Xu Yue directed her brother to chop down a smaller paper mulberry tree. She had her strong older brother carry it back to the pond while she and her sister followed behind.
As the three siblings descended the slope, the paper mulberry’s large canopy spread out through the mountain forest, creating quite a commotion and startling countless birds into flight.
While reminding her brother to watch his step, Xu Yue scanned the surrounding bushes, hoping to spot some more taro. However, the villagers of Dawang Village had already scavenged the area yesterday. She found no taro, only numerous dug-up pits and scattered leaves left behind.
Actually, taro stems were edible too, but their texture was rather unpalatable. Without proper cooking conditions, Xu Yue didn’t recommend eating them. Besides, with game abundant in the mountains, food wasn’t an immediate concern. Since taro stems didn’t store well either, she decided not to mention it.
The three siblings carried the tree back to the pond, drawing the attention of Tong Shi and others. Wang Jia Danniang, holding her frail younger brother, stood not far away, wide-eyed and curious as she watched the siblings process the paper mulberry tree and strip its bark. Her mouth slightly agape, she seemed surprised that bark could be peeled and used this way.
Xu Yue tore the stripped bark into thin strips and handed a bunch to Xu Da, who was making straw sandals.
“Father, see if this will work.”
The best material for straw sandals was rice straw, twisted into thin ropes and woven into shoes—the most common footwear among ordinary people. Hadn’t Emperor Liu Xuande started his rise by selling straw sandals? That was because straw sandals were a necessity for common households. Plus, their low durability meant high replacement frequency and repeat purchases.
However, most farmers in Changyi also knew how to weave straw sandals. Whether a straw sandal business could thrive here was uncertain. Still, learning the skill beforehand was wise—it might just become a path to prosperity.
Xu Da had been struggling with brittle, easily broken grass stems. When Xu Yue brought him the bark strips, he tested their strength by pulling on them. Impressed by their toughness and durability, inspiration struck. He eagerly tossed aside the useless grass stems and started weaving enthusiastically.
Exchanging a knowing glance, the three siblings coordinated their efforts: Xu Dalang peeled the bark, Xu Erniang tore it into strips, and Xu Yue braided the strips into thin ropes for Xu Da.
Half an hour later, Xu Da held a flip-flop-like straw sandal in his hand. After shaping the sandal, he added two more straw ropes threaded through pre-made holes, turning it into a wearable shoe that wouldn’t slip off. However, the gaps between the weave were visibly large, likely allowing even slightly sharp pebbles to pierce through.
Despite this, the father and his three children were thrilled. Xu Da took a few steps, his eyebrows raised in satisfaction, though he still felt a dull pain when accidentally stepping on a stone.
Xu Erniang suggested, “What if we make the soles double-layered and add a grass cushion? Since it’s easier to make than weaving with rice straw, we can just make extra pairs to switch out if they wear out quickly.”
Inspired by her idea, Xu Da took off the new sandal and dove back into refining his design.
Xu Dalang had finished peeling all the bark from the large paper mulberry tree, piling it into a small mound on the grass. Worried it might not be enough, Xu Yue left her sister and adoptive father—both now deeply interested in sandal-making—and led her brother to chop down another paper mulberry tree.
However, this time, the siblings had two additional followers trailing behind them.
They were Wang Jia Danniang and Wang Youliang, the nine-year-old son of Wang Dahai who had lost his mother.
These two little sprouts appeared even less sturdy than Xu Yue, yet each carried a heavy firewood knife in their hands.
The forging technology of the Great Qing Dynasty was underdeveloped, and ironware contained many impurities, making them much heavier than later generations’ iron tools.
At any rate, Xu Yue couldn’t swing the firewood knife herself, so she couldn’t help but take an extra glance at the two children.
Wang Jia Danniang, being younger, seemed to struggle a bit with carrying the knife. Wang Youliang, being slightly older, appeared to handle it quite easily.
Moreover, both were barefoot, and Xu Yue couldn’t fathom how they managed to move so effortlessly through the rocky mountain forest.
When they noticed her looking over, they flinched nervously, afraid she might drive them away.
Fortunately, she only glanced briefly before turning her attention away, so they timidly followed behind her. Watching her cut down a paper mulberry tree, they found one for themselves as well.
The tree trunk was too large to cut, and even if they managed, the two little beans couldn’t carry it back. So they broke off branches instead, each dragging a large bundle to the pondside.
Tong Shi looked at her daughter in surprise. Wang Jia Danniang pointed at Xu Da, who was weaving bark shoes not far away, then at her own badly worn feet, and said in a childish voice:
“Mother makes shoes. Wearing new shoes doesn’t hurt.”
Then she added expectantly: “Danniang wants shoes too, and little brother too.”
Shock flashed in Tong Shi’s eyes. Since birth, her daughter had never liked playing with children her age, rarely spoke, and often stared blankly into space.
Neighbors said the child might be a bit slow in the head. Though as a mother she didn’t want to believe it, seeing her daughter’s occasional dazedness made her wonder if there really was something wrong.
As for the word “clever,” Tong Shi had never imagined it could describe her daughter.
But now, watching her daughter bring back branches for shoe-making and being the first to lead her to find taro, Tong Shi was certain – her Danniang had absolutely nothing wrong with her mind!
Not only was there nothing wrong, she was quite clever!
Overjoyed, Tong Shi gently patted her daughter’s small head and nodded firmly, “Alright, Mother will make shoes for Danniang and little brother.”
“But Mother doesn’t know how to make them. Wait until Father comes back and have him make them for you, okay?”
“Mhmm!” Wang Jia Danniang smiled contentedly, then ran over to the Xu family’s campsite. Watching their movements, she quietly memorized the shoe-making sequence, waiting for her father to return and make shoes for her.
Wang Youliang wasn’t as patient. With his father away hunting, he tried figuring it out himself and ended up making a complete mess of the bark.
Xu Yue secretly found it amusing, enjoying this rare moment of peace.
By noon, Wang Shi and the others still hadn’t returned. With stomachs growling from hunger, Xu Da set aside a portion for Wang Shi separately and led the children to eat lunch first.
They ate plain stewed rabbit – two of them had been cooked.
Though this bland food filled their stomachs, Xu Erniang still wanted to eat taro.
Thinking about how there was plenty of taro but her cheap father wouldn’t cook it for her, the previously harmonious father-daughter pair who had been studying straw sandals together saw their friendship boat capsize instantly.
Xu Da thought to himself that they were lucky to have anything to eat at all, and here she was being picky!
But he controlled his temper and explained: “Taro keeps well, we need to save it as reserves. These wild game don’t keep well – if we don’t eat them quickly, they’ll go to waste.”
With sound reasoning, Xu Erniang’s face fell, and she had no choice but to pick up her share of the rabbit leg and gnaw at it viciously, muttering as she chewed, “Damn God.”
Xu Yue quietly handed the rabbit meat she couldn’t finish to Xu Dalan, then turned her back and took out the taro she had saved from the morning. She chewed it slowly and deliberately, savoring every bite.
Xu Erniang: You’re still the sneakiest of them all!