Chapter Seventy
As dusk falls, the setting sun generously bestows its afterglow, carpeting the white-awning boats on the Tonghua River with a radiant golden blanket, leading them all the way to the stage on the opposite bank.
The hustle and bustle outside made the mansion seem even quieter. Inside the room, two people, having had their fill of noise, sat at the desk, each reading a book.
However, this time when he returned, Mu Xing only brought back two miscellaneous books, which he had already read through before. Now, listening to the commotion outside the window, he was already restless and couldn't sit still.
Finally putting down her book, she leaned on the table, blinked her eyes, and said, "Shuwan, Shuwan, why don't we go take a look too?"
She turned around and around in the chair, which Bai Yan had been watching, but she deliberately didn't say anything. Now that she had spoken, Bai Yan glanced at her and said, "I heard someone complaining of back pain again just now."
Mu Xing feigned ignorance: "Really? Who was it? I didn't hear anything." Seeing Bai Yan remain unmoved, she frowned, "Ugh, so boring, so boring, I want to go out and play..."
Putting down the book, Bai Yan sighed: "Ancestor, after all this commotion these past few days, if you don't take good care of yourself, you'll develop chronic illnesses later, and you'll have plenty of time to be bored."
Mu Xing naturally understood the reasoning, but now that he was full, his mind became unrestrained, and he deliberately provoked Bai Yan to act coquettishly.
She fidgeted on the table for a while, then turned to look out the window. Suddenly, an idea struck her, and she sat up abruptly, saying, "Since we can't go outside to look, we can at least look from a distance, right?"
Bai Yan chuckled: "Looking from a distance? Why don't you use your telescopic vision?"
Mu Xing twisted his aching back as he stood up, grabbed a light bulb, and dragged Bai Yan to her feet, heading towards the back door of the room.
Bai Yan asked, "Where are you going? Are you looking for a place to use your clairvoyance?"
Mu Xing snorted, "What's so special about clairvoyance? I'll show you my big treasure later!"
Bai Yan was initially confused, but followed Mu Xing to the back room where she stored miscellaneous items.
Although the storage room was cleaned regularly, some dust still lingered. Covering her mouth and nose with a handkerchief, Bai Yan asked, "What precious treasure is hidden here?"
Mu Xing didn't speak. She wandered around the room and stopped in front of a tall cabinet that reached the ceiling. She pushed the cabinet door open.
Bai Yan suddenly felt a gust of wind rush into the wall, stirring up all the dust. Before she could cough, Mu Xing grabbed her and pulled her into the cupboard.
"Hurry, before these dusty creatures react!"
She crawled into the closet, slammed the door shut, and turned to find herself facing a narrow staircase.
She quickly realized: "Stairs? This leads to the roof?" Having only been in the front hall and bedroom these past few days, she had never discovered such a passageway hidden here.
The cabinet was narrow, just enough to fit a narrow wooden ladder leading straight up. Mu Xing stood on the higher steps, the electric light shining behind her, obscuring her eyes and eyebrows. Her tall figure contrasted interestingly with the cramped staircase, like a farcical scene.
She looked down at Bai Yan, extended a hand, and said in a deep voice, "Madam, please allow me to invite you into my castle."
Bai Yan couldn't help but laugh, but Mu Xing maintained his inviting posture, his expression serious. Suppressing her laughter, Bai Yan tilted her head slightly and proudly placed her hand in Mu Xing's.
“I accept your invitation, madam.”
Mu Xing held Bai Yan's hand, and the two squeezed together with some difficulty on the narrow stairs. They reached the top in just a few steps.
Mu Xing reached out and pushed aside the narrow plank at the top, climbed up first, and then pulled Bai Yan up with him.
"Be careful not to bump your head," Mu Xing said, squatting down.
The roof was too narrow, so Bai Yan squatted down like her. Looking around, she realized it was a small attic.
The attic was about twenty square meters in size, with a very low ceiling that could barely support a ten-year-old child. At the far left of the attic, a small window let in light, allowing one to barely see the surroundings.
Although small, the attic was fully equipped with everything: a small table, a folding chair, and even a bed just big enough for a child. The attic was fairly tidy—if you ignored the messy papers pasted on the walls.
Bai Yan took the light bulb and moved over rather ungracefully, examining each of the colored papers.
"This is the attic where I hid my things when I was little. My aunt helped me clean it up," Mu Xing said from behind her. "Even my mother has never been here."
Touching her nose, she added, "Of course, Yining and the others have been here before. Every time they come to Tonghua, we hold a small meeting here, where I, the Commander, issue tokens to Mengwei and the others, sending them on missions..."
Turning around, Bai Yan pointed to a piece of paper pasted on the wall and laughed, "I can see that you, the commander-in-chief, are not very popular."
"Huh? Who said that? I'm doing a great job..." Mu Xing moved over and looked at the wall.
On the faded yellowish-green paper was a line of neat small characters, each stroke radiating resentment: "Ah Xuan is a big idiot!"
Mu Xing exclaimed, "Ah, I've never noticed this before! It must have been written by Yi Ning!" She laughed, "You don't know, back then we would go fishing and digging for loaches, but Yi Ning was a delicate little princess and refused to come with us. Every time I issued tokens, I wouldn't give them to her and would leave her here to guard the house. She was so angry."
Holding the lamp, the two looked back again. Time had passed, the colorful stationery had long since faded, and the joy it carried had become a yellowed page in their memories.
"Oh, that Chinese teacher! I still remember him. I couldn't recite the text, and he actually slapped my hand in front of everyone! I was so angry that I didn't sleep all night. I worked hard and memorized both texts, and guess what? He didn't ask me anything the next day!"
"This? I think this is something I wrote after my first trip to Beiping. The pheasant floss bun was really delicious. I'm just writing it down to savor the memory!"
Bai Yan pointed to another one, raised an eyebrow and asked, "What about this one? What does 'the new English teacher this semester is quite pretty, and I heard she studied in the United States' mean?"
Mu Xing was taken aback, racking his brains: "Hmm, this... I don't remember this... Why would I remember this? I've long forgotten it."
Bai Yan sneered: "Such a good-looking English teacher, and she's harder to remember than a pheasant meat floss bun?"
Mu Xing grabbed her and pecked her, saying, "What's so pretty? I don't know!"
After looking around, I finally arrived at that small window.
Reaching out, Mu Xing opened the window latch and turned to say, "Come on, let me show you the village opera from afar!"
The wind was strong on the roof. Bai Yan had just climbed out of the window when she was almost knocked off by the wind. Mu Xing quickly pulled her into his arms.
Holding the warm, soft person in her arms, she rubbed her chin against the whorl of hair on Bai Yan's head and whispered, "Look, this beautiful land."
The azure sky gradually turned blood-red until the whole world was imprinted with the colors of the sunset, a hazy golden light that veiled the distant, dark mountains with a layer of shimmering gold.
Further away, the mountains stretch and undulate like a beast that has lain dormant for many years. Its spine throbs, poised to pounce, waiting only for the opportune moment to sweep across the fields and villages, turning the world upside down. At the foot of the mountains, the paddy fields are a pale green, dotted with a few figures, while the large water buffalo appears as a dark speck.
"So beautiful." Bai Yan murmured as she looked at the scenery before her.
“I have nothing but this treasure to hide,” Mu Xing said. “Now I’ll give it all to you, all of it.”
Looking out into the distance, one can easily spot the golden Tonghua River, the throngs of people along its banks, and the actors on the stage, their bodies adorned with flags, proudly waving like roosters.
After watching quietly for a while, Mu Xing said, "I wonder what kind of show this is all about."
"Isn't the opening mostly action scenes?" Bai Yan said. "I heard from Aunt Li that there's a scene in the middle called 'Beating Yan Song,' and her youngest son complained a lot about it."
Mu Xing couldn't help but laugh: "How come this kid is just like me?"
She said, "When I was little, I went to listen to operas with my aunt. I also heard a performance of Qilin Tong's 'Beating Yan Song'. I was young then and only liked watching the martial arts actors fight fiercely or listening to the female lead sing in a cutesy way. What I hated most was the old male actor reciting in a trembling voice, like an old lady. Once I made a fuss about leaving, and it felt like Ms. Feng was there, and she scolded me for a long time."
Speaking of Ms. Feng, Bai Yan suddenly remembered something and said, "Speaking of which, I once talked about Feng Yingtian with the old lady's personal maid. Why did the maid say she didn't know him?"
Mu Xingqi said, "You mean Jingye? How could that be? I remember Feng Yingtian visited our house several times, and Grandma really liked her. Jingye couldn't possibly not know that. Perhaps she's mistaken."
"Perhaps," Bai Yan nodded. Just then, a strong wind blew by, carrying a subtle fragrance. Looking down, she exclaimed with delight, "Look, the osmanthus flowers are blooming!"
Following her finger, Mu Xing was also somewhat surprised: "Ah, it's opened so early this year?"
Bai Yan laughed and said, "This is great! We can pick osmanthus flowers to make osmanthus wine, and we can also make candied osmanthus flowers."
Mu Xing deliberately said, "Oh, didn't someone say last night that they never lift a finger to do housework? How come they're already wearing flowers and making honey today?"
After a pause, Bai Yan said softly, "This is the only skill I learned from my mother."
When Mu Xing first heard Bai Yan talk about her family, her heart tightened. She regained her composure and listened quietly to what Bai Yan had to say.
Leaning against Mu Xing's chest, Bai Yan said, "I told you before, I was originally from Yunnan."
Mu Xing nodded: "I remember."
“My father neither gambles nor does drugs, but he does like to drink a little alcohol. He likes baijiu, rose wine, pine nut wine… He likes them all. He was an instructor at the military academy at that time, and the academy was very strict. He could only have a drink at home during his monthly leave,” Bai Yan said slowly.
“My mother valued these two bottles of wine very much. Whenever my father had his monthly leave, my mother would always go to the best winery in the city to get a bottle of the finest wine so that my father could enjoy it.”
Looking at the point in the void, Bai Yan couldn't help but smile. She said, "After several wars, my father left the military academy and followed the Zhili clique with his friends. Our family then moved to Suzhou Prefecture with my father."
Upon hearing the words "direct descendant," Mu Xing could roughly imagine what would happen next. She reached out and hugged Bai Yan, trying to sound relaxed as she said, "No wonder you can speak Suzhou dialect."
Bai Yan nodded: "I was less than ten years old at the time, and I was studying at a church school. At first, my classmates laughed at me for a while, saying that I had an accent."
Mu Xing clicked his tongue and said, "What a pity, I wasn't lucky enough to go to the same school as you. If I were here, I would beat anyone who dared to laugh at you to a pulp."
Bai Yan chuckled and poked her forehead: "When you were eight or nine, you must have been a nuisance and a nuisance to everyone. If we had gone to the same school, I wouldn't have paid any attention to you."
Mu Xing pouted and tickled her: "What did you say? You dare ignore me?"
Bai Yan laughed and tried to dodge: "Stop fooling around, stop fooling around, be careful not to fall."
Mu Xing persisted, hugging Bai Yan tightly and giving her a loud kiss on the forehead.
"I only regret not having met you back then," she said. "If only I had met you then..."
She didn't continue.
Bai Yan understood everything.
If they had met back then, perhaps... their mother wouldn't have died, she wouldn't have been abducted... they could have had a better start and a better future.
However, in this world, nothing ever truly happens without a "what if".
Chapter Seventy-One
The two embraced quietly, watching the golden light gradually being swallowed by the dark clouds.
Amidst the increasingly boisterous singing and dancing, Bai Yan slowly said, "Back then, my father thought the wine in Suzhou was too mild and not strong enough, so my mother learned to brew it herself. Osmanthus wine, sweet potato wine, bayberry wine... My mother learned to brew wine, and I followed suit."
"My mother learned to brew wine originally so that my father could drink it, but later the war became more intense and my father gradually stopped coming back. When the wine was ready, there was no one to drink it, so my mother drank it herself, and I drank it too. So my skills were not very good, but I did develop a high alcohol tolerance."
"Later, later..."
Mu Xing lowered her eyes, looking at Bai Yan's trembling eyelashes in her arms. She didn't speak, but silently tightened her arms around her.
Bai Yan gradually calmed down.
She whispered, "At first, Dad just couldn't come back, but later, he could never come back."
Stroking Bai Yan's arm, Mu Xing asked, "Was it in the year of Jiazi?"
During the war in 1935, the flames of war spread to Wenjiang several times. Although Mu Xing was at school, he could still sense the seriousness of the war from his parents' conversations.
After the decisive battle in 1925, the Zhili clique was defeated and perished. As a member of the Zhili clique, how could Shu Wan's father remain unscathed?
Bai Yan nodded.
"I couldn't understand the specifics back then, and now I have no chance to understand them."
"At that time, because of the escalating war, school was on holiday. I was at home weaving ribbons with my mother when a man suddenly came to visit and told my mother that my father had passed away..."