Chapter 21: This Water Is Poisonous
It was a rare movie night at the compound, and it was one of those especially stirring patriotic films.
Shanshan was beside herself with excitement when she heard.
She pestered Zhang Yunhua, asking three times.
"Is it true? Will we really see tanks? Will there really be shells exploding in the sky?"
Zhang Yunhua had used some recently purchased floral-print fabric to sew a small top for Shanshan overnight.
Although it wasn’t a thick, padded winter coat, it was both warm and pretty when worn over her old cotton-padded clothes.
The color was a festive peach-pink, and it even had two small clouds embroidered on the cuffs.
Shanshan was absolutely delighted, twirling around in front of her aunt and uncle.
"Auntie, this top is so pretty! I love it, thank you!"
She spread her little arms and hugged Zhang Yunhua tightly around the waist.
Then, with a loud SMACK, she planted a kiss on Zhang Yunhua’s cheek.
Yang Dapeng saw this and felt a little pang of jealousy.
’But a grown man can’t just ask for hugs and kisses, can he?’
He swallowed hard but ultimately said nothing.
Afraid his thoughts were showing on his face, he grabbed his military greatcoat and said in a deliberately cheerful voice,
"Let’s go, let’s go. The movie’s about to start."
"Yay! We’re finally going to see a movie! I’ve never seen one before!"
Shanshan cheered and took off running.
"Uncle! Auntie! Hurry up, or all the good seats will be gone!"
She giggled to herself.
’Good thing Uncle didn’t ask me to kiss him, too.’
’It’s not that I don’t like him, it’s just that his face is so full of prickly stubble.’
Zhang Yunhua and Yang Dapeng exchanged a look and couldn’t help but smile.
The sky had just begun to darken as twilight silently descended.
The theater’s loudspeaker was announcing, "Tonight’s feature: *Heroic Sons and Daughters*."
Shanshan charged ahead, skipping and jumping, her pigtails swinging back and forth.
She clutched half a sweet potato in her hand, gnawing on it as she went.
Suddenly, at a corner, THUMP! She nearly collided with two people.
It was Liu Yingzi and Jiajia.
"Hey! Watch where you’re going! Are you in a hurry to get killed or something?"
Liu Yingzi frowned, dodging sharply.
Hearing the hostility in her voice, Zhang Yunhua rushed over and pulled Shanshan protectively behind her.
"Well, well, if it isn’t Captain Cao’s wife."
She narrowed her eyes, her tone laced with sarcasm.
"What’s the matter? Didn’t Captain Cao come with you?"
"My dad sprained his ankle! And it’s all her fault!"
Jiajia immediately pointed at Shanshan, her voice screeching.
"If she hadn’t been making a mess, would my dad have gotten hurt? I saw her running around wildly yesterday and she knocked over all the medicine bottles in our house. When my dad squatted down to pick them up, he fell and sat right on the steps, and his leg... his leg..."
"His leg what?"
Zhang Yunhua scoffed.
"Just sprained? Your father’s leg isn’t broken, but you’ve certainly spun quite a tale."
She shot a cold look at Liu Yingzi.
"Comrade Liu, is this how you raise your child at home?"
She couldn’t stand to see Shanshan being wrongly accused like this.
Even if it was a child, she shouldn’t be allowed to spout such nonsense in public.
Liu Yingzi was about to retort.
But then she looked up and saw Yang Dapeng walking over from the mouth of the alley.
The words immediately caught in her throat.
The man was huge, his face set in a stern expression. The mere sight of him was enough to make one’s knees weak.
"Um..."
Liu Yingzi quickly plastered on a fake smile.
"My daughter is just very worried about her father, so she can be a little blunt. She didn’t mean anything by it. My Daqiang really did sprain his ankle; he’s at home resting and couldn’t come. The movie’s about to start, so we’ll be going now."
With that, she grabbed Jiajia by the wrist, turned, and walked away.
"Hmph!"
Zhang Yunhua snorted coldly, staring at their retreating figures.
"Shanshan, are you okay? Did they bump into you?"
She bent down, squeezed Shanshan’s arm, and checked the hem of her new top.
"Don’t worry, I’m fine."
The little girl tilted her face up, beaming.
"Look, I didn’t even drop my sweet potato!"
After saying that, she gave a little hop and continued skipping ahead.
Seeing her so happy, Zhang Yunhua finally felt relieved.
She patted Shanshan’s little head and murmured,
"As long as you’re okay, that’s all that matters."
As she walked, Shanshan secretly watched the backs of the mother and daughter up ahead.
’Something’s not right.’
’Her dad’s foot isn’t injured at all.’
’They so rarely show movies in the compound. Why wouldn’t he come?’
The thought kept swirling in her mind.
Later, when the movie started and the screen lit up, Shanshan was instantly captivated.
Her eyes were wide, her mouth hung slightly open, and her face was filled with wonder.
The people on the screen were dressed so beautifully.
Their voices were loud and clear, completely different from the crackly old radio at the entrance to the compound.
"Auntie, how did those people get onto the cloth?"
She craned her neck, looking left and right, trying to find who was playing tricks behind the screen.
All she saw was a small, glowing box in the corner.
Yang Dapeng knew a little about it, so he explained it to her.
"It’s a gadget called a ’movie projector.’ Inside, there are pictures of people, one after another. It shows them so fast your eyes can’t keep up, so it looks like the people are moving."
When Shanshan heard this, her eyes sparkled as she looked at him with pure adoration.
"Wow! Uncle, you’re amazing! You know so much!"
"Haha, I just know a little, that’s all."
Yang Dapeng laughed and patted her on the head.
"When you go to school, you’ll definitely learn a lot more than your uncle."
Once the movie began, Shanshan was completely transfixed, not even daring to blink.
All the way home after the movie ended, she was still chattering nonstop about the story she had just seen.
Halfway there, her little tummy suddenly started to RUMBLE.
Zhang Yunhua laughed and poked her cheek.
"Getting hungry, are we? You little glutton."
She quickened her pace toward home and headed straight for the kitchen the moment she walked in the door.
The firewood in the stove was crackling, and a fragrant aroma began to waft out.
Shanshan watched Zhang Yunhua pick up a ladle to scoop some water, and a feeling of unease shot through her.
She suddenly lunged forward, shouting,
"Auntie, don’t! You can’t use that water! It’s poisoned!"
The shout startled Zhang Yunhua, making her hand tremble.
She spun around, grabbed Shanshan, held her tight, and immediately rushed outside.
Yang Dapeng, who was just closing the courtyard gate, saw the scene and broke into a run.
"What’s wrong? What happened? Is the kitchen on fire? Is there a snake?"
"N-no..."
Zhang Yunhua’s voice trembled.
"Someone poisoned the water!"
Shanshan shouted, beating her to it.
Hearing this, Yang Dapeng jolted, and his expression changed instantly.
"Are you sure you’re not mistaken? This is the compound. We’re all brothers-in-arms here. Who would do such a despicable thing?"
Just as he said it, the image of a person flashed through his mind.
Cao Daqiang.
The two of them had recently had a rather unpleasant falling out.
And as it happened, everyone in the compound had gone to see the movie today. He was the only one who stayed home.
And their two families didn’t live far from each other.
"What is it, Dapeng? Did you think of something?"
Seeing her husband’s expression, Zhang Yunhua immediately sensed that something was up.
"What’s wrong, Dad?"
Shanshan’s eyes were wide as she looked at him, too.
"It has to be Cao Daqiang!"
Yang Dapeng didn’t hide his suspicions from his wife and child.
"He’s the only one who has a grudge against us right now. And the crucial thing is, he didn’t go to the movie today."
He turned and walked into the kitchen, lifted the lid of the large water crock, and peered inside.
The water was as clear as ever, without a single speck floating in it.
He looked at Shanshan’s innocent little face and hesitated.
’Should I really believe a child?’