help but dig in again and give it another spoonful.

  Today there is no rain, but the wind has picked up. The cold air is pouring in through the broken window like crazy, and the house quickly became as cold as an ice cellar. It's not that the clouds are lazy and didn't block the window well, but because there is a fire pit at home, he was worried about carbon monoxide poisoning and didn't dare to block it up.

  Yun Er was very small, but his appetite was not small. After eating half a can of porridge, he wanted to pee and got up, shivering with cold, before crawling back into bed. After several attempts, he finally gritted his teeth and stood up, pushed open the back window, and started peeing outside. The wind blew in from the front window and out through the small back window, taking his urine far away.

  After urinating, he was unwilling to get into bed. Yundada said that the quilt must be put away and wrapped in oilcloth, placed in a corner of the wall, and another set of rotten ones taken out and spread at the door. The books at home also had to be memorized and written out in traditional characters.

  Reciting is a small problem, but traditional characters are deadly. Yun Er rarely comes into contact with traditional characters, he didn't deliberately study them like Yun Da did in college, now not only can he write decent calligraphy, but also recite large amounts of ancient texts, especially that "Elegy for the War Dead" poem, Yun Da can recite it fluently and with great passion, phrases like "blood fills the caves of the Great Wall", "the general died in battle, the lieutenant surrendered" sound very rhythmic.

  Yun Da has always been a very knowledgeable person, Yun Er knows that, otherwise the principal wouldn't have given him the most important class in school to be in charge of. Now, Yun Da belongs only to himself, thinking about this, Yun Er's expression is extremely satisfied.

  Last night, Yun Da secretly sewed two silver ingots into the hem of Yun Er's clothes under the light of an oil lamp. He worried that if he wasn't by Yun Er's side, at least she would have some money to survive. How to exchange the silver, Yun Da instructed Yun Er three times.

  Yun Er stroked the two hard bulges on the hem of her clothes, smiling even more happily. She had never experienced such care and love before, but now she had it all. Her clothes were a bit tattered, what did that matter? There were two patches on her butt, so what? Even if her past life was better than her present one, Yun Er would still choose the present without hesitation.

  Yun San's loud barking was met with Yun Er's furrowed brow. Every day at this time, the clan leader's wife and daughter-in-law would bring over a small mouse, and as soon as they arrived, they would light up the fire pit in the house. Sometimes they would even cook congee, without any regard for conserving firewood. Did Yun Da think it was easy to find dry firewood scattered all over the mountain?

  "Oh, the young master is reading a book! At such a young age, he already knows how to read. He will definitely become a scholarly gentleman in the future."

  Yun spent a long time before she could understand the dialect, Cang Er was a very good person, but his wife was extremely annoying, as soon as she entered the door, she started rummaging around everywhere, while rummaging, she said to her mother-in-law: "Yesterday, Gong Gong ate meat at Yun's house, I don't know if there is any left, if there is, cook some for Xiao Shu too, who knows where he got the meat from."

  Yun Er ignored her, and all the money and meat at home were put into a secret compartment by Yun Da, which this woman couldn't find.

  "The old man said he would eat everything after finishing it all, and indeed that's what happened. The elderly also didn't know to leave some for their grandson."

  Not finding any meat, he very skillfully scooped out some rice from the jar and poured it into a clay pot to cook porridge. This lazy woman didn't even know to wash the clay pot.

  As soon as they came, they would drive Yun San out and the three of them would hide under the quilt waiting for porridge. Yun Er opened the door to let in Yun San who was shivering with fear. The woman was about to speak when she saw Yun Er's dark eyes staring at her, an expression that didn't belong on a child of three or four years old. She muttered a few words and then fell silent.

  Yun Er hugged Yun San and leaned against the fire pit to continue reading, holding a charcoal pen to write on a wooden board. When it was full, he wiped it clean with a rag and continued writing. The little mouse watched curiously and also wanted to write, so Yun Er gave him the charcoal pen and continued reading himself.

  Being with them was a kind of torture for Yun Er, especially when she saw the lice crawling around on Xiao Shu's neck, it made her want to vomit. Fortunately, Yun Da had prepared ahead of time and they had two sets of bedding at home, one set that the brothers used and refused to let anyone else touch.

  It's not that he looks down on others, but to avoid getting infected with parasites. At least, that's what Yundajie said. Yun'er has seen Yundajie use boiling water to scald other people's used bowls, chopsticks and basins many times. If there is another set at home, Yun'er thinks Yundajie will definitely throw away the one used by others.

  "You go out to work every day, why should I suffer like this? I can take care of myself" Yun Er had asked Yun Da more than once.

  Every time Yun Da says he's too young, it's easy to get into danger, and this sentence is used to respond to him. He never allows Yun Er to be alone. Yun Er puts down the book in his hand, looks at his chubby little hands and meaty little feet, and sighs like Yun Da. Thinking that he can still put his toes in his mouth now makes him feel sad. This is a sign of being a child. If his body hadn't shrunk, he could have gone out to make money too, and Yun Da wouldn't have had to work so hard.

  At noon, they had a bowl of porridge. There's nothing to say about it. Even if they were drinking rice soup, the rice grains were all in Xiaomou's bowl. Yun'er also thought there was nothing to say. The three of them came home just to have a bowl of thin porridge. In the afternoon, others still had work to do.

  Yun Er had never told Yun Da about this before, and he had never mentioned that every afternoon was spent alone by himself. He thought it was a good thing, if Yun Da knew, she might even hire someone to watch him, which was something she would do.

  Three little mice walked away, and when Yun Er saw that they had gone far, he took a bamboo pole and pushed the quilt out of the door. Then, in a small ceramic pot, he boiled some water. When the water was boiling, he poured it onto the bamboo board where they had sat. Soon, fat lice would crawl out from the cracks. Yun Er endured the discomfort and lay on the bamboo board to scald all the lice to death. If they crawled into his quilt at night, it would be terrible.

  After cleaning up, he washed his hands with the remaining hot water and felt very hungry. The millet porridge he had for lunch was gone after a sip of urine. He opened the secret compartment and found a bamboo basket inside, which contained pork liver cut into small pieces. He took one piece for himself and one for Yún Sān, then picked up the charcoal pen again to continue writing. From time to time, he looked out at the mountain path, hoping to see Yún Dà's figure.