Three earthenware jars, of all things? One of them looks exquisitely crafted, quite unlike the others. What on earth are these?
Zhao Liniang looked at the jars and recognised at a glance that the two coarse ones were clearly oil and salt jars! How on earth did these end up here? She certainly hadn’t taken them with her when she went into the kitchen!
Tao Qingmiao looked at the two bewildered figures, feeling utterly smug. “The pretty one is the sugar jar; the others are the oil and salt jars.” She gave a little cough, unable to contain the smile on her face. “I hid them whilst you were off looking for the village head! Hehe~”
Tao Qinghe immediately raised her hands and clapped enthusiastically for the young girl. The Tao family’s eldest branch weren’t all dumplings, after all; this younger sister was quite capable! Just moments ago, she’d been worrying that the meagre silver from the family division wouldn’t buy a thing, but now, in the blink of an eye, the essentials—oil, salt and sugar—were all sorted!
“You’ve really pulled off a grand deed in secret, Qingmiao! This has saved our family a fair bit of money!” Tao Qinghe couldn’t stop praising her.
Tao Qingmiao couldn’t suppress the smile playing at the corners of her mouth at her elder sister’s praise, but Zhao Liniang looked somewhat worried. “Now that we’ve taken all this, what will your grandfather and the others do…”
“Mother!” Tao Qingmiao cut her off. “We’ve already divided the household. If they want to use these things, that’s their business. Uncle works in the county town—how could he possibly be short of such essentials?”
Tao Qinghe nodded. “Qingmiao’s right. Don’t worry about them.”
Zhao Liniang reflected on what had just been said, then looked at the two girls and said through gritted teeth, “I won’t. I won’t worry about them anymore. Come on, let’s go and pay our respects to your father first.”
The three of them set the items aside, tidied up briefly, and stepped out of the thatched hut.
The villagers had no proper burial ground, so Tao Dalang had simply been laid to rest on a slightly level patch of ground on the mountainside.
The thatched hut was close to the mountainside, so the three of them reached the spot after only a short walk. As the burial had taken place only recently, the traces beside the fresh grave had not yet been smoothed away by the wind. Zhao Liniang’s eyes welled up the moment she approached, and Tao Qinghe watched, a sigh rising in her heart.
Whilst gathering the paper money, the three realised they had no flint, so they could only offer a simple tribute. Zhao Liniang bent down to clear the scattered dry twigs from the area and said, “Qinghe, Qingmiao, come and kowtow to your father once more, so that he may watch over us.”
Hearing this, the two stepped forward and did as they were told. Tao Qinghe murmured to herself: “Tao Dalang, Tao Dalang, I’ve taken possession of your daughter’s body—I hope you won’t hold it against me. I’ve kowtowed to you, so from now on we’re family. If you have a spirit in heaven, please watch over the three of us!”
Zhao Liniang spoke a few more words to the grave before they moved on. The three of them descended the mountain and made their way towards the thatched cottage. On the way back, Tao Qinghe noticed that Zhao Liniang kept glancing at her from time to time.
“Is there something you wish to say?” she asked.
Zhao Liniang opened her mouth, then, as if having made up her mind, asked, “Since you woke up, you haven’t called me ‘Mother’ once. Are you… holding a grudge against me?”
Tao Qinghe’s heart gave a start; she’d almost forgotten all about this! She steadied her thoughts, steeled herself, and replied, “Mother, what are you saying? How could I possibly blame you?”
Hearing her address her as she always had, Zhao Liniang’s lingering unease was dispelled. Perhaps the girl had simply been distracted these past few days; how could she have read too much into it!
“Oh! Oh! I’m just glad you don’t hold it against me.”
Seeing that the matter had been smoothly resolved, Tao Qinghe breathed a sigh of relief. She recalled how, in her previous life, her parents had divorced and remarried, leaving her to live with her grandparents from a young age. Just before she had been transported to this world, she had been back at her ancestral home to sweep the family graves. She couldn’t help but wonder how long it would take for her biological parents to realise she was dead. From now on, in this new time and place, the two people by her side were her true family. Well, since she was here, the most important thing was to do her best to live a good life!
It took them the whole morning to move house, and the meagre breakfast they’d had had long since been digested. By the time they returned to the thatched cottage, all three of them, now with nothing else to do, felt a rumbling hunger.
Tao Qinghe looked around her new home. Realising they had neither clean water nor firewood, she paused for a moment before asking, “Mother, we’re short of firestones and have no water to cook with. Do you know where we might find some water nearby?”
“There’s a well in the Chen family’s courtyard, not far from here,” Zhao Liniang paused, then added, “Your father was actually brought home by that boy from the Chen family… ”
Tao Qinghe had a vague recollection of this. After a moment’s thought, she made arrangements: “Qingmiao, you’re strong. Come with Mother to fetch a wooden bucket to borrow some water and flint. I’ll go to the foot of the mountain to gather some dry firewood.” With that, she smiled at the two of them. “After all, this is our first meal in our new home. We must have a touch of domestic warmth so that our fortunes may flourish in the days to come.”
Tao Qingmiao agreed immediately, putting down whatever she was doing, and the mother and daughter set off together. After rummaging through her bundle for some straw rope, Tao Qinghe walked alone towards the foot of the mountain.
The mountain to the east of the thatched cottage was called Dongtou Mountain; Dongtou Village had been built beside it and was named accordingly.
Tao Qinghe looked at the modestly-sized mountain. She planned to make her way round to the shady side to gather as much firewood as possible. After scanning the area several times, she settled on a direction and set off.
Dongtou Mountain was relatively small—not a vast range stretching for dozens of kilometres—and so the terrain was fairly flat and easy to traverse. After walking for a short while, beads of sweat began to form on Tao Qinghe’s forehead. Seeing that she was just one bend away from the shade, she silently quickened her pace.
Once she rounded the bend, the trees blocked the sunlight high above, and she finally stopped, lifting her head to survey her surroundings.
Good grief!!!
Even though she had already come to terms with the fact that she had travelled through time, Tao Qinghe was still overcome with excitement at that moment. Just a few metres away, the wall of clustered rosebushes looked exactly the same as the one she had seen before her journey!
She first glanced around to make sure there were no more slopes that could cause her to slip and fall, then strode up to the wall of flowers and shouted, “Was it you, you flower spirit, who brought me here? Send me back immediately!!!”
All around her was dead silence, broken only by the occasional chirp of an unidentified bird. Refusing to give up, Tao Qinghe took a deep breath and shouted again: “Send me back… Cough! Cough! Cough!” Before she could finish her sentence, she was choked by the wind into a fit of coughing, and the momentum she’d just built up vanished instantly.
She glared furiously at the vibrant flowers before her and muttered to herself: “Fine! Fine! Playing dead, are you? Well then, I’ll pluck every last one of you, and none of you will get off scot-free!”
As she spoke, she reached out, lunging towards the wall of flowers. But before she could even touch a single leaf, a searing pain made her pull her hand back. She raised her left hand and looked at her index finger—and something bizarre had happened! A rose was clearly shimmering at her fingertip, like a brand fused with her body, inseparable.
Tao Qinghe laughed bitterly. So the legendary ‘golden finger’ really was just a finger…