Qu Qing was notorious in Huajia Village for being a prodigal gangster.
Most of the people in Huajia Village are surnamed Hua and Qu Qing’s family is an outsider. It’s said his ancestors were once wealthy, but due to the impact of wars, their fortunes declined. Many years ago, his parents moved here, purchasing five acres of irrigated land, five acres of dry land, and built several well-built houses with blue bricks and tiles. They settled here, living a relatively prosperous life. Unfortunately, not long after, his parents passed away, leaving Qu Qing unsupervised to indulge in extravagance.
First, he was deceived into gambling, losing a substantial amount of land. In the end, even their house was pawned off for gambling money. Now, he is so poor that he has to move to the most dilapidated thatched house at the edge of the village. All he has left is one acre of irrigated land and two acres of dry land. It’s unclear whether he hasn’t sold them yet or if he knows that
holding onto the land is essential for his survival, preventing him from gambling further.
It is said that he often hung out with those hoodlums and thugs, and engaged in plenty of petty theft. Despite having land at home, he was too lazy to cultivate it. Everyone in the village cursed him, especially when they remembered the fields he had squandered. People in the village refused to associate with him, and any girl who encountered him on the road would make sure to avoid him.
These were all things Hua Gou’er had heard from others. In reality, he had only seen Qu Qing from a distance a few times and had never paid much attention to this wastrel. He had never imagined that one day his life would be entangled with this gangster.
That day, after finishing work in the fields, he walked back home with his Mao’er along the field path. When he passed under the shade of a tree, he suddenly heard teasing remarks from behind without warning. At that moment, he didn’t realize the teasing was aimed at him, because not only was he a boy, but he was also ugly. When people saw him, they often avoided looking at him with disgust, and those with malicious intent wouldn’t bother with him at all.
It wasn’t until the person behind him reached out and grabbed his arm that he instinctively turned around. The person behind him took one look at his face and paled in shock, quickly letting go. With a look of disgust and rudeness, he loudly exclaimed, “How come it’s an ugly freak, what bad luck! Get lost, stay away from me!”
‘Gou’er’ knew he was ugly, but he detested it when others pointed it out in front of him, so he cursed back harshly without holding back.
He had a strong-willed personality despite being bullied since childhood. He never learned to yield or tolerate others. If Qu Qing had hit him back then, it wouldn’t have been surprising, but fortunately, his appearance spared him from trouble.
With such a stubborn temperament, ‘Gou’er’ found it hard to get along with others, and neighbors spread rumors that he was a troublemaker because of his ugliness. They threw all sorts of negative words at him, calling him ugly, lazy, bad-tempered, even aggressive. Some people even declared that if someone threatened them, they would never marry him.
In fact, few people knew that he was obedient and diligent at home despite his tough exterior. From childhood to adulthood, he only disobeyed his elders once. Unfortunately, his acne ruined his appearance and temperament meant his prospects for marriage were almost ruined.
In the end, he was never able to get married.
Normal girls from respectable families could marry at sixteen, but Gou’er reached eighteen without any marriage prospects. As time passed, his family’s attitude towards him grew increasingly unpleasant.
All he could do was endure and hope to save enough money to stand on his own someday. Marriage was something he had never dared to expect.
That day was originally an accident, but unexpectedly, when Qu Qing held his hand, some villagers saw it. When they returned, they exaggerated the incident, saying he had been defiled by Qu Qing, describing it in vivid detail, more than he himself knew.
A few days later, his mother heard the rumors. Instead of scolding him, she showed a surprised expression. That evening, she kindly prepared hot water for him to bathe, and for the first time, she used a clean washcloth that had never been touched to wipe Mao’er’s face. Early the next morning, before dawn, she tied a red ribbon in his hair and sent him to Qu Qing’s doorstep. Qu Qing was not at home at that time, so his mother quietly left first because she had work to do at home.
In a poor family where meals were often not enough, and he was just a boy who had lost his reputation, no one came forward with matchmakers. He was practically given away, and whether the other party would accept him was uncertain. Thus, for his family to arrange this
“marriage” was already their greatest effort. He understood all of this, so he harbored no resentment or complaints. If blame were to be placed, it could only be on his unfortunate fate, being born into such poverty and hardship.
He sat nervously on the doorstep of Qu Qing’s house with Mao’er, feeling uneasy, confused, and fearful. It wasn’t until later, as the sun began to rise, that Qu Qing, heavily drunk, appeared. Seeing Hua Gou’er, he was taken aback. After listening to Hua Gou’er stutter out his purpose, Qu Qing cursed him for his “foolish delusions.” Finally, nearly pushing and shoving him, Qu Qing almost resorted to violence to chase him away, even kicking Mao’er harshly a couple of times.
By then, Hua Gou’er had lost all hope. The so-called “husband’s family” rejected him. Feeling helpless, he could only return home with Mao’er. But in fact, he knew his family could no longer tolerate him.
In this vast world with millions of lights, there was no light left for him anymore.
Clinging to the last strand of hope, he caught up with his mother, who hadn’t yet returned home. Seeing her distressed expression, he wondered if his only way out was to take Mao’er and jump off the cliff behind the mountain.
When he was once again brought to Qu Qing’s doorstep by his mother, he tightly held Mao’er’s hand and thought, perhaps jumping off the cliff wasn’t the worst option after all. It would be better than spending the night outside and being eaten alive by wild animals. If he died and got eaten afterwards, at least it wouldn’t hurt.
Qu Qing ignored him and went straight inside. This time, maybe because his mother was there, he wasn’t beaten. This was probably the last bit of dignity he would have before he died.
Just as he mocked the idea of his own death, Qu Qing spoke. It wasn’t a disgusted rant or a kindly telling him to get lost. Instead, he calmly said to him and Mao’er, “Come in.”
It was really just an ordinary tone, like a farmer saying it was going to rain tomorrow. There was no hint of dissatisfaction or resistance to the idea of having two more people in the house in the near future. In this poor place, being able to eat a full meal is considered wealthy. Even his brothers and sisters who grew up did not know what it was like to feel full, and even his mother hated him for taking one more bite of food. Not to mention others, no one will accept strangers to snatch their few rations for no reason.
So Gou’er thought that when Qu Qing said “come in,” it was probably a hallucination. Maybe it was heaven’s way of giving him a fleeting moment of happiness before he died. He kept his head low, afraid to lift it, fearing that if he looked up, he would see disgust in the other person’s eyes, shattering this only semblance of a beautiful illusion.
After Qu Qing closed the door, he would leave with Mao’er.
That’s what he thought.
After Qu Qing finished speaking and saw that both the big and small ones were still standing there motionless, showing no reaction, he thought maybe they hadn’t heard him because he spoke softly. So he raised his voice slightly, feeling somewhat uncomfortable, and said, trying to soften his tone: “You… when you come in later, please remember to close the door.”
Gou’er was a bit confused. He probably only heard Qu Qing tell him to close the door, so he stupidly reached out from outside and closed the gate, inadvertently locking himself out. He didn’t feel any sense of awkwardness.
It wasn’t until Mao’er tugged at his sleeve and pointed inside while shaking its head that he realized, did he just hear Qu Qing telling him to come in?
When Qu Qing saw the gate close, he first paused, then sighed helplessly, covering half of his face with his hand, thinking to himself: ‘Is this person really that stupid?’
He walked over to see what was happening with the two outside, but as he approached the gate, it suddenly banged open from the outside, slamming into Qu Qing. Qu Qing cried out in pain, holding his head as he crouched on the ground, inwardly cursing the toughness of rural life in ancient times in various aspects.
Gou’er suddenly panicked, and Mao’er was so scared that he grabbed his trouser leg tightly and hid behind him, eyes tightly shut and body trembling faintly. As Qu Qing crouched down and glanced at the child’s reaction from the corner of his eye, he found the movements surprisingly skillful and heart-wrenching.
“I’m… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… please… please believe me,” he stammered nervously, looking at Qu Qing with fear and anxiety.
He had finally managed to enter through this gate, only to ruin his chances with his rough shove. Losing hope after gaining it was even more frightening. Thinking of death, his teeth couldn’t stop trembling, unable to articulate a complete sentence. His face turned red with anxiety.
Qu Qing saw that he had only been slightly bumped, but it had frightened the big and small ones so much. He felt a mix of indescribable emotions in his heart.
He endured the pain that hadn’t completely subsided, he stood up, pretending to be calm, and reassured the two, “It’s nothing, nothing at all. It was just a light bump, don’t…” He initially wanted to say ‘don’t be afraid,’ but felt it sounded odd, so he changed his words: “Don’t worry about it, come on in. There’s a lot to do at home today, let’s not delay.”
Gou’er found Qu Qing’s voice incredibly gentle at this moment. In his memory, even when he didn’t have pimples all over his face before, no one had ever spoken to him so kindly, as if… as if treating him as an equal.
Even Xiao Mao’er opened one eye to look at Qu Qing, its small eyes filled with undisguised surprise. When Qu Qing glanced over, he hid fearfully behind Gou’er.
Gou’er quietly lifted his head and noticed Qu Qing was looking at him intently. He immediately blushed and instinctively raised his sleeve to cover his ugly face.
It was as if he suddenly understood something. In the past, when others called him ugly, it merely irritated him. He never bothered to dress up or hide anything when facing others, always holding his head high, letting people look and comment as they pleased. He never thought it was a big deal to be ugly. When others accused him of having no shame, he could laugh and say, ‘I have no shame, so what?’
But today, when facing those earnest and gentle eyes, a sense of shame arose within him. For the first time in his life, he didn’t want this person to see his face.
The first person in the world to treat him with kindness.