Jiang Wangchuan held the small girl tightly in his arms and looked down at the ground, worried that it might be a poisonous insect like a centipede or a scorpion.
“Where is it? Where’s the bug?”
“Waa… it’s in the dirt.”
Lin Suhe refused to let go of him. Her trembling voice came from where her face was buried against his chest, and it even sounded like she was about to cry.
Jiang Wangchuan looked carefully and finally saw a long worm wriggling through the soil.
He relaxed and gently patted her back.
“Ah, it’s only an earthworm. It won’t bite you. Don’t worry.”
But Lin Suhe still refused to lift her head from his chest.
“I’m scared… Please get rid of it.”
Jiang Wangchuan could not refuse her. He picked up a bamboo twig from the ground and flicked the earthworm far away.
“Alright. It’s gone now.”
Only then did Lin Suhe slowly raise her head. She glanced into the hole in the ground and patted her chest in relief.
Jiang Wangchuan used his sleeve to wipe the dirt from her face and the tip of her nose. Smiling, he said,
“You’re really timid. How can you even be afraid of an earthworm? They’re everywhere.”
Feeling embarrassed by his teasing, Lin Suhe twisted the corner of her clothes and quietly said,
“I… I’m just afraid of bugs.”
“Earthworms are useful. You can use them as bait to catch big fish in the river.”
As he spoke, Jiang Wangchuan stood up and walked over to pick up the small hoe.
The moment Lin Suhe heard that, she became nervous.
“You’re not going to pick the earthworm back up, are you?”
Jiang Wangchuan waved the hoe in his hand.
“Silly girl, what are you thinking? I’m picking up the hoe. Why would I bring back something that scares you?”
Lin Suhe smiled sweetly at him, revealing two adorable dimples.
She had already dug around the bamboo shoot enough.
Jiang Wangchuan struck the bottom of the shot once with the hoe. A crisp snap sounded as it broke loose.
He grabbed the tip of the bamboo shoot and pulled hard.
A large, plump spring bamboo shoot came out of the ground.
He handed it to Lin Suhe to carry while he shouldered the bamboo they had cut.
The two of them happily headed home.
“Brother Jiang! I want stir-fried bamboo shoots with sliced pork tonight.”
“Alright! I’ll make it for you tonight.”
Back home, Jiang Wangchuan dragged all the bamboo into the courtyard.
He had cut four bamboo stalks of similar thickness. After splitting them into several pieces about the height of a person, he began making the rack.
Meanwhile, Lin Suhe sprinkled water over the sprouting wheat and checked the honey locust pods. They had dried enough.
She sat on a stone stool and began shelling the honey locust pods, removing the small seeds one by one and placing them beside her.
The seeds did not taste very good, but they could be used as medicine to moisten the lungs, relieve coughing, and reduce phlegm.
By the time she had finished shelling about half of the pods, Jiang Wangchuan had already completed the rack.
He immediately placed several bamboo trays on it.
The bamboo rack was both sturdy and attractive.
Looking proudly at Lin Suhe, he said,
“Girl, look. The rack you wanted is finished.”
Lin Suhe looked at it and saw that it was almost exactly as she had imagined.
She nodded happily.
“Brother Jiang, you’re amazing.”
Jiang Wangchuan was still not used to being praised.
He scratched his head with a silly grin before coming over to help her shell the honey locust pods.
His hands were large and rough, making him much faster than Lin Suhe.
Together, they finished shelling all the pods by the time the sun was setting behind the western mountains.
“Brother Jiang, I’ll have to trouble you again.”
Following Lin Suhe’s instructions, Jiang Wangchuan used a knife to slice the empty honey locust pods into long strips on the cutting board, then chopped them into small pieces.
After that, he held a knife in each hand and chopped both at once, just as if he were mincing dumpling filling, making the pod shells as fine as possible.
Next, he put the chopped pieces into a stone mortar, added water, and pounded them with a stone pestle until they became a soft paste.
These jobs required a lot of strength, so there was very little Lin Suhe could do to help.
Jiang Wangchuan worked with great energy.
He had taken off his outer robe and was wearing only a sleeveless undershirt, revealing his muscular arms.
The muscles in his arms tightened and stretched with every movement.
Tiny beads of sweat covered his wheat-colored skin.
In the glow of the setting sun, he looked healthy, strong, and full of life.
Sitting on a stone, Lin Suhe rested her chin in her hands and became completely absorbed in watching him work.
The man I chose is so handsome.
No matter how long I look at him, it’s never enough.
Jiang Wangchuan wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked up.
“Girl, come see if this is right.”
Hearing his voice, Lin Suhe finally came back to her senses.
She walked over to the stone mortar and looked inside.
The honey locust pods had been completely mashed into a paste.
A layer of bubbles floated on the surface, and it gave off a pleasant fragrance.
Jiang Wangchuan exclaimed,
“It really does make bubbles! And it smells pretty nice.”
Lin Suhe scooped up a little of the paste with her slender fingers and rubbed it between them.
“For laundry soap, we can simply roll this paste into balls and let them harden. It can also be used to wash hair and make shampoo, but that’s a little more troublesome. We have to boil it with water and then strain out the hard pieces.”
Jiang Wangchuan looked at her long hair, which was tied into two buns, and smiled.
“That’s no trouble at all. Let’s make both shampoo and soap.”
As he spoke, he struck a fire stone to light the stove, set a pot over the fire, and began boiling the honey locust paste.
He mixed equal amounts of paste and water in the pot, stirring constantly so it would not stick to the bottom.
After it came to a boil, he covered the pot and let it simmer.
The mixture bubbled away, filling the air with a pleasant fragrance.
Fortunately, Jiang Wangchuan’s house was halfway up the mountain and far from the other villagers.
Otherwise, the wonderful smell would surely have attracted curious visitors.
While the shampoo mixture simmered, Lin Suhe took the small flowers they had picked along the mountain path earlier that day and mixed them into the remaining honey locust paste in the stone mortar.
She kneaded the mixture into small round balls and placed them on a bamboo tray to harden.
Jiang Wangchuan copied what she was doing and rolled some balls of paste himself, although his were much larger than hers.
“Girl, is it alright if I make them this big?”
For almost everything, Jiang Wangchuan asked Lin Suhe for her opinion.
Looking at the large soap balls he had made, she smiled.
“That’s fine. We’ll just sell the bigger ones for a higher price.”
Jiang Wangchuan said,
“This soap is actually pretty simple to make.”
Lin Suhe rolled her eyes at him playfully.
“We’re only making the simplest kind. The really fragrant and beautiful handmade soaps are much harder to make and need a lot more ingredients.”
Real handmade soap required large amounts of rendered animal fat.
They did not have enough money yet to make that high-quality kind, so for now they could only make this simple, rough version.
Even so, it would still work very well.
By then, the shampoo mixture had cooled.
It was getting late, and they needed the pot to cook dinner. Otherwise, they would end up eating in the dark.
Jiang Wangchuan covered a clay jar with a piece of filtering cloth and poured the cooked honey locust mixture through it.
The cloth caught all the solid pieces, leaving only a thick, pleasantly scented liquid in the jar.
Jiang Wangchuan proudly held the clay jar out for Lin Suhe to inspect.
After receiving another round of praise from her, he felt happier than ever.
From now on, my wife’s hair can be washed with this and always smell nice.