In the afternoon Yan Xi looked at the blazing sun in the sky and decided to take some water to the family. The water they had taken with them at midday was probably finished, so going now was just right.
Yan Xi picked a small handful of mint in the space, then found a little white sugar and took them to the kitchen, planning to boil mint water. When it was done Yan Xi put it in the well to chill before going to the fields with Yan Yu, after all, she didn’t know where her family’s fields were, so she needed someone to lead the way.
All the way to the fields they met quite a few people, and many of them greeted Yan Xi, wanting to make sure she really wasn’t an idiot anymore. Yan Xi answered every one of them, with the same reason as before, and everyone only said the old Yan family had good fortune: even an idiot could recover, and now she could help at home too.
When she reached her family’s field Yan Xi called them over one by one to drink. Yan Lin and Yan Shan ran the fastest, they picked up the bowl Yan Xi had brought and drank two bowls straight off before they felt they had come back to life, then passed the bowl to the others. After everyone had drunk, the eldest sister-in-law Feng Yue asked Yan Xi what it was made of, how it was sweet and had a cool feeling to it as well, far more thirst-quenching than the plain boiled water she had brought herself.
Yan Xi listened and said it was mint she had dug at the foot of the mountain with a little sugar added, mint clears heat and relieves summer heat.
Yan Lin was amazed. “Little Sister, how do you know so much? Could it be that falling in the water didn’t just fix your head, it made you clever too?”
Yan Xi didn’t argue with that, only said that after she fell in the water and had a fever, in her daze she had heard an old granny in her head say that her life was not meant to end. She had thought it was a dream, but when she woke up there were a lot more things in her head. Thinking about it now, it was probably a blessing in disguise.
Everyone thought about it and agreed. Little Sister being better was a good thing, why bother about the rest.
After resting a while Yan Xi took Yan Yu back. It was still early, and she wanted to go up the mountain and have a look, at worst she could bring back a bundle of firewood.
The two of them went home, put on their back baskets and headed for the foot of the mountain. On the way they ran into Yan Wen and a group of children. The moment those children saw Yan Xi they shouted that the idiot was coming, the idiot was going to hit people. And as they shouted they wanted to throw stones.
Yan Wen and Yan Yu heard it and got angry. “My auntie isn’t an idiot, she’s better now, you’re not to talk nonsense.”
Yan Xi thought it over and also said, “You all say I’m an idiot, so who told you I’m an idiot? And do you know what an idiot is?”
The group of children looked at one another and then said, “We all heard it from our moms and them. They say you’re an idiot, that you only laugh stupidly and you hit people, and they won’t let us play with you.”
Yan Xi heard this and said with a smile, “Then do you think I’m laughing stupidly now, or that I’ve hit anybody? Neither, right? So what your moms and them said is wrong. Not only do I not hit people now, I’ll even take you along to play. What do you say?”
The group of children didn’t know who to believe, so they could only look at Yan Xi. Yan Xi smiled: “We’re going up the mountain to gather firewood now. Do you want to come along? If we can find bird eggs too, that would be even better.”
At the words “bird eggs” the whole group of children got excited. In these years, never mind meat, even bird eggs were a good thing. Mixed with a bit of chives or scallions, that was another dish.
Thinking of this, they hurriedly urged Yan Xi up the mountain. Say what you like, Yan Xi’s luck really was good: on the mountain she found a rabbit burrow. She quickly called the whole group over and they looked everywhere for the other holes, and Yan Xi really did find four holes. They say a cunning rabbit has three burrows [1]a cunning rabbit has three burrows (jiao tu san ku, 狡兔三窟) Idiom, having several backup plans or escape routes jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3254408_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3254408_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, how many was this? She had people guard the other three holes, and Yan Xi took out a fire striker, scooped up some dry leaves and half-dry firewood, lit the dry leaves and put the firewood on top. Thick smoke came up at once, and she stuffed it into the rabbit hole, and before long there was a rustling sound.
Before long someone said a rabbit had come out, and every one of them got more excited. They clapped a back basket over it at once, pulled it out, tied its feet and set it aside.
They worked at it for about a quarter of an hour and caught five rabbits altogether, plus a litter of baby rabbits not long born.
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