The sky had barely begun to lighten when Bai Chao could no longer lie still. He threw off his quilt and sat up on the edge of the bed.
After sitting up, he didn't immediately go out to the courtyard. He was still wearing the clothes from yesterday's wedding. He didn't much like these loose, baggy clothes, but he didn't like the ones he'd worn the day before either.
That outfit from two days ago was also too big, covered in patches, and an ugly color—a dusty gray that made him look like he'd just crawled out from the bottom of a pot.
"I'll wear this one." Feeling the fabric of his clothes and pants, Bai Chao nodded, feeling somewhat satisfied. At least this set was pretty, with bright colors and no patches.
When putting on his shoes, Bai Chao had to shove his feet forward forcefully. He didn't know whose shoes these were, but they were enormous—if he didn't push his feet forward, the shoes would easily slip off.
The Luo family's courtyard was divided into a front yard and a back yard. The front yard wasn't as spacious as the back, but it was paved with stone bricks, so it stayed clean even on rainy days. It was also convenient for drying things—no drying mats needed, as things could be laid directly on the ground. The swept-clean floor wouldn't have any dust.
Bai Chao dragged a large broom made of bamboo branches and gave the courtyard a rough sweep, then took out a sorghum-straw broom to do a more careful cleaning. He swept most diligently under the eaves outside his and Luo Yang's room. In this way, every part of the courtyard became spotless—even the nooks and crannies were so clean that one could walk barefoot without picking up any dirt.
With the front yard cleaned, Bai Chao didn't rush to the back yard. He carried a small stool to the courtyard gate and sat quietly, gazing out over the whole village.
The village where the Luo family lived was called Baihua Village—Hundred Flowers Village. The land there was flat, crisscrossed with paths and fields, and dozens of households were scattered across small plots of land at varying elevations, looking lively and prosperous. His home was located toward the back of the village, on slightly higher ground, allowing a view of the entire village.
Bai Chao looked at the houses scattered in every corner, at the eye-catching colors beside them, and couldn't help murmuring softly, "So pretty."
Baihua Village lived up to its name—every household had all kinds of flowers and plants planted in front of and behind their houses, so there were beautiful colors to see all year round.
It was now the golden autumn of the eighth month, and the most captivating flowers were naturally the chrysanthemums and osmanthus—one blooming brilliantly, the other filling the air with fragrance all day long.
Besides these two most striking flowers, there were rain lilies, bellflowers, and morning glories everywhere, and even the sweet potato flowers, at the tail end of their blooming season, were struggling to display their final beauty.
Like most households in the village, the Luo family had all kinds of flowers planted in front of and behind their house—even along the edges of the vegetable garden in front of the house.
Bai Chao looked at the rows of wilted cannas by the roadside and the rain lilies past their blooming period by the wall, and began imagining how beautiful it would be to sit at the doorway eating candy when all these flowers were in full bloom.
With beautiful flowers to look at, the sweetness in one's mouth could sweeten all the way to the heart.
After sitting for quite a while, Bai Chao felt his bottom starting to hurt. He stood up and patted his bottom, then frowned slightly and gave it a pinch.
"There's no meat on my butt at all." Sighing inwardly, Bai Chao lost his interest in looking at flowers, got up, and went back inside. His chores weren't finished yet.
The Luos' backyard was quite spacious, but only the area next to the eaves was paved with stone bricks; the rest was bare earth. Though the ground was packed hard, it wasn't easy to clean, so the backyard didn't need much care—just a quick sweep with a big broom did the job. It wasn't any complicated work.
In the blink of an eye, Bai Chao swept away all the fallen leaves, mud, and gravel in the backyard, then picked up his basket and headed straight out through the back.
Bai Chao loved the family's backyard. Although it had no tall walls, only a fence made of wattle and wooden stakes, there were many flowers planted outside the fence. Even now, he could make out cockscomb flowers, impatiens, four o'clock flowers—and besides these common blooms, there were all sorts of wild orchids, which must have been dug up from the mountains by his family.
That wasn't all. Outside the yard there was a big drainage ditch, and on the gentle slopes on both sides stood quite a few large trees, several tung oil trees being the most eye-catching. Their bark was clean and smooth, and children loved climbing them to play.
Bai Chao swung his basket and went to the cucumber vines Grandma had mentioned. Without wasting a moment, he hung the basket on his arm and climbed up an orange tree that hadn't borne a single orange.
The cucumber vines had wound their way all around the trunk, covering the whole tree. Looking up from below, he saw cucumbers hanging everywhere, and most of them were rather old, with plump seed pods inside—delicious whether steamed or boiled.
These past few days, the steamed cucumber pods at home had all been set aside by his mother for him to eat.
When Bai Chao picked the first cucumber, the spines on its bottom pricked his palm and it stung quite a bit. He hung the basket from his wrist onto a tree branch and spent a long while squeezing and biting his palm before the prickled spot felt any better.
When cucumbers are fresh and tender, they're a tender green, and even the skin is soft—washed clean, they can be boiled right away. But once they're old, the skin thickens and changes color; the whole cucumber turns greenish-yellow, and hard spines grow on the bottom, so you have to be careful when picking them.
The basket Bai Chao brought wasn't very big; after just a few cucumbers there was no room left. He pinched one of the cucumbers in the basket and found he couldn't make a dent in it at all, so without any hesitation, he simply dumped the cucumbers out of the basket onto the ground, and from then on, every cucumber he picked was tossed straight down too.
They wouldn't break from the fall anyway—it was fine.
When he heard faint, barely-there giggling, Bai Chao thought he must be hearing things, but he soon realized he wasn't. In the blink of an eye, several little children had appeared under the tree, and holding hands, they sang a nursery rhyme up at him:
"Little fool sits by the door, holding stones like silver coins.
Wind blows his straw hat to the sky, he claps and laughs—the clouds brought him a crown."
At first, Bai Chao found it rather amusing—the children hopping and spinning around looked like fun—but listening closely to their song, he understood: these children were mocking him.
Bai Chao felt a bit angry, thinking, when have I ever picked up stones to spend as money? The little pebbles I picked up at the gate earlier, I threw them away.
Bai Chao ignored them, and the children laughed even harder, switching to another nursery rhyme, and while singing, they started kicking at his shoes under the tree.
"Silly fool with his flowered basket, walks to the field and munches on mud.
Others plant crops while he chases ducks, forgets at sunset to bring them home."
Watching his shoes being kicked farther and farther away, Bai Chao was starting to get angry, but he looked down at his red wedding robes and figured that since he was married now, someone's husband, an adult, he shouldn't stoop to the level of little brats. So he just huffily picked melons off the tree and hurled them down with all his might.
Among the children under the tree was one slightly older boy. A green melon landed right in front of him; he jumped back in fright, then shook off the hand of the little friend beside him and pointed furiously up at the person in the tree: "No, no, it should be 'The fool's a fool, carries an empty basket, climbs to the treetop to pick green melons. Others pick melons but he throws them around, melons fall all over the ground and trouble's made. When his husband comes home at sunset, his butt will be toast~'"
"Your butt's the one that'll be toast!" Bai Chao thought. His big husband would never hit him—but he would hit this nasty little brat.
'Splat.' The green melons kept falling, still aimed right at people. Now the kids under the tree couldn't laugh anymore. After the slightly older one got hit, they scattered and ran off. Now it was Bai Chao's turn to laugh while they bawled their eyes out.
"He's hitting people! The Luo family's fool husband is beating people!"
As the children screamed at the top of their lungs, Bai Chao climbed down from the tree, and at the same time a furtive figure slipped away.
Coming down from the tree, Bai Chao looked at the kid crouching on the ground clutching his head and bawling, along with the several kids standing around him looking as if he'd caused all the trouble. Bai Chao tilted his head, smiled at them, and got right to it.
"You haven't gotten your beatings yet!"
The little ringleader had been hit with the green melon, so the rest of the little tagalongs could have his fists instead!
"Boo-hoo-hoo…"
In the blink of an eye, the children who had just been standing in a circle laughing were now standing in a circle crying. Bai Chao stood beside them with his hands on his hips, in the best of moods.
"No more crying!" At Bai Chao's command, the sobbing children, though still hiccupping, quickly covered their mouths with their hands, afraid that if any crying leaked out they'd get another beating.
Seeing this, Bai Chao was very satisfied. He pointed at his shoes that had been kicked away and made them fetch them back for him. Once the shoes were back on his feet, he pointed at the green melons on the ground and ordered them to carry two each and bring them back to his house.
"Okay, fool husband."
"You're the fool. Call me Boss!" Bai Chao smacked the silly short one, then waved his hand for them to hurry up and get to work.
"Okay, Boss!"
Each cry of 'Boss' going into his ears—Bai Chao couldn't have felt prouder. With his head held high, he carried his basket and led the little tail of children back home. With these little tails helping, he could carry all the green melons home in one trip.
After getting home, Bai Chao instinctively wanted to give them something to eat, but quickly realized there wasn't a single snack in the house, so he waved them off.
The little rascals ran off as if they'd been granted amnesty, and over by the mud wall in the back yard, they ran straight into an old woman and a child.
"Chao-brother, Chao-brother, are you all right?"
When he heard someone calling him from outside, Bai Chao was still putting the green melons from the ground into the dustpan. He recognized Great-Granny's voice and quickly answered her. In the blink of an eye, Great-Granny was at the kitchen door, grabbing hold of him without a word and looking him all over, worry all over her face.
"Chao-brother, Yue-ge'er just came back and told me that Wang Laizi from the village was leading a bunch of kids to bully you. Are you okay? You weren't beaten, were you?"
Yue-ge'er was Luo Yang's cousin, only ten years old this year. He was reserved and timid by nature; seeing a group of kids bullying Bai Chao, he hadn't dared to step forward, only turned around and immediately ran home to call for help.
Bai Chao was hoping his family would come back soon so he could brag about what had just happened. When Great-Grandma asked about it, he perked up and animatedly recounted the whole incident. As he described what had happened, he kept clenching his right fist and swinging it, continuously demonstrating how he had beaten them up.
"Great-Grandma, they're the real fools! A bunch of them, each as short as a radish, and they dared to laugh at me. I'm way taller than they are—when I pat their heads, they can't even reach my shoulders!"
Great-Grandma set aside her earlier worry, but now a new one arose. Her child hadn't suffered any loss, but he had gotten into a fight, and judging by his account, he'd hit them pretty hard. Who knew if those people would come looking for trouble?
Ah well.
"You did well, child. They bullied you first—you're not in the wrong." Let them come if they come. At worst, she'd have it out with their families in a big argument. There was no way she'd let her own kin suffer a loss.
Great-Grandma knew what she had to do, but she had no idea that the group of little radish-heads from earlier were at that very moment crouching near the Luo family home, discussing the matter.
"No way! We can't go home and tattle. I already called him Boss—we can't be disloyal!"
"Right! He fights so well, I want to take him as my Boss!"