Qin Yanan was holding her phone, about to find a picture of Zhu Juntang to show Liu Chang'an, when a little girl came bouncing in, swinging her hands from side to side.
Zhou Dongdong walked up to Liu Chang'an and held her soy milk high above her head. "Brother Chang'an, four bad guys ran away outside!"
"Weren't there six?" Qin Yanan exclaimed. Had Liu Chang'an beaten the other two so badly that something had happened to them?
Thinking this, Qin Yanan hurried outside to take a look. Not a single one was left. How could Zhou Dongdong say only four had run away?
"Her name is Zhou Dongdong. She's a foolish child. Once she gets past five, she can't count anymore," Liu Chang'an told Qin Yanan.
"Our teacher hasn't taught us that yet..." Zhou Dongdong said, shaking her head unconcernedly.
Qin Yanan couldn't help laughing and shook her head, but then she noticed Zhou Dongdong leaning against the door and staring at her belly. When Zhou Dongdong realized Qin Yanan had noticed, her eyes darted away.
"Want some soy milk?" Liu Chang'an asked Qin Yanan, holding the cup Zhou Dongdong had brought him.
Qin Yanan waved her hand.
"Big sis, you should drink more soy milk. Then the baby in your belly will grow up faster," Zhou Dongdong said kindly.
"I don't have a baby. There's no baby in my belly," Qin Yanan said, feeling a little embarrassed. "Why did you think there was a baby in there?"
Qin Yanan was very confident about her figure. Surely Zhou Dongdong didn't think she had a baby in her belly just because it looked big?
"Big sis, when a boy and a girl sleep together, they'll have a baby," Zhou Dongdong explained earnestly, as if Qin Yanan didn't even know something that basic.
Mortified, Qin Yanan nudged Liu Chang'an, who was seriously drinking his soy milk as though he hadn't heard a thing.
"You should call her Auntie. If she's about as old as your mom, you call her Auntie." Liu Chang'an shook his head and patted Zhou Dongdong on the head. "You're so grown up and still don't know how to address people. So from now on, when I call you a foolish child, don't deny it."
"You are! You are! You are!"
"What's five plus five?"
"How should I know?"
"See? You—"
"You are! You are! You are!"
Qin Yanan watched Liu Chang'an argue with Zhou Dongdong without changing her expression. If Zhou Dongdong was a foolish child, then Liu Chang'an really did seem clever.
After Zhou Dongdong went home, Liu Chang'an brought the realgar wine out to dry again. Then he carried out the glutinous rice and bamboo leaves that had been soaking overnight and started making zongzi with meat filling.
There were two kinds of bamboo leaves for zongzi: reed leaves and bamboo leaves. People in the south generally used bamboo leaves. Bamboo grew everywhere there, especially in the countryside. In the past, every household would plant a little, so when the Dragon Boat Festival came around, they could use their own leaves to make zongzi.
"Help me make zongzi."
"I only know how to make triangular ones."
"That's fine. I'm making horn-shaped ones."
Qin Yanan and Liu Chang'an sat on stools making zongzi. Zhou Dongdong came downstairs after breakfast and caused a bit of trouble, but her mother soon took her along to set up their stall. Qin Yanan noticed that Liu Chang'an was popular with the neighbors. Every so often, some elderly man or woman would stand at a distance and watch; two or three would gather together and point at him. Those who weren't so nosy would come over to invite Liu Chang'an to play mahjong or Pao Hu Zi that evening.
There were many things Qin Yanan wanted to ask him, but watching him make zongzi with such intense concentration, she still felt the distance between their ages. If a young man her own age were with her, he wouldn't be able to take his eyes off her. At the very least, he would notice every subtle expression in her eyes and brows.
"What about your great-grandfather?" Qin Yanan couldn't help asking the most important question.
Liu Chang'an looked up at Qin Yanan but said nothing, then went back to making zongzi.
Qin Yanan pressed her lips together. If he didn't want to talk, then so be it. She dusted off her hands, went to the side, and made a phone call.
"Wenge, I'll send you a location in a bit. Can you help me find out who came to bother a cousin of mine at around six thirty this morning? There were six of them, and they left at about six forty. There aren't any cameras in this residential complex, but there must be some on the surrounding streets. As long as they didn't come on foot, we should be able to find out who they were."
"They've got some nerve..." The other person was clearly startled.
"Sorry for the trouble."
Qin Yanan couldn't be bothered to ask Liu Chang'an. After dealing with him a few times, she figured that if she asked him directly, he either wouldn't want to tell her or wouldn't know anything at all.
After finishing the call, Qin Yanan sat back down and continued making triangular zongzi.
"Do you know how I used to cook zongzi?" Liu Chang'an spoke to her first.
"How?"
"First, I'd dig a pit in the ground and line it with animal skins. Then I'd pour water into the pit and toss in stones heated red-hot in a fire. The water would slowly boil, and then I'd put the zongzi in and simmer them until they were cooked."
"Little cousin, are you a caveman?"
Liu Chang'an laughed. When he'd told Qin Peng the same thing back then, Qin Peng had also asked if he was a caveman... Of course, later on, Qin Peng stopped asking.
"Last night I had a dream. I dreamed about my great-grandmother." Qin Yanan watched Liu Chang'an's expression.
"And then?"
"Then she kept calling out a name, but I can't remember what she said... Now that I think about it, it felt like the person in the dream was me. I can't quite tell."
Liu Chang'an stopped what he was doing and looked closely into Qin Yanan's eyes.
As she met his gaze, his eyes seemed as deep as the night. She was drawn in and couldn't look away. Qin Yanan felt uncomfortable and turned her head, but his fingers caught her chin.
Qin Yanan thought he was being a little forward and wanted to get angry, but his serious expression seemed to accuse her of not cooperating. So she stopped moving. Her pupils trembled in their sockets, and her cheeks gradually flushed. Her mind was in a turmoil, and strange emotions churned like koi jostling for food in a pond.
"A while ago, you were troubled and restless, and your mind was in disarray. Once you relaxed a little, your spirit became unsteady at night, and the lingering thoughts of people from the past affected your dreams," Liu Chang'an explained.
"You mean my great-grandmother was trying to contact me in a dream?" Qin Yanan had thought the same thing.
"Contact you in a dream?" Liu Chang'an smiled. "You could put it that way... Old Man Lu passed away a while ago. His daughter said he appeared in her dreams several times, complaining that he had no shoes over there and his feet were cold. She went out and bought shoes to burn for him, and after that, she stopped having those dreams. It's easy to explain. Old Man Lu had wanted a new pair of shoes while he was alive, and his daughter knew it. For one reason or another, she hadn't gotten around to buying them for him. After he died, she might not have thought about it in her daily life, but the guilt of not buying him the shoes surfaced in her dreams and gave rise to those visions. Once she'd bought and burned the shoes, she felt at peace and stopped having the dreams. It wasn't because Old Man Lu had gotten a new pair of shoes."
"But I don't know if my great-grandmother had any unfulfilled wishes. My dad hadn't even been born when she died." Though Liu Chang'an's explanation of the other case made sense, it didn't explain what was happening to Qin Yanan.
"That's because you've been thinking quite a bit about your great-grandmother lately. Have you developed any new ideas about her?"
"That's true. I think it's perfectly normal that my great-grandmother and your great-grandfather were close, but after looking through the records and seeing how my great-grandfather kept silent, I can't help feeling that there were some secrets among the older generation." Qin Yanan couldn't say exactly what felt wrong. The main thing was probably that photograph.
"If it was a secret, then let it fade away with the wind." Liu Chang'an fell silent for a moment. There were things that happened back then he didn't want to remember either. Maybe one day he would meet Qin Peng again and talk about the passions and sorrows of those war-torn times.
Maybe one day, he would tell Qin Yanan.
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