Chapter 699

As the glow of the setting sun turned the adobe walls of Zhao Shuzhuo’s house the color of honey, the ringing of bicycle bells approached from the distance. The wheels crunched over the newly laid gravel path outside the yard, startling the reed-flower chickens napping in the corner and sending them flapping into the haystacks beneath the fence. Wang Jianguo was the first to bring his bike to a steady stop. Even as his chain rattled from the momentum, he found his footsteps faltering at the scene before him. The blue stone slabs in the courtyard had been scrubbed until they shone, reflecting the final streaks of sunset. Hé Yǔshuǐ had found some wild chrysanthemums from somewhere, arranging them in a coarse pottery vase on the windowsill, their delicate petals trembling gently in the breeze. The woodpile against the wall was stacked with precision, every branch trimmed away, the logs forming a neat pyramid topped carefully with a waterproof tarp. A freshly washed blue cotton bedsheet fluttered on the clothesline, and the crisp scent of soap beans mingled with the aroma of drying mugwort, drifting softly in the evening air.