The next day, Luo Yang and his father had to get up early, and to their surprise, Bai Chao got up early with them. When he got out of bed, his legs wobbled and he nearly fell. Luo Yang knew it must be because of all the walking they had done yesterday.
Thinking of the light salt water they had soaked his feet in last night, Luo Yang felt the remedy hadn't done much good—his legs would ache whether he liked it or not.
"Just stay home and be good today. After a long journey, your legs will be sore the next day. Just help Grandmother with some chores around the house."
"Fine." Bai Chao had originally planned to go pick osmanthus flowers in front of Great-Grandfather's house, but he obediently agreed.
The two of them chatted as they slowly made their way to the back courtyard. By the time they reached the kitchen door, the two of them could still see their shadows on the ground.
As the saying goes, the moon is fullest on the sixteenth. Today's bright moon hanging in the sky looked round and luminous, even more beautiful than last night's.
It was just past the hour of Mao, and there was still no sign of dawn. The sky held not only the full moon but also a scattering of twinkling stars, revealing a beautiful starry sky. Today was clearly going to be another sunny day.
The two of them went straight into the kitchen, and before long, Father Luo arrived as well. After a simple wash-up, he sat down at a small table in the kitchen.
The Luo family's kitchen was a separate room and fairly spacious. The earthen stove held three pots—as one could tell from the large, medium, and small iron woks in the house, the family must have lived quite well in earlier years.
Since the kitchen was spacious, no separate bathhouse had been built; instead, a space had been partitioned off behind the cutting board with wooden boards. The boards were wide enough to completely conceal the bathing area, so when outsiders came to visit, they wouldn't be able to see clearly into such a private space.
Grandmother was already busy at work in the kitchen. That morning she had made egg pancakes for father and son, made from potato flour no less—fragrant and soft, a dish usually only eaten at New Year's.
Since Bai Chao had gotten up early, Luo Yang naturally couldn't leave his mouth empty. He picked up a piece of egg pancake and placed it before him, but Bai Chao refused to take it. Not only did he shake his head, he also covered his mouth with his hand and said in a muffled voice: "Husband eats, Father eats."
His big husband and Father had to go out to work and wouldn't be back for a long time, and for a long while they wouldn't get to eat anything good. He couldn't snatch their good food from them.
Since Bai Chao wouldn't eat, Grandmother told father and son not to fuss over him, and Luo Yang didn't press the matter, just buried his head in his meal.
This wasn't his first year going out to work, so he naturally knew that earning money at a landlord's house wasn't easy. Once the master paid their wages, they had to work from before dawn until after dark, and the daily meals would only be enough to fill their stomachs—eating well was out of the question.
The meal passed in the blink of an eye. When father and son were preparing to leave, Grandfather and Mother had gotten up as well, and the whole family saw the two off at the front gate. Just as they were about to leave, someone suddenly grabbed Luo Yang's arm.
"Big guy, come back early. When you get back, I'll make you osmanthus cakes." Bai Chao's words were just a simple parting reminder, and after saying them, he waited eagerly for Luo Yang to respond.
But he didn't know that the moment those words left his mouth, everyone in the Luo family except Luo Yang broke into grins. Luo Yang alone looked embarrassed, and after his father nudged him lightly in the arm with an elbow, his face began to burn. Fortunately, what lit up their faces now was moonlight, not sunlight, or else his red, flustered face would have been on full display for everyone to see.
After Luo Yang had walked quite a distance away, still under his father's hearty laughter, he suddenly gave his own head a smack. The reason was simple—before leaving, he had left someone with a message, and he'd even leaned in close to whisper it in their ear.
He told Bai Chao where his copper coins were hidden, telling him that if yesterday's candy was finished, he could dig them out and use them to buy more.
Fifteen copper coins gone in the blink of an eye—Luo Yang felt the ache keenly. But he was expert at comforting himself. He told himself that a fake husband was still a husband, and he needed to be taken care of properly, and with that thought his heart felt much lighter.
That was his husband. Spending money on him was only right and proper.
Father and son hadn't gone far when the village, quiet all night, slowly began to wake. Voices rose here and there across the village, and figures gradually appeared on the paths between the fields. The remaining members of the Luo family also needed to prepare for work in the fields.
"Why did you call him out to work? His arm isn't even as thick as a sickle handle—he probably can't do anything. Even if he could, look at how clumsy and reckless he is. If he takes a fall out in the field and gets cut by those fresh-cut corn stalk edges, how are you going to explain it to our eldest grandson?" Grandmother's words were soft. She was used to deferring to Grandfather in everything, and never had much confidence when disagreeing with him.
Grandfather had only called out casually in the first place—if the boy could come work, fine; if not, so be it.
But after Grandmother's words, he figured that if the boy got hurt, he'd have to tend to the injury, which would cost even more money. Since it wasn't any important work anyway, he decided it was fine for the boy to stay behind, and simply took his sickle and headed to the field with Luo's Mother.
They had plenty of work today—cutting corn stalks in the fields in the morning, hoeing the rice paddies after breakfast, and once the fields were cleared, they'd plant wheat and beans. As long as the family had land, there was always work to be done—face to the earth and back to the sky, all year round.
Only an old woman and a young man were left at home, but they had plenty of work too.
The sky was still dark, so first they had to cook the pig feed and prepare the chicken feed. After daybreak, they'd move the grain from the steps into the yard. Once the grain was spread out to dry, it would be time to wash clothes.
Things had been busy at home these days. The dirty laundry they'd changed out of had been soaked with sweat over and over—it needed to be washed immediately or it would start to stink, and the fabric would wear out easily.
While cooking the pig feed, Grandmother taught Bai Chao how to twist grass bundles and grumbled at the same time, "If we could still cut firewood on the front mountain, we wouldn't be so strapped for fuel at home. Those landlords truly eat people without even spitting out the bones. Buying up the fields was bad enough, but they had to buy the mountains too. Our village used to have firewood so conveniently close, and now we have to trudge all the way to the back mountain to cut it. It's exhausting."
With so little firewood at home, they had to burn mostly soft fuel. But soft fuel like grass bundles and straw stalks doesn't last—a bundle tossed into the stove burns out in the blink of an eye, so someone has to stay by the stove constantly. With big logs it would be much easier—toss a couple in and you could forget about it, enough to burn for a good hour or two.
Bai Chao couldn't quite follow Grandmother's grumbling and couldn't think of a response for a moment. Looking at the grass bundle in her hands, she changed the subject and continued, "Well, at least it's only the big timber we can't cut. Small branches and old grass are still fine. I suppose that landlord has a little conscience after all. Otherwise, if we had to go to the back mountain just to cut a bundle of grass, that would be real trouble. Never mind the grass bundles for cooking—even the straw for lining the pigsty would be hard to come by."
By now, Bai Chao had slowly figured out what Grandmother meant, and he said with great certainty: "No, no, no, he has no conscience—he's a big villain!"
"What would a little dunce like you know?" Grandmother glanced toward the door, quickening the movements of her hands while also watching Bai Chao's hands, wanting to see whether the little dunce had learned to tie grass bundles yet.
Grandmother saw that he was already quite skilled at the work, and just as she was feeling gratified, an infuriating remark came from beside her.
"If we don't cut the grass, the woods will turn to wasteland, and good timber won't grow well." When Bai Chao said this, Grandmother's hands paused, and she studied him carefully for a good while.
What kind of brain does this little dunce have? Why had she never thought of that before? It actually sounded rather reasonable.
But still…
"What do you know? The wild grass cut from the fields can feed the pigs too—it's got some use after all." Grandmother thought that even if that were true, they could just treat the landlord's good timber as crops and the wild grass as pig feed—letting them have a bit of pig feed was fine.
"Then are we pigs?"
"Aiya! You wretched child, stop talking! All you know is how to vex this old woman!"
"Oh."
Fine, he wouldn't talk if he wasn't supposed to. It wasn't as if he really wanted to talk anyway.
He hadn't eaten yet, and he had no strength in his body.
Having learned to tie grass bundles, Bai Chao began tending the fire himself. Grandmother went to chop pig feed and chicken feed. By the time the old woman and the child had finished their work in the kitchen, the sky had gradually brightened, and they began drying the grain.
This year was a bountiful harvest year. Their six mu of fields had yielded over a hundred jin more rice than last year, and that extra hundred-odd jin of rice was worth nearly six qian of silver—enough that they wouldn't have to worry about the cost of salt for a whole year.
In the hard years past, they hadn't dared put much salt in their cooking—eat a bit more this meal, and the next meal's bowl would be flavorless.
After pushing out the grain on the last drying mat, the expression on Grandmother's face relaxed considerably. Heaven had shown mercy this year—ever since harvest day, the sun had been good. The grain would only need a couple more days of drying; it could all be sifted tomorrow afternoon. Once the grain tax was paid, they'd know how much grain the family could keep, and the family could have a meal of white rice every few days.
A farming family's toil all year long was all for that little something to chew on. Bai Chao, too young to understand worry, had no idea why Grandmother looked so happy—he just assumed he had behaved well and brought a smile to her face.
After the grain was dried, the two of them had to go wash clothes. Grandmother also had Bai Chao close the front courtyard gate and bar it—they were going to the big ditch to wash clothes, and with no one home to watch the house, it would be terrible if someone got into the courtyard.
Because Baihua Village was close to the prefecture city, public order had always been good, and there were basically no outside thieves. But while there were no outside thieves, there were petty thieves within the village—there were always people who liked to take small advantages, casually pocketing a few fruits or vegetables on their way home.
People who loved taking advantage couldn't change their habits, and they wouldn't refrain just because the goods were different. If they could steal vegetables, they'd steal grain just the same. Seeing a courtyard full of grain with no one home, who would know if someone scooped a few handfuls into their pockets and took them home?
The old woman and the child, one carrying a large wooden bucket and the other holding a large wooden basin, reached the gentle slope by the ditch. As they were slowly making their way down, Bai Chao's legs suddenly trembled, his footing gave way, and he fell straight to the ground, rolling down a good stretch of the slope.
"Chao brother!" Grandmother was scared half to death. This was where the family often came to wash clothes—there were no thorns or brambles on the path, but the ground wasn't exactly smooth either. She hoped he hadn't scraped his hands and feet on the stones, or he'd really suffer for it later.
Bai Chao, who had been sprawled on the ground, slowly picked himself up into a sitting position, tears clinging to his cheeks as he pounded his own legs, looking utterly wronged.
"He wouldn't listen. He had no strength left, so he fell."
Grandmother didn't know whether to laugh or scold him at those words, but she nodded along anyway. "That's right, he wouldn't listen. We told him not to go, but he just had to. Such little arms and legs, walking dozens of li—and of course he's paying for it today."
That's just how traveling was: you were only tired that day, but the next day was the real torture. Your legs felt filled with lead—walking on flat ground was exhausting, and going downhill felt like knives stabbing into your thighs, the pain so bad you couldn't straighten up.
"Hmph!" Bai Chao could tell Grandmother was talking about him, and he got so angry he twisted his head away.
Grandmother paid him no mind and checked his arms and legs herself. Only when she found no visible injuries did she relax a little. "Aiya, our Chao brother has really suffered, haven't you? Go sit over there." While half-heartedly soothing him, Grandmother began soaking the clothes in water to get the washing started.
Bai Chao's anger came fast and went fast too. Tears still on his face, he was already helping Grandmother gather stones to dam up a small pool, then tossing all the dirty clothes in to soak.
A farming family's clothes were almost always covered in sweat and mud stains, but washing them wasn't difficult. First, soaking removed most of the sweat and grime; after that, scrubbing with crushed soap pods would get them perfectly clean.
Once the clothes had soaked for a while, Grandmother picked up her laundry beetle and set to work. Seeing this, Bai Chao simply took off his shoes and started stomping on the clothes with his bare feet.
Seeing him stamping clothes at the edge of the ditch, Grandmother worried the uneven ground there might make him fall, and also feared that the constantly flowing cold water would give him a chill, so she told him to fetch water into a wooden tub and stomp there instead.
Bai Chao was quite obedient—he stomped however Grandmother told him to—and as he stomped, he hummed some rhythmic little tune under his breath. But when Grandmother asked what it was called, he didn't know. All he knew was that whenever he was happy, it just came humming out of him.