Jiu'er cleaned Jiang Hao's ears. Jiang Hao closed his eyes and enjoyed it for a while before suddenly asking, "I heard the workers say you were taken by the police."
"Mm~"
"Tell me about it."
Jiu'er looked at the man and said softly, "I didn't know what was going on that day. The police stopped me on the road, then said I had caused Li Mafeng's death and threw me into jail. They locked me up for a whole night. It was dark, damp, and stinking inside, and people kept screaming strangely. I was so scared that I curled up in the corner and didn't dare move."
As she spoke, Jiu'er edged closer to Jiang Hao, pressing herself against him as she sought the safest harbor. Jiang Hao held her tightly.
After saying that, Jiu'er turned to Jiang Hao. After a pause, she asked, "Was Li Mafeng's disappearance your doing?"
Jiu'er was very clever. Before this, she never would have suspected Jiang Hao. But now he was the most likely culprit. This man had taken her in the Gauze Curtain, and when he left, he had told her he would definitely come find her. That very night, Li Mafeng had been taken away, dead or alive unknown. Jiang Hao was the prime suspect.
Jiang Hao looked into Jiu'er's eyes and said, "You don't need to know about such things. I'll bear everything myself."
Jiu'er froze, then rested her head against his chest. "I won't ask. I won't ask anymore."
They were both exhausted that day, and they had gone through so much. Holding each other tightly, they gradually fell asleep. Jiu'er slept peacefully, but her arms around Jiang Hao never loosened.
The next day, sunlight streamed through the window into the room. Jiang Hao woke to find Jiu'er gone. After dressing, he stepped outside and saw her tidying up the courtyard. When she saw him emerge, she smiled and said, "You're awake. Why didn't you sleep a little longer?"
"It's not early anymore. Time to get up."
Judging by the sun, it was probably already eight o'clock. At this hour on ordinary days, the Distillery workers would have finished breakfast and worked for half the morning.
"I'll get you some water to wash your face," Jiu'er said.
"No need. I'll do it myself." Jiang Hao reached for the Copper Basin in Jiu'er's hands.
Jiu'er dodged away and said, "Don't worry about it. This is women's work." Without waiting for a response, she went to fetch water.
The Copper Basin sat on a short stool in the courtyard, with a towel draped over its edge. The water inside was warm. How many people got to enjoy such treatment? Circumstances were only one part of it; a woman like this was the truly rare thing.
In modern times, they had vanished entirely.
While Jiang Hao was washing up, Jiu'er brought out breakfast and set it on a large wooden stump in the courtyard.
There was a bowl of scrambled eggs, a scallion, a dish of soybean paste, a flatbread in a basket, and a big bowl of thick millet porridge.
Jiang Hao thought to himself, I've really settled down now. I slept with another man's wife, took over his house, and seized his business. A magpie taking over a nest couldn't be more fitting than this.
As Jiang Hao ate, Jiu'er sat beside him and watched. Her eyes were full of love. She thought even the way he bit into flatbread and slurped millet porridge looked good, and she could never get enough of watching him. The moment he finished, she hurriedly cleared away the dishes.
Luohan came up from the slope. Seeing over the low courtyard wall that Jiang Hao had finished eating, he entered the yard. "Brother Zhan'ao, you're done eating? I need to discuss something with the boss."
The boss Luohan referred to was Jiu'er. To him, even if Jiang Hao slept in that room, the Distillery still belonged to Jiu'er.
Jiu'er quickly came out of the house. Her starry-eyed look was gone, replaced by a brisk, capable expression. "Brother Luohan, what brings you here?"
"I wanted to ask when the boss plans to fire up the Distillery again. We still owe the wine shops in town quite a lot of liquor. There's another problem too: we're out of money. Buying grain will require a sum of money. How do you think we should handle that?" Luohan asked.
Jiu'er frowned. She did not have any money either.
Jiang Hao had heard every word clearly. Brewing a new batch of liquor was what he had been waiting for all along. His hope of completing the mission lay in the new liquor. Jiang Hao asked, "How much money do we need to buy grain?"
"At least a hundred Silver Dollars. Two hundred would be best, since firing up a batch isn't easy," Luohan said.
Jiang Hao said, "I'll go find the money and bring it back this afternoon. Brother Luohan, you can arrange the grain purchase and prepare to start the Distillery up again."
When Luohan heard that Jiang Hao could get the money, delight immediately appeared on his face. "Don't worry about that. As long as we have money, the Grain Shop can deliver the grain. I'll have the workers start cleaning up right away. Once the grain arrives, we can begin making liquor."
"Good. Sorry for the trouble, Brother Luohan," Jiang Hao said.
After Luohan left, Jiu'er came to Jiang Hao's side and asked, "You want to use that money? That's your money. How can we use it on the Distillery? I'll think of another way."
Jiang Hao pretended to be angry. "What, are you still drawing a line between us? What did you say last night?"
Seeing his expression, Jiu'er burst out laughing. "All right, all right. You're my man. I'll listen to you in everything."
"Then wait for me. I'll go get the money."
Jiang Hao led a horse away. That's right, led it. How could a great hero not have his own mount? Even if he couldn't drive, he would still have to push a car along.
He quickly retrieved the Silver Dollars from the Sorghum Field. Even so, Jiang Hao dawdled for half the day and did not return until evening. Afraid the Distillery workers would notice anything suspicious, Jiang Hao had spent that half day doing only one thing:
Learning Horse Riding.
Jiang Hao had neither theoretical knowledge nor practical experience when it came to Horse Riding. His impression of it mostly came from television dramas. All he remembered was that kicking the horse's sides made it move forward, while pulling the reins made it stop. Beyond that, he knew nothing.
When he came out this time, Jiang Hao deliberately chose the gentlest-looking mare among the three horses. This was also something he had heard secondhand, and he had no idea whether it was true.
Even so, he did not dare mount her immediately. At the edge of a forest, he tied the reins to a tree so the horse could not run around, then slowly climbed onto her back. This was a trained Old Ma, obedient and still.
That let Jiang Hao breathe a sigh of relief.
He swayed from side to side, trying to get used to the feeling of sitting on horseback. He mounted, dismounted, then felt it out again. After repeating this more than a dozen times, Jiang Hao gradually grew bolder. He untied the reins from the tree, mounted up, and began letting the horse stroll slowly.
Swaying along on horseback... mm, this feeling was not bad. He slowly got accustomed to the sensation of movement, then gradually urged the horse into a trot.
That was as far as he got.
He did not dare let her run freely. With his current skill, the chance of falling off was probably as high as 82.57%. Jiang Hao had no hobby of rolling around on the ground.
When he returned to the Shibali Slope Distillery, Jiang Hao kept two hundred Silver Dollars and gave the remaining money to Jiu'er for safekeeping. He called Luohan over and handed the money to him. Luohan accepted it and happily went to buy grain. With this money, the Distillery could start operating again. Things would gradually get better.
Cartloads of grain arrived, and Luohan led the workers in getting busy. There was nothing for Jiang Hao to do here, so he began to consider going out for a trip.
Some grudges could not be forgotten, such as Police Chief Qian Donglai.
Before you continue