Siblings Cuddling Together

Gao Shulin said, "There isn't much today, just two old cotton jackets that won't sell for much."

I said, "Why does he even want these old jackets? You should tell him to pick up things that are worth more."

In the darkness, I heard Gao Shulin laugh. After he finished, he said, "This person is a bit foolish, always picking up things that aren't worth much."

That night, Gao Shulin asked me many questions and showed great concern for me. He even brought up the topic of finding a good wife for me. I happily went along with him.

At the time, I believed Gao Shulin's words and thought that Bodhi had only stolen two jackets that day. But as I grew older and thought more about that day's conversation, I realized that Gao Shulin was deceiving me. He didn't want me to know what they had actually stolen.

Only Gao Shulin and Bodhi knew what they had stolen each time.

The reason was simple. If Bodhi had really stolen two cotton jackets that day, they wouldn't have fit in a cloth backpack. The jackets were filled with cotton, not duck feathers, and there was no high-tech material like duck down at the time. Wealthy people's sons wore wool, and whether it was wool or cotton, it would still take up a large space when folded. How could such a large bundle fit into a cloth backpack?

It took me ten years to figure out this truth.

Life went on as usual. Today was a repeat of yesterday, and tomorrow would be a continuation of today. The circus performed in village after village, and in those days, villages in the north were very scattered, with few people and a lot of land. Sometimes it would take two days to see one village, and sometimes three days. Whenever we saw a village, the local landlord would suffer. Bodhi's work was very meticulous, and after the circus was over, the landlord would often not discover the missing items for a long time. Even if the landlord did discover the theft, it was difficult to suspect us, and even if they did, we were already far away and couldn't be caught.

On the day of the winter solstice that year, Cui'er caught a cold and had a high fever. The circus had to continue their performance down south, so they left Cui'er at the inn. Cui'er was weak and needed someone to take care of her, so I was left behind too. My job was to take care of the ropes and poles.

In the room at the inn where Cui'er and I stayed, I touched her forehead and it was burning hot. I got a bowl of hot water and brought it to her, calling out her name. However, she didn't respond and seemed to have fainted.

I didn't know what to do, and the thought of the only person who was kind to me leaving me made me very sad. I hugged Cui'er's head and cried uncontrollably.

I didn't know how long I cried for, but I eventually fell asleep while holding her head. In my dream, I saw many people around a coffin with Cui'er lying in it. They were going to bury her, but I climbed onto the coffin and shouted, "Don't bury her, don't bury her!" However, no one listened to me, so I cried even harder, hoping that someone would hear me.

When I woke up, it was already dusk. I opened my eyes and saw Cui'er still lying in bed. She smiled and said to me, "You cried."

I nodded.

Cui'er asked, "Why did you cry?"

I said, "I dreamed that you died, so I cried."

Cui'er smiled and touched my tear-stained cheek, saying, "You have a good heart, little one. Don't worry, I won't die. The King of Hell won't take me."

Nightfall arrived, and the temperature in the room suddenly dropped. In the winter in the north, water freezes into ice, and the nine coldest days of the year begin on the day of the winter solstice. This was the coldest time of the year. At the intersection outside the inn, many people were burning paper money and calling out, "Come back, come back."

I asked, "What are they shouting?"

Cui'er said, "Today is the winter solstice, and they're burning paper money for the dead and calling for them to come back home to visit."

I asked, "Can dead people really come back home?"

Cui'er said, "Yes, they can." She suddenly stopped talking and shivered in the dim light.

Cui'er whispered, "Come up here and sleep. We can sleep together under one blanket to keep warm."

I climbed onto the kang groping around, wanting to uncover the quilt covering Cui'er. Cui'er pushed me away and said, "Look at you, dirty and your clothes haven't been washed in hundreds of years. Take off your clothes before you come in."

I took off my clothes and got into Cui'er's bed. When Cui'er touched me, she exclaimed, "Why did you take off everything?"

"I only have one cotton coat and one pair of cotton pants," I said.

Cui'er giggled in the darkness, "I didn't expect you to be like this."

I snuggled up to Cui'er's body. She was only wearing underwear and her body temperature was not as hot as it was in the afternoon. Her body was very soft, as soft as a cotton ball. It felt like sleeping with my mother when I was a child. I held Cui'er and felt very safe and warm.

I heard Cui'er sigh softly in the darkness, and I didn't know why she was sighing.

That night was the first time I slept with a woman other than my mother. Although we didn't do anything that night, sleeping in the same bed made my feelings for Cui'er grow exponentially.

That night, we talked a lot in bed. It was the first time in my life that I could have an equal conversation with someone older than me, and the first time in my life that no one was yelling at me.

Cui'er said that Gao Shulin and Shuzhuang were cousins, and their ancestors were all performers in the circus. Xiangang was an orphan that Gao Shulin picked up on the street, and he saved him with a bowl of rice soup. Bodhi was also saved by Gao Shulin and his group. One year, they were walking on the road when a person ran towards them with a leg injury. He took out two gold ingots and pointed behind him. They understood what he meant, so they hid Bodhi in the car and told the villagers who were chasing after them, "Someone ran forward." They fooled the villagers and saved Bodhi. Since then, Bodhi joined them and they worked together to cheat and steal. Bodhi was from out of town, and not many people could understand what he said.

I didn't ask about the relationship between Qing'er and Cui'er or how they came to the circus. I didn't ask, and Cui'er didn't say.

By the middle of the night, we still couldn't fall asleep. Cui'er drank a bowl of cold water and said her temperature had dropped and her illness was better. I heard that she was very happy.

Cui'er said, "Tell me a story, I love to hear stories the most."

I thought for a moment and told a story that my teacher had told me in a private school. It was about a father and son who walked out of the mountains for the first time and saw the sky outside the mountains, which seemed to stretch out endlessly. The son said, "Dad, the sky outside the mountains is so big that it would take at least six months for it to turn cloudy." His father looked around and said, "Good boy, why did you say such a foolish thing? If someone heard it, they would laugh at you. Let me tell you, if the sky outside the mountains is cloudy, it only takes two months."

Cuier giggled and said, "Your story isn't as interesting as mine."

I said, "Then tell me yours."

Cuier said, "There was a foolish girl in the mountains. Her mother had always told her never to let anyone take advantage of her, and if someone did, she should pay them back twice as much. One day, the foolish girl came home happily and told her mother that she had taken advantage of someone. Her mother asked, 'What did you take advantage of?' The girl said, 'I saw a man on the street, and he touched me. So I touched him back twice. He touched my face, so I touched his face twice. She hooked her arm around my arm, and I hooked my arm around his. In a secluded alley, she undid my pants, and I undid his. He made me bleed, so I made him pus."

I didn't understand and asked, "How could you bleed and pus?"

Cui'er patted me and said, "Silly boy, you'll understand when you're older."

I don't know when we fell asleep that night, but when we woke up, the sun was already high in the sky. Cuier said, "Let's go out and stroll?"

I said, "Okay."

It had been a long time since I had been out shopping.

This was a county town, and at that time, it only had one main street, and the rest were all alleys. There were grocery stores, cloth shops, steamed bun shops, baozi shops, and blacksmith shops along the streets, but there were very few shops. At the edge of the county town was a Chenghuang temple, where an unnamed mud sculpture was worshipped. Across from the Chenghuang temple was a theater. At that time, the architectural layout was well thought out, with the city gate facing the theater. The actors performed for both the audience and the Chenghuang God.

I didn't like watching the theater. The people on the stage wore boots and had flags on their backs, and they stood still for a long time, making annoying noises. However, Cuier liked watching the theater. She stared at the stage, her face showing expressions of anger or joy.

There were many people under the stage, and I found it boring to stay there, so I left the theater and went to play outside. Outside the theater, there were a few children playing a game of tossing almonds. They would scatter four almonds on the ground, and one person would take one away. The goal was to hit the two almonds that were farthest apart together. If they collided, you won; if they didn't, you lost and had to give the other person a turn.

I joined in and played with them for a while. After a couple of rounds, I suddenly heard some commotion behind me. I turned around and saw Cui'er rushing out, followed by a few ruffians. One of the men put his hand on Cuier's shoulder and wouldn't let her go. When I saw this, I grabbed an almond and ran over, biting down hard on the man's other hand that was hanging down.

The man let go of Cuier in pain and bent over. The other men rushed over, but I threw the almond in my hand at them, and they all stopped in their tracks. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Cuier pulled me away, and we ran as fast as we could.

They chased after us, but the town was crowded that day because of the annual temple fair. Cuier led me through the streets, turning left and right a few times, and we managed to lose them.