Chapter 57: Renting the Donkey

A moment later, rustling footsteps approached, and the door cracked open. Sanliuzi poked his head out. Seeing Xie Cheng, his eyes lit up, and he quickly stepped aside, pulling the door wide to let them in.

“Big Brother Xie, Second Brother Xie? What are you two doing here?”

He said happily, “Come on in! No one has visited my place in ages. It’s a bit of a mess!”

Xie Zhao stepped inside.

Taking in the sight before him, he was momentarily stunned.

The cowshed was split into two halves. The right side was a straw shed, and there really was a donkey inside. Seeing people enter, it brayed loudly a few times before lying back down to doze off.

The left half was where Sanliuzi lived.

It was incredibly messy.

A clay stove, firewood, and a pile of clothes in the corner cluttered the floor.

Newspapers, rice bran, and drinking cups were scattered about.

The most valuable item was probably an aluminum thermos flask sitting on a battered square chair, though it was covered in a thick layer of dust, clearly unused for a long time.

Indeed.

A classic bachelor’s room.

Sanliuzi was twenty-one this year, tall and thin, with messy hair. He wore a tattered, worn-out padded jacket paired with a strange pair of black trousers of unknown origin, the knees completely ripped open.

His cloth shoes had long since worn through, leaving his big toes exposed.

Feeling a bit self-conscious, he rubbed his hands together and said to Xie Cheng and Xie Zhao, “Heh, no one ever visits, so it’s a mess. Sit here, let me wipe it down!”

With that, he quickly wiped the dust off a long wooden bench with his sleeve and dragged it over to them.

Xie Zhao and Xie Cheng sat down.

In the countryside, no one looked down on anyone else.

A few generations back, weren’t they all muddy-legged farmers?

“You need to find yourself a wife. Look at how you’re living, making money but with nowhere to spend it!”

Xie Cheng frowned at Sanliuzi and said, “Build a house, set up a courtyard, and get married. That’s the only way your life will start looking up.”

Sanliuzi only smiled.

“Big Brother Xie, it’s not that I don’t want to clean up, but whenever I do, I can’t sleep.”

Sanliuzi pointed to a grime-coated mug on the floor and said, “That was my dad’s favorite mug. It has a hole in it and it’s moldy. I’ve thrown it out several times, but I always end up bringing it back.”

“As soon as I close my eyes at night, I see him scolding me, calling me a spendthrift for throwing away his favorite thing. How would I dare throw it out now?”

He finished with a soft laugh, and a brief silence fell over the three of them.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to throw things away.

Rather, every time he cleaned, the past he wanted to forget would resurface, tormenting him over and over with endless nightmares.

Before his parents died, they had coughed for months, and in their final days, they had coughed up mouthfuls of blood.

The room, the rafters, and the straw bed had all been stained bright red.

He would never forget it as long as he lived.

“If you don’t want to throw it away, then don’t. Keep it, and it might be worth a lot of money someday,”

Xie Zhao suddenly said with a smile.

He looked at Sanliuzi and said, “I brought you the money.”

As Xie Zhao spoke, he pulled a cloth pouch from his pocket that he had specially set aside for Sanliuzi. Inside was the money from selling the wild boar and river snails.

“Two hundred and twenty-four yuan and six mao in total. Count it and see!”

Sanliuzi’s eyes lit up.

“Second Brother Xie, you sold the wild boar so quickly?”

He quickly wiped his hands, reached out to take the money, and counted it carefully.

“That’s right! Exactly the right amount!”

Incredibly excited, he clutched the cloth pouch, tucked it into his shirt, and looked up at them. “Big Brother Xie, Second Brother Xie, did you two come all this way just to bring me the money?”

Xie Cheng shook his head.

“No, we came for the donkey.”

Strictly speaking, the donkey didn’t belong to Sanliuzi either.

When he was ten, both his parents died. The Production Team took pity on him and, remembering his parents’ kindness, let him raise the donkey.

Later, the she-donkey gave birth to a foal. The mother was taken to the market and sold, while the foal was left with him to raise.

It was the property of the Production Team.

However, the young donkey had grown up with Sanliuzi and viewed him as its parent. No one else could get it to do a thing.

“Do you need the donkey to haul goods?”

Sanliuzi was silent for a moment before saying, “The village chief mentioned to me before that if anyone needed it, we could rent it out. The money or grain we get from renting it would just go to the Production Team.”

“But this donkey has a stubborn temper. It won’t listen to anyone but me.”

Xie Cheng raised an eyebrow.

“Is that so?”

He stood up, walked over to the donkey shed, picked up a long whip, and tapped on the wooden door.

The donkey snorted twice and looked up to glance at him.

“Get up!”

Xie Cheng barked.

Mimicking what he had seen others do, he raised the long whip and cracked it in the air, producing a sharp, crisp sound.

Yet, the donkey didn’t even lift its eyelids. It let out a heavy breath and turned its head away.

Well, now!

Refusing to accept defeat, Xie Cheng cracked the whip a few more times. This only irritated the beast, and its stubborn temper flared up.

“Hee-haw! Hee-haw! Hee-haw!”

It suddenly stood up, nudging the wooden door hard. It kicked its front hooves, peeled back its lips, and let out a piercing bray.

Hmph.

Screw this!

Xie Cheng was startled and took a step back. Sanliuzi rushed over in a few strides, tapped the door, and barked, “Defa! Quiet!”

Tch!

Strangely enough, the stubborn donkey immediately quieted down and behaved itself!

Xie Zhao was amused.

This donkey was surprisingly intelligent!

“How about this?”

Xie Zhao walked over, looked at Sanliuzi, and said, “Since this donkey only listens to you, why don’t you help us deliver goods? We’ll pay you two yuan a trip! You definitely won’t lose out!”

This was a sweet deal.

Two yuan a trip, one trip a day, which meant sixty yuan a month!

That was even higher than the salary of a government worker!

Sanliuzi was stunned for a long moment, looking at Xie Cheng in surprise. “Big Brother Xie? Can I?”

Xie Cheng nodded.

“Of course. Bring the donkey over first thing tomorrow morning, and we’ll load up for the county seat!”

Sanliuzi didn’t recover his senses until after he had sent Xie Zhao and Xie Cheng away, sitting alone on the edge of the bed and staring into space for a long while.

He stared blankly at the messy room, his gaze falling on the two chipped bowls and chopsticks left on the table.

He suddenly lowered his head and began to sob.

…

The next day.

Five-thirty.

Xie Tian was startled when she opened the door and saw Sanliuzi.

“Brother Sanliuzi, why are you here so early?”

Sanliuzi had clearly made an effort to clean himself up. He had trimmed his beard, washed his face, and made sure his hair was neat and tidy.

He had changed into his best clothes, which, though still patched, were at least clean.

He grinned and said to Xie Tian, “I brought the donkey cart, and some wild rabbits I caught on the mountain over the last two days! I wonder if Uncle Xie will take them.”

Xie Tian welcomed him inside.

Tian Xiufen was making breakfast. When she saw Sanliuzi, she immediately smiled and called out, “You’re here so early! Have you eaten yet? Have a bite here with your aunt in a bit! It’s nice and hot, so you don’t catch a cold on the road!”