Bai Chao was so excited that he stood up and even took two steps forward, but Wang Xiaoniu was dawdling, and after a good while still hadn't reached the Luo family's front gate.
"Can you stop calling me 'bandit boss'?" Wang Xiaoniu was only eight years old this year, not particularly tall among his peers, and rather thin at that. Fortunately, he had been born with sharp, piercing brows and eyes, so even his small frame didn't look pitiful in the least.
Bai Chao nodded at him without a second thought, then unceremoniously took the flower from his hands and only then remembered to ask his name. "Tell me your name, and I'll stop calling you 'bandit boss.'"
"My name is Wang Xiaoniu."
Bai Chao was quite straightforward too, switching his address immediately. "Wang Xiaoniu, thank you for the flower."
"It was Dad who told me to give it to you." Wang Xiaoniu said this with some hesitation, but he told the truth in the end. Yesterday, Dad had pushed that person, and if he told the truth, Luo's husband probably wouldn't hold a grudge against his dad anymore.
Although Bai Chao had run a high fever last night, his brain hadn't been cooked. He still remembered who had pushed him yesterday, but he didn't hold grudges at all, nor did he wonder about the reason behind that person's changeable attitude. He just said with a cheerful smile, "Thank your dad for me. This flower is so pretty, I like it very much."
As soon as Bai Chao said this, Wang Xiaoniu first froze, then looked a bit embarrassed. But Bai Chao paid him no mind at all—after thanking him, he immediately started heading back into the house. Only then did Wang Xiaoniu hurriedly call out to stop him.
"Luo's husband, does your promise to trade candy with me still count?" Wang Xiaoniu looked a bit awkward at this moment, and rather lacking in confidence, speaking very carefully, for fear that Bai Chao would refuse, or even beat him up again.
A promise from Bai Chao naturally never went unfulfilled. He nodded at him very seriously, placed the flower by the front gate, and then headed toward his own room while loudly calling for Grandmother.
Grandmother was busy in the kitchen at the moment. That afternoon she had to render lard, and also cut those two jin of pork into small slices to fry and store away, so that Little Silly could eat them slowly. Right now she had to first soak the lard and pork in cold water—soaked long enough, they could be washed clean even without hot water.
Hearing Bai Chao call her, she immediately shook the water off her hands and went out. Little Silly's voice sounded so anxious—had something happened?
Bai Chao came out with the candy just as he ran into Grandmother. He pointed at the sweet potato flowers by the front gate and grinned at Grandmother, calling out, "Wang Xiaoniu gave them to me. Grandmother, let's plant them!"
Grandmother slowly looked toward the family gate, and sure enough, there was a small figure there. Looking closely, it really was Wang Laizi's kid. For a moment she felt displeased—this foolish child, how dare he associate with Laizi's kid!
Bai Chao had just recovered from an illness, so Grandmother dared not take any chances and hurriedly chased after him, terrified that Bai Chao might catch Laizi's disease from him. But she was too late—Bai Chao walked fast, and by the time she reached the gate, Bai Chao had already handed over the candy in his hand and had even foolishly patted the boy on the head.
Grandmother's displeasure showed plainly on her face. Wang Xiaoniu had seen too many such expressions from the villagers to mistake it—one look and he knew Luo's Grandmother disliked him. His steps kicked up wind as he fled, and in the blink of an eye he had run out of sight.
After Wang Xiaoniu ran out, he first stuffed the candy in his hand into his mouth. He had to finish eating the candy before going back, so his father wouldn't find out, because Father hadn't told him to trade flowers for candy—he had only told him to deliver the flowers to the Luo family.
Speaking of delivering flowers, Wang Xiaoniu was a bit confused. He felt like something had gone wrong in his father's head. Yesterday, his father had not only refused to give the man the flowers, but had even pushed him. Yet after the man left, his father had stood there dazed for a while, then picked up a hoe himself and dug up two flower plants.
He had thought his father was angry and throwing a tantrum, that he was going to dig up all the flowers and throw them away, but who knew that after digging up the flowers, his father had gone quiet.
Wang Xiaoniu had completely forgotten about the whole thing, but today, his father had called him over to deliver the flowers to the husband of the Luo family.
Perhaps because it had been sunny for so many days in a row, although today was still clear, the sun had clearly lost the intensity of the past few days. The sky seemed shrouded in a layer of white mist, though it was only as thin as a cicada's wing, and the whole sky still had a hint of blue to it.
Bai Chao wanted to plant the flowers right in front of the house, but Grandmother wouldn't allow it.
Grandmother had originally wanted to scold someone, but remembering that the little fool was still sick, the words wouldn't come out. She stood at the front door with a wrinkled face, wrestling with herself for a good while before finally making a decision.
Ah, fine, plant them, plant them. She had seen Wang Laizi's boy often playing with a few of the village children, and she had never seen any of those children turn into scabby-heads.
Wait, no—more importantly, that Wang boy and his father had always lived with Wang Laizi, and neither father nor son had turned into scabby-heads. All these years, only Wang Laizi himself had a scabby head, losing his hair and eyebrows.
As if awakened by a sudden revelation, Grandmother not only felt a weight lift from her heart, but was also filled with emotion.
Ah, people just love to follow the crowd. For decades now, whenever anyone mentioned the Wang family, they would sneer, and no one wanted to go near them. Everyone said scabby-heads were contagious, and they were all scared to death. Yet no one stopped to think—Wang Laizi had gotten married and had a child, and hadn't his husband and son been just fine?
"Little fool, flowers like these need to be planted in the morning or evening—no one plants flowers at high noon. Though at this time of year, even planting in the morning or evening wouldn't help; these stems can't survive," Grandmother said, a smile on her face, showing not a trace of sorrow that the flowers couldn't be planted.
Seeing the little face fall, she continued, "Pick off the flowers on top and the big buds, and in a bit I'll find you a jar to keep them in. As for the remaining seeds, I'll bury them for you, and next year when they grow, they'll bloom."
The seeds of the red sweet potato flower looked a lot like taro, and also a bit like small sweet potatoes, only with dark red skin. Bai Chao was a little unhappy to hear that the flowers couldn't survive if planted this year, but looking at the yellowing leaves all around, he understood in his heart that Grandmother was right.
He touched the seeds and nodded.
It didn't matter, as long as they bloomed next year.
Since the flowers had all been picked off, it didn't matter whether the stems lived or died. The two of them immediately dug holes and buried the seeds. After the flowers were planted, Grandmother pulled him inside the house to do needlework.
The shoes she was making for Bai Chao only lacked the uppers—at most, the day after tomorrow, the boy would be able to wear his new shoes. As for new clothes, she had seen that the light in her daughter-in-law's room was still on late the past two evenings, so she must be rushing to finish them; the little fool's new clothes would be ready soon too.
The moment they settled down to sit under the eaves, Grandmother thought of the little flower Bai Chao had embroidered yesterday.
She glanced over at him with a bit of a smile. This child looked silly and dazed, but his hands were quite nimble. The flowers he embroidered were so lifelike, and even the stitching on the back showed not a bit of messiness. That was craftsmanship good enough to sell to an embroidery shop. The child's life wouldn't be hard in the future—this skill would be enough for him to support himself.
The old woman and the child worked and chatted, and somehow the conversation turned to the Feng family. Bai Chao patted himself all over, insisting that Grandmother tell him where his inner flame was and how he could make it grow taller. He wanted to go see the little baby and join the excitement too—he didn't want to stay home alone.
"You child, you really…" Grandmother's face scrunched up, making her wrinkles look even deeper and her age show even more.
She truly didn't know how to answer. Who knew what this exasperating child had stuffed in his head, always asking strange questions that left people unable to respond.
Grandmother was struggling with her inability to answer, but Bai Chao, for his part, lost interest in his question within the blink of an eye. Looking at the sun's position, he instead asked when they would be delivering food to Grandfather and the others.
Grandmother's heart relaxed, and the wrinkles on her face smoothed out a little. She said, quite gratified, "You don't need to go today. I'll go. You stay home like a good boy."
Bai Chao didn't want to stay home alone and was just about to bargain with Grandmother to go with her when Great-grandmother and Yue-ge'er arrived. They had come to see Bai Chao. That morning, Grandfather had run into Great-Grandfather while out borrowing money, and as soon as Great-Grandfather heard the child had a high fever, he naturally told the family when he got back.
Great-grandmother had also brought tender pumpkin for Bai Chao, telling Grandmother to make soup for him to drink. Tender pumpkin soup was light and refreshing, just the thing for someone recovering from a fever.
"Great-grandmother, I'm all better now." Bai Chao leaned his head forward, motioning for Great-grandmother to feel his forehead. Great-grandmother obliged readily, feeling his forehead and nodding very seriously as she said, "Wonderful. Chao-ge'er's illness is all gone."
Bai Chao could turn anything anyone said into a compliment, and he swaggered his head back and forth proudly. He was so impressive—sick one moment, and better in no time at all.
Seeing that Bai Chao was fine, Great-grandmother and the others were relieved. When Grandmother saw that Yue-ge'er had come too, she told Bai Chao to bring out a sugar cake for him. Bai Chao wasn't stingy about it at all—and he was very good at claiming credit.
"Yue-ge'er, the sugar cake is mine, and I want to give it to you to eat." It was just that Grandmother had thought of it first. He was Yue-ge'er's older brother, and he wanted to give Yue-ge'er a sugar cake to eat.
The two sisters-in-law watched him hold Yue-ge'er's hand, eagerly boasting by his ear, and laughed themselves silly.
Ah, what a little child he was.
Great-grandmother and the others didn't head back right away; they stayed to do needlework with Grandmother. It wasn't until Grandmother went to deliver food to Grandfather and the others that the two of them prepared to leave—and they took Bai Chao back with them.
Bai Chao remembered his osmanthus cakes. He wanted to go pick up osmanthus flowers and bring back lots of them. Besides being used for osmanthus cakes, the flowers could also be steeped in water—with just a little added, it had a light, fragrant flavor that was delicious.
In the backyard of the house there was a shortcut leading to Great-grandmother's home—just follow the small path down beside the big drainage ditch. Few people traveled this way, and the roadside was thick with grass and shrubs. Luckily, there was little rain at this time of year, so there was no worry about dew on the grass wetting his clothes and the hems of his trousers.
Great-grandmother led the two children slowly back home. Bai Chao loved this little path—the ditch below was lined with pretty stones, smooth and glossy, surely cool to sit on in summer. The wasteland on both sides of the ditch had plenty of wildflowers, and even reeds. But the moment the word "reeds" left Bai Chao's mouth, Great-grandmother and Yue-ge'er both burst out laughing.
"Silly child, those aren't reeds. That's Ironheart reed gone old and flowering."
"What's Ironheart reed? Is it a very hard stalk?" Bai Chao thought the name was so heartless—it sounded upsetting just to hear it.
Ironheart reed was what the adults used to whip children with. Though thin, it stung badly when it struck—a single lash across the legs would leave them bruised for days. It hurt without damaging the bones, perfect for disciplining unruly children.
Naturally, Great-grandmother wouldn't tell anyone this, so she mentioned a different use instead.
"It's for teaching little ones to count." The stalks of Ironheart reed were thin, smooth, and sturdy. Snapped into lengths of about two inches, a single handful held a dozen or twenty pieces—more than enough for little children learning their numbers.
Great-Grandfather's courtyard was quite similar to their own home's, except the sizes of the front and back yards were reversed. His front yard was large while the back was small. Aside from the livestock shed, there was only a chicken coop—no spacious yard, no pretty fence, and certainly no colorful flowers.
Bai Chao had brought his own little basket, but Great-grandmother wouldn't let him pick the osmanthus off the ground. She handed his basket to Yue-ge'er instead, and Yue-ge'er, like a little monkey, scampered up the tree in the blink of an eye and started picking flowers directly.
"Great-grandmother, why not spread a mat under the tree and just shake the flowers down?" Watching how slowly Yue-ge'er picked, Bai Chao figured beating the branches with a stick or shaking them by hand would be faster—a half basketful in no time, more than enough.
Hearing this, Great-grandmother immediately agreed and hurriedly called her daughter to fetch the drying mats.
The family had drying mats in all sizes—the big ones for drying grain, the small ones for drying vegetables. Their yard was spacious enough to spread out even the large mats, and collecting the flowers went quickly too.
Once the large mat was laid out, the whole family set to work—some whacking the branches with sticks, others pulling and shaking them. Yue-ge'er even climbed right onto a branch, shaking it with his whole body. The osmanthus flowers drifted down like snow, and in a short while a light layer covered the mat. Even that thin layer gathered up amounted to half a basketful.
Bai Chao had a wonderful time at Great-grandmother's house and didn't head back right away. He discovered there was a bamboo grove here too—it was just that Great-grandmother's was behind the house, while theirs was beside it.
Bai Chao wanted to dig for bamboo shoots in the grove, but unfortunately was stopped by Eldest Aunt—there were no bamboo shoots to be had this time of year.
Unable to dig up any bamboo shoots, Bai Chao felt a little disappointed. He vaguely remembered that when you were sick, you could have whatever you wanted. He was sick right now—if there had been bamboo shoots, he surely could have had braised chicken with bamboo shoots.