Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I fell ill, and for the next few days, all I could drink was porridge.

Hunter Zhang brought back millet. He brought brown sugar, too.

Millet and brown sugar were precious things. Only women in postpartum confinement could have a couple bowls after giving birth, with a little brown sugar added in.

I had a bowl of millet porridge with brown sugar at every meal. It nourished me so well that I ate better than my mother had when she was recovering after childbirth.

Hunter Zhang watched me eat every day. As my complexion slowly improved, his expression finally eased as well.

He went to repair the doctor’s front gate, then dragged the doctor over to take my pulse and check on me. Only after the doctor said I was fine did he see the man out.

He said he was going up the mountain to keep watch for a big one and would be gone for several days, so he asked my mother to make him plenty of flatbread to take along.

When Mother kneaded the dough, she added lard and mixed in brown sugar too. The flatbreads came off the griddle smelling wonderfully fragrant.

She also gave him the thick cotton shoe insoles and cotton hat she had made over the past few days.

Hunter Zhang held the flatbreads, glanced at the insoles and hat, then looked up at her. His eyes had softened considerably.

“New Year’s almost here. Once I sell the big one, I’ll go buy things for the holiday. Think about what you want.”

Mother held my hand as we saw him off at the door.

Watching his limping figure, I couldn’t help shouting, “Dad, come back soon!”

Hunter Zhang’s figure paused. Without turning back, he waved at us. “Go back inside. It’s cold out.”

We waited five days, but he still did not return.

The weather grew even colder. On the fifth day, it began to snow.

Mother looked at the sky, growing darker and darker, then looked at me.

She pointed to the grain in the kitchen and told me to take care of myself. If I got hungry, I should make something to eat.

“Mother is going to look for him. I’ll be back soon. Take good care of yourself.”

She changed her clothes, took a firewood knife and tied it to her waist, then got an oil lamp.

I took a small sickle too and secretly hid it on me, following close behind her.

“Mother, wherever you go, I’ll go too. We’re going to bring Dad back.”

Hunter Zhang was my dad. He treated me much better than my birth father ever had. From now on, I would only have one dad.

Mother sighed. “If something really happens to us, it would be hard for you to survive alone anyway. Fine, let’s go together.”

Hand in hand, Mother and I went up the mountain.

We had only ever gathered firewood along the edge of the mountain and rarely went deeper in.

Inside, there were wolves, wild boars, and tigers. They ate people.

But with Mother beside me, and thinking that Father Zhang was still out there somewhere waiting for us, I wasn’t afraid anymore.