Chapter 40: Calculations

  In the late afternoon, the dusk had already darkened a bit.

  Liu Jian drove his newly purchased horse cart back and forth, and when he was almost at the village entrance, the children playing under the locust tree saw a horse cart approaching from afar, and they were all curious.

  Country children, who rarely enter the city on ordinary days, let alone see a horse-drawn carriage. The only car in the village is Liu Lao's ox cart. At this moment, they all rushed up to take a closer look.

  The slightly older children recognized the one driving the car as Liu Jian, the father of Zhi Xiao, and were even more surprised. Originally, they thought the person driving from afar was a stranger, some rich person, who would have thought it was their own village's Liu Jian, the father of that fierce guy living in the mountains.

  Even smaller children knew Liu Jian, they all surrounded the car and took a look, then ran off.

  Some were bold enough to move forward and touch, some even took two steps and jumped onto the carriage, sitting down beside Liu Jian, swinging their legs while looking at their companions below, driving with Liu Jian, overjoyed and carefree, graciously accepting the envious glances from their fellow travelers.

  Liu Jian didn't drive him away, but when he was about to hurry up the mountain, he opened the curtain from behind, took out a few sweet candies from his bag and gave them to him before asking him to get off the car.

  Liu Jian drove his horse-drawn carriage and saw from afar that his daughter was sitting on a stone, while Mu Tian stood at the entrance of the courtyard.

  "Daughter, Dad is back. Look at this car, isn't it great?" Liu Dad called out to his daughter who was playing happily with Xiao Hei. Xiao Hei had its two front paws on the ground and knew how to lift up its two hind legs and drive forward, just like a street performer doing an acrobatic show.

  Mu Tian and Zhi Xiao looked up at the same time, seeing Liu Jian driving a two-wheeled vermilion-lacquered carriage slowly approaching. Zhi Xiao put down the tortured little black dog's hand, patted his hand, and threw it to the ground, where it was still spirited and lively despite being tortured until now. Little Black followed Mu Tian as he rushed forward.

  "Dad, is this the one our family bought?" Zhi Xiao couldn't stop examining it. The outside had a simple wooden frame with iron rims on the wheels and two small windows with silk curtains. Inside was spacious and bright, with a bed that could accommodate multiple people resting at once.

  "Fifteen taels were spent, and tomorrow the village will be in an uproar again." Liu Jian straightened up with a laugh and patted this honest black horse.

  Mù Tiān lay on the couch in the middle of the carriage, looking around at the interior with a pleased expression. After listening to Liu Shū's words, he said: "Uncle, this time we'll really make the villagers jealous, can they compare to the red eyes of the rabbits in our backyard?"

  A brainy guy slapped down, "You naughty boy, you've also learned to be bad." After finishing speaking, he laughed loudly with self-satisfaction.

  Lan Niang and Er Nian heard the commotion outside, dropped their work, wiped their hands on their aprons, and ran out of the house. Indeed, Liu Jian had already driven his carriage into their courtyard.

  "Wow, you've already bought it back!" Lan Niang couldn't believe it, and she went forward to examine it carefully, fondling it lovingly. She even climbed up onto the carriage with Er Nian, leaning against it, looking left and right, feeling around, and asking about the price and whether there was still room for bargaining.

  Liu Jian got down from the carriage under everyone's approving gaze, tied the horse to a tree trunk in the yard, and brought over a calabaza vine to feed it. Mu Tian also carried half a bucket of water and placed it in front of the horse, occasionally stroking its head, which was even taller than his own. The black horse seemed to enjoy being treated this way and didn't show any dislike, lowering its head to nuzzle him gently, with hot air spraying from its mouth onto his face, making him laugh uncontrollably.

  Xiao Hei seems to be a bit jealous, running around Mu Tian Huan in circles, trying to get his attention, but instead gets kicked by the horse and can only retreat under Zhi Xiao's feet, not daring to get close, truly a bully who picks on the weak and fears the strong.

  ……

  That night at Li Dazhuang's home.

  Li Dazhuang just came back from a household in the village after drinking a bit too much.

  He stumbled and staggered, feeling his way to the door of his own home, pushed it open and went in. His wife heard the noise outside and knew her husband was back, so she quickly got down from the kang, put on her clothes, slipped on her shoes, and suppressed the news she had just heard from Er Bao's mother, helping Li Dazhuang into the house.

  After helping him wash up and waiting for him to lie down, his wife could no longer hold back, and pushed Li Dazhuang who was lying beside her and almost asleep.

  "I said I just went to Er Bao's house to borrow eggs, what did you think you heard?"

  Li Dazhuang's mouth was numb and he rubbed it with his hand, then lay down on the kang and asked drowsily: "What?"

  "Liu Jian's family bought a horse carriage today!" his wife shouted in his ear, telling him to wake up.

  "What!" A sudden sit-up, Li Dazhuang woke up more than half of his drunkenness. "I felt that something was wrong with their family, now it's good, even the carriage has been bought. You say this thing is strange or not?"

  He asked his wife, who was sitting beside him with sparkling eyes, and she replied casually:

  "It was just a few years ago when I visited their home and saw that they were struggling to make ends meet. It's only recently that they've become wealthy."

  "Last time I saw that girl, she bought a big bag of snacks from the old lady at the village entrance. That must have cost a lot of money! The old lady was so happy and even invited her to come back often. This old lady is really making a fortune, I think letting her be called 'Xiao's mother' has become a profitable business." Li Da Zhuang said with disdain.

  Li Dazhuang's wife frowned after hearing this, "This buying of snacks is still a small matter, but it's strange to say, according to him, his family caught a few mountain pigs and sold them a few months ago, at most they only made thirty or forty taels of silver.

  Li Dazhuang came over, spitting out a mouthful of wine breath, and also used his elbow to nudge her, asking in a low voice: "Will it be that the two of them, Erni, have money on them, and brought it over?"

  She glared at him sideways, "After the old woman died, I searched every nook and cranny of the house, but all I found was two hundred coins wrapped in three layers of cloth and hidden in a seam. It's not like there was anything else valuable to be found. If her mother really had money, why would she hide it so carefully?" She gave him a cold look.

  Li Dazhuang suddenly realized and laughed: "I said, that day when we drove Mu Tian away, he was shouting that we took his 200 yuan. I didn't pay attention to his nonsense at the time, but it turns out you were the one who took it?"

  "Pshaw, isn't it just two hundred coins? Our family has raised them for so many years and they're only worth this little money?"

  "Alright, let's just hurry up and go. What's the point of being angry? But now that you mention it, Erni and her husband probably really don't have any money left either. They didn't spare any expenses when his mother was ill, and they've been keeping a tight grip on their dowry since the old man passed away."

  Li Dazhuang hugged his wife on the bed and analyzed it.

  "It's not that I'm worried about what might happen, but as people say, a dead camel is bigger than a horse. Who knows if there will be anything left for them?"

  "Will it?" Li Dazhuang raised his head and asked in confusion, looking at the flower stickers on the window frame.

  "I'm just suspicious, otherwise it's not that Erni and the others brought it over, how did they suddenly have money? It's just that I don't understand this point." The old woman furrowed her brow deeply.

  The husband and wife both weighed heavily on their minds for a night, until dawn before slowly falling asleep.