Ji Ning woke up early the next morning.
Ji An and Ji Song were also up as early as she was.
Last night, Mrs. Wang had taken her and Lan-jie to sleep in the west room. She hadn’t yet adjusted to the daily routine of this time, so she had stayed up late and was half-asleep when she heard faint murmuring from the east room. She thought it was Feng-ge’er fussing and wanting to play with Ji An.
Usually, Ji An would only stay home for one night before returning to the school the next day, so his early rise today wasn’t surprising.
But yesterday, he had told the family he didn’t want to go back to school anymore.
While chewing on a willow twig, Ji Ning observed Ji An closely. He didn’t seem as desperate as he had been the day before, but he was still gloomy, standing beside her as they washed their faces.
She thought for a moment. If she asked him directly, he probably wouldn’t say anything, so she changed the subject instead: “When are you leaving, Brother?”
Ji An was scooping a handful of cold water to splash on his face. At her words, he paused, water droplets sliding down his thin cheeks. He wiped his face with his hand, his voice still low but carrying a resigned calmness: “After Father finishes packing, I’ll see him off to the village entrance first, then head to town.”
Oh… So he wasn’t dropping out for now?
Ji Ning mumbled a vague acknowledgment and then found an opportunity to sidle up to Ji Song: “Father! Where are you going this time? How long will you be gone?”
Ji Song kept working with his hands, but his voice was gentle: “Just making the rounds in a few nearby villages. I’ll probably be back in three or four days.”
Since crossing over, Ji Ning hadn’t left the village. She had searched the original body’s memories but only had a vague understanding of the surrounding area. She only knew that the village she was in was called Xidiandang Village. Now, hearing Ji Song mention the surroundings, she quickly asked: “Won’t you go to town? I heard someone say our town is called… called…”
“Puyang,” Ji An finished for her. “Above it is Chanzhou.”
Seeing Ji Ning’s confused expression, Ji An felt awkward.
He had intended to change the subject, but then Ji Ning asked: “Brother, where is Chanzhou?”
She didn’t look embarrassed, just genuinely puzzled. She felt the name sounded somewhat familiar, but no matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t place it.
Ji Ning’s curiosity was quite strong. Ji An glanced at Ji Song, who was still packing, and estimated he would need more time. So he picked up a twig and began drawing on the ground, explaining to Ji Ning: “Our dynasty follows the administrative system of the Tang. During Emperor Taizong’s reign, the territory was divided into fifteen circuits. By now, it has expanded to twenty-three circuits. Our Chanzhou belongs to Hebei East Circuit.”
Looking at the rough map he sketched, Ji Ning finally began to piece things together. She should be in Henan Province.
Henan was good—the Northern Song capital was in Henan! That meant she shouldn’t be too far from Bianliang.
She said “should” because Ji An’s map was also quite vague. As a farmer’s son, he didn’t have many books to rely on and could only outline the map based on what he had learned.
After studying it for a while, Ji Ning asked: “Are we very close to Bianjing?”
Ji An nodded: “To the north of us is Chanzhou, to the south is the Eastern Capital, to the west is Xinzhong Township in Weizhou, and to the east is Caozhou.”
He thought for a moment and gave an approximate distance: “About twenty li from Kaide Prefecture. The Eastern Capital is farther—I’ve never been there, but my teacher mentioned it’s roughly four hundred li away.”
Ji Ning looked at him and suddenly said, “Brother, I think you’re doing very well in your studies. Why would you say your Imperial Examination pursuit is difficult?”
His logic was clear when he spoke, and he could even derive additional knowledge from books in daily life, able to summarize geographical information on his own. How could this be what he called “difficult Imperial Examination pursuit”?
Ji An was taken aback, his expression turning somewhat unnatural. He reached out and patted her head, saying, “Adult matters are not for children to ask about.”
Ji Ning turned her head away. “I’m not a child anymore.”
Ji An shook his head and sighed. “Knowing is not difficult; putting it into practice is the true challenge!”
Over there, Ji Song was already waving. “An-ge, let’s go.”
He carried a shoulder pole with his goods hanging from both ends, a straw hat on his head, a sweat towel draped around his neck, dressed in gray short clothes, and wearing a pair of weathered straw sandals on his feet.
Interrupted in their conversation, Ji Ning could only wave to Ji Song. “Father, come back early. I have a business idea to discuss with you!”
Ji Song merely took it as a child’s joke and didn’t pay it much mind, leaving the house with Ji An.
Ji Ning tidied up the house, and before long, the rest of the family had also gotten up, each going about their own tasks. The adults went to the fields to check on the young crops, while children Ji Ning’s age went to the foot of the mountain to gather firewood, cut pigweed, or pick wild vegetables.
Feng-ge’er, eight years old, was at that age where everyone found him annoying and even dogs avoided him. He loved running around the village, but early this morning, Ji Ning had given him a task: to stay at home and play with his little sister, Lan-jie.
Ji Ning made it clear she was going out, and Feng-ge’er’s eyes darted around as he clamored to go with her.
As soon as he moved, Lan-jie followed suit. “Sister, take me with you, take me with you.”
Ji Ning raised an eyebrow. “You two stay home and behave. When your sister comes back, I’ll bring you something fun.”
Feng-ge’er’s eyes lit up. “Sister, I want a cricket jar!”
Lan-jie, a step behind, mumbled, “Sister, I want cake, not something fun.”
Ji Ning was both amused and exasperated. As a ten-year-old girl who stayed at home, she didn’t have a single coin to her name and couldn’t afford to buy cricket jars or cakes. A cricket jar alone would cost at least five Wen…
Ji Ning smiled and said, “I don’t have a cricket jar right now, but I can definitely get you something no one else has.”
She then looked at Lan-jie. “You too. I’ll buy you cake later.”
After calming her younger siblings, Ji Ning went out with a basket on her back.
Xidiandang Village had a back mountain, rugged and steep. Usually, villagers wouldn’t venture up there, except for the hunters who lived on the mountain.
Ji Ning wandered around the foot of the mountain. This area was frequently visited by villagers, and the wild vegetables and dry firewood had long been picked clean. To find what she was looking for, she had to go deeper.
After searching for a while, her gaze fell on the bamboo on the mountain.
She had brought a machete and quickly cut down several bamboo stalks, some thick and some thin.
After cutting the bamboo into sections and loading them into her basket, Ji Ning tested the weight. It was manageable.
Carrying the basket, she continued upward, picking some wild vegetables and fruits along the way. As she walked, she pondered her “entrepreneurial plan.”
The family was so poor they had nothing, no starting capital. She could only turn her attention to the commonplace things around her. When she used to read time-travel novels, she often saw protagonists finding things like lingzhi mushrooms or ginseng in the mountains. She didn’t hold out hope for that, but surely there was no harm in gathering some bamboo? She had specifically asked Ji Song—the mountains were public land, and anyone could gather firewood or pick plants there.
She planned to use this bamboo to make some toys. Even an ordinary wooden cricket cage could sell for five Wen. In her childhood, she had played with plenty of innovative toys.
Feng-ge’er sat in the courtyard, chin in his hands, talking to Lan-jie: “What do you think Sister will bring back for us?”
Lan-jie shook her head. “If only there could be something tasty—even wild fruit would do. If there were raspberries, that would be even better.”
As she spoke, she couldn’t help but drool.
Feng-ge’er wiped her face with a look of disgust. “There aren’t any raspberries at this time of year. They only come in March. Right now, there are only figs.”
Lan-jie didn’t care; she just wanted fruit.
After wiping her face, Feng-ge’er kept glancing outside. He was an energetic boy and had long been itching to go out and play, but he’d promised his sister, so he didn’t abandon his little sister.
Just as he was growing impatient, the courtyard gate opened.
Ji Ning walked in from outside, carrying a basket on her back and holding two bunches of wild vegetables in her hands.
Lan-jie dashed over and threw herself at Ji Ning, nearly knocking her over. “Sister! Any fruit?”
Ji Ning had no free hands and could only soothe her. “Yes, but wait until I put these things down first.”
Lan-jie was happy as long as there was food. She eagerly took the two bunches of wild vegetables from Ji Ning’s hands and urged Feng-ge’er to help Ji Ning unload the basket.
Feng-ge’er had already come over. He lifted the basket from Ji Ning’s back, and his face twisted as soon as he exerted a little force. “Sister, what did you bring back? Why is it so heavy?”
Ji Ning laughed. “You’ll see when you look.”
The basket landed on the ground. On top was a small bundle of processed bamboo, both green and old bamboo. Underneath the bamboo…
Feng-ge’er rubbed his eyes. “Sister, why did you bring back a basket of mud?!”
It was called a basketful, but there were only two clumps. Her body was only ten years old, and she had just recovered from a serious illness, so she was very weak. She had to stop and rest several times before barely managing to carry the basket back.
Lan-jie, sharp-eyed, had already fetched water for her sister to wash her hands.
Ji Ning poured the soil from the basket into a corner, carefully breaking the larger clumps with a wooden mallet.
Seeing her squatting in the corner playing with mud, Feng-ge’er rolled up his sleeves and joined in, brimming with confidence. “Sister, let me do it!”
He had been playing with mud since he was little!
Ji Ning didn’t stop him, letting him “help” beside her.
The two clumps of soil she had dug up were dark brown, with a fine texture that could easily be crushed into powder.
After crushing the soil, she soaked it in a seldom-used wooden basin. As she did so, she scolded Feng-ge’er beside her. “Don’t touch this basin. If Mother comes back and sees you’ve turned into a mud monkey, you’ll be in trouble.”
Feng-ge’er looked sheepish. “I wasn’t…”
As he spoke, his mud-covered hands, which had secretly dipped into the basin, couldn’t help but scratch his face, leaving two streaks of mud. Lan-jie immediately circled around him, teasing him for looking like a big tabby cat.
Ji Ning smiled and went back to picking wild vegetables.
After selecting most of the vegetables, she poured the muddy water floating on the surface into another basin—this was to separate the sediment in the soil from the upper clay layer, a process that needed to be repeated four or five times.
The separated muddy water was poured into a basin and placed in the corner. She carefully instructed Feng-ge’er and Lan-jie not to touch it: “If you want new toys and pastries, you must not touch this basin, understand?”
Feng-ge’er and Lan-jie watched eagerly.
Children are naturally curious to some extent. They didn’t understand what their sister was doing, only that she was playing with mud.
When Grandpa Ji and the others returned, they saw the usually mischievous Feng-ge’er squatting in the corner, staring at a basin of muddy water, with dried mud stains all over his clothes, looking like a little monkey that had rolled around in the mud.
Lan-jie had long lost interest and was pestering Ji Ning to give her some figs.
Mrs. Wang frowned, habitually about to scold: “Ji Feng! What are you doing!”
Feng-ge’er was startled, turning around abruptly with a bewildered look on his face.
Ji Ning quickly stood up, shielding her brother and the basin of muddy water. With a smile on her face but a bright gleam in her eyes, she said: “Mother, don’t blame him. I asked him to help me keep an eye on it. This isn’t ordinary mud—it might be something that could bring our family a little extra income in the future.”
Author’s Note:
None