Old Wounds, New Growth - Chapter 7. 2

Translator: Deyonna

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Li Chishu and I made the bed. He stood opposite me, hesitating to speak. "My room…"

"There's only one room. Let's sleep together." I didn't give him a chance to refuse. "What do you want to eat tonight?"

"Um... anything is fine."

"Let's have dumplings then."

He hesitated for a moment. "......Dumplings?"

"Dumplings." I tilted my head towards him. "You don't want to eat them?"

"No," he said anxiously, even waving his hand. "Dumplings… let's eat dumplings."

Li Chishu raised his feet and was about to leave. "I'll go down with you and make it together."

I stopped him. "Don't go. We need to use firewood to cook now. When the time comes, you'll end up with smoke all over your face."

Seeing that he still wanted to argue, I added, "I can do it faster on my own."

Only then did Li Chishu stop. "......Okay."

"You——" I pointed to the desk under the windowsill. "Do you want to study or go out to play?"

Perhaps because it was the first day of the holiday, Li Chishu relaxed a bit and did his homework upstairs for almost an hour. When it got dark, he came down. By then, I had already chopped the meat fillings, lit the stove, added firewood, and was boiling water while making dumplings.

Li Chishu leaned against the small wooden door in the kitchen and poked his head out slowly.

"It will be cooked and ready in a moment." I looked up and glanced at him. "Hungry?"

He shook his head and asked tentatively, "Can I come in and take a look?"

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Come in, ah. I'm not stopping you."

Li Chishu walked quickly to the chopping board and the table full of scrap ingredients from the fillings. His eyes were filled with anticipation that he couldn't hide.

I knew it was because he had never eaten dumplings before.

Maybe he had eaten them before, but it was before he was seven years old, and he couldn't remember.

Throughout his life, Li Chishu had compensated himself with a lot of things in a retaliatory manner. Various types of coffee machines, dozens of expensive pajamas that he hardly ever wore, various carpets, many pairs of headphones, different brands of water bottles, and desk lamps... but there were some things he never touched, such as dumplings and glutinous rice balls.

He once talked to me about this topic while watching a TV show where a family was happily eating dumplings——

"When I was a child, I wanted to eat them, but my grandmother[1] wouldn't let me. One year on New Year's Eve, she came back from the nursing home and said she would make me a meal. I said I wanted to eat dumplings, but she scolded me first and then cried for a long time. She said my mother and father were dead, so what's the point of eating dumplings? Then the next day, she went back. But the next day…"

[1] Maternal grandmother

Li Chishu stopped talking at this point.

The next day was his birthday.

On the first day of the new year, the loneliest person is born on the busiest day.

When I heard it at that time, I comforted him and said I would make dumplings for him the next day, but he refused, saying he really didn't want to eat them.

He was afraid that I would be angry, so he explained with a smile. "It's just flour and meat fillings. You can eat them separately no matter how they are made. But when they are put together to make dumplings, the meaning is different. And I really don't want to eat them. Although my grandmother didn't let me eat them when I was a child, now I really don't want to eat them."

I silently wrapped the dumplings, and when I looked up, I met Li Chishu's eager-to-try eyes.

I asked him, "Do you want to wrap them?"

His eyes lit up, and he nodded. "But I don't know how."

"If you don't know, I'll teach you." I handed him a pair of chopsticks and a few pieces of dough. I showed him the proper technique, "Put some fillings in, not too much, then dip the chopsticks in water…"

By the time the dumplings were cooked, it was already dark outside. We set up a small table under the eaves. There was a yellow light bulb hanging from the ceiling with spider webs on it. Li Chishu and I each had a small stool, and we sat around a plate of dumplings to eat.

The hot steam rose to the top of our heads. I leaned over to Li Chishu's side purposely and asked, "Is it delicious?"

He was too busy eating to speak, holding the bowl with both hands and stuffing his mouth with dumplings, nodding at me with approval.

"Take your time eating. Be careful not to burn yourself," I smiled. "It's just a pity I didn't bring any silver coins."

He mumbled. "Coins?"

"Coins are hidden in the dumplings, and whoever bites into them will have peace and good luck in the coming year."

Suddenly, I remembered the gold pendant hanging from my chest, and I stood up.

"Wait for me for two minutes."

The pendant was bought by my family during my twelfth year, which is considered my birth year in the Chinese zodiac. It was a tiger, but I couldn't remember who gave it to me. Later on, I took it off and gave it to Li Chishu——but now I still have it with me.

I took off the pendant, rubbed and washed it with soap, and ran back to the table. I handed it to Li Chishu's mouth. "Take a bite."

Li Chishu was still chewing on a dumpling. He looked at the pendant and then back at my face. "Hmm?"

"Take a bite," I said.

"Okay."

He finally managed to swallow what was in his mouth, drank a mouthful of water, and opened his mouth slightly. His teeth gently touched the tiger pendant.

I put the pendant down on the table. "Other people bite coins, but you bite gold. Not only next year, but the year after, the year after it, and the year after that, you will have peace and good luck."

He looked down at the gold pendant for a while, smiled, then whispered, "Thank you."

-

Jiang Chi really prepared a place where what should have been broken wasn't broken and what shouldn't have been broken was broken.

For example, taking a shower requires heating up water on the spot.

Luckily, I had already heated up a bucket of water for Li Chishu while we were eating, so when he offered to wash the dishes, I successfully ordered him to take a shower as an excuse to turn him down.

When he came back downstairs with his clean clothes, I had almost finished washing the dishes. As he walked towards the bathroom without looking back, I called him back, "Wait a minute."

Li Chishu obediently stopped in his tracks. "What's wrong?"

I took the clothes from his hand and shook them out. "Shorts?" I asked.

"Yes," he looked at me with a hint of confusion in his eyes. "It's my shorts... is there something wrong?"

Li Chi Shu brought two sets of clean clothes, which I already expected. Almost all his clothes from his student days were inherited from his late father, and he always managed to find a few pieces that didn't fit quite right but were still wearable, no matter the season.

"There are a lot of mosquitoes in the mountains at night. You'll get bitten if you wear shorts." I turned to go upstairs. "Wait for me for a moment."

My two large suitcases were mostly filled with things I had prepared for Li Chishu.

One week before coming here, I had already asked the auntie tailor at home to make two sets of pajamas for Li Chishu. After all, I knew Li Chishu's size better than he did.

As I carried the pajamas downstairs, I took another look at the clothes he had brought. They were very large, much bigger than his actual size, and were the typical army green color found in small county markets. The material was the least breathable polyester and probably cost no more than fifteen or twenty yuan.

I thought of Li Chishu again, who had bought a whole closet of luxury brands but only loved to wear one set of cotton pajamas he had bought when he graduated, and sleep under the quilt.

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October 1st, Sunny

On the first day of the holiday, I submitted my application to the teacher to stay on the campus. There was no one at school, and there was only one dish available at the cafeteria on the first floor.

I made two math papers and an English weekly report.

I won't be able to see Shen Baoshan until seven days later.

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October 1st, Sunny

Today, I accompanied Shen Baoshan to the countryside, which turned out to be his hometown. I thought he had never lived in a place like this before.

Shen Baoshan made dumplings for me, and I ate thirteen of them. It has been many years since I last had dumplings. Following Shen Baoshan seems to bring me good luck, and I'll always be able to eat what I want. He also let me bite his gold pendant, which was a tiger. After I bit it, he said that I would have a safe and lucky four years ahead.

At night, I wore his pajamas to sleep. He said it was his childhood pajamas, and it didn't fit him anymore, so he brought it for me to try. Surprisingly, it fit me perfectly and was very comfortable to wear.

When we were sleeping, the electric fan on the second floor stopped working, and it was very hot. Shen Baoshan searched everywhere and found two plastic fans, but I didn't have the strength to fan for a long time. I fell asleep while feeling hot, and when I woke up, I saw him fanning me to keep me cool. I didn't say anything, hoping he didn't notice, but I was very grateful to him.

This was the first time I spent the night alone with Shen Baoshan, and he’s truly a great person.

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