Fu Yunzhu froze. It took her a long moment to react and in that instant, certain special memories of him were stirred awake in her mind.
In her memories, the thirty-two-year-old him had the same tall stature, broad and upright shoulders, a solid chest, and the unique presence of a mature man.
But the not-yet-twenty-year-old him now had tight, smooth muscle lines, like a freshly forged blade every inch brimming with vigorous youthful vitality.
She could feel the rhythm of his heartbeat beneath his chest, fast and powerful, carrying the heat unique to youth. It was as if flames burned beneath his skin, and even his breathing was filled with fresh, energetic vigor.
She hurriedly climbed down from him. She had thought he would shove her away fiercely, but instead he merely turned his face aside and threatened, “Fu Yunzhu, have you lost your nerve? If you don’t get down now, I’ll throw you off.”
Gu Yu felt like he was going crazy. Clearly, everything this woman did was exactly the same as before so why did it give him the illusion of being embraced by his wife?
“There won’t be a next time,” Fu Yunzhu said, retreating a few steps. When she looked up, she saw that his ears and neck had turned red.
Fu Yunzhu was a bit speechless. She knew his temperament all too well who would have thought he’d pretend to be so pure and bashful now? She herself wasn’t even blushing.
He Yanyan quickly stepped in to smooth things over. “Hurry up and drag the wild boar down the mountain. Our handcart is still waiting down there.”
He Yong took sixty yuan out of his pocket and handed it to Fu Yunzhu.
They laid out the wooden planks, had Gu Yu help lift the wild boar onto them, tied it up with rope, and planned to pull it straight down the slope.
After they’d walked a few steps, they noticed Fu Yunzhu hadn’t followed. He Yanyan turned back. “What’s wrong, Yunzhu? You’re not coming back with me?”
Fu Yunzhu smiled. “No, I’ll stay a bit longer. You go ahead I’ll be right there. Otherwise, if my family sees me, they’ll get suspicious.”
“Then be careful. Don’t stay too long,” He Yanyan reminded her.
“Mm.” Fu Yunzhu smiled and waved at her.
After the three left, Fu Yunzhu returned to the cave and counted the money again: two hundred yuan retrieved from the Fu family, twenty yuan withdrawn from the post office, plus today’s money from selling the wild boar, minus what she’d spent the last two trips to the county on food and supplies she had a total of two hundred seventy yuan left.
After deducting travel expenses, it should be enough to live in Kyoto for a while. She just didn’t know how much rent cost there now the book never mentioned it.
After finishing the calculations, she looked down at her clothes and shoes and sighed. Patch-covered coarse cloth pants, so short they barely reached her ankles; in the height of summer she was still wearing cloth shoes with holes in them; and the floral shirt on top who knew which year Fu Yufen had discarded it.
She probably wouldn’t dress like this in Kyoto, but when she thought about the cost of new clothes, she decided to endure it.
She packed the sixty yuan away again, judged that the timing was about right, picked up her things, and prepared to head down the mountain.
After entering the village, even though she avoided crowds, she still ran into two villagers. Seeing that she was carrying things but not heading toward the Gu household, one of them laughed and asked, “Taking things to Gu Yu again?”
The village chief’s house and the Gu house were in the same direction. Fu Yunzhu smiled and nodded. “Mm.”
Another villager kindly reminded her, “Your dad’s been working at the Gu house all day today dirty and smelly. Why do you think that is?”
Fu Yunzhu just smiled and didn’t answer.
“I noticed he didn’t look too good. I’d advise you not to go right now,” one of the women surnamed Wang added kindly when Fu Yunzhu still didn’t reply.
Fu Yunzhu was just worrying about finding an excuse. She immediately smiled and said, “Thank you, Auntie Wang. Then I’ll go sit at the village chief’s place first and go later after he leaves.”
After saying that, she headed straight for the back door of the village chief’s house.
When she arrived, the village chief and his son were sitting in the main hall, as if they were specifically waiting for her.
“Village chief, I have something I’d like to ask you. Could we talk privately?” Fu Yunzhu said sincerely.
“Yunzhu, I’m not an outsider. Just tell my dad directly,” Huang Hui said, his eyes fixed on the black bag Fu Yunzhu was carrying.
Fu Yunzhu hesitated for a moment. Seeing that the village chief didn’t intend to ask Huang Hui to leave, she spoke directly. “Village chief, I’d like you to help me issue a long-distance travel certificate.”
As she spoke, she took the items out of the bag and placed them on the table.
If the village chief didn’t agree readily, she’d have to think of another way perhaps have Fu Weidong come forward instead.
Huang Hui’s eyes lit up at the sight of the cigarettes and liquor. He laughed. “This isn’t anything difficult why be so polite?”
The village chief didn’t say much else, only asked, “Where are you going?”
“To Kyoto. When I went to collect the child support the other day, I couldn’t get it, so I called my mom. She said she was ill and wanted me to go see her, so my dad asked me to come to you to write a certificate.”
The village chief was a bit surprised. “Your dad agreed to let you go to Kyoto to find your mom?”
Fu Yunzhu explained helplessly, “He doesn’t want to, but my mom is sick like this. If I don’t go take care of her and she can’t work or earn money anymore, who will send me the child support? My family still relies on that money every month to support my sister’s schooling and the household.”
Knowing the Fu family’s situation, the village chief glanced at the items on the table. He thought that if the Fu family hadn’t agreed, where would she have gotten the money to buy these things? In the end, he sighed. “Yunzhu, this whole family depends on that child support of yours to support Yufen. If you’d just think things through…”
“Dad, what are you saying? When Yufen makes it, would she forget about Yunzhu?” Huang Hui immediately interrupted.
Fu Yunzhu understood what the old village chief meant he pitied the original owner of this body and was telling her not to keep making wedding clothes for others, to leave and never come back.
She also understood Huang Hui. He liked Fu Yufen but felt he wasn’t worthy, so he admired her secretly.
But she couldn’t go along with the old village chief’s meaning. Otherwise, Huang Hui would definitely pass it on to the Fu family. So she said, “Brother Huang is right. I’m counting on my sister to make something of herself so I can enjoy a better life with her in the future.”
Even if Huang Hui really passed this on to the Fu family, she could still round out the lie. With her limited power, until the very last day she left, she absolutely couldn’t tear things apart openly.
The village chief shook his head, then finally took out pen and paper and wrote her the certificate.
Fu Yunzhu took the certificate, put it away, thanked the village chief again, and left.
When she got home, she was already starving.
But the family had long finished eating. Hearing movement, He Cuihua hurried out of her room and immediately asked when she saw Fu Yunzhu, “Did you get the money today?”
Fu Yunzhu didn’t answer directly. “My mom is sick, so the money will be sent a bit late.”
He Cuihua took this to mean she’d already gotten it and didn’t say anything more. After all, with her nerve, she wouldn’t dare joke about something like this.
Just as Fu Yunzhu was about to go to the kitchen to find something to eat, Fu Weidong came back, reeking to high heaven.