Mute Words

If I were frivolous, there would be no serious people left in the world.

I turned around and was about to argue with Mo Chuan when I suddenly heard a sad sobbing sound outside the door. In a moment, a dark-skinned old woman was weakly supported by a young man and woman as they entered the hall.

Mo Chuan immediately stood up and walked around the low table to greet them.

“Pin Jia! Pin Jia!” The old woman, whose feet had been unsteady, saw that Machuan had found strength out of nowhere and broke free from the support on either side. Trembling, she threw herself at his hem and knelt before him.

The old woman had a heavy accent and kept saying that she was dying. Before she died, she wanted Shanjun to help her find her daughter, who had left home.

“Speak slowly,” Machuan said, supporting her arm and pulling her steadily up from the ground. He was gentle, a complete change from earlier.

I looked at her for a while, unable to say anything, then went outside, untied Erqian’s leash and walked the dog.

When Guo Shu returned, everyone was together again. At the dinner table, she, who was from the north, volunteered to celebrate with some wine. Yan Chuwen wasn’t much of a drinker, and he didn’t want to at first, but he couldn’t resist her, so he finally went to the cupboard and got a jar of locally produced sorghum wine.

“Just a little, okay? This wine has a strong kick, don’t drink too much.”

Yan Chuwen specifically reminded him before drinking, but no one at the table listened to him, and in the end they finished the entire jar of wine.

Guo Shu drank half a catty of wine, I drank four taels, Yan Chuwen drank one tael, and when we finally collapsed, half a tael spilled on the table.

The wine was good and quite strong. After taking Yan Chuwen back to his room, I felt the effect of the wine and my whole body became hot.

Back in my room, I lit a cigarette and stood by the window to sober up while I smoked.

It was so quiet that even the sound of my breathing seemed superfluous. I was used to the hustle and bustle of the city, so I was a little unaccustomed to such a quiet night.

The back window of my room faced north and was unobstructed, so I could see the temple in the distance.

In the moonlight, the golden roof no longer shone, the white walls had faded, and all I could see with the naked eye was a vague outline in the distance.

Frivolous.

In the first two years of university I was indeed a bit frivolous… I changed partners quite often. The first lasted three months, the second two months, and the third the longest, almost half a year. But was it really so bad to change partners three times in two years? The one that lasted half a year was even an online relationship!

And from the third year on, I concentrated on my studies and haven’t accepted confessions from anyone since. If I were frivolous, I could have changed partners every week, not just every year.

“Flirtatious my ass,” I cursed through clenched teeth.

When he returned to Cenglu seven years ago, it was the summer between his junior and senior years. I thought he would at least finish college, but he just left. We never saw each other again after he left. How did he know that I was reckless?

No, I can’t sleep tonight until I get some answers.

I’m not a patient person, and the alcohol has only fueled that part of my emotions. I want to do whatever it is I’m thinking about, and I can’t wait another moment.

I stub out my cigarette on the windowsill, grab my jacket and head downstairs. As I pass Erqian’s kennel, he looks up at me curiously. I put on my down jacket and give him a “shh” with my index finger in front of my lips. I don’t know if he understands, but he lies down again.

It’s quiet and cold at night in Pengge. The little warmth from the wine I drank dissipates in the cold night air after just a few steps.

Hunching my neck, I walked up to the temple gate. After glancing around to make sure no one was around, I narrowed my eyes and peered through the crack in the door. It was pitch black and I couldn’t see a thing. I put my ear to the crack, but I couldn’t hear anything either.

As I walked halfway around the temple, I noticed that although the wall was quite high, it was made of bricks and stones, so there were footholds.

This was where the climbing skills I learned in my wilderness survival class came in handy.

I rolled up my sleeves, stretched my limbs, and studied the wall in front of me.

I backed away slowly, then took a running start and stepped onto the protruding edge of the wall. I jumped up, using the force to propel me, and reached the edge of the wall with both hands in time. Then I gave a strong push with my other foot along the line I had just designed, and my whole body rode easily onto the top of the wall.

From this position, the view was quite good, and I could see the front courtyard and the main hall directly below.

The courtyard was quiet, and only the windows on the side of the main hall were lit with a faint yellow light. This must be where Mo Chuan lived.

Why wasn’t he asleep at this late hour? Didn’t people here go to bed around 8 p.m.? Now…

I felt in my pockets and realized that I didn’t even have my cell phone with me.

Never mind, I thought as I rode on the wall, it’s not important.

What’s important is…

What is it?

My mind felt like it was covered in a layer of fog, forming an intricate maze of thoughts that made it slow and difficult to think.

Oh yes, I’m here to settle a score with Mo Chuan.

Fortunately, though it was a bit slow, I finally remembered.

The lights in the distance flickered, casting a vague shadow on the curtains.

How can someone have such a nice looking shadow?

I thought vaguely, and saw the figure removing the ornaments from his body one by one, as if he were getting ready for bed, but in a hurry.

I had to ask while he was still awake…

I climbed over the wall and jumped down. Maybe because I was drunk, I didn’t stand steady and knocked over a flower pot next to me.

I didn’t see if the flowerpot broke or not, but I did see the figure on the curtain pause and put back on the robe he had taken off halfway.

“Who?”

I saw that he seemed to be moving towards the window, so I dared not stay there any longer. I hurried back the way I came, and when I jumped down, I still couldn’t stand firmly, so I rolled on the floor in a half circle before standing up dazed.

I was afraid that Mo Chuan would come out to check, so I didn’t have time to check my clothes, and I stumbled and ran all the way back without stopping. When I got back to my place and took off my clothes, I discovered that there was a tear in the corner of the garment, and the goose down inside was showing.

I failed to be a thief and also lost a piece of clothing, which is bad luck. I lay on the bed in a big figure, and after having been smoked by the heater, I closed my eyes with a stomach ache.

In the following days, feeling a little guilty, I did not go near the temple again. Writing every day, having remote meetings with colleagues, and wandering around the village when I had nothing to do made up the whole of my life.

I’m an outgoing person by nature, so I quickly got to know the villagers and even became friends with Nie Peng, the village chief.

Unlike officials in the city, officials in remote rural areas have to deal with a lot of different issues that affect almost every aspect of life. If the villagers’ houses have no electricity, he goes to fix it; if the villagers have a quarrel, he goes to reason with them. Sometimes, when I’m free, I go with him to help.

One day, the Internet suddenly stopped working for a family in the village, and Nie Peng came to ask if I knew how to fix it.

I don’t know how to fix big problems, but I can try to fix small ones, so I went with him.

It turned out to be no big deal – just a setting change in the router’s admin interface.

But the lady of the house still treated me to the best refreshments and even wanted to keep us for dinner.

“Sister, I’ll skip dinner, but can I borrow your brooch?”

As soon as I entered the room, I noticed a beautiful square brooch pinned to the hostess’s chest. The brooch was made of sterling silver, with intricate, curving silver lines converging like vines in the center, half-enveloping a bright red coral stone. Pinned to the outside of the navy blue robe, it had the effect of adding the finishing touch.

The hostess didn’t quite understand the Xia language and looked at Nie Peng blankly.

Nie Peng acted as an interpreter and repeated the message to her in Cenglu before saying, “My little brother is a jewelry designer, so he’s just curious, no harm meant.”

At first, I didn’t really want to hide the fact that I spoke Cenglu, but when I thought that as soon as I spoke, Yan Chuwen would immediately know that I had lied to him before, I hesitated and missed my chance.

Now it’s a bit embarrassing to speak again, so I might as well just act like a foreigner who doesn’t understand Cenglu.

The woman nodded at Nie Peng’s words and carefully removed the brooch from her chest, holding it in front of me with both hands.

“This brooch is really beautiful. Did your ancestors pass it down to you?” I could tell the quality of the coral beads, but not the age of the object.

“The style was passed down from my ancestors, but not the brooch,” Nie Peng said with a big tongue. “It’s called a trust seal, and it’s the same as mine.” As he said this, he pointed to a small round gold star brooch on his chest.

“We Cenglu people have only names, not surnames. We all rely on that to distinguish our families. In the past, when we fought in wars, we didn’t know who was who when we died, but if we wore this, the people who collected the bodies would know where his family was.

“Then there were no more wars, but this custom remained. Don’t your women take their husband’s last name when they marry? We do too, but we replace it with this letter seal.” Nie Peng said with a proud face, “This star is my wife’s seal of trust.

My goodness, I always thought it was the emblem of the Communist Youth League.

I said, “The practice of taking one’s husband’s surname is a thing of the past. Nobody wants to do it anymore. Yours is still a good system.

Nie Peng’s Xia language was not very standard, so I asked him carefully how to write the word “trust seal” in Xia before I understood that it was the character for “trust” and not the character for ” surname”.

“Don’t people in Pingjia have that?” I remembered that neither Mo Chuan nor Li Yang seemed to be wearing a brooch on their chests.

Nie Peng laughed and said, “They can’t get married either, so what’s the point?”

The hostess understood the word “pindya” and took back the brooch I had given her. She asked Nie Peng, ” Are you talking about Pindya?”

Nie Peng said, “The little brother asked if Pindya had a seal of trust.

The hostess also laughed and said, “Pindya doesn’t have a seal of trust, but he has so many things that are more precious than a seal of trust. The most dazzling treasures of our tribe all belong to Pindya.”

Nie Peng seemed to be enlightened. Turning back to Xia language, he said to me, “Little brother, if you are interested in jewelry, you can look for Pinjia. He has a lot of jewelry handed down from the former Oracle, strings, earrings, bracelets, and anklets, all of which are better than ours. He drew a circle ten centimeters in diameter with his hand and said, “There’s a piece of emerald green jade this big that was given to him by the emperor in the past.

Should I say that the people here are insensitive or just brave? All the children in Hai City know not to trust strangers. I have been here for less than a week, and I have only known them for a few days, and yet they dare to say anything.

If I am even a little bit greedy and malicious, Mochuan will not survive the night.

I frowned and warned, “Big Brother, it’s okay if you tell me, but don’t tell anyone else. I’m afraid someone will get greedy and target Pinjia.”

Nie Peng was taken aback by my words, but then he laughed heartily and patted my shoulder, saying, “You’re a good guy, and I was right to trust you. Don’t worry, if anyone dares to harm Pinjia, we won’t let them escape, no matter where they are!

What’s the point of chasing someone if they’ve already been harmed?

I felt that he hadn’t taken my words to heart at all, but since it wasn’t his business, he didn’t bother to convince me.

The hostess escorted us to the front door, just in time to see a large group of people enter the neighboring house. Everyone looked serious, and after a while, faint screams could be heard from inside.

“Yun Duo still hasn’t been heard from,” the hostess sighed as she looked at the neighboring house, “her grandmother wanted to see her daughter before she died, but it seems that won’t happen.

Nie Peng looked over, his face somber, “She shouldn’t have left Pengge.

It’s hard to pretend that you don’t understand when you do, especially when you’re confronted with gossip. So Nie Peng quickly took me to the car and talked about other things. He didn’t explain what happened to that family, and I didn’t ask.

I thought he was going to take me right back, but instead he drove a few miles to a delivery point, picked up a bunch of packages, and gave me one of them.

“What’s this?” I looked down and saw that it was a package from Mr. Lu.

“It’s Pinya’s courier. You’re going that way, so take it to him for me.”

Mo Chuan’s? Mr. Lu… Mr. Lu?

Haha, who says Pinya doesn’t have a trust seal? He’s even taken his married name. Without looking back, I threw the courier into the back seat.

Nie Peng looked at me and said, “If you don’t want to go, I’ll go myself. That’s okay. I just thought since you went to the same school, you should know each other…”

“I’ll deliver it,” I interrupted him, expressionless, “We are familiar with each other. I’ll deliver it to him.”

Cuoyan Song is located at a high altitude, closer to the equator. Even at 4 or 5 o’clock in the afternoon in winter, the sun is still high in the sky and shows no sign of setting.

As soon as I walked in the door, I saw Mo Chuan watering his flowers. He was leaning forward with one hand, lifting the sleeve of his other hand, and the string of emerald beads in front of him was so green in the sunlight that it almost blinded me.

Me: “…”

Do these Cenglu people have any sense at all that they shouldn’t show off their wealth?

Just by looking at the color of the water in this string of emeralds, I’m afraid it’s worth eight figures. And if it’s an antique, too… I don’t even want to think about the value behind it.

All the people of Cenglu should be grateful that I am not a greedy person.

I lightly coughed to attract Mo Chuan’s attention, and when he looked over, I made my intentions clear first.

“Brother Nie Peng asked me to deliver a courier to you,” I said, lifting the courier in my hand.

The box was quite large, but not heavy, and there was a sound when it shook inside, but I didn’t know what it was.

“Thank you for your trouble.”

Mo Chuan put the kettle down and walked over to me, taking the courier out of my hands. The slightly cool fingers brushed my hand like a ghostly caress, leaving a feathery sensation.

I trembled as I looked at his expression, and when I saw his natural expression, I too silently slipped my hand into my pocket and closed it tightly.

The box was not tightly sealed, and he tore off the tape in front of me and pulled out a stack of green plastic flower pots.

“I had a break-in a few days ago and one of my flower pots was broken. I’m afraid if he comes back he’ll break the rest of my flower pots, so I bought some plastic ones online and replaced them all.” He smiled and said, “But I hope that even if he comes back, he won’t be stupid enough to climb in through the wall with the flowers.

Me: ‘…

Fuck, he definitely knows it was me that night!