Seeing their daughter’s clothes covered in dirt, her hair full of stray weed scraps, and her face thoroughly smudged, the couple quickly ran over to Jinjin and squatted down, asking in grave concern.
“Jinjin, did you fall? Why do you have so many grass scraps and rotten tree leaves all over you?”
Water immediately welled in Liu Dujuan’s eyes. Full of heartache, she hurriedly patted the dirt off her daughter’s clothes and picked the grass scraps and leaves out of her hair and off her body.
Seeing her parents coming to find her, Jinjin instantly felt aggrieved and burst into loud, wailing tears.
“Waaah, Fa… Father, Mo… Mother, Jinjin’s bowl was stolen by Bad Aunt! When Jinjin chased her, I accidentally rolled down the mountain slope…”
“Waaah, Father, Jinjin almost got dashed to death! It was… it was Little White who saved me! Waaah, you have to avenge Jinjin… She even kicked Jinjin’s small basket down the slope, waaah…”
Sobbing breathlessly, Jinjin stuttered out her complaints to her parents through her tears.
“What?”
Hearing this, Jin Yao’s face erupted with fury. He stood up in a flash and cursed in deep anger, “That shameless creature! How could she steal a child’s things? Jinjin, tell Father, did she push you?”
Sobbing, Jinjin shook her head. “No, Jinjin fell and rolled down when chasing her to get the bowl back.”
“Jinjin, don’t cry. You go home with your mother first. Father will go demand it back from her.” Jin Yao quickly squatted down again to comfort Jinjin, then stood up, preparing to go back to the village to demand the bowl.
“Waaah, Jinjin wants to go with Father to beat up that bad woman! Jinjin wants to beat her to death!” Hearing that her father was going, Jinjin shouted anxiously, wanting to go along.
She wanted to see how her father would beat that bad woman, and if she found a chance, she wanted to kick her a few times too, just to release the anger from falling down the slope. She also had to get revenge for her small basket!
Jin Yao looked at his daughter’s current miserable state, thought for a moment, and nodded. He helped take off her small basket and handed it to Liu Dujuan.
“Alright, Father will take you with me. But you have to be clever yourself and don’t get hit by them!” Saying that, Jin Yao scooped Jinjin up.
“Yay! Jinjin knows!”
Jinjin quickly wiped away her tears with her sleeve and turned back to look at Liu Dujuan, her face instantly beaming with a smile. “Mother, take my small basket back and wait obediently at home for me and Father, okay?”
Liu Dujuan still wanted to check if Jinjin had any injuries on her body, but seeing the father and daughter who had already walked a few steps away, she could only call out an instruction, “Be careful, both of you. Talk it over nicely over there, as long as you get the thing back.”
“Alright, got it!” Jin Yao responded, not wanting her to worry.
As for today’s matter, it was definitely impossible to “talk it over nicely.”
Madam Xu stole a child’s thing and even caused the child to roll down the mountain slope. He was far from finished with them over this.
Besides, she specifically stole that bowl—it seemed she had learned about the miraculous nature of that bowl.
Jin Yao’s eyes grew dark and somber. He had been careless; it seemed Madam Xu had been nearby last night and witnessed the scene of Jinjin summoning food.
The village was so far from the mountain—why had she come over here, and what was her motive?
“Jinjin, tell Father about what happened back then,” Jin Yao asked Jinjin on the way.
Jinjin nodded and explained the situation back then to her father.
Hearing that Little White could actually grow big when anxious, the way Jin Yao looked at Little White grew even stranger.
Dujuan’s guess was right—it seemed Little White was truly no ordinary small snake.
“Little White, go follow along in the grass nearby. Otherwise, if the villagers know Jinjin can get close to snakes, they’ll treat her like a monster.”
Little White took a glance at this two-legged dad, then with a *swish*, it slithered down along Jin Yao’s leg and ducked into the grass.
In truth, Little White had originally planned to leave Jinjin’s side when entering the village anyway, to prevent people from treating Jinjin like a monster.
Now having recovered its memories, it knew all too well how frightened and terrified humans were of snakes.
Among humans, those who could draw close to their snake clan were few and far between. As for someone who could communicate with them in language, across the five thousand years it had lived, Jinjin was only the second person it had ever encountered.
…
In the village, at the old Jin family house.
The whole family gathered around that broken bowl, staring at it scrutinizingly.
Madam Wang looked at Madam Xu suspiciously. “Are you sure a broken bowl like this can give out lots of meat?”
Jin Shi also frowned as he looked at Madam Xu. “Have you lost your mind? Isn’t this the broken bowl Jinjin took away? Why did you bring it back again?”
Madam Xu recounted the scene she had witnessed last night, adding that she had happened to see Jinjin holding the broken bowl while digging up wild vegetables on the mountain slope today, so she stole it over.
“Impossible. You definitely misremembered. This is just a broken bowl—how could meat possibly appear?” Jin Shi was convinced it was impossible and that she had definitely misseen it.
The old master pursed his lips and said nothing, merely staring at the bowl. The more he looked at this bowl, the more familiar it seemed, but he just couldn’t recall where he had seen it before.
“Then ask this bowl to get our Haohao a bowl of braised pork first,” the old lady said, giving Madam Xu a heavy look.
She didn’t believe Madam Xu’s words either; no matter how one looked at it, this was just a broken bowl.
Haohao sat next to Jin Shi, looking at this broken bowl and feeling a bit conflicted over whether he should confess that he was the one who threw it out.
Madam Xu pressed her hands together toward the broken bowl and made a wish: “Divine bowl, oh divine bowl, please give our family’s Haohao a bowl of braised pork!”
Four other pairs of eyes stared intently at the broken bowl to see if braised pork would appear.
However, the broken bowl made no movement at all.
Madam Xu made her wish three more times, but the broken bowl still remained motionless.
She muttered under her breath, “Could it be that my way of wishing is wrong?”
Recalling how Jinjin had been sitting on a large rock while holding the broken bowl back then, she slapped her thigh and said, “I know! You definitely have to sit on a large rock while holding this bowl to make a wish, just like Jinjin did!”
The old lady frowned. “Where would we get a rock in our yard?”
Madam Xu looked toward Jin Shi. “I remember there’s a large rock outside our main gate.”
“No, you can’t hold it and go outside the main gate. What if those lads who are on good terms with Jin Yao see it and tell Jin Yao that this bowl is at our house? That would be trouble,” the old lady immediately spoke up to stop her.
It had taken her so much effort to drive that bane out; she didn’t want to see him come to this house to cause trouble again.
“No, I won’t go out. Just let Jin Shi and Father move that large rock back into the yard, and I’ll sit in the yard to try it.”
“Mother, think about it—if that really works, won’t we have meat to eat tonight?”
Madam Xu blinked her eyes, trying hard to persuade the old lady.
The old lady paused. The logic made sense, but why did she constantly feel that this broken bowl was really just a broken bowl rather than any divine bowl?
Jin Shi looked toward the old lady, waiting for her instructions.
From the start, he felt Madam Xu was making a fuss over nothing, and in his heart, he was extremely reluctant to fuss around with moving a large rock.
The old lady looked at Haohao, who was sucking on his finger to the side, knowing the child was hungry. Gritting her teeth, she said, “Eldest Son, go move it with your father. Grab two wooden poles to lever and roll it in; otherwise, the two of you won’t be able to carry it.”
Unwillingly, Jin Shi stood up, gave Madam Xu a heavy glare, and went to look for wooden poles.
The old master also gave a heavy hmph, stood up, and went out.
Holding the broken bowl, Madam Xu hurriedly followed them out.
The old lady glared fiercely at Madam Xu, muttering in her heart: *Let’s see if you can really fuss out a bowl of meat.*
Jin Shi and his father huffed and puffed for the duration of an incense stick, finally moving the large rock inside.
Madam Xu then instructed Jin Shi to flip the rock over. Jin Shi could only go to flip it again, but just as he exerted his strength, he felt a loud *crack* in his waist. Instantly, the waist pain made him unable to stand firm, and cold sweat dripped down his forehead. Hastily supporting himself against the large rock with his body bent over, his legs trembled uncontrollably.
The old lady and old master’s expressions changed. The two elderly people hurriedly went over to support Jin Shi, asking in concern, “Eldest Son, did you strain your waist?”