Elder Grandmother didn't stay long. She left Yue-ge'er at home to keep Bai Chao company and went back.
Yue-ge'er bore some resemblance to Luo Yang. Both brothers had handsome brows and eyes and straight noses; only their face shapes and mouths differed. Yue-ge'er had a round face and somewhat thick lips, while Luo Yang was the opposite—a sharp jaw and two thin lips. When he fell silent and his face darkened, he could be quite intimidating.
Bai Chao stared at Yue-ge'er's face for a long while and felt a sense of closeness. Yue-ge'er felt the same, and before long he was acting completely at ease. He seemed not to have heard enough of what had happened earlier, and pointed at the cucumbers on the ground as he asked, "Chao-ge'er, did you really throw cucumbers at Wang Laizi?"
"You can't call me Chao-ge'er. You should call me sister-in-law, or you can call me xiao-ge." According to the customs of their country of Yan, a brother's husband could be called sister-in-law or xiao-ge, depending entirely on the husband's own preference.
After a xiao-ge'er married, the duties he fulfilled were no different from those of a married woman. Many ge'er didn't mind being called "sister-in-law" or "aunt," but some didn't like it, and so titles like "xiao-ge" and "uncle" came into being.
Yue-ge'er changed his address quickly, immediately switching, "Xiao-ge, did you really throw cucumbers at Wang Laizi?"
"What does 'laizi' mean?" The term was unfamiliar to Bai Chao, who didn't understand.
Bai Chao's question stumped Yue-ge'er. A laizi was someone whose body had broken out in poisonous sores, leaving their skin blotchy or even festering, or whose hair fell out in patches. But the Wang family's little Laizi wasn't like that, was he?
The Wang family's little Laizi wasn't like his father; he seemed no different from any ordinary child.
The words on the tip of his tongue suddenly wouldn't come out. Just as Yue-ge'er was struggling with how to explain, Luo's Grandmother returned.
Luo's Grandmother had been in high spirits. The Luo family's paddy fields were almost all down at the paddy plots at the bottom of the village, so naturally she had come back through the front yard. She had expected the family's foolish husband to sleep until the sun was high, but who knew that not only was the front yard swept spotless, even the back yard had been swept, and the cucumbers had even been picked.
She was truly delighted in her heart. Her mood was as open as the sky that day—a stretch of blue hung with a few beautiful white clouds. It couldn't have been lovelier.
The old man at home had said it would be enough if the husband was someone who knew to come home when it rained. But now it seemed their husband wasn't foolish at all—he did whatever he was told. Wasn't that just how other families' husbands were too?
But Luo's Grandmother's joy lasted barely two moments before she learned that the village children had actually come to their house to mock someone. She wanted nothing more than to rush to the gate and curse out those households on the spot, but as she listened, her feet stopped moving.
Something wasn't right.
"You're saying you beat them up? Beat them all?" Luo's Grandmother's lips moved several times before a single sentence came out.
Plenty of children in the village deserved a good thrashing, making up little rhymes and singing them all over the place. Their targets were mostly poor unfortunates their parents disliked, little fools with bad heads, or newlywed women and husbands with thin skins.
Their family's new husband wasn't just newly married—he was also called a little fool by the villagers, so naturally he'd become a target for that pack of children to bully.
But! He had actually beaten them up? Well, well! This little fool was quite the capable one!
"Hahaha, hahahaha, well done, child! Let's see which sharp-tongued hussy dares call my family's husband a fool now!"
Luo's Grandmother laughed heartily, and Bai Chao's worries melted away too, leaving only happiness.
He'd said so, hadn't he? Someone as capable as him was bound to get praised—Grandmother had just been overthinking it earlier.
Luo's Grandmother had come back early to make breakfast. She hadn't needed to work in the fields this morning. It was the same in every household in the village—during the busy farming season, meals had to be better, and good food couldn't be whipped up in a moment, so each family left someone at home to handle it.
Just yesterday, the family had held a celebration, and there were leftovers. Breakfast only needed reheating, plus a pot of hot soup—not much trouble at all. So Luo's Grandmother had gone to work in the fields too. Even though she could only work an hour or two, it was still a good deal of labor gotten done.
The dough had been set to rise early in the morning. Luo's Grandmother tied on her apron, had the two children help watch the fire, and got busy.
Breakfast didn't need to be elaborate—just steam a big pot of mixed grains and steamed buns, reheat yesterday's meat and vegetable dishes separately, and finally boil a refreshing pot of cucumber soup.
Just past mid-morning, Luo's Mother came back as well. Before long, the people working in the fields trickled back home, the men all carrying sacks of grain on their backs.
During the autumn harvest, having livestock at home made things much easier, but the Luo family had no large animals, and borrowing was difficult too—with every household busy bringing in their harvest these days, no one could lend out their animals.
Waiting a few more days to borrow until others finished their harvest wouldn't work either, because the Luo father and son needed to go out for hired work while the season was right.
Their Baihua Village sat at a lower elevation, so their harvest came early. Following the big river at the village entrance upstream were Dajing Village, Dahe Village, Wuli Village, Bali Fort, Songshu Bay, and quite a few other villages. The further upstream, the later the rice harvest came. If they worked fifteen or twenty days straight, father and son could each earn about five or six qian in wages—together that was over a tael, quite a substantial income.
If the whole family hadn't been desperately earning money these past few years, those debts would have taken another two or three years to pay off.
As soon as Luo's Mother returned, she set up the large round wooden table that was rarely used in the back courtyard. The people who had toiled all morning weren't picky—a basket of steamed buns, pumpkin, and potatoes was set out, and they each grabbed one and started eating right away.
Yesterday the family had made several small stir-fried meat dishes—stir-fried dried eggplant, stir-fried bamboo shoot tips, and stir-fried green beans—with plenty of fresh meat in them. After sitting overnight, the meat dishes hadn't spoiled; instead, they'd absorbed even more flavor. The dishes were all reheated together in one pot, and a casual chopstick-full paired with a big white steamed bun in hand tasted every bit as good.
"Grandma, there's one last crop of tender green peppers in the vegetable garden. Pick some this afternoon and pan-fry them—we won't get to eat them many more times this year." With a mouthful of steamed bun still in it, Luo Yang thought of the green peppers in the yard and immediately started ordering dishes.
When her grandson wanted something, how could Luo's Grandmother refuse? She also mentioned another dish he loved.
"Yes, yes, there's also green beans stir-fried with pumpkin. I saw a few tender pumpkins on the fence behind the kitchen—we'll pick them and stir-fry a whole basin. Tender pumpkins are hard to come by these days."
Bai Chao sat obediently beside Luo Yang the whole meal, earning a few teasing remarks from the relatives for it. But he couldn't tell they were teasing, and even nodded along, thinking the relatives were right—he did need to stay close to the big fellow, because he had something to tell him.
What Bai Chao wanted to talk about, naturally, was what happened that morning. He'd earned Grandmother's praise, and now he wanted to hear the big fellow's praise too.
When the meal ended, Bai Chao didn't receive any praise—instead, he got a disdainful look from Grandpa.
"Look at what you're wearing! Such fine red cloth—how could you wear it on an ordinary day? Go change right now, wash this outfit and put it away. Wash Yang Zi's too, and put them away together."
"Hmph!"
Bai Chao didn't dare refuse, and huffily went off to his room. He dug out his old clothes and was just wondering whether to change when the wooden door creaked open. Luo Yang was at the doorway, leaning his head in and speaking softly to him.
"Be good and change your clothes. You won't be able to wear this outfit much longer anyway. Once we get through these busy days, I'll go to town to buy some cloth and have Mother make you new clothes and new shoes—two sets." Luo Yang had to hurry to the fields, and left as soon as he finished speaking.
Bai Chao chased after him with a face full of smiles. When he caught up, he imitated the man's manner and whispered, "Husband, I'll be good. I'll change my clothes right away."
"Good. Listen to Grandma at home, alright." Luo Yang instructed him again, his words much more natural this time.
As for the title 'husband'—she'd get used to it just by hearing it.
Bai Chao quickly nodded in agreement. "Mm, mm-hm!"
After breakfast, quite a lot of grain appeared in the courtyard, and Bai Chao gained another task: he had to watch the grain to keep birds from pecking at it, or mischievous children from stealing it.
In the August heat, the cicadas had grown fewer, though occasionally one could still be heard. Bai Chao dozed drowsily under the eaves, unable to fully wake or fully sleep, his head drifting through all sorts of strange images, when he suddenly felt something cool on his face. The moment he opened his eyes, there was a leaf pouch in front of him.
"Eat." Luo Yang was twenty-two this year, in the prime of his strength. After the meal, he didn't need to cut or thresh the rice—his only task was to carry the rice from the threshing tub home bag by bag, and if the tub was moved, he had to carry it to the next spot. This was the most exhausting job of the rice harvest.
While carrying the threshing tub just now, he had spotted a patch of yellow-bubble berries. At this time of year, yellow-bubble was the only thorn-bubble fruit left outdoors. Though not as tasty as red-bubble or black-bubble berries, they were still quite good.
Bai Chao didn't know what this thing was, but he knew it must be edible. He picked one, put it in his mouth, and tasted it carefully—then his eyes went wide with amazement at the fresh flavor!
"So delicious." At first it was sweet, then slightly bitter, but once the whole fruit went down, the aftertaste was fragrant. "It's so good."
He liked it very much.
When Grandma came out, she happened to see the family's little simpleton feeding berries to her grandson. She grumbled and turned to go back inside. She had meant to send someone to pick some fish-fragrant leaves from beside the big ditch to brew them some cool water to drink, but now she had to go herself.
The weather was too hot—plain water alone didn't do the trick. Add some fish-fragrant leaves to clear water, and it would turn refreshingly cool, wonderful to drink.
"That Yang Zi, really—picking berries and eating them himself would be one thing, but why bring some back? Ai, honestly! Would've been better if he'd just eaten them himself."
When Grandma returned with the fish-fragrant leaves, she saw half a bag of yellow-bubble berries sitting on the stove. She stared at it several times, picked it up and examined it for a long while, and finally tossed a few into her mouth.
A flavor she hadn't tasted in ages spread through her mouth, and time seemed to suddenly rewind several decades.
She hadn't tasted these wild berries since she got married.
Adults always said these were things only children ate.
When Grandma came out again, she was holding a small bamboo strainer basket and that half bag of yellow-bubble berries.
"Chao, my dear brother, eat the berries and then go pick some chili peppers in the vegetable garden outside. We have a lot of people at home today, so pick plenty and fill the basket up."
Bai Chao was just then playing with the bamboo pole he used to shoo away birds. Hearing there was another task to do, he was quite happy about it. He bounced up cheerfully and hopped over to Grandma in a few steps, taking the basket from her hands, but he didn't take the berries.
"Grandma, the berries are for you to eat." He had saved them specially for Grandma—why was she giving them back to him?
Grandma hadn't expected that the berries really had been brought in for her by the little fool. She handed them straight back to him, saying with a hint of disdain, "That's the kind of thing only little kids eat."
"Grandma can eat them too. Grandma has a mouth too," Bai Chao said, tilting his head, seemingly puzzled as to why only children could eat them.
Grandma was left speechless for a long while by that one remark. Bai Chao, meanwhile, headed out the door with his basket. Since grain was drying in the courtyard, only a narrow path had been left for coming and going, and as he went out, he held his arms out to the sides like someone walking across a single-log bridge.
Watching him deliberately swaying his body, Grandma turned away and muttered quietly, "He really is a little fool."